Logo Billionaire Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Apprentice Rules: Quick Start
  • Getting Ready to Play
  • Board Icons Explained
  • Playing a Turn
  • What is a Company?
  • Launching a Company
  • Winning
• The Apprentice Rules in Detail
  • Getting Ready to Play
  • Playing a Turn
  • Launching a Company
  • Finding the Value of Your Company with the Risky Business (RB) Deck
  • Using the Risky Business Deck
  • Winning
  • How Risky Do You Want to Get? - Bull Market or Bear Market
• Executive Rules: Quick Start
  • Getting Ready to Play
  • On the Up / Newsflash Cards
  • On The Up Brands
  • Newsflash
  • Takeover
  • Taking Over a Company
  • Winning
• The Executive Rules in Detail
  • Getting Ready to Play
  • Playing Board Icons
  • Takeover Bids
  • ON THE UP Brands
  • Newsflash
  • Winning
• Hints and Tips
• Components

Apprentice Rules: Quick Start

Getting Ready to Play

1. Put coloured Brand card sets on matching board spaces - Brand side up.
2. Take one of each coloured Brand card per player, shuffle and deal (six cards each) then lay out the Brands cards on the table face up, arranged by colour.
3. Each pick an Incorporation certificate at random and take its playing piece.
4. Put your playing piece on any playing space near you.
5. Each player gets 50M from the bank.

Board Icons Explained

1. PICK UP ONE: Only pick up ONE Brand card of this space's colour.
2. TRADE: Player can buy (for 30M) OR swap ONE Brand card that he chooses from each other player. Do this in any order; with everyone, just a few or no-one.
3. DO NOT USE Takeover disks and On The Up / Newsflash cards in this game.

Playing a Turn

1. Spin and move.
2. Pick up two Brand cards of that space's colour (one on a PICK UP ONE).
3. Follow the Icon instructions (see above).
4. Launch a company (see below).

What is a Company?

1. Three or more same-coloured Brand cards form a company.
2. You can add to these from picked-up or traded cards during the game.

Launching a Company

1. Use Risky Business (RB) cards to decide a company's value. Person to player's right ALWAYS shuffles before each use and holds cards number side down for player.
2. Player turns over one at a time. Stop when you want.
3. BEWARE: an RB BUST card makes your company worth nothing.
4. RB cards add up to give the value of each Brand card in your company.
5. Multiply number of Brand cards in the company by total RB value.
6. Take this money from the bank.
7. After launch or BUST, put company's Brand cards back under their board pile.

Winning

The first player to reach one billion (10 X 100M) wins!

The Apprentice Rules in Detail

Getting Ready to Play

• Put the Brand Card sets (brand side up) on their matching coloured spaces on the board.
• Don't use the Newsflash and Takeover icon spaces in the Apprentice Game.
• There are six Brand Card sets each with its own colour: Snacks (orange), Sweets (purple), Home (blue), Grocery (green), Chilled (yellow), Cars (red).
• Each player is dealt six cards as follows: From each of the six Brand card sets on the board, pick up the same number of cards as there are players. For example: for four players take four cards from each of the six Brand card sets (24 cards in total).
• Shuffle and deal these cards. Each player lays out their Brand cards face-up in front of them, grouped by colour - so players can all see each other's brands.
• Lay out the board and put the spinner through the middle.
• Appoint a Banker who puts the money in the slots in the plastic tray.
• Lay out all of the Certificates of Incorporation - print side down. All the players pick one at random and take the corresponding playing piece (e.g. Dragon Industries plays with the Dragon).
• Each player puts their piece on any board space near them.
• Each player gets 50 million from the bank.
• The youngest player goes first and play moves to the left.

Playing a Turn

1. Spin a number and move your playing piece clockwise round the board.
2. Always pick up TWO Brand cards of the colour you land on from the category piles on the board (unless you land on a ONE CARD space). For example: if you land on a red playing space with any icon (other than ONE CARD) pick up two red Car Brand cards.
3. If you land on a TRADE space, first pick up two cards of the colour you have landed on; then you can trade or buy one Brand card from each other player. If you BUY a card you must pay the player 30 million for it. If you SWAP you must trade one of your own cards for the Brand card you have chosen. The other player MUST give you the exact card you ask for. You can trade with all, some or none of the other players.
4. If you land on a TAKEOVER or NEWSFLASH space ignore the icon, but take two brand cards as normal from the coloured category piles on the board.
5. Finally decide if you want to launch a company. You can only launch ONE company per turn.

