Remove all Jokers, red face cards (J♥ Q♥ K♥ J♦ Q♦ K♦) and red aces (A♥ A♦) — 44 cards remain. Start with 20 HP.
Suits
♣ ♠ Clubs & Spades = Monsters — deal damage equal to their value (2–14).
♦ Diamonds = Weapons — equip to reduce monster damage. Picking up a weapon is mandatory; it replaces your old one.
♥ Hearts = Potions — heal HP equal to value (capped at 20). Only the first potion each room heals you.
Rooms
Deal 4 cards face-up. Play 3 of them in any order. The 4th carries into the next room.
You may flee a room (return all 4 cards to the bottom of the deck), but never two rooms in a row.
Monsters
When you face a monster you choose: use your weapon (subtract weapon value from damage, min 0) or fight barehanded (take full damage). You always have the choice even if your weapon could be used. Weapon durability: after killing a monster, your weapon can only be used on monsters of strictly lower value than the last one it killed. It cannot fight the same value again.
Victory / Defeat
Clear all 44 cards → you win! Score = remaining HP. HP drops to 0 → you die.