Official rulebook for the Lords & Lads stump/hammerschlagen variant
- I - Materials Required
- II - Setting Up
- A - Nails
- B - Establishing Turn Order
- III - Overview
- IV - Taking a Turn
- V - Hammer Test
- VI - Demotions
- VII - Uprising
- VIII - Resetting Nails
- IX - Penalties
- X - Sparks
- At least 3 players
- 1 stump
- 1 hammer
- 1 nail for each player. These nails must all be the same type
Ceiling(n/2 - 1)nails to be placed in the center of the stump whennis the number of players (6 players = 2 nails, 7 players = 3 nails, etc). The nails must also be of the same type.
Begin by hammering 1 nail for each player into the stump. All nails should be placed along the same ring of the stump. All nails should be hammered to an equal, agreed upon depth. Hammer the center nails into the center of the stump to the same depth. All players must stand around the stump by their nail.
If this is the first game of Lords & Lads, players choose and agree upon a way to decide who goes first. If this is not the first game of Lords & Lads, the player who won the last game gets the first turn. Turns will proceed clockwise from that player.
All players begin the game as Lads. The max number of possible Lords is equal to the number of center nails. This is referred to as the House of Lords. When a player ascends to the rank of Lord they effectively occupy a seat in the House of Lords. If all seats in the House of Lords are taken then Lads are unable to ascend to the rank of Lord until a Lord is demoted or an Uprising takes place.
A Lad ascends to the rank of Lord when his or her starting nail has been hammered completely into the stump as long as there is a seat open in the House of Lords. If a Lad has finished their starting nail but they cannot become a Lord, their only option is to hit the Uprising nail (see Uprising section). At any point during a Lad's turn, if their starting nail is completely hammered in and there is an open seat in the House of Lords, they immediately ascend to the rank of Lord.
As a Lad you are only able to strike your starting nail. As a Lord you are allowed to strike the center nails.
The game ends when all the center nails have been hammered completely into the stump. The winner is the person who dealt the final strike to the last center nail.
A turn consists of 3 phases:
- Flip phase
- Strike phase
- Drink phase
During the Flip phase, a player throws the hammer into the air so that it flips vertical (head over handle). The player then attempts to catch them hammer after it flips at least once in the air.
The number of vertical flips is the number of strikes the player may make in the Strike phase.
The player may not adjust their grip on the hammer. The way that player catches the hammer is how they must perform their strikes. If they adjust the grip on their hammer they must drink and immediately end their turn. If they attempt to perform a strike (hammer makes contact with the stump or a nail) after regripping they also lose their next turn.
Upon catching the hammer, the player must immediately move to the Strike phase without hesitation.
If a player fails to catch the hammer, they must drink twice and immediately end their turn, passing the hammer to the next play in turn order.
Before flipping the hammer, if the active player is a Lad, they may call "Uprising" before flipping the hammer. If they do so, their turn counts as an Uprising (See Uprising section), and Uprising rules apply for the remainder of that turn.
Upon catching the hammer, the player must immediately perform a strike. The player may not hesitate or aim, though they are allowed to bring them hammer up and down again after catching.
If that player is a Lad, they must strike their starting nail. If they are a Lord, they must strike one of the center nails.
If a Lad finishes their starting nail and there is an open seat in the House of Lords, they instantly ascend to the rank of Lord. This can happen between strikes. I.e. if a Lad has two strikes because he or she performed a double hammer flip, and they drive their starting nail completely into the stump on the first hit, the next hit must be performed on a center nail as Lord.
If a Lad finishes their starting nail and the House of Lords is full, they are still considered Lads. However, if at any point during a player's turn their starting nail is finished and a seat is open in the House of Lords, they immediately ascend to the rank of Lord. This ascension counts as a strike for the purpose of giving a drink (see Drink), but a player may still perform their regular strike if they have not already. For example, a player who has finished their starting nail may ascend to Lord and then also perform a strike as Lord.
A nail is considered finished if all plays agree it is completely hammered into the stump or if the Hammer Test decides it is (see Hammer Test). Any player may challenge a nail and perform a Hammer Test. This effectively pauses the game. Giving away the hammer for someone to perform the Hammer Test does not end your turn, and that player must return the hammer to you upon completing the Hammer Test, resuming the game.
Each successful strike on a nail grants the player one drink to give out during the Drink phase. Each miss is one drink the player must take themselves during the Drink phase.
If a player hits the wrong nail it counts as a miss. If doing so results in the final center nail being hammered into the stump, A new center nail must be hammered into the center of the stump and the current player is removed from the game.
A "Drink" is a consistent unit which must be decided upon before the game begins.
