🎴 How to Play BALE
Master the art of fabric trading
🎯 The Goal
Collect, trade, and call "BALE OUT!" to win the round
⚙️ Setting Up
-
Shuffle all 72 cards together
Fabrics and Special Cards
-
Deal 9 cards to each player, face-down
One at a time to ensure fairness
-
Place the remaining cards face-down in the center
This is the draw pile
🎲 On Your Turn — Pick 1 Action
TRADE / PLAY / DRAW
💰 TRADE
Announce a point value (e.g., "40 points"). Both players exchange cards of equal value only (Eg: Silk(20) + Wool(20) equals 4 Cotton(10) cards) & face-down (Hidden from each other)
✨ PLAY
Play one Special Card from your hand, place it face-up to the discard pile so others can see the effects. See the full card reference below.
📦 DRAW
Take one card from the top of the draw pile and add it to your hand.
🃏 The Cards
Fabrics (60 Cards)
The core of the game. Collect 7 cards of any one FABRIC to win
| Fabric | Point Value |
|---|---|
| 👕 Cotton | 10 pts |
| 👖 Denim | 10 pts |
| 🏭 Polyester | 10 pts |
| ✨ Silk | 20 pts |
| 🌊 Nylon | 20 pts |
| 🐑 Wool | 20 pts |
Point values determine trade amounts — all trades must exchange equal total points.
Special Cards (16 Cards)
Special Cards are split into Helpers and Blockers. Play one on your turn as your action.
| Card | Effect |
|---|---|
| 📱 Bale App | Wild card which counts as any fabric you need to help you win Eg: 6 Silk + 1 Bale App = 7 Silk |
| ☀️ Summer | Win with just 6 Cotton or 6 Silk instead |
| 🌧️ Monsoon | Win with just 6 Nylon or 6 Polyester instead |
| ❄️ Winter | Win with just 6 Denim or 6 Wool instead |
| 🛡️Restock | Draw 3 cards from the draw pile |
| 🤝️ Fabric Broker | Draw 5 cards face up, pick 2 and discard 3 cards |
| 🔐 Insurance | Block any 1 Blocker card played except Market disruption and product recall |
| 🔨 Auction | Exchange any cards upto 30 points from the discard pile |
| Card | Effect |
|---|---|
| 🚨 Inventory Theft | Steal any 2 cards from any one player |
| 💢 Forced Deal | Force a trade of any value you choose with any one player |
| 😴 Bad Debtor | Make any one player skip their next turn (They can still participate in trades with others) |
| 🌪️ Market Disruption | Every player passes 2 cards face-down to the next player |
| 📊 Tariff | Choose a player & they will now need one extra card to win |
| ⏪ Product recall | Everyone must drop either 2 matching fabrics or any 3 cards |
| ✌️ Bidding war | Choose a player and you both drop 2 cards face up as bids at the same time, higher value wins both cards, tie resutls in both getting thier own cards back |
| 🔥 Warehouse Fire | Player must discard any 2 cards from their hand |
📋 Important Rules
- Hand limit: 13 cards — If you have more than 13 cards in your hand, you must discard 1 card every turn until you're back to 13
- Penalty for going over — If you're caught with more than 13 cards, you must drop to 13 immediately
- Calling "Bale" — You must call "Bale" when you have completed your set and win in the next round
- Didn't win after calling "Bale" — You must skip your turn for not winning after calling Bale
- No peeking — Trade cards stay face-down. No looking at what you're getting
- No takebacks — Once a trade is made or a card is played, it's final
- One trade per turn — You can only trade with one player per turn
- No picking from discard pile — You can only draw from draw pile except with auction card
🏆 How to Win
The first player to collect the required number of matching fabric cards and call "BALE!" wins the round.
📚 Standard win: Collect 7 cards of the same fabric.
🌤️ With Special Cards: Seasons card reduce the number of cards, you only need 6 (one less card) of the matching fabrics. Tariff increases it, 1 extra card to win. Bale App card can become any fabric you want to win
⚡ When paired, all effects apply together!
Eg: In summer Silk needs 6 cards (one less) but if it's tariffed then it needs 7 cards (one more) but if you have Bale App then you need 6 Silk cards because Bale App counts as Silk
🎯 Pro Tips:
• 📱 Bale App is a wild card that can substitute for any fabric
• 🌤️ Season cards reduce requirements to just 6 matching cards
• 📊 Tariff increases requirements by 1 extra card
• 🧮 Effects stack — calculate carefully to know when you can win!