Barks and Bytes

About the Game

Barks & Bytes is an online 4-players social deduction card game featuring voice chat, where robot prototypes bluff, swap, expose and outsmart each other to dodge the dreaded Dog Card. Smart decision-making is key to survival, only one makes it through, the others are recycled.

How to Play:

•  Start: Each player is dealt cards. One player starts with the Dog Card.

• Discard: When a player has a pair, they can discard it. Players must empty their hands to finish a round. At the end of a round one player will remain holding the Dog Card.

• Give a card: On a player's turn, they place a card face down for the next player and announce its rank. If the player is passing the Dog Card, they can bluff about the rank.

• Receiver chooses:

  • ACCEPT = Take the card

  • EXPOSE = Call the bluff

  • SKIP = Refuse it and request a second card (must be accepted)

• Stability Points: Any action considered unstable reduces Stability, the lower your Stability, the higher chance of being recycled.

• Dog card: The most dangerous card. Receiving or holding it can cause instability. Players try to avoid it or pass it on.

• End of round: At the end of each round, a player can be eliminated for being too unstable, so watch those Stability Points.

• Win: Players who are considered too unstable are recycled. The last player standing wins.