Manipulate Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• The Board
• Seize Power and Claim Victory
• Setting up the Game
• Timings
• Character Bio and Super Favours
• Taking Your Turn
  • 1. Income Phase
  • 2. Action Phase
    • Set up new Ventures (Optional)
    • Make deals with other players (Optional)
    • Play Favours (Optional)
    • Favour combinations
    • Skeletons
    • Bankruptcy
    • Jail
    • Burn unwanted cards (Optional)
    • Adjust the Road to Power (When necessary)
  • 3. Restock Phase
• Final Round
  • End Game Draw
  • Hard Mode
• Rules Summary

Overview

You are power-hungry and trying to make it in the big city. But watch out, everyone else has their own agenda too.

Your goal is to have the most "Power" at the end of the game.

Successful people don't make it to the top by playing nice. Make deals to profit. Make deals to get an edge. You can make any deal from loaning money at sky-scraping interest rates, to trading Ventures, to agreeing ceasefires. Be creative with your deals.

The only things you can't trade are Power, "Skeletons" and "Super Favours".

Power is gained by:

• Setting up Business Ventures, with bonus Power for those aligned to your Character Bio.
• Stockpiling cash (£100k = 1 Power at the end of the game).
• Playing specific Favour cards.

Power can be lost if your Skeletons are uncovered, if you are attacked with Favours, or if you go bankrupt.

Components

• 1 Board
• 1 Dice
• 1 Turn Counter
• 12 Power Counters
• 6 Turn Guides
• 1 Rule book
• 87 Ventures
• 90 Favours
• 39 Skeletons
• 12 Super Favours
• 6 Character Bios
• 120 Punchboard coins

The Board

The board has 3 sections:

1. The Road to Power – A Power tracker inside the city skyline to help you keep track of who is in the lead. You use one counter for the inside ring and one for the outer ring once you get 10 Power or more. For example, if you were on 17 you would have a counter on 7 and a counter on 10.

   If you are shrewd enough to get over a hundred, put your outer Power Counter on its side and go round the board again.

2. Turn Tracker – Keep count of the turn number as you play. We recommend playing to 8 but once you know the rules you can easily adjust if you want a longer or a quick-fire game.

3. Draw piles – Create 3 draw piles for Ventures, Favours and Skeletons at the side of the board. Once cards have been played or discarded, place them at the bottom of the draw piles.

Seize Power and Claim Victory

The aim of the game is to be the player with the most Power at the end of the last round.

You each use two counters to keep track of how far along the Road to Power you are. Track Power changes from Ventures, Skeletons and Favours as you play the cards.

Cash in your hand at the end of the game is worth 1 Power per £100k.

Add Power from cash and any Character Bio bonus or Venture set bonus after the final round.

Setting up the Game

Put the board in the middle of the table and then separately shuffle each set of Ventures, Favours and Skeletons.

Each player picks a Character Bio and two Power Counters with the corresponding colour. Each player then secretly chooses from one of their character's unique Super Favours (again denoted by the Character Bio colour). For example the Media Mogul will take the two grey Power Counters, and secretly selects one grey Super Favour.

Put the remaining cash in piles to the side of the board and all remaining Favours, Skeletons and Ventures face-down in draw piles next to the board.

Deal out the following to each player:

• £300k (3 x £100k)
• 3 Favour cards (deal face-down)
• 3 Venture cards (deal face-down)
• 1 Skeleton card (deal face-down)
• 1 Double-sided Turn Guide

Players should keep their cards and money in front of them, with cards not being revealed until played. Cards and money should remain above the table at all times.

Place one of your Power Counters on zero on the Road to Power and place the red Turn Counter on 1 on the Turn Tracker. Keep the remaining Power Counter to the side of the board until you have 10 Power or more, then add it to the outer ring of the Road to Power.

Finally, players roll the dice, with the highest roll taking the first turn. Play then proceeds clockwise.

Timings

Manipulate is best played as a fast-paced game, so plan ahead as much as possible before your turn to keep the game flowing and avoid downtime for other players.

Using a timer to limit lengths of each player's turn (for example 2 minutes) can help to keep the game moving, but is not a necessity.

8 turns are recommended for a first game, but you can easily play a shorter or a longer game if you wish.

Character Bio and Super Favours

Each player has a backstory with an accompanying Super Favour which has a single use per game.

