Looking for a specific Dumb Ways to Die rule? | Set Up | Playing the Game | Drawing a Card | Playing a Card | Psycho Attack! | Losing a Life | Winning the Game | Cards | FAQ | Components |
Objective
The objective of Dumb Ways to Die is to be the last remaining player to have at least one of your beans still alive.
Set Up
- Each player takes three Animated Bean Death cards. You will place your cards where the alive side is face-up. Any extra Animated Bean Death cards are returned to the box.
- Shuffle the rest of the cards and deal five to each player. If any player is dealt a card that has a red bloody border, they will discard it and draw a new card.
- Re-shuffle all of the cards (not in player’s hands) making sure to add in any cards that the players discarded in the previous step. Place the deck of cards facedown in the middle of the table.
- Whichever player sings “Dumb Ways to Die” first starts the game.
How to Play Dumb Ways to Die
You will begin each of your turns rolling the die. The number you roll on the die determines how many actions you must take on your turn. You must use all of the actions you roll even if you don’t want to.
There are two different types of actions you can take on your turn.
- Draw a card
- Play a card
You can use any combination of these two actions to complete all of the actions you are required to complete based on your die roll. For example if you roll a two, you can draw two cards, play two cards, or draw one card and play one card.
After you use up all of your actions, all cards played by yourself and other players during your turn are discarded. Play then passes to the player on your left/clockwise.
Drawing A Card
When you choose to draw a card, you will take the top card from the deck. If you choose to draw multiple cards, you will draw them one at a time.
If you draw a card that doesn’t have a red bloody border, you will add it to your hand. There is no limit to the number of cards you can add to your hand.
Should you draw a You Died! or a Psycho Attack! card, you must reveal the card immediately to the rest of the players. When you draw one of these cards, one of your beans may end up dying unless you can save them with one of the cards from your hand. See the Playing a Card and Psycho Attacks! sections below for more details.
If the deck ever runs out of cards, you will shuffle the discard pile in order to form a new draw pile.
Playing a Card
There are two different types of cards that you can play from your hand: Accident! cards and Everything Else.
When you decide to play a card for one of your actions, you will place it in front of you. You will resolve the card before you will take any other action.
If you have no cards in your hand, you have to use one of your actions to draw a card.
Everything Else Cards
Everything Else cards are pretty straightforward. When you play the card you will take the action printed on the bottom of the card. See the cards section below for details on what each card does.
Accident! Cards
Accident! cards come in three different categories: Home, Nature, Ride. These categories are used to counter other categories.
- Nature avoids Ride
- Ride avoids Home
- Home avoids Nature
You can play Accident! cards in two different ways.
Once during your turn you can play an Accident! card against another player. You choose which player you will play the card against by playing it in front of them. They will have to try and counter the card. If they are unable to counter the Accident! card, one of their beans will die.
Otherwise you can play an Accident! card for yourself to save one of your own beans. You can use an Accident! card to counter an Accident! card played against. You may also use one when you draw a You Died! card. You will look for an Accident! card in your hand whose category avoids the card that you are facing. You can look at the bottom of each card to see what card category avoid the card. Relax cards can be used to avoid any Accident or You Died! card.
Psycho Attack!
Whenever a player draws the Psycho Attack! card they will reveal it to all of the players. This card is unique because it attacks all of the players at the same time.
The player who drew the card starts. They will roll the die. If they roll a one, they are safe and they don’t lose a life. If they roll anything other than a one, they will lose one of their lives.
The next player clockwise then rolls the die and loses a life if they don’t roll a one. This continues until all of the players have rolled the die. Any actions the current player had left on their turn are canceled. Play moves to the next player in clockwise order.
Losing A Life in Dumb Ways to Die
You can lose a life in one of three ways:
- An Accident! card is played against you that you can’t counter.
- You draw a You Died! card that you can’t counter.
- A Psycho Attack! card is revealed and you don’t roll a one.
If one of these three things happen, you will lose one of your beans. Choose one of your bean cards and flip it to the other side. That bean is now dead.
Should you ever lose all three of your beans, you are eliminated from the game.
Winning Dumb Ways to Die
The players will keep taking turns until only one player has a bean(s) still alive. The last player that has a bean alive wins the game.
Cards of Dumb Ways to Die
Here is a detailed explanation of the Everything Else cards in Dumb Ways to Die.
Blind Luck
When you play the Blind Luck card, all of the players will randomly take a card from the player on their left. Should there only be two players, the two players will take one card from each other.
If you play the Blind Luck card as the last card from your hand, the player to your right doesn’t get to take a card.
Fair Trade
Choose another player. You and the other player will swap your entire hands. If one of the players have no cards in their hand, they take the other players hand and don’t give the other player any cards.
Rearranged
The Rearranged card lets you look at the top three cards on the deck. After looking at the cards, you can put them back in any order you want. You can use this to avoid drawing a You Died! card or forcing another player to draw one.
Relax
The Relax is really valuable in the game as it protects you from any Accident! or You Died! cards. Once you use it to save one of your beans, you will discard the card.
You cannot use a Relax card to prevent losing a life to a Psycho Attack! card when you don’t roll a one.
Set Fire to Everything
All of the players are forced to draw two cards. The player to the left of the player who played the card, draws their cards first. The player who played the card draws their cards last.
After you play a Set Fire to Everything card and take its action, you will skip the rest of the actions on your turn.
If one of the players end up drawing a Psycho Attack! card, the effect of Set Fire to Everything card ends immediately. Players will not draw anymore cards. The players will deal with the effect of the Psycho Attack! card. The current player also forfeits the rest of the actions on their turn.
Sneak Peek
When you play a Sneak Peek card, you will choose one of the other players. You will look at their cards and then return them to the player.
Wheel of Misfortune
The player that plays the card chooses another player. The chosen player has to discard two cards from their hand. They will then have to draw two new cards.
Dumb Ways to Die FAQ
If you have any questions about how to play the game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.
Components
- 54 Cards
- 15 Animated Bean Death Cards
- Die
- Instructions
Year: 2023 | Publisher: Spin Master | Designer: Erica Bouyouris, Kyle Hussa-Lietz
Genres: Card, Take That
Ages: 12+ | Number of Players: 2-5 | Length of Game: 10-30 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate
For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.