Gamehelpelenco

Elenco is a card game about a theatre company. Every Show you play one Character and one single-use Action: the best performance gets an Ovation, the worst gets a Boo.

Official rulebook (Spanish, PDF): reglamento-elenco.pdf — published by LUDOLI.

Overview

A game lasts 5 Shows (3–5 players). In each Show you are dealt two Characters, you secretly pick one of them plus one Action from your own deck, and all of them are resolved in turn order. The Character with the highest score at the end of the Show receives an Ovation 👏; the lowest receives a Boo 🍅.

At the end of the game each Ovation is worth +1 and each Boo −1. The highest balance wins; ties are broken by the number of Ovations.

With 2 players the game is always the Duel (see below), which has its own rules.

Setup

• All Characters are shuffled into a single deck.
• Each player takes an Action deck of one colour. Every colour holds the same 6 Actions.
• The 5 Scripts (turn-order cards numbered 1 to 5) are shuffled.

Structure of a Show

1. Audition

Each player is dealt, face up and visible to everyone, 2 Characters and 1 Script.

The Script number sets the turn order of the Show: the highest number acts first, then downwards. It is random every Show, and it is also the value added by the Action Techie in Cahoots.

2. Rehearsal

Look at what everyone else was dealt, then secretly choose:

• one of your two Characters — the other one goes face down to the center of the table

 (it is not shown, but the Understudy can swap for it later);

• one Action from those you still have.

Actions are single use: once played they stay face up and cannot be used again for the rest of the game. You have 6 Actions for 5 Shows, so there is always one to spare — in the last Show you still choose between two.

This phase is simultaneous: it ends when everyone has confirmed. If a player leaves the game and is replaced by a zombie, the server picks for them.

3. Performance

The chosen Characters are revealed (the Actions are not). Then, in Script order, each player acts in turn: they reveal their Action and apply its effect. Character abilities that work "before acting" or "after acting" trigger during their owner's turn.

• Playing an Action is mandatory, and its effect is applied even if it hurts you.
• Everything resolves sequentially, against the state of the table at that instant — there is

 no simultaneity and no advance declaration of targets.

• A Character's score can never drop below 0 or rise above 10 (12 for the Star). Excess

 is lost immediately: 8 +3 → 10, and a later −2 → 8.

4. Evaluation

Scores are compared: the highest receives an Ovation 👏, the lowest a Boo 🍅. Ties are shared — all tied players receive the token. If everyone ends on the same score, only Ovations are handed out.

In the final (5th) Show everything is doubled: the winner receives 2 Ovations and the loser 2 Boos.

All Characters dealt this Show (used or not) are then removed from the game, and a new Show begins.

Characters

The number is the Character's starting score.

Value	Character	Ability
0	Understudy	Before acting, you must swap it for a Character from the center of your choice — not the one you left there, and not another Understudy. It takes the new Character's score, and the new Character's "before acting" ability can be used normally.
1	Extra	You can receive neither an Ovation nor a Boo, whatever your final score.
2	Ornament	Combo: if you use Sabotage, it subtracts 8 points instead of 3.
3	Incidental	Combo: if you use Bribe, look at the top three Characters of the deck and choose which one to give, instead of a random one. You may target yourself.
4	Supporting	Before acting, you may add as many points as the Ovations you have earned so far (your own, regardless of your Boos).
5	Narrator	Before acting, you may swap the Action you chose for another one you still have, and play that one instead.
6	Veteran	Only players with as many points as you or more may target you with their Actions. It protects against Actions only — other players' abilities still affect you.
7	Antagonist	If you win the Show and receive an Ovation, you may remove one Ovation from a player of your choice. It also works when you win tied with someone.
8	Standout	After resolving your Action, if anyone has more points than you, you may subtract 1 point from one of them.
9	Protagonist	If you receive an Ovation you receive one more; if you receive a Boo you receive one more.
10	Star	Any loss of points caused by Actions or abilities is multiplied ×2, no matter who causes it (yourself included). In exchange, the Star may reach up to 12 points.

