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Gamehelptheactsoftheevangelists

2026-10-15T18:52:17Z

Chrisprime: Rules summary for The Acts of the Evangelists, including the designer solitaire rules

== Overview ==
It is the first century. You are an evangelist: you travel the cities of the Roman Empire, gather '''tradition cards''' about Jesus, '''interview the eyewitnesses''' behind them, and write the traditions onto the '''codex leaves''' of your gospel. The best mix of eyewitness testimony, literary craft, and faithfulness to your theme wins.

1 to 5 players. 2 to 4 players play '''6 rounds'''; 5 players play '''5 rounds'''; solitaire plays 6 rounds (see below).

== Setup (done for you) ==
* Each city has four face-down tradition cards; the color on each back shows one of that card's themes.
* Each city has one eyewitness disc. The bag holds 6 white ("alive") and 2 black ("dead") status cubes.
* Each player is dealt one '''theme card''', face-up, and starts with '''3 codex leaves''' (6 empty slots).
* Players place their pawns in different cities. The first player is the stenographer. Every player except the first gets one '''follow token'''; the last player gets two.

== Your turn ==
You have '''3 action octagons'''. Each action has a '''weak''' version (1 octagon) and a '''strong''' version (2 octagons). End your turn whenever you like; unspent octagons are lost.

After each of your actions, the other players may '''follow''' it:
* To follow a '''weak''' action, a player gives you one of their follow tokens.
* Following a '''strong''' action is '''free'''.
* Each opponent may follow each of your actions at most once.

=== Travel (once per turn) ===
* '''Weak:''' move up to 2 spaces along the lines. Cities (red circles) and waypoints (black circles) each count as a space.
* '''Strong:''' move to any city.
* '''Follow:''' move 1 space.

=== Boat (free, once per turn) ===
If your pawn shares a space with a boat, you may move up to 2 spaces and take the boat with you. A boat may stop on a city or a waypoint, and anyone whose pawn is on that space can take it later. If you sail onto a space that already has a boat, that boat is moved to the closest city without one (your choice if tied).

=== Tradition (once per city per turn) ===
* '''Weak:''' look at the four tradition cards in your city and keep one (or none).
* '''Strong:''' keep a second card (pay 1 more octagon).
* Place each kept card in an empty slot of your codex. The cards you return go back face-down, except one you choose to leave face-up.
* '''Follow:''' take the matching copy of one kept card from the secondary deck. If two followers want the same card, the one closest to the active player on the board gets it, then the next in turn order.

=== Interview (once per witness, ever) ===
Take the interview card of the eyewitness in your city. You can't interview a witness whose card you already hold, or when that witness's cards have run out. If the witness has no status cube, draw one from the bag (a black cube drawn is replaced from the supply, so the bag always holds two black cubes).

Count the cards in your gospel with a circle in this witness's color:
* '''Weak:''' 3 tally marks per card if the witness is alive (white cube), 2 if dead (black cube).
* '''Strong:''' 5 per card if alive, 3 if dead. You may decide on strong after seeing the cube.
* '''Follow:''' 2 tally marks if you hold this witness's interview card, plus 1 per matching card in your gospel.

=== Rearrange (once per turn) ===
* '''Weak:''' move one codex leaf (with its cards) to a new position, or flip one leaf (swap its two cards).
* '''Strong:''' do that as many times as you like.
* '''Follow:''' one weak rearrangement.
Cards are never removed or moved between leaves.

== End of round ==
The time marker moves down one space. White cubes come off the witness discs and go back to the bag, and '''one white cube is removed from the game''', so witnesses die as the game goes on. Twice during the game (after rounds 2 and 4, or rounds 1 and 3 with 5 players) every player adds a codex leaf to the left or right end of their gospel.

