How to Play Scout Who

The Time Lords have scrambled the Doctor's memory. Incarnations of the Doctor have been scattered through time — you must rally them in formation to confront the threats facing the universe.

Play as 2–5 companions, each holding a hand of Doctor cards. Assemble the strongest squad to confront your opponents, or negotiate with them to absorb their cards into your own ranks.

There are 45 cards in the deck. Every card shows two Doctors — one at the top, one at the bottom (upside-down). The deck contains every possible pair of Doctors from I through X.

4IV

Fourth Doctor

Seventh Doctor

2II

Second Doctor

Ninth Doctor

10X

Tenth Doctor

First Doctor

The top Doctor is the card's active value.

The bottom Doctor (rotated) is the hidden value.

You may never reorder your hand. Cards stay in exactly the order you received them — only inserting Negotiated cards lets you change positions.

Depending on player count, some cards are removed and each player receives:

• 2 players: 11 cards each (9/10 card removed; same 44-card pool used across both rounds)
• 3 players: 12 cards each (all cards showing a 10 removed)
• 4 players: 11 cards each (9/10 card removed)
• 5 players: 9 cards each (all 45 used)

Before the round begins, you may flip your entire hand as many times as you like — rotating it 180° so the bottom Doctors become the top. You cannot flip individual cards, only the whole hand. Once you click Ready, flipping is locked for the round.

Once everyone clicks Ready, play begins with the starting companion and proceeds clockwise.

On your turn take exactly one action:

Strength is checked in this order — first rule that applies decides:

A round ends immediately when either condition is met:

• i. A player empties their hand after a Confront.
• ii. After a Confront, all other players could not (or chose not to) Confront and only Negotiated — signalling no one can beat it.

At the end of each round every player calculates their score:

Scores can be negative. Cumulative scores are tracked across all rounds. The game lasts as many rounds as there are players (2 players → 2 rounds, 5 players → 5 rounds).

After all rounds, the companion with the highest cumulative score wins.

The 2-player game uses a different chip structure and turn flow:

• No Sonic Screwdriver — Negotiate & Confront is not available.
• Jelly Babies as spending chips: Each player starts each round with 3 Jelly Babies 🍬. These are spent to Negotiate — they are not earned from opponents.
• Turn continues until Confront: After Negotiating you keep your turn — you may Negotiate again or Confront. Your turn only ends when you Confront.
• Round ends when a player empties their hand, or when the active player has no Jelly Babies left and cannot beat the current formation.

Scoring is the same formula — Jelly Babies remaining (unspent) count toward your score.

• You cannot reorder your hand — plan formations around the order you received cards in.
• Flipping your whole hand before the round can reveal powerful formations hidden on the other side.
• Captured cards are worth points — aggressively beating formations is often better than hoarding a large hand.
• Negotiate & Confront is the most powerful action: absorb a useful card and put out a strong formation in one move.
• When the table is clear, you can start any formation — great for offloading cards that don't fit a run.
• In 2-player, spend Jelly Babies sparingly — unspent ones add to your score at round end.