dotCOMbust
Dot-Com's die. Some have their affairs in order before
this sad event, but most do not. Their creditors fight
amongst themselves for what assets are left. You are one
of the creditors, left with a 'fair share' by the courts.
You have a part of this, a piece of that, and some portion
of something which you cannot identify.
dotCOMbust is a turn-based simultaneous-play
parody card game of creditors fighting over the remains
of a belly-up dot-com for 3 or more players.
Setup
Print out one set of business cards (80 cards).
The last page is optional: it's the card back art.
This game is in color, but will work if printed in
black and white.
Punch out the cards, shuffle them, find a flat surface
and two or more other creditors (players).
Deal the deck out to all the players. Some players
will have one more card than others. That's all right -
pick on them first. Play.
Rules
This game is turn based, but everyone plays each turn.
- The first turn you play to the player on your left.
- The second turn you play to the player two down
on your left.
- The third turn you play to the player three down.
- Continue until you're supposed to play to yourself.
You can play to yourself if you want, but it doesn't
gain you anything, so better to skip it.
- Repeat.
Playing to an opponent is simply passing them
a card or two, both face-up or face-down. Both cards need
to be from the same asset. (You cannot pass one face-up
and one face-down, sorry.)
- One Card, Face Down
- If your opponent has another part of that asset,
s/he is to pass back your card, plus one
other part of that asset.
If your opponent does not have any part of
that asset, s/he gets to keep your card.
-
- Two Cards, Face Down
- If your opponent has other parts of that asset,
s/he is to pass back your card, plus all
other parts of that asset s/he possesses at
that time.
If your opponent does not have any part of
that asset, s/he gets to keep both your cards.
- One Card, Face Up
- If your opponent has another part of that asset,
s/he is to pass back your card, plus one
other part of that asset.
If your opponent does not have any part of
that asset, s/he does not get to keep your
card.
-
- Two Cards, Face Up
- If your opponent has other parts of that asset,
s/he is to pass back your card, plus all
other parts of that asset s/he possesses at
that time.
If your opponent does not have any part of
that asset, s/he gets to keep only one
of your cards.
As a mnemonic, think of playing face-up as safe
(you get the card back), and playing two cards as
aggressive (it's all or nothing.)
When you complete a set, you may show it immediately
and claim the points, or keep it in your hand. Note that
you can show your points at the end of the game as well,
so there is no advantage to showing them early, save to
make your hand a more managable size.
Note that the card(s) you're passing to your
opponent are currently not part of your hand,
so they're not eligible to be taken.
Winning
Each asset counts for one point less than
the number of cards in the asset. This balances the
larger assets against the smaller ones. Whomever has
the most points for completed assets when the game ends
is the winner.
The game is over one player has one or no cards in
his/her hand. Everyone show sets they've completed and
total up their respective points.
Optional Rules
- Smaller Decks
- 80 cards is a lot for only 4 people. Take out
a few assets to make hand sizes more managable.
- No Tagbacks
- You cannot attempt to take back part of an asset from
the player to whom you just lost it. This keeps
two players from fighting over one item.
- To the Bitter End
- If someone has only 1 card left, s/he gives that
card to the opponent of that turn. No one passes
to him/her that turn. The game goes on until
all players agree it's pointless to continue.
Whomever has the most points wins.
- Both Barrels
- You are allowed to pass two cards of different
sets as a play, if you play both face-down.
Your opponent treats each card as a separate
transaction.
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Links
Author's Notes
Having (luckily) no experience in being on either
end of a business bankruptcy filing, I have no idea
as to the (in)accuracy of this game. I just like the
morbid idea of players fighting over the domain name
or server farm.
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