== Literary devices ==
Empty slots don't break a run: cards separated by empty slots still count as next to each other. A card can be part of several devices.
* '''Inclusio:''' 3 or more cards in a row that share an eyewitness, '''and''' you hold that witness's interview card. One per witness.
* '''Emphasis:''' a motif symbol that appears on 4 or more cards anywhere in your gospel. One per motif (so at most 5).
* '''Chiasm:''' 4 cards in a row where the 1st and 4th share a motif and the 2nd and 3rd share a different motif (ABBA). The same four cards count only once.
* '''Chronology:''' your longest run of cards whose numbers increase from left to right (minimum 3; a run of 10 counts the same as 9).

== Scoring ==
* '''Tally marks:''' 1 point each.
* '''Each literary device track:''' only players with a cube on it score. The highest player scores 15; each space behind the leader drops one level: '''15 / 11 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 2 / 0'''.
* '''Theme cards:''' count your cards matching your theme. Most scores 15; each card fewer drops one level on the same ladder. '''With no matching card you score 0.'''
* '''Theme bonus:''' +5 if at least half of your cards match your theme.
* '''Tie penalty:''' −1 for each other player's cube that shares a space with one of your cubes on the device tracks.
Highest total wins. '''Tie-breaker:''' most tally marks.

== Solitaire (the designer's rules) ==
* No follow tokens and no secondary deck. In each city, one tradition card starts face-up.
* An eyewitness deck holds one interview card per witness. At the start of each turn, flip the top card: that witness gets a status cube from the bag, unless it already has a black one.
* 6 rounds. Fixed scoring:
** Inclusio, emphasis, chiasm: 1 / 2 / 3+ score 8 / 11 / 15.
** Chronology: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6+ score 6 / 8 / 11 / 15.
** Theme cards: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5+ score 4 / 6 / 8 / 11 / 15, plus the 5-point bonus.
* '''You win with 100 points or more.''' BGA records a loss as how far short you fell (77 points is recorded as −23).

== Official rules ==
The full official rulebook (English PDF) is linked on this game's page under ''Game rules''.

Gamehelphalflifed

2026-09-28T16:53:23Z

Chrisprime: Resolving a Leak: add the fourth answer (contain under a Waste Management card); parked worker

Clean Power. Dirty People.

You run a nuclear plant for a company that values its investors over its employees. Build the facility, staff it, and finish with the most money - whatever that costs your workers.

'''Five of the six departments play each game''', so the cards and the worker colors change every time. You start with an '''HQ card''', '''$5''', and '''two Clinic cards tucked above your HQ''' as your first two rooms. The HQ itself has '''four action spaces and no printed rooms''' - every room in the game is a card.

== A round ==

'''1. Draw and split.''' The 1st player draws cards and workers - plus any bots, investors or radiation Leaks that last round's cards added to the draft - and divides everything into one pile per player.

The pieces are not comparable, so this is not an exercise in making the piles even. A great card with no worker to run it is a trap. The 1st player is steering everyone off what they need.

'''2. Draft.''' Players choose in reverse turn order, and '''the 1st player takes whatever is left'''. You are never handed a pile: you take one, and leave the rest thinner for whoever picks next.

'''3. Turns.''' Everyone plays at the same time. There is no hand, and '''everything you drafted this round must be played this round'''.

'''4. End of round.''' Every worker needs a room. See below.

== Your turn ==

Begin by taking every worker out of your clinic and setting them in front of you. Those rooms are empty for the rest of the round.

Then, in any order and as often as you can:

* '''Play a card face-up.''' Pay the price on its tag and add it to your plant. An '''action card''' brings a new action space and a bot station; an '''upgrade''' starts working immediately; an '''event''' scores at the end of the game. A card played face-up activates once, immediately, for free.
* '''Play a card face-down as a clinic room.''' Free. Tuck it above your HQ. Any facility card can be used this way, so a card you cannot afford is never dead.
* '''Activate an action space.''' Place a worker '''of that card's color''' on it for free, or a worker of any other color for '''$2'''. Your HQ matches everything and charges nobody. A card's bot can run its space instead, and bots need no clinic room.
* '''Claim a goal.''' Meet its printed requirement and spend an '''unassigned''' worker. '''Each player may claim a given goal once.''' Several players may claim the same goal in one round, but every goal claimed this round is discarded at the end of it - so the round a goal is first claimed is the last round anyone can claim it.
* '''Resolve a Leak.''' There are four answers. Pay $5; discard a '''parked''' worker or a '''bot on its station'''; '''cover''' one of your most expensive uncovered '''action''' cards (never a Waste Management card); or '''contain''' it - tuck it under one of your Waste Management action cards that is not already holding one. A covered card is out of play until the Leak is lifted - but an attachment on it keeps working and still scores. '''Containing is not covering''': the container is not covered, it still activates and it still counts, and containing ignores the most expensive rule. If containing is the only answer you can give, you must give it. Covered or contained, the Leak is still yours and still counts for the cards and goals that ask for Leaks.

