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Booked! — The Football Card Game

Core rules · Squad Rush

How to play Booked!

2-6 players · 20 min · ages 8+. Three actions a turn, one loud word to win, and a table full of people who'd rather you didn't.

Download the rules booklet (PDF) ↓

See a round played

Watch a full round: deal, three actions a turn, a Tackle, the discard-pile comeback, a booking, and the GOOOAL call.

What you're watching

You're South, building Germany. England (East), Brazil (North) and Argentina (West) are racing to their own sevens — hands hidden, pitches public, play passing left. The gold glow marks whose turn it is.

  1. 0:08

    The deal. Seven cards to every manager, one card flipped to start the discard. Youngest kicks off — in this game, that’s you.

  2. 0:13

    Your turn — three actions. A turn is THREE actions, any mix, repeats allowed. Here: DRAW (deck or face-up discard), then play a German face up, then play another. ⚡ Instants are free and never count. Hand limit is 7.

  3. 0:17

    The Tackle — both cards to the pile. England draws, plays an Englishman, then Tackles: they discard a Germany card from their own hand, and your keeper is discarded too. Nothing returns to a hand in Booked! — but your keeper lands on top of the pile…

  4. 0:20

    The discard-pile comeback. …and the top of the discard is a legal draw. You spend action 1 snatching your keeper straight back, action 2 putting him back down, action 3 on a third German. The pitch grows fast.

  5. 0:24

    The booking. Brazil spends an action on a Yellow — your keeper is BOOKED. Booked players still count toward your 7, but a second Yellow (or any Red) sends them off.

  6. 0:29

    GOOOAL! and the instant window. Seven Germans side by side — you call it. The call opens ONE window around the table: England passes, Brazil throws ⚡ PLAYER TRANSFER at your seventh man, you answer ⚡ PLAY ON. Newest instant resolves first, so the Transfer dies and the goal stands. Argentina passes — full time, you win.

How to Play Booked! — Core Rules (Squad Rush)

2–6 players · 20 minutes · ages 8+

The object

Be first to field a legal Starting 7 — all from ONE nation: 1 GK, 2 DEF, 2 MID, 2 FWD — then call GOOOAL! and survive one final INSTANT window.

Setup

  1. Remove the 4 Quick Rules cards.
  2. Shuffle everything else into one deck.
  3. Deal 7 to each manager.
  4. Flip the top card to start the discard (referee or discipline card? bury it, flip again).
  5. Youngest manager kicks off; play passes left.

Your turn — THREE ACTIONS

Take 3 actions, any mix, repeats allowed. An action is any ONE of:

  • Draw — top of deck or top of the face-up discard.
  • Play a player — FACE UP to your pitch.
  • Play a Yellow/Red on an opponent.
  • Tackle (below).
  • Discard a card from hand.

⚡ Instants are FREE — they never cost an action and can be played at any time, even on another manager's turn.

Hand limit 7 — over seven at any point? Discard down.

The Tackle

Discard a player from your hand matching a nation on an opponent's pitch: DISCARD one pitch card of that nation. Nothing returns to a hand — everything goes to the discard pile.

Discipline

Yellow books a pitch player (slide it halfway under). Two Yellows = sent off. Red sends off ANY player, booked or not. Sent off = the player and its Yellows are all discarded, player card on top of the pile.

The discard pile

Face up. Drawing its top card is an action. Sent-off players land on top of their Yellows — a fallen star is immediately draftable. Nothing ever returns to a hand.

GOOOAL! and winning

A legal 7 on your pitch lets you call "GOOOAL!" out loud — all three O's. The call opens ONE window: around the table once, each opponent may play any number of ⚡ INSTANT cards to break your 7. Still legal when it closes? You win. Broken? Rebuild and re-call.

⚡ Instant timing

Free — never costs an action. An instant resolves before what it interrupts. When instants stack, the newest resolves first — an instant can cancel an instant.

If the deck runs dry

Set the top discard aside, shuffle the rest into a new deck. A second exhaustion goes to penalties: highest total rating on pitch wins.

Questions from real tables

Every one of these came up in playtesting. Yours probably will too.

Are pitch cards face up or face down?
Face up, always. Your hand is the only hidden information. Tackles, discipline targeting, Player Transfers, and the race itself all depend on public pitches.
What happens to my card after a Tackle?
It goes to the discard pile — a Tackle costs the card plus your action. And the discard is draftable, so you may be gifting your victim a pickup. Time it.
Can I play a Red on a player with no Yellow?
Yes — a Red sends off ANY player, booked or not. The player and any Yellows on it are all discarded, player card on top. Three paths to a sending-off: straight Red, Yellow→Red, or Yellow→Yellow.
In Group Stage, what does "playing a match" actually mean?
A scoring ceremony, ~30 seconds: lock, flip an official, apply their call, run the goals formula both ways, record. The strategy happened in the build phase — the match is why it mattered.
Can I play instants during match resolution?
No — locked means locked. (Unless your table runs the Matchday Drama variant.)
Two instants collide — who wins?
Newest first: the last instant played resolves before the ones under it. You call GOOOAL!, they play ⚡PLAYER TRANSFER at your seventh man, you answer ⚡PLAY ON — the Transfer dies, the goal stands. (And an ⚡OVERTURNED can itself be Overturned.)
What counts as an action?
Draw (deck or discard top), play a player, play a Yellow/Red, Tackle, or discard from hand. THREE per turn, any mix, repeats allowed. ⚡ Instants never count — they're free and playable any time, even off-turn.
Where does a tackled pitch card go?
The discard pile — nothing ever returns to a hand in Booked! A booked player tackled away takes its Yellow to the pile with it, player card on top.
A star got sent off — gone forever?
No: sent-off players land ON TOP of the discard pile, so the next manager can draft them with a draw action. Falling from grace is temporary.

Ready for the tournament?

Once Squad Rush clicks, ratings switch on: Group Stage turns the same deck into a three-matchday league with goals, standings and a cup.

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