Igor: The Life of the Party
Igor: The Life of the Party Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
Get the most Malarians by winning tricks and catching rule-breakers.
Quick Play
- Each game is played in a series of HANDs, each hand consists of 7 TRICKs.
- At the beginning of each hand, the dealer adds (or removes) a RULE.
- Left of the Dealer starts the first trick; each player must FOLLOW SUIT if possible, else play any card.
- The trick is won by the highest card.
- The winner of each trick gets 3 MALARIANs and starts the next trick.
- If at any time during the hand, any player breaks a RULE, they have to GIVE 1 MALARIAN to whoever catches them!
- At the end of the hand, the player(s) who won the most tricks may ADD or REMOVE a RULE.
- The game is over when each player has been the dealer once.
- The player with the MOST MALARIANS WINS.
Set Up
Each player is given ten 10 Malarians, (1 (5) and 5 (1)'s) to start with, to be kept in full view of the other players. The remaining Malarians (M's) are placed in a common pile in the center of the table within reach of all players. Shuffle the completed Rule Cards, (i.e. those that aren't blank) into the Rule Deck. Deal two Rule Cards face up and read the rules aloud. These will be the starting rules and they (along with the rule that the Dealer chooses) will be in effect for the first hand.
The remaining rules in the Rule Deck are not in play and aren't enforced. Set the Rule Deck to one side. Once everyone has had a chance to read and understand the starting rules, turn them over, face-down. No one may look at these rules again until the hand is over. One person should be chosen at random as the first dealer, and play begins.
The Play
IGOR is played in a series of hands, each hand consisting of seven tricks. The number of hands played determines the length of the game. We suggest one hand for each person playing, so that everyone has a chance to be the dealer once. You should determine the number of hands you will be playing before starting the game; the more hands played, the longer the game will be.
#1. Dealer Adds or Removes a Rule
Before each hand, the dealer may add or remove a rule from those in play. If he wishes to add a rule, the dealer looks at the top three rules from the Rule deck and chooses one. He must show the new rule to the other players, read it aloud, and make sure everyone understands what it means. Then he places it face-down with the other rules currently in play; the two rules not chosen are shuffled back into the rule deck and the Rule deck is set aside.
If the dealer wishes to remove a rule, he announces to the other players which rule will be removed and then looks through the in-play rules and discards the rule in question.
#2. Dealer Deals Out the Hand
After a rule has been added or removed, the dealer shuffles the 100 card deck and deals seven cards to each player. Then play begins.
#3. Basic Rules of Play
Cards are played as in most trick-taking card games, meaning:
- The person to the left of the dealer leads the first card of the first trick, and play continues to the left. (A trick will contain one card played by each player in the game)
- Each player must play the suit led, unless they have no more cards of that suit, in which case they may play any card in their hand.
- The highest card NOT of the suit led wins, unless no cards are played out-of-suit, in which case the highest in-suit card wins. Nine is the highest number; zero the lowest.
- The winner of the trick collects the trick and places it face-down in front of his table position, so that everyone can see how many tricks have been won and by whom.
- The winner of the trick leads the next trick.
- The hand is complete when all seven tricks have been played.
Illustration caption (rulebook cover spread): "Players 3 and 5 cannot follow suit, and since Player 5's 9 is the highest card not of the suit led, Player 5 wins the trick."
However, some rules for playing the hand are specific to IGOR:
- If two or more of the exact same value cards are played, the FIRST played wins.
- EX: If bones are led, and a 7 of bones has been played, and then someone plays a 7 of lightning, the 7 of lightning wins. Further, if 7 bones, 7 lightning, 7 dynamite, the first 7 lightning wins.
- When you win a trick, you immediately take 3M's from the common pile.
- Play should continue at a reasonable pace. If a player is taking too long to play, the Dealer may penalize that player 1M (to be placed in the common pile).
- As soon as the first card is played to the first trick, the rule cards are then in effect: players may now be penalized for breaking the rules (see Breaking the Rules below for details).
- The Rule Cards continue to be in effect until after the last card of the last trick is played, at which point the rules are suspended until the beginning of the next hand.
#4. Winner(s) Add or Remove Rule(s)
When the hand is complete, the player who won the most tricks may add or remove a rule, in the same way that the dealer was able to at the beginning of the hand.
If there is a tie for most tricks won, all of the players who tied may add or remove one Rule card each.
Neither the winner nor the next dealer may remove a rule that has just been added, i.e. one that's not been played for at least one hand. Similarly, you may add a rule that has already been removed during the game so far, as long as it has been out of play for at least one full hand.
#5. Winning the Game
The game is over when you have played the number of hands agreed to at the outset of the game. At that point, the player with the most Malarians is the winner.
Breaking the Rules
When, during a hand, a player breaks a rule on a Rule card currently in play, the first player to announce the error ("You forgot to say Pull the Switch!") is given 1 M from the rule-breaker's own pile of Malarians. Rule-breakers with zero Malarians pay nothing. Play then continues with as little interruption as possible. If more than one other player announces the error at the same time, the rule-breaker must decide who was first and give that player 1M. The rule-breaker has final say in this matter.
If a player is falsely accused of breaking a rule (e.g., the "Pull the Switch!" rule was replaced after the last hand and is no longer in play), then the accuser must put 1M into the common pile as a penalty.
Policing Yourself
If you break a rule and you yourself are the first to catch it, you may announce that you broke the rule and put one of your Malarians into the common pile in the center. You still lose 1M, but at least you don't have to give it to another player.
Rules and Timing
Players must be given time to perform any actions necessary to stay within the rules; accusers should generally wait until the next game action (e.g., the next card being played) before announcing that a rule has been broken. If a player is accused just as she's about to perform the action, neither the player nor the accuser is penalized.
Rule-breaking accusations must be made within a reasonable time after the rule is broken.
If you break a rule and it goes unnoticed, no penalty is paid.
Rule Disputes
If penalties can be worked out without stopping the game, they should be. The game is much more fun if you don't spend a lot of time arguing about who did what when. However, if there is a dispute, a vote of the non-involved players may be held; dealer breaks any ties.
Note that many Rule cards have pictures to help show examples of what that Rule applies to. However, there may be other instances of images on the cards that also apply to each rule beyond the examples shown. So remember, the rule may apply to images that show up as the suit of each card as well as whatever is in the picture on each card.
For example – The rule that states if any Lightning is on the card would apply to any card of the lightning suit as well as any card where lightning shows up in the picture.
Optional Rules
- Use the blank cards to make up your own rule cards.
- Play with 10 cards per person instead of 7. Each hand will last a bit longer but you will have more chances to win tricks and more chances to break rules.
Transcription Notes
- The text of the 33 pre-filled Rule Cards is printed on the physical cards, not in this rulebook, so it is not reproduced here. The rulebook describes how Rule Cards are added, removed and enforced.
- The Set Up sentence "ten 10 Malarians, (1 (5) and 5 (1)'s)" is reproduced exactly as printed in the source; the parenthetical appears to describe the coin mix (1 five-M coin and 5 one-M coins) but the source does not say so explicitly.