'''Activation is all or nothing.''' You may only activate a space if you can carry out everything the card says.

== End of round ==

# '''Investors.''' Every investor must be in a clinic room, '''or you are out of the game'''.
# '''Goals.''' Discard every goal claimed this round, and the workers spent on them.
# '''Bots.''' Each bot returns to its own card's station.
# '''Clinic.''' Every remaining worker goes into a clinic room, one each. Rooms holding an investor are not available.
# '''Casualties.''' Any worker without a room is '''discarded for good'''. The bag is never refilled.
# Check for the end of the game, then pass the 1st player token clockwise.

'''Investors take a room permanently, and ahead of your staff.''' They fund you when you are short, and then they never leave. Every loan you take is a room your workers do not get.

== The game ends ==

At the end of a round in which any of these is true:

* a player has '''15 or more cards''' in their facility - clinic rooms and attachments count, Leaks and the cards they cover do not;
* the deck or the bag cannot fill the next draw;
* only one player is left in.

Then, in order:

# Every player resolves their event cards and collects the money.
# Every player '''pays $10 for each investor''' they have.
# '''Most money wins.''' Ties go to the most workers you still control - a worker locked under a Leak does not count.

== Worth knowing ==

* '''Color is a rule, not decoration.''' A card runs on a worker of its own color, or on anyone else's for $2 - which is usually more than the space earns.
* '''Rooms are the scarce thing, not money.''' The investor who solves this round's cash problem takes a room off you for the rest of the game.
* '''Turns are simultaneous''', so only the draft grows with the player count.
* '''New to it?''' Use the "No Waste Management" table option for your first game. Leaks turn a card you have already paid for into a card you cannot use, and knowing when that is worth it takes a game or two.

Gamehelphalflifed

2026-09-28T14:09:09Z

Chrisprime: Setup: two starting Clinic cards, HQ four spaces and no printed rooms. Goals: each player may claim a given goal once. Tiebreak: workers still controlled.

Clean Power. Dirty People.

You run a nuclear plant for a company that values its investors over its employees. Build the facility, staff it, and finish with the most money - whatever that costs your workers.

'''Five of the six departments play each game''', so the cards and the worker colors change every time. You start with an '''HQ card''', '''$5''', and '''two Clinic cards tucked above your HQ''' as your first two rooms. The HQ itself has '''four action spaces and no printed rooms''' - every room in the game is a card.

== A round ==

'''1. Draw and split.''' The 1st player draws cards and workers - plus any bots, investors or radiation Leaks that last round's cards added to the draft - and divides everything into one pile per player.

The pieces are not comparable, so this is not an exercise in making the piles even. A great card with no worker to run it is a trap. The 1st player is steering everyone off what they need.

'''2. Draft.''' Players choose in reverse turn order, and '''the 1st player takes whatever is left'''. You are never handed a pile: you take one, and leave the rest thinner for whoever picks next.

'''3. Turns.''' Everyone plays at the same time. There is no hand, and '''everything you drafted this round must be played this round'''.

'''4. End of round.''' Every worker needs a room. See below.

== Your turn ==

Begin by taking every worker out of your clinic and setting them in front of you. Those rooms are empty for the rest of the round.

