Karma

About this board game

Karma is a card game for 2–6 players that plays in about 20 minutes, with each player racing to get rid of all their cards. Released in 2014, it is based on the public domain card game Palace.

At the start, each player receives three face-down cards that stay on the table and cannot be viewed. Players then receive six more cards, choose three for their hand, and place the remaining three face-up onto their table cards in three separate stacks.

On a turn, a player plays a card or a group of cards with the same value onto the discard pile. The next player must play cards of the same value or a value that matches or exceeds the top card of the pile—or pick up the entire discard stack.

• Hand cards must be played before any face-up table cards.
• Face-up table cards must be played before face-down table cards.
• Until the draw pile is empty, players draw at the end of their turns to maintain a hand of at least three cards.
• A few cards can break the usual play rules.

Once a player has used every card in their hand, they move on to their face-up table cards. After those are gone, they must play their face-down cards, adding uncertainty to the final stage of the game.

The game ends with a distinctive reversal of the usual goal: the last player still holding cards loses. With hidden information, changing card access, and a discard pile that can force a difficult pickup, Karma creates a compact contest of timing and risk.