User:Nzen

Letter tycoon

components

• 26 patent cards, one per letter of the latin alphabet
• 9 stock certificate value 1
• 9 stock certificate value 3
• 102 letter 'factory' cards
• 20 coins value 1
• 15 coins value 3
• (score cards, goal cards, starting marker)

Patents

card	$ cost	ability
A	8
B	2	below
C	3
D	4
E	10
F	3
G	3
H	5
I	7
J	2	below
K	2	below
L	4
M	3
N	7
O	7
P	3
Q	2	below
R	6
S	6
T	8
U	3
V	2	below
W	3
X	2	below
Y	3
Z	2	below

• B ; earn double if you word begins and ends in vowels
• J ; earn double f vowels are at least half of your word
• K ; earn double if your word has only one vowel
• Q ; can replace a card in hand before discard/build
• V ; can build two words, patents only count for one or the other
• X ; (with 3 cards) play with an extra copy of a letter
• Z ; may use a nonexistent 'S' at the end (garners no royalty, doesn't confer patent)

Letter factory card frequency

card	quantity
A	9
B	2
C	2
D	4
E	12
F	2
G	3
H	4
I	9
J	1
K	1
L	4
M	2
N	6
O	8
P	2
Q	1
R	6
S	6
T	6
U	4
V	2
W	2
X	1
Y	2
Z	1

goals

players	patent $ sum
2	45
3	34
4	26
5	21

setup

1. choose starting player
2. present all the patent cards, ensure all can see the word scoring and goal
3. deal 7 cards to each player
4. deal 3 community cards

game progression

1. setup board
2. handle a player turn
3. if a player ends a turn with total patent prices equal or greater than the goal, the last round begins
4. handle turn of 'remaining players'
5. calculate each final score as the sum of patent price + coins + stocks (tiebreak with patent price sum)

last round remaining players

Rulebook - "Each player clockwise from the starting player who has not yet acted is able to make one final play."

Official video - the subsequent players, up to but not including the start player, are able to take their last action. https://youtu.be/GB4WKcPXR18?t=645

turn

1. (q patent) choose to discard one card then draw one card
2. either ( discard OR play a word )
3. (assuming play word) other players have the opportunity to challenge the word
4. (assuming success) earn money,stock for the word
5. bank pays patent royalties
6. (v patent) choose to play another word, but without using patent abilities from the first word
   1. (v) allow challenges
   2. (v) earn money
   3. (v) bank pays royalties
7. choose whether to buy a patent from the letters of the word(s) played
8. refill community cards to 3
9. choose to discard any amount of letters from hand
10. refill hand cards to 7 , shuffling discard if necessary

Initial discard

1. discard 1-7 cards from hand
2. draw an equivalent number of cards from remaining deck, shuffle discard if necessary
3. turn elapses

Play word

Using at least one card from hand, and any additional cards from hand and/or community, lay down cards to make an english word that one may encounter in a dictionary. Decide which patent abilities, from those owned, apply to this word.

Challenge word

Other players, in turn order, have the opportunity to reject the word. Consult the dictionary.

• If it exists therein, the challenger must pay $1 to the active player. If the challenger has no money, the bank pays.
• Else, the played cards return to their respective origins. The player chooses one card to replace. Turn elapses.

(Not knowing the framework well, I'm inclined to load the list compiled in github dwyl https://github.com/dwyl/english-words/blob/master/words_alpha.txt as a csv into a sql table. It has unlicense, which is supposed to be public domain equivalent, where possible.)

(The rules allow for challenging at any time before the turn is over and rolling back earnings if they've been paid.)

earn money

Paid from the bank

word length	coin income	stock income
3	1	0
4	2	0
5	3	0
6	4	1
7	6	1
8	6	2
9	6	3
10	6	4

If the player owns the patents b,j,k and uses the letter y, decide whether y counts as a vowel or a consonant.

If the player uses the q card, double the values above. This is in addition to any patent doubling.

Not clear if the bank is an (in)finite store. Stock is only for final game score sum.

royalties

the bank rewards non active players with $1 for each 'physical' card used corresponding to an owned patent. 'physical' is in contrast to the synthetic cards permitted with the x and z patents.

miscellaneous notes

Pathological worst case for a single player's patent hoard is 17 cards : 2 person game, other player buys no patents, 7x$2 + 8x$3 + 2x$4 = 46.