Then, in any order and as often as you can:

* '''Play a card face-up.''' Pay the price on its tag and add it to your plant. An '''action card''' brings a new action space and a bot station; an '''upgrade''' starts working immediately; an '''event''' scores at the end of the game. A card played face-up activates once, immediately, for free.
* '''Play a card face-down as a clinic room.''' Free. Tuck it above your HQ. Any facility card can be used this way, so a card you cannot afford is never dead.
* '''Activate an action space.''' Place a worker '''of that card's color''' on it for free, or a worker of any other color for '''$2'''. Your HQ matches everything and charges nobody. A card's bot can run its space instead, and bots need no clinic room.
* '''Claim a goal.''' Meet its printed requirement and spend an '''unassigned''' worker. '''Each player may claim a given goal once.''' Several players may claim the same goal in one round, but every goal claimed this round is discarded at the end of it - so the round a goal is first claimed is the last round anyone can claim it.
* '''Resolve a Leak.''' Pay $5, discard an inactive worker or a bot on its station, or cover one of your most expensive uncovered '''action''' cards (never a Waste Management card). A covered card is out of play until the Leak is lifted - but an attachment on it keeps working and still scores.

'''Activation is all or nothing.''' You may only activate a space if you can carry out everything the card says.

== End of round ==

# '''Investors.''' Every investor must be in a clinic room, '''or you are out of the game'''.
# '''Goals.''' Discard every goal claimed this round, and the workers spent on them.
# '''Bots.''' Each bot returns to its own card's station.
# '''Clinic.''' Every remaining worker goes into a clinic room, one each. Rooms holding an investor are not available.
# '''Casualties.''' Any worker without a room is '''discarded for good'''. The bag is never refilled.
# Check for the end of the game, then pass the 1st player token clockwise.

'''Investors take a room permanently, and ahead of your staff.''' They fund you when you are short, and then they never leave. Every loan you take is a room your workers do not get.

== The game ends ==

At the end of a round in which any of these is true:

* a player has '''15 or more cards''' in their facility - clinic rooms and attachments count, Leaks and the cards they cover do not;
* the deck or the bag cannot fill the next draw;
* only one player is left in.

Then, in order:

# Every player resolves their event cards and collects the money.
# Every player '''pays $10 for each investor''' they have.
# '''Most money wins.''' Ties go to the most workers you still control - a worker locked under a Leak does not count.

== Worth knowing ==

* '''Color is a rule, not decoration.''' A card runs on a worker of its own color, or on anyone else's for $2 - which is usually more than the space earns.
* '''Rooms are the scarce thing, not money.''' The investor who solves this round's cash problem takes a room off you for the rest of the game.
* '''Turns are simultaneous''', so only the draft grows with the player count.
* '''New to it?''' Use the "No Waste Management" table option for your first game. Leaks turn a card you have already paid for into a card you cannot use, and knowing when that is worth it takes a game or two.

Gamehelphalflifed

2026-09-09T19:45:59Z

Chrisprime: Rules summary for Half-Lifed

Clean Power. Dirty People.

You run a nuclear plant for a company that values its investors over its employees. Build the facility, staff it, and finish with the most money - whatever that costs your workers.

'''Five of the six departments play each game''', so the cards and the worker colors change every time. You start with an HQ card and $5.

== A round ==

'''1. Draw and split.''' The 1st player draws cards and workers - plus any bots, investors or radiation Leaks that last round's cards added to the draft - and divides everything into one pile per player.

The pieces are not comparable, so this is not an exercise in making the piles even. A great card with no worker to run it is a trap. The 1st player is steering everyone off what they need.

'''2. Draft.''' Players choose in reverse turn order, and '''the 1st player takes whatever is left'''. You are never handed a pile: you take one, and leave the rest thinner for whoever picks next.

'''3. Turns.''' Everyone plays at the same time. There is no hand, and '''everything you drafted this round must be played this round'''.

'''4. End of round.''' Every worker needs a room. See below.

== Your turn ==

Begin by taking every worker out of your clinic and setting them in front of you. Those rooms are empty for the rest of the round.

