Munchhausen
A card game for 3 - 8 players from 8 years old.
Translated by John Webley
Distributed from The Rules Bank by Mike Siggins

Contents

64 cards in 8 sets,each including 8 cards, valued 1-8 in 8 different 
currencies ( the different currencies are merely for decoration, and 
play no part in the game.)
8 player mats, each showing one of the famous stories of Baron 
Munchhausen. (these pictures too are merely for decoration, and 
play no part in the game).

Baron Munchhausen's favourite card game was nearly as crazy as 
one of his famous lies.  In the game, each player attempts to emulate 
the Baron, by telling one of his crazy stories, and to get as much 
money from the other players as possible as a result.  In other 
words, the player tries to get rid of their own cards as quickly as 
they can, preferably by giving as little to the opponents as possible, 
best of all though, by taking advantage of their own cards.  But they 
need to be careful, one can't always trust the others, they won't 
always stick to their word, and the tables can turn with alarming 
suddenness.

Preparation

First the cards are sorted into sets, each of one colour, with 8 cards 
from 1-8.  To decide who should go first, take one set and let each 
player draw one card from it, the player who draws the highest card 
starts.  Then each player takes one set of 8 cards, and holds them, 
preferably in random order, in their hand.  With 6 or more players, 
the "1" and "2" cards are removed from play, and each player uses 6 
cards numbered 3-8.  Each player should also take a mat, which they 
place in front of them on the table.

Course of play
  
Play proceeds in a clockwise direction.  The player whose turn it is, 
takes on the role of Baron Munchhausen.  All other players may now 
make the Baron an offer, in any order.  The offer has to be a card 
value between 1 and 8.   8 is the highest bid and may not be raised 
further.  Players may bid more than once, raising their original offer 
in response to other offers.   The plyer who makes the highest offer 
plays one of their cards, face down, on the Baron's mat.  If two or 
more players make the same highest bid, the Baron may decide 
which offer to accept.  If no player makes a bid, the Baron may play 
one of their own cards face down on their own mat.  

Example:  Frank, Susi, Bjšrn, Karl and Anja are playing Munchhausen.  
It's Frank's turn, and so he is the Baron.  Anja starts by bidding a "2", 
Bjšrn raises this to "5", and Susi matches his bid of "5".  But two more 
bids are then made, Anja raises her initial bid to "7", and Karl decides 
to match it.  No one is prepared to raise further, so Frank has to 
decide between Anja and Karl.,  He chooses Anja, and she plays one 
of her cards face down on Frank's mat.  

Now Frank has two choices.  
1) Accept:  If Frank believes that the card Anja has played on his 
mat really is the card that she bid, in this case a "7", he leaves it face 
down on his mat.  His turn is now over, and the next player takes 
their turn.
2) Reject:  If Frank doesn't think that the card Anja has played is the 
card that she bid, he turns the card over so that all the other players 
can see it.  There are now two possibilities.
  a) False:  If the card turned over does not correspond with the bid 
made,  the player who played it must shamefacedly take it back into 
their own hand.  Additionally the Baron may play one of their own 
cards face down onto the Baron's mat , 
  b) True:  If the card played is the same as the bid made, it's the 
Baron's turn to look ashamed.  The Baron must pick up the card and 
place it in their own hand.  The player who was falsely accused, now 
plays one of their own cards from hand face down onto their own 
mat.  Naturally the other players don't know which card this is.  
Whatever the result, the next player now takes their turn.  

Game End

If, at the end of a turn, a player no longer has any cards in their 
hand, the game is over.  All players turn over the cards on their mats 
and count the total value of the cards there.  Any players with cards 
still in their hands subtract the value of these cards from that of the 
cards on their mat.  The player with the highest resulting score wins.

Example:  Susi gets rid of her last card from hand, and so ends the 
game.  She has five cards on her mat with values of 4,7,7,1 and 2, a 
total of 21 points.  Karl's mat has six cards on it, 8,8,1,7,3 and 1, a 
total of 28; however, he also has two cards left in his hand, a 6 and a 
2, so he has to subtract 8 points from the 28 leaving him with a final 
total of 20 points.  Susi is therefore the winner.

Variant for two players:  

1) There are no bids, instead the player states a value for the card, 
and lays it.  
2) The rules for rejecting a card are exacty as above.  If however, the 
Baron chooses to accept the card, it is nevertheless turned over. If 
the value of the card is the same as the stated value, the Baron 
leaves the card on their mat.  If it is not the same as the stated value 
however, then the player who played it takes it back and places it on 
their mat.