Trash Traders | How to Play

Quick Start

Each turn has three steps, in this order:

Action (optional)

Play as many action cards as you like from your hand.

Trade (mandatory)

Buy or sell as many coins as you want at the current price.

Draw (mandatory)

Draw 1 card from the market deck and resolve it.

When a Rug Pull is drawn, the market crashes to zero.

Every coin you’re holding becomes worthless. That’s the point: you spent your cash on trash, so now you’ve got junk and no money.

Least cash wins.

Watch out for Stop Loss.

A Stop Loss coin cashes out just before the crash.

It shoves money back into your hands right when you needed to be broke.

Video walkthrough

Setup

Starting price

Find the Rug Pull and one $2 price card. Set the rug aside for now.

Put the $2 face-up in the centre. That’s the starting coin price.

Deal cash

Give each player $8 (four $2 bills). The rest of the cash is the bank.

Sort the cards

Separate the market deck into action cards (white background) and price/event cards (black background).

Deal hands

Deal each player their starting hand from the action pile.

That’s 5 cards for Standard. See Ways to Play for Classic.

Shuffle the market

Shuffle leftover action cards and all price/event cards into one draw deck. Shuffle well, as you don’t want similar cards stacked together.

Where the Rug Pull goes is up to the table: anywhere in the deck for Standard (it can hit anytime), or the bottom half for Classic (a longer game). Agree before you shuffle.

Shuffle the coins deck

Shuffle the coins well and place the deck face-down. In a new copy, Stop Loss coins are often still stacked together.

Centre of the table

When you’re ready, the middle of the table should look like this. Pick someone to go first.

Market deck

$2 price

Coins, face down

Bank

The Turn, in Detail

Same three steps: Action, then Trade, then Draw.

Trade

Buying

Pay the current price per coin to the bank.

Draw that many coins and place them face-down in front of you.

Everyone can see how many coins you hold, but only you can see what kind of coins you have.

Selling

Choose how many coins you want to sell and put them back into the coin pile (top, bottom, anywhere).

Planting a Stop Loss on top is the next player’s problem.

Collect cash at the current price.

You can’t skip a trade.

Trading is mandatory. For example, if you have $4 and the price is $6, you can’t buy, but if you still hold a coin, you must sell it.

You have $4

Price is $6

Can't buy

Must sell

Draw

Draw 1 card and resolve it:

Action

Keep it in your hand.

Price

Stack it on the centre price. New price takes effect immediately.

Event

Resolve immediately, then discard.

Rug Pull

Game over. See Game End.

Reactive Cards

Some cards can be played at any time — not just on your turn.

Fake News

For events and prices

Cancel an event or price change as it happens. Can’t stop the Rug Pull.

Cancel Order

For actions and trade

Cancel any player’s action or trade.

Game End: The Rug Pull

When the Rug Pull is drawn, the game ends immediately.

The market crashes to zero. Every regular coin is now worthless.
Stop Loss is the exception: each one auto-sells at the last price. That cash goes to the holder.
Count everyone’s cash. Least cash wins.

How you count

Only cash scores. Regular coins are $0. A leftover Stop Loss sells at the last price and adds that cash.

You

Cash $2

Stop Loss sells at $6

Loses

Opponent

Cash $4

Regular coins = $0

Wins

In case of a tie, where both players have an equal amount of cash, the player with more coins wins.

Additional Rules

Low Hand Rule

If you end your turn with 1 or 0 action cards, draw 2 cards instead of 1.

If both are non-action cards, choose 1 to resolve and discard the other.

Your turn ends either way.

Broke Player Rule

If you can’t afford to buy and have no coins to sell, skip your trade phase.

At the end of your turn, draw 1 coin from the coin pile along with drawing a market card.

Coin pile runs out?

In practice it won’t. Sooner or later someone sells and refills it.

If it ever runs dry, players simply can’t buy more coins until some are sold back.

Your box teaches Classic (deal 3, rug in the bottom half). Longer game. Good for learning.

Want more tension? Switch to Standard (deal 5, rug through the whole deck). Try both.

Recommended

Standard

Deal 5 action cards each
Shuffle the Rug Pull anywhere in the deck
It can hit anytime, so every trade matters

Want it shorter? Remove the 10 meme cards before you start.

As printed in your box

Classic

Deal 3 action cards each
Shuffle the Rug Pull into the bottom half
Longer game. Good for learning

A longer game. Good for learning the cards.

Action Cards

Card	#	Effect
Hodl	4	Skip your trade this turn.
FUD	3	Target a player. They immediately sell 1 coin.
Shill	2	Target a player. They immediately buy 1 coin. If they can’t afford to buy, they sell 1 coin instead.
Chart Analysis	3	Look at the top 3 cards of the market deck.
Server Down	2	The next player skips their turn (still draws a card).
Price Rigging	2	Change the current price to $2 or $8.
Swap	3	Swap your entire cash pile with another player’s.
High Gas Fees	3	Give another player $2 from your own cash.
Rewind	2	Change the current price to any of the previous prices in the stack.

Meme Cards

To The Moon×2Paper Hands×2It’s Just a Dip×2Buy The Dip×2Scan Me×2

If you hold 2 meme cards, play them together to give a coin to any player. They don’t have to be the same design.

Removed in the shorter-game Standard option.

Reactive Cards

Card	#	Effect
Fake News	3	Cancel any event or price change, except the Rug Pull. Must be played immediately.
Cancel Order	4	Cancel any player’s action or trade. Can itself be cancelled by another Cancel Order.

Event Cards

Card	#	Effect
Scam Rumours	4	All players with coins sell 1 at current price, then shuffle the coin pile.
Airdrop	3	All players with zero coins receive 1 coin.
Tax Raid	2	The richest player(s) pay $2 to the bank.

Price Cards

Price cards range from $2 to $8.

Coins

Coin ×15 · Stop Loss ×5

During the game, a Stop Loss works like any normal coin. Sell it back at the current price whenever you like.

Planting it on top of the pile for the next player is a classic move.

If you’re still holding it when the Rug Pull hits, it auto-sells at the ending price and hands you cash when you wanted to be empty.

Getting rid of it early is usually the smart play.

A card targets me but I can’t do it (FUD with no coins, Shill with no cash)

The card has no effect.

Swap with someone who has $0?

Legal. You hand over your cash and get nothing. Sometimes exactly what you want.

Fake News on a price card?

The new price is discarded; the old price stays.

Can Cancel Order be cancelled?

Yes. Another Cancel Order cancels it.

Is my cash secret? Are my coins?

Cash is always public. Keep it visible. Coins sit face-down: everyone sees how many you have, but only you know which are Stop Loss.

Which rules should I use: the box or Standard?

Learn with the Classic rules in your box, then switch to Standard (deal 5, rug through the full deck) when you want more tension. Same cards either way.

I drew a Stop Loss. What do I do with it?

Nothing special right away. It’s a normal coin until the crash.

Sell it back whenever you like — ideally onto someone else, by putting it on top of the pile.

It only bites if you’re still holding it when the Rug Pull hits. Then it auto-sells and dumps unwanted cash on you.

Something not covered here?

Majority rules. Try not to flip the table.