POP! rules

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POP! rules

A card-placement game for 1 to 5 players: you line up colours at the entrance to the party, and the moment two identical colours end up side by side, everything explodes in a chain reaction.

Players
1 to 5
Age
8 and up
Playing time
10–20 min
Mechanic
Card placement

Overview

You are a colour guardian of the Kingdom of Colours. A big party is coming up and a lot of colours are expected! There's likely to be an attendance record, and the wait to get in is sure to be explosive.

You're part of the team stationed at the entrance. Be careful: when two identical colours end up next to each other, they explode and can cause a chain reaction. Arrange the colours skilfully so the party doesn't turn into a fiasco before it even starts. When you're outnumbered, you can get help from the Multicolour Chief.

Components

  • 50 Pop cards — 5 colours × 10 cards
  • Among them, 20 cards with Arrow symbols: cards 1 to 10 and 41 to 50
  • All 50 cards carry Explosion symbols: 3 on cards 1 to 5 and 46 to 50, 2 on cards 16 to 20 and 31 to 35, 1 on all the others
  • 5 Queue cards, marked A to E
  • 1 Multicolour Chief card
  • 1 English rulebook and 1 French rulebook

Setup

This is the setup for the battle game. The cooperative and solo modes use the same base, with a few differences detailed below.

  1. Starting Pop cards — shuffle all the Pop cards and place 5 in a line, face up. There can't be two identical colours next to each other: if that happens, replace one of them.
  2. Queue cards — place them below the 5 Pop cards, in alphabetical order, left to right.
  3. Hands — shuffle the remaining cards and deal 9 to each player. Look at your cards without showing them.
  4. Draw pile — place the remaining cards face down within everyone's reach. In a 5-player game there is no draw pile.
  5. Multicolour Chief card — in a 2- to 4-player game, place it next to the draw pile: it counts as a player. In a 5-player game, store it in the box.

Example — during setup, card 42 and card 12 are the same colour and sit next to each other. You replace card 12 with another one, card 15 for instance.

How to play

A battle game is played over 3 rounds. Each round contains several turns, and every turn follows these four steps.

  1. Place Pop cards on the Multicolour Chief card — take cards from the draw pile and place a certain number on its card, according to the player count. In a 5-player game, skip this step.
  2. Select Pop cards — each player chooses 1 card from their hand and places it face down in front of them.
  3. Reveal the Pop cards — all players reveal simultaneously, along with any face-down cards on the Multicolour Chief card.
  4. Place the cards and check the explosions — the 5 revealed cards are placed one by one. Each time, check whether the card triggers an explosion and resolve it before moving on.

Repeat turns until you have only one card left in hand, which happens after 8 turns. The round ends there.

The Multicolour Chief card

2- to 4-player games

The Multicolour Chief fills the table: it plays cards like a player, so that 5 Pop cards are placed every turn. How many go on its card depends on the player count:

  • 2 players: 1 face up, 2 face down
  • 3 players: 1 face up, 1 face down
  • 4 players: 1 face up

Face-down cards are revealed during step 3.

Placement direction

2 Arrow cards or less / 3 or more

Before placing, count how many of the 5 revealed cards carry an Arrow icon.

  • 2 Arrow cards or less: place from left to right, in ascending order.
  • 3 Arrow cards or more: place from right to left, in descending order.

Each time a card is placed, move the matching Queue card one space down.

Explosions

2 or more adjacent cards of the same colour

Each time you place a card, check whether it is adjacent, vertically or horizontally, to another card of the same colour.

  • No card of the same colour adjacent: nothing happens, place the next card.
  • Cards of the same colour are adjacent: all adjacent cards of that colour explode. The player who played the triggering card collects them all and places them in front of them.

Chain reactions

After an explosion, move down the cards placed above the exploding ones so that no empty space is left. This shift can bring new identical colours together, and trigger new explosions.

