Galactic Scoundrels Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• On Telling Tales
• Contents
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Traits
  • Ships
  • Crew
  • Passengers
  • Cargo
    • Dumping Cargo
  • Payoffs
  • Twists
    • Taking Over A Job
  • Episodes of the Game
• The Order of a Round
  • I. The Spaceport
  • II. A Job Opportunity
  • III. Winning the Job
    • Gambling
  • IV. The Job
    • Fleeing
    • Sending a Distress Signal
    • Completing the Job
  • Example Play During a Job
• Ending the Game
• Winning the Game
• Quick Reference
• Publisher Errata and Clarifications
  • Rulebook Errata
  • Rulebook Clarifications
    • Advancing Episodes
    • Discarding Money and Making Change
    • Buying and Replacing Ships and Crew
  • Early Game Challenges and Bad Hands

Objective

You have one goal in Galactic Scoundrels: to become the richest swindler in the galaxy, while telling a beauty of a story along the way. You make money by surviving dangerous jobs to get paid and by fleecing other players when they're in trouble. It's time to put on your lyin', cheatin', no good, dirty dealin' game face, amigo. You're gonna' need it. Play it meek on this end of the galaxy, and you won't last long.

On Telling Tales

Each round of Galactic Scoundrels involves one player taking a job fit for a scoundrel. Whether it's an assassination, a kidnapping, or just an old-fashioned smuggling run, everyone playing tells the tale of the job one event at a time. Every action taken, every roll of the dice, every card played advances the story, complicating the adventure of the scoundrel who's trying to make it to payday. Adventures can be serious or silly, tame or wild, absurd or plausible, whatever the players in your game decide. Just remember two things:

• The crazier the space adventures are, the more fun players seem to have, so give yourself permission to sacrifice reality for a good story.
• This is the frontier—the wild west of space—so mix in as many popular references to your favorite space cowboy and scoundrel stories as you like. Just don't violate any large corporations' copyrights. Just kidding. In space, no one can hear you violate copyrights.

Contents

• 15 Crew cards
• 16 Ship cards
• 18 Cargo cards
• 28 Job cards
• 17 Episode IV Payoff cards
• 14 Episode V Payoff cards
• 13 Episode VI Payoff cards
• 112 Galactic Scoundrels cards (40 Trait, 28 Encounter, 28 Character, 16 Twist)
• 4 Space dice (specially designed for cheating in space)
• 2 Reference cards showing game information and card examples
• 1 Rulebook

Setup

Find a flat play area with plenty of space to spread out each player's cards as well as multiple card decks and discard piles. You'll also need room in the middle of the space to play several cards each round.

Find all the 2,000-credit ship cards, shuffle them, and deal one face-down to each player. Flip these over; they're your starting ships. Shuffle all remaining ship cards and place them in a pile face down to the side.

Give each player 1,000 credits. This is the player's stash. Most of the time, you are not required to keep the contents of your stash visible, or tell anyone what is in it. Divide all the remaining money into three piles: Episode IV, Episode V, and Episode VI (as marked). Shuffle each of the three piles, and place them face down to the side.

Shuffle the deck marked Galactic Scoundrels (we'll call it the draw deck from now on). Deal five cards face down to each player. Place the remaining cards face down near the middle of the play area.

Shuffle the Jobs deck and place it face down to the side.

Shuffle the Crew deck and place it face down to the side.

Shuffle the Cargo deck and place it face down to the side.

Playing the Game

Galactic Scoundrels is played in a series of rounds. In each round, the players gamble to win a job, one player takes that job, and the other players play cards to make the job as difficult as possible. Along the way, they also try to bleed as much money from her as they can. After all, what are friends for? Jobs consist of a series of events, described on cards, which the player on the job must resolve with her ship, its contents, the cards in her hand, and whatever is in her stash.

Along the way, all the players tell the tale of the adventure, describing how each card advances the scoundrel's story. Don't forget that Galactic Scoundrels is, more than anything, a storytelling game.

The cards played during a job include Encounter, Character, Twist and Trait cards (see below). You will draw a mixture of these throughout the game. Encounters and Characters are played to challenge the player on the job, while Traits are played by the job-taker to respond to those challenges.

Your ship, your crew, your passengers, your cargo and even your stash can help you survive and complete a job. However, none of these things can help you if someone plays a Twist card. The next sections explain each of these mechanics in detail. Following those is a step-by-step walkthrough: "The Order of a Round." If you're new to Galactic Scoundrels, you may want to skip to that section first.

