Jackaroo looks like a race when you study the board and a partnership game when you study your hand. One card may give you a better position or open the route for your whole team.

Think as a partnership

The standard mode has four players in two opposing teams. Each player has four pieces and the team wants to bring them all home. After finishing your own pieces, you can use your turns to move your partner’s pieces. Your job is not over when your colour finishes.

Choose a card, then one of the legal plans shown by the app. Other players’ cards stay hidden. If you have no legal move, discarding a card lets the turn proceed.

The standard cards

An ace can bring a piece out of the base or move one or eleven steps. A king brings a piece out in the standard mode. A four moves backwards four steps, which can be useful when it creates a shorter route.

A seven can be split between two pieces for a total of seven steps. The entire plan must be legal. The game will not execute half a split if the rest is impossible. A jack swaps one of your pieces with a piece of another colour where the positions and protection rules allow it.

A ten moves ten steps or burns a card from the next player’s hand if they have one. A queen moves twelve steps. Other numbered cards move their face value, subject to protected positions and pieces that block the route.

Choose your mode first

Complex mode changes some picture-card effects according to colour. A black jack swaps, a red jack moves, and a red queen burns a card. Check the table’s card guide rather than relying only on standard-mode habits.

Quick modes reduce the target. Standard quick play requires one piece home per player and complex quick play requires two. The two-player mode adds shortcuts and lets a two bring a piece out as well.

Look around before committing

Notice your partner’s piece closest to home and the pieces that could block your own move. Not every occupied square can be crossed, and protected positions cannot always be swapped or captured. Ryvo’s legal plans account for these conditions so you can compare the available choices before playing.