Overview#
You are a scoundrel delving into a dangerous dungeon. Each turn you face a room of four cards — monsters to slay, weapons to equip, and potions to drink. Choose wisely: survive the entire dungeon for a high score, or die trying and face a penalty for every monster that remains.
Setup#
Scoundrel uses a standard 52-card deck with all Jokers, Red Face Cards (J, Q, K of Hearts and Diamonds), and Red Aces removed. This leaves 44 cards: 26 monsters, 9 weapons, and 9 potions. Shuffle and place the deck face-down — that is your Dungeon. You start with 20 Health.
Card Types#
Monsters (Clubs & Spades)
All 13 ranks from both black suits. Their damage equals their rank value (Ace = 14, King = 13, Jack = 11).
Weapons (Diamonds)
Ranks 2–10 only (9 cards). Equipping a weapon discards your previous one. Weapons reduce monster damage but degrade over use.
Potions (Hearts)
Ranks 2–10 only (9 cards). Heals HP equal to rank, capped at 20. Only one potion may be used per turn.
Turn Flow#
Flip four cards face-up to form a Room. You must face 3 of the 4 cards. The remaining card stays and becomes part of the next room. You may also avoid an entire room (scooping all 4 to the bottom), but never two rooms in a row.
Combat#
When you face a monster you choose how to fight. Barehanded means taking the monster's full value as damage. With a weapon, you subtract the weapon's value — the remainder hits your health. A weapon strong enough to block the monster entirely deals zero damage.
Weapon Degradation#
Once you use a weapon against a monster, it can only be used against monsters with a lower or equal rank than the last monster it slew. The weapon stays equipped even when it can no longer be used — it might still be useful for weaker monsters later.
Health Potions#
Potions restore health equal to their rank, but your health can never exceed 20, and you may only use one potion per turn. If you encounter two potions in the same room, the second is simply discarded.
Room Avoidance#
If the room looks dangerous, you may avoid it entirely — scoop all four cards in one motion and place them at the bottom of the Dungeon. However, you cannot avoid two rooms in a row. If you avoided the last room, you must face this one.
Game Interface#
Three buttons appear in the top-right corner of the screen while you are playing.
Rules
Opens the full rules panel without leaving the game. Useful when you need a reminder mid-run.
The Gravekeeper's Ledger
Shows the top scores from all completed runs. Your current game is highlighted once it ends.
Copy Link
Copies a shareable URL for your current game to the clipboard. Anyone with the link can view your run and resume it if it is still in progress.
Keyboard Shortcuts#
You can control the game entirely from the keyboard. Action keys only work when the corresponding action is available.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| ← / → | Navigate cards in the room |
| Enter | Select focused card |
| Escape | Deselect card / clear focus |
| W | Fight with Weapon |
| B | Fight Barehanded |
| A | Avoid Room |
| E | Equip Weapon |
| D | Draw a Card (drawing phase) |
| P | Drink Potion |
| ? | Open / close Rules |
| L | Open / close The Gravekeeper's Ledger |
| C | Copy game link |
Scoring#
If your health reaches zero, the game is over. Find all remaining monsters in the Dungeon and subtract their values from your health — that negative number is your score. If you clear the entire Dungeon, your score is your remaining health (positive). If your last card was a potion and you were already at 20, add its value to your score.