Current mood:	creative
Entry tags:	card games, design

New Game: Office Politics

Just thought up a vaguely prisoner-dilemma-ish game based on projects and offices, might be fun- Wiki page for the rules

Components

Number of Players: 2+
Cards: 4 Action cards and 1 team leader card per player, 1 deck of project cards
Counters: Assorted counters to represent money and prestige.

Glossary

Bank - the store for currently unused money and prestige counters.
Prestige - an abstract representation of a character's impact in the office and ability to get things changed.
Action - one of four cards played for a character in the game - "Support", "Oppose", "Abstain", "Politics"

Introduction

In the continuing struggle to increase your profile within the company, you must contend with your colleagues, fickle project assignments and politicking to relieve the boredom of the daily grind

Setup

• Each player choose a Team Leader card to represent themselves and takes the 4 Action Cards.
• Each player receives $100 and 1 prestige for each player in the game (e.g. for a 4 player game, each player receives $400 and 4 prestige).
• Randomly deal Project Cards face down into a new pile based on how many players there are in the game.
  • Number of Project Cards in a game = Number of Players x 2
  • Place the remainder of the cards face down back in the box. They may not be viewed by anyone.
• Determine the player to start first.

Turn Sequence

1. Shuffle all the Team Leader cards that represent players together into a single face down deck.
2. Draw a Project Card and place it face up in the middle of the table. (1) Prestige may be spent
3. Draw the top Team Leader card and place it face up next to the Project Card. (2) Prestige may be spent
   • The player represented by their card is the Team Leader of this Project and will receive the highest benefits in money and prestige if it successfully concludes.
4. Starting with the Team Leader, each player places one of their Action Card face down in front of them. (3) Prestige may be spent
5. When all players have placed their cards, the cards are turned face up and each player's action is resolved.
6. If there are more supporters than opposers, the project succeeds, otherwise it fails. Create a pile of money and prestige equal to the Project Card.
   1. If the project succeeds,
      1. The Team Leader takes half the pile.
      2. The supporter of the Team Leader equally divide the remainder.
      3. The abstainers from the project equally divide any remainders from the supporters' pile.
      4. The remainder is given to the Team Leader.
   2. If the project fails, (4) Prestige may be spent
      1. The opposers of the Team Leader equally divide the pile.
      2. The abstainers from the project equally divide any remainders from the opposers' pile.
      3. The Team Leader takes the remainder.
7. Discard the project card.
8. Place the team leader card back in the deck with the other players' team leaders.

Negotiation

Players may negotiate amongst each other at any time. Money and prestige may be traded freely. Any deals made - either open or secret - may be honoured or may not be honoured, it is up to the players involved. Deal making or breaking are equally possible.

Actions

Support

You support the current project and the team leader in charge. If the project succeeds, you receive an equal share of half the earnings of the project. If the project fails you receive nothing.

Oppose

You oppose the current project and the team leader in charge. If the project succeeds you receive nothing. If the project fails you receive an equal share of the earnings of the project.

Abstain

You neither support nor oppose the current project and the team leader in charge. If the project succeeds you receive an equal share of the remainder from the supporter's share. If the project fails you have an equal share of the remainder from the opposer's share.

Politics

You receive the starting prestige. For the purposes of bidding in (4) Project Failure any prestige you bid is doubled.

Spending Money

The amount of money you have is always kept hidden.

At any time you may spend $200 to receive 1 prestige.
At any time you may give money to any other player.

Spending Prestige

The amount of prestige you have is always kept hidden.

At any time you may give prestige to any other player.

Prestige has many uses in this game and it is always spent in an auction manner. You announce at a particular point in the turn sequence that you are spending prestige and how much you are spending, and in clockwise order from you, each player in turn may either raise your initial bid, or drop out of the prestige auction. The bidding continues until all players but one have passed. All players that bid, even if they did not win, must pay their prestige to the bank.

(1) Project Card

The winner of this prestige bid may reshuffle and draw a new Project card, or they may leave it as it is.

(2) Team Leader Card

The winner of this prestige bid may reshuffle and draw a new Team Leader card, or they may leave it as it is.

(3) Action Card Placement

The winner of this prestige bid may change any one other player's action for this turn - except for the Team Leader. Take the action cards of that player and place a card face-down for them.

(4) Project Failure

The winner of this prestige bid may declare the project to be a trial. The pile of money and prestige is not divided this turn, but is carried forward to the next turn and added to that turn's project.

Project Cards

Project cards are doubled prime numbers. There should be 3 times as many cards in a deck as there are players in the game.

• 4, 6, 10, 14, 22, 26, 34, 38, 46, 58, 62, 74, 82, 86, 94, 106, 118, 122, 134, 142, 146, 158, 166, 178, 194

E.G. if there are 4 players in the game, use the first 12 cards for the deck. From that deck, randomly deal 8 cards to be those that are used in the game.

Game End

The game ends when all Project Cards have been used. The player with the most money wins. If there are more than one player with this amount of money, the player with more prestige wins. If still a tie, the player who was the last Team Leader wins.