Many Ways to Play Demon

Slap a Demon

Players: 2+, Age: 3+, Playtime: 10-20 mins

Fun and fast game that even kids will enjoy. The goal is to win all cards, by being first to slap each Demon as it is played to the center.

Overview

The goal is to win all cards, by being first to slap each Demon as it is played to the center.

How to Play

1. Take all 35 cards and mix them up.
2. Deal cards one at a time face down, to each player until all the cards are given.
3. Everyone arranges their cards in a neat pile in front of them without looking at card faces.
4. Going clockwise, each player lifts one card from their pile at a time and places it face up in the center of the table.
5. Fun begins when the card played to the center is a Demon! The first player to slap their hand down on the Demon takes not only the Demon, but all cards under it. They shuffle their old as well as newly won cards together and form a new larger pile.
6. When more than one player slaps at a demon, the one whose hand is directly on top of the demon wins the pile.
7. If a player slaps at any card in the center that is not a demon, they must give one card, face down, to the player of that card.
8. When a player has no more cards left, they remain in the game until the next demon turns up.  At that time, the player may slap at the demon in an effort to get a new pile. If the player fails to win that next pile, they are out of the game.
9. Game is over when one player has all the cards and everyone else goes out of the game.

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Ride with Demon

Players: 2-3, Age: 4+, Playtime: 10-20 mins

Fight to find and arrange characters in correct order. First person to complete two "trains" wins.

Overview

Pick up passengers in order and make a train. First person to complete two "trains" wins.

How to Play

1. Take 7 token cards, shuffle them well.
   
2. Pick a number between 3 and 7 (prefer smaller numbers when playing with young kids) - and place that many token cards, in a row.
3. That row is the "train" of passengers everyone has to make.
4. Now take 28 character cards (7 characters x 4 cards each) and randomly spread them face-down on the table below the "train".
5. Shout "Go" to start.
   
6. Everyone starts hunting the center pile of character cards together to find passengers for their trip.
7. You turn a card up and keep it if it's the card you want. Otherwise put it back in the pile face-down.
8. Everyone is trying to make the train on their own by lining up passengers in correct order on their side of the table.
9. You can begin picking up passengers from either end of the train, but then have to continue in that order. So you have to pick only the one "next" passenger on the train. Not any passenger at random.
10. All trains are visible to everyone, and everyone is making the same train - defined by the sequence of token cards at the top.
11. Once all your passenger cards are in order, pick any Demon card from the center and put it at the start of the train. That completes your train.
12. Quickly shout out "Train Train" to announce you've completed the train.
13. Person to complete a correct train gets one point.
14. Once a person completes their train, take back all cards and repeat the whole round - design a new train with tokens, and let everyone compete to complete their trains. 
15. Person to win two points first, wins the game.

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Demon Solitaire

Players: 1, Age: 10+, Playtime: 10-20 mins

When you want unpredictably challenging play for yourself... Make two sequences of all 7 characters - but not so easily...

Overview

Make two sequences of characters.

How to Play

1. Shuffle all 35 cards well and keep them in a pile near you - face-down.
2. Open one card and place it face up next to the "stock" pile. This will become our "work" pile.
3. If a card you open is a token card, you can place it at the top to begin a new sequence. You can build up to three sequences at top, and have to complete two to finish the game.
4. A complete sequence begins with any token card and has all 7 different character cards one after another.
5. You each turn, you can either place a card from your "work" pile onto any of the sequences at top. Or flip one card from the "stock" pile and place it on a sequence or on work pile.
6. Once a sequence is complete, you may pile it up together and turn it face down to "close" it. No actions are performed on "closed" sequences.
7. A character can appear only once in a sequence.
8. The top-most cards in all open sequences have to be different. So no same characters at the end of two or more open sequences.
9. Whenever you turn a Token card, you may put it aside in a "token" stack - or begin a new sequence if spot is open.
10. Whenever you turn a Demon card, it kills two cards from open sequences. So pick any two cards from any open sequence, going from bottom to top, and put those two cards in the placement order in the "work" pile - so top most card on sequence will become top most card in work pile. Demon can kill character cards as well as token cards. Once Demon has done its damage, put the Demon card aside in a "danger" stack.
11. Every time the danger stack grows to three Demons, they do more damage. The third demon kills two cards for sure. But now the three demons together kill your longest open sequence. So first discard two cards from open sequences, then take all cards from your longest open sequence and put them all in the "work" stack including the tokens, in the placement order - so the token card stays at the bottom.
12. At any time, you can take two tokens from "token" stack and kill one Demon. When used this way, all three cards - two tokens and killed demon - go out of the game and can not be used again.
13. Every time the danger stack grows to five Demons, it kills two sequences.
14. Every time the danger stack grows to six Demons, it resets card stacks. So after killing two cards for the sixth demon, take all cards - stock + work + demon + token, and mix them up. Shuffle them well, and make a new "stock" pile. Your next turn begins from this stock pile now.
15. Demons can't affect "closed" sequences. Each new demon always kills two cards from open sequences. Additional danger actions are performed after this when the danger stack reaches counts of three, five and six.
16. Work your way through this, and complete two sequences to win the game.

