BASICS

To play the 2-Player variant, first learn the base game (for 3-6 players), as the rules are the same, with some exceptions / additions. Almost all standard BIG CHICKEN base game rules apply, including Breaking the Eggs.

However, Ducks and Coops don’t flip the direction of play, and Coops can’t skip a player’s turn.

Also, there is no Crowing, and the Good Egg and the Bad Egg do not exchange cards.

DECK SETUP

For the 2-Player game, set the deck up just like you would for a regular 4-player game: use 3 suits, and include all of the Egg cards in each suit numbered 1-10, two copies of each, for a total of 60 cards. Then remove the 4 lowest cards (the lowest four 1s, two from each of the lowest suits), bringing the deck to 56 cards. Then add in all 5 Chicken cards and all 3 Wild Duck cards, to bring the prepared deck total to 64 cards.

STARTING PLAYER

The starting player is the player holding the highest card. Start with both players asking each other if they are holding Big Red and work their way down until one player can show that they’re holding the highest card. (Order from highest to lowest: Chickens red to blue, then the Ducks, then Egg cards 10 down to 1, in order of suit, i.e.: orange 10, yellow 10, etc.)

NEXT PLAYER

Since there are only two players, the direction of play doesn’t matter — so you use the Direction of Play card to keep track of the first player in each round. The first player uses one side of the card (Cluckwise or Counter-Cluckwise), and the second player uses the other side of the card, and you flip it between every round.

GAMEPLAY

Shuffle the deck and deal 16 cards to each player, leaving 32 in a face-down pile. The starting player leads the first run.

Once a player goes out, the round is over, and the round is scored. Depending on which version of the game you’re playing, the next round happens as described below.

TWO GAME VERSIONS

We have two versions of the 2-Player game:

• VERSION ONE – PLAY BOTH HANDS: If both players are equally good at counting cards, then at the end of a round, you deal out and play the second set of hands left in the deck’s remaining 32 cards and use them for the next round. After both have been played, you combine all the cards in the deck, re-shuffle, and re-deal.
• VERSION TWO – ONE AND DUMP: If one player is better at counting cards than the other player, then at the end of a round, you combine the played cards from the round with the remaining 32 cards in the deck, re-shuffle, and re-deal. You only ever play the first 16 cards for each round.

SCORING

Score the 2-Player game the same as a 4/5-Player game.