During the drink phase the player may give out drinks for each successful strike they made during the Strike phase unless the current turn is an Uprising. For each strike made as a Lad, that player may give a drink out to another Lad. For each strike made as a Lord, that player may either give a drink out to another Lord, make a single Lad drink 3, or make all remaining Lads drink at once.
A Lad cannot make a Lord drink unless the current turn is an Uprising and they have successfully hit the Uprising nail. If a Lad attempts to give a Lord a drink they must take the drink themselves and they forfeit the ability to give out a drink that turn.
The final strike of a starting nail is considered a strike made as a Lord as long as there are is an open seat in the House of Lords since that player becomes a Lord simultaneously to striking the nail. If that strike finishes their starting nail but the House of Lords is full, a drink may still be given out, but it may only be given out as a Lad since that player has not yet ascended.
If a player's starting nail was already hammered in when the turn began and they ascended to the rank of Lord this turn through Uprising or another Lord being demoted, then they may give out a drink as if they had finished their starting nail that turn. In other words, they may give out a drink as a Lord.
The final strike of the game (the last center nail) is considered a strike made as a rank even higher than Lord. In this case all other players must drink.
The player then must drink for each missed strike he or she performed during the Strike phase.
Drinks may only be given out as long as the current player holds the hammer. If the player gives away the hammer without giving out drinks, their turn ends immediately and they forfeit giving out those drinks. However, they still must drink for each missed strike they made. Giving away the hammer for a Hammer Test does not count as forfeiting the hammer, and the player performing the Hammer Test must return the hammer when they are finished.
At the end of the Drink phase, the game ends and the current player wins if all center nails are hammered completely into the stump. Otherwise the player passes the hammer to the next player in turn order and they begin their turn on the Flip phase.
A Hammer Test can be performed by any player to determine if a nail has been completely hammered into the stump. For a nail that has been hit in vertically, the hammer is turned sideways the head is run over the nail from all angles. The nail is considered completely hammered in if the hammer does not clink with the nail. For a nail hit in sideways the same rule applies except the hammer is run over the nail both ways lengthwise. If everyone agrees a nail is completely hammered in then the Hammer Test can be skipped. Any player may challenge another player's nail during their turn via the Hammer Test.
If the Hammer Test is performed during another player's turn and that player gives up the hammer, it does not count as forfeiting the hammer; The hammer must be returned to that player after the test is complete.
If a Lord drops their hammer during the Flip phase they are instantly demoted to Lad. Before ending their turn they must drive a new starting nail into the outer ring.
If there is at least one Lord and no active Uprising nails currently exist, any Lad may call "Uprising" at the start of their turn before flipping the hammer. If they do, they place one or more Uprising nails somewhere in the stump and hammer them to the same starting depth used for other nails. There should be one Uprising nail for every 7 players. I.e., the number of Uprising nails is equal to Ceiling(n/7) where n is the number of players (1-7 players = 1 nail, 8-14 players = 2 nails, etc). Each Uprising nail must be placed at least 2 inches away from any other nails if possible. Otherwise, they should be placed in whatever area maximizes distance from nearby nails. Uprising rules apply for the remainder of that turn.
As long as there is at least one active Uprising nail and the current player is a Lad, they may call "Uprising" before flipping the hammer. If they do, then the turn officially counts as an Uprising, and Uprising rules apply for the remainder of the turn.
During an Uprising turn, the active player must perform one flip more than they normally would for a given number of strikes. In other words, the amount of strikes a player gets during an Uprising turn is f - 1 where f is the number of flips performed (e.g., a double flip grants 1 strike). The first strike performed during an Uprising turn must be on an Uprising nail. Any other nails that are hit before a succesful strike on an Uprising nail are considered invalid and will incur penalties as outlined in the Penalties section. If the active player finishes the final Uprising nail, the Uprising is considered complete and all Lords are immediately demoted to Lads and must begin new starting nails. If that player has already finished their starting nail (i.e., the House of Lords was previously full), they instantly ascend to Lord. The Uprising is now no longer active and a new one may be started by future Lads.
Each time a Lad successfully strikes an Uprising nail, they may give out a drink to a Lord during the Drink phase. This is the only situation in which a Lad can give a Lord a drink without penalty.
A Lord may also call "Uprising" at the beginning of their turn before flipping the hammer. If they do, the current turn counts as an Uprising and Uprising rules apply for the remainder of the turn. The Uprising flip and subsequent strikes must be performed exactly as they would for a Lad. If these strikes finish the final Uprising nail the Uprising is considered complete and all other Lords are immediately demoted to Lads and must begin new starting nails. The active player retains their seat in the House of Lords. Drinks may be given out for each strike as they would for normal hits on a center nail as a Lord. If the strikes do not finish the final Uprising nail or strikes are made without successfully completing the Uprising flip, the strike is considered illegal and penalties are incurred as mentioned in the Penalties section.
