No Mercy (or HIT!) is a press-your-luck game in which you draw cards to get points — but you don't want to draw too often because then you might lose all your gains!
In more detail, the 90-card deck contains eleven cards each numbered 1-5 and seven cards each numbered 6-10. On a turn, you flip over a card from the deck and place it in front of you, stealing (if you wish) all the cards of the same number that are in front of other players. You can stop after each draw, or you can draw another card. If you draw a number that you already have lying in front of you — and you have at least three cards in front of you — then you discard all cards in front of you from the game.
At the start of your turn, if you have cards in front of you, place them face down in a personal score pile, then start your turn. When the draw pile is exhausted, all players place all the cards they have in front of themselves in their score piles, then they tally the numbers on all their scored cards. Whoever has the highest sum wins.
In First Take Fridays we offer hot takes on games that are new to us. This week we have Ahoy, No Mercy, Paint the Roses, The Border, and Bonfire: Trees &...