GoodCritters
GoodCritters Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 140 Loot cards representing the cash, gems, jewelry, paintings and sculptures the gang might lift during a job. Loot cards come in four values: $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, and $5,000.
- 40 Action cards, 5 for each player, which are: Guard, Rob, Skim, Vote No, Vote Yes.
- 1 The Fuzz! card that ends the game.
- 8 Threat markers with plastic stands, 1 for each player.
- 1 Boss marker with a plastic stand, to show who's calling the shots.
- 16 Payoff tokens, 2 for each player. Used only with the optional Payoff Rules.
- 40 Payoff cards for use as bribes. Each is worth $1,000. Used only with the optional Payoff rules.
Setting Up the Game
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Each player chooses a critter to play and takes all of the matching pieces: 5 Action cards and 1 Threat marker. (If you are playing with the optional Payoff rules, each player also takes 5 Payoff cards and 2 Payoff tokens of the matching color to their critter.)
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Give each player 4 Loot cards to start their Stash: one of each value ($2,000, $3,000, $4,000, and $5,000). The type of Loot does not matter (but might in future expansions), and should be chosen randomly. Your Stash includes all of the Loot cards you own, and never includes your Action cards (or any Payoff cards if you're using that optional rule).
Important: Always keep your Stash secret from the other players!
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Now you need to create the Loot pile.
- Shuffle the rest of the Loot cards to create a face-down pile.
- Divide the deck into roughly equal parts, according to the number of players, as shown on the chart below. Don't worry about making the parts exactly equal in size.
- Randomly shuffle The Fuzz! card into one of those parts, as shown on the chart below.
- Stack the parts of the deck on top of each other to form a single pile. Be careful that the part with The Fuzz! card is in its appropriate position.
| Number of Players | Divide the deck into this many parts: | Randomly shuffle The Fuzz! card into this part: |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 6 | 4 |
| 5 | 7 | 5 |
| 6 | 5 | 4 |
| 7 | 7 | 6 |
| 8 | 5 | 5 |
Example: In a five player game, the deck is split in 7 roughly equal parts. The Fuzz! is randomly shuffled into the fifth part, then the deck is put back together: 2 parts are at the bottom, then the part with The Fuzz!, and the other 4 parts on top.
When you are finished, you will have a face-down Loot pile in the center of the table, with The Fuzz! card randomly placed in the lower half of the pile.
- The owner of the game is always the first Boss. The Boss takes the Boss Marker, and should do the best they can to keep the other critters in line.
Playing the Game
GoodCritters is played over a number of rounds, continuing until The Fuzz! card is revealed. Then the Fuzz show up and everybody has to take it on the lam... and count their "hard won" loot.
During each round, a number of Loot cards will be drawn from the Loot Pile. The Boss will decide how to spread the Loot around, then everybody votes on whether they can accept it or not. If they vote yes, the Boss hands out the loot and stays in charge for another round. If they vote no, the Boss has to surrender the Boss Ring and a new Boss gets to split the loot!
When the Fuzz show up, the game ends immediately. Any Loot left on the table gets confiscated. The critter with the most valuable Stash when the Fuzz bust in is the winner.
Each round is divided into these four steps, which are played in order:
Step 1: Show the Loot Step 2: Distribute the Loot Step 3: Choose Actions Step 4: Resolve Actions
Step 1: Show the Loot
The Boss turns over a number of cards from the top of the Loot Pile equal to the number of players +2 and places them face up in the middle of the table. Everybody takes a moment to ooh and aah over the awesome goodies!
Example: Al, Bonnie, Louie, Kate, and Sammy are ready to divvy up the Loot. Al's the Boss, so he turns over the top 7 Loot cards (5 players +2 cards) and puts them on the table. "Look at all that lettuce!" he croons.
Step 2: Distribute the Loot
Now the Boss has to decide how to spread the Loot around. It's totally up to the Boss how to distribute the cards—they are not required to give everybody a card. They can even give everything to just one player if they want. The Boss can even give Loot to themselves. But, all of the face up Loot cards must be distributed.
Once the Boss has made up their mind and distributed the shares, this step ends. Nobody gets to take their Loot yet, though! The shares cannot be changed during Step 3 and Step 4.
