The Bucket King

Card game with unusual scoring. Players play sets of animal cards trying to knock over each other's pyramids of buckets. Cards in hand can be used to attack and defend certain colours of buckets, taking out lower buckets causes cascades. The deck is five colours (farm animals) numbered 1-8, with two 1s and two 8s. Players start with 12 cards. The start player plays 1-3 cards of one colour, giving a total sum. This total attacks the player to their left, who either plays 1-3 cards of the same colour totalling higher to defend, or loses a bucket. If they do defend though, that total then attacks the player to their left and so on, round the table. If it gets back to the start player, then can add 1-3 more cards to their original play, increasing the total. At some point, a player cannot defend, and buckets go tumbling. Players look at their starting hand before building their pyramid o' buckets, so it pays to put your weak colour at the top. If you play a cards or cards, you draw back one card from the draw deck. If you forget, tough! The game ends when somebody loses all their buckets. The player with the most remaining is the winner.