About Picklock!
Picklock! is a solo game by Steven Tondeur that needs nothing but a standard deck of cards and the rules. Henry the burglar is stuck in an alley with sirens closing in, and the only thing between him and his safe house is one last tumbler lock. You play number cards to probe the four pins, work out which one binds next, and lift it to exactly the right height.
It placed 13th overall at the BoardGameGeek 2022 Solitaire Print and Play Contest, second for Best Use of Theme and third among new solo designers. The theme does real work: face cards set the binding strength and noise limit, suits lock a pin to one colour while you probe it, and the last three cards you played as noise must stay under the limit or the neighbours hear you. The rules include easier and harder variants.
How to play in one minute
- Split the deck into number cards (the pin deck) and face cards (the binding deck). Deal four pin cards face up as the pin heights, a face-down binding card under each, and one binding card face up as the binding strength.
- Each turn draw three cards. Either pick the lock (play one card as noise, one to probe or lift a pin, discard one) or lay low (play a silent face-down noise card and discard two).
- Probing needs a card of the right suit and at least the probe strength; it lets you peek at that pin’s binding card. The pin with the highest binding card is the one to lift.
- Lift by playing cards upright to add and sideways to subtract until you hit the exact height; a correct pin stays set.
- Set all four pins to win. Run out of binding cards, fail to draw a hand, or exceed the noise limit and you lose.
What’s in the PDF
- Rules v3.2 (11 pages) with diagrams, examples, tips and variants, as a Google Doc linked from the BGG thread and game page.
- No printed components: any 52-card deck will do.
In the PDF
- Rules v3.2 (11 pages, exported from the designer's Google Doc)