9Stax involves 9 stacks of 4 cards and the goal is to eliminate all the cards from every stack. The game mechanics will seem familiar in some ways: You can match the color of the last played card or match the text of that card. Most of the cards are numbered 1-9, in the colors Red, Blue, Green and Purple. The other cards are action cards, in the same colors, which you can use to further your own strategy, block or slow down another player, or just mix things up a bit. The action cards will allow the following moves:

• Reverse Card – reverses the direction of play. A direction indicator disc is provided to keep track of direction changes
• Peek Card – allows you to inspect an opponent’s stack of cards. An added bonus is the ability to take one of those cards if you like what you see
• Swap Card – two stacks on the table can be swapped. This may be one of your stacks and an opponent’s, a stack each of two opponents, or two of your own stacks
• Reveal Card – a stack is selected and all opponents must turn that stack face up for all to see.  It stays that way until another Reveal is played
• Discard Card – you may discard the entire stack you are holding instead of playing cards one at a time
• Attack Card – another player is selected to draw a card creating a new stack. They may play the card if possible but if not, it becomes a new stack
• Color Shift Card – change the active color being played. The advantage is being able to play a second card to establish the new color
• Free Discard Card – a very powerful card which allows you to discard the hand you’re holding or any one of your other stacks and can be played regardless of the active color or card

You never know what is going to happen as you play – this is because every number card that is played requires you to switch to the stack of that same number. You are constantly moving and won’t find yourself zoning out while waiting for others to play. Everyone is constantly moving and paying attention to what other players are doing. Sometimes the switching of stacks complicates your strategy and sometimes it helps. Either way, it keeps you on your toes and makes the game very interesting. For more information on 9Stax game play, see the Tips and Tricks section.

One of the really cool things we’ve noticed about this game is that it gets better and more fun the more you play it.  Because you deal out 9 stacks of cards, and there are 200 cards in the deck, the number of possible setup variations is huge! As you get more familiar with the play style, the strategy within the game becomes more apparent and you begin taking control of how your game develops.  Every hand is unique and depends a lot on how the cards are dealt, what is discarded and how other players use their action cards. In the middle of all this, a unique feature of this game is the Immunity tile – which could save you from mischief attempted by other players.  As part of the development process, we are also creating an expansion pack that would allow up to 6 players to play at the same time.  We’ve play tested with up to 6 players and the game is just as exciting with more people – in fact, the opportunities for making use of action cards are higher with additional players.