Friday

***Friday*** is a solitaire deck-building game designed by Friedemann Friese. It is based on the story of Robinson Crusoe and his loyal partner Friday (Freitag). In the game, players take on the role of Friday and must assist Robinson Crusoe, who has crashed his ship on the island. The objective is to help Robinson survive the island and prepare him to face the approaching pirates.

The gameplay involves optimizing your deck of fight cards to overcome the hazards of the island. During a turn, players attempt to defeat hazard cards by playing fight cards from their deck. Successfully defeated hazard cards become part of the player's fight deck. Failure results in the loss of life points but provides an opportunity to remove unwanted cards from the fight deck. Ultimately, players use their optimized fight deck to defeat two pirate ships that are approaching the island, allowing Robinson Crusoe to escape and restoring peace to the island.

"Friday" has received recognition in the gaming community and has been recommended and nominated for various awards, including the 2014 Juego del Año Recommended and the 2012 Spiel des Jahres Kennerspiel des Jahres Recommended.

## Gameplay

During the course of the game, players assist Robinson in confronting a hazard during each turn. The game begins in the "green Step," where hazards are relatively benign. Unfortunately, Robinson's abilities, represented by fighting cards, are similarly limited during this phase. Players may encounter several initial challenges against hazards.

In each turn, the following actions are taken in sequential order:

Drawing two hazard cards
* Draw the top two cards from the hazard pile.
* Select one of the two cards as the active hazard and place it face up in front of the Robinson stack.
* Discard the other card into the hazard discard pile.

Confronting the hazard
* The white box on the left side of the hazard card indicates the number of free fighting cards that can be drawn to combat the hazard.
* During the "green Step," the player must accumulate fighting points equal to or exceeding the green hazard value.
* Draw fighting cards one at a time from the Robinson stack and place them face up on the left side of the hazard card until the count matches the white box value.
* After drawing the free cards, players can expend additional life points to draw one fighting card for each sacrificed life point, placing these additional cards on the right side of the hazard card.
* Following the drawing of each fighting card, players may choose to use the special ability of any face-up fighting card, irrespective of whether it is on the left or right side. Each special ability may only be used once during the hazard encounter.
* It's crucial to utilize the special abilities of aging cards.

Winning against the hazard
* If the total fighting points from face-up fighting cards equal or surpass the hazard value corresponding to the current step, the hazard is defeated.
* Place the hazard card, along with the played cards, into the discard pile. The hazard card transforms into a new fighting card in the Robinson pile, utilizing the knowledge side.

Losing against the hazard
* If a player intentionally loses the encounter, and the sum of fighting points from face-up fighting cards is lower than the hazard value, life points must be paid into the reserve, matching the point difference between the hazard value and total fighting points.
* Life points paid in this manner allow the player to remove played fighting cards from the game. A single life point covers the starting or knowledge cards, while aging cards require two life points for removal. The undefeated hazard card is placed in the hazard discard pile, and the fighting cards return to the Robinson discard pile. Additional life points cannot be sacrificed to eliminate further unwanted cards. Only face-up fighting cards played during the ongoing encounter can be destroyed. Cards in the Robinson stack, Robinson discard pile, or the current hazard card remain unaffected.

Restarting at action 1
* If at least two hazard cards remain in the hazard stack, the game proceeds to action 1, where two more hazard cards are drawn, and one is chosen for combat in the current step.
* When the hazard stack is empty, the game advances to the next, more challenging step. The topmost Step card is returned to the box, and gameplay transitions to the subsequent step (from "green Step" to "yellow Step," then "red Step"). After completing the "red Step," players face off against the pirates.
* At the outset of a new step, the hazard discard pile is shuffled, and action 1 is resumed.

During the entire game, the following rules apply:

* If there are insufficient fighting cards in the Robinson stack to draw the required cards, players draw the remaining cards until the stack is depleted. Subsequently, the topmost face-down aging card from the aging stack is drawn and shuffled into the fighting cards. The entire deck is placed back on the storage board, and the missing cards are drawn.
* The Robinson discard pile is only shuffled if additional fighting cards need to be drawn, not during the initial drawing of the last card from the Robinson stack.

The final showdown takes place when the hazard stack is completed for the third time. Players confront two pirates, and the remaining hazard cards in the hazard discard pile are no longer used. Players select one pirate, position it in front of Robinson, and initiate a fight following the previously explained rules. Pirates function identically to hazard cards. After defeating the first pirate, all drawn fighting cards are placed in the Robinson discard pile, and an immediate fight against the second pirate ensues. Victory against the pirates is mandatory, and players cannot opt to lose and expend life points. If the played Robinson cards lack sufficient fighting points to defeat the pirate, life tokens must be sacrificed to draw more Robinson cards.

## Useful pages

* Starting and knowledge cards
* Aging cards
* Pirate cards