Pairs: Professor Elemental Deck

The Professor Elemental deck is a collaboration between artist Cheyenne Wright and real-life chap-hop songster Professor Elemental. The deck features the Professor and his many friends and enemies, including Sadie Bell, Geoffrey his orangutan butler, and the terrifying Badgermingo. This deck also contains the absurd bidding game Venture. 

• Theme: Professor Elemental
• Art by: Cheyenne Wright
• Variant Game: Venture
• Download the Professor Elemental Deck Rules (PDF, 1.1 Mb), including the rules for Venture
• 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.

Venture is a bidding game where players are trying not to take points. Cards are usually bad unless you collect a full set. Players bid in secret for a pool of cards in the middle, and players may negotiate (and perhaps lie) about which cards they will play.

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!)