Cover Your Assets Rules: Learn How to Play & Win

Get ready for a thrilling game night with Cover Your Assets, the fast-paced card game for 2-6 players ages 7 and up! Race to become the first mock-millionaire by collecting sets of valuable assets – but watch out, your opponents can steal your riches right out from under you! This guide will teach you the rules, strategies, and a few sneaky tactics to help you build your fortune and dominate the game.

Table of Contents

Cover Your Assets Game Components

Inside a box of Cover Your Assets, you’ll find 110 cards, each more tempting than the last. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Asset Cards: The Building Blocks of Your Fortune

Cover Your Assets features a delightful array of Asset Cards, each representing a different piece of your financial empire! These cards come in a range of values, making some more desirable (and fiercely contested!) than others:

Low-End Delights: Don’t underestimate the power of a trusty Piggy Bank ($5,000) or a stack of Comic Books ($7,000)! Even Toy Trains ($8,000) can add up to a respectable sum.
Mid-Range Marvels: Start feeling like a true entrepreneur with a Scooter ($10,000), some dazzling Jewels ($12,000), or maybe even a Piano ($12,000).
High-Roller Havens: This is where the big money dreams come true! Imagine owning a Classic Auto ($15,000), escaping to your Cabin in the Woods ($15,000), or taking to the skies in your private Sport Plane ($20,000)!

Now, here’s where the strategy comes in: not all assets are created equal! You’ll find more of the lower-value assets in the deck. For example, there are 10 Toy Train cards but only 8 Cabins. This means those rarer, high-value assets are hot commodities – expect a bidding war (or should we say, a challenging frenzy?) when they hit the table.

Wild Cards: Your Secret Weapon for Asset Domination

Let’s face it, even the savviest investors need a little flexibility in their portfolios. That’s where Wild Cards come in, offering a strategic edge in Cover Your Assets. These powerful cards can be used to form sets with any Asset Card, making them invaluable for both offense and defense:

Silver Wild Card ($25,000): A solid addition to any set, the Silver Wild Card is like a reliable silver mine, always there to boost your wealth.
Gold Wild Card ($50,000): The Gold Wild Card is the crown jewel of Cover Your Assets, representing serious financial clout. Use it to create high-value sets or to protect your assets from those pesky challengers.

Mastering Wild Cards in Challenges: When an opponent challenges your top set, you can use a Wild Card to defend it. If they continue the challenge with another matching Asset Card, you can counter with your own matching card or another Wild Card! The back-and-forth continues until one player runs out of matching cards or Wild Cards.

Advanced Cards: Prepare for Some Market Manipulation

Ready to spice up the game with a little unpredictability? Advanced Cards inject a dose of chaos and strategic maneuvering that can turn the tide of the game in an instant:

Swap Card: Feeling envious of your opponent’s prized asset set? The Swap Card lets you instantly trade your top set with theirs. It’s a bold move, but it can pay off big time!
Move Card: Become the puppet master of the game with the Move Card. Force any player (including yourself!) to move their top set to the bottom of their stack, or bring their bottom set to the top, making it vulnerable to a challenge.
Penny Jar: Don’t be fooled by its humble name – the Penny Jar is a Wild Card with a serious punch. It acts as a standard Wild Card when forming sets, but during challenges, it’s worth two Wild Cards!

There you have it – a comprehensive look at the components that make Cover Your Assets so engaging! Now you’re ready to shuffle, deal, and start building your financial empire!

Setting Up the Game

Classic Rules Setup

Cover Your Assets is best enjoyed with 4-6 players, making for a truly chaotic and exciting game. Here’s how to get started:

Grab Your Deck: Take the deck of Cover Your Assets cards.
Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle: Give those cards a good, thorough shuffle to ensure a random distribution of assets.
Deal 5 Cards to Each Player: Deal each player a hand of 5 cards, face-down. Keep your cards secret from your opponents – a little mystery adds to the fun!
Create the Draw Pile: Place the remaining cards face-down in the center of the table. This is your draw pile, ready to replenish your hands throughout the game.
Start the Discard Pile: Take the top card from the draw pile, flip it face-up, and place it next to the draw pile. This is your discard pile, where discarded cards go and opportunistic players can find a potential match.

Advanced Cover Your Assets Rules Setup

Ready to take your Cover Your Assets game to the next level? The Advanced Rules add a twist of chaos and strategy, perfect for players looking for an even more challenging experience. This version is also best with 4-6 players.

