This is the next in the series of articles highlighting games designed by Opinionated Gamers writers, this time by Larry Levy.

Game Summary
This article represents the “coming out party” for my game Double Exposure.  Even though I first created it over 10 years ago, I haven’t discussed it publicly and, in fact, just posted it to the Geek earlier this month.  My plan all along was to introduce it through a Opinionated Gamers article but, as it so often does, real life got in the way.  Oh well, better late than never, I suppose, so it’s finally time to give this game of mine some much needed, uh, exposure.

Double Exposure is a 2 player game that can be played with a deck of ordinary playing cards.  Each player is trying to achieve a scoring combination in the cards they’ve gathered before the other player does.  Cards are gained through trick-taking, although the rules for this are different than for most trick-taking games.  It is very close to a game of perfect information.  In fact, at the beginning of the game, each player exposes their hand to their opponent—hence, the name.

Double Exposure is a tense, thinky game for two skilled players.  The rules are fairly short, but playing it well requires a lot of planning and look-ahead.  All of the information you need is available to you at the start of the game.  Will you be able to reach your goal, while keeping your opponent from reaching theirs first?

First, let me give you the rules, including a “duplicate” variant (to eliminate the luck of the initial deal) and a solitaire version.  Then, I’ll discuss some of the features of the game, along with a few insights of how I came to design it.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

Number of Players:  1-2.  The rules for the 2-player game will be given first.

Equipment:  36 playing cards:  Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in the four suits.  The Ace is the lowest ranked card in each suit and should be considered to be a “1”.

Preparation:  Shuffle the cards together and deal 10 to each player.  Expose the remaining cards as eight sets of two in a central display between the players, with the order clearly indicated.  So the players see what the first pair of cards will be, followed by the second pair, and so on.

Each player now exposes their hand to their opponent.  The two players have a minimum of one minute to plan how they will play the hand.  After one minute, either player can say that they are ready, at which time both players will pick up their hands and begin the game.

Before the players pick up their hands, determine the first player.  The player with the most 9’s in their exposed hand will lead to the first trick.  If the players have the same number of 9’s, then the most 8’s will go first, and so on.  If by chance, the players have the same distribution of ranks in their hands, the player with the highest ranked card will go first (with Spades > Hearts > Diamonds > Clubs).

After the players pick up their hands, they each secretly take one of their cards and place it face down in front of them.  This is the first card of each player’s Prison, which is the collection of cards that each player has captured over the course of the game.  This card stays face down until the end of the game.

Finally, each player then secretly chooses another card from their hand.  Once both players have chosen their cards, they are revealed.  Each player then places their card face up into their opponent’s Prison.  Thus, each player begins with two cards in their Prison:  one face down, from their hand, and one face up, from their opponent’s hand.  The players both now have 8 card hands.  You are now ready to begin play.

Check the following picture to see what the position at the start of play looks like.

Gameplay:  Take the first pair of cards from the display and put them between the two players.  These are called the target cards for that trick and are the cards that will be fought over on the first trick.

The player with the lead plays any card from their hand.  Their opponent then responds with a card from their hand.  The second player is free to play any card they wish, regardless of what their opponent led.

The highest ranked card in the color that was led wins the trick.  Cards are ranked from 9 (high) down to Ace (low).  If the opponent’s card is not of the same color as the led card, it cannot win the trick.  If the two cards are of the same rank and the same color, Spades outranks Clubs among the Black suits and Hearts outranks Diamonds among the Red suits.

The winner of the trick takes their choice of the two target cards being played for and adds it to their Prison.  They also take the card their opponent played to the trick and adds it to the cards in their Prison as well.  The loser of the trick takes the remaining target card, plus the card their opponent played to the trick and adds them both to their Prison.  All cards in the Prison are face up, with the exception of the first card played there from the player’s hand prior to the start of play.

At this point, check to see if one player has won the game.  If neither player has won, the winner of the previous trick will lead to the next trick, to be played for the exposed pair of target cards which are next in line.  This continues until someone meets one of the win conditions or until eight tricks have been played.

Winning the Game:  There are three ways to win the game:

1. Have your Prison include a four-of-a-kind (i.e., all four cards of a rank);
2. Have your Prison include a flush (which is seven or more cards of the same suit);
3. If neither condition 1 or 2 has been met after 8 tricks have been played, have the greatest value of cards in your Prison at the end of the game.

At the end of any trick, either player can declare that they have achieved either condition 1 or condition 2.  The player exposes the one face-down card in their Prison, if necessary, and shows the four-of-a-kind or flush in their Prison.  If only one player has achieved a winning condition, that player wins.  If both players achieve one of the win conditions following the same trick, check the following list to determine the winner:

1. A four-of-a-kind will win against a flush.
2. If both players have four-of-a-kinds, the higher ranked four-of-a-kind will win.
3. If both players have a flush, an eight-card flush will beat a seven-card flush.
4. If both flushes have the same number of cards, use Poker ranking to determine which is higher ranked; that player will win. (In Poker, first compare the highest card in each flush, with the higher ranked card winning; if those are equal, compare the next highest card in each flush, and so on.)
5. If the two flushes consist of cards of the exact same ranks, the player who won the last trick is the winner.

