How to Play Cover Your Assets: Complete Instructions Guide

If you’re looking for a quick card game that’s sure to be a hit, Cover Your Assets is the perfect thing to play with your friends. During the game, you’ll collect cards showing different valuable assets and try to earn the highest score, but other players may steal them from you. This game is easy to learn and has tons of variations and strategies, so keep reading to learn all the rules to get started!

Cover Your Assets Game Objective

Try to be the first player to reach $1,000,000 from collecting Asset cards. To earn money in the game, play 2 matching Assets from your hand to add their value to your score. You may also steal the top Asset from your opponent by playing a matching card.

Section 1 of 9:

Basic Setup

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1
Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards to each player. Randomly choose someone to be the first dealer. Take all of the Assets cards as well as the Silver and Gold Wild cards, and shuffle them together . Once they’re mixed up thoroughly, deal the cards one at a time to the players until each person has 5 cards. ^{[1]
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- You can look at the cards in your hand, but keep them secret from all the other players.
- Set aside the Swap, Move, and Penny Jar cards the first few times you play. Once you’re familiar with the game, try them out using the Advanced rules .
- The basic rules for Cover Your Assets are best with 4–6 people. If you’re playing a 2-player or 3-player game, we’ll cover the rules changes later.
Set what's left of the deck of cards in the middle of the table so everybody can reach it. Take the top card and set it face-up next to the deck to form the discard pile. After that, you’re ready to start the game. ^{[2]
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Section 2 of 9:

Taking a Turn

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Choose 1 action to take on your turn. The player to the left of the dealer takes the first turn of the game. During a turn, you can only do 1 of the following actions. We’ll cover each action in detail in the next few steps. ^{[3]
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- Form a set with a matching pair of cards
- Discard a card from your hand
- Challenge another player to steal their cards
2
Action option 1: Play a pair of identical cards to form a set. You may either use 2 identical Asset cards from your hand, or the top card of the discard pile and a matching Asset from your hand. Set the cards in a face-up pile in front of you, which is also known as your Stack . ^{[4]
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- You may use a Silver or Gold Wild in place of one card when you’re forming a set. When you put the cards in your Stack, place the Asset on top.
- When you form sets on later turns, alternate placing the cards horizontally and vertically to keep the sets separate.
3
Action option 2: Discard a card to get rid of cards in your hand. If you don’t like a card in your hand, take the discard action to put it on top of the discard pile. You may choose any card in your hand to discard. ^{[5]
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- The card you discard now becomes available to the next player and they can use it to form a set on their turn.
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Action option 3: Challenge another player to steal their top set. You may challenge another player once you’ve played a set to your Stack. Choose the player you want to steal from, and play either a Wild or an Asset card that matches the top card of their Stack. That player may protect themselves by playing another Wild or identical card. You may both keep playing identical cards or Wilds to challenge and defend until you cannot play or choose to stop. ^{[6]
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- Whoever played the last card gains the set and all the cards that were used in the challenge. Stack all of the cards together into a single set in the Stack.
- You cannot challenge another player if they only have 1 set in their Stack.
5
After your turn, draw back up to 5 cards to refill your hand. No matter what action you took during your turn, draw cards from the deck until you have 5 cards in your hand again. After you finish your turn, the next player to the left takes their turn and so on. ^{[7]
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- If another player played cards during a challenge, they also draw from the deck to refill their hand to 5 cards.

Section 3 of 9:

Ending a Round and Scoring

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Finish the round when the deck is empty and players run out of cards. Play continues clockwise around the table and keeps going until the deck is empty. After that, players must play the cards that are in their hand. After everyone is out of cards, the round ends. ^{[8]
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- Some players may stay in a round longer than others based on the actions they play. Even if you play all of your cards, another player can challenge you to steal the top set from your Stack.
2
Add the value of the cards in your stack to your score. Each Asset and Wild has a value printed at the top of the card. Sort through the cards in your stack, and tally up the total value of them. Write your score down on a piece of paper or score sheet. ^{[9]
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- Separate your cards into stacks of $100,000 so they’re easier to track and count.

Section 4 of 9:

Winning the Game

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Play rounds until a player scores a total of $1,000,000. As soon as a player reaches $1,000,000, they’re the winner! If no one reaches that score during the first round, the player to the left of the first dealer becomes the next dealer. Shuffle and deal the cards out to start a new round. ^{[10]
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- It usually takes 4-5 rounds for a player to reach $1,000,000. If you want a quicker game, then only play 1 or 3 rounds and whoever has the highest score wins.
- Alternatively, you may score rounds individually. Once a player has had the highest total in 2 separate rounds, they win!