Traits

Scoundrels have five different traits they can use to get out of trouble. You'll find these shown on Trait cards mixed throughout the draw deck. Use these to deal with Character and Encounter cards played against you while you are on a job. The traits of a scoundrel are:

• Fancy Moves: Brawlin' and shootin'
• Charms: Good looks, allure, and such
• Bluff: Runnin' cons, tellin' tales, and double dealin'
• Wits: Thinkin' fast and keepin' yer cool
• Knowhow: Plannin', tinkerin', and makin' stuff work

When you use Trait cards to resolve a Character or Encounter card played against you, they must match one of the icons on that card. As with anything done on the job, you must tell the story of how the trait helped you resolve that event.

Ships

Everyone starts the game with a basic ship. As you gain money, you can buy better ships from the Ships deck. Any ship you own that you're not using goes in your stash, which means it can be sold, traded to other players, or lost when gambling.

You can only switch to a new ship when you buy or are given one, start a new job, or take your turn while on a job.

Ships have three resource slots which are additionally useful on a job: Crew, Passengers (abbreviated PASS on the cards), and Cargo. Each ship is labeled with the number of available slots it has which hold each resource. Each of these resources is explained in detail in its own section.

If you run out of other ways to resolve a Character or Encounter card, you can always sacrifice your ship. This kills all crew and passengers onboard, destroys all cargo, and sends the ship to the discard pile. However, the job continues, provided the player on it has ways to deal with future cards.

The story should also continue after a ship is destroyed. Perhaps the player crash landed, or perhaps she was picked up by a passing freighter. You get the idea.

Crew

A Crew card has a single trait which always resolves Character and Encounter cards that match its icon (it's basically a trait you can add to your ship). Crew may be used once per job. After that, they are turned sideways to show they've been used up.

You may also use an unused crewmember to resolve an event that doesn't match its trait. However, the crewmember used this way is immediately shuffled back into the Crew deck. Make sure to tell the story of the crewmember's heroic (or not so heroic) actions to keep the job afloat.

Crew persist from job to job unless they are killed. Crew may only be placed on a ship at the start of or during a job. Until then, they are stored in your stash, where they may be bought, sold, traded between players, or lost when gambling.

Passengers

A passenger is a Character card added from your hand to your ship when you start or take your turn on a job. This is the only way a player on a job may use a Character card. It can deal with Encounter or Character cards which match its icons. If it is used in this way, it is discarded.

If an Encounter or Character card played against you doesn't match a passenger's icons, the passenger is useless to resolve that card.

When the job ends, if a passenger is on board your ship, it has arrived safely. This means the passenger is discarded in return for one extra payoff card from the current payoff deck (Episode IV, Episode V, or Episode VI). This is your payment for safe transport. If a ship is destroyed, all passengers are discarded.

Cargo

Cargo cards are added for free to your ship at the beginning of a job, if you have cargo slots available. For every Cargo card carried to the end of a job, the player carrying the cargo gets an extra payoff card from the current payoff deck.

If a ship is destroyed, any cargo is also destroyed.

Dumping Cargo

Once per job, a player carrying cargo may dump all cargo on board to resolve a single Encounter or Character card. After doing this, the player may not add new cargo during the current job. Dumped cargo is placed on the bottom of the Cargo deck. The player must also tell the tale of how the cargo dump resolved the card.

There are multiple types of cargo, which are meant to add possibilities to the story of the job, so have fun including them in your tale.

Payoffs

Some Encounter or Character cards may be resolved using money, if they show the galactic currency icon. If the player on the job uses this method to resolve a card, the player who played the Encounter or Character card takes a random payoff card from the player on the job's stash. Remember that the stash includes any ships or crew the player is holding there. So, the player picking randomly may be able to figure out which of the stash cards are better based on their backs. This is as intended. If there is nothing in your stash, you cannot resolve Encounter or Character cards with a payoff.

Twists

Twist cards are played against a player on the job. They behave differently from Encounter and Character cards. They cannot be resolved using ship, crew, passengers, cargo, traits, or money. They may only be resolved through negotiation between the player who played the Twist card and the player on the job.

