Kapital!
Kapital! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Player Count, Playing Time and Goal
- Number of players: 2 to 5
- Playing time: 45 to 60 minutes
- Goal of the game: try to undermine the mechanisms of social domination in order to win the class war.
The Four Types of Kapital
Great wealth is made of financial capital, of course, but not only that. Belonging to the dominant class means having a lot of money and also holding a large amount of cultural capital: from a young age, culture is passed on through family relationships (friends in prestigious professions, film directors, musicians, painters), visits to museums, trips to the opera, the family's art collections, and also selective schools and the grandes écoles that open the doors of power.
- Financial Kapital: money.
- Social Kapital: the relationships that the dominant (bankers, shareholders, press owners, politicians) maintain among themselves.
- Cultural Kapital: the culture inherited through family and education.
- Symbolic Kapital: the social prestige that comes from a name, a title, a function, a fine address. It shows that the other forms of wealth are there without even needing to be displayed.
These four types of Kapital feed on and reinforce one another.
Setup
- Separate the "Dominants" cards and the "Dominés" cards. Shuffle each deck and place them on the board at their dedicated spaces.
- Cut out and assemble the figurines.
- Sort the Kapital bills by type: financial, social, cultural and symbolic.
Assigning Roles
Just as chance decides whether you are born into a wealthy family or a disadvantaged neighbourhood, a die roll decides whether you play the game in the role of a member of the dominant class or of the dominated class.
A social class is a group of people who live and work in the same way, who are aware of belonging to the same group, and who organise in solidarity to defend their common interests. It is the place one occupies in society, with more or less power and wealth, that defines one's social class.
The dominant class is made up of the owners and shareholders of the banks, companies and industries in which the members of the other social classes (working classes, middle classes and upper classes) work. Put another way, the dominant do not get rich through their work, but through ours.
- Each player rolls the die. The player who rolls the highest number is the dominant player. In case of a tie, the tied players roll again. All other players are dominated players.
- Each player chooses a figurine and places it on the "Départ" (Start) space.
Start of the Game
Each player receives their starting stock of Kapital:
- The dominant player starts with 50 K of each type of Kapital.
- The other players start with 10 K of each type of Kapital.
Attention!
- The dominant player always goes first: privilege one day, privilege always!
- As in real life, the rich always hold the bank.
- A player cannot have a negative amount of Kapital. If you run out of bills, you keep playing and moving forward; you do not accumulate debts, but you can no longer take part in money exchanges until you recover Kapital during the game.
Course of Play
The first player rolls the die and moves forward the number of spaces shown on the board. If the die shows a 6, the player rolls again and moves forward again. Once the player comes to rest on a space, they draw a card from the deck that matches their social class (dominant or dominated). They read the card's text aloud, and the players carry out the requested action. Do not forget to also read aloud the sociological commentary provided by Monique and Michel.
The card that has been played is set aside. If all the cards are used up, shuffle the set-aside cards and form a new deck.
Attention! If a dominated player and a dominant player stop on the same space, the dominant player gives the dominated player 10 K of symbolic Kapital.
Special Spaces
When a player lands on a special space, they do not draw an action card. Instead, all players are affected as follows:
- Révolution (Revolution): all players' Kapital bills are placed in the centre, counted, and redistributed equally among the players. If some Kapital cannot be divided equally, the remainder goes to the dominant player.
- Grève générale (General Strike): the dominated players stop producing and enriching the dominant player! The dominant player passes their turn (too busy negotiating to solve the problem) and loses 30 points of financial Kapital.
- Tous ensemble (All Together): class solidarity is a powerful weapon. Thanks to this alliance space, each dominated player may demand from the dominant player 2 bills of Kapital of their choice.
- Prison: if a dominated player lands on this space, they stay there and pass their turn. In the same case, the dominant player must pay an exorbitantly priced lawyer and does not pass their turn. They will, however, lose 20 K of financial Kapital (the price of their star barrister) and 10 K of symbolic Kapital.
End of the Game
The game ends when a player reaches (or passes) the "Arrivée" (Finish) space. To determine the winner, the points are counted as follows:
| Category | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrivée (Finish) | 5 points | 0 points | 0 points | 0 points | 0 points |
| Financial Kapital | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point | 0 points |
| Social Kapital | 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
| Cultural Kapital | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point | 0 points |
Record the final scores on a score sheet such as this one:
| Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrivée points | |||||
| Financial Kapital points | |||||
| Social Kapital points | |||||
| Cultural Kapital points | |||||
| Symbolic Kapital points |
Attention!
- In case of a tie between a dominated player and the dominant player, the dominant player is declared the winner (well tried, but not enough to dethrone the dominant!).
- If several dominated players are tied, the winner is the one who has accumulated the largest sum, across all types of Kapital combined.
And After?
If you want to play another game, the player who has just won becomes the dominant player and starts the new game keeping the fortune already accumulated. The other players must return all their Kapital to the bank and start the new game with the initial amounts planned for the lower classes, without complaint.
The dominant classes form true family dynasties that pass down their financial, cultural, social and symbolic heritage from generation to generation. Their success therefore owes far less to merit than to the privileges they enjoy from birth, which the other social classes do not have.