1) A player cannot place a card in front of herself, but must place her card in front of another
player.
2) A player cannot place a card in front of someone who already has two cards.
Card Game Rules
INTRODUCTION
The Hunger Games: Jabberjay is a social card game for 5-12 players (an
alternate game on page 2 can be played with 2-4 players). Each player
represents a District Citizen or a Capitol Citizen whose identity remains
secret during most of the game.
Players play Status Cards on each other in an attempt to discover one
another’s identities, and ultimately to force their opponents to flee to
safety. Play continues until all the District Citizens have been revealed or
have fled (in which case the Capitol Citizens win), or the District Citizens
have overcome enough Capitol Citizens to claim victory.
Components
STATUS
CARD
39 Status Cards: The Status Cards are
used by the players to interact with one
another during every hand. A player’s Status
changes each turn depending on what cards
have been played on her.
Set Up
Once each player’s Status has been established, all cards that are not being used to mark
Player Statuses are returned to the center of the table.
The current dealer then passes the Justice Building Card to the player on her left. That
player becomes the new dealer and picks up all the Status Cards that have been returned
to the center of the table. She shuffles those cards together with the deck and starts a new
hand by dealing two cards to each player, one face down and one face up.
Each Status Card features a Rank from 1-5. At the start of the
game, since no one has any Status Cards in front of them, their
Status is considered “Ignored” (Rank 1).
When a player reveals the two cards that have been played on
her, she first checks to see if the cards have the same Rank.
If they have the same Rank, then one of them is returned to
the center of the table. If they do not have the same Rank, she
returns the card with the lower Rank to the center of the table.
The remaining card becomes her new Status.
JUSTICE
BUILDING
CARD
ROLE
CARDS
One player is in charge of set up. She separates the 12 Role Cards into two piles according
to their face up identities: District Citizens (has photo) or Capitol Citizens (gray). She turns
the two piles face down and places a number of face down District Citizens and face down
Capitol Citizens into a third pile, according to this chart:
Number of Players
Number of District
Citizens Cards
Number of Capitol
Citizens Cards
After this process has finished, every player simultaneously turns and takes the two cards
that have been played in front of the player to her left, shuffles them together, and returns
them face down in front of that player. Afterwards, every player in order, starting with the
dealer and continuing clockwise around the table, reveals the two cards that have been
placed in front of them. As the cards are revealed, they will determine the player’s new
Status (see Player Status). A player’s Status is marked by placing the appropriate Status
Card face up on top of the player’s Role Card. Any card that was previously being used to
mark the player’s Status is returned to the center of the table.
Player Status
12 Role Cards: At the start of the game, the
players each receive a secret Role Card
that identifies them as a District Citizen or a
Capitol Citizen.
1 Justice Building Card: The Justice Building
Card is placed in front of the dealer of the
current hand.
3) If the last player cannot place her second card (because all the other players have two
cards in front of them), she returns her second card to the center of the table, and also
returns the card played in front of her face down to the center. The last player’s Status will
not change during this hand.
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4
3
4
4
5
6
6
7
8
She returns any cards that were not placed in the new pile back in the box. Next, she shuffles
the new pile and deals one Role Card face down to each player (including herself). Each
player then picks up and inspects her Role Card, being careful not to reveal her identity.
The set up player now instructs all players to close their eyes. After about 5 seconds, she
announces that everyone who is a District Citizen should open their eyes and glance around
the table to identify the other District Citizens. If the set up player was not dealt a District
Citizen card, she simply gives these instructions with her eyes closed. After 10 seconds,
she instructs the District Citizens to close their eyes again, and then tells everyone to open
their eyes. In this way, the District Citizens will all know each other, but the Capitol Citizens
will not.
Finally, the set up player places the Justice Building Card on the table in front of her,
signifying that she is the first dealer.
Playing the Game
At the start of each hand, the dealer shuffles the Status Cards and deals two to each player,
one face down and one face up. After every player has a chance to see the other players’
face up cards, they pick up their hand of two cards and hide them from their opponents.
Players may freely discuss the cards in their hands, but cannot physically reveal their cards
to each other. In this way, players will never be sure whether a player is lying or telling the
truth about the contents of her hand.
The dealer then places one of her two cards face down in front of another player, above that
player’s face down Role Card.
Then the player to the dealer’s left does the same. This continues around the table twice,
until each player has played both of her cards face down in front of other players. When
placing cards in front of other players, the following three rules must be followed:
Card
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
Player
Status
Ignored
Accused
Exposed
Hidden
Fled
The Rank on the player’s previous Status is not a factor when determining the player’s
new Status. For example, a player receives an Ignored Card (Rank 1) and an Accused
Card (Rank 2). She returns the Ignored Card (since it’s a lower Rank), and her new Status
is Accused. Her old Status Card was Hidden (Rank 4), but the card is still returned to the
center of the table.
