Hot Potato! Card Game

About this product

Remember what’s coming. Pick your potato. Pass the heat.

Quick 15-minute card play for 2–4 players aged 8+.

A fast card game of memory, clever effects and very unusual potatoes battling their natural enemies.

Product Description

Things are heating up in Hot Potato!, where choosing the right potato at the right moment can mean the difference between scoring a point and getting stuck with the dreaded Hot Potato.

At the beginning of the game, each player receives six Potato cards. The first three Encounter cards are briefly revealed before being shuffled back onto the top of the deck, giving everyone a glimpse of what may be coming.

Each round, all players secretly choose a Potato card and reveal their choices at the same time. An Encounter card is then drawn, showing which potatoes perform best against that particular enemy. The highest-ranked Potato played scores a point.

But missing out on a point is not always bad news. Players who do not score may activate the special effect of their Potato card. These effects can let you peek at upcoming Encounters, recover discarded cards, play an additional Potato, protect yourself from other effects, earn extra points or move the Hot Potato to somebody else.

And that Hot Potato matters. While you have it, you cannot normally use your Potato card effects, although you can still score points. Get rid of it quickly and keep your options open.

The first player to reach 10 points wins, unless players reach 10 together, in which case the battle continues until someone pulls ahead.

View the Hot Potato! Game Rules (PDF)

Why You’ll Love It

• Memory matters: Get an early look at upcoming Encounter cards and try to remember what is coming.
• Everyone plays together: Potato cards are chosen secretly and revealed simultaneously each round.
• More than simply scoring: Missing a point can give you access to a useful Potato card effect.
• Different Potato powers: Effects can reveal information, recover cards, protect you, boost scoring or disrupt another player.
• The Hot Potato changes everything: Hold it and most of your card effects are temporarily blocked.
• Quick to the table: Designed for 2–4 players with a play time of around 15 minutes.

Quick Details

• Game: Hot Potato!
• Publisher: Jolly Dutch Productions B.V.
• Authors: Thijs Roem & Adrie Drent
• Artist: Henk-Jan Hoogendoorn
• Game type: Card game
• Players: 2–4
• Recommended age: 8+
• Play time: Approximately 15 minutes
• Contents: 37 cards, 28 tokens, 1 Hot Potato skewer, Dutch game rules and English game rules

Good to Know

• Goal: Be the first player to reach 10 points.
• Tied at 10: If two or more players reach 10 together, play continues until one player has more points than the others.
• Running out of cards: When your playable hand is empty at the end of a round, your discarded Potato cards return to your hand, except any card whose effect is still active.
• Colour-coded effects: Green effects are used immediately when played, yellow effects are used after resolving the Encounter, and blue effects apply during the following round. 
• Hot Potato rule: A player holding the Hot Potato cannot use Potato card effects, except for Rambotato, but can still score points normally. 
• Rules included: English and Dutch rules are supplied.