1. Each player has a deck of up to 44 Goth Cards (maximum 11 Goth-tier cards [1 bat], 11 Gother-tier cards [2 bats], 11 Gothest-tier cards [3 bats] & 11 Ace cards). The amount of Goth Cards in a player’s deck can be less than 44, but every suit (Goth, Gother, Gothest, Ace) must have an equal amount of cards in the deck & each player must have enough cards to last 13 rounds. Note that the fewer Goth Cards you have, the lower your chances of winning are, so top up with Gothest booster packs to strengthen your deck & add the latest Goth Cards to your collection.
   
   
2. Each player selects a Character Card to represent them.
   
   
3. Players shuffle their decks & set them in front of their right hands (future).
   
   
4. Each player draws 5 cards from their deck.
   
   
5. Players flip a coin to determine turn order. Challenger calls.
   
   
6. Player 1 plays a Goth Card or Ace combination* from their hand by setting it down to the left of their deck (present). Player 2 then tries to meet** or exceed the value of Player 1’s Goth Card(s) by playing a Goth Card or Ace combination of their own. The player with the most bats wins the round & the difference in bats is awarded to their score (example: Player 1 plays a Goth-tier card worth 1 bat & Player 2 plays a Gothest-tier card worth 3 bats, so Player 2 is awarded 2 bats). Score can be tracked on a paper, a calculator or, most conveniently, with the Shadow Game mode of the Gothest app.
   
   
7. Played cards get placed in a pile to the left of where the cards were set in play (past). IMPORTANT: winning cards face down, losing cards face up.
   
   
8. Thus concludes 1 round. Each player draws 1 card then repeats steps 6 & 7 for 12 more rounds. The player who won the most bats by round 13’s end wins the BATtle***! Winner is entitled to claim the loser’s Character Card & choose 1 face-up Goth Card from loser’s past pile.

*: Some Goth, Gother & Gothest cards have an ace symbol. This symbol means you can combine it with an Ace Card (this is called an Ace combination). Ace Cards are petty little normie-tier insults that deduct 1 bat from your opponent’s card for 1 round, i.e. if they played a Gothest-tier card, it’s now only worth 2 bats, not 3. Beware, though, for Aces cannot be played alone. If your hand contains no Goth Cards & 1-4 Aces, you are unable to defend while your opponent can play Goth Cards against you, adding the full value of these cards to their score for each round you are unable to defend. If you are unfortunate enough to draw a hand of 5 Aces, even before the 1st round, you have too much hate in your heart, so you automatically lose the entire BATtle immediately.

**: If scores are tied during a round, players flip a coin to determine the winner. Player 2 calls. Winner scores the full value of their Goth Card(s) in play (example 1: Player 1 played a Gothest-tier card & Player 2 played a Gother-Ace combination, then Player 2 wins the coin flip, so Player 2 gets 2 bats added to his score) (example 2: both players play Gothest-tier cards, Player 1 wins the coin flip, so she adds 3 bats to her score).

***: To help prevent ties in BATtles, some cards have a silver symbol on them. To earn silver, play a card with the Silver symbol &, if you win that round, the silver amount on the card is added your silver bank. If you are otherwise tied with your opponent at the end of a BATtle, the player with the most silver wins. If in the extremely minuscule chance both players scored equal bats AND equal silver over the course of 13 rounds, a coin flip called by the defender will determine the final winner.

Additional Rule Set: Duel

Coming soon…

Additional Rule Set: Tarot

Coming soon…