The Mystery Guest

A lite deduction game for 2-4 players.

Object

You all have been invited to a big party and it has been announced that a special mystery guest is coming. But who is it?! The object of the game is to be the first player to correctly identify the mystery guest.

Contents

The game includes 36 guest cards consisting of 18 pairs of guests and 4 guest list reference cards.

Setup - Sending out Invites

In a two player game, remove 6 sets of guests from play. In a three player game, remove 3 sets of guests from play. Leave them face up so players can check which guests were uninvited.

Shuffle the deck of guest cards and deal 6 cards to each player. Deal the remaining cards face down in a row in the center. Flip over the first card in the row. The last card in the row is the mystery guest that remains hidden from all players until a player tries to guess who it is.

The person that most recently attended a party is the starting player. Play begins with them and proceeds clockwise.

How to Play – Socializing with the Guests

A player starts their turn by either taking a face up card in the row or revealing a face down card in the row for all players to see and then taking that card.

If the player has any pairs in hand, they may lay down as many pairs as they want. Whenever a pair is laid down, the player is granted two special actions!
1) Look at one card from another player’s hand.
2) Look at one face down card (except the mystery guest) in the row.

However, if more than one pair is laid down on the same turn, the player is not granted any special actions on that turn!

To end their turn, the player replaces the card taken from the row with a different card from their hand, placed face up.

Winning the Game – Identifying the Mystery Guest

When a player lays down their third pair of guests, they must make a guess about the identity of the mystery guest.

The guess must identify both the title and name of the mystery guest (i.e. “The mystery guest is Mrs. Van Pelt.” or “The mystery guest is Mr. Bigglesworth.”).

After announcing their guess, the player looks at the mystery guest card without showing it to the other players. If they guessed correctly, the mystery guest is revealed and that player wins the game! If they guessed incorrectly, the card is returned to the row face down and that player is kicked out of this game’s party.

If all players incorrectly guess the mystery guest, throw another party and play again!

Going Crazy! A game of crazy fun for 2-5 players! Navigate the little annoyances in life and prevent yourself from Going Crazy!

Components

100 card deck

• 12 “Crazy” cards
• 3 cards of each number 1 – 9 marked with “!”
• 4 cards of each number 1 - 9 not marked

Setup

Search the deck and give each player two (2) “Crazy” cards; these cards are placed face up in front of each player. Shuffle the remaining cards in the deck and deal out five (5) cards to each player. Place the remaining cards in the deck at the center of the table and flip the top card of the deck over to create a discard pile.

Objective

Be the first player to get rid of all your “Crazy!” cards.

Gameplay

During the turn, a player MUST discard a card from their hand to the discard pile of a value equal, one (1) higher or one (1) lower than the card at the top of the discard pile and resolve the discarded cards effect. (One higher than a value of 9 is 1. One less than a value of 1 is 9.) The turn is over. The next player on the left begins their turn.

EXAMPLE: The card at the top of the discard pile has a value of "7". The only cards that can be played are, "5", "7", "8" and "9".

NOTE: A card discarded that is of an equal value to the card at the top of the discard pile will not resolve the effect.

If a player CANNOT discard a card and the card at the top of the discard pile ISN’T marked with “!”, that player will draw a card from the deck and their turn is over. The next player on the left begins their turn.

If a player CANNOT discard a card and the card at the top of the discard pile IS marked with “!”, that player MUST add at least one (1) “Crazy” card in their hand to their face up “Crazy” cards. If the player doesn’t have any “Crazy” cards in their hand, the player will draw a card from the deck and their turn is over. The next player on the left begins their turn.

The Cards and the Crazy!

• 1 – Crying Babies: Draw a card.
• 2 – Traffic: Each player draws a card. You draw another card.
• 3 – Polka: Give one player a card from your hand.
• 4 – Hot Coffee: Discard a “Crazy” card from anywhere.
• 5 – Gossip: Can be played regardless of top card of discard pile.
• 6 – Loud Animals: Discard a card from your hand.
• 7 – Delayed Flight: Add a card from the deck any players hand.
• 8 – Cold/Flu: Trade hands with another player.
• 9 – Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: Skip one player’s next turn.

End of the Game

When one player discards their last “Crazy” card from face up in front of them, they are declared the winner.

The idea of Ruling Houses is to be to the first player to complete their House. This game is played with a full 52 deck of cards which is dealt equally amongst the players. Each House has 13 cards. In a three player game, if the Neutral house is completed first, all players loose. Players takes turns playing a single card to a House.

Cards must be played in ascending or descending order. During a turn a player must play a card if there is a place where they can play a card, even if it is not to their family. If there is no place to play a card, then a player must pass.

Example: If a Prince card has been played, any player may play either a Prince-Elector card or a Viceroy card to that House, if they have a House card that belongs to that House.

The player who has the Prince for the English House must play this card to start the game. They are the English House and must collect cards for this house. The Prince card for each house must be played before cards belonging to that house can be played. When a Prince card is played it must go in front of a player who currently does not have a house. When that card is in front of a player that is the house they are trying to collect.