The one exception to this rule is the Fled Status (Rank 5). If the player’s previous Status was
“Ignored” or “Hidden,” then the Fled card is discarded and the player follows the instructions
on the other card that was played on her instead (if both cards were “Fled”, then both are
discarded and the player’s Status does not change). However, if the player’s previous Status
was “Accused” or “Exposed,” the player’s new Status is “Fled” (see below).
Fled: Any player whose new Status is “Fled” is defeated. That player must reveal her Role
Card and then place it face up in the center of the table, separate from the normal discard
pile. The defeated player will now only participate in a limited fashion (see Defeated Players
below). All of the defeated player’s Status Cards are returned to the center (including the
“Fled” card).
Exposed: When a player’s new Status is “Exposed,” and her previous Status was also
Exposed, that player must now reveal her Role Card by flipping it face up; it can never be
flipped face down again. The player is still in the game, however, and is not considered
defeated.
Defeated Players
A player whose Status is “Accused” or “Exposed” can be defeated by the “Fled” card. She
may continue to converse with the other players, and may still win if her team wins, but she
does not play cards normally during each hand.
A defeated District Citizen is no longer dealt any cards.
A defeated Capitol Citizen is still dealt one face down card during each hand. She must then
decide either to pass this card face down to another player of her choice, or to return the
card face down to the center of the table. If she passes the card to another player, that player
must then discard one card of her choice from her hand face down to the center of the table.
Winning the Game
Capitol Citizens: If at any time all the District Citizen Role Cards have been flipped
face up (either from being “Exposed” two turns in a row, or from being defeated
by the “Fled” Status), then the Capitol Citizens win the game. This happens
immediately, even if the hand is not yet over.
District Citizens: At the end of any hand in which there are at least two more
defeated Capitol Citizen cards in the center of the table than defeated District Citizen
cards in the center of the table, the District Citizens win the game. For example,
at the end of a hand, there are three defeated Capitol Citizens and one defeated
District Citizen in the center of the table. Since there are two more defeated Capitol
Citizens than District Citizens, the District Citizens win the game.
PAGE 1
The Hunger Games: Jabberjay For 2 - 4 Players
The Hunger Games: Jabberjay features an alternate game for 2-4 players using the same
components as the full game. In the alternate game, the players work together to protect
the District Citizens from being discovered by the Peacekeepers.
Components
Role Cards: District Citizens and Capitol
Citizens are placed face up in the center
of the table. The players must protect the
District Citizens from being defeated.
STATUS
CARD
39 Status Cards: The Status Cards are
played to change the Status of the District
and Capitol Citizens throughout the game.
1 Justice Building Card: The Justice
Building Card is placed in front of the dealer
of the current hand.
Set Up
ROLE
CARDS
JUSTICE
BUILDING
CARD
1) The oldest player is the starting dealer and places the Justice Building Card on the table
in front of her.
2) The dealer places 8 Role Cards (4 District Citizens and 4 Capitol Citizens) face up in
the center of the table, with each card separated from the next so that the players can play
Status Cards beside them.
When the players reveal the cards that have been played beside a particular Role Card, they
keep the card with the highest Rank and discard the rest face up beside the Status Deck. If
more than one card with the same Rank is revealed beside the same character, then only
one of those cards remains.
For example, Katniss’s Role Card is in the
center of the table. The three cards that have
been placed beside her are Ignored (Rank
1), Exposed (Rank 3), and Exposed (Rank
3). Since Exposed has the highest Rank, one
copy of Exposed is retained and the other
two cards are discarded. The Rank on the
character’s previous Status is not a factor
when determining the character’s new Status.
For example, a Capitol Citizen receives an
Ignored Card (Rank 1) and an Accused Card
(Rank 2). The character returns the Ignored
Card (since it’s a lower Rank), and her new
Status is Accused. Her old Status Card was
Hidden (Rank 4), but the card is still returned
to the center of the table.
NEW
status
old
status
NEW
status
The one exception to this rule is the Fled Status (Rank 5). If the character’s previous Status
was “Ignored” or “Hidden,” then the Fled Card is discarded and the character is affected by
the next highest Status Card instead (if all cards were “Fled”, then all are discarded and the
character’s Status does not change).
Fled: If the character receives the Fled Status and her previous Status was “Accused” or
“Exposed,” the character is defeated. Place the character’s Role Card off to the side (out of
play) and discard all Status Cards that were placed beside it. Note: Both District Citizens and
Capitol Citizens can be defeated by a Fled Card.