The Character Bio contains your backstory and shows which colour Ventures you should try to collect for bonus Power. The amount of bonus Power you can get is shown on one side of the Turn Guide and increases with the number of Ventures you obtain.

The Super Favour acts as a normal Favour (see page 7) which can only be played on your turn, with the only difference being that it cannot be blocked, traded or stolen.

The printed "Extra Power" card, shown alongside the Character Bio examples, reads:

At the end of the game receive extra Power for each Venture that matches your character bio.

1 Venture = 1 Power 2 Ventures = 2 Power 3 Ventures = 8 Power 4 Ventures = 12 Power 6 Ventures = 20 Power 8 Ventures = 40 Power

Also receive 1 Power for every £100k cash you have (must be a full £100k for 1 Power, e.g. £70k would equal 0 Power).

Taking Your Turn

Each turn has three phases:

1. Income Phase – collect your income.
2. Action Phase – adjust Power after each action, burn unwanted cards, set up new Ventures, play Favours, make deals with other players, extort other players.
3. Restock Phase – collect extra cards.

Note: the printed "Taking your turn" summary lists "extort other players" as an action, but this rulebook has no separate section on it; extortion is covered under the Make deals and bluffing text below.

1. Income Phase

Collect your income. On your first turn you collect only your annual salary of £100k.

On top of your annual salary, most Ventures give you extra income in the turn following setup. The black bar on a Venture card shows this annual income (£80k on the Fake News card in the example).

Some Ventures have a white bar with symbols instead. The number of symbols shows how many cards are in the set and the symbol shape shows you which set the card belongs to. Holding a set gives 2 extra Power per Venture in that set at the end of the game.

The example Fake News card shows the Venture's start-up cost in the red bar (£200k), its one-off Power increase in the red circle (10), and its annual income in the black bar (£80k). The card's flavour text reads: "Making up news is much cheaper than telling those 'true' stories."

2. Action Phase

This phase continues until you have taken all the actions you have planned. You can play as many Favours as you wish, can set up as many Ventures as you can afford and make as many deals as you need to, in any order. Adjust the Road to Power after each action.

Set up new Ventures (Optional)

There are many types of Venture which can earn you varying amounts of income per turn and will increase your Power if you have them.

To set up a Venture, pay the amount shown in the red bar to the bank. Once set up, place the card face up in front of you (no hiding), adjust the Road to Power and remember to collect extra income next turn. There is no limit to how many Ventures you can own.

Ventures with a coloured bar above the costs and income are the target of one or more Characters and will give that player extra Power at the end of the game. Any player can set up any Venture.

Cards in your hand provide no income or Power until they have been set up.

When a Venture is traded, the Power of that Venture will transfer to the receiving player. For Fake News, the seller would lose 10 Power and the buyer would gain 10 Power. If a Venture is destroyed, the owner loses the Power from that Venture immediately.

Make deals with other players (Optional)

You can make any deal you can think of, with the exception of trading Power, Skeletons or your Super Favour.

Ventures can be traded both before and after being set up. If you buy a Venture which has been set up by another player, it remains set up and the card transfers face up to you. You start to earn income from this Venture on your next turn and both players need to adjust their Power immediately.

However, if the Venture is being sold from a player's hand, which has not yet been set up, this card will transfer to your hand and you still have to pay any associated start-up costs.

When buying cards from other player's hands, you can end up with more than 3 in your own hand. However, you cannot pick up any new cards until you have less than 3 in your hand.

You don't always need a Favour to get you out of trouble. Bluffing, bribery, threats and extortion can all work equally well. After all, the game is called Manipulate.

Deals are binding and cannot be broken unless you want to play "Hard Mode", see page 9.

Play Favours (Optional)

There are 2 types of Favours you can use to manipulate other players into doing your bidding.

1. Defensive (red title) – Play at any time. These Favours cancel out another player's Favour and can be used to defend yourself, or other players, if you want to gain their trust. They do not work against Super Favours.

Example card, Restraining Order (red title): "Can't touch this. Cancel out a Favour being used by any player. Can be played at any time."

2. Offensive/Boost (black title) – Play on your turn only. These Favours damage other players by: unveiling Skeletons, reducing income, stealing cash from them or destroying/stealing their Ventures.

You can, of course, also bluff. For example, you might tell an opponent, "Give me £100k or I'll burn down your most lucrative business!", even though you don't have the Arsonist card.

