Gamehelpladyschoice

To purchase a copy, visit: www.choicegames.com.au

Cards Used:

70 Gentleman Attributes

The Catch

The Second Catch

4 Gentleman Player Cards

Biological Clock

24 Love

6 True Love

4 Ranks: Dandiest to Least Dandy

3-6 Player Game

Objective

The player who has received the most Love by the end of the game wins. When you’re The Catch, you receive Love by choosing the Dandiest gentleman you can. When you’re a gentleman, you receive Love by being chosen. Extra Love if you were a terrible choice.

6 Players

If you are not playing with 6 players, you can skip the 6 Players blocks. A 6 player game has a few extra rules.

Setting up the Game

Each player is given Love cards according to the player count:

3 players, each get 2 Love cards

4 players, each get 3 Love cards

5 or 6 players, each get 4 Love cards

These cards represent the Love each player has to give, which should be kept separate from the Love received. The rest of the Love cards are placed back in the box. Place a supply of True Love cards within reach. Love to Give cards are stacked “Love to Give” side up, and Love Received cards are splayed so they can be counted at a glance.

Using Poker Chips

Swapping Love and True Love for red and yellow (golden) poker chips creates a better experience, as your love will have more physical weight, making your victory heavier. If you do this, your “Love to Give” should be closer to you, while your “Love Received” should be more on display, so your opponents can see how tall the “Love Received” stack is. Choose someone to be The Catch for the first round, and receive The Catch Player Card.

6 Players

Turn The Catch Player Card over to reveal The First Catch. The player to the right of The First Catch gets The Second Catch Player Card.

All other players play as gentlemen and are each given a Gentleman Player Card.

Round Overview

Everyone gets to be The Catch for one round. Each round is made up of the following phases:

1. Set up Phase: Deal each gentleman 4 Gentleman Attribute cards.

2. Romance Phase: Players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the gentleman to the left of The Catch. Gentlemen choose to either BOAST or CHANGE on their turn. The Catch chooses to either COURT or MARRY on her turn.

3. Ranking Phase: When The Catch chooses to MARRY, all gentlemen reveal their hands and total up their Dandy Points. Gentlemen are ranked from Dandiest to Least Dandy.

4. Scoring Phase: Now that they’re married, the husband must return Love to his wife based on his Dandiness ranking.

Pass The Catch card to the left. Start next round.

1. Set up Phase

Shuffle the 70 Gentleman Attribute cards, and deal 4 to each gentleman. The number in the top left corner determines how much more (or less) Dandy the card makes him. Deal 17 cards face down into a pile and place the “Biological Clock” card on top, then place the remainder of the deck on top of that.

2. Romance Phase

Play starts with the gentleman to the left of The Catch(es) and proceeds clockwise.

On a Gentleman’s Turn:

Unless the rules state otherwise, a gentleman may not show anyone any of his cards, even if he wants to. (He is, however, free to lie or tell the truth about what cards he has.) On your turn, select one, and only one, of the following actions:

BOAST: Choose a card in your hand, show it to everyone, and return it to your hand. Then draw a card.

CHANGE: Choose a card in your hand, discard it face down, and then draw 2 cards.

You must do whatever is necessary to make sure The Catch(es) don’t know which card was discarded, even if you want them to know. (You are always free to lie or tell the truth about which card was discarded.)

On The Catch’s Turn:

On your turn, choose a gentleman. Then choose one, and only one, of the following actions:

COURT: The gentleman must shuffle his hand and place his cards face down, such that even he does not know which card is which. Choose and secretly look at a number of cards equal to the number of gentlemen at the table. (If you reveal “Complete Openness” you may see the rest of his hand.) The gentleman is allowed to know which cards you saw.

MARRY: Give the gentleman all the Love you have to give (i.e. the pile of Love cards you were given at the start of the game. This does not include any Love you received in previous rounds, as this is kept separate.)

6 Players

Once one of the two Catches chooses to MARRY, the remaining Catch must immediately choose a different gentleman to marry. If the remaining Catch is The Second Catch, she immediately takes an extra COURT action before choosing.

If the remaining Catch is The First Catch, she must choose immediately without the extra action.

Once all Catches have chosen, go straight to ranking phase. Biological Clock Once the Biological Clock card is on the top of the deck, place it aside and continue play as normal. (It doesn’t count as a card when drawing.) Now that it is revealed, The Catch can only choose the Marry action.

6 Players

Revealing the Biological Clock doesn’t affect The First Catch, but The Second Catch can only choose the MARRY action.

3. Ranking Phase

All gentlemen reveal their cards:

Cards with “Mysterious” in the title instruct gentlemen to draw more cards after all Catches have married. Do this now. (And so on if another such card is drawn in this way.)

