Introduction

Uh oh! Master Pickpocket Lizzie Smithson’s rent is due! If she doesn’t pay it, she’ll be short one living space! She needs to pay her rent, but she has only one life skill: That’s right, picking pockets! Pick enough pockets to pay your rent!

Objective

One Armed Robbery is a single player score attack game, designed to be played without the use of a table (You can play it on the bus, on the plane, in bed, etc.). Your goal is to score as many points as possible, or at least as many as you need to pay off your landlord and possibly your friends’ landlords. To do this, you must commit acts of theft, for which you are rewarded with points. You must avoid getting evicted by your landlord while doing so.

Components You’ll Need:

This version of the game is designed to be played with specific pieces of a standard Poker deck. To get the components you need, acquire a deck of cards, and extract all cards except for:

1. 2 Ace Cards (Any suit)
2. 2 Twos
3. 2 Threes
4. 2 Fours
5. 2 Fives
6. 2 Face Cards–these cards will represent your landlord, as well as the game’s only loss condition. You can alternatively add a THIRD Face card, if you want an extra challenge!

You will need only those cards to play the game–set the other cards to the side, and read on.

NOTE: Three of the numbered card ranks have special properties, as listed in the rules–I know it’s annoying, but you’re just going to have to memorize them, OR you can write down the special rules on the cards themselves, if you wish.

Setup

• Shuffle the deck and hold it face down in your hand.
• Draw the top card.
• Hold it face up in your hand next to the facedown deck. (See figure 1).

Taking a Turn

1: Draw the TOP CARD of the deck and choose one of the following options:

OPTION I: PLACE THE CARD FACE UP IN YOUR HAND following these rules:

1. The card must be placed in your hand as far away from the facedown deck as possible.
2. If it is the only face up card in your hand it will be placed right next to the facedown deck.
3. If you place the card in your hand you may ELIMINATE another face up card in your hand (see ELIMINATING CARDS below).
4. You may have a maximum of 5 face up cards in your hand. If you wish to play a sixth face up card you must first eliminate one from your hand.

OPTION II: RESERVE THE CARD TO PLAY LATER

1. You can RESERVE any card.
2. Put the card anywhere you can easily access it (lap, pocket, table, etc.).
3. You may PLAY the card whenever you want, as long as no other actions are taking place.
4. You may only have one card RESERVED at a time
5. Upon drawing a numbered card of Rank 3, you MUST play the RESERVED card after playing it.

2. You can PICK A POCKET (if able) following these rules:

• Two numbered cards of the same rank must be directly next to each other, face up, in your hand. Once this is accomplished, the pocket is automatically picked, whether you wanted to or not.
• IE: You may pick the pocket of a diamond/hearts card of rank 4 with a spades/clubs card of rank 4 directly next to it.
• After you PICK A POCKET, place one of the two cards facedown at the bottom of the deck.
• Gain 1 POINT when you PICK A POCKET (Best to keep track in your head)
• Gain 2 POINTS (instead of 1) if the matching cards were rank 5.
• After you PICK A POCKET you may REMOVE a single face up FACE card from your hand and place it facedown on the bottom of the deck.
• This is done AFTER you place the single numbered card facedown on the bottom of the deck.
• Hint: FACE cards can cause you to lose the game so they are worth removing when you have the opportunity.
• You may NOT opt out of PICKING A POCKET. You MUST do it if you are able, even if it causes you to lose the game (see below).
• If you are able to pick TWO pockets before your turn is over, you may give yourself an additional BONUS POINT, if you so wish. If you accomplish this, you may remove the cards in whatever order you’d like.

And after that, your TURN is over, and you may draw another card.

ELIMINATING CARDS

In order to get matches you may need to ELIMINATE intervening cards. After you have drawn a card, but before PLACING it, you may eliminate a card using the following rules:

• You may ELIMINATE one card per turn.
• Any face up numbered card in your hand with a rank LOWER than the card you have just drawn can be ELIMINATED.
• An ELIMINATED card is placed facedown at the bottom of the deck.
• If you have 5 face up cards in your hand, and you wish to place another, and no possible numbered cards can be eliminated, you may ELIMINATE the card directly next to the deck.
• A FACE card cannot be ELIMINATED except when picking a pocket or when it is directly next to the deck and no other possibilities are available.
• If you draw a FACE card you may eliminate a card of any rank (except another FACE card).
• If you draw a numbered card of the rank ACE you may ELIMINATE any card except a FACE card or another ACE card.

You lose the game if:

• Two face up FACE cards in your hand end up directly next to each other--YOU’VE BEEN EVICTED
• You PICK A POCKET while at least one face up FACE card AND one face up numbered card of rank 5 are in your hand--YOU’VE BEEN CAUGHT!

Win Conditions:

• Minor victory: You pick enough pockets to score 21 points--YOU PAID RENT
• Major victory: You pick enough pockets to score 42 points--YOU PAID RENT FOR YOUR FRIEND, TOO!
• See how far you can keep going after that! Go as long as you can!

REMEMBER!

ACE Cards can eliminate any card of any rank other than a Face card or another Ace!

3s require you, IMMEDIATELY after playing the 3, to play any held card you have!

5s are worth 2 points instead of one, BUT if any pocket is picked while both a 5 and a Face card are in play, you lose the game!

EXTRA RULE VARIANT FOR SUPER PLAYERS

For the official Regulation version of the game, follow these rules: Every time you reach 21 points while playing, you must set aside your hand and SHUFFLE the rest of the deck before you draw any more cards! Because of this, you now have to rework your strategy every 21 points! This is the most challenging version of the game (particularly when combined with the optional 3rd Face card) and is intended for true pickpocketing experts! Think you’re up to the challenge?

One final tip: When you finish playing, why not shuffle the deck before you put it away, so next time you want to play, you can just jump right in? Just a thought!