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Discards & Misplays

The Sarcastic Discard (SD)

  • The Sarcastic Discard is covered at level 3.

The Scream Discard

  • The Scream Discard is covered at level 7. (A Scream Discard always causes a Scream Discard Chop Move, so this move is also listed under the Chop Moves page.)

The Shout Discard

  • The Shout Discard is covered at level 7. (A Shout Discard always causes a Shout Discard Chop Move, so this move is also listed under the Chop Moves page.)

The Generation Discard

  • The Generation Discard is covered at level 7.

The Positional Discard

  • The Positional Discard is covered at level 8.

The Positional Misplay

  • The Positional Misplay is covered at level 8.

The Double Positional Misplay

  • The Double Positional Misplay is covered at level 8.

The Gentleman's Discard (GD)

  • The Gentleman's Discard is covered at level 10.

The Layered Gentleman's Discard (GD)

  • The Layered Gentleman's Discard is covered at level 10.

The Baton Discard (BD)

  • The Baton Discard is covered at level 10.

The Certain Discard

  • The Certain Discard is covered at level 10.

The Sacrifice Discard

  • The Sacrifice Discard is covered at level 22.

The Echo Scream Discard

  • The Echo Scream Discard is covered at level 22. (An Echo Scream Discard always causes an Echo Scream Discard Chop Move, so this move is also listed under the Chop Moves page.)

The Composition Discard

  • The Composition Discard is covered at level 22.

The Rebellious Discard

  • The Rebellious Discard is covered at level 22.

The Blaze Discard

  • The Blaze Discard is covered at level 23.

The Cautious Generation Discard

  • First, see the section on the Generation Discard.
  • Often times, a player will have a clued card in their hand, but not know the exact identity of it yet. In these situations, the player might think that the team needs a playable card in someone else's hand, when the team really has it already.
  • For example, in a 3-player game:
    • Red 3 is played on the stacks. No blue cards are played on the stacks.
    • Alice has a blue 1 in her hand. She knows the exact identity of it, so it is known playable.
    • Alice also has a 4 clued in her hand. She does not know what color it is.
    • There are 0 clues, so if Alice plays the blue 1, Bob will be forced to discard.
    • Alice sees that Cathy has a red 4 on chop, which is playable. If Alice does not have red 4 in her hand, then Cathy could potentially discard the red 4 (after Bob is forced to discard).
  • Here, if Alice does not have a red 4, then doing a Generation Discard for Cathy's red 4 would be required. On the other hand, if Alice does have a red 4, then doing a Generation Discard for Cathy's red 4 would be redundant.
  • In order to cover both cases, Alice must take the more conservative approach and always perform a Generation Discard. These kinds of Generation Discards are called Cautious Generation Discards to differentiate them from the more ordinary kind.
  • After a Cautious Generation Discard happens, the next player is put into a tricky situation: was it really a Generation Discard (for Cathy)? Or could it be a Scream Discard (for Bob)? In order to cover both cases, the next player should not Chop Move, but they should also not discard on their turn.
  • For example, continuing the scenario from before:
    • Alice does not know whether or not the team needs Cathy's red 4, so Alice is forced to perform a Cautious Generation Discard.
    • Bob sees that Alice does indeed already have the red 4 clued in her hand. So, from his perspective, if Alice was performing a Generation Discard, it would be a Cautious Generation Discard.
    • However, it is also possible that Alice's move could be a Scream Discard for Bob.
    • Bob knows that in this situation, he needs to cover both cases.
    • Thus, Bob does not perform a Chop Move. Additionally, he does not need to clue the red 4 on Cathy's chop (because Alice already has it), but he will spend a clue in some other productive fashion. If Bob has nothing productive to do, he must "burn" a clue, similar to what happens when a Scream Discard occurs.
AliceRed 4Alice discardsBobCathyRed 4Clues: 0

The Promise Clue & The Promise Discard

  • First, see the section on the Certain Finesse.
  • When a Certain Finesse happens, players can blind-discard their Finesse Position card, because a Layered Finesse is impossible. However, when a normal Finesse happens, players cannot blind-discard anything, just in case a Layered Finesse is happening.
  • Sometimes, after a Finesse has occurred, but before the promised card has been blind-played, a teammate might find strategic value in duplicating the promised card.
  • If a teammate duplicates the promised card, and the duplication was not a last-resort, then it promises that the duplicated card is exactly on Finesse Position. This is called a Promise Clue.
  • The Promise Clue allows the recipient of the Finesse to blind-discard the card as a Promise Discard. (A Promise Discard is almost exactly like a Certain Discard.)
  • Finally, from the perspective of the player receiving the clue, if they play the duplicated card first, then they should know that the focus of the original clue was on the other, non-duplicated card, and they can go on to play it afterwards. (Otherwise, the original clue would be fairly low-value.)
  • For example, in a 5-player game:
    • It is the first turn and nothing is played on the stacks.
    • Alice clues red to Donald, touching a red 2 as a Play Clue. This is a Finesse on Cathy's red 1.
    • Bob sees that Alice has four 1's in her hand. This would be a juicy 4-for-1 clue.
    • Bob clues number 1 to Alice, touching four 1's: red 1, yellow 1, green 1, and blue 1.
    • Cathy knows that Alice performed a Finesse on her for the red 1. If she happens to play the red 1, then Alice will go on to misplay the red 1 as a purple 1.
    • Cathy also knows that it is possible that Alice performed a Layered Finesse on her. For example, Cathy could have purple 1 in her Finesse Position and red 1 in her Second Finesse Position. If this were the case, and Cathy blind-discarded the purple 1, then the team could lose the only visible copy of purple 1, which would be really bad.
    • However, because of the Promise Clue convention, Cathy knows that Bob has promised that the red 1 happens to be exactly on her Finesse Position and that no Layered Finesse is happening.
    • Cathy blind-discards her Finesse Position card as a Promise Discard.
Alice1Blue 11Green 11Yellow 11Red 1BobClue GiverClue GiverCathyRed 1Cathy discards Slot 1DonaldEmilyfirst turn
  • Note that as long as the duplication clue touches two or more cards (e.g. with an efficiency of a 1-for-1), the Promise Discard interpretation takes priority over the Unknown Trash Discharge interpretation.