Friesematenten Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Idea and Goal of the Game
• Setup
  • For the first game
• The Playing Area
  • I. The face-down pile
  • II. The Pool
  • III. The Cash box
  • IV. The Exchange
  • V. The Empire
• 6. Course of Play
  • a) New cards
  • b) Playing cards
  • c) Auction
  • d) Production phase
• The Cards
• The Four Kinds of Cards
  • a) Factories (red)
  • b) Coupled cards (blue)
  • c) Status cards (orange)
  • d) Action cards (green)
• The Symbols on the Cards
• Special Notes
• Expansions

Contents

• 60 different cards
• 20 markers (green)
• Play money (1s, 5s, 10s, 50s)
• No dice, but a start player stone instead
• Rulebook

Idea and Goal of the Game

Friesematenten is an auction game in which each player controls his own empire. The goal of the game is to attain 40 victory points. However, since money is not decisive for winning the game but only the victory points attained, status symbols must be bought at auction as well. To earn money, it is necessary to buy factories at auction in the course of the game. To be able to influence the game in your favour, it is possible to buy action cards, which can be played to your own advantage as well as against your fellow players, and which can sometimes lead to an unexpectedly quick victory.

Setup

The game cards are shuffled and placed face down as a draw pile next to the Exchange (Börse). Each player receives 60 money. Lots are drawn to see who begins. This person receives the start player stone. Depending on the number of players, cards from the face-down pile are laid out face up in the Exchange, namely 3 + the number of players (so with two players 2+3 = 5 cards). On the next page you can see what a set-up game looks like.

For the first game

Simply remove all green cards from the pile and play away. This way of playing is very simple and quick, so that you can learn this kind of game mechanism. For subsequent games, simply add a few green cards again and again, in order to slowly bring the game to its full unfolding.

The Playing Area

(Diagram: a set-up for 2 players. Labelled areas: Pool, face-down pile (verdeckter Stapel), Exchange (Börse), Cash box (Kasse), Empire of Player 1, Empire of Player 2.)

A set-up for 2 players: Each player has in front of him his empire, consisting of the cards he acquired during the game. In the middle is the Exchange, where the cards lie that are available for auction this round. They are auctioned one after another, starting from the face-down pile. The cash box and the pool are the supply of money and markers respectively.

The playing area consists of 5 areas:

I. The face-down pile

The cards to be auctioned are taken from this pile. If this pile is used up, the cards that were laid face up under the pile in the course of the game are shuffled and laid out as a new face-down pile. If the pile is used up a second time, the game ends with the auction round that follows.

II. The Pool

So to speak, the marker bank. Here lie the markers that are spent in the course of the game or must be handed in by the players. Note: markers are needed in the course of the game for marking. They are always placed on cards. Their meaning results from the card on which they are currently lying.

III. The Cash box

The fortress of capitalism. Here rests the Mammon that is spent to all players in the course of the game or paid by them. If a player succeeds in blowing up the cash box, the game is (logically) also over. Nevertheless, whoever has the most victory points wins.

IV. The Exchange

Here lie the cards that are available for the next round. These cards are auctioned one after another, starting from the face-down pile.

V. The Empire

The place in front of each player. Here lie all the cards a player owns. The cards can be arranged as desired, but the cards must be visible to all players. In the game there are so-called "cards coupled to persons" (an Personen gekoppelte Karten). These lie either to the left or to the right of the empire, depending on whether they have already been played (right) or the player can still play them (left). More on this under the point "Types of cards". The cards of one's own empire are always called own cards. Foreign cards are all open cards that are not in one's own empire, i.e. any open cards of the empires of all players as well as the Exchange.

6. Course of Play

A round of play is always divided into the following 4 phases.

a) New cards

The Exchange is filled with cards from the face-down pile according to the number of players. The "new" cards are laid to the right of the cards that were not auctioned in the previous round (see diagram). In the first round this has already happened through the game setup. Especially for beginners it is recommended to now clarify the meaning of individual cards exactly.

b) Playing cards

Beginning with the start player, the players in turn may play as many of their cards in succession as they like. After all players have had one opportunity to play cards, the game moves on.

c) Auction

The start player begins with a bid for the first card of the Exchange, the one lying directly at the face-down pile, by either passing or naming a bid, which may not be lower than the minimum bid. Now in turn each player bids higher or passes. Whoever has passed once may not bid any more for this card. At the moment when only one player is left, this player receives the award, pays the price and receives the card. If all players have passed on a card, this card receives a marker. If a card in the Exchange receives a second marker, this card is placed face up under the pile. In this way all cards of the row are auctioned. The start player stone always goes to the person who acquired the last card.

d) Production phase

Each player receives a fixed production of 30 money. In addition each player receives the sum of the money that his own factories earn (top value of the red cards).

