How to play Jackaro

Setup & teams

4 players. In Teams mode, players sitting opposite each other are partners (2 vs 2). In Free-for-all everyone plays alone.
Goal (Teams): the first team to get all 8 of its marbles into their Safe Zones wins. Goal (Free-for-all): the first player to get all 4.
Each round everyone is dealt cards from a 52-card deck: 4, then 4, then 5 cards, then the deck is reshuffled.
Turns go clockwise. On your turn you play exactly one card. If your timer runs out, a move is played for you.

Board zones

Home (Graveyard): where your 4 inactive marbles wait.
Base spot: your starting hole on the track, right outside your Home. Marbles must come out here first.
Track: the shared loop. Marbles move clockwise.
Safe Zone: your 4 coloured slots leading off the track. Only your own marbles can enter.

Moving, killing & blockades

Mandatory play: you can't skip. If you have a playable card you must use one. With no valid move at all, you burn (discard) a card and pass.
Killing: land exactly on another marble to send it back to its owner's Home. You can kill opponents, and even your teammate.
Base blockade: a marble sitting on its own Base spot is invincible. Nobody (not even its owner) can pass it, kill it or swap it.
Safe Zone entry needs an exact count. You can't overshoot, lap around again, or jump over your own marbles inside it.
Helping your partner (Teams): once all 4 of your marbles are safe, you keep playing and your cards move your partner's marbles.

Cards

2, 3, 6, 8, 9 — move one of your marbles forward by the card's value.

A♠

Ace

Bring a marble out of Home onto your Base spot, OR move 1 or 11 steps.

K♠

King

Bring a marble out onto your Base spot, OR move 13 steps, killing every other player's marble in its path.

J♣

Jack — the Swapper

Swap one of your marbles on the track with any other marble on the track. Marbles in Home, on their Base spot or in a Safe Zone can't be swapped.

Q♠

Black Queen ♠ ♣

Move one marble 12 steps.

Q♥

Red Queen ♥ ♦

The next player loses a card: you draw one blindly from their hand and it's burned.

10♦

Ten

Move 10 steps, OR make the next player burn a card of their choice — and that burn is their whole turn.

7♥

Seven — the Splitter

Move 7 steps in total, split between two of your marbles if you like (e.g. 4 + 3). All 7 must be used.

5♣

Five — the Enforcer

Move ANY marble on the board 5 steps forward: yours, your partner's or an opponent's (push them past their Safe Zone!). Another player's marble resting on its start hole can't be moved.

4♦

Four — the Shortcut

Move one marble 4 steps backward. From your Base spot this puts you right at the entrance of your Safe Zone.

House rules

The host can switch rules on or off in the lobby. "Consecutive blockade" (official complex rules) means: when two marbles stand next to each other on the track, the front one is a wall that can't be passed, killed or swapped.