If a card in your hand “cancels” one or more other cards in your hand, put the cancelled cards aside.

Cards marked with gold coins are Wealth cards. Find the highest value Wealth card (not yet put aside) and put aside the rest.

Of the cards not put aside, add together the Dandy Points. If any of your cards are worth negative Dandy Points, instead subtract their value from your total. The gentleman with the most Dandy Points takes the “1st Dandiest” rank card, then the gentleman with the second-most points takes the “2nd Dandiest” rank card, and so on. In the case of a tie, the gentleman with the dandiest Wealth card (not put aside) is dandier. If neither gentleman has a Wealth card remaining, the player with the dandiest card (not put aside) is Dandier. (If somehow this is still a tie, the gentleman earlier in turn order is dandier.)

4. Scoring Phase

The married gentleman (or married gentlemen in a 6 player game) must give 1 Love card that he received from his new wife back to her for each gentleman at the table less Dandy than him. Example: If The Catch chose the 2nd Dandiest gentleman out of 4, he would give his wife 2 Love back, as 2 gentlemen are less Dandy. If she married the least Dandy gentleman, he would give his wife nothing, as there are no gentlemen less Dandy. If The Catch married the Dandiest gentleman, he gives her 1 True Love card from the supply in addition to all the other Love cards he gives. If The Catch married the least Dandy gentleman, he takes 1 True Love card from the supply and keeps it for himself in addition to all the other Love cards he kept for himself. The Catch(es) now have no more Love to give. (Any Love their husband gave back to them is kept with their Love received.) Unmarried gentlemen get nothing. Example It is a 3 player game. The first gentleman BOASTS “Small Island Country” with a Dandiness of 40, then draws a card. The second gentleman decides to CHANGE, secretly discarding a card and drawing 2. Afraid that the first gentleman will discard “Small Island Country” on his next turn, The Catch decides to MARRY him now, giving him all the Love she has to give (2 Love). All gentlemen reveal.

The married gentleman (the first gentleman) has “Con Artist” which states that it cancels “Small Island Country”. Of his 3 remaining Wealth cards, “Gold Pocket Watch”, “Silk Top Hat”, and “Automobile”, all cards but the highest card (Automobile) are put aside. The remaining cards total 12 Dandy Points. The unmarried gentleman (the second gentleman) has “Bankrupt” so he must put aside all his Wealth. The only Wealth card in his hand is “Dirigible”. His remaining cards total 12 Dandy Points. The gentlemen are tied for Dandiest. The tie is broken by highest Wealth card not put aside. The married (first) gentleman has Automobile, while the unmarried (second) gentleman has no Wealth at all. The married (first) gentleman is therefore the Dandiest. The married gentleman gives back one Love for each gentleman less Dandy than him, which is 1 Love. As he is the Dandiest, he must also give The Catch a True Love from the supply. The Catch card moves one player to the left. The new Catch gives the old Catch their Gentleman Player Card.

6 Players

The First Catch and The Second Catch both move two players to the left, swapping for Gentleman Player Cards. A 6 player game is only 3 rounds long, so everyone only gets to be a Catch once.

Set up the next round and keep playing until all players have had a turn to be The Catch. Then, go to Game End. Game End The player who has received the most total Love and True Love cards wins. If two players have the same number of Love cards, the player with the most True Love wins the tie.

6 Players

If playing twice in a row, choose a turn order such that everyone who experienced a turn as “The First Catch” gets to experience a turn as “The Second Catch”

2 Player Game

Objective

Each player plays as a lady and 4 piles of cards represent gentlemen. Ladies take turns courting the gentlemen until one lady is ready to marry. If she marries the dandiest gentleman, she wins. If she marries any other gentleman, the other lady wins.

Setup

Deal 4 piles of 6 cards between both players making sure there is room for more cards on each side as pictured:

Gameplay

On the starting player’s first turn, she must take 1 COURT action. On all subsequent turns, the active player may choose to take 2 COURT actions or MARRY.

COURT Action

Choose a gentleman (pile of cards), draw the top card, look at it, and then place it on your side face down, on top of the space nearest the deck it came from. (This forms the deck of things you know about this gentleman.) If the pile begins this action empty or face up, instead take the top card from the nearest space on your opponent’s side, flip it face up, and place it where the original pile was. (This represents what you both know about the gentleman.) (You may look at the cards on your side, or piles of face up cards, at any time, but you must put them back in the same order.)

MARRY

Choose a gentleman to MARRY. Following the rules for “Ranking Phase” in the 3-6 player version: If any gentleman is ranked higher than the one you chose, the other lady wins. If not, you win. (Turn order ties break in favour of the married gentleman)