Emu Ranchers is a two-player game for the Decktet along the lines of Knizia's classic card game Lost Cities. Over the course of several years, players hatch and grow emus (suits), hoping to make a profit after 18 points of expenses per emu. If the Excuse is in play, it allows you to discard one underperforming bird (rather than scoring negative points).

Abstract Play supports the Excuse and wild card variants, and games of 2, 4, or 6 years' length. The “default” game setup is the Excuse, plus Pawns as wild cards, over 4 years. The original base game (without extended deck cards) is also supported as a variant.

• Rules at the Decktet wiki
• Rules in PDF format (on page 3)
• Emu Ranchers at BoardGameGeek

Each bird on your ranch is a stack of Decktet cards. At the end of each year, a bird's value is computed from the number cards in its stack (not a raw sum of every card). Highest score after a set number of years wins.

Inventor: P.D. Magnus

See Decktet wiki: Emu Ranchers. Uses the Decktet.

Shorter match (years-2).

Default length.

Longer match (years-6).

Default deck.

Pawns replaced by Courts (different suit pairs; similar feel).

Excuse, Pawns, and Courts. More wilds; generally higher scores.

No Excuse, Pawns, or Courts. Harsher, lower-scoring.

• Current engine version: 20250610 (2025-06-10). On Abstract Play since 2025-11-22.

• Hands are hidden from observers, and from the opponent, until the deck is empty; then both hands are revealed for the layoff phase.
• Cards drawn from the discard are always visible.
• Decktet reference: Decktet.com.

• http://wiki.decktet.com/game:emu-ranchers
• https://www.decktet.com