Intrigue Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Turn Structure
  • Phase 1: Collect Income
  • Phase 2: Welcome and Expel Rival Advisors
  • Resolving Conflicts
  • Order for Welcoming and Expelling Advisors
    • I. The active player places the advisors that are in no conflict
    • II. The active player deals with the external conflicts
    • III. The active player settles the internal conflicts
  • Phase 3: Present 2 Advisors
• Turn Summary
• End of the Game

Components

• 1 Island: illustrated on the inside of the box lid.
• 5 Castles: 1 orange, 1 black, 1 white, 1 blue, and 1 green.
• 40 Advisors in the colors of the 5 castles — that is, 2 chemists, 2 writers, 2 doctors, and 2 clergy per color.
• 150 bills in total, in 3 denominations: 1000, 5000, and 10000 ducats — that is, 50 of each.

Setup

Each player chooses a color, takes the matching castle and advisors, and places them face up in front of them.

With fewer than 5 players, set aside the castles and advisors that are not used.

The box lid is turned over so that the island illustrated on its inside sits in the middle of the play area. The bills are placed next to the island and form the bank.

At the start of the game, each player receives 2 bills of each denomination, for a total of 32000 ducats. This money must remain hidden throughout the game. It is possible to make change at any time during the game.

Example: 5-player setup — each player has their castle and matching advisors in front of them, with the island and bank in the center.

The most corrupt player at the table becomes the first player. If in doubt, determine it randomly.

The game can begin.

Turn Structure

On their turn, the active player must carry out 3 phases:

• Collect income,
• Welcome and expel rival advisors from their castle,
• Present 2 advisors.

At the end of these 3 phases, it is the turn of the player to their left to carry them out, and so on, until each player has performed these phases 5 times, which triggers the end of the game.

Phase 1: Collect Income

The active player receives from the bank, for each of their advisors, the amount corresponding to the value of the position they occupy in a rival castle — that is, 1000, 3000, 6000, or 10000 ducats per advisor.

Note: During the first turn of the game, players will therefore receive no income.

Example: Orange has an advisor on the 3000 position in Black's castle, and two advisors in White's castle — one on the 3000 position and the other on the 10000 position. Orange therefore receives 16000 ducats this turn.

Phase 2: Welcome and Expel Rival Advisors

The active player must decide whether or not to place the advisors presenting themselves in front of their castle.

Note: It is possible that no advisor is presenting itself in front of the active player's castle. In that case, this phase is skipped.

There are 3 golden rules to respect during this phase:

• Golden Rule 1: There can only be one advisor per position in a castle, for 4 advisors total per castle.
• Golden Rule 2: All advisors in the same castle must be of different types, whether they belong to the same player or not. Otherwise, there is a conflict — see Resolving Conflicts.
• Golden Rule 3: If a type of advisor is not present in the active player's castle, the active player is obligated to welcome it if it presents itself, and to place it in one of their free positions of their own choosing, whether they like it or not.

Resolving Conflicts

There is an external conflict when several advisors of the same type present themselves at the active player's castle in the same turn.

Example: Orange and Black both present a chemist advisor to White's castle. White will therefore have to resolve an external conflict when it is White's turn as active player.

There is an internal conflict when an advisor presents itself at the active player's castle and is of the same type as an advisor already present on one of that castle's positions.

Example: Orange presents a chemist advisor to White's castle, while there is already a Black chemist in White's castle. White will therefore have to resolve an internal conflict when it is White's turn as active player.

It is possible for both kinds of conflict to stack up in the same turn.

Example: Orange and Black both present a chemist advisor to White's castle, which already has a Green chemist. White will therefore have to resolve an external conflict, then an internal conflict, when it is White's turn as active player.

Example: Orange and Black both present a chemist advisor to White's castle. In addition, Orange presents a writer advisor, while there is already a Green writer in White's castle. White will therefore have to resolve an external conflict for the chemists, then an internal conflict for the writers, when it is White's turn as active player.

Order for Welcoming and Expelling Advisors

I. The active player places the advisors that are in no conflict

The players who presented advisors, starting with the one seated to the active player's left, indicate the positions they would like to occupy in the castle, then negotiate freely with its owner. Promises may be of any kind.

Example 1: "If you accept me for the 10000 position, I promise I'll place your character on 10000 too."

