Clumsy Thief facts for kids

Clumsy Thief is a fun card game made by the company Melon Rind. It was created by Jeanie Mehran to help her son practice his addition skills. In 2013, Clumsy Thief won several awards, including the Academics' Choice, Major Fun Award, and Parents' Choice Award.

How to Play Clumsy Thief

This game uses 84 Money cards, 6 Thief cards, and 4 Jail cards. Each player starts with seven cards dealt face down. You pick them up and look at them.

Game Goal

The main goal of Clumsy Thief is to collect the most money by the end of the game. You earn money by making your own money piles or by stealing them from other players. Be careful, though, because your money piles can also be stolen!

Starting the Game

If you have two cards in your hand that add up to exactly $100, you can make a "money stack." To do this, place one card face up, then put the other card on top of it, also face up. Place your new money stack on the table in front of you.

Stealing Money Stacks

Once everyone has made their starting money stacks and placed them on the table, the stealing begins! When someone says "Go," all players can try to steal money stacks from others using the cards in their hands.

You can steal a money stack from any player if you have a card that adds up to $100 with the top card of that stack. For example, if a stack has a $60 card on top, and you have a $40 card, you can steal it! Just place your card on top of their stack, then slide the whole stack over to your side of the table.

Special Cards: Thief and Jail

Thief Cards

A Thief card is very powerful! It lets you steal any money stack from any player, no matter what cards are on it. You can even use a Thief card to steal a stack that another player just stole with their own Thief card!

Jail Cards

A Jail card can only be placed on top of a Thief card. When you play a Jail card on a Thief card, you take the entire stack that the Thief card was on. You can also use a Jail card on your own Thief card. This helps protect your money stack from being stolen by other players.

Game Rounds and Ending

After the stealing is over for a round, each player takes one new card from the deck and adds it to their hand. Then, on "Go," a new round of making stacks and stealing begins!

The game ends instantly when one of two things happens:

• A player runs out of cards in their hand.
• There aren't enough new cards left in the deck for every player to draw one.

When the game ends, any cards you are still holding in your hand are turned face down and put aside.

Scoring

To find out who won, everyone adds up the value of their money cards in their stacks. Thief cards, Jail cards, and any cards you discarded at the end of the game are worth nothing. The player with the most money wins!