No Thanks! is a card game in which you try to finish with the fewest points. A numbered card lies face up in the middle of the table. On your turn, you can put one of your counters, the small tokens you start with, on the card to pass, leaving the next player to decide whether to take that same card. Or you can take the card and all the counters already on it. You keep the cards you take face up in front of you. After taking a card, you turn over the next one and make the same choice again.
At the end of the game, you add up the numbers on your cards, with one important exception. When you have numbers that follow one another with no gaps, you count only the lowest number in that group. For example, a 10 and an 11 together score just 10 points. Add a 12 and the group still scores 10. But a 10 and a 12 without the 11 score 22 points, because the missing number keeps them separate.
Each counter you still have at the end takes one point off your score. Taking a card can therefore help by joining cards you already have into one group, or by giving you more counters. Here is how both can happen at once.
Taking a 23 can lower your score by 27 points
Imagine that you have collected just two cards: 22 and 24. They score 46 points because you do not have the 23 that would join them. Now the card in the middle is 23, with three counters on it from players who have passed.
If you take it, your cards become 22, 23 and 24. There are no gaps, so you count only the 22. Your card points have fallen from 46 to 22, a reduction of 24. The three counters you collect can take another three points off at the end. Counting these cards and the three new counters, the total is now 19 points: 27 fewer than before. Any counters you already held are unchanged and left out of this comparison.
For a player who has not collected any cards yet, taking the same 23 would add 23 card points. The three counters would reduce that increase to 20 points. Your existing 22 and 24 are what make the card so useful to you.
Should you wait for more counters?
You could pay one counter to pass and hope the 23 comes back with more counters on it. For that to happen, every other player must also pass. If someone takes it first, you lose the chance to join your 22 and 24, and they collect the counter you paid. If you eventually take it yourself, your own counter is simply returned to you; the extra counters come from other players.
Other players may want the counters even if they do not want the card. Someone running low might take the 23 so they can afford to pass on later cards. Players keep their remaining counters hidden, so you cannot see at a glance how close someone is to running out.
Taking the 23 now also gives you three more counters to spend on passing later. If you spend them, they will no longer reduce your final score, but they may let you avoid another card. Once you have no counters left, you must take the card when your turn comes.
The card you need might never appear
Before play, nine cards are set aside face down and left out of the game. Nobody knows which numbers are missing. You could collect 22 and 24 and never get a chance to take 23. The example above is worth acting on because the 23 is already there for you to take.
With 22 and 24 in front of you, the 23 carrying three counters is already a useful card to take. It cuts your card points and gives you more chances to pass later. You could wait for the others to add more counters, but each of them would get a chance to take it. That is the decision No Thanks! keeps putting in front of you: whether the offer is good enough now, or worth the risk of waiting. Looking at the cards you already have can make a high number surprisingly hard to turn down.
Explore further
The game pages below include overviews, rulebook links and teaching videos.