Example 2: "— If I give you 3000 ducats, will you place my advisor on 6000? — 5000 ducats minimum, and you'll be on the 6000 position. — OK, 5000 ducats it is!"

If it is a bribe, the offering player announces and immediately pays the amount in question to the active player once the active player has accepted it. A player cannot promise an amount they do not have.

Special case: If a player finds themselves without any money at some point during the game, the bank pays a bribe of 1000 ducats to the active player on that player's behalf for the negotiation.

In addition, during negotiations, it is possible to combine promises and bribes.

It is, however, impossible to revise this amount, upward or downward, once payment has been made. After listening to the requests for positions and collecting the bribes, the active player places the advisors in their castle exactly as they please, while respecting the golden rules described previously.

Note: As a reminder, no promise carries any obligation to be kept! Of course, the other players may discuss, argue, and threaten the active player to try to make them honor — or not honor — their promises.

Example: In this example, only Green's clergy advisor is in no conflict. Green offers White 3000 ducats to be placed on the 6000 position. White asks for 5000 ducats, and Green accepts. White collects the 5000 ducats, then finally places Green's clergy advisor on the 1000 position, delighting in the dirty trick. Green will remember this.

II. The active player deals with the external conflicts

In the same way as described above, a new round of negotiation begins to determine which of the advisors will enter the castle. If several external conflicts exist, the active player resolves them, type by type, in an order of their choosing.

Example: White must now handle the chemist conflict between Orange and Black. Orange offers to be installed on the 3000 position in exchange for a good position when White's turn comes, plus 1000 ducats. White collects the 1000 ducats immediately. Black offers 3000 ducats for White to place Black's token on the 6000 position. White collects the 3000 ducats. After thinking it over, White chooses Black's chemist and places it on 6000.

III. The active player settles the internal conflicts

Still in the same way, a third round of negotiation begins to decide whether or not the active player replaces the advisor already in place in their castle. The threatened player, whose advisor is already in the castle, may also take part in the negotiation to keep their place, since nothing is guaranteed.

If several internal conflicts must be resolved, the active player starts with the 1000 position, then the 3000 position, then the 6000 position, and finally finishes with the 10000 position. It is possible to have all 4 internal conflicts during the same turn.

Note: When an advisor is replaced, the newcomer must take that advisor's exact place. It therefore cannot be placed on another position in the castle.

Example: Finally, White must handle the writer conflict between Orange and Green. Orange repeats its earlier offer: a good position when White's turn comes, plus 1000 ducats. White collects the 1000 ducats. Green offers nothing, at its own risk. White decides to keep Green, despite Orange's bribe. Perhaps White wanted to make up for the previous move with the clergy advisor?

All advisors that were not welcomed this turn are exiled (set aside) on the island and will remain there until the end of the game! A player can therefore lose money to bribes, but can also lose one or more advisors in the same turn, which is truly unfortunate...

Note: The only way to expel an advisor is to replace it with another character of the same type during an internal conflict. It is therefore never possible to expel an advisor without a conflict.

Phase 3: Present 2 Advisors

The active player chooses 2 advisors from among those still in front of them, identical or different, and places them in front of the rival castles where they wish to present themselves. They may perfectly well place both advisors in front of the same player's castle (though placing 2 identical advisors in front of the same player's castle is entirely pointless, per Golden Rule 2, see Turn Structure).

Note: Since each player only has 8 advisors, and must place 2 each turn, this phase is skipped on the 5th turn of the game.

Reminder: As soon as the active player has carried out their 3 phases in order, it is the next player's turn.

Turn Summary

• Phase 1: the active player receives a sum corresponding to the positions occupied by their advisors in rival castles.
• Phase 2: the active player resolves the welcoming and expulsion of rival advisors.
• Phase 3: the active player places 2 of their own advisors of their choice in front of rival castles.

Then it is the next player's turn.

End of the Game

After the 5 turns of play, each player carries out the income phase one last time. As a reminder, on the first turn no player had any advisor placed, so no income was collected. By carrying out this phase after the 5th turn, there will have been a total of 5 income phases.

The player who has accumulated the most money wins.

In case of a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Warning: Given all these possible and (un)imaginable betrayals, everyone who took part in producing this edition disclaims all responsibility for any resulting disputes, nervous breakdowns, or ruptured friendships or romances, and other consequent inconveniences.

As a reminder, this is only a game!

Betray to succeed, certainly — but don't forget that good accounts make good friends!