Sea Salt & Paper · Rules
Build your collection
Two to four players compete over several rounds with the 58-card base deck. The first player is chosen randomly. Two face-up discard piles flank the draw deck.
Every turn
1. Take a card. Either draw two from the face-down deck, keep one and discard the other onto a discard pile, or take the top card from either discard pile. Refill an empty discard pile if there is one.
2. Play duos (optional). Play any number of pairs from your hand, one after another. They stay face-up and still count toward scoring. Two Crabs retrieve any card from a discard pile. Two Boats grant an extra turn. Two Fish draw a card. A Shark + Swimmer steals a random card from an opponent. You may also keep a pair in your hand and score it without using its effect.
3. End the turn or call. At seven or more card points, you may call Stop or Last Chance.
Score the cards
Duos: each pair of Crabs, Boats or Fish, or each Shark–Swimmer combination, scores 1.
Collectors: 1–6 Shells score 0/2/4/6/8/10; 1–5 Octopuses score 0/3/6/9/12; 1–3 Penguins score 1/3/5; 1–2 Sailors score 0/5.
Multipliers: Lighthouse scores 1 per Boat, Shoal 1 per Fish, Penguin Colony 2 per Penguin and Captain 3 per Sailor. The multiplier card itself is not part of the group it scores.
Mermaids: each Mermaid scores the number of cards in a different largest color group among all your cards, including played cards. Mermaids are white. Collect all four for immediate victory.
How a round ends
Stop: everyone immediately scores their card points. Last Chance: the caller reveals their hand, and each opponent takes one final turn. If nobody beats the caller's card points, the caller earns their points plus their largest-color bonus; opponents earn only their own largest-color bonus. If anyone exceeds the caller, the caller earns only their color bonus and the opponents earn their card points. Each opponent reveals their hand when they finish their final turn, making it protected from theft.
If the deck runs out at the end of a turn, the round ends with no points awarded. The next round starts with a reshuffled deck and the player after the round-ender leads.
Winning
Play until someone reaches 40 points (two players), 35 (three) or 30 (four). Highest total wins; ties go to the player scoring most in the final round. Four Mermaids win immediately.