Cartel
Cartel Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Equipment
The Cartel playing board has four Player Areas and 52 Company Spaces. Each Player Area consists of a Stock Price Index and spaces to keep the player's Stock Block Certificates, Company Cards acquired, and Bonds borrowed. Each Company Space is identified by the name and symbol of an international company. Above the company's name is its value (to the left) and its yearly profits (to the right). All numbers on the board are expressed in terms of millions of dollars. The colored border of each Company Space helps to identify its location on the board, but has no other function.
Between each pair of horizontally and vertically adjacent companies is a Bonus Profit, which is gained by the player owning both companies. Centered between each block of four companies that form a square is a Special Profit, enclosed within a circle, which is gained only by a player owning all four surrounding companies.
The 52 Company Cards, one for each company, show the same information as printed on the Company Space plus the country of its origin and its product or service. (This information enhances the imagery of the game but does not affect play.)
Other equipment includes Money; Stock Block Certificates for each Cartel; Bonds, which represent borrowed money; Financial Report Sheets, which are used to record yearly profits, make secret bids, and determine final worth at game's end; and Markers, which are used for indicating acquired companies and keeping track of each Cartel's Stock Price.
Preliminaries
The Cartel Playing Board is placed "diamond-wise" on the table. Each player sits in front of a corner of the board and becomes known by the name of the Cartel in that corner. Each player receives nine Stock Blocks and 12 Markers of his color, a Financial Report Sheet, a pencil, and one 10-million-dollar bill.
Each player places one Marker in the first space (marked "10") of his Stock Price Index. He also writes the name of his Cartel on his Report Sheet.
One player is appointed Treasurer. He handles all transactions with the game's "Treasury," taking care to keep his own Money, Stock, and Bonds separated from the Treasury's supply. Before play starts, the Treasurer takes the deck of Company Cards and removes the ten Company Cards valued at $10 million each. He mixes these ten cards face down and then, proceeding clockwise from the player on his left, he places one card faceup on each player's "Companies" space. The card dealt to each player becomes his starting company and it is free. He marks the company's space on the board with one of his Markers and records its yearly profits on the "Current Profits" space in the first year's column of his Report Sheet.
The Treasurer now removes the ten $20 million cards from the deck and mixes them in with the remaining $10 million cards. He deals three to each player facedown, and these cards represent each player's "Private Offerings." Players hold these cards in their hands without revealing the names of the companies received to the other players.
The Treasurer finishes by dealing three more cards faceup, and each of these cards is placed on its company space on the board. These three cards are the initial companies for "Public Offering," and they comprise the game's "Pool." All remaining cards are shuffled together and the stack is placed facedown near the Treasury.
The Play
CARTEL is played in a series of ten rounds, with each complete round of play representing one year. The player who plays first on each round is the player to the left of the Treasurer. Play then proceeds clockwise around to the Treasurer. After the Treasurer has taken his turn, the round ends.
Briefly, at his turn, a player is permitted to: 1) Buy a company from his hand, or 2) Place one in public bidding from the Pool, or 3) "Pass" by drawing and then discarding two cards.
A Player's Three Options
1. Buying a Company from His Hand
To buy a company on Private Offering, the player takes the desired Company Card from his hand and places it on his Companies Space faceup. He then pays for the company (see "Paying" below) and places one of his Markers on the company's space on the board. He totals the amount of new profits he gains and records it on his Report Sheet in the "New Profits" space of the current year's column. He then completes his turn by drawing a new Company Card to refill his hand.
2. Bidding for a Company from the Pool
To bid on a company on Public Offering, the player points to one of the faceup cards on the board and indicates that he is putting it up for auction. All players turn their Report Sheets over and enter the name (or an initial) for the company as well as a secret bid for it. All bids must be at least equal to the company's value, however, a player who does not wish to bid may simply write "X" to indicate no bid. The offering player must make a bid. All bids are written in terms of millions of dollars (thus a bid of $15 indicates 15 million dollars). When all players have entered a bid, the bids are revealed, beginning with the player to the left of the offering player. The highest bidder must buy the company. In the event of a tie, each player involved in the tie must secretly record a new and higher bid until there is no longer a tie.
The buying player places the Company Card in his Companies Space, pays for the company, marks its space on the board, and records new profits. The offering player (regardless of who purchased the company) must draw a new card into his hand and then discard one card of his choice faceup, onto its space on the board, to refill the Pool.
Play now passes to the left as usual. Note that with the bidding option, it is possible to accumulate more than one company per round.
3. Passing
A player who does not wish to buy a company or bid for one may simply Pass. He announces his intention and then draws two new cards, making a total of five cards in his hand. He now discards any two cards faceup on the proper board spaces, adding to the number of companies in the Pool. His turn ends and play passes to the left. (Note: It is not advantageous to Pass too frequently.)
Paying
There are three ways that a player can pay for each company he purchases: by paying cash, by using his unsold Blocks of Stock, and by borrowing money in the form of a Bond.
1. Bonds
A player may borrow half of the company's printed value (not necessarily his bid, if the company has been auctioned) by asking the Treasurer to give him a Bond of that denomination. For example, a $20 million company can only be partially paid for with a $10 million bond, or a $50 million company can only be partially paid for with a $25 million bond, etc. Note that $10 million companies cannot be paid for with bonds because no $5 million bonds exist. Furthermore, a player cannot use a bond to pay for a company unless a Bond of exact denomination exists in the Treasury. (A player is permitted to ask the Treasurer if a Bond of a particular denomination exists in the Treasury prior to making a bid or purchasing a company from his hand.)
