Forks
Forks Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 40 Company cards
- 1 Tiebreaker card
- 1 Swap/Merge card
- 8 Ability cards
Objective
Embezzle the most money from successful companies, and avoid taking money from companies which will be audited.
Setup
Place the Tiebreak Card on the table visible to all players. Shuffle the deck of Company cards and place it face down in the centre of the table. Draw 3 cards and place them face up in the centre of the table, with cards from the same company overlapping so all values are visible. These are the first 3 invested cards. Discard the next card from the game without looking at it. Choose a start player.
If playing with the Merge/Swap card, place it with the chosen rule face up on the table visible to all players.*
If playing with Abilities, shuffle and deal one face up to each player.*
2-Player game only: Discard a further 8 cards without looking at them.
*For your first game we recommend playing without these cards.
Example setup: the Tiebreak card shows "Loses ties" and "Wins ties" with a company logo on each side. The Merge rule card reads: "Merge. When a player is passed two cards, they add those cards to their hand, and then they invest any card from their hand." Invested cards example: a 7 of Needle & Green Solicitors and a 7 and a 4 of Apidae Pharmaceuticals, overlapped.
How to play
Each turn the current player draws three cards from the top of the deck and chooses one to embezzle, which they add to their hand without showing the other players. They pass the other two cards to the player on their left, without showing the other players the cards.
That player then chooses one of these two cards to embezzle (add to their hand), and invests the other card by placing it face up in the middle of the table, adding it to any cards from the same company already invested if there are any. This player then becomes the current player and takes their turn.
2-Player game only: Throughout the game, after the second player's turn, reveal and invest the top card from the deck.
Game end
The game ends when the deck runs out. When this happens sort the companies into a top three and bottom two, according to their total investment values. Ties are broken according to the tiebreak card.
Players then score the value of their embezzled cards. Add up the values of cards in the top three companies, but subtract the values of cards in the bottom two companies. Scores can be negative. The player with the highest score is the winner!
Example scoring
In the example, above Oxime has the lowest total investment value of 12. Dtv Plumbing and Wild Rock Telecoms both have an investment value of 16, but Wild Rock lost the tie. Therefore, Wild Rock has the next lowest total investment value. Both the Wild Rock and Oxime invested cards are moved down to show their embezzled cards have a negative value.
If the companies had the positions in the above example, then this hand would score 6 points (8+8-3+6-6-7=6).
Merge/Swap
This card introduces a different rule depending upon which side is face up. We recommend playing with them once you know the basic rules.
- Merge - when a player has been passed two cards they can invest any card from their hand (they must still invest exactly 1 card).
- Swap - when a player has drawn 3 cards they may swap one of those drawn for any invested card on the table.
Abilities
If a rule on an Ability card contradicts a rule written here, follow the rule on the card.
If multiple Ability cards resolve at the same time, resolve them in order from lowest to highest value, using the number on the bottom left of the Ability card.
Notes
- Each company has investment cards valued 3-9, plus one additional card depending upon the company: dtv Plumbing 4; Apidae 5; Oxime 6; Wild Rock 7; Needle & Green 8.
- It can help to adjust the 3 most valuable companies' positions to slightly above the other companies as you play, to easily see which companies are worth embezzling from.
- Embezzle means add to your hand.
- Invest means add to the middle of the table.