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In Vino Morte

In Vino Morte Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

  • Components
  • Objective
  • Setup
  • Turn Order
    • Drink
    • Swap
  • Round End
  • End of Game
  • Credits
  • Variant: Caseus Vitae
    • Setup
    • How to Play

Components

  • 9 Wine cards
  • 9 Poison cards

Objective

Be the last player alive.

Setup

Choose one player to be the dealer.

If you can't decide who among you should be the dealer, you probably shouldn't be drinking a glass of wine, poison, or otherwise.

The dealer takes all 16 cards, looks at them, then chooses and places one face-down card in front of each player (including themself).

The dealer must place at least one Wine card and at least one Poison card each round.

Players may not look at their own cards.

Any unused cards are set aside, face-down.

The player to the dealer's left goes first.

Turn Order

Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player will choose to Drink or to Swap.

Drink

If they choose to drink, they flip over their card.

If it's a bottle of Wine, they survive to play the next round.

If it's a bottle of Poison, they die and are out of the game.

Swap

If they choose to swap, they swap their card with any other player who has a face-down card.

Both of these cards remain face-down.

Round End

Play continues clockwise until every player, except the dealer, has taken a turn.

When it's the dealer's turn, every player who hasn't drunk flips over their own card.

Anyone who reveals the Poison dies and is out of the game.

All cards are collected and all surviving players play another round. The surviving player to the dealer's right becomes the new dealer.

End of Game

Keep playing until only one player remains. That player is the winner.

Credits

Design: Chris Anderson Art: Ben Toz © 2018 Button Shy Games

Rules questions? Visit buttonshygames.com for answers and variant rules.

Variant: Caseus Vitae

Cheese cards, printed and packaged alongside the base game, add a wrinkle to who lives and who dies.

Setup

Include a number of Cheese cards based on the number of players in the current round.

  • 2 players = 0 cheese
  • 3-4 players = 0-1 cheese
  • 5-6 players = 0-2 cheese
  • 7+ players = 0-3 cheese

How to Play

When you deal out the cards, you may also deal out Cheese cards to whomever you choose.

Each player normally receives one covered glass, and some players may also receive a Cheese card.

During a turn, a player may Drink or Swap glasses normally, or choose to steal the cheese from another player instead.

Players cannot give away cheese, or have more than one cheese at a time.

When you drink, if you have cheese, the results of your drink are reversed: the Wine will kill you and the Poison will not.