Welcome to the Ratcity Casino! Here, rats, weasels and rodents of all kinds gather to play Ratjack. Paws are sweaty, whiskers are quivering, the cards are dealt...it's your turn to play.
Each deck in Ratjack has twelve cards with values from 1 to 12, each with a special ability. A central draw pile is created by shuffling together two of the four decks of the game, each of them with different card actions. Players start with a card face down in front of them and a single card in hand. On their turn, they draw a single card from the central deck, then:
Play a card face down in front of them,
Play a card face up in front of them and activate its ability, or
Discard a card to flip over one of their face-down cards and activate its ability.
At any point in the game, a player with more than 25 in value in front of them is taken out. Card abilities are interactive effects that allow players to manipulate cards and their value. Players earn points by taking out their opponents — try to be the last player standing or reach 25 exactly!
—description from the publisher