Then, in any order and as often as you can:

* '''Play a card face-up.''' Pay the price on its tag and add it to your plant. An '''action card''' brings a new action space and a bot station; an '''upgrade''' starts working immediately; an '''event''' scores at the end of the game. A card played face-up activates once, immediately, for free.
* '''Play a card face-down as a clinic room.''' Free. Tuck it above your HQ. Any facility card can be used this way, so a card you cannot afford is never dead.
* '''Activate an action space.''' Place a worker '''of that card's color''' on it for free, or a worker of any other color for '''$2'''. Your HQ matches everything and charges nobody. A card's bot can run its space instead, and bots need no clinic room.
* '''Claim a goal.''' Meet its printed requirement and spend an '''unassigned''' worker. Several players may claim the same goal in one round, but every goal claimed this round is discarded at the end of it - so the round a goal is first claimed is the last round anyone can claim it.
* '''Resolve a Leak.''' Pay $5, discard an inactive worker or a bot on its station, or cover one of your most expensive uncovered '''action''' cards (never a Waste Management card). A covered card is out of play until the Leak is lifted - but an attachment on it keeps working and still scores.

'''Activation is all or nothing.''' You may only activate a space if you can carry out everything the card says.

== End of round ==

# '''Investors.''' Every investor must be in a clinic room, '''or you are out of the game'''.
# '''Goals.''' Discard every goal claimed this round, and the workers spent on them.
# '''Bots.''' Each bot returns to its own card's station.
# '''Clinic.''' Every remaining worker goes into a clinic room, one each. Rooms holding an investor are not available.
# '''Casualties.''' Any worker without a room is '''discarded for good'''. The bag is never refilled.
# Check for the end of the game, then pass the 1st player token clockwise.

'''Investors take a room permanently, and ahead of your staff.''' They fund you when you are short, and then they never leave. Every loan you take is a room your workers do not get.

== The game ends ==

At the end of a round in which any of these is true:

* a player has '''15 or more cards''' in their facility - clinic rooms and attachments count, Leaks and the cards they cover do not;
* the deck or the bag cannot fill the next draw;
* only one player is left in.

Then, in order:

# Every player resolves their event cards and collects the money.
# Every player '''pays $10 for each investor''' they have.
# '''Most money wins.''' Ties go to the most surviving workers.

== Worth knowing ==

* '''Color is a rule, not decoration.''' A card runs on a worker of its own color, or on anyone else's for $2 - which is usually more than the space earns.
* '''Rooms are the scarce thing, not money.''' The investor who solves this round's cash problem takes a room off you for the rest of the game.
* '''Turns are simultaneous''', so only the draft grows with the player count.
* '''New to it?''' Use the "No Waste Management" table option for your first game. Leaks turn a card you have already paid for into a card you cannot use, and knowing when that is worth it takes a game or two.

Gamehelphalflifed

2026-09-09T19:00:09Z

Chrisprime: Blanked the page

Gamehelphalflifed

2026-09-09T18:58:13Z

Chrisprime:

# Half-Lifed — rules summary for the Board Game Arena game page

*2–5 players · 30–60 minutes · ages 10+ · most money wins*

---

## The idea

You run a nuclear plant for a company that cares more about its investors than
its employees. Build the facility, staff it, and finish with the most money —
whatever that costs your workers.

Five of the six departments play each game, so no two games offer the same
cards or the same workers.

## Setup

Each player takes an **HQ card** and **$5**. The HQ has two clinic rooms and
four action spaces, and it belongs to no department, so any worker can use it.

In the middle go the **deck**, the face-up **Clinic supply**, the **Leak supply**
(only when Waste Management is one of the five departments), the **worker bag**,
and **one goal more than there are players** — one from the $25 tier, one from
the $20 tier, and a $15 goal for every player after the first.

## A round, in four steps

**1 · Draw and split.** The 1st player draws cards and workers from the deck and
the bag — plus any bots, investors or radiation Leaks that last round's cards
added to the draft — and divides everything into one pile per player.

The pieces are not comparable, so this is not an exercise in making the piles
even. A great card with no worker to run it is a trap. The 1st player is
steering everyone off what they need.

