Basic Rules
The game is a game for 2 players, each with a 60 card pre-constructed deck and a D6. A pad of paper and a pen will also be very helpful as there is a lot of information that will need to be recorded. Any cards are allowed in either players deck. To determine who goes first play a game of paper/scissors/ stone.
The Structure
To begin the game, the player with the first turn downloads any one Location as their starting location. The other player then does the same. Both players then shuffle their decks and draw 7 cards. The first player then takes his first turn and turns are taken alternately thereafter.
Turns
A turn consists of 3 actions. Which may be any of the following.
1) Play a card. Either a Personnel, Equipment, Location or Event card (note that affiliated cards may only play to their own town).
2) Move a group of personnel to a different location. This takes 2 actions if they are moving to a new town.
3) Any other action that may be taken as directed on a card (e.g. Download ‘Host Tournament’ using ‘University of Warwick’)
In addition to your normal actions, you may make any number of free actions. These may be in either players turn and may be any of the following.
1) Playing an Interrupt card.
2) Playing a Chula card
3) Play any card that states it plays for free (only in your turn)
At the end of your own turn you may draw up to 3 cards providing this doesn’t take the number of cards in your hand above 7. It is then the other players go.
Scoring and winning
Points are scored as indicated on the cards. The main way of scoring points is via Event cards (such as Host Tournament and Drinking Session). The first player to score 100 points is the winner. If both players score 100 points simultaneously the game is decided by the quickest player to down a pint. If no pints are present then the game is officially a draw. If both players decks are exhausted, the score stands as it is at the point the last card is drawn.
Stats
All Personnel cards have stats. These range from 0-10 and are as follows. Card Playing (abbreviated to playing), Drinking and Charisma. Each Personnel may also have Skills. These are used for overcoming Chulas, or triggering events and interrupts.
Special Personnel Features
The Beer Deprivation icon - Found on many personnel. Any personnel with this icon who doesn’t have a ‘Pint’ Equipment card attached to him/her will go into stasis. They may only be brought out of stasis by playing another ‘Pint’ card on them or by special cards that allow them to do so. While they are in stasis, they may be carried around like equipment. A ‘Pint’ card may never be removed from a personnel once attached until it has finished counting down. This would be messing with a mans beer and is totally out of the question (unless a card states otherwise).
Special Downloads - May download the card mentioned to that location for free. May only do so if the card can be legally played at that point. (for example, ‘Ringo - ST Ambassador’ can only download ‘Host tournament’ if he is at a tournament venue. Each special download may only be done once per game. If the card downloaded plays on a personnel, it must play onto the personnel that downloaded it. Any download that plays on a particular location or group must play at the location of the personnel doing the download.
Events
Events are cards that are played on the table as one of your actions. There are 2 events that will be the mainstay of your points scoring. Tournaments and Socials. These are initiated by playing or downloading ‘Host Tournament’ or ‘Drinking Session’ . The cards themselves explain the rules for playing the card but both initiate subgames which are explained as follows.
Tournament Subgame
This is initiated when the ‘Host Tournament’ card is legally played and proceeds as follows. Every personnel present may chose (owners choice) whether to play in the tournament (unless a card dictates one way or the other). For every personnel in the tournament, Roll a D6. Add this score to their playing statistic to get their tournament score. Arrange the personnel in the order of tournament score. If there are ties, home players (London players playing in London for example) always beat away players. If there are still ties, the owner of the 2 cards involved may arrange them in any order he wishes. If two home or away cards owned by different players are tied, order is decided randomly. The owner of the winner of the tournament scores 1 points for each person at the tournament and both players score 1 point for each of their personnel who enter the tournament.
Drinking Subgame
This is initiated when the ‘Drinking Session’ card is legally played and proceeds as follows. Every personnel present may chose (owners choice) whether to take part in the drinking session (unless a card dictates one way or the other). Roll 2D6, this is the drinking pace (how many pints the socialisers will drink that evening). The number of pints that each Personnel can handle is given by their drinking statistic. If the number of pints drunk exceeds this number then that person is eliminated from the social. All Personnel not eliminated score 3 points.
Chulas
These are cards that spring nasty surprises on your opponent. There are two types of Chula both of which have different conditions for playing. ‘Motion Chulas’ are played when your opponent announces that a group of his personnel are moving from one location to another. ‘Static Chulas’ are played on any group of opponents personnel who are together at a location when your opponent has just completed one of his actions during his turn. ‘Motion/Static Chulas’ may play during either occurrence. To resolve a Chula, follow the instructions on the card. Unless otherwise stated, a Chula is discarded after it is played.
Groups of Personnel
All personnel owned by the same player at the same location are considered to be in the same group. His opponents personnel at that location are a different group (although are still ‘present’).
Stopped Personnel
Personnel may be stopped by Chulas or any other type of card. A stopped personnel remains stopped until the start of it’s owners next turn. If the card says stopped for more than one turn then each turn after one is an additional turn they are stopped. For example, if as their first action of the turn, a player attempts to move some of his personnel to another location and ‘The Station’ is played on them. If they have no Navigation present then they proceed to the destination and the Chula is discarded. If they have 1 Navigation present they are stopped until the start of their next turn. If they have 3 Navigation present, they are stopped until the start of the turn after next. A stopped personnel may not use their skills or special abilities and are not considered ‘present’ for the purpose of resolving Chulas or triggering interrupts or events. They may not take any actions such as moving and may not take part in any events such as tournaments or socials. They are however affected by any global events or interrupts played on the table or the location they are at. Bear in mind that during motion, a personnel does not arrive at his destination until all Chulas have been resolved. Therefore a personnel who is stopped by a Motion Chula remains at the location that they started at.
Dual Icon Personnel
If a personnel has 2 affiliation icons, they may select whichever they want to be at any given time.
Countdown icons
Cards with countdown icons count down at the end of their owners turn.
Duplicated Cards
All personnel and locations are considered unique unless that card states in the card type that it is universal. Each player may only have one copy of each unique card in play at once although what your opponent has in play does not affect what you can have in play unless a card specifically says so. If both players play the same unique location, the second is played on top of the first and both players may use any special download it has. Any card that affects the location affects both copies. For example, if both players play ‘Man a Vault’ in Glasgow, both may download Mandeep but if the location is discarded, both copies are discarded. Equipment works the other way round and is universal unless the card type states otherwise.
Personas
A persona is a different card meant to represent the same unique thing (usually a personnel). While you may not have two personas of the same personnel in play at once, you may at the start of any turn (for free) swap one persona with a different one from your hand. Also, when you download a personnel you may download a persona of a personnel at that location to replace them and put the original in your hand. Note that Martin Allen and Martin Founder are NOT personas. They are different people who do not react well with each other!
Cumulative Ruling
Multiple cards on the table, a location or on any personnel only have a cumulative effect if they say ‘cumulative’.
