Game play in Disney Villains: The Card Game is simple, but the villains rarely stay loyal to you, possibly giving points away to other players.
In the game, each player takes their own villain deck, which consists of cards numbered 1-6 three times in various colors. Shuffle your deck, then lay one card face up and take four cards in hand. On a turn, you must play one card from your hand that matches the number or color of the card on top of your pile — but if the card you would play matches the top card of your left- or right-hand neighbor's discard pile, then you must play it there instead!
Maybe you can choose a card in hand that matches only your top card? If you have no valid play or don't want to give points away to someone else, you can play the card face down on your stack, showing the hero on the card back. On your next turn, you can play any card you like on your pile — except if it matches a neighbor's top card, of course, in which case you must give it away. (You can't play on a neighbor's hero card.) Whatever you do, refill your hand to four cards at turn's end.
Once all the cards have been played, everyone scores for the cards in their pile — but first they must count the number of hero cards in their pile. However many heroes they have, they must remove all matching number cards prior to scoring. If you have four heroes, for example, you must discard all 4s — and this is bad since all cards score points equal to their value. If you have nine heroes, then you first discard all 6s, then all 3s. Whoever has the most points wins!
Disney Villains: The Card Game includes two special cards that each player can shuffle into their deck prior to play. (Reshuffle if you flip up a special card initially.) When you play a special card, discard it to the center of the table instead of playing it on your pile. Here's what these cards do:
- Maleficent — Curse: All players with the highest number on their pile discard those cards to the center of the table.
- Cruella de Ville — Exchange: Exchange your top card (whether hero or number) with the top card of another player's pile.
- Ursula — Whirlpool: Decide whether all players pass their topmost card to the player on their left or right.
- Captain Hook — Interfere: All players must flip their top card from number to hero or vice versa.
- Jafar — Hypnosies: Take the top card of another player's pile and add it to your hand.
- Scar — Intrigue: Draw a card at random from each player's hand and place it in front of them. They must play this card on their turn.