The player who played the card that triggered the initial explosion collects them all. Repeat until no cards of the same colour are adjacent.

The Multicolour Chief's explosions

Cards that explode because of the Multicolour Chief don't go to anyone's pile: place them next to its card. The next player to cause an explosion also collects these waiting cards. The Multicolour Chief passes its mistakes on to the guardians of the colours.

2-player variant

2-player games only

At the beginning of each turn, each player draws 1 card and adds it to their hand, then places 2 cards face down in the playing area instead of 1. The Multicolour Chief places only 1 card face up.

End of the game

End of the round — once you have only one card left in hand, add up the Explosion icons on the cards you collected: that's your score for the round. Write it down and play the next one, up to three rounds.
End of the game — add up your three scores. The player with the fewest points wins.
Tie — the player with the fewest Explosion icons on the card left in their hand wins. If a tie remains, the victory is shared.

Battle game (2-5 players)

This is the main mode, described above: 3 rounds, 9 cards in hand, 8 turns per round, and a single goal — pass the explosions on to everyone else and finish with as few Explosion icons as possible.

Cooperative game (3-5 players)

Here you all work together to avoid any explosion, including those caused by the Multicolour Chief. A game is played in a single round. Setup is the same as the battle game.

What changes during the turn

3 players: 2 cards face up · 4 players: 1

The cards placed on the Multicolour Chief card are all face up. In a 5-player game its card isn't used. The rest of the turn plays out as in the battle game.

Talking to each other

While selecting cards, players may consult each other, but cannot reveal the numbers on their cards. They can, however, indicate colours and the Queue locations they want.

Example — allowed: "I want to place a red card on queue A", "I have three red cards". Not allowed: "I want to place a 20 card on queue B", "I have the highest number".

Winning and losing

9 turns — every card must be played

As long as no cards of the same colour are adjacent, keep playing until all players have no cards left, which takes 9 turns. Unlike the battle mode, players must play all their cards.

Lose: after placing, cards of the same colour are adjacent. Win: all players have played every card. The group level depends on the number of cards left in hand.

5 cards or more — beginners
3-4 cards — apprentice guardians
1-2 cards — skilled guardians
0 cards, failed on the final turn — expert guardians
0 cards, successful on the final turn — legendary guardians

Solo game (1 player)

In this mode you are an evil guardian trying to explode all the Pop cards single-handedly. Like the cooperative mode, a game is played in a single round.

Solo setup

Beginner 1 row · Intermediate 2 · Advanced 3 · Expert 4

Setup follows the battle game, with three differences: first select a difficulty level, which sets the number of rows of Pop cards; take 10 cards as your hand, the rest form the draw pile; the Multicolour Chief card is not used.

Playing solo

5 cards per turn, hand refilled to 10

Choose 5 cards from your hand and place them face up in front of you — the reveal step is skipped. At the end of the turn, if cards remain in the draw pile, draw 5 to get back to 10 in hand; otherwise take the next turn with your remaining 5 cards.

Win — all the Pop cards in play have been removed, even if you still hold cards.
Lose — you have no cards left and at least one Pop card remains in play.
Your title — Beginner: novice guardian · Intermediate: mean guardian · Advanced: evil guardian · Expert: renegade guardian

Single-player variant: Puzzles

POP! also offers a puzzle mode: the Pop cards are placed in specific locations during setup, and your aim is to explode all of them in a single turn. The puzzles are available by scanning the QR code in the rulebook.

Ready to blow up the queue?

POP! — 1 to 5 players, ages 8 and up, 10 to 20 minutes. €12.99.

See the product page

Into clever little card games that fit in a pocket? Take a look at Candy Spiders Leopards and Brokies too.

Game design: Kamoto & Mr. Kou · Artist: Michi · Packaging: Mehdi Bouti · Translation and proofreading: Ambre Poilvé · Layout: Stéphanie Lairet
© 2025 Musoka Studio — 58 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris, France