Here’s how to set up for an Advanced Game:

Grab Your Deck and Advanced Cards: Take the deck of Cover Your Assets cards and add in the Swap, Move, and Penny Jar cards.
Shuffle for Maximum Mayhem: Shuffle all the cards together, ensuring those powerful Advanced Cards are mixed in well.
Deal 6 Cards to Each Player: In the Advanced Game, each player starts with a hand of 6 cards, giving you more options for strategic plays.
Form the Draw Pile: Place the remaining cards face-down in the center of the table to create the draw pile.
Start the Discard Pile: Take the top card from the draw pile, flip it face-up, and place it beside the draw pile. This becomes your discard pile.

Related: Discover our best card game list for 4, 5 and 6 players.

How to Play Cover Your Assets (Basic Rules)

Ready to learn how to play Cover Your Assets? Get ready for some fast-paced fun and strategic maneuvering as you race to build your fortune! Here’s how a typical turn in Cover Your Assets plays out:

Your Turn, Your Choice: 3 Actions to Master

On your turn in Cover Your Assets, you have three possible actions to choose from:

Action 1: Forming a Set – The Key to Building Wealth

Forming sets of matching Asset Cards is the heart of Cover Your Assets. Here’s how you can build your financial foundation:

Match Made in Your Hand: If you’re holding two identical Asset Cards, congratulations! You’ve got a set. Lay them face-up in front of you to start your asset stack. A pair of Scooter Cards (worth $10,000 each) will get you well on your way to that million-dollar goal!
Discard Pile Opportunity: The discard pile can be a valuable resource. If the top card of the discard pile matches an Asset Card in your hand, you can snag it and form a set.

Stacking Strategy: When you start accumulating multiple sets, alternate the direction you lay them down. Place one set horizontally, the next vertically, and so on. This helps you keep your assets organized and easy to count.

Wild Cards: Your Strategic Advantage

Remember those awesome Wild Cards – Silver and Gold? They are your secret weapons! A Wild Card can be paired with any Asset card to create a set. Holding onto that lone $20,000 Sport Plane card? A Gold Wild Card will turn it into a $70,000 power couple! Just remember to place the Asset card on top of the Wild Card in your set.

Action 2: Discarding a Card – Strategic Retreat

Sometimes, the cards you’re dealt just don’t work in your favor. If you find yourself holding onto cards that aren’t helping you form sets, you can choose to discard a card from your hand. Simply place the unwanted card face-up on top of the discard pile.

Action 3: Challenging a Player – Time to Play Aggressively!

Now for the most exhilarating part of Cover Your Assets: challenging other players! This is your chance to swipe their valuable assets and add them to your own growing fortune.

Here’s how a challenge unfolds:

Meet the Prerequisite: To challenge another player, you must have at least one set in your own stack.
Choose Your Target: Carefully select the player whose assets you want to try and steal. You can only challenge for the top set of a player’s stack.
Initiate the Challenge: To challenge, play a card from your hand that matches the Asset Card on top of the set you’re targeting. For example, if your opponent has a set of Jewels as their top set, and you have a Jewels card or a Wild Card, you can initiate a challenge.
Defending Your Assets: The challenged player can defend their set by playing a matching Asset Card or a Wild Card.
The Challenge Escalates! The challenge continues back and forth, with each player playing matching cards or Wild Cards. This continues until one player cannot (or chooses not to) play a matching card.
Claim Your Prize: The player who plays the last matching card wins the challenge and claims all the cards played during the challenge, including the original set being fought over. These cards are then combined into a new, larger set and added to the winner’s stack.

Wild Card Power Play: Remember, you can use a Wild Card to defend your set even if you have a matching Asset Card in your hand. This strategy allows you to potentially exhaust your opponent’s matching cards while preserving your own!

End of Your Turn: Replenishing Your Hand

After you’ve taken one of the three actions (form a set, discard a card, or challenge another player), draw a card from the draw pile, replenishing your hand back to 5 cards.

The game continues clockwise, with each player taking their turn until the draw pile is empty. We’ll cover those end-game details and how to win Cover Your Assets in the next section!

Advanced Rules

Ready to elevate your Cover Your Assets game? The Advanced Rules introduce new cards and strategic possibilities, making gameplay even more dynamic and challenging.

Introducing Advanced Cards: Swap, Move, and Penny Jar

These powerful cards add unique twists to Cover Your Assets, allowing you to manipulate the game board and your opponents’ strategies:

1. Swap Card: Seize Your Opponent’s Fortune

With the Swap Card, you can instantly exchange your top set with any other player’s top set! Did someone just build a lucrative set of Sport Planes? Play the Swap Card to claim those assets for yourself!