Example: Now Al gets to split up the Loot. He knows he needs more Yes votes than No votes to stay the Boss, so he tries to make some friends: He offers 2 Loot cards to Bonnie and 2 to Sammy. He keeps the best 2 Loot cards for himself, of course, and tries to hedge his bets by tossing the last Loot card to Louie.
Step 3: Choose Actions
During this step, all players play at the same time—there are no turns! Players can try to make deals or issue Threats and ultimatums.
At some point, each player must choose exactly one of their Action cards to play, placing it face down in front of them. You can change your mind after you choose your card and play another one, up until the point that everybody has a card in front of them, and nobody wants to make any changes.
If you are playing with the optional Payoff rules, players can also offer bribes to other players to influence their vote. See "Payoffs" on page 10 for the low down.
If this step is taking too long because players keep changing their minds, you can have everybody take turns, starting with the Boss and going clockwise, offering bribes and making threats. Afterwards, players can choose an Action card at the same time.
Making Threats
During Step 3, players can make any deals they want to make to try to get the others to vote the way they want them to. But sometimes, the best way to get a goon to follow your orders is to make a good threat.
Each player has one Threat marker that they can use to threaten another player. A Threat means that the player may try to steal Loot from the player by playing a Rob card (see "Taking Actions" on page 8). A Rob card can only target the player that has the robber's Threat marker in front of them.
Threat markers can be used as a bluff: a player is never required to play a Rob card, even if they have placed their Threat marker in front of another player. If a player threatens another player but does not play a Rob card, the Threat marker has no effect.
Threat Example: Now the free-for-all begins, with the critters making demands and complaints. After a lot of finger-pointing, Sammy puts his Threat token in front of Louie (A), who returns the favor (B). Bonnie thinks that's fun, so she puts her Threat token in front of Sammy, too (C). Then everybody picks an Action card and places it face down in front of them.
Step 4: Resolve Actions
Now it's time to see how all the previous turn's scheming will unfold, and whether or not the Boss will stay in power or if a different critter will don the ring. During this step, each player has a turn, starting with the Boss and going clockwise around the table, revealing the Action card they played during Step 3.
When a card is revealed, the player that revealed it then carries out the action shown.
Exception: If a player played a Guard card, they must reveal it out of turn order if it is revealed that another player is robbing them with the Rob card.
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Vote Yes is a vote in favor of the current Boss and the Loot distribution they are proposing. If there are at least as many Vote Yes cards as Vote No cards, the vote passes (but see "Results of the Vote" on page 9 for more information).
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Vote No is a vote against the current Boss and the Loot distribution they are proposing. If there are more Vote No cards than Vote Yes cards, the vote fails.
Though it may seem strange, the Boss can Vote No against themselves!
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Skim allows a player to take the top Loot card from the Loot Pile and add it to their Stash (it is not taken from the face up Loot cards being voted on—always the top face down card from the deck).
But, only the first player to reveal a Skim card each round gets to carry out this action! Anybody else who plays one gets nothing for their trouble.
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Rob means that a player is trying to take Loot directly from another player. The player who is robbed is always the one that has the robber's Threat marker in front of them (see "Making Threats" on page 6).
If the player didn't put their Threat marker in front of another player, the Rob action has no effect.
If a player successfully robs, they pull a random Loot card from the Stash of their victim and adds it to their own.
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Guard is used by a player to protect themselves from being robbed. If a player plays this card, they reveal it any time another player reveals a Rob card, if the robber's Threat marker is in front of them.
Instead of being robbed, the guarding player gets to steal one random Loot card from the robber's Stash!
A single Guard card protects the player from all robbery attempts against them for the entire round. If multiple players reveal Rob cards against a player who is guarding, the guarding player gets to steal one random Loot card from each of the robber's Stashes!
Remember: The Guard card is revealed out of turn if you are the target of a Rob card.
Results of the Vote
- If there are more Vote Yes cards than Vote No cards, the vote passes.
A Yes Vote: If the vote passes, the distribution of Loot put forth by the Boss is accepted. Everybody takes the Loot assigned to them and adds it to their own Stash. The Boss gets to keep being the Boss, and a new round starts with Step 1.
