Sleeping Queens: QUICK Setup, Rules & FAQs (with video)

Setup

• Separate the cards into green cards (Queens) and red cards (Power Cards and number cards)
• Shuffle the Queen cards and deal them into the middle of the playing area in 3 rows of 4
• Shuffle the red cards and deal 5 cards to each player, face down. Place the remainder of the red cards in the middle of the playing area, as shown, as shown. Leave space next to it for a discard pile.
• Players may look at their cards but should keep them secret from other players.

TIP: Check out my comprehensive Sleeping Queens Strategy Guide

Objective

The objective of Sleeping Queens is to collect enough Queens or enough Points to win the game. The amount of Queens or Points required to win depends on the number of players in the game:

• 2-3 Players: 5 Queens or 50+ points
• 4-5 Players: 4 Queens or 40+ points

Points are listed on each Queen card. Queens range in value from 5 to 20 points.

Note: If all the Queens have been awakened and no player has enough Queens or Points to win the game, then the player with the most points at the time wins.

Gameplay

• Play begins with the player to the left of the deal and continues in a clockwise direction
• On a player’s turn, he or she may take one of 5 actions by playing a card from their hand onto the discard pile
  • King: Awaken a Queen from the middle of the board. Turn a Queen card of your choice face up in front of you
  • Knight: Steal a Queen of your choosing from another player and place it face up in front of you
  • Sleeping Potion: Put an opponent’s Queen of your choosing back to ‘sleep’ in the middle of the playing area, face down.
  • Jester: Turn the top card of the draw pile face up. If it is a ‘Power Card’ (a non-number card) put it into your hand and take another turn. If it is a number card, beginning with yourself and continuing in a clockwise direction, count the number of players equal to the number on the card. The last player to be counted awakens a Queen from the middle, placing it face up in front of them.
  • Discard Card(s): Players can discard one or more cards to draw an equal number of cards from the draw pile.
    • A single card of any kind; draw one card
    • A pair of identical number cards; draw two cards
    • An addition equation using 3 or more cards; draw as many cards as were discarded. For example, 2+3+4=9, so discarding a 2, 3, 4, and 9 allows a player to draw 4 cards
• Players can play defensive cards out of turn to prevent actions from other players. When one of these cards is played, both the defensive card and the card it negates are put into the discard pile. Each player draws a card from the draw pile and the player who played the initial card ends their turn. Playing a defensive card does not count as a turn for the player who played it.
  • Dragon: Prevents a Knight from stealing the defending player’s Queen
  • Magic Wand: Prevents a Sleeping Potion from putting the defending player’s Queen to sleep
• At the end of a turn, the player should draw enough cards from the draw pile to give them 5 cards in their hand.
• Some Queens have special powers, exclusive only to them
  • Rose Queen: When awakened from the middle of the board, the player who awakened her may also awaken another Queen from the middle of the board. This does not apply when the Rose Queen is stolen from another player.
  • Dog Queen and Cat Queen: These two queens cannot coexist together. If a player is in possession of either the Dog or Cat Queen and then draws the other, they must immediately put one back to sleep face down in the middle of the board.
• The game ends when one player has collected enough Queens or Points to win the game (see Objective above)