At the Office
At the Office Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- notepad with score sheets
- 5 dice: 4 colored dice with pips and 1 white die with numbers
- 4 pencils
- instructions
Game Preparation
Each player takes an office worksheet and a pencil. Place all 5 dice in the center of the play area. That's it – you're ready to play!
Office Worksheet
The center of the worksheet has an office hierarchy (1). Below are bonus spaces for efficient organization of specific teams (2).
To the right are 5 more bonus spaces for competence (3), which you will score if your company has specialists with sufficiently high qualifications.
To the left are bonus spaces for efficient use of resources (4). Just below them, also on the left, there is a score track for leadership (5), for ensuring that leaders' knowledge and skills are at least as good as their subordinates.
In the lower left corner, you will sum all your points to determine the winner (6).
Sequence of Play
Randomly select the starting player, who becomes the active player and rolls the 5 dice. The active player then chooses one of the four colored dice as their own and moves it closer to themselves; it becomes unavailable to the other players.
NOTE: If any other colored dice show the same number as the die chosen by the active player, then they are set aside and become unavailable to all players.
The white die always stays in the center of the table, available to everyone.
Organizing Your Team
After the active player rolls the dice and determines which dice remain in the center of the table, each player assigns a number to one of their team members:
- The active player writes a number on their worksheet, from their previously chosen colored die and/or the white die, using one of the 3 options below.
- Each other player similarly writes a number on their own worksheet, from any colored die remaining in the center of the table and/or the white die. Each die in the center can be used by more than one player.
After each dice roll, all players must assign a number to one of their workers on their worksheet. Each player chooses one of three options:
- A player can sum their chosen colored die + the white die, then assign that sum to a worker on a space with the same color as that chosen colored die.
- A player can ignore the colored dice and assign only the white die's result to any worker (on a space of any color).
- A player can ignore the white die and assign the result of their chosen colored die to a worker on a space with the same color as that chosen die. This can help gain bonus points for efficient use of resources (see below)!
NOTE: If the active player rolls the same result on all four colored dice, then of course none of them remain available in the center of the table, so the other players can use only the white die's result (option 2).
NOTE: Once a number is written on a worker's space, it cannot be changed. If a player has already written numbers in all their colored spaces matching their available colored dice, then that player can only use the white die (option 2)!
After all players have written their numbers on their worksheets, the turn passes clockwise to the next player, who becomes the new active player and starts the next round by rolling the 5 dice, then chooses their colored die (that will be unavailable to the other players this round).
Game End
The game ends after 20 rounds, when each worker in the office hierarchy has been assigned a number. Then it's time to add up points!
Bonus Points
Bonus Points for Efficient Use of Resources
If a player (whether active or other) uses option 3, i.e. writing a number without using the white die, then the player also marks a white die with that unused number in the upper left corner of their worksheet.
When a player has marked all four dice symbols with a given number, they gain a bonus for efficient use of resources:
- 10 points for writing without using a "1" on the white die 4 times;
- 20 points for writing without using a "2" on the white die 4 times;
- 30 points for writing without using a "3" on the white die 4 times.
Write the bonus points in the space next to the four marked dice. There is no additional bonus for not using a given white die value more than 4 times.
Bonus Points for Efficient Organization of Specific Teams
The first player to write a number on their fifth (last) worker of a given color announces their achievement and writes 20 points in their bonus space for that color.
NOTE: If several players do this in the same round, they each gain 20 points.
The remaining players (who still have unmarked workers in that color) write "X" in their bonus space for that color. They cannot gain this bonus.
Bonus Points for Geeks
Every self-respecting office has some very focused hard-working geeks! The first player to write a number on all their workers wearing eyeglasses (marked with the eyeglasses icon) announces their achievement and writes 20 points in their bonus space with eyeglasses.
NOTE: If several players do this in the same round, they each gain 20 points.
The remaining players (who still have unmarked geeks) write "X" in their bonus space with eyeglasses. They cannot gain this bonus.
Bonus Points for High Competence
When a player marks their last remaining worker on a given level of the hierarchy, they add up their numbers on this level and write the total in the space to the right. If this total equals or exceeds that level's competence threshold (16 for the top level and the bottom level; 20 for the interior levels), the player writes 10 bonus points in the space next to that level's total.
At the end of the game, add all the numbers in both columns and write down the respective sum in the fields below as an intermediate result.
Bonus Points for Leadership
In a well-functioning office, it is good for team leaders to be at least as skilled as their subordinates. Therefore, all workers (except those in the fifth (bottom) row) have a space in their upper right corner to note fulfillment of the leadership condition and score points for it.
A player marks a worker's leadership space if that worker's number equals or exceeds each of the numbers written on the two subordinate workers directly under that worker.
At the end of the game, each player counts how many leadership spaces they marked, then marks the corresponding bonus on the left side of their worksheet. For example, if a player marked the leadership space on 11 workers, they gain 30 points.
The leadership track printed on the worksheet:
| Leadership spaces marked | Points |
|---|---|
| 14 | 60 |
| 13 | 50 |
| 12 | 40 |
| 11 | 30 |
| 10 | 20 |
| 9 | 10 |
| 8 | 0 |
| 0-7 | -50 |
Scoring
After digging through a ton of documents and drinking several coffees, it's time to end this productive day and summarize the results. A player's final score is the sum of all their scoring spaces on their worksheet: for competence (1) and high competence bonuses (2), for efficient organization of specific teams (3), for efficient use of resources (4), and for leadership (5). Write the total on the bottom line (6). The player with the highest score wins and is named Boss of the Year! In case of a tie for highest score, the tied players enjoy a shared victory!