District Noir
District Noir Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
You are engaged in an all-out battle for the control of District Noir.
There are two ways to victory: win over District Noir's various SUPPORTS, or directly control the CITY's three strategic locations.
Clever maneuvers require careful choice of your own actions, while also ensuring you control what actions your opponent can take.
Game Elements
Support Cards
These cards represent the groups of major influence in District Noir. Each group of SUPPORTERS has a set number of members, and you will need to get the majority of them to gain their victory points and win the game. However, always keep in mind that having the help of a large variety of SUPPORTERS can also give you an important advantage in controlling District Noir.
City Cards
These three cards, when combined, show a panorama of the city where the struggle takes place. If you manage to obtain all three cards, you immediately win the game!
Components
47 cards, divided as follows:
- 26 SUPPORT cards: 5 of value 5, 6 of value 6, 7 of value 7, 8 of value 8
- 7 ALLIANCE cards
- 9 BETRAYAL cards
- 3 CITY cards
- 2 double-sided SUMMARY cards
And 1 double-sided FACTION token
Alliance and Betrayal Cards
When war is raging, it's often difficult to spot the members that might betray you, or on the contrary, give you unexpected support. Be as perceptive as possible to avoid betrayals that could cause you to lose points at the end of the game, and your control over the city.
Double-Sided Faction Token
This token shows the two FACTIONS that can be played. Each player will choose one of the two FACTIONS at the beginning of the game and then flip the token to determine who takes the first turn at the beginning of each round.
- Front: shown as a man's head
- Back: shown as a man's head with a hat
Setup
- Shuffle the 45 cards in the deck. Then remove three cards without looking at them and return them to the game box. They will not be used during this game.
- Deal five cards face down to each player. These cards are your starting hand.
- Place the deck in the center of the table, within reach of both players. Finally, draw two cards from the deck and place them face up in the center of the table, in a row next to the deck.
- Each player chooses a different side of the FACTION token. Toss the token and give it to the player who chose the side that landed face up. They will be the first player of the first round.
Flow of the Game
One game is played over four rounds. Each round, you will take turns to perform one of two possible actions, starting with the first player:
- PLAY a card to the end of the row
- TAKE five cards starting with the last card in the current row.
Play a Card
Choose a card from your hand and place it at the end of the row. If your hand is empty, you can no longer choose this action and MUST choose the second action (see below), taking cards from the center of the table.
Take Five Cards From the Center
Starting with the last card in the current row, take exactly five cards, and place them in front of you, sorting them by type (different SUPPORTERS, ALLIANCE, BETRAYAL, and CITY CARDS).
Note: you cannot choose this action if there are no cards available in the center of the table. However, it is possible to perform this action if there are less than five cards available. In this case, take all the cards that are available.
Important! Players may only perform this action once per round. Once a player has performed this action, they must now perform the PLAY A CARD action on their next turns, until the end of the round.
Example of a Round
Elodie has just placed a value 5 SUPPORT card from her hand at the end of the line. It's now Lana's turn and she decides to take some cards to put them in front of her. She picks up the last 5 cards played in the line. It is now Elodie's turn again.
End of a Round
A round ends when both players have performed six actions. Both players' hands will then be empty. When the round is over, if the deck is empty the game is over, and each player calculates their score to determine who wins. If there are still cards in the deck, the players draw five cards each to make a new hand and another round begins. Give the FACTION token to the second player, who turns it over to show their FACTION's symbol and then becomes this round's first player.
Note: there may still be cards in the row at the end of the round. Leave them in the row for the next round.
Important! During any round, if a player manages to collect all three City cards, the game ends immediately and that player wins the game without calculating scores.
End of the Game
The game ends when the players have played four rounds (as the deck is empty). The scores are calculated as follows:
- For each of the different groups of SUPPORTERS, the player who has the majority of those cards scores victory points equal to the number shown on that SUPPORT type. For example, if Player A has five of the value Eight SUPPORT cards, they score eight points.
- If there is a tie for a type of SUPPORT, neither player earns those victory points.
- Each set of four different SUPPORTERS earns the owner five additional victory points.
- Players then add and/or subtract the points on their ALLIANCE and BETRAYAL cards from their victory point total.
The player with the highest total victory points wins the game.
Note: CITY cards are not worth any victory points if the panorama is not complete.
Scoring Example
Elodie scores 19 points, Lana scores 21 points:
- Elodie: SUPPORT majorities of 5 points and 7 points (two of her four SUPPORT groups scored 0 points, having no majority), plus two sets of four different colors worth 5 points each (5 + 5 = 10 points), minus 3 points for her BETRAYAL cards, plus 0 points for her incomplete CITY panorama.
- Lana: a SUPPORT majority of 8 points (three of her four SUPPORT groups scored 0 points, having no majority), plus one set of four different colors worth 5 points, plus 8 points from her ALLIANCE cards, plus 0 points for her incomplete CITY panorama.
Lana scores the most points and wins the game.