Bread Basket
Bread Basket is a sandwich-making game, based loosely on the Pairs game Lunch Rush. We are pleased to introduce two new decks for 2025: Dread Basket (Halloween) and Beard Basket (Pirates). Both of these new decks are now available at DriveThruCards, just in time for the Holidays.
Bread Basket is a quick-playing card game of sandwiches and surprises. Players take turns playing cards into a line in the middle of the table, and if they complete a sandwich, they score points.
A Sandwich is two matching cards with lower cards between them, such as 7-6-3-7. If you complete a Sandwich, you score face value for the “meat” (the cards in the middle), and nothing for the “bread” (the cards on the ends). If you make an “air sandwich,” which is two matching cards with nothing between them, you score nothing but you do draw a card.
On each turn you may either play a card or draw a card.
The round ends when one player’s hand is empty, after which everyone gets one more turn. Score the points you have collected, but subtract any points that are left in your hand.
The 2025 version of Bread Basket is significantly simpler than previous versions. But the deck is still the same, and now we offer three versions of the deck to delight you!
Bread Basket (original deck) at DriveThruCards
Dread Basket (Halloween deck) at DriveThruCards
Beard Basket (Pirate deck) at DriveThruCards
PnP Files: Below are the most recent rules, and cards that you can print yourself. You can also make your own Bread Basket deck for free, using cards from two poker decks!
Bread Basket Rules Version 3.1 (3/23/25)
Bread Basket Cards Printable PDF
Video: We don’t have a formal “how to play” video yet, but here’s a quick and dirty pitch video that should show you all you need to know.
Notes about the Cards PDF: This is a three-page PDF. Pages 1 and 2 have the eleven different card faces: you must print five copies of each. Page 3 is the card back. This is strictly optional. For advice about how to make your own cards, check out this video:
Where did Bread Basket come from?
Bread Basket is a version of the Pairs game Lunch Rush, originally designed for the Lord of the Fries Pairs deck. We experimented with several different deck recipes before settling on a simple five-of-each design for the Bread Basket deck, featuring ten positive ranks valued 1 through 10, and one negative five.
The 2025 version of Bread Basket is significantly simpler than earlier drafts, and much better. And thank goodness, it still uses the same deck!
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