Actions

Six per deck, the same in every colour, single use.

Action	Effect
Bought Critic	Add or subtract 2 points to a player of your choice. You decide which when you play it.
It's My Role	Swap your Character with another player's, keeping the current scores (they are not reset to the printed values).
Watchful Eye	From the moment you act with it, you cannot be the target of other players' Actions. It does nothing until it is played, so it does not protect you if you act last.
Sabotage	Subtract 3 points from a player of your choice, yourself included. (With the Ornament: −8.)
Bribe	Replace any Character in play (yours or someone else's) with a random one from the deck: the target takes the new Character and its score. (With the Incidental: choose among the top three.)
Techie in Cahoots	Add to a player of your choice — usually yourself — as many points as the turn-order number on their Script (5 down to 1).

A Character that arrives through It's My Role or Bribe has its ability evaluated on its owner's turn: if the swap happens before that player acts, its "before acting" ability can be used normally; if they have already acted, turn abilities are lost.

End of the game

After the 5th Show, count tokens: each Ovation +1, each Boo −1. The highest balance wins, and the tie-breaker is the number of Ovations.

Duel (2 players)

With two players the game is always the Duel, a race to win Shows: best of 3 or best of 5 (table option). The match ends exactly when someone wins 2 (or 3) Shows.

• Setup: all Understudies (0) and Extras (1) are removed from the deck. The Scripts used are

 2 and 4, dealt at random.

• Audition: each player is dealt 5 Characters, face up.
• Rehearsal: study your opponent's cast and try to memorise it. When you are ready, the

 cards are taken into hand.

• Performance: both players secretly choose one Character and one Action, trying to predict

 the other. Both Characters are revealed; the player holding Script 4 acts first. The higher
 score wins an Ovation — a tie gives one Ovation to each — and then the Scripts are swapped.
 This repeats until the whole cast has been played, or until someone concedes (only allowed
 while behind on Ovations).

• Evaluation: whoever has fewer Ovations loses the Show and takes a Boo. Characters and

 Ovations are cleared, and Actions come back: they are reused in the next Show.

Ties: if both players end the Show with the same number of Ovations, each draws a random Character and plays it with their one remaining Action. If that is tied too, the Show is void: no one wins it, no Boo is given, and it is played again with the same number — so a Duel can never end in a draw.

Two Character abilities read differently in the Duel: the Protagonist only grants the extra Ovation (a mini-performance hands out no Boos), and the Show's Boo is never doubled, because in the Duel it counts Shows lost.

Specialties

Most Characters carry a Specialty in the bottom corner: 😃 Comedy, 😞 Tragedy, 🎵 Musical or ⚔️ Epic. They are only used by the two variants below.

Team mode (2 vs 2)

Standard rules, played as two companies of two. Ovations and Boos stay personal during the game and are grouped by company only when scoring — which is why the Supporting adds your own Ovations, not the company's, and why the table shows both counters.

• Extra rule: if at the end of the Show, before the Evaluation, both members of a company

 played Characters of the same Specialty, each of them scores +1 point.

• Restriction: no talking or sharing information inside the company once the Rehearsal

 begins. During the Audition you may talk, but the rival company hears you.

Fame variant

Adds the Fame ⭐ card. It is not compatible with Team mode.

• Handing it over: at the start of every Show the leader takes the card. The leader is decided

 exactly like the end of the game — highest balance, then most Ovations — and it is only drawn
 at random when those are both tied (which is the case in Show 1, where everyone is at zero).

• Effect: when the Characters are revealed in the Performance, the holder compares theirs with

 everyone else's and applies to the others: the same Character (same name) → −2;
 the same Specialty → +2. This −2 is not an Action or an ability, so the Star does
 not double it.

Notes on this adaptation

• The score is shown on each Character card and updated as it changes; in the physical game

 that job belongs to the Script card, which here keeps only its turn-order number.

• There is no game timer of its own: all timing (Game speed, reflexion time) is handled by BGA.