ClapOut glossary
Every term from Action cards to Window, in plain words, with a link to the guide that covers it.
ClapOut has its own names for things — the elements, the action cards, the clap and the catch. This glossary explains every term you will meet in the game and in its rule book, in plain words, and points you to the guide that covers it in full. For the rules in order, read How to play.
The four elements are Ember, Sol, Tide and Dusk; the line that ties them together is Tide douses Ember, Ember lights Dusk, Dusk sets Sol, Sol dries Tide.
A to Z
- Action cards
- The five cards that do something when they land: Hush, Rewind and Toss +2, which belong to an element, and the wilds Prism and Storm +4. See the action cards.
- Active element
- The pile's element: the top card's, or after a wild, the one its player named. Your card must match it, match the top card's number or action, or be wild.
- Bots
- The computer players: Nana, Rocket, Sly and Chaos, each with its own way of playing, clapping and catching. Meet the bots.
- Catch
- Clapping on a player who reached one card without clapping: two cards for them. A wrong catch costs the catcher nothing. See the clap and the catch.
- Catchable
- A player whose clap window closed before they clapped. It lasts until their own next action, or until they clap late.
- Challenge
- Under Storm challenge, the victim calling a Storm a bluff. A bluff costs its player four; an honest Storm costs the challenger six.
- Clap
- What you do the moment a play leaves you one card, before the next seat acts. On a phone, tap CLAP or clap out loud with the microphone on. How to play.
- Clash
- What happens when a card changes the pile's element: an overpower or a fizzle, settled the moment the card lands. The four elements.
- Clock
- See Turn timer.
- Deal
- Seven cards each, one at a time, clockwise from the dealer's left. In the Long game the deal moves one seat on each round.
- Debt
- The cards a Toss or a Storm makes its victim draw, paid when their turn begins; that turn is lost. See how a debt is paid.
- Deck
- 108 cards: 25 in each element and eight wilds; 120 with the Twist pack. See the deck.
- Double
- A Twist pack wild: name the element, then shed up to two number cards of it at once.
- Douse
- An overpower: Tide on Ember.
- Draw
- Taking the top card of the draw pile. If it can be played you may play it at once; otherwise your turn is over.
- Draw to match
- A house rule: keep drawing until you can play, then play that card.
- Dusk
- The element of the moon, in violet. Dusk sets Sol and is lit by Ember.
- Eclipse
- An overpower: Dusk on Sol.
- Elements
- The four suits and the rule, on by default, that makes them act on each other through the Clash and the Surge. The four elements.
- Ember
- The element of the flame, in coral. Ember lights Dusk and is doused by Tide.
- First card
- The card turned to start the pile. A Hush, Rewind, Toss or Prism acts on the first player; a Storm or Twist card is shuffled back. See the first card.
- Fizzle
- A clash where the new element loses to the old. Its player draws one, and a fizzle on a last card never wins. The four elements.
- Force play
- A house rule: holding a playable card, you may not draw.
- Going out
- Shedding your last card. The round ends at once and you win it.
- Host
- The player who opens a table and picks its house rules and timer in the lobby. Host a table.
- House rules
- The switches the host sets in the lobby before pressing Start, from Stacking to the Twist pack. House rules.
- Hush
- An action card: the next player loses their turn.
- Jump-in
- A house rule: play the top card's exact twin out of turn and the turn is yours. Never a wild, never over a debt.
- Kindle
- An overpower: Ember on Dusk.
- Long game
- A house rule: the round's winner scores the cards left in the other hands; first to 500 wins.
- Neutral pair
- Elements across the ring — Tide and Dusk, Ember and Sol. Switching between them never clashes.
- Overpower
- A clash where the new element beats the old: a Douse, Kindle, Eclipse or Scorch. The victim draws one at once. The four elements.
- Pass
- Ending your turn after a draw, keeping the card you drew.
- Pile
- The discard pile; its top card sets what may follow. When the draw pile runs out, every discard but the top is shuffled into a new one.
- Points
- In the Long game: numbers at face value, Hush, Rewind and Toss 20, Prism and Storm 50, Twist cards 30. See scoring.
- Prism
- A wild: play it on anything and name the pile's element.
- Rewind
- An action card: play turns around. With two players it acts as a Hush.
- Round
- One deal, played until a hand is empty.
- Scorch
- An overpower: Sol on Tide.
- Seat
- A place at the table, held by a player or a bot: two to six at a table.
- Seven-zero
- A house rule: a 7 swaps hands with any seat; a 0 moves every hand one seat on.
- Shuffle
- A Twist pack wild: name the element; every hand moves one seat in the direction of play.
- Sol
- The element of the sun, in marigold. Sol dries Tide and is set by Dusk.
- Stacking
- A house rule: a Toss on a Toss, or a Storm on a Storm, passes the debt on, bigger.
- Storm
- Storm +4, a wild: name the element; the next player draws four and loses their turn.
- Storm challenge
- A house rule: a Storm is honest only when its player holds none of the pile's element, and a bluff can be called.
- Surge
- Three of one element in a row: whoever lands the third may shed one more number card of it at once. The Surge.
- Swap
- A Twist pack wild: name the element, then trade hands with a seat of your choice.
- Table code
- The four letters that identify a table; friends type it, or open the invite link, to join. Host a table.
- Tide
- The element of the wave, in teal. Tide douses Ember and is dried by Sol.
- Toss
- Toss +2, an action card: the next player draws two and loses their turn.
- Turn timer
- Ten seconds a turn by default, or fifteen, thirty or sixty. When it runs out the table acts for you. House rules.
- Twist pack
- A house rule adding twelve wilds: four each of Swap, Shuffle and Double.
- Victim
- The seat a card hits: the next seat, or on a Rewind the seat play comes back to.
- Wild
- A card of no element, playable on anything, that never clashes: Prism, Storm and the Twist cards.
- Window
- Your moment to clap: it opens when a play, swap or rotation leaves you one card, and closes when the next seat plays or draws.