Pairs: Commonwealth Deck

Renowned fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss was generous enough to make Pairs a part of his world. It doesn't yet appear in the books, of course, but we've created this deck based on archetypes from his best-selling book, The Name of the Wind. And who knows, Pairs might just show up in the Four Corners world at some point in the future.

The Commonwealth Deck has magnificent artwork by Shane Tyree and two special variants in the rule book: the "Calamities" rule, which is a special alternate rule for the 7's. and "Sweep," a new bidding game.

• Theme: High Fantasy, based on the works of Patrick Rothfuss
• Art by: Shane Tyree
• Variant Games: Calamities and Sweep
• Download the Commonwealth Rules (PDF, 1.5 Mb), including the rules for Sweep
• Download the Pairs Companion Rulebook (PDF, 5.6 Mb)

Pairs is a "New Classic Pub Game" featuring an unusual deck of cards. The deck has only the numbers 1 through 10, with a different number of each card: 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, and so on, up to 10x10. 

In the basic game, points are bad, and you score points by getting a pair. So, if you have a 10, there are 9 other cards that could pair it up, and you'll get 10 penalty points if you do. Players take turns deciding whether to take another card, or fold, trying to avoid scoring points. When you fold, you have to take points, but only the smallest card in play.

In the Calamities variant, the 7's attract attention. So they are lower than 1s for determining who goes first, and if you are dealt a 7, the turn stays with you!

Sweep is a bidding game in which players play cards from their hands to pick up cards from the table. The goal is to collect the most cards in every rank.

Pairs was designed by veteran game inventors James Ernest and Paul Peterson, and released in October 2014. There are many different art decks to choose from, but they all work for the same game (and many variant games!)