Section 5 of 9:

Cover Your Assets: Advanced Rules

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Include the Swap, Move, and Penny Jar cards in the deck. Swap and Move are new one-time-use action cards that quickly change gameplay, and the Penny Jar is a Wild card that’s more powerful. Shuffle the new cards in with all the cards from the basic game. ^{[11]
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- When you play Swap , switch the top set of your Stack with the top set of another player’s Stack.
- When you play Move , choose yourself or any player. Move the top set of the chosen person’s Stack to the bottom or move the bottom set to the top.
- Penny Jars work the same as other Wild cards when you form a set, but they’re worth 2 Wild cards during a challenge. To defend or challenge a Penny Jar, a player must play 2 Assets, 2 Wilds, an Asset and a Wild, or another Penny Jar.
2
Deal and draw up to 6 cards in your hand. After you shuffle the cards, deal out 6 cards to each player instead of 5. At the end of a turn, always draw cards until you have 6 in your hand. ^{[12]
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- Having more cards in your hand gives you more strategic options for what to play on your turn.
3
Take up to 2 actions during your turn. You may take the same action twice, or do 2 different actions. In addition to the actions from the basic game, you can Improve a Set by playing a matching Asset to the top set on your Stack, or Play an Action to use Move or Swap. ^{[13]
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- If you don’t want to take a second action, you can finish your turn after the first one.
- If you challenge another player as your first action and lose, you cannot challenge the same player again.
- You cannot draw cards until the end of your turn. However, if you take the discard action first, you can draw back up to 6 cards right away.
If you see Assets you want just below the top set in someone’s stack, you may play 2 matching Assets, 2 Wilds, 1 Asset and 1 Wild, or a Penny Jar to try stealing it. The player you challenge only has to play 1 card to defend. ^{[14]
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Section 6 of 9:

Rule Changes for 2 Players

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Deal 3 facedown draft piles each with 10 cards. Remove 8 cabins, 2 Silver, and 1 Gold from the deck before shuffling and dealing. ^{[15]
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- After forming the piles, deal 6 cards to each player.
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Match a card to ones on the piles to draft a set. In addition to the basic actions, you may play an Asset or Wild card from your hand that matches a card on top of at least one draft pile. Collect all of the matching cards to form a set. However, your opponent can immediately challenge the new set. Whoever wins the challenge takes the new set and all the cards used in the challenge. ^{[17]
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- After taking a card from a draft pile, flip over the next card.
- If you’re playing with Advanced Rules and an action card is revealed in a draft pile, it affects both players. For a Move action, your opponent chooses whether you move your top set or your bottom set. ^{[18]
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Section 7 of 9:

Rule Changes for 3 Players

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Deal a draft pile of 10 cards face-down between each player. Shuffle all of the cards in the deck, and deal out the 3 draft piles. Flip over the top card of each draft pile so they’re visible and available to the players. ^{[19]
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- After you deal out the draft piles, deal 5 cards to each player.
2
Match a card to the top card of a pile next to you to draft a set. On your turn, you may play a Wild or Asset that matches the top card on the draft piles to your left and right to form a set. The other player sitting next to the pile can play a card from their hand to challenge you for the set. Whoever plays the last card in the challenge wins the set and any cards other played cards. ^{[20]
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- You cannot use the third draft pile that’s between the other 2 players to form a set.
- If an action card gets revealed in a draft pile, the 2 players next to the pile must immediately take the action. For a Move action, you choose whether your opponent moves the top or bottom set in their Stack.

Section 8 of 9:

Strategies

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Even though you may be tempted to wait for more valuable cards to form your first set, it may slow down the rest of your game. If you can form a set during your first hand, play it right away so you can start stealing from other people. ^{[21]
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If you played a pair of Assets that’s worth a lot of money, rush to play another set on top of it. Remember that other players can only try to steal the top set from your pile, so stacking more sets on top keeps your valuable cards protected. ^{[22]
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Wait to challenge another player until you have a pair of identical cards or a backup Wild card in your hand. If the other player defends themselves, you can immediately challenge them again for a better chance at winning. ^{[23]
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Pay attention to what cards everyone plays and keep a running total in the back of your head. If you know that there are a lot of copies still in the deck, sets of those cards are more likely to be stolen by another player. If there are only 1 or 2 cards left, you may be safer playing them in a set. ^{[24]
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Even though it can be tempting to use a Wild card right away, try to keep one in your hand for when the deck runs out. That way, you can easily play it to challenge another player and they may be less likely to defend against it. ^{[25]
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Section 9 of 9:

FAQ

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Yes, you can! Whenever you discard a Swap or Move card, set it in a separate pile from the discard so they’re out of the game completely.
No, you can’t. Whenever you want to challenge another player, you must use an Asset or Wild card that’s already in your hand.
Yes, you can! You can still play a Swap card if you or the other player has only played one set. The first set just can’t be challenged or stolen by another player.

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How to Play Cover Your Assets: Complete Instructions Guide

Cover Your Assets Game Objective

Steps

Basic Setup

Taking a Turn

Ending a Round and Scoring

Winning the Game

Cover Your Assets: Advanced Rules

Rule Changes for 2 Players

Rule Changes for 3 Players

Strategies

FAQ

Expert Q&A

Video

Tips

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References

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