- If there are exactly as many Vote Yes cards as Vote No cards (or if no Vote Yes or Vote No cards are played at all), the vote is a tie.
A Tie Vote: If the vote is a tie, the gang reluctantly accepts the distribution of Loot, but they lose faith in the Boss and decide it's time for somebody else to take charge. Everybody takes the Loot assigned to them, and then the next player clockwise from the previous Boss becomes the new Boss, and a new round starts with Step 1.
- If there are more Vote No cards than Vote Yes cards, the vote fails.
A No Vote: If the vote fails, the gang has rejected the Boss' plans. All of the Loot cards distributed in Step 2 are returned to the middle of the table, still face up. The first player clockwise from the Boss who revealed a No card during the voting becomes the new Boss. They turn over two more cards from the Loot Pile and add them to the Loot already in the middle of the table. Then a new round starts with Step 2.
In the rare case that the only vote is a No vote placed by the Boss, they keep the Boss job. Return the Loot cards to the center of the table and draw two more Loot cards. Begin the next round with Step 2.
If there aren't any votes placed at all, voting should be resolved as if it were a tie.
Start the Next Round
Retrieve Action Cards: Each player takes back the Action card they played and their Threat marker if they gave it out. You must always have all five Action cards to choose from each round and your Threat marker to place.
Depending on the result of the vote, the next round will begin with either Step 1 or Step 2, possibly with a new Boss.
The End of the Game
The players continue to play, round after round, voting and collecting Loot until The Fuzz! card is revealed.
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If The Fuzz! show up when you are drawing new Loot cards to be distributed, the game ends immediately. This can happen during Step 1 at the start of a new round, or when there was a NO vote and you are drawing 2 additional Loot cards for the new Boss to distribute.
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If The Fuzz! don't make an appearance until Step 4, which can happen if the Skim action is played, a new Loot card is drawn for the Skim, and the game continues until the end of the current round.
When the game ends, everybody counts up all of the Loot in their Stash. The player with the most valuable wad of lettuce wins the game!
Optional Rules
Once you are familiar with the basics of GoodCritters, you can add a little spice to the game by including these optional rules:
Payoffs
When playing with this variant, each player gets two Payoff tokens and five Payoff cards at the beginning of the game. Payoff cards are kept separate from your Stash, and cannot be stolen with a Rob Action card. At the end of the game, each Payoff card is worth $1,000.
Offering Bribes
During the game, players can offer bribes to other players to do just about anything they want them to do: vote yes, vote no, rob a specific player, guard their stash, and so on. They can even try to bribe the Boss into distributing more Loot their way.
Similarly, they can offer almost anything as part of the bribe, such as taking a future action, offering to do a favor, or giving them Loot cards or Payoff cards. Loot cards used this way can be open (so everybody can see it), or hidden (played face-down). If you play the cards face-down, you can allow the player to peek at them or not ("I'll give you this face-down Loot card. Trust me, it's worth $4,000!").
Making a Payoff
The catch with bribes is that they are not enforced by any rules in the game, and players are free to cheat, swindle, or lie as much as it suits them to.
However, if a player wants a little guarantee of their quid pro quo, they can offer a Payoff.
Each player has two Payoff tokens that they can use to offer "binding" bribes to other players. To offer a Payoff, the player places one of their Payoff tokens in front of another player, along with any number of Loot cards and/or Payoff cards in any combination.
If a player needs more Payoff cards, they can buy them from another player in exchange for Loot cards from their Stash. Each Payoff card is worth $1000 at the end of the game, but players are free to negotiate prices for them during the game.
Each Payoff token is double-sided: one side shows Yes and the other shows No. The side of the Payoff token showing indicates what action the other player must take in order to collect the Payoff. If the player takes a different action, they do not get to take the bribe, and the cards go back to whoever offered the bribe. Either way, the owner always takes their Payoff token back.
Bribes are resolved immediately after the player reveals their Action card during Step 4 - Count the Votes.
Since you have two Payoff tokens, you can offer bribes to two players each round.
After all bribing is finished, the players put their Loot cards into their Stash, and set their Payoff cards to the side (the bills don't go in your Stash because they can't be stolen with a Rob card).
At the end of the game, Payoff cards are added to the player's Stash before they count their loot to see who wins the game.