2. Move Card: Control the Flow of Assets

The Move Card allows you to strategically rearrange sets on the game board:

Move a Set to Safety: If your opponent has a valuable set exposed at the top of their stack, use the Move Card to force them to move it to the bottom of their stack, protecting it from challenges.
Expose a Hidden Target: Conversely, you can use the Move Card to force a player (including yourself!) to bring their bottom set to the top, making it vulnerable to a challenge.

3. Penny Jar: The Double-Strength Wild Card

The Penny Jar is a Wild Card with exceptional power. It can be used like any other Wild Card when forming sets, but its true value lies in challenges:

Challenge with Double the Power: When used in a challenge, the Penny Jar counts as two Wild Cards. If you’re trying to win a Penny Jar from an opponent, you’ll need a formidable combination of cards to overcome its strength.

Advanced Challenges: Targeting Hidden Wealth

The Advanced Rules of Cover Your Assets introduce a new strategic element: the ability to challenge not just for the top set, but also for the second set from the top of an opponent’s stack.

To launch a second-set challenge, you need one of the following powerful combinations:

Two Matching Asset Cards: Double down on your desired asset by playing two matching Asset Cards from your hand.
Double Wild Card Power: Show your opponent you mean business by playing two Wild Cards.
Strategic Blend: Combine one matching Asset Card with one Wild Card for a balanced approach.
The Penny Jar Advantage: The Penny Jar acts as a universal key, allowing you to challenge for any set, including the second set.

Defending against a second-set challenge follows the same rules as a standard challenge: You need a matching pair of cards, or a Penny Jar, to protect your set.

Remember: This enhanced challenge mechanic adds a layer of complexity to Cover Your Assets, requiring players to think strategically about their set placement and anticipate their opponents’ moves.

2-Player and 3-Player Rule Variations

Don’t have a large group? No problem! Cover Your Assets offers engaging variations for smaller gatherings, ensuring a thrilling experience for 2 or 3 players.

2-Player Showdown: Intensify the Competition

The 2-player variation of Cover Your Assets creates a head-to-head battle for financial dominance. Here’s how to set up:

Adjust the Deck: To balance gameplay with two players, remove the following cards from the deck before shuffling: all 8 Cabin cards, 2 Silver Wild Cards, and 1 Gold Wild Card.
Form 3 Draft Piles: Shuffle the remaining cards and create three face-down draft piles, each containing 10 cards. Place these piles in the center of the table. Flip the top card of each pile face-up to reveal the available assets.
Deal Starting Hands: Deal each player 6 cards to start the game.
Draft Sets from the Piles: On your turn, you can draft a set by matching a card from your hand with one or more cards from the top of the draft piles.
Challenge Your Opponent’s Drafts: If your opponent drafts a set you need, you can challenge their draft by playing a matching Asset Card or a Wild Card. The winner of the challenge claims the set.
Replenish the Draft Piles: After a card is drafted or won in a challenge, flip the next card on that draft pile face-up.

3-Player Power Struggle: Strategic Drafting and Alliances

The 3-player variation of Cover Your Assets introduces a unique spatial element to the game, emphasizing strategic drafting and potential alliances. Here’s how it works:

Use the Full Deck: Unlike the 2-player variation, the 3-player game uses the entire Cover Your Assets deck, including all Asset Cards, Wild Cards, and Advanced Cards (if playing with the Advanced Rules).
Deal Starting Hands: Deal each player 5 cards face-down.
Create Individual Draft Piles: Form six draft piles, each containing 10 cards. Place two draft piles – one to the left and one to the right – beside each player. This creates individual drafting zones.
Draft from Your Territory: Players can only draft sets from the two piles adjacent to them. As with the 2-player variation, a player can draft multiple matching cards from a single pile.
Localized Challenges: Only the player sitting next to the draft pile from which you are drafting can challenge your draft. This creates opportunities for strategic alliances and targeted attacks.
Replenish Your Hand: After drafting or challenging, draw a card from the draw pile to replenish your hand.

In both the 2-player and 3-player variations, the core objective of Cover Your Assets remains the same: to be the first player to accumulate $1,000,000 in assets. However, the addition of drafting and the unique challenge dynamics in these smaller-group versions offer a fresh and engaging twist on the classic gameplay.

Related: Discover our best card game list for 2 players and 3 players.

