How to play

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There are two types of cards in the Spiel Des Jahres deck:

1. Game ideas:

2. Game designer contracts:

Every card has two coloured symbols on it. These represent different aspects of board game design:

• role-playing
• puzzle
• family-friendly
• resource-gathering
• cards
• combat

The setup:

Each player starts with three cards in their hand and €30,000 in coin tokens

In addition, each player is dealt one card face-up from the deck. The two symbols on this card represent the player's company's board-game specialties (important for valuating board games). This card is then removed from the game, though the player should keep it in sight for their own and others' reference.

Starting the game:

A single card is drawn face-up and placed in the centre of the table. The two symbols on this card represent the public's favoured game elements during this first round.

Example: The start of round 1 of a three player game of Spiel Des Jahres

Each round, a player can either:

A) Brainstorm - by drawing cards from the deck

or

B) Publish - by playing cards from their hand

All players take their turns simultaneously; there is no turn order.

A) Brainstorm:

The player draws one card from the deck, plus an additional card for each game designer they currently have on staff.

B) Publish:

The player may combine cards from their hand into any number of board games to publish. A board game consists of either two or three game idea cards stacked on each other and placed face-up on the table. A published board game generates revenue every round until the end of the game.

The value of each published game is calculated and this value is noted by taking appropriate coin tokens from the bank and placing them, black-and-white side-up, on the published game.

The following are incorrect ways to stack cards into publishable board games:

Game designers:

Game designers can be employed by a player to provide the following benefits:

1. While brainstorming, a player may draw one extra card for each game designer currently employed by them

2. While publishing, a player adds €10,000 to a game's value if one of the game designer's specialty elements is included in the game or €20,000 if both of the game designer's specialties are in the game. See calculating a game's value

A game designer can be played from a player's hand to the table at any time. The player may then immediately make use of the game designer's abilities. All game designers have a salary of €30,000 for the month in which they are played from the hand. This is paid at the end of the round.

After game designers have been paid and before a new round begins, game designers may be fired or they may be offered higher wages by any player, who then employs the game designer at that new wage.

The end of a round:

Settling accounts:

At the end of the round, players receive the monthly revenue of their published games in coin tokens. They then pay the monthly wages of all game designers in their employ.

Game designer contracts:

Once a game designer has been paid for the preceding round's work they may be fired, at which point another player may hire them for the salary at which they were fired. Alternatively, any player may offer a higher monthly wage to the game designer. Before the next round begins, each game designer in play moves to the company that offered them the highest monthly wage.

If a game designer is fired and no player chooses to hire them, that game designer is removed from the game

When all players are ready, a new card is drawn to determined the publically favoured game elements of the new month and a new round begins.

The end of the game:

Spiel Des Jahres proceeds for 12 rounds. After the 12th round of the game the 12 public favour cards are shuffled and one is selected at random. The highest-valued board game that contains at least one of the two game elements on this card wins the 'Spiel Des Jahres' ('Game of the Year') award and the player that published it wins the game.

If two games are tied for the win, another card is turned. In the case of a stalemate, the player with more money wins. If, at this point, the tied players have the same amount of money, no board game wins the Spiel Des Jahres.

Calculating the value of a game:

All games start at a value of €0

1. If one of your company's specialty elements is included in the game, add €10,000 to the game's value. If both specialties are included, add €20,000
2. If one of the month's publically-favoured game elements is included in the game, add €10,000. If both publically-favoured elements are included, add €20,000
3. For each game designer currently in your employ:
   • If one of the game designer's specialty elements is included in the game, add €10,000 to the game's value. If both specialty elements are included add €20,000.
4. If your game contains four of the same game element, add €50,000 to the game's value,
           ELSE:
   if your game contains three of the same game element, add €30,000 to the game's value,
           ELSE:
   for each pair of game elements in your game, add €10,000 to the game's value.
5. Finally, subtract ongoing manufacturing costs: €10,000 for each game idea card used to construct the board game (either €20,000 or €30,000).

Player 1 has published Railway Calamity which generates €30,000 per month

The calculated value represents the monthly revenue that the board game will generate. Once a board game's value has been calculated, this value remains constant throughout the rest of the game.

Other rules:

Trading:

Cards in the hand, coins, published games and non-binding promises can be traded between players at any time during the game.

Bankruptcy:

If a player is unable to produce the funds to pay a game designer at the end of a month they become bankrupt and are eliminated from the game.

Copyright:

A game may not be published if a game of the same name already exists.

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