Launching a Company

1. A company is THREE (or more) Brand cards from the same category.
2. You can add more Brand cards from the same category to your company during the game as you pick up cards and trade with other players.
3. You can have as many companies laid out in front of you as you want - but you don't make any money until you launch a company.

Finding the Value of Your Company with the Risky Business (RB) Deck

You decide the value of your company by taking as many RISKY BUSINESS (RB) cards as you want until you decide to stop or you draw a BUST card.

Each Brand card in your company is worth the total value of the RB cards you have taken.

For example: if you take three RB cards worth 10, 20 and 30 million, each Brand card in your company is worth (10+20+30=) 60 million. If your company consists of three Brand cards, it is worth a total of 60 million X 3 cards = 180 million.

Using the Risky Business Deck

• To use the Risky Business cards the player to your right always SHUFFLES the deck then holds it out value side down for you to take the top card. You must take at LEAST one card. If you touch a card you must take it. You can chose to go on taking cards, adding more and more to the value of each Brand BUT if you get a BUST card your company is worth nothing and your turn is over.
• When you have risked as much as you want to, without going BUST, calculate the value of your company (as described in the last example) and withdraw that money from the bank.
• Whether you successfully launch your company OR you go BUST put the company's Brand cards back at the bottom of their Brand pile on the board.

Winning

The first player to make a billion (10 X 100 million) wins.

How Risky Do You Want to Get? - Bull Market or Bear Market

To reflect the real market which is sometimes good (bull-ish) and sometimes bad (bear-ish) you can chose to play with either the full Risky Business deck which is more 'bullish' (1:9 Bust cards) or you can make the game a little more 'bearish' by removing three 10M cards from the deck - and so changing the odds (1:8 Busts), but increasing your chances of drawing higher value cards. It's your call!

Executive Rules: Quick Start

The Executive rules complete the game adding more strategy and interaction between the players. Newsflashes affect everyone with good or bad news. 'On The Up' brands highlight the importance of individual brands by increasing the launch value of companies containing them. Takeovers make everyone more aware of what their opponents are holding - if another player CAN take over your new company, they probably will!

Getting Ready to Play

Put the On the Up / Newsflash cards and Takeover disks on the playing board.

On the Up / Newsflash Cards

These are double sided cards with a newsflash on one side and a list of brands on the other that are being very successful at the moment.

On The Up Brands

ON THE UP Brands are the list on the top card of the Newsflash pile, It changes every time a Newsflash card is taken. The listed Brands double the value of their Brand cards when included in a company launch - ONLY when they're on top of the pile.

Newsflash

NEWSFLASH: news that changes the value of certain brands and categories, also includes auctions of Brand cards.

Takeover

TAKEOVER: On this icon pick up a TAKEOVER disk. You can only have one at a time.

Taking Over a Company

1. When a company is being launched, any player with a Takeover disk and one (or more) cards of the launch company's category can try a Takeover.
2. First to shout 'TAKEOVER' gets to try a takeover.
3. Takeover-player (challenger) spins a number then company-launcher spins.
4. They add their spin number to the number of launch company category cards they each have (remembering to count the On The Up brands as two).
5. The highest total wins the launch company category cards from the loser.
6. Spin again if a draw.
7. If the company-launcher wins, he launches immediately. If the challenger wins, he launches during one of his later turns.

Winning

WINNING remains the same - the first to a BILLION wins!

The Executive Rules in Detail

Getting Ready to Play

Set up is the same as for the Apprentice Game - you also put the TAKEOVER disks and the ON THE UP/NEWSFLASH deck on their board spaces. The ON THE UP/NEWSFLASH deck is laid out with the ON THE UP multi-coloured list of eight brand names facing up for all to see.