Each Twist may be played either to help or to harm, depending on the interests of the person who plays it. The two players involved may negotiate any terms they choose to determine whether the Twist helps or harms. This includes exchanging money or other stash items immediately and/or agreeing to payment later. Players may promise anything they want, as long as it doesn't violate a game rule, and deals are only as good as the word of the person making them. When the two players are done negotiating, the player of the Twist says out loud whether the Twist helps or harms, and then rolls 2d4 to determine the result as follows:

Help the Player on the Job

• 2: Take over the job in its current state
• 3: Give the player a Passenger or Crew card of your choice from the appropriate deck (shuffle the deck after)
• 4: Give the player one card of your choice from your hand
• 5: Add a payoff card to the job
• 6: Shorten the job by one turn
• 7: Give the player a random ship from the Ships deck
• 8: End the job immediately as a success

Harm the Player on the Job

• 2: Destroy the player's ship
• 3: Kill all crew and passengers on the player's ship
• 4: Take two random cards from the job's payoff and put them in your stash
• 5: Take two random cards from the player's hand
• 6: Extend the job by two turns
• 7: Take over the job in its current state
• 8: End the job immediately as a failure

After the roll, the player who played the Twist card advances the story by explaining what happened.

Taking Over A Job

Twists sometimes result in a new player taking over a job. It may even be the "help" another player gives you.

If another player takes over a job in the middle, any passengers and cargo from the first player's ship are immediately discarded, passengers to the discard pile and cargo to the bottom of its deck. If the new player has room, she may immediately add as many passengers (from her hand), cargo, and crew (from her stash) as her ship allows, no matter how close the job is to finishing.

Episodes of the Game

The game is played in three episodes. In Episode IV, all payoff cards are drawn from the Episode IV money pile, and crew cost 1,000. In Episode V, Episode V money is used, and crew cost 2,000. In Episode VI, Episode VI money is used, and crew cost 3,000. The stakes increase from episode to episode, so jobs at the end are worth a great deal more than jobs at the beginning. If you are wondering why the episodes are numbered this way, ask your geekiest friend. If you're lucky, you'll hear the tale of the greatest galactic scoundrel who ever lived.

The Order of a Round

All of the mechanics described above (playing twist cards, carrying passengers, dumping cargo, etc.) happen while one player is on a job. However, that's actually the last phase of a round of play. Here are all the phases of a round, in order.

I. The Spaceport

At the start of the game, skip the Spaceport and begin with "II. A Job Opportunity."

Visiting a spaceport is a chance for players to prepare for the next job. Beginning with the person to the left of the one who finished the last job, each player may take one or more of the following actions.

Scavenge: If you were not on a job last round, it means you found time to scavenge a bit. If you have fewer than five cards in your hand, draw until you have five. If you have five or more cards, draw one. When scavenging, you may discard up to two cards from your hand before drawing back up to five.

Buy A Ship: Draw the top three cards from the Ships deck. If you find a ship you want and can afford, pay for it out of your stash. You may use any money or other ships you own as payment. Shuffle the remaining Ship cards back into the deck. If you don't want (or can't afford) any of the ships, shuffle them all back into the Ships deck. You must wait until the next spaceport before attempting to buy again.

Money paid for ships is discarded face-up into a separate money discard pile, placed next to the general discard pile. This pile is used to make change when needed for player deals or purchases.

Hire Crew: Draw the top three cards from the Crew deck. If you find a crew card you want, pay for it out of your stash. If you find none you want, you must wait until the next visit to the Spaceport to try again. You may use any ships you own as payment in addition to money. The new crewmember is placed in your stash. Crew cost 1,000 credits in Episode IV, 2,000 credits in Episode V, and 3,000 credits in Episode VI. Money paid for Crew is discarded face-up into the separate money discard pile.

II. A Job Opportunity

Turn a Job card face up. Roll 1d4 + 3 to determine the number of payoff cards for the job, and deal them face up from the appropriate Episode deck. Place them so all players can see the amount the job is worth.

(1d4 + 3 simply means to roll a four-sided die, take the number you roll, and add three to it. If you've never used four-sided dice before, the number showing face-up on each side is the one you've rolled.)

III. Winning the Job

Players gamble to decide who wins the job.