Example: Al really wants the vote to pass so he can keep being the Boss, and he's willing to throw some cash around to make it happen. He puts a Payoff token with the Yes side up in front of Sammy with 2 Payoff cards (A). Then he puts his other Payoff token, also showing Yes, in front of Bonnie with 1 Loot card and 1 Payoff card (B).
During the Count the Votes Step, Sammy takes his turn after Al and reveals a No card (A), so he doesn't get the Payoff cards—they go back to Al. Later on, Bonnie turns over her Yes card (B). She did what Al wanted, so she keeps his bribe, adding the Loot card to her Stash and the Payoff card with her other bills.
After the dust settles, Al will take both of his Payoff tokens back for the next round.
Limited Boss Terms
Sometimes, a particularly charismatic player can dominate the Boss job. To give every player a chance at the job, limit the Boss to a maximum of three rounds. At the end of the third round, even if the vote passes, the title of Boss passes to the next player, going clockwise. As a reward for being so clever, the former Boss gets a bonus of one Loot card from the top of the Loot Pile. If it's The Fuzz! card, they draw a Loot card from the top of the Loot pile for their reward. Then the game ends immediately.
Alternate Game Length
Once you are familiar with the game, feel free to randomly place The Fuzz! card into the Loot pile without first separating the pile into several parts. Place it closer to the top of the pile for a shorter game, or closer to the bottom for a longer game.
Promo Cards
Promo cards are special cards given away at game conventions, in local game stores, or available for sale at our website: http://shop.arcanewonders.com/
If you have a Promo card for the game, it may have a special ability written on it. Abilities are normally one-time, one-use abilities.
Treat these cards just like any other Loot item. They are always shuffled into the Loot Pile, never handed out at the beginning of the game. If you gain one, add it to your Stash as normal.
The text on the card tells you when you can use the ability. When you want to use it, remove the card from your Stash and reveal it to the other players. After it is used, place it to the side, out of your Stash for the rest of the game. The value still counts towards your total at the end of the game, but you can no longer use its special ability.
Note that while it is in your Stash, it can be stolen if you are Robbed! Once you have used its power and set it aside, it is out of your Stash and can no longer be stolen.
Rare Fossil (example Promo card): This card counts as $5,000 if used as a bribe. The bribed player sets it aside from their Stash to denote its $5,000 value.
Credits
- Game Design: Fabian Zimmermann
- Producer: Tom Vasel
- Art Direction: Stephen S Gibson
- Illustrations: Valerio Buonfantino
- Graphic Design: Stephen S Gibson
- Character Design: Danielle Pope and Erik Pope
- Rules: William Niebling
- Production: John Rogers
- Game Development: Bryan Pope
Special thanks to all of the Arcane Wonders playtesters: Ryan Alexander, Dr. Thomas Allen, Robert Trent Bush, Eric Egler, Tony Gullotti, Trae Lenox, Jason Medina, Colin Meller, Gene Perry, Andrew Pope, John Rogers, Tony Triguero, Jared Wolf.
From the Designer, Fabian Zimmermann:
This game was inspired by an unpublished game designed together with Daryl Findley. It was designed with the help of numerous people, particularly Gregor Zolynski, Darko Obradovic, Jochen Hirth, Reiner Hüchting, Florian Jostock, Florian Faust, Markus Koch, Corinna Christmann, Christian Weber, Daniel Grob, Klaus Geis, Haui Hauenstein, Florian Racky, Thomas Türk, Bettina Katzenberger, Manfred Keller, Benjamin, Martin Schlegel, Marlis Zimmermann, Gerd Zimmermann, Lisa Zimmermann, Bengt Autzen, Mathias Alt, Christian Opperer, Till Meyer, Christwart Conrad, Daniel Grob, Schattenspieler, Björn Bludau, Sebastian Becker, Sebastian Haberstock, Johannes Ruttmann, Marcel Markovic, Christian Reich, Oliver Maschino, Matthias Öhler, Aaron Haag, Peter Ratschiller, Ferdinand Schnitzler, Markus Hagenauer, Thorsten John, Werner Schmitt, Timo Linker, Thomas Werner, and many others who have tested the game or helped in any other way.