Qwirkle Cards

About this board game

Qwirkle Cards is a 20-minute card game for 2–4 players about laying down, rearranging, and completing sets to claim qwirkles.

The game uses a 108-card deck. Each card shows a colored symbol, with six symbols appearing three times in each of six colors. Players begin with a hand of nine cards, and the player with the most cards of one symbol or one color, without duplicates, starts by placing those cards face up as a set.

On each turn, a player must add at least one card to the table. Cards played during a turn must share a color or a symbol. A player may create a new set by playing at least three cards, add cards to existing sets without duplicating a color or symbol, or do both.

The flexible table layout is central to Qwirkle Cards. During a turn, players can move cards from one set to another, potentially combining those cards with newly played cards to form a new set. If a player cannot add a card, they draw nine new cards, shuffle their old hand into the deck, and then play.

The main objective is to create a qwirkle: a six-card set containing every symbol in a single color or every color in a single symbol. When a player creates one, they claim the set from the table. After each turn, the player refills their hand to nine cards.

Play continues until the deck runs out. Each player then takes one final turn, including the player who drew the last card. Whoever has claimed the most qwirkles wins, making every rearrangement and completed set count toward the final result.