Bonds must be retained on the player's Bond Space for the duration of the game and are repaid at game's end according to their Repayment Price, which is greater than their initial value. Bonds reduce the profits a player gains from the company so financed (see "Profits"). However, skillful use of Bonds in acquiring companies is important to a player's chances of success.
2. Stock
A player can finance any amount of the purchase price of a company by selling one or more of his remaining Stock Blocks at the price indicated on his Stock Price Index.
He gives the desired number of Stock Block Certificates to the Treasurer who places them in the Treasury for the remainder of the game. The value of the Stock Blocks is then deducted from the amount still owed for the company. If more Stock is sold than is owed for the company, the Treasurer refunds the player the difference in cash.
3. Money
A player may pay for a company by using cash, that is, the Money he has on hand at the time. Or, if he sells Stock and/or borrows with a Bond, he must pay any difference owed by using cash.
Penalty: Should a player "buy" a company and then discover that he cannot pay for it in full, he places its card on the board in its Company Space and draws a new card to refill his hand if necessary. He receives no profits at the end of the current round of play, regardless of what his total profits for the round are. (He still totals his profits and carries them forward as next year's current profits.) He must pay for a company he purchases if at all possible, even if he must sell more Stock than he anticipated.
Profits
When a player buys a company, he receives the company's yearly profits, as indicated in its Company Space, unless he used a Bond to pay for part of it. In that case he only receives half of its yearly profits. Regardless of whether he used a Bond or not, he also receives all Bonus and Special Profits to which he is entitled if he also owns one or more adjacent companies. To compute these added profits he simply adds all the Bonus Profits that lie between each vertically and horizontally adjacent company he presently owns and the firm he just acquired. If the newly acquired company completes a square block of four companies, surrounding a Special Profit, that Special Profit is also added. (Note how profits, once recorded on a player's Report Sheet, are accumulated year by year. There is no need to recalculate previously gained profits from past years. A player need only compute newly gained profits on the current year.)
Year's End
At the conclusion of each round of play, each player totals his Current and New Profits on his Report Sheet. The Treasurer then pays each player his total year's profits. If his profits increased sufficiently to warrant an increase in price, a player then adjusts his Stock Price Marker to reflect his new profits total.
Example of a player's profits total for a round:
| Current Profits | 19 |
| New Profits | 4 + 3 |
| Total Profits | 26 |
Winning the Game
The game ends at the conclusion of the tenth year. The Treasurer pays each player his final year's profits and collects all remaining Company Cards held in the hands of the players, replacing them in the Treasury.
Each player now turns his Report Sheet over and totals his worth. He records the total of his Money, adds the printed value of all the companies he purchased, adds the value of his unsold Blocks of Stock (price based on his final year's profits), and subtracts the Repayment Prices of all of the Bonds he borrowed during the game.
The player with the greatest worth wins the game.
Example of a player's Final Worth calculation:
| Cash | 55 |
| Companies Owned | 700 |
| Stock Unsold | 300 |
| Total | 1,055 |
| Less: Bonds (repayment price) | 195 |
| Final Worth | 860 |
Limitations
- A player may not buy more than eleven companies during the game (because he only has eleven Markers available). Should he buy his eleventh company before the game ends, he is out of play: He records and receives his profits on each remaining year of the game, but cannot draw any new cards or bid on any further company. His hand of cards is immediately shuffled into the Draw Pile.
- Stock Blocks cannot be repurchased once sold.
- The Treasury cannot run out of Money. Should insufficient Money remain to pay profits, the Treasurer is permitted to issue new Money on pieces of paper.
- Should the Draw Pile become exhausted during play, no further passing or discarding can take place, even if indicated by the rules, and players are not able to refill their hands. If a player's hand of three cards is exhausted, he can only buy a company thereafter by bidding on one from the Pool.
Special Two-Player Rules
Play is as usual except that at the end of each year, the Treasurer takes the top card from the Draw Pile and places it faceup on the Companies Space of one of the unused Player Areas. He then marks the company's space with one of the Markers of that unused Cartel. Companies so marked are out of play.
Advanced Cartel
Avid CARTEL players may wish to add the following rules to the game. An advanced rule is only in effect if all players agree prior to the start of play.
- Stock Repurchase. A player may repurchase one of his Stock Blocks at the end of any year after he collects his profits, but before his Stock Price is adjusted. He pays cash for the Stock Block, based on its present price, and it is returned to him from the Treasury. Then, he adjusts his Stock Price for the completed year.
- Raising Cash. On any turn in which a player Passes, he may borrow a Bond from the Treasury provided its initial value is less than or equal to its current Stock Price. The Treasurer gives him the Bond and an equal amount of cash after he discards.
- Defensive Discarding. A player who Passes may place one of his discards face-down onto its Company Space. That company is out of play for the remainder of the game and no player can acquire it.
- Trading Company Cards. A player may trade any Company Cards he holds in his hand, prior to the start of his turn, for Company Cards held in the hands of the opposing players. Any such trade may involve Money (but not Stock or Bonds) and must be made according to any house rules established by the players prior to the game's start. No player may ever have more than three Company Cards in his hand after a trading session ends. Money paid to acquire a card in trade is not applied to the actual purchase of the company later.
Strategy
Here are some basic strategy tips:
- Don't grow too fast. Save as much Stock as possible for use late in the game when the value of the Stock will be higher.
- Use Bonds early in the game, especially when buying a company that will yield several Bonus Profits. (Note that the Bonus Profits are not reduced when a Bond is used.)
- Don't buy too many companies of low value because you are limited to acquiring a total of eleven companies during the game.
- It is sometimes important to buy a company not because it will help you, but because it will hurt one or more of your opponents.