If there is at least one active Uprising nail, a Lad may choose to call "Rally" at the beginning of their turn. If they do, their turn ends and they forfeit the ability to perform flips on that turn. By calling "Rally", that Lad has effectively contributed 1 flip to the next Lad who calls "Uprising" and performs an Uprising flip. For instance, if a Lad rallies and the next Lad in turn order calls "Uprising", that Lad can now perform a single flip and strike an Uprising nail (where they would normally need at least 2 flips). Using Rallies does not limit the number of flips that can be performed. Factoring in Rallies, the total number of strikes allowed to a Lad during an Uprising turn becomes f - 1 + r where f is the number of flips and r is the number of Rallies. A Lad must perform at least one flip regardless of the number of Rallies.
Rallies can be stacked indefinitely, but as soon as a Lad performs a normal Uprising flip, they are all spent and the Rally count goes back to 0.
A Lord cannot use Rallies even if they are performing an Uprising flip to try and finish the final Uprising nail. Doing so does not reset the Rally count.
A Lad may skip their turn to reset their nail. A reset consists of either using the hammer to straighten the nail or removing the nail altogether and putting in a new nail at the starting depth. If replacing the nail, the existing nail can be hammered into the stump if it is too difficult to remove.
A Lord may skip their turn to initiate a majority vote among current Lords to reset any single center nail. If the vote passes, the nail can be reset by that Lord before passing their turn. If the vote fails, nothing happens and the current Lord's turn is over. Resetting a center nail is done the same way as resetting a Lad nail. The Lord who initiated the vote is the one who must reset the nail, and they decide how the nail is to be reset. The nail selected for the vote is the only one that can be reset during that turn.
If a player strikes an illegal nail, a penalty will apply. There are several scenarios with different punishments listed in the following section. Penalties may be incurred if the illegal nail is touched at all by the hammer during the strike. This includes scenarios where the active player strikes both their own nail and the illegal nail.
If a player accidentally strikes a nail without performing the necessary flips and meeting any other requirements or strikes a nail more times than they are allowed, that player must skip their next turn in addition to any punishments earned if those strikes were against an illegal nail. If the offense was particularly egregious, or if extra strikes were intentionally made, all other players may come to a majority agreement as to whether extra punishments are warranted.
If an illegal nail is struck multiple times, a punishment is given for each strike. The player who chooses these punishments may choose a different one each time.
Note that all of these penalties occur during the offending (active) player's turn. For instance, if the active Player is a Lad they may become a Lord as a result of these actions, but the victim of the offense would still have to wait until their turn to Ascend if one of these actions finishes their nail.
Certain penalties can potentially be coordinated by players to achieve a mutual benefit. This is fair game, but the verbal contract is in no way binding, and a player may choose to betray their co-conspirator at the last moment.
If a Lad strikes another Lad's nail, the Lad whose nail was struck chooses one of the following actions:
- Do nothing
- Reset their own nail
- Swap nails with the Lad who struck the nail
- Make the Lad who struck the nail drink 3
- Get one free strike at that Lad's nail before play continues (at least one flip must still be performed)
If a Lad strikes one of the center nails and there is at least one Lord, the next Lord in turn order may chooses one of the following actions:
- Do nothing
- Make the Lad drink 3
- Reset that Lad's nail
- Get a free strike at that Lad's nail before play continues
If there are no active Lords, the Lad must reset their nail.
If a Lad strikes the final center nail and finishes it, that player is removed for the remainder of the game and that center nail is reset. This happens instead of any other punishments for that strike.
If a Lord strikes a Lad's nail, the Lad may choose one of the following actions:
- Do nothing
- Get a free strike at an Uprising nail before play continues (the extra flip for striking the nail does not need to be performed)
- The Lad may reset their nail
As mentioned in the Uprising rules, a Lord may call "Uprising" at the start of their turn and perform an Uprising flip similar to how a Lad would (including the extra flip). If this does not result in the final uprising nail being finished then the strikes are considered illegal. This is also the case if the Lord strikes the nail without calling "Uprising" or if the necessary number of flips are not performed. As a penalty, that Lord is instantly demoted back to Lad and must start a new nail.
If a Lad does not call "Uprising" or does not perform the necessary number of flips, all Uprising nails are reset (see Resetting Nails) along with that Lad's nail.
If a spark is observed when the hammer strikes a nail, any player may call "Spark!" and all players, Lords & Lads, must take a drink.