If neither player has achieved either of the first two conditions after all eight tricks have been played, each player sums up the value of the cards in their Prison.  Each card is worth its pip value, with Aces being worth 1.  The higher total value wins the game.  In case the totals are the same, the player who won the last trick wins.

Duplicate Double Exposure:  If you want to eliminate the luck of the deal in the game, you can try this variant .  Use two 36 card decks, with each prepared as in the standard game.  Deal one out as normal, then take the second deck and recreate the exact same hand, except that the two players switch hands.  Then, each player secretly puts down which card from their hand they will place face down to their prison and which card they will give to their opponent’s prison in both games.  Next, put the cards from the second game aside and play out the first game in its entirety, after exposing the cards allocated to the opponents and placing them in the other player’s Prison.  Then, play out the second game after doing the same thing.

Obviously, if the same player wins both games, that player is the winner of the overall match.  If, instead, one player wins the first game and the other player wins the second (which means that the same hand won both games), the player who achieved their victory condition on the earlier trick is the winner of the match.  If both players fulfilled a victory condition on the same trick, the player with the higher ranking condition is the winner (thus, if Charlie goes out on Turn 7 of the first game with a flush, and Kinsey goes out on Turn 7 with a four-of-a-kind, Kinsey would win).  If the winning combinations are identical (and remember, if they’re both flushes, that would mean that they are the same length and consist of the exact same cards), then the game ends in a tie.  If neither game ends with a player achieving a winning condition (and therefore were both won by the player with the higher total sum in their prison), the player whose winning sum is higher is the winner of the match.  If the two sums are the same, the two players tie.

Solitaire Rules:  In the 1-player version of the game, the goal of the solitaire player (You) is to achieve a winning condition before the robot opponent (whose name is Dex) does.  You and Dex have different winning conditions and operate using different rules.

The solitaire game uses a 32 card deck, formed by removing the 9’s from the 2-player deck and putting them out of play.  Begin the setup by placing the first two cards of the deck face up into Dex’s Prison.  If the second card is the same rank or the same suit as the first card, set it aside and keep dealing cards until one with both a different rank and suit than the first card is exposed.  Place that last card as the second card of Dex’s Prison and shuffle the other cards back into the deck.  Deal yourself a 9-card hand and Dex a 7-card hand.  You can look at Dex’s hand, then shuffle it and set it aside.  Deal out the remaining cards into 7 face-up groups of two cards each.  These are the target cards of the 7 tricks of the game (not 8, as in the 2-player game), which will be played for in the order they were dealt.  To finish the setup, choose one of the cards from your hand and place it as the first card of your Prison.  Then choose one of your remaining cards and add it to Dex’s Prison.  Thus, at the start of the game, you have one card in your Prison and Dex has 3 cards in his Prison, while you both have 7 card hands.

Each trick is played in turn, beginning with playing for the first pair of target cards dealt and continuing in order.  To play a trick, first look at the two target cards and determine which one Dex prefers.  Use the following procedure to find his preference:

1. His first preference is the card of the rank of which he has more of in his Prison. Thus, if the two cards are the 7 of Spades and the 3 of Diamonds and he has one 3 and no 7’s in his Prison, he prefers the 3.
   
   
2. If Dex has the same number of cards of the two ranks in his Prison (or if both cards are of the same rank), then he prefers the card of the suit of which he has more of in his Prison.
   
   
3. Finally, if he still has no preference between the two cards, he prefers the card of the higher rank. (Remember, if two cards have the same numerical rank, use the order of the suits:  Spades > Hearts > Diamonds > Clubs.)
   
   
4. The is one exception to these rules. If one of the trick’s two cards will allow you to win the game, then Dex’s preference is that card, regardless of what the other rules say (he may be an automaton, but he’s not stupid!).

Once you’ve determined Dex’s preference, it’s time to play cards to the trick.  Play the card of your choice from your hand.  To find Dex’s play, take the top two cards from his hand, reveal them, and choose the higher ranked one.  Place the lower ranked card aside for now.  Compare the card you’ve played with Dex’s.  If his is higher, add his preferred target card to his Prison, while you take the other card and put it in your Prison.  If your card is higher, add the target card of your choice to your Prison, and place the other card in Dex’s Prison.  Note that there’s nothing like following suit in the solitaire game—the only thing that matters is which card is ranked higher.  Regardless of the outcome of the trick, add the card you played to Dex’s Prison, while the card Dex played is added to your Prison, just as in the 2-player game.

At the end of every trick, check to see if a winning condition has been met.  In order for you to win, you must have either four cards of the same rank or six cards of the same suit (not seven, as in the 2-player game) in your Prison.  In order for Dex to win, he only needs three cards of the same rank or five cards of the same suit in his Prison.  If both players achieve winning conditions on the same turn, use the same tiebreaking rules as in the 2-player game to determine if you’ve won or lost the game.

