How to play
Firefly Night is a team game for two to five: you all win or lose together. There are fifty cards in five colors (red, yellow, green, blue and violet), numbered 1 to 5. Each color has three 1s, two each of 2, 3 and 4, and a single 5. With two or three players you each hold five cards; with four or five, four.
The twist: you hold your cards facing away from you. You can see everyone else’s cards, but not your own. The goal is to build each color into a row from 1 up to 5, in order.
On your turn, do one of three things:
- Give a clue (costs one glow token). Pick a teammate and point out all of their cards of one color, or all of one number: “these two are 3s”. The clue also tells them which cards aren’t.
- Let a card go (earns a glow token back, up to eight). Throw one of your cards away and draw a new one.
- Play a card. If it’s the next number for its color, it joins that row. If not, a jar cracks and the card is lost. Finishing a row with its 5 earns a glow token back.
Three cracked jars end the night straight away. When the deck runs out, everyone gets one more turn. Your score is the total of all five rows, out of 25.
Tips
Clue the cards a teammate can play right now, so they know to play them. A number clue on the 1s is the classic opening. Let go of your oldest card nobody has clued, and warn a teammate before they throw away a 5, since there’s only one of each. Your own cards show only what you’ve been told: a single color or number means you know it, and the small marks under a card list what it could still be.
Playing with computer teammates
The computer players follow simple, honest conventions: they play cards they know are safe, clue cards you can play now, and let go of their oldest unclued card. They never peek at their own hand.