Gamehelpvenusianvegasthecardgame

A trick-taking game for 2–5 players. Winning a trick is only the beginning: every trick pays out a bonus taken from one of the cards played into it.

Goal

Score the most victory points over 4 rounds (3 rounds in a 2-player game). Ties are broken by total track increases.

The cards

65 employee cards in 5 suits — Team, Game, Inspector, Bot and Mobster — numbered 1 to 13. Every card carries two bonuses, printed on its face:

a trick bonus, claimed when the card is in a trick someone wins a round bonus, claimed when the card is revealed at the end of a round

What a card offers depends on its number:

Number Trick bonus Round bonus 1–5 Gain 2 VP Gain 1 VP 6–9 The suit's special ability (below) The suit's stronger ability 10–13 Increase that suit's track Increase that suit's track twice

The 6–9 abilities. Team: draw a card / draw 2 and take their round bonuses. Game: pay 1 VP to steal a random card / steal up to 2 VP. Inspector: opponents discard 1 / opponents lose 2 VP. Bot: take a modifier token / increase any track. Mobster: opponents lose 1 VP / gain 3 VP.

Your player board

Five tracks, one per suit. Each starts at the bottom and rises as you increase it.

Track Levels What it gives you Team 7 · 9 · 11 · 12 · 13 Cards dealt to you each round Game 0 · 1 · 2 · 2 · 3 Game tokens each round Inspector 0 · 1 · 2 · 2 · 3 Inspector tokens each round Bot 0 · 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 Bot tokens each round Mobster 0 · 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 Mobster tokens each round

Some spaces are VP spaces — reaching one scores 1 VP immediately. Once a track is at its top, every further increase to it scores 1 VP instead.

Setup

Draw 7 cards, then choose 2 different tracks to increase (3 at 5 players). These increases score and pay their income straight away.

Each round All modifier tokens are returned and the deck is reshuffled. The Trump Indicator resets to No Trump; the Rank Indicator resets to High Wins. Whoever is furthest behind (fewest VP plus track increases) takes a free increase and leads the round. Everyone draws up to their Team value and collects tokens up to each track's value. Playing a trick

Follow the led suit if you can; otherwise play anything. The highest card of the led suit wins — unless trump has been set, in which case the highest trump wins. If the Rank Indicator has been flipped to Low Wins, the lowest card wins instead.

The winner then chooses one opponent's card from the trick and takes that card's trick bonus. You may decline.

Modifier tokens

You may play one modifier token face up along with your card. Only one token of each color may be played per trick, so playing a token also denies it to everyone after you — and you may play a token purely to block, without using its ability at all.

Game — move the Trump Indicator to any suit, or to No Trump. Inspector — flip the Rank Indicator between High Wins and Low Wins. Bot — you also take a trick bonus from this trick, even if you did not win it. Mobster — take one card out of this trick into your hand.

Both indicators change immediately and stay changed for the rest of the round, until someone moves them again.

Ending a round

The round ends when only one player still holds cards. That player reveals their remaining hand one card at a time and takes each card's round bonus — the larger of the two bonuses printed on it. Running yourself low on cards is not automatically good.

Ending the game

After the final round, the player with the most VP wins. If VP are tied, the player with the most track increases takes it.