How to Play Flip 7: With a Vengeance
Learn Vengeance rules with worked rulings for stayed players, Swap busts, Zero, Unlucky 7, Lucky 13, Flip Four resolution and modifier scoring order.
Use this guide for standard Flip 7: With a Vengeance, rather than original Flip 7. The publisher’s FAQ supplies important action-timing clarifications. The examples here are original hypothetical rulings.
Deal, hit, stay or bust
Shuffle thoroughly and choose a dealer. Starting on the dealer’s left, deal faceup cards clockwise. Pause for actions and modifiers as required. Players then choose to hit for another card or stay. Turn the leftmost card sideways to mark staying.
A duplicate ordinary number causes a bust: turn the line facedown and score zero for the round. A successful Flip 7 ends the round immediately. Otherwise it ends once everyone has stayed or busted. At round end, calculate scores and check whether anyone has reached 200; the highest total then wins.
Do not shuffle round discards back after every round. Pass the remaining deck left to the new dealer. When it runs out, shuffle discards; during a mid-round shuffle, leave all players’ current cards in place, including busted lines.
Stayed players remain valid targets
Actions and modifiers can target any player who has not busted, including yourself and someone who stayed. If you are the only unbusted player, the card must affect you. Resolving an action after staying does not return you to ordinary active play.
Example: Sam stays with four numbers. Lee assigns Flip Four to Sam. Sam must take the forced cards and can bust. If Sam survives the entire resolution, Sam remains stayed and does not resume choosing to hit.
An action must be used when valid cards exist for it. At the beginning of a round, discard Swap, Steal or Discard if there is no valid card to target.
Action reference
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Just One More | The target takes the next card, resolving an action if needed, then must stay. |
| Swap | Exchange two faceup cards, involving your line or two other players. |
| Steal | The player resolving it takes a faceup card into their line. |
| Discard | Choose one card for the target to discard. |
| Flip Four | Force up to four cards, with the timing rules below. |
Swap example: Alex and Bea each have a 10 and an 11. Swap Alex’s 10 with Bea’s 11. Alex now has two 11s and Bea two 10s, so both bust. This is explicitly allowed by the publisher FAQ.
Flip Four: draw first, then resolve queued effects
Flip one card at a time, counting numbers, actions and modifiers toward the four. Stop immediately if the player busts or successfully reaches Flip 7. A duplicate during the forced draws cannot be rescued by an action drawn earlier in that sequence.
If the four draws finish without a bust, resolve the revealed special cards in the order drawn. The FAQ adds that if a later resolution makes you bust—for example, a Just One More played on yourself—you still resolve the remaining queued actions from that surviving Flip Four sequence.
Example: your first forced card is Steal and your second is a duplicate number. The draw sequence stops with a bust. You cannot use the queued Steal to alter the line first. This differs from surviving the draws and then busting during the subsequent action resolution.
Use a separate area for queued effects while dealing the four cards. That teaching habit helps prevent someone from applying an action before the draw sequence is complete.
Special number cards
Zero: your score is zero unless you Flip 7, and you must keep hitting on your turns. Zero counts toward seven. If it leaves your possession, its ongoing effect stops.
Unlucky 7: discard other numbers and modifiers, retaining the special 7. Receiving it does not cause a bust even if you already had a 7. A later ordinary 7 does. During Flip Four, clear the earlier cards and continue any remaining forced draws.
Lucky 13: allows another 13 without busting. Both score and count toward Flip 7; a third 13 causes a bust. Special numbers can be stolen or swapped, and their effects follow possession.
Scoring order with examples
Add the numbers. Apply a divide-by-two modifier, rounding down. Subtract other negative modifiers, with a standard minimum of zero. Add the fifteen-point Flip 7 bonus last. Modifiers are not numbers and do not count toward seven.
Example: a successful seven-number line totals 53 and has ÷2 and −6. Half of 53 rounds to 26; subtract six for 20; add the bonus for 35. Applying the bonus before dividing would produce the wrong result.
Floor example: numbers total nine with −10. Standard score is zero, rather than minus one. This minimum does not turn a busted line into a scoring line.
Brutal Mode changes
In Brutal Mode, round scores may fall below zero and modifiers can target busted players. A player who reaches Flip 7 can take the fifteen bonus points or subtract fifteen from another player. Announce the mode before the first deal so everyone knows the standard protection and score floor have changed.
Sources and scope
Checked 6 October 2026 against The Op’s official Vengeance rulebook, ruleset edition 1, publisher FAQ and product listing. This covers the standalone sequel. Hypothetical examples and advice are original editorial analysis, not firsthand playtesting. Editorial policy and corrections.