Playing Instructions for Sleeping Queens

Playing games with your children is an activity both you and your kids may enjoy while spending time together. Sleeping Queens is a card game designed for ages 8 and up. You can play the game with two to five players. A 6-year-old named Miranda Evarts designed Sleeping Queens, according to the manufacturer, Gamewright. Win the game by being the first player to collect either five queens, 50 points by adding up the point values on the face of the queen cards. If you run out of sleeping queens before either of these criteria are reached, the person with the highest score wins.

Open the Sleeping Queens card game on a table and look through the cards to become familiar with them. The cards with powers are the kings, queens, knights, dragons, jesters, sleeping potions and wands. Additionally, there are 40 cards numbered 1 to 10. The 12 queen cards have green backs and come in different point values.

Separate the queen cards and shuffle them. Place the queen cards face down (sleeping) in two rows of three (six cards). Leave space in the center to place the red deck of cards in two piles, the draw pile and the discard pile. Lay out another two rows of three cards of queens on the other side of the red cards.

Deal each player five cards. Place the rest of the deck in the center of the queens. This is the draw pile. Start a pile next to the draw pile for the cards you discard as you play the game. Look at your cards but do not reveal them to your opponents.

Play a card by placing it face up on the discard pile. Each non-numerical card warrants a specific action.

"Wake" a queen by playing a king. Turn over any green card (sleeping queen) and place it face up in front of you to wake the queen. Place your king on the discard pile. If you turn over the “Rose Queen,” wake up a second queen. If you have the cat or dog queen and draw the cat or dog queen, you must place it back face down and you lose your turn.

Select an opponent and steal one of her queens when you play the knight. Place the queen face up in front of you and place your knight on the discard pile. If the opponent you chose has a dragon card, she can stop you from taking her queen.

Stop the knight from stealing your queen by immediately playing the dragon card after your opponent plays the knight. Each player places her card on the discard pile and draws a new card. You keep your queen. This does not count as a turn for you.

Put an opponent’s queen of your choice back to sleep, face down in the center of the table by play the sleeping potion card. Place the sleeping potion card on the discard pile. Take any player's queen and place it face down in the center of the table with the other sleeping queens. A player can block your sleeping potion card by playing the wand card.

Use the wand card to block your opponent from using the sleeping potion card. Both players will place their cards on the discard pile and take new cards from the draw pile. This does not count as a turn for you.

Use the jester card to take a chance. Place this card face up on the discard pile, then turn the top draw pile card face up. If you get a power card, add it to your hand and take another turn. If you get a numerical card, count the players clockwise to that number and that player can awaken a queen. Place the numerical card on the discard pile when you are done.

Place a single card with a numerical number on the discard pile and draw one card from the draw pile. Discard two cards with identical numbers to draw two cards from the draw pile. Place three or more cards that make a numerical equation on the discard pile to draw that number of cards from the draw pile. The objective is to replace numerical cards with cards with powers.