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Backpacker

EDIT: I've now created a new and updated HD Countries Version available here: https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664057269. Please check it out as that one has much nicer looking HD country photos! This version on this page uses the original photos from the game.

Backpacker is a fantastic, competitive and backstabby game for 2 to 6 players. Just like travelling, it's both enjoyable and addictive! To win, you must outwit your opponents to be the player who has the most photos safetly back at home (and hence the most points) at the end of the game.

This is a fairly light card game but it has a surprising amount of depth to keep you coming back. I really enjoyed it when I was younger so thought I'd upload here too!

RULES (Sorry no PDF, it's not very complex anyway!):
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(As fast as possible)
Shuffle the deck and everyone is dealt 5 cards to start.
(Note that the main draw deck is referred to as the 'Future' pile while the discard pile is referred to as the 'Past' pile).

Turns go round clockwise, you draw one card then play one card from your hand face up. The objective is to play countries face up in a pile in front of you (so all are visible to other players) and then 'Go Home' on a later turn which scores and discards all cards in your pile. You can't play two countries of the same colour/continent unless a card specifically says otherwise. If you choose to go home on your turn, you can't pick up or play any card; i.e. you just say you're 'Going Home' and score all your countries, then they're discarded and that's the end of your turn.

IF YOU GET 5 DIFFERENT COLOUR COUNTRIES IN YOUR PILE AND THEN GO HOME, YOU GET +200 POINTS!

Various other cards mess with this and prevent you or others from scoring.

Blue Bonus Cards - Play on the county on top of your pile if it has the matching icon. Doubles the points for that country. Only one bonus per country. If the county is stolen or discarded, the bonus goes with it.

Grey Cards - Bad cards. If you have a grey card in your hand you CANNOT go home. You can however use other cards to give them to other players. Or you can play it if you want and suffer the penalty.

Green + Red Cards - Advice cards. Play a red card on an enemy's top country on their pile to 'block' them from playing any more countries. To remove it, they can either play the same green version of the card, or just throw that country into the discard pile on any of their turns. A country with a red bad advice card is not scored (but still discarded) if that player goes home.

Yellow Cards - These cards generally are played once and often help you, either giving you more cards or more turns. They all say what they do on them.

Pink Cards - These cards are also played once and usually disrupt or annoy other players, stealing cards or making them miss turns etc. They all say what they do on them.

Orange Cards - These cards can either hurt or help you depending on the situation. Generally they help if you use them well or get lucky! They all say what they do on them. (Internet cafe is weird as hell though and I've never worked it out).

Usually you play until the Deck runs out, or you can play a second 'year' by flipping and shuffling the discard pile. When the game ends, players typically would score all countries on the table they've managed to play (except ones with red bad advice attached).