When you play a House Card to your House, you must activate the special ability of that family member.

Emperor

Starting with the player to your left they must play a card to your House if able. This passes to the next player until a House card has been played.

King

Choose a player. If they have a Prince they must play it immediately.

Grand Duke

Use an ability from a card currently in your House

Archduke

If your hand is smaller than every other player, they must each give you one card at random from their hand.

Duke

Each other player must reveal a card of your House. Any player unable to show a House card, must return either the highest or lowest card from their House to their hand.

Prince-Elector

Pass a House card to a player with that House.

Prince

This card has no special ability.

Viceroy

Each player must choose 2 cards and pass them to the player to your left.

Marquis

Activate the ability of the highest ranked House card of the House with the most members.

Count

For each Count card in a House, including this one, players must put that many cards to the centre of the table. Shuffle this pile and deal equally out to all players, starting with the player who played his Count.

Viscount

Each player must randomly pass a card to the player on their left.

Baron

Swap your hand with the player to your right

Knight

You may immediately play another card.

2-6 players <30 minutes

Components: Deck with roughly 120 cards, 5 standard dice

Setup: Shuffle the cards, deal eight to each player, place the dice somewhere handy, and choose a starting player.

Objective: Get the most excitement points at the fair. After all, who doesn't have fun at a fair?

Description of the Cards: The back of the cards would look like tickets. The front of the cards show different things you'd find at a fair. In order to enjoy what's on the front of a card, you have to use other cards from your hand as tickets. In other words to play a card you have to discard other cards from your hand. There are three types of cards.

Food Vendors: These cards are a low ratio exchange of tickets for points. Examples: Cotton Candy - 1 ticket for 1 point or Funnel Cake - 2 tickets for 2 points.

Rides: These are a much higher ratio of points for your tickets, but because they will cost a lot more tickets, it will be tough to get on a lot of rides. Examples: Roller Coaster 6 tickets for 10 points or Drop Scream - 8 tickets for 13 points.

Games (your typical try to win an oversized stuffed animal kind of thing): These use the dice. The card states how many dice to roll and how many times you're allowed to roll them. You're looking for a specific outcome. If you get the right roll you win the grand prize and lots of excitement points. You can always pay more tickets to try again. These games also let you win more tickets (ie cards) as consolation prizes. Examples: Crackshot - 2 tickets to play; roll three dice, they all need to be at least five; three rolls; grand prize 15 points, consolation prize 4 tickets for having at least two dice five or higher. Ring Toss - 3 tickets to play; roll five dice, you need a run of four consecutive numbers; two rolls; grand prize 18 points, consolation prize 5 tickets for having a run of three.

Gameplay: Now that we can picture what we're talking about (in this case a picture would have been worth 280 words), let's talk about a turn. On a turn you either play a card or draw cards. To play a vendor or ride card, place it face up in front of you and discard the appropriate number of other cards as tickets. To play a game card, discard your tickets and follow the rolling instructions. If you win the grand prize, place it face up in front of you. Otherwise, discard it (of course you can keep paying more tickets to try again). To draw cards, roll two dice and pick up as many cards as the larger number rolled.

Once the draw deck has been exhausted once with 2 or 3 players or twice with 4-6 players, everybody gets one more turn and the fair closes for the night. Add up your excitement points to determine a winner including 5 bonus points for each set of card types.

A game for 4-6 financially astute players

The bankers at Perplexing Investment Enterprises are having a pie party, a party with delicious pie! However, none of the bankers trust each other to divide the pie fairly…

Components:

• Player cards: one of each color, used to show which color a player is.
• "Cut/Choose" cards: one for each color, top labeled cut, bottom labeled choose.
• Pie Share Cards: five of each color, with a sixth Pie Crust Promise, the six cards have identical, colored backs.
• Pile of Pie Tokens x60
• Managerial Intervention Cards: 15 "trade spots", 6 "move to end", 4 "cross holdings", 1 "pie is poison"

Setup:

If fewer than 6 players, remove cards with unused colors. Each player takes a player card and the six pie promise cards of a color, looks, and then lays them face down on the table. The Cut/Choose cards are shuffled and laid in line, with the cut/choose on the same side, respectively. Between each Cut/Choose, place 2 facedown Managerial Intervention cards, one on the cut side, one on the choose side, for a total of 10 in 6 player games. Each player then gets to peek at two MI cards of their choice.

Gameplay:

From the head of the cut/choose line, move down the line on the cut side, then double back on the choose side. Before every cut or choose, players can bargain and trade freely.

Bargain->Cut->MI->Bargain->Cut->MI->...->Bargain->Cut->Choose->MI->...Bargain->Choose->MI->Bargain->Choose->Calculate Pie

Cutting the pie:

The player with the color of the current Cut phase divides one of the piles of pie tokens into two piles. The player can cut any pile with more than 1 token, and they can split a pile arbitrarily, as long as each pile ends up with more than 1 token. After the last cut, there should be one more pile than players.

Choosing pie:

The player with the color of the current Choose phase gets to claim one of the pie piles. The pile is now associated with the color, not the player. If due to Managerial Intervention, the player choosing already has a pile of pie on his color, the player can choose another pile and assign it to any color that does not have a pile of pie. The last player to choose should have two piles to choose from.

