How to Play Color Clash: Card Game Rules for Beginners

In Color Clash, each player starts with 7 cards and plays one card per turn that matches the top card of the pile by colour, number or symbol. Action cards skip players, reverse the direction or make the next player draw. The first player to get rid of every card wins. This guide walks through every rule in the order you meet it at the table.

The deck

The deck has 108 cards in four colours: red, yellow, green and blue. Each colour has one 0, two of every number from 1 to 9, two Skip cards, two Reverse cards and two +2 cards. On top of that come 4 Wild cards and 4 Wild +4 cards, which have no colour of their own.

Starting the game

Every player gets 7 cards (you can choose 5 for a quick game or 10 for a long one). One card is turned face up to start the pile. In Color Clash the first card is always a number card, so nobody is skipped or hit on the very first turn. A random player starts.

Playing a card

On your turn, play one card that matches the top card of the pile in at least one way:

• Same colour: a red 3 on a red 8.
• Same number: a blue 7 on a yellow 7.
• Same symbol: a green Skip on a red Skip.
• Any Wild card, at any time.

In the game, the cards you can play glow and move up a little, so you never have to guess.

When you cannot play

If no card matches, tap the deck to draw one card. If the new card fits, you can play it straight away or tap Keep card to save it. If it does not fit, your turn ends.

Action cards

• Skip: the next player misses their turn.
• Reverse: play changes direction. With only 2 players, Reverse works like Skip, so you play again.
• +2: the next player draws 2 cards and misses their turn.
• Wild: you choose the colour the next player must match.
• Wild +4: you choose the colour and the next player draws 4 cards and misses their turn.

Stacking +2 and +4

Stacking is on by default. When a +2 hits you, you can pass it on by playing your own +2 or a +4. When a +4 hits you, you can pass it on with another +4. The next player then faces the total, for example +6, and must stack again or draw everything. If you cannot or do not want to stack, tap the deck to draw the total. The room creator can turn stacking off; then a +2 or +4 is drawn at once.

The last-card call

When you hold 2 cards and are about to play one, tap the red LAST CARD! button first, then play your card. If you forget, you draw 2 cards as a penalty. Computer players on Smart never forget; on Easy they sometimes do.

Winning and points

The first player with an empty hand wins. Everyone else is ranked by the points left in their hand: number cards count their face value, Skip, Reverse and +2 count 20, and Wild cards count 50. The winner scores the total of everyone else's points.

Online timing rules

In online games each turn has 20 seconds. If time runs out, the computer plays a sensible card for you. After 5 missed turns in a row you are removed from the game, so the others can keep playing.

Frequently asked questions