Playing Board Icons

Now you will use all the board icons including:

TAKEOVER disks: When you land on this icon pick up a TAKEOVER disk from the pile on the board and place it on your Certificate of Incorporation. You keep this disk until you decide to make a takeover bid. You can only hold ONE Takeover disk at a time.

ON THE UP / NEWSFLASH cards: When you land on this icon pick up an ON THE UP/ NEWSFLASH card. This has a NEWS FLASH on one side and ON THE UP brands listed on the other (always facing up on the pile).

• ON THE UP brands are doing particularly well at the moment. They increase the value of companies containing them but only while they appear on top of the On The Up/Newsflash pile.
• NEWSFLASHES are current events that can make or cost several players some money.

Takeover Bids

• Anyone who has a TAKEOVER disk and who also has one or more Brand cards in the same category as a company being launched can try to take over that company.
• To do this a player (the challenger) has to shout out, 'TAKEOVER' as soon as the other player (whose turn it is) announces that they are going to launch a company. If more than one player wants to try a takeover the one who shouts 'TAKEOVER' first gets to try. Only one person per turn can try a takeover.
• The launcher and the challenger each spin a number (challenger first). Each adds their spinner number to the number of cards they hold of the company's category (if one of the brands is currently 'On The Up' that brand card counts as two). The highest total wins all the cards of that category held by both players.
• For example: if the current player wants to launch a 4-card Car company (4 red cards) and he spins a 3 - his total is 4 cards + 3 spin = 7. If the challenger has 2 Car cards and he spins a 3 then he has a total of 5. 7 beats 5 so the challenger has to give the player his Car cards which brings the player's total of Car cards up to 6.
• If the launching player wins, he now launches the company immediately. If the challenger wins he must wait until one of his turns to launch. In a draw, spin again until one player wins.
• Put the Takeover disk back on its board pile after use.

ON THE UP Brands

• 'ON THE UP' brands double the value of their Brand cards in any company launched, but ONLY while they are showing on top of the NEWSFLASH pile on the board.
• For example: A player wants to launch a 3-card Snack company (3 orange cards) he checks the top card on the On the Up /Newsflash pile to see if one of the Snacks in his company is on the current list of 'On The Up' brands. If it is, then that brand card is worth double the Risky Business value. So the 3 Snack Brand company will be valued at 4X the Risky Business value (1+1+2). If he has 2 'On The Up' Snack brands in his 3-card company then the company will be valued at 5X the Risky Business value (1+2+2).
• The moment someone picks up a Newsflash card, the ON THE UP brands change to the Brands listed on the new top card.
• ALWAYS place the used Newsflash card at the bottom of the Newsflash pile.

Newsflash

When a player lands on a Newsflash icon he picks up a Newsflash card and reads out the newsflash. All players must now do what the card dictates. If an auction is held, players can bid in any order until one player outbids the others. Each bid must be higher than the last - a 'draw' is not possible.

Winning

WINNING remains the same - the first to a BILLION wins!

Hints and Tips

• In Risky Business you can be unlucky and get a BUST card as your first pick - however in general 2 or 3 Risky Business cards is reasonably safe; 4 or 5 is getting pretty risky and more than 6 has a strong chance of a BUST card coming up.
• There are two main strategies when launching companies. First: launch as soon as you have three brands in a category, and second: build a company with a lot more cards - say 6 or 8, so that you can make a great deal of money in one launch. Of course you could do all that work - then draw a BUST card!
• Before you launch a company - check if anyone else has a Takeover disk AND several cards of the same category. You might want to wait and build up another company until that person gets rid of either the cards or the Takeover disk.
• If you have an ON THE UP Brand card - use it as soon as you can because it will stop being worth double as soon as the next player lands on a NEWSFLASH space.
• Early in the game launch a couple of companies as soon as you can to build up some cash for Auctions (which can happen with Newsflash cards).
• Trading is great for building up the number of cards in one of your companies ... but remember you can also use the trade space to take important cards from other players and spoil their plans.

Components

• Playing Board & Spinner
• 6 Playing Pieces
• 96 Brand Cards
• 27 Risky Business Cards
• 24 Newsflash Cards
• 102 Bank Notes
• 6 Takeover Tokens
• 6 Owner Certificates