Bargaining:

Players can give/trade anything, even their player cards (choosing/cutting rights), or pie tokens that they don’t yet have. Anything goes, as long as Pie Share Cards never leave the table and are never looked at.

Pie Shares:

Once each color has a pile of pie, players can claim pie from each color, with each pie share worth 20% of that color’s pie. Pie Crust promises are worth nothing. Finally, any deals promising pie tokens are resolved.

At the end of the game, the player with most pie wins! If “pie is poison” appears, then the player with least pie wins.

Notes: You can choose the biggest piece of pie and still lose the game.

Storm Chasers

There is a storm brewing on the horizon. You see some of it coming. Your partner can see part of it too. It’s huge. So huge it overwhelms your sensors and systems. Now what?

Storm Chasers is a game for 4-6 players playing in teams of 2. It takes about 15 minutes to play.

☁☁ Objective ☁☁

Working in pairs, your team must capture data about the most impressive storm. You score points by totaling up the value of the storm in front of you and your partner. You earn bonus points for achieving objectives.

☁☁ Components ☁☁

☀ 36 Storm Cards. On one side is weather. On the other side is an “action.” ☀ 18 Objective Cards. The objectives provide points for achieving the listed goal. ☀ 24 card stands.

☁☁ Setup ☁☁

Sit around a table so teammates are across from each other.

Give each player 4 card stands.

Shuffle the Storm Cards. Deal each player four Storm Cards with the weather side down. Players then place the cards in their card stands weather side toward the center of the table. Players should not look at the weather on their cards, but can see everyone else's. Place the rest face down as a draw pile.

Shuffle the Objective Cards. Turn over two Objective Cards in the middle of the table. These are the common objectives available to any team. Deal two Objective Cards face down to each player. These are the player’s private objectives and only that player can see that objective. A team can achieve the private even if their teammate is the one to do it.

☂☂ Storm Cards ☂☂

The front of each Storm Card has a weather condition and a point value from 0 to 5. The weather condition is some real-life weather phenomenon. The point values increase with their rarity and potential destructive nature of that condition.

On the back of the Storm Card is an action. The action tells the player what they must do on one of their turns. A Storm Card may tell the player to: “swap this card with one from another team,” “tell your partner the weather on one of their cards,” “replace this Storm Card with another from the deck” and so on.

☂ ☂ How to Play ☂ ☂

Play occurs in 4 rounds, one for each Storm Card in front of the players. Starting with the youngest player and then alternating teams, each player performs the “action” on the back of their storm card. Players perform actions from player’s left to player’s right, in order.

☁☁ End of the Game ☁☁

At the end of the game, each teams adds up their score: Storm Card values plus points from any achieved objectives.

In Vacation, each player is a wealthy family on vacation and the goal is to outspend the other families.

Equipment:

Common
A set of cards depicting 20 “places to go” in 5 categories (Dining, shopping, sightseeing, culture and active recreation). Each card has a value ($50-500)
A board with spaces for cards with numbers 1-12 marked just above the space and 10 spaces indicating the game turn number.
A set of 36 bonus cards
2 six sided dice
A game turn marker (1-10)
12 “concede” tokens

Each player gets
The same set of cards mentioned above
Cards with numbers 1-12.
A “concede” card and an “A fight for the check” card.
4 cards depicting “Grandma”, “Pa”, “Big brother”, and “Little sister”
A shield to hide their selections
20 grand in money

Game play. The game takes 10 turns.
First the common deck is shuffled and 12 cards (4 players) 9 cards (3 players) or 6 cards (2 players) are placed on the board starting at space #1. The remaining cards are set aside.
Each player then secretly choses which family members go to which sites. They put their family member card under their number card that matches the number of the site. Each site can hold only one person.

When all cards are revealed, the sites are evaluated from site 1 to site 12 as follows:
If no player chooses a site, that site is ignored.
If one player chooses a site, that player pays the site cost.
If more than one player chooses a site, each player secretly chooses a “concede” card or a “Fight for the check” card.
If only one player chooses the “fight for the check” card then they pay the check (site value) for every player including themselves.
If more than one player chooses the “fight for the check” card, then they roll the 2 die to determine who wins. However Grandma adds 2, Pa adds 1, big brother adds zero, and little sister subtracts 1 from the roll. Ties are re-rolled among the tied players. The winner pays the check for all players.

A player who concedes (but not one who loses a fight) gets a concede token. When they have 3 concede tokens, they get to draw a bonus card from the deck. Bonus cards will have bonuses such as “Double the value of the next shopping site you pay the check for” or “Uncle Charlie will help you out for 1 turn. Your rich uncle adds 3 to his die roll”.
No player can get more than one bonus card per turn.
Bonus cards are not given out on the last turn and unused concede tokens have no value.
When the all of the sites have been evaluated, the 12 site cards are shuffled together with the unused site cards and 12 new cards are placed on the board. The game turn marker advances by one.

After 10 turns, whomever has the least money left wins!