There are six different symbols in the bottom right corner of the cards in your hand, which are used for gambling. The symbols are like suits in a deck of regular playing cards. Any of them can be used to make any hand, and no symbol has more value than any other. You can win a job in three ways:

• make the best hand using these symbols
• bluff that you have made the best hand
• correctly call someone else's bluff

All players make their gambling hands out of five cards. If a player has more than five cards, he should choose his best five for gambling and temporarily set the others face down in front of him.

Gambling

Begin with the player to the left of the one who was last on a job. (Unless it's the start of the game, then begin with the player who everyone agrees is the most honest.) That player bids (says out loud) a hand according to the rules below. This bid can be true or a bluff.

The order of bidding (from low to high) is:

1. one pair
2. two pair
3. three-of-a-kind
4. five unique
5. full house
6. four-of-a-kind
7. five-of-a-kind

(The printed rulebook illustrates each hand with example cards from the deck.)

If you decide to bid, you must bid one of these hands, and your bid must be higher than the previous bidder. Play proceeds clockwise around the table, with each player bidding.

If a player cannot or doesn't want to bid, he may declare "I fold" and leave the gambling completely with no penalty. If all players fold, add another payoff card to the job and restart the bidding. If all remaining players fold after a bid, the last player to bid wins the job.

After any bid, instead of bidding, the next player may say "You're a liar" to the player who has just bid, even if one or more players have folded in between. This immediately ends all bidding for the current job.

The player who was called a liar must show the betting symbols in his hand to the player who called him a liar or he must admit to lying. If he has the hand he bid, he wins. If not, the player who called him a liar wins.

If you must show your hand, be careful to only show the betting markers and nothing else and only show it to the player who called you a liar.

After a called bluff, the losing player hands all the cards in his stash to the winner. The winner may look at the values of the cards, and then take the card of her choice from the loser's stash. After taking a card, she returns the other cards to the losing player. This is the only time in the game that a player must reveal his stash (but only to the player who won). If the loser has no stash, the winner takes two random cards from the loser's hand.

At this point, the winner may take the job, sell it to anyone else he wants, or even give it away. If no one else wants it, the winner must attempt it.

IV. The Job

After you have settled who the job-taker is, roll 1d4 + 2 (1d4 + 3 for Episode V; 1d4 + 4 for Episode VI) to determine how many events happen during the job. Leave two dice on top of the Job card to mark this number. It represents the number of turns other players will play cards to stop the job's completion.

The player who won the job goes first. She must begin by describing the details of the job, based on the general description on the Job card. This is the beginning of the story, so elaborate as much as you want to start the job off with a bang. After the beginning of the story is laid out, the job-taker may do as many of the following as she wants:

• Take a ship from her stash and make it her active one. If she's already in one, that one goes into her stash.
• Add or switch out one or more crew on her ship from her stash, up to the number her ship allows.
• Add one or more Character cards from her hand as ship's passengers, up to the number her ship allows.
• Add one or more Cargo cards to her ship, up to the number her ship allows.

All these choices can become part of the story, so feel free to say a bit about any of them, if you want.

Once the player on the job is ready, play commences with the player to her left. Going clockwise, each player plays an Encounter, Character, or Twist card from her hand to challenge the player on the job. These are laid out one at a time in a row. The player on the job must deal with each one of these before the next one is played.

When playing a card, you should describe how the card is part of the story, continuing the narrative. Did we mention that Galactic Scoundrels is a storytelling game?

To respond to cards played to challenge her, the player on the job plays Trait cards from her own hand, or uses her crew, passengers, cargo, ship, or stash to resolve the event. If you need a reminder how any of these rules work, each of them is described starting on page 6.

When play comes around to the player on the job again, she may do one of the following on her turn:

• Add or replace her ship with one from her stash
• Add a crewmember from her stash, if her ship has room
• Add a Character card from her hand as a passenger, if her ship has room

If the player on the job is unable to play, her turn is skipped. If any other player is unable to play, she must show all her cards to prove she can't play. She then discards her hand and draws five new cards. She must immediately play a Character, Encounter, or Twist card to continue the story. If she cannot, she must discard her hand and redraw again until she can play.

Fleeing

During a job, the player on the job may choose to flee and fail the job, even with an unresolved Encounter or Character card on the table. Fleeing results in the player having to go into hiding (not take any jobs) during the next round. This means that the player also will not participate in the gambling.

If a player flees, all payoff cards from the job are discarded. Players may not flee Twists; they must be resolved before fleeing. If a Twist causes a job to fail, the player on the job must also go into hiding for one round afterwards.

