Hemlock is a strategic, medieval themed, card game. In it, your goal is to manipulate an unfolding conspiracy to your advantage. Populate your King's court with high-valued figures, reduce the likelihood of their deaths, and minimize your opponents’ ability to do the same. Hemlock features a play deck of 66 cards (11 cards per suit). Each card has a static or variable point value as well as an associated ability. When a player plays a card from their hand, they choose to play it for either points or for ability. Hemlock is played over a series of rounds. At the beginning of each round, 2 cards are dealt face down to the center of the play area. These are the conspiracy cards. Actions played during the course of a round can change the conspiracy cards, but there are always, and only, 2 conspiracy cards in a given round. Players take turns moving clockwise, playing 1 card per turn from their hand with the goal of accruing the highest round-point total. The player with most points at the end of a round earns the privilege of examining the 2 conspiracy cards and then assigning them to 2 different players' courts (score piles). The number of cards in each player's court is known to all, but the value of the cards are kept secret even to their owner until a specified number of cards is present in a given court. When this number of cards is reached, the game ends. Players tally the value of the cards in their court (the ones that aren't poisoned by Hemlock!) and the player with the highest valued court wins. —description from the publisher