Now phase a) follows again. The game continues in this way until at the beginning of the production phase a player has reached or exceeded 40 victory points. In case of a tie, the amount of money decides.

Set up the game in this way and clarify the cards of the Exchange using the following pages.

The Cards

Each card shows the following information:

1. Name of the card
2. Graphic of the card
3. Colour, which determines what kind of card this is:
   • red: factory
   • orange: status card
   • green: action card
   • blue: coupled card
4. The first value gives, depending on the card, how much it produces (factory) or how often it can be played (action card) (see below).
5. The second value gives the minimum bid for which the card can be acquired.
6. The third value gives, if applicable, the victory points this card brings. On action cards a mere symbol may also stand here.
7. Here stands a text which, if applicable, explains the function of the card. (The card text explains how the card works.)
8. The number of the card (1-200)

Red numbers always mean negative values.

The Four Kinds of Cards

a) Factories (red)

They are the basic stock of the empire, as they earn the money. The top numerical value (backed in red) states how much money this factory earns per round. Each player may own at most 3 factories. This factory maximum of 3 can be influenced by various cards in the game. If a player receives a factory with which he exceeds the factory maximum, he must immediately scrap one, which then leaves the game.

b) Coupled cards (blue)

These exist in two versions. One kind is coupled directly to players, the other to cards. Coupled cards and their values etc. only apply when they are coupled. To show that they are not yet active, they lie to the left in the empire. If a card is, for example, coupled to a factory, it may no longer be freely re-coupled to another. In the event that the "mother card" leaves the game, one also loses the card coupled to it.

To couple to a card of an opponent, one may rearrange his cards so that room is made for the card. If nothing else is stated on the coupled card, this card is laid to the right next to the "mother card". Whenever a coupled card changes players, they count as uncoupled, so that this player may play it again. If the "mother card" itself is passed on, the card coupled to it remains coupled.

c) Status cards (orange)

These cards lie together with the factories in the middle of the empire and merely increase the victory points.

d) Action cards (green)

These cards give the game its actual dynamic. The respective actions are described in the text field. When it is your turn, you may play as many actions in succession as you like, which can not only conjure the funniest facial expressions onto the faces of your fellow players if skilfully staged, but can also sometimes contribute to your having made fun of your whole circle of friends for just one evening. If you acquire an action card, markers are used to make visible how often this card can be played, the card itself being counted too, so that the number of markers at the start is always exactly 1 below the value given in the top field. Example: if the value "4" is entered in the top field, three markers are laid on the card. For each playing of the card one marker is removed. If there is no marker (any more) on the card, it may be played one more time and is then removed from the game.

The Symbols on the Cards

• Number of actions of an action card.
• Production value of a factory.
• Card-coupled card.
• Person-coupled card.
• Minimum bid.
• Victory points.
• This card can only be played in the production phase.
• This card can be played at any time. Restrictions result from the text on the card.
• (Star) Stands for a value which is explained by the card text.

Special Notes

The rules on the cards always apply, even if they contradict the general rules of the game.

If the player, even if by mistake, has bid more money than he owns, he must pay all his money into the cash box, and the card is immediately auctioned once more without him.

A factory with negative victory point values can only be scrapped if one pays 5 times the victory point value as money for it.

There are factories that can influence each other. To draw the greatest possible advantage from this, one may position one's factories to one another as one likes.

Whenever a card has been auctioned, it is put into the so-called initial state, i.e. it is uncoupled and has, according to its action value, the corresponding number of markers, etc.

If on a card every player is meant, then really every player is meant, including the person who plays the card.

Normally all cards apply to all open cards in the game. So no inhibitions about taking from the opponents also what you need. Here "any" really means every open card on the table.

Some card texts appear senseless at the beginning of the game, but are very effective in combination with other cards. Only trying out helps here.

Action cards with the symbol "lightning bolt" and "money bag" are the only cards that may be played not only in the card-playing phase. If two persons want to play such a card at the same time, the order is decided by the start player stone.

The coupling of cards counts as an action, and is thus also restricted to one phase.

Expansions

Your game contains 60 cards. Since there are 200 different cards in total, you can increase your enjoyment of the game with expansions. In an expansion set there are again 60 random cards, so that you should swap cards in order to get the game completely.

In principle this game can be played with any number of cards; you should only take care that there are always enough victory points in the pile. If you create, for example, a new pile with 60 cards, you should take, as in production, 24 cards with 3 or more victory points and 36 of the rest.