The game consists of 11 rounds. In each round, all players simultaneously look at the cards remaining in their hand and pick one to play. Once all players have chosen a card, the cards are revealed. Cards are then resolved from highest to lowest. Once all cards have been resolved the cards are placed in the discard and a new round
begins. Once all 11 cards for each player have been played the game ends.

Card Choice
Players choose a card that represents how they want their serpent to move on the game board. Cards may be turned to accommodate play. The serpent head on the card indicates the current location of the player’s Serpent Head token. The circles on the card indicate where new tokens will be placed.

A player cannot place tokens over their own showing Serpent Body tokens or another player’s Serpent Head token.

Card Resolution
The player with the highest number on the bottom of their card starts the serpent movements for the round.

In the case of a tie, the player who played the higher card the previous round goes first, and then the previous round if another tie and so on. If a tie cannot be resolved by cards, the oldest player goes first.

The player who is currently moving their serpent declares how their card is to be oriented and then places their new Serpent Body tokens according to the card. Once all their tokens have been placed, the player moves their Serpent Head token to the end of the new tokens making it the new head of the serpent.

A player must be able to place all tokens shown on a card (a player cannot choose to stop placing tokens or place fewer tokens). If a player is unable to place all the tokens on the chosen card the played card is simply discarded without effect.
Play continues to the player with the next highest card, and so on until all cards have been resolved. Played cards are then placed in each player’s discard pile and a new round begins.

Game End

The game ends after all players have resolved their 11th card.

Serpent Master has a regular and challenging single player game mode. In this game mode a player must be able to play all their cards and place tokens to win the game.

The 2-4 player modes are equally fun, but of course more players is usually more fun. The 2 player game provides enough interaction to be fun, and the 4 player game doesn’t get too tight with the additional players as there is typically plenty of options from which a player may choose.