Firewall

Rules overview

Players: 4 | Teams: 2 vs. 2 | Age: 10+ | Time: 30–45 minutes | Deck: Standard 52-card deck

Components

• 1 standard 52-card deck
• A way to record match score, Ports won, and tricks won

Cards rank high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. There is no trump suit.

Teams and Roles

Players form two partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other. Randomly determine which partnership begins as Blue.

Roles alternate each round:

• Round 1: Team A Blue / Team B Red
• Round 2: Team A Red / Team B Blue
• Round 3: Team A Blue / Team B Red
• Round 4: Team A Red / Team B Blue

Each partnership therefore plays each role twice.

Ports and Firewall Stacks

Each suit represents one network Port: Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades.

Each Port may contain a stack of Firewall cards. The number of cards in the stack is its Firewall depth. The top card is its active Cap. A Port with no cards is OPEN .

Setup and Boot Sequence

At the beginning of each round:

• Shuffle all 52 cards and deal 13 cards to each player.
• Each player secretly chooses 1 card from hand as their Boot card and places it face-down.
• Reveal all four Boot cards simultaneously.
• Beginning with the Round Leader and proceeding clockwise, place each Boot card onto the Firewall Stack matching its suit.
• If multiple Boot cards share a suit, they stack in that placement order. The last card placed is on top and becomes the active Cap.
• Boot cards are now neutral Firewall cards and no longer belong to either team.
• Each player begins the round with 12 cards, creating 12 tricks.

Boot cards may share suits. No Port is guaranteed to begin with a card.

Selecting a Boot card is part of the game. Players may use the choice to influence the starting Firewall, remove an awkward card from hand, or communicate strategic intent to their partner through play.

Boot Sequence Example

The four Boot cards are revealed as 4♥, J♣, 8♥, 2♥. If they are placed in that order, Hearts begins with three layers, with 2♥ as the active Cap over 8♥ and 4♥. Clubs begins with J♣. Diamonds and Spades begin OPEN.

Opening Leaders

Randomly select the Round 1 leader. Use the following sequence for the remaining rounds:

• Round 1: randomly selected player
• Round 2: that player's partner
• Round 3: player to the Round 1 leader's left
• Round 4: that player's partner

Every player therefore opens one round, and each partnership opens once as Red and once as Blue.

Playing a Trick

The leader plays any card. Its suit becomes the Lead Suit. Play continues clockwise.

Players must follow suit if able. A player who cannot follow suit may play any card.

Only cards of the Lead Suit can win the trick.

Open Port

If the Lead Suit's Port is OPEN, the highest card of the Lead Suit wins.

Protected Port

If the Lead Suit has a Firewall Stack, its top card sets the Cap. Any Lead-Suit card ranked above the Cap is Blocked and cannot win.

The highest unblocked card of the Lead Suit wins.

Example: Hearts has a Cap of 7. The trick contains 5♥, J♥, 7♥, and 3♥. The J♥ is Blocked, so the 7♥ wins.

Blocked cards are still legally played and still satisfy the requirement to follow suit.

Packet Drop

If every card played in the Lead Suit is above the Cap, all Lead-Suit cards are Blocked. This is a Packet Drop .

The lowest-ranked card of the Lead Suit wins the trick.

Example: Clubs has a Cap of 3 and the trick contains 7♣, Q♣, 5♣, and 10♣. All Clubs are Blocked, so the 5♣ wins.

Off-suit cards can never win a Packet Drop.

The winner records the trick, resolves the normal Red or Blue action, and leads the next trick.

After Winning a Trick

The winning player chooses whether and how to use their team's Firewall action. Either card played by that team may be selected, including a card played by the winner's partner.

Cards played off-suit are fully eligible for Fortify or Breach. This makes voids and off-suit plays an important part of Firewall strategy.

Blue — Fortify

After Blue wins, the trick winner may choose either card played by Blue and place it on top of the Firewall Stack matching that card's suit.

That card becomes the new active Cap for the Port. Blue may Fortify an OPEN Port or add another layer to an existing Firewall.

Example: Hearts are led. Blue wins after its two players contributed 8♥ and 4♣. Blue may add the 8♥ to Hearts or the off-suit 4♣ to Clubs.

Blue may decline to Fortify.

Red — Breach

After Red wins, the trick winner may choose either card played by Red.

If that card's suit has at least one Firewall card, remove the top card from that Port and place it in the Firewall discard.

The next card underneath, if any, immediately becomes the active Cap. If no cards remain, the Port becomes OPEN.

If the chosen suit is already OPEN, there is nothing to Breach. If neither Red card matches a Port containing Firewall cards, Red cannot Breach that trick.

Example: Hearts has 5♥ as its active Cap over 9♥ and K♥. Red wins a trick in which Red played a Heart. Red Breaches Hearts and removes the 5♥. The 9♥ becomes the new active Cap.

Red may decline to Breach.

Trick Resolution Order

After each trick:

• Determine the winner using the active Cap, if any.
• Record the trick for that partnership.
• If Blue won, the winner may Fortify.
• If Red won, the winner may Breach.
• The trick winner leads the next trick.

Continue until all 12 tricks are complete.

End-of-Round Scoring

Score each Port according to its final Firewall depth:

Blue scores no more than 3 points from a single Port regardless of additional depth.

Scoring Example

• Hearts: 4 cards → Blue 3
• Diamonds: 2 cards → Blue 1
• Clubs: 1 card → Red 2
• Spades: 0 cards → Red 2

Round score: Blue 4, Red 4. Ports won: Blue 2, Red 2.

End of the Round

After all 12 tricks:

• Score the four Ports.
• Add those points to each partnership's match score.
• Record Ports won.
• Record tricks won.
• Gather all cards from tricks, Firewall Stacks, and the Firewall discard.
• Switch Red and Blue roles.
• Shuffle and begin the next round with a new 13-card deal and Boot Sequence.

No Firewall state carries between rounds.

Winning the Match

The match ends after four rounds. The partnership with the most total points wins.

If tied:

• Most total Ports won
• Most total tricks won

If still tied, the match is a draw. There is no sudden-death round.

Communication

Hands remain private. Partners may discuss public information but may not reveal or explicitly describe cards still held in hand.

Players may not say things such as:

• “I have the Ace of Hearts.”
• “I am void in Clubs.”
• “Fortify Spades because I have a low Spade.”

Boot-card selection, leads, follows, off-suit plays, and Firewall actions are all legitimate ways to signal strategic intent through gameplay.