Follow the procedure given above to play to the first three tricks.  If the game hasn’t ended by that time, take the three cards you set aside from Dex’s hand (the three lower cards from his trick plays), add the remaining unplayed card from his hand, and shuffle them together.  Use these four cards to determine Dex’s play for the next two tricks (two cards apiece and use the higher of the two, just as with the first three tricks).  If the game still hasn’t ended, take the two lower cards from these two tricks; the higher of these will be Dex’s play to Trick 6.  The remaining card will be his play to Trick 7.

Obviously, if you achieve your winning condition before Dex does, you win and if he achieves his winning condition before you do, you lose.  Because of the nature of Dex’s winning conditions, he must achieve one of them after the seventh trick, so the game will never have to be decided by summing up the values of the cards in the Prisons.

 

Designer Notes
The inspiration for Double Exposure (DE) was a 100 year old design in the public domain called Mate, which is the first game described in Sid Sackson’s marvelous book, A Gamut of Games.  Like DE, Mate is a game of near perfect information where the players use trick-taking to try to meet their goal.  I liked how each hand of Mate gave both players a puzzle that they had to try to solve better than their opponent, so DE is my attempt to come up with something similar.  However, that’s pretty much where the similarities end; the trick-taking mechanics aren’t the same in the two games and what the players are trying to achieve in Mate is completely different than the goal in DE.

The key rule in DE is that the card you play to the trick goes into your opponent’s display, and not your own.  That’s the principal source of the game’s tension—you’d like to win tricks, to give yourself the first pick of the two available target cards, but you also have to be careful of giving your opponent a critical card which might let them form a winning meld earlier than yours.  Basically, almost every card in your starting hand will wind up in your opponent’s prison; however, you control when those cards will go there, so you have to formulate a plan which best threads the needle to let you win.  Of course, your opponent knows what cards you start with and you know what their cards are, so it’s a battle of wits to get to a winning combination first.

Once I came up with that concept, the rest of the design fell into place relatively quickly.  I’m really not sure why I decided that cards of the same color as the led card were eligible to win the trick, as opposed to the same suit (which is obviously much more common), but the rule was there from the beginning.  I think I sensed that, because players had to be so careful when they played certain cards, I needed to give them more ways of winning a trick and not overly restrict them.  Whatever my thinking, my instincts proved to be correct and that procedure never had to be changed.

The types of melds needed to win were also pretty much there from the start.  Not that they represent particularly innovative thinking—having groups of cards with the ranks or suits in common is the obvious choice.  I began with the winning melds being four-of-a-kind and a sequence of some length.  But while obtaining a four-of-a-kind proved to have the sort of difficulty I was looking for, having to make a sequence turned out to be too restrictive.  So I switched to the concept of a flush.  Then, it was just a matter of figuring out how many cards of the same suit I wanted the players to have to gather; my goal was for the meld to be about as difficult to achieve as a four-of-a-kind, but to be a little bit easier.

Starting out by placing a card face down into your prison was something I cheerfully stole from Mate (it’s only an optional play in that game).  I wanted to introduce just a tiny bit of uncertainty into my game and I liked the way it provided that in Mate.  However, the placement serves a much more important role in DE because that card is the only one from your hand that will go into your prison and not your opponent’s.  Obviously, that makes it a vital decision, particularly since the card will be there from the beginning to help you form a winning meld (and block your opponent from doing so).

The luck of the deal isn’t as great as you’d expect, because while higher ranking cards let you win more tricks, they will also be more valuable for your opponent when you have to add them to their prison.  Still, there’s no question that some hands are better than others.  That’s why I included the “Duplicate” variant.  Something like that is also found in the rules for Mate, where the two players switch hands for a second game and the higher score wins.  It’s never actually been playtested for DE, but it’s a natural extension of its ideas and I expect it would be a lot of fun to play with two serious players.

Originally, Double Exposure was strictly a 2-player game.  About 5 years ago, there was an explosion in the hobby of solitaire variants for multiplayer games, and suddenly providing 1 player rules for these designs became de rigueur.  I had never created a solitaire game before, but it seemed like an enjoyable challenge, so I took a shot at it.  The rules I came up with aren’t nearly as challenging as for the 2-player game (it would be hard to emulate a thinking opponent for something like this), but they do have something of the feel of the original and make for a nice little puzzle to solve that’s fun to play.  It’s meant to be more of a quick solitaire game when you have a few minutes to spare, rather than a brainbusting challenge.

I’ve really enjoyed my games of Double Exposure and my opponents seemed to have as well.  With all of the information available and the level of planning required to play well, it’s the kind of a game that suits my tastes, even if it isn’t necessarily an ideal match for my skills.  I regret that it’s taken me this long to get around to writing this article—publicizing my own creations is definitely not my strong suit.  But hopefully, some of you will take the time to try this out.  If you have any questions, comments, suggestions for improvement, or anything else, please either leave a note here or at the game’s entry on the Geek:  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/432507/double-exposure.  Thanks, and may your first exposure to Double Exposure be a pleasurable one!