Exposed: When a District Citizen becomes Exposed and her previous Status was also
Exposed, that District Citizen is now defeated. Place her Role Card off to the side (out of
play) and discard all Status Cards that were placed beside her. If the character was a Capitol
Citizen, however, then she remains in play even if she was Exposed twice in a row.
Table Talk
3) The dealer removes 3 “Hidden” Cards and 1 “Fled” Card from the Status Deck and returns
them to the box. She then shuffles the Status Deck and places it face down in front of her.
Playing the Game
At the start of each hand, the dealer deals Status Cards face down to all of the players. She
deals the first card to herself, and then deals additional cards out one at a time to the other
players in clockwise order, continuing around the table until the total number of cards dealt
is equal to the number of Role Cards left in the center of the table.
For example, at the start of a 4 player game, the dealer would keep dealing cards around the
table until each player had 2 cards, for a total of 8 cards dealt (since there are 8 Role Cards in
the center of the table). If one of the Role Cards in the center is removed from play, the dealer
would only deal out 7 cards (the last player would end up with only 1 card).
Once the Status Cards have been dealt to the players in this fashion, the players pick up
their hand of cards and examine them. Players are not permitted to physically show their
cards to one another, but they can discuss their hands in a limited fashion (see Table Talk).
The current dealer then plays one card from her hand face down beside either a District
Citizen or a Capitol Citizen. The player to her left then places a card face down beside a
different Role Card (one without a face down card beside it), and so on clockwise around the
table until all the Role Cards have exactly one Status Card played face down beside them,
at which point the players’ hands should be empty.
Afterwards, the dealer deals cards face down from the top of the Status Deck beside each
Role Card; this represents the efforts of the Peacekeepers to discover the District Citizens.
The dealer deals two Status Cards face down beside each District Citizen, and one Status
Card face down beside each Capitol Citizen.
The players as a group then reveal all the cards that have been played face down beside
each Role Card. The Status Cards that have been played beside a particular Role Card will
determine that character’s new Status. As detailed below, one of the Status Cards is used to
mark the character’s Status while the others are discarded face up beside the Status Deck.
The Status Card marking each character’s Status is placed face up below its corresponding
Role Card, slightly overlapping it so that the name of the character can still be seen. If
another Status Card had previously marked that character’s Status, the old Status Card is
discarded face up beside the Status Deck.
Player Status
Each Status Card features a Rank from 1-5. At the start of the game, since no one has any
cards in front of them, all characters are considered “Ignored” (Rank 1).
Since the players are working together, they should try to coordinate where they are playing
their cards. However, these are dangerous times and the Capitol has spies around every
corner! Therefore, the players are limited in how much information they can communicate at
one time. Players cannot mention what cards are in their hands until it is their turn to act, and
even then they can only identify one card in their hands. Alternatively, a player can mention
one card that she does not have in her hand (e.g. “I don’t have a Fled card in my hand!”)
Since players are forbidden to physically reveal their cards, they must work together within
these restrictions to try to save the District Citizens.
Ending the Hand
After all the characters’ Statuses have been determined, the players check to see if one of
the following has occurred:
1) All the District Citizens have been defeated
2) All the Capitol Citizens have been defeated
3) The total number of defeated citizens (both District and Capitol) is equal to 5 or more
If one of these situations has occurred, the game ends and the players determine if they
have won the game (see Winning the Game below).
If the game is not over, the dealer passes the Justice Building Card to the player on her left.
The new dealer shuffles all the Status Cards together, including those in the Status Deck
and its discard pile (but not those being used to mark the characters’ Statuses). She then
deals the next hand of cards (see Playing the Game).
Winning the Game
At the end of any hand in which all of the citizens on one side are defeated, or any hand
in which there are 5 or more total defeated characters, the game ends and the players
determine whether or not they have won the game.
Player Victory: If the number of remaining District Citizens is greater than the
number of remaining Capitol Citizens, the players have won the game!
Player Defeat: If the number of remaining District Citizens is equal to or less than
the number of remaining Capitol Citizens, then the players have the lost the game and
must try to save the District Citizens by playing again!
Credits
Game Design: Andrew Parks, Christopher Guild, Bryan Kinsella
Additional Game Development: Stephen Buonocore, Bas Debbink, Michael
Gradin, Norman Hill, Robert Lardiere, Gabrielle Moore, Manny O’Donnell,
Christopher Parks, Bill Reeves, Sara Sterphone, Ada Terrizzi, Kyle Volker,
Catherine Weresow
Playtesters: Keith Bobash, Larry Chong, Geoff Engelstein, Chuck Kleinberg,
Chad Mekash, Andrew Morris, Emma Parks, Jamie Parks, Julia Parks, Kathy
Parks, Molly Parks, Sarah Parks, John Wolff
Graphic Design: Chris Raimo
PAGE 2