5 Alive

Theme

5 Alive is an abstract card-playing game.

Goal

Each player starts with 5 lives. The winner is the last player to have any lives left.

Gameplay

Each player in turn plays a card from their hand. 'Normal' cards have a face value, and the aim is not to play a card that takes the running total above 21. If you do, you lose a life. If you manage to play the last card from your hand without taking the total above 21, then every other player loses a life. As well as 'normal' cards, there is also a variety of 'wild' cards that perform special actions, like resetting the running total, skipping the next player, reversing the direction of play or causing other players to draw extra cards.