Sending a Distress Signal

Each time a Character or Encounter card is played during a job, the job-taker may send out a distress signal, asking for help from any other player, including the one who played the card in the first place. The job-taker may buy a single card from the hand or stash of another player to help resolve her current situation. Other players may actively offer to sell the player on the job a card from their hands or stashes (including ships or crew).

Players offering to sell may say anything they want, but they may not show what is in their hand before selling it. However, they may show cards from their stashes. The seller of the card may sell for whatever price he wants. This could be a deal for cards the job-taker currently has, or for what she might have later.

Only one card may be bought per turn, so the player on the job should consider carefully before choosing the player with whom she wants to negotiate. When the job-taker has successfully negotiated to receive a card, the card is passed to her. If it is useful, the player may play it immediately. If not, the player must find another way to resolve the current situation.

Be careful making deals late in the game. Scoundrels tend to be less likely to honor them!

Completing the Job

If the player on the job completes it, she collects all the payoff cards for that job and keeps the job card as a souvenir. She also collects extra payoff cards for any passengers or cargo she successfully delivers. All the Character, Encounter, and Twist cards from the job are discarded.

Example Play During a Job

Let's look at an example. Brad, Robbie, Olivia, and Tanner are in the middle of a round. The players have already rolled for number of payoff cards (3) and job length (5). The center of the play area looks like this: (illustration in the printed rulebook)

Olivia has won the job, so she takes her turn first. She starts by telling the tale of the job, in as much detail as she wants. Since her ship has some empty slots, she adds a passenger (Character card from her hand), a Crew card (purchased earlier and sitting in her stash), and a Cargo card (from the top of the Cargo deck) to her ship. She adds a bit of story for each of these cards as well. This completes her first turn. (illustration: Olivia's ship cards laid out in front of her)

Tanner is sitting to Olivia's left, so he plays next. He tells a bit more of the story as he lays down his card—an Encounter—on top of the job.

Since her crew member's symbol matches one of the symbols on the Encounter, Olivia elects to use it. She adds to the story, telling what the crew member did to resolve the situation, then turns the Crew card sideways to show it has been used. It may not be used again on this job.

Brad plays next, advancing the story and laying down a Character card from his hand.

Luckily for Olivia, she has a Trait card in her hand which matches one of the symbols on the card Brad played. So, she plays the Trait from her hand, tells how her scoundrelly use of that trait resolved the situation, and places her Trait card on the discard pile.

On Robbie's turn, he plays an Encounter card.

Unfortunately for Olivia, she has no cards in her hand which match the symbols on Robbie's card. She decides to sacrifice her passenger to deal with the Encounter, advancing the story by telling how the passenger's actions saved the job. Her passenger (Character card) is placed on the discard pile.

It is now Olivia's turn. She has an empty passenger slot on her ship, and another Character card in her hand, so she places the Character next to the ship, and tells the story of picking up a new passenger. (illustration: Olivia's ship with a new passenger.)

The next turn is Tanner's. He plays a Character card.

This time, the symbols on the card don't match Olivia's passenger, and she doesn't have a Trait card in her hand to match. However, this card has a currency symbol on it, which means that Olivia can resolve it with a payoff. She tells the story of the payoff. Then, she fans out the cards in her stash (face down), and Tanner selects one at random. This completes the payoff.

For his next card, Brad plays a Twist.

He doesn't tell the story of it yet, because Twists can be harmful or helpful. Instead he begins negotiating with Olivia, since this is the only way to resolve a Twist. They agree that Brad will play the Twist to help her, if she gives him 5,000 credits from her stash right now. Olivia hands over the 5,000 credits. Brad keeps his word, and declares that he will roll for the Twist to be helpful. He rolls a (5), consults the Help/Harm reference card, and adds a payoff card to the job--the result of rolling a (5) for Help. He then tells the story of what happened with the Twist.

The job now has five cards on it (the job length rolled at the beginning), which means it is over. Olivia collects the payoff cards and places them in her stash. She also keeps the Job card as a souvenir of her success. Since she delivered a passenger and one unit of cargo successfully, she receives two extra payoff cards, drawn from the top of the current payoff deck.

All the Encounter, Character, and Twist cards are placed in the discard pile, and the Job is officially complete.