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Memory Demon

Players: 1+, Age: 3+, Playtime: 5-10 mins

Even the youngest in the house will enjoy it. Others will race to prove their might. Simple memory game with adorable characters.

Overview

Make pairs of character cards. Whoever has most pairs, wins.

How to Play

1. Take all 35 Demon cards, and discard token cards and one face card from each character. This way you will have 21 cards (7x2 character face cards + 7x1 demon cards).
2. Discard any one demon card, so you're left with 20 cards.
3. Shuffle and mix up the cards.
4. Lay them in a 5x4 grid, face down.
5. On each player's turn:
   1. Flip any two cards.
   2. If the two cards match, keep them. (Characters match with same characters, Demons match with any Demon)
   3. If they don't match, turn them back over.
   4. Remember what was on each card and where it was.
6. Watch and remember positions even during other player's turn.
7. Game is over when all cards are matched.

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Where is Demon?

Players: 2-3, Age: 3+, Playtime: 10-20 mins

Simple, easy card-hunt game for kids. Whoever collects maximum demons, wins.

Overview

Find demons fast. Whoever collects maximum demons first, wins.

How to Play

1. Take all 28 character cards (7 characters x 4 cards each)
2. Shuffle and mix up the cards.
3. Lay cards in a 7x4 grid, face down.
4. On start, all players start turning cards on the table and checking for a Demon.
5. If they find a Demon, they take that card.
6. If not, they turn that card back face-down, and check another card.
7. Game is over when all Demons are collected.
8. Player with maximum Demons wins.

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Demon in Dark

Players: 2-3, Age: 2+, Playtime: 10-20 mins

Invented by my 5 year old. Liked by all. A game of chance and blind fun. Whoever gets most demons, wins.

Overview

Pick 5 cards. Whoever gets most demons first, wins.

How to Play

1. Take all 28 character cards (7 characters x 4 cards each)
2. Shuffle and mix up the cards. Spread them on the table face down.
3. On start, all players close their eyes and pick up five random cards from the center. Speaking the count aloud - one, two, three, four, five..
4. Once everyone has five cards, everyone opens their eyes.
5. Everyone flips one card at a time from their hand to check what they got. One, two, three, four, five...
6. Player who got maximum number of Demons wins.

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Runaway Demon

Players: 2-3, Age: 5+, Playtime: 10-20 mins

Part Uno, part Donkey, part Monopoly Deal, but complete fun. Make and discard pairs. Whoever discards all their cards first, wins.

Overview

Make pairs. Whoever discards all their cards first, wins.

How to Play

1. Take all 35 cards. Shuffle and mix them up well.
2. Deal 5 cards to each player. Leave the remaining in center in a neat pile.
3. Youngest player goes first.
4. On each player's turn: Draw a card from the center, try to match it with cards in your hand. If you have a pair, you can discard the pair in center. If not, turn passes to the next player.
5. Demons and tokens work are special cards.
6. A Token card is used to draw three cards. Either yourself or to force someone else to take three cards.
   1. You can play a Token card immediately if you get it from the draw pile - in the same turn. Or keep it in your hand and play it later.
   2. Three cards can be drawn from the main draw pile or from the discard pile. Or both together. But cards have to be picked top down. 
   3. First the player who is playing the Token card declares whether they're drawing themselves or giving three cards to a particular person.
   4. Then they will draw three cards from the center, and either keep in their hand, or give to another player.
   5. Once this is done, place the Token card on the top of the discard pile.
7. A Demon can be used in one of three ways.
   1. It can pair with a character face card of same color (so Cat's Demon with Cat's face card).
   2. It can be used as an action card to steal one card from any other player. You can either ask for a specific card from a specific player or draw one card from any one player's hand.
   3. Demon can also be used to prevent an action on you. So when someone is playing their Token card against you (and forcing you to take three cards) or playing their Demon against you (trying to steal a card from you) - you can immediately place a demon in the discard pile to stop that action.
8. On your turn, you can play as many pairs as you want on the discard pile in center. So you can discard pairs as you make them, or wait and discard more pairs later.
9. If the draw pile is finished, take all cards from the discard pile, shuffle them, and turn them face down to make a new draw pile.
10. In the rare case that the draw pile is finished and there are no cards in the discard pile, every player has to give up any 3 of their cards. A new draw pile will be made from this collection.
11. The player who discards all their cards first, wins.

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