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Shoot the Moon or, Die in the Labyrinth

By Adam Bell - https://adambell.games - Minimalist TTRPG Jam 3 Entry Edition, also submitted to the Below A Bad Moon Jam - Thank you Justin & Binary for the prompts and inspiration

Grab three other players and two decks of cards. Look up how to play Hearts on pagat.com or wherever you learn card games. That's the main ruleset here, with a few changes.

The biggest change is that points are no longer points. Points are still bad, mind you, but you're not trying to win this game the traditional way.

You’re stuck in a labyrinth built by the Queen of Spades and held together by the power of the renegade moon

You're each trying to do one of two things: escape the labyrinth or shoot the moon with a huge gun.

When you take a trick and get points in this game, other players make their way further out of the labyrinth. When you take a trick and get no points, it's you who makes their way towards the exits. When you take a trick with the Queen of Spades, she drags you back to her lair and upsets all of your progress. There's a silver lining, though, and it's that there's a giant gun that you can kill the moon with in her lair, and killing the moon will unravel the labyrinth and make you a hero.

Build the Labyrinth

Take the first deck of cards and find the Queen of Spades. Place her in the center of the table, shuffle the other cards, and build the labyrinth around her by laying out a grid of cards filling your table. Leave blanks if you want, or make it a solid grid, whatever. When you run out of cards, lay down the two jokers at opposite edges to mark the two exits of the labyrinth.

Every player should get a playing piece to represent their character. Set them all on the Queen of Spades. You're in her lair and it's time to get out.

Play the Game

Shuffle the other deck of cards and deal them like you're playing Hearts. Do the card exchange and everything else as normal, but check in with the labyrinth after each trick using the following paragraphs like an if-else block.

If the player who won the trick has successfully shot the moon (as in hearts), the player shoots the moon for real and wins the game.

Else if the trick contained the Queen of Spades, the player who won the trick is ensnared and moves their piece back to the Queen of Spades card in the center of the labyrinth.

Else if the trick contains any Heart cards, the players who lost the trick each earn the Right To Progress Through The Labyrinth.

Else the player who won the trick earns the Right To Progress Through The Labyrinth.

The Right To Progress Through The Labyrinth

When you earn the Right To Progress Through The Labyrinth, look at the cards taken in the trick. In any order, you can move your piece in the labyrinth to any cards matching those in the trick. You can only move orthogonally.

You can move onto either of the jokers with any card that matches that joker’s color. If you do so, you escape the labyrinth. This will be the last hand; once all tricks are played the game is over. 

Out of Cards?

If the game isn’t over yet, shuffle and deal again! Just like regular Hearts.

Game Over

The game can end in two ways: the moon gets shot or at least one player escapes the labyrinth.

When the moon is shot, the player who shot the moon is heralded as a hero by all and the labyrinth itself ceases to exist. Congrats. You tell me what happens to the Queen of Spades.

If someone escapes the labyrinth, all players still in the labyrinth once all cards have been played will be stuck there forever. The renegade moon’s tyranny will continue for the foreseeable future. Don’t blame me, blame the selfish players who took the easy way instead of shooting the damn thing.