**2 · Draft.** Players choose in reverse turn order: starting with the player to
the 1st player's right and continuing counterclockwise, each takes one pile of
their choice. **The 1st player takes whatever is left.** You are never handed a
pile; you take one, and leave the rest thinner for whoever picks next.

**3 · Turns.** Everyone plays at the same time. There is no hand and no holding
back: **everything you drafted this round must be played this round.**

**4 · End of round.** Every worker needs a room — see below.

## Your turn

Begin by taking every worker out of your clinic and setting them in front of
you. Those rooms are empty for the rest of the round.

Then, in any order and as often as you can:

- **Play a card face-up.** Pay the price on its tag and add it to your plant. An
**action card** brings a new action space and a bot station. An **upgrade**
starts working immediately; an **event** scores at the end of the game. A card
played face-up **activates once, immediately, for free**.
- **Play a card face-down as a clinic room.** Free. Tuck it above your HQ with
the clinic mark showing. Any facility card can be used this way, so a card you
cannot afford is never dead.
- **Activate an action space.** Place a worker **of that card's color** on it for
free, or a worker of any other color for **$2**. Your HQ charges nobody. A
card's bot can run its space instead, and bots need no clinic room.
- **Claim a goal.** Meet its printed requirement, spend any worker, take the
money. Each player may claim a given goal once, and several players can claim
the same goal in the same round — but every goal claimed this round is
discarded at the end of it, along with the workers spent on it. So the round a
goal is first claimed is the last round anyone can claim it.
- **Resolve a Leak.** Pay, discard a worker or a bot, or cover one of your own
action cards with it. A covered card is out of play until the Leak is lifted —
but an attachment on it keeps working and still scores.

Declare when you are finished. You are never required to place all your workers.

## End of round

Workers head to the clinic, and **every worker needs a room**. Your HQ's two
printed rooms count.

**Investors take a room too — permanently, and ahead of your staff.** They fund
you when you are short of cash, and then they never leave. Every loan you take
is a room your workers do not get.

Anyone left without a room is discarded, and a discarded worker is out of the
game for good. The bag is never refilled.

**An investor with no room is worse than a casualty: it loses you the game.**
That is avoidable, and planning for it is the point.

Then the 1st player token passes clockwise and the next round begins.

## The game ends

At the end of any round in which a player has **15 or more cards** in their
facility — clinic rooms and attachments count, Leaks and the cards they cover do
not — or the deck or the bag cannot fill the next draw.

Then, in order:

1. Every player resolves their event cards and collects the money.
2. Every player **pays $10 for each investor** they have.
3. **Most money wins.** Ties go to the most surviving workers.

## What to know before your first game

- **Color is a rule, not decoration.** A card runs on a worker of its own color,
or on anyone else's for $2 — which is usually more than the space earns.
- **The squeeze is the game.** Rooms are the scarce thing, not money, and the
investor who solves this round's cash problem takes a room off you for the
rest of the game.
- **Waste Management is the advanced department.** If you are learning, use the
"No Waste Management" table option — Leaks turn a card you have already paid
for into a card you cannot use, and knowing when that is worth it takes a game
or two.

Gamehelphalflifed

2026-09-09T18:57:57Z

Chrisprime: Blanked the page

Gamehelphalflifed

2026-09-09T18:57:11Z

Chrisprime: Created page with "Most money wins! ## The idea You run a nuclear plant for a company that cares more about its investors than its employees. Build the facility, staff it, and finish with the most money — whatever that costs your workers. Five of the six departments play each game, so no two games offer the same cards or the same workers. ## Setup Each player takes an **HQ card** and **$5**. The HQ has two clinic rooms and four action spaces, and it belongs to no department, so any..."

Most money wins!

## The idea

You run a nuclear plant for a company that cares more about its investors than
its employees. Build the facility, staff it, and finish with the most money —
whatever that costs your workers.

Five of the six departments play each game, so no two games offer the same
cards or the same workers.

