How to Play Open Sesame

Home How to play Gameplay variations Sample images See the videos Where to buy Promotions Make a suggestion		Figure 1. Initial 4-player setup. View Enlarged Image. OPEN SESAME is an exciting game of skill and chance! For 2, 3 or 4 players. Ages 7- adult. AIM OF THE GAME Be the first player to make OPEN SESAME in one colour. Complete your O-P-E-N-S-E-S-A-M-E sequence before the 40 Thieves. If playing for points, 1st player to score 1001- wins! (see: Points). CONTENTS - 74 CARDS 10 blue Letter Cards 10 green Letter Cards 10 purple Letter Cards 10 orange Letter Cards 10 Take Cards 10 Bridge Cards 10 40 Thieves Cards 4 Ali Baba Cards See our multimedia page for instructional video files.	1. GETTING STARTED With 4 players: use all 74 cards. 2 or 3 players: remove 10 Letter cards of one colour - (use 64 cards). Choose a dealer who shuffles the cards. Deal 5 cards to all players to make-up their Hands. These are placed face up in a row in front of the player. Place the remaining cards face down in a Draw pile. The top card of the Draw pile is turned over to start a Discard pile from which only Letter cards may be drawn (see: Drawing a card). [View video] 2. STARTING PLAY The player to the left of the dealer goes first. Draw a card and place it face up in your Hand. (You must have 6 cards each time you play). When the 40 Thieves O is in your Hand (see: 40 Thieves sequence) otherwise, when the following cards are in your Hand, you can use them in the following ways: BUILD an O Letter card, a Bridge O, or an Ali Baba can be placed to start building your sequence; then draw a card. Place a P Letter card, a Bridge P, or an Ali Baba as the next letter; then draw again and continue building in order with the E next, and so on (see: How to build). [View video] You can also build an opponent's sequence as you would your own. SWAP an Ali Baba or a Bridge O placed as the first letter in a sequence, can be swapped with an O Letter card from your Hand, or an Ali Baba or a Bridge P placed as the second letter in a sequence, can be swapped with a P Letter card from your Hand, and so on. Each time after swapping a card, play a card from your Hand. [View video] TAKE a Take card can take a matching Letter card from an opponent (a Take O can take an O Letter card, a Take P takes a P Letter card, a Take E takes an E Letter card, and so on); or an Ali Baba can take any Bridge or Letter card from an opponent. The Ali Baba or Take card is discarded. The card taken is placed in your Hand. Each time after taking a card, play a card from your Hand. [View video] When you discard a card from your Hand your turn ends. As the game progresses you can also dismantle an opponent's sequence by taking the last card each time (see: How to dismantle). 3. WINNING THE GAME You win when you are 1st to complete your OPEN SESAME sequence with 10 Letter cards of one colour, and have 6 cards in your Hand. At least one of these must be an Ali Baba and before it is placed on top of your completed sequence, you must shout "OPEN SESAME!" If you forget to shout "OPEN SESAME!" you must discard your Ali Baba card(s) and play continues (see figure 2 below). [View video] Figure 2. Winning hand: 2-player game. 4. DRAWING A CARD When it is your turn, draw one or more cards until 6 cards are in your Hand. Place them face up. Draw from the Draw pile or the Discard pile (but only Letter cards can be drawn from the discard pile). If after playing a card, you have 5 cards in Hand, you must draw another card before you can play another card from your Hand. Each time you have 6 cards, you must play a card from your Hand. Your turn ends when you are forced to play a playable 40 Thieves card or when you discard a card from your Hand. Note: When the last card of the Draw pile is drawn, the Discard pile is shuffled to form a new Draw pile. The top card is turned over to start a new Discard pile and play continues. 5. HOW TO BUILD Bridge, Ali Baba, or Letter cards can be used to build your OPEN SESAME sequence. You can also build an opponent's sequence. Letter cards in a sequence must be of the same colour. Each sequence is built in a different colour. Each sequence must be built in the order of O-P-E-N-S-E-S-A-M-E, first with the O, represented by an O Letter card, a Bridge O or an Ali Baba; then the P, represented by a P Letter card, a Bridge P or an Ali Baba; then the E, represented by an E Letter card, a Bridge E or an Ali Baba, and so on. [View video] SWAPPING An Ali Baba or a Bridge card placed in a sequence as a certain letter, can then be swapped with a matching Letter card from your Hand; however, a card placed in a sequence during the one turn, cannot be taken back from the same position using an Ali Baba or a Take card. See diagram below. [View video] 6. HOW TO DISMANTLE During your turn you can dismantle one or more cards from the end of an opponent's sequence, by taking the last card each time - so long as it is a Letter or Bridge card each time. A Take card can take a matching Letter card; an Ali Baba card can take a Letter or Bridge card; the card taken is placed in your Hand and the card used to take it is discarded. See diagram below. During the one turn, if you take the last card from an opponent's sequence, that card (or another card the same as it) cannot be returned to the same position in that same sequence. You cannot dismantle your own sequence. 7. FUNCTIONS OF CARDS LETTER CARDS - blue, green, purple and orange Letter cards are used to build any player's sequence. A Letter card in your Hand can also be swapped with a matching Bridge card, or an Ali Baba card placed as that same letter, in a sequence (see: How to build). BRIDGE CARDS Bridge cards are used as the letter shown on them, to build any player's sequence. These cards in a sequence, can be swapped with matching Letter cards from your Hand (see: How to build). ALI BABA CARDS Ali Baba cards are powerful. This card can be placed to build any player's sequence. When this card is placed as a certain letter in a sequence, you may swap it with a matching Letter card from your Hand (see: How to build). Ali Baba cards can also be used to take any Bridge or Letter card from either an opponent's Hand or from the end of an opponent's sequence (see: How to dismantle). Ali Baba cards must be used or discarded before your turn ends. TAKE CARDS Take cards are used to take Letter cards from either, an opponent's Hand or from the end of an opponent's sequence. The letter shown on the Take card must match the Letter card being taken (see: How to dismantle). 40 THIEVES CARDS These cards are used to build The 40 Thieves sequence (see: The 40 Thieves sequence). 8. THE 40 THIEVES SEQUENCE 40 Thieves cards form their own OPEN SESAME sequence which must be built in the order of O-P-E-N-S-E-S-A-M-E. The player with the 40 Thieves O in Hand is forced to place it face up near the centre of the table to begin the 40 Thieves sequence. Only one 40 Thieves card is played during a player's turn. Once the O is placed, the player with the P in Hand during their turn, must place it next to the O to continue building this sequence, then the E and so on. When these cards are played that player's turn ends and at the same time any Ali Baba cards in that player's Hand must be discarded. If possible, a 40 Thieves card can be discarded to end your turn. If the 40 Thieves sequence is completed the game ends and nobody wins. When playing for points, they double for the next game (see: Points). [View video] 9. POINTS If playing for points, the first player to score 1001 points or more - wins! Each time you win a game you score points for all cards left in all your opponent's Hands and sequences as follows: Letter card- 10 points Bridge card- 10 points Take card- 20 points 40 Thieves cards- 40 points Ali Baba card- 50 points








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