Ending the Game

When the last payoff card is drawn from the Episode VI payoff pile, the job currently available is the last job of the game. If additional payoff cards are required to complete the job, draw those from the top of the money discard pile. Once the job ends the game is over.

For a shorter game, increase the payout per job to 1d4 + 4 (quick) or 1d4 + 5 (lightning).

Winning the Game

The player with the most money in her stash at the end of the game wins. This includes the cash value of any ships she has.

Quick Reference

The printed Quick Reference card lists each card type with its On The Job and Off The Job rules.

Card	On The Job	Off The Job
Trait	I'm the only card you can play from your hand to respond to other players' cards. I can resolve a Character or Encounter, if my symbol matches.	You can sell me if a player sends a distress signal.
Character	You can play me as a passenger at the start of a job or on your turn, if your ship has room for me. You may not play me at any other time.	You can play me as an event in the story.
Encounter	I'm useless to you.	You can play me as an event in the story.
Twist	I'm useless to you.	You can play me as an event in the story. Negotiate with the job-taker whether I help or harm.
Crew	If you hired me, I can join your ship. I resolve one Character or Encounter, if my symbol matches. Then turn me sideways 'til the next job.	You can sell, trade, or gamble me away to other players.
Cargo	I'm free to add at the start. If I make it to the end, you get paid extra. Dump me to resolve one Character or Encounter.	I'm useless to you.

Publisher Errata and Clarifications

The following is not part of the printed rulebook PDF. It is reproduced from the publisher's How To Play web page (playgalacticscoundrels.com/how-to-play/), which the publisher presents as official errata and clarifications.

Rulebook Errata

• Page 22: "the symbols on the card don't match Olivia's passenger" is incorrect. One of the symbols does match a symbol on the passenger card (Charms). So, this passenger would be a valid card to play in response to the Snake Oil Salesman.

Rulebook Clarifications

Advancing Episodes

Essentially the Episodes deck can be treated as a single deck, with Episode IV on top, Episode V in the middle, and Episode VI on the bottom. However, most of the time people choose to place the three decks separately. The typical number of jobs per episode is 2-3.

When determining job length and crew prices, if the first card from an Episode has been turned over, you are in that episode.

Discarding Money and Making Change

Any time someone pays for crew or ships in the game, the money they pay should be discarded to a separate money discard pile. That pile is then used to make change during future purchases or deals between players.

If no one has put money in the money discard pile yet, then there is no way to make change. If this is the case, you can either pay extra or wait until there is a money discard pile. That's just the way it goes. Sometimes the galaxy is a cruel place.

Buying and Replacing Ships and Crew

Only one ship may be purchased per round by each player. The same is true for crew members. This is to prevent wealthy players from buying up large chunks of the available ships and crew.

Once a ship or crew member is purchased, the remaining ship or crew cards are shuffled back into the appropriate deck, so that the next player gets a fresh set.

House Rule (No Hitchhikers): If, at any point in the game, you have lost your ship and don't have enough money to buy a new one, you may search through the Ships deck and select a new starter ship for free.

Early Game Challenges and Bad Hands

Galactic Scoundrels is definitely not a game where people should be fleeing jobs very often. Once you get the hang of it, there should only be maybe one job fled in an entire game (but often none). Here are some tips to help if your group is having trouble completing jobs.

• You don't have to bid on jobs. Fold if your hand is lousy and wait until you can scavenge at the end of the round.
• The person who wins the job doesn't have to take it. They can sell it to someone with a better hand or even give it away.
• Use the distress signal often. It's described on page 10. There's almost always someone with a helpful card who's willing to sell it for the right price.
• Blow up your ship. Most of the game, ships are worth less than payoffs. If you're close to the end, ditch the ship to save the job.
• Use the house rules on the back of the rulebook to make the gameplay easier or more flexible. The seven-card variation and the shortened and/or more lucrative jobs will help a lot.
• This is not an official rule, but if everyone starts the game with a bad hand (very few trait cards), turn them all in, shuffle, and re-deal. There's no point in suffering unnecessarily.

And remember, this game is less about making your friends fail than it is about maximizing your profit when they succeed. Helping someone finish jobs which make you money is a very effective strategy.

Transcriber note: the house rules referred to above (the seven-card variation and the shortened or more lucrative jobs) are described on the back of the printed rulebook, which is not in the rulebook PDF text used for this transcription, so they are not reproduced here.