King Thief Minister Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Parts
• Game Setup
• Character Abilities
• How to Play
• Characters' Act
• About Peasant
• Challenging
• End Game
• Tips

Game Parts

• 30 coins
• 6 Character cards: King, Thief, Minister, Executioner, Sheriff, Peasant
• 2 instruction cards
• Rulebook

Game Setup

1. Preparing treasury: Put the coins in treasury located in the center of the table. In 6 player game, put all coins in treasury. We need 25 coins for 5 players, 20 for 4 players and 15 for 3 players.
2. Each player takes 3 coins.
3. Shuffle the cards and give a card to every player. The player with King is the start player.
4. The start player shuffles the cards again and puts all 6 cards around the table in 6 "spots" face down.
5. As the game goes on, cards change position and nobody owns a specific card. Each player has a spot and the cards move between the spots. Each player can use the card in his spot each turn.
   • In 6 player game, every spot belongs to a player.
   • In 5 player game, one of the spots has no owner and the card in that spot never plays by anyone.
   • In 4 player game, there are 2 spots in the front with no player.
   • In 3 player game, there is an empty spot between every 2 players.

The rulebook shows diagrams of the card layout for 3, 4 and 5 players.

6. Each player can look at one card (except the card in his own spot) and the start player starts the game.

Character Abilities

Executioner: He can take all coins from a player if he can guess her card correctly. The executioner points to a card (with a player in its spot) and guesses the character. The player in the spot should check her card. If executioner was right, he takes all her coins, and if not he doesn't get anything.

Sheriff: Says "Pay Tax" and all players should pay one coin to the treasury. As sheriff doesn't pay tax, he chooses one player and says "You pay 2" and that player should pay one more coin.

Peasant: Peasant is the only character that should show his card. Then he should name all the cards one by one: "King, Thief, Minister, and Executioner" and show the cards. If he can guess correctly, takes all the coins remaining in treasury.

How to Play

Each player performs one action each turn. Turns move clockwise, starting with the start player.

When it is your turn, do one of the following actions:

1. Pay one coin and see the card in your spot. If a player wants to see his card and does not have a coin to pay, every other player takes a coin from treasury and he can perform his action. There should be enough coins in treasury.
2. Move the cards.
   • By saying "to right" every card moves to the spot in its right (rotates counterclockwise).
   • By saying "to left" every card moves to the spot in its left (rotates clockwise).
   • By saying "to front" every card goes to the spot in the front of the player (which means the 3rd card from the left or the right).
3. Claim a character and act.

Characters' Act

• King: The player who claims that the card in his spot is King, says "Who is the minister?" and takes 3 coins from treasury. If any player claims she is the Minister, says "Yes Sir" and takes one coin.
• Minister: She can take any 2 cards and shuffle them aboveboard or under the table and put them back. She can choose any 2 cards even the card in her own spot.
• Thief: Takes one coin from the player in his right and one coin from his left. If any of them is out of coin, takes from the treasury instead.

About Peasant

The player who claims Peasant card must return 2 coins to treasury as a penalty if he makes a mistake (on his card or other players' cards). In this case the cards go face down and the game continues.

If the player made the mistake and had only one coin, pays his coin to treasury and other players take one coin from treasury.

In particular, if he is out of coin, every other player takes 2 coins from treasury. At first the player in his right-hand takes one coin, and this goes on counterclockwise and each player takes a coin from treasury. This will continue one more round until everyone takes 2 coins or treasury becomes empty.

Challenging

The game is based on players claiming their cards. Their claim may be right or wrong. When a player claims his card, other players can challenge him. In this case, the pretender gives his card face down to the challenger. The challenger sees the card undercover and gives it back to him. If the pretender was right, the challenger should pay one coin to treasury. But if the pretender was wrong, there is no penalty for him and he only misses his turn.

End Game

The game ends when treasury becomes empty. The player with the most coins wins the game.

Tips

• If two or more players want to challenge a player, the player in the right-hand of the pretender (whose turn comes later) takes the priority.
• If a player is out of coins and should pay coin to treasury, every other player takes a coin from treasury instead. They start from his right side and go counterclockwise.
• If the number of coins are less than the players, the game ends when the last coin is taken.
• If 2 players claim for Minister simultaneously, both must challenge each other. Each should look at the other pretender's card, and each player who had a false claim should pay one coin to treasury.
• If you are out of coins, you shouldn't pay tax.