## Setup

Each player takes an **HQ card** and **$5**. The HQ has two clinic rooms and
four action spaces, and it belongs to no department, so any worker can use it.

In the middle go the **deck**, the face-up **Clinic supply**, the **Leak supply**
(only when Waste Management is one of the five departments), the **worker bag**,
and **one goal more than there are players** — one from the $25 tier, one from
the $20 tier, and a $15 goal for every player after the first.

## A round, in four steps

**1 · Draw and split.** The 1st player draws cards and workers from the deck and
the bag — plus any bots, investors or radiation Leaks that last round's cards
added to the draft — and divides everything into one pile per player.

The pieces are not comparable, so this is not an exercise in making the piles
even. A great card with no worker to run it is a trap. The 1st player is
steering everyone off what they need.

**2 · Draft.** Players choose in reverse turn order: starting with the player to
the 1st player's right and continuing counterclockwise, each takes one pile of
their choice. **The 1st player takes whatever is left.** You are never handed a
pile; you take one, and leave the rest thinner for whoever picks next.

**3 · Turns.** Everyone plays at the same time. There is no hand and no holding
back: **everything you drafted this round must be played this round.**

**4 · End of round.** Every worker needs a room — see below.

## Your turn

Begin by taking every worker out of your clinic and setting them in front of
you. Those rooms are empty for the rest of the round.

Then, in any order and as often as you can:

- **Play a card face-up.** Pay the price on its tag and add it to your plant. An
**action card** brings a new action space and a bot station. An **upgrade**
starts working immediately; an **event** scores at the end of the game. A card
played face-up **activates once, immediately, for free**.
- **Play a card face-down as a clinic room.** Free. Tuck it above your HQ with
the clinic mark showing. Any facility card can be used this way, so a card you
cannot afford is never dead.
- **Activate an action space.** Place a worker **of that card's color** on it for
free, or a worker of any other color for **$2**. Your HQ charges nobody. A
card's bot can run its space instead, and bots need no clinic room.
- **Claim a goal.** Meet its printed requirement, spend any worker, take the
money. Each player may claim a given goal once, and several players can claim
the same goal in the same round — but every goal claimed this round is
discarded at the end of it, along with the workers spent on it. So the round a
goal is first claimed is the last round anyone can claim it.
- **Resolve a Leak.** Pay, discard a worker or a bot, or cover one of your own
action cards with it. A covered card is out of play until the Leak is lifted —
but an attachment on it keeps working and still scores.

Declare when you are finished. You are never required to place all your workers.

## End of round

Workers head to the clinic, and **every worker needs a room**. Your HQ's two
printed rooms count.

**Investors take a room too — permanently, and ahead of your staff.** They fund
you when you are short of cash, and then they never leave. Every loan you take
is a room your workers do not get.

Anyone left without a room is discarded, and a discarded worker is out of the
game for good. The bag is never refilled.

**An investor with no room is worse than a casualty: it loses you the game.**
That is avoidable, and planning for it is the point.

Then the 1st player token passes clockwise and the next round begins.

## The game ends

At the end of any round in which a player has **15 or more cards** in their
facility — clinic rooms and attachments count, Leaks and the cards they cover do
not — or the deck or the bag cannot fill the next draw.

Then, in order:

1. Every player resolves their event cards and collects the money.
2. Every player **pays $10 for each investor** they have.
3. **Most money wins.** Ties go to the most surviving workers.

## What to know before your first game

- **Color is a rule, not decoration.** A card runs on a worker of its own color,
or on anyone else's for $2 — which is usually more than the space earns.
- **The squeeze is the game.** Rooms are the scarce thing, not money, and the
investor who solves this round's cash problem takes a room off you for the
rest of the game.
- **Waste Management is the advanced department.** If you are learning, use the
"No Waste Management" table option — Leaks turn a card you have already paid
for into a card you cannot use, and knowing when that is worth it takes a game
or two.

Gamehelpvenusianvegasthecardgame

2026-09-04T10:44:12Z

Chrisprime: Created page with "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..."

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.