Play: Fair Weather

Jun 27, 2025

Invented by Jolon Fairweather.

Players

Two to four.

One standard 52-card deck.

Be the first to reveal a hand of five cards of the same suit (a flush).

Shuffle the deck.
Deal five cards to each player.
Place the rest face-down as the Draw Pile.
Each player keeps their hand secret.
Leave space next to the Draw Pile for a separate Discard Pile (cards will be placed face-down here).
A face-up Weather Pile will form during play as players use weather cards (see Weather Effects).

You must do exactly one of the following:

Draw one card from the top of the Draw Pile.
Discard one card face-down onto the Discard Pile.
Always end your turn with five cards.
You may discard the card you picked up (unless affected by Cloud; see Weather Effects).

Choose any card from your hand and play it face-up into the Weather Pile.
That card’s suit triggers a one-time weather effect (see below).
Your turn ends after applying the effect (holding only four cards).
On your next turn, you must:
- Draw one card.
- Keep it: No discards allowed until your following turn.
Note: Weather cards are permanently removed from play and must not be placed back into the Discard Pile.

If you begin your turn holding five cards of the same suit, you may reveal them.
You win the game.
Note: You may not reveal a flush on the same turn you draw the fifth matching card. You must wait until your next turn to play it.

All players choose one card to pass to the player on the left (two players: swap one card).

Force one player to draw two cards on their next turn. They must keep both cards.
To maintain a hand of five cards, that player must immediately discard two cards from their current hand (i.e. neither of the two forced-draws).
The forced-kept cards may be discarded on subsequent turns.

All discards are placed face-down is the Discard Pile.
Weather cards are played face-up and are permanently out of the game.
If the Draw Pile runs out of cards when a player needs to draw:
- Take all cards from the Discard Pile.
- Shuffle them thoroughly.
- Place them face-down to form a new Draw Pile.

Reveal a valid flush on your turn → you win. The game ends.