Hands Down was a game once sold by Milton Bradley. If you have a copy of the game but don't know how to play, this wikiHow will teach you the rules.
Steps
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Gather your supplies and players. Your game will come with a Hands Up Slam-o-Matic unit and a deck of 41 special cards numbered 1-10 (4 identical cards of each number exist) and one joker card. You'll also need to gather at least 1 other person (up to 4) to make this game enjoyable.
- The first time you play this game, you'll need to place the rubber feet to the underside of the plastic Slam-o-Matic "gameboard".
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Choose a dealer and have this person deal 4 cards face-down to each of the players. If it is just you and someone else, you can take turns.Advertisement
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Form a draw pile from each of the remaining cards. Keep it near all players.
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Take a look at your cards. Keep in mind the matches in your hand, but don't disperse them before taking your first turn.
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Draw the top card from the pile and drop it into your own hand of cards. Look for any additional matches caused by this draw of cards. Even if you have matches in your hand, you must draw the next card to begin your turn.
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Drop a Hands Down if you found a match. Call out "Hands down" and push down your colored hand directly in front of you. Then place those cards down on the table as the "done" cards for scoring later.
- Don't ever put your hand down on the machine's hands when you are looking to find matches, or if you are preparing to call the Hands Down until it is time to call it.
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Recognize what must follow suit during a Hands Down. When a Hands Down is called, on top of the "Hands down dropper" keeping their paddle down, all remaining players must - in turn - slap down their colored hand paddles. The hand on top is considered to have lost that Hands Down battle, but the game isn't done.
- By looking in the center of the unit, the color of the paddle will mark who marked the unit last. These paddles may differ in color from year to year's models some, but generally, have single colors that vary on common colors.
- Play doesn't end until all paddles of the remaining players have slapped their paddles during a Hands Down event. Likewise, if all the paddles clump together so no one can tell who was last to push their hand down, this Hands Down event won't count.
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Place the pair out in front of you. Take one random card from the "loser's" hand from the last Hands Down event and place it into your pile then the play continues to the next player.
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Say Pass to end your turn, or if you only have one card in your hand.
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Repeat this turn process, from them drawing the card onwards or until the draw pile runs out.
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Fake a Hands Down from time to time. Fake by making a move as if you are about to touch your Hands Down machine's hand without actually touching it; see if anyone isn't quick enough to respond to your faked hands down. People who touch their paddles must lose one card.
- Do not fake on all turns. Randomize your fakes.
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Remedy a finished draw pile. Begin each turn by pulling only one card from one of each of the other player's hands.
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End the game once only the person holding the Joker is the only one holding any cards. This Joker-holder can place this card in their own scoring area, and the play ends.
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Score the game to find out who wins. Count up your pairs. Each pair counts as one point. The Joker counts as two points. The player with the most pairs or highest total wins the game.
- If the scores remain tied, one pair of numerical cards count as the number on the cards, with the Joker counting as a whopping 20 points. The highest total then wins the game.
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