Strategies for Success: Outsmarting Your Fellow Millionaires

Want to dominate the Cover Your Assets game and leave your opponents in the dust? It takes more than just luck – you need strategy, cunning, and a little bit of ruthless ambition. Here are some expert tips to help you outsmart the competition and build a winning portfolio:

Early Game Tactics: Grab Those Assets!

Don’t fall into the trap of waiting for those perfect high-value sets in the early game. Remember, you can’t challenge other players for their assets until you have at least one set of your own.

Your Top Priority: Form a Set – Any Set!

It doesn’t matter if it’s just a pair of $5,000 Piggy Banks, form that first set as quickly as possible. This will unlock your ability to challenge other players and start building your empire.

Example: Let’s say you’re dealt a hand with two Piggy Bank cards, a Comic Book, a Scooter, and a Piano. Form that Piggy Bank set right away, even if those Piano cards are calling your name. You can worry about those high-value assets later.

Defensive Strategies: Safeguarding Your Fortune

You’ve managed to build up a few valuable sets – great work! Now, it’s time to protect your hard-earned wealth from those greedy opponents who are eyeing your riches.

1. Shield Your High-Value Sets: As soon as you create a high-value set (especially those tempting $20,000 Sport Plane sets!), your next move should be to cover it up with another set. Remember, players can only challenge for the top, exposed set in your stack.

2. Wild Cards: Your Defensive Shield: Those Wild Cards are like gold (especially that $50,000 one!) – don’t waste them on just any old set. Instead, hold onto them to protect your most valuable assets from challenges.

Example: Let’s say your opponent is eyeing your top set of Classic Auto cards. If you have a Gold Wild Card, you’re in a prime position to defend. When they inevitably challenge you, you can confidently play that Wild Card, retain your set, and watch their dreams of a quick steal evaporate.

Offensive Strategies: The Art of the Asset Heist

Building your own fortune is satisfying, but let’s be honest, there’s a special thrill in snatching victory (and a pile of assets) from your opponents.

1. The Backup Plan: Before you launch a challenge, make sure you have a backup Asset Card or Wild Card in your hand. If your opponent defends their set, you’ll need to continue the challenge to win those assets.

Example: You see your opponent with a set of Toy Trains at the top of their stack. You’ve got a Toy Train card in your hand, ready to pounce. But wait! Do you have another Toy Train or a Wild Card to continue the challenge if they try to defend? If not, it might be wiser to wait for a better opportunity.

2. Know Your Opponents (and Their Cards!): Pay close attention to the cards your opponents are playing, discarding, and collecting. This will give you valuable intel about their potential sets and when to strike!

Example: You’ve noticed that three Jewels cards have already been played, and your opponent just formed a set of Jewels. You know there’s only one Jewels card left in the deck. If you’re holding that card, it’s time to launch a challenge and steal their set!

Remember: Cover Your Assets is a game of calculated risks and bold moves. Master these strategies, and you’ll be well on your way to building a financial empire that would make even the most seasoned tycoon envious!

FAQs

Q. Can I discard Swap or Move cards without using them?

Absolutely! If you draw a Swap or Move card but decide not to use it, you can discard it just like any other card. However, be sure to place discarded Swap and Move cards in a separate pile, as they are out of the game once discarded.

Q. Can I use the top card of the discard pile to challenge another player?

No, you cannot use the discard pile to challenge another player. To initiate a challenge, you must use a matching Asset Card or a Wild Card from your hand.

Q. Can I use a Swap card to steal someone’s first set (their nest egg)?

Yes, even a player’s first set, often called their “nest egg,” can be swapped using a Swap Card. While it might seem a bit ruthless, no set is truly safe in the world of high-stakes asset trading!

Q. What happens if I reveal an action card while drafting in a 2-player or 3-player game?

In the 2-player and 3-player variations of Cover Your Assets (which you can learn more about in the [link to your 2-3 Player Rules Section]), action cards add a layer of unpredictable fun to the drafting process. When an action card is revealed on a draft pile, its effect applies immediately.

Swap Card: If a Swap Card is revealed, the two players adjacent to that draft pile must immediately swap their top sets.
Move Card: If a Move Card is revealed, the opponent of the player who revealed the card gets to choose whether that player moves their top set to the bottom of their stack or their bottom set to the top.

Q. Do I have to take a second action in the Advanced Rules if I don’t want to?

Nope! The Advanced Rules of Cover Your Assets allow players to take up to two actions on their turn, but taking a second action is optional. You can choose to take just one action and then pass your turn to the next player.

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