Each player is dealt 30 Cards each (2 player game) or 20 Cards ( 3 & 4 player game)

These Cards form their Wallet.

Each player then turns over the top card of their wallet.

The rest of the Pack then forms the communal Vault from which hand cards are drawn during the rest of the game

The players then in their turn (usually first clockwise from the dealer) draw the top 5 cards from the vault and these form their Hand cards

Players can begin to form Thunderbolts stacks both from their Hand cards or also from the top of their Wallet (remembering to turn over the next each time the top is used).

Once their options are exhausted the player must then place one of their remaining cards into starting one of their Reserve stacks. Play then moves to the next player to draw their 5 starting Hand cards.

As the game progresses all of the Thunderbolt Stacks are removed as they are completed and kept together in a seperate stack at the side of the playing area.

As the vault approaches being empty one of the players must give this stack a thorough shuffle to ensure that the cards are not still in the set order (The cards remember have been a Thunderbolt stack and so are placed in a very set order that all players are well aware of)

If all of your hand cards are played in a turn then you pick up a further 5 from the Vault. Important Note on this is that placing the final card into your Reserves stacks does not count as using all 5 up. They must all be played into the Thunderbolt stacks.

Sometimes a wild card that has been played onto a Thunderbolts stack by a player who is then unable to place another on the top of it during the rest of their hand. Any subsequent player who has the card that the Wild was used to replace can then at any time during their play exchange it for the card it was a replacement for. The wild card goes directly to the place the replacment is coming from.e.g. a hand card or a Reserve stack or the top of the players wallet.

The Thunderbolts stacks are completed by spelling out the word and containing the all important wild card as the second T in the word and the player can then award themselves a 5 point score card

The game will only end when a player empties their Wallet of cards and they will then collect 2 x 5 points cards to add to their total