Globalissimo
Globalissimo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Play with two to six players (or two to six teams). Win the game by scoring the largest amount of points after playing 10 rounds. Each round six countries and one category are randomly picked. Each player can score points by guessing how one of the selected countries ranks compared to the other five, for the selected category. The most accurate guess can give you the most points.
Preparation of the Game
Put the board on the table.
Shuffle the deck with country cards and put it on the field that says "Globalissimo" on the board. Put the country cards with the flags facing up.
Shuffle the deck with category cards and put it on the field below that, with the side "Globalissimo" facing up.
Put the hurdles on the board. There are two kinds of hurdles:
- Seven hurdles with a figure studying the world map (hurdle A)
- Seven hurdles with a drawing of the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin (hurdle B)
Put the hurdles alternatingly on the markers on the board, starting at "Start": hurdle A, hurdle B, hurdle A, etc.
Have all players select a color and put all runners at "Start".
Example: John = white, Peter = black, Jenny = green, David = yellow, Linda = blue, Sue = red.
Give each player the numbers 1-6 of their color.
Pick a starting player and give him/her the marker with the checkered flag.
Example: Jenny starts and gets the marker with the checkered flag.
Playing the First Round (assuming six players)
Take the top six cards from the country deck and place them (flags facing up) below the board, below the positions that are marked 1-6.
Example: Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, Bolivia, Switzerland, Cuba.
Turn over the top category card.
Example: Tourists from abroad.
The starting player must select one country of the six and rank it (for the selected category) by putting a number on it. This player can use all numbers, 1-6. Number 1 if he/she estimates that the country scores highest in that category, number 6 if he/she estimates that the country scores lowest in that category. Or number 2-5 for anything in between.
Example: Jenny thinks Mexico gets most tourists from abroad and puts a green 1 on Mexico.
The next player (going clockwise) gets to select one country out of the remaining five countries. This player can also use all numbers, 1-6. Again, number 1 for the highest score in that category, number 6 for the lowest score, or numbers 2-5 for anything in between.
Notes:
- This player can give the country of his/her choice any ranking (1-6), so also the same ranking as the previous player.
- But it is not possible for this player to rank the same country as the previous player. The player that goes second can only choose from the remaining five countries.
Example: Clockwise from Jenny is David. David thinks Switzerland gets most tourists, so he puts a yellow 1 on Switzerland.
Continue in this fashion until all six players have had their turn in ranking a country. Of course, the last player of this round cannot choose a country anymore and can only rank the single country that remains.
Example: Next is Linda. Linda thinks her surest bet is that Bolivia gets the least tourists from abroad. She puts a blue 6 on Bolivia.
Sue is next. She agrees that probably Mexico and Switzerland come in first and second place and that Bolivia is last, but she has only Cuba, New Zealand and Netherlands to choose from. She puts a red 3 on New Zealand.
John puts a white 4 on Cuba.
Peter puts a black 5 on Netherlands.
After the last player finishes his/her turn for this round, the six country cards are turned over (so that the country flag now faces down). Now that all country flags face downwards, they reveal how they score for the selected category. Sort the country cards according to their score, with the highest scoring country at position 1 below the board and the lowest scoring country at position 6.
Notes:
- While you turn over and rearrange the country cards, take care to keep each of the players' ranking numbers on the countries they have selected. That is important for determining how many points the players get.
Example: The correct order for this round is:
- Mexico (with a green 1 on top)
- Switzerland (with a yellow 1 on top)
- Netherlands (with a black 5 on top)
- New Zealand (with a red 3 on top)
- Cuba (with a white 4 on top)
- Bolivia (with a blue 6 on top)
Now the players get their points. Start with the starting player. Points are given as follows:
- Being entirely correct: 3 points
- Being wrong by one position: 2 points
- Being wrong by two positions: 1 point
- More than two positions off: 0 points
Points are awarded by moving the runners 1, 2 or 3 steps forward over the globes that are along the perimeter of the playing board.
Example: Jenny goes first, because she is starting player. She thought Mexico was first, and this is correct. She scores 3 points. Move the green runner 3 steps forward.
David was incorrect. Switzerland is second, not first. David gets 2 points. Move the yellow runner 2 steps forward.
Linda was also correct, Bolivia is last. Linda gets 3 points, move the blue runner 3 steps forward. (The source text reads "blue rubber"; this is evidently a typo for "runner".)
Sue gets 2 points, red runner goes 2 steps forward.
John also gets 2 points, white runner goes 2 steps forward.
Peter was wrong by two positions for the Netherlands. He gets 1 point, the black runner goes 1 step forward.
The six countries go to the discard pile. End of the first round.
Following Rounds
All following rounds are almost identical to the first round. There are some differences.
In the next round, the new starting player is the player that sits clockwise from the starting player from the previous round.
Example: Jenny was starting player in the first round; David is starting player in the second round. David gets the marker with the checkered flag.
When the round is finished, points are awarded and runners are moved forward. Runners are moved forward until they face a hurdle. A runner can only pass a hurdle if the player answers a question correctly. It can be one of two questions about the top card of the deck with country cards:
- Hurdle A: point out where the country is on the world map. Do so by giving its number.
- Hurdle B: name the capital. This can either be the official capital or the city with the seat of government.
The answers can be checked by another player on the back of the country cards. If the player answered the question:
- Correctly: the runner can move forward, the player gets the hurdle and the country card goes to the discard pile.
- Incorrectly: the runner and the hurdle stay where they are and the country card goes to the discard pile. The next player that scored sufficient points to face a hurdle can attempt to pass it by answering the same question, but now for the next top card of the country deck.
Example: Because David is starting player in the second round, he is the first to be awarded points. In the first round, he scored 2 points. Suppose that he scored 3 points in the second round. The yellow runner should move 3 steps forward to a total of 5, but he can only move the runner 1 step before facing the hurdle.
Suppose the next top card of the deck with country cards is Hungary. To pass the hurdle, David has to name the number of the country on the world map. David is incorrect (it is 54, not 49). David doesn't get the 2 remaining points and stays on a total of 3.
Linda is next. She scored 3 points in the first round. Suppose she scored 2 points in the second round and that the next top card of the deck with country cards is Libya. She answers correctly that this is number 70 on the world map. She gets the hurdle and the blue runner moves 2 steps forward to a total of 5.
End of the Game
After the 10 rounds (with one category per round) are finished, the player with the highest number of points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the largest amount of hurdles wins.
Additional Remarks
If you play with 2 (or 3, 4 or 5) players, then draw 2 (or 3, 4 or 5) country cards every round (instead of 6). Players can then use the numbers 1 to 2 (or 3, 4 or 5) to rank the countries.
If two countries score exactly the same in each category, they share the same place in the ranking. The next place remains empty (just like in the Olympics).
Example: Suppose that you have the following situation: Australia, Bolivia, Russia and Chad have to be ranked, the category is population density. David thinks Bolivia is most densely populated and puts a 1 on Bolivia. Jenny has put a 4 on Australia, Linda has put a 2 on Chad and Peter has put a 4 on Russia.
The correct ranking (after the country cards have been turned over) is:
- Bolivia and Russia share the first position
- Second place remains empty
- Chad is third
- Australia comes last
The scoring is now as follows:
- David gets 3 points (he was entirely correct)
- Jenny gets 3 points (she was also entirely correct)
- Linda gets 2 points (she thought Chad would come second but is now in third position)
- Peter gets 0 points (he thought Russia had the lowest population density, but it is actually in first position together with Bolivia)