Example card, Arsonist (black title): "Burn a competitor's Venture to the ground. The Venture goes to the bottom of the deck."

Favour combinations

Some Favours can be played together for interesting effects. For instance, you can play 2 tax consultant cards to get 4 times your income in the next turn (double and then double again). Favours which can be doubled have an M symbol.

This can also work against you, for example if you double your income and then someone plays a Burglar card, they will receive the doubled income.

All the combinations are not listed as it's part of the fun of learning the game to work out what can be used together.

Skeletons

If you play a Favour and it features a skeleton symbol, pick up a Skeleton card and place it face-down in front of you. You have acquired a Skeleton in your closet which can be revealed by competitors through the use of other Favours. They remain face-down in front of you until revealed by another player.

If a Skeleton is revealed, pay any fines to the bank, adjust the Road to Power and keep it face up in front of you.

Skeletons cannot be traded.

Skeletons represent the illegal or immoral activities in which you've taken part. If asked, you must say how many you have.

Bankruptcy

If a player runs out of money and cannot pay a fine or money they owe as the result of a Favour then they are in trouble, but can negotiate their way out.

Ventures and Favours can be sold to competitors – not to the bank. However, if sufficient proceeds cannot be raised, all unresolved negotiations are cancelled and the player loses 20 Power to a minimum of zero. The bank pays out to cover unresolved debts to competitors or the bank.

The player then receives £200k from the bank to help recover and will receive any income from Ventures they still own as normal on their next turn.

Jail

Some Favour cards involve sending the victim to jail. In jail, you receive half income from salary and Ventures, but can still restock at the end of your turn.

You cannot set up new Ventures and cannot play any Favours except blocking Favours, which can be played at any time.

You can still make deals in jail.

Burn unwanted cards (Optional)

Once each turn, during the Action Phase, you can discard up to 2 cards. This can be 2 Ventures, 2 Favours or 1 of each.

Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should.

Adjust the Road to Power (When necessary)

After setting up a new Venture, you should move your Power Counters to reflect the increase and you should decrease your Power if you sell a Venture or lose it.

Skeletons being uncovered and Favours being played against you can also decrease your Power and you should adjust your Power each time.

Cash counts for Power at the end of the game, with £100k being equal to 1 Power, and shouldn't be tracked until then.

The minimum Power a player can have is zero and Favours or Skeletons cannot take you below zero. Playing "Whip Round" or "Leverage" allows you to trade Power for cash but if for example you only have 4 Power, you will only be able to lose up to 4 Power for £200k.

3. Restock Phase

Top up your Favours to 3, not including your Super Favour. Then top up your Ventures so you have 3.

Final Round

Play proceeds clockwise until the last round (normally turn 8).

In the last round, all Favours and Super Favours can be played at any time.

You can play a Favour card immediately before a player's turn, which might mean their income is doubled or halved, or they get sent to jail.

At the end of each player's turn, do not restock your cards.

Following any final deals, count up your cash, round down to nearest £100k and adjust the Road to Power in turn order.

Finally, in turn order: add any bonus Power from Ventures aligned to your character.

See "End Game Draw" below if needed.

End Game Draw

In the result of a draw, if one player has more Ventures aligned to their character, they win.

If not, whoever has the most Ventures altogether wins.

If neither has more Ventures, then whoever has the most cash wins.

If neither has more cash, then call it a draw and walk away as friends.

Hard Mode

If you truly want to destroy friendships, you can all opt to allow deals to be non-binding at the start of the game. Prepare for some sore losers…

Rules Summary

• Power – Seize it! £100k is worth 1 Power after the final round.
• Character Bio – Collect your colour, get from 1–40 extra Power.
• Card Burning – Burn up to 2 cards (Ventures/Favours).
• Ventures – Red bar = cost, circle = Power, black bar = income.
• Deals – You can't trade Skeletons, Power or Super Favours, anything else goes…
• Favours – Play on your turn unless it has a red title bar or it is the last round.
• Bluffing – You can bluff, threaten and Manipulate…
• Favour combos – Look out for combos like Favours that give you cash and those which double your income.
• Bankruptcy – Lose 20 Power and collect £200k if you can't talk your way out.
• Jail – Half income, can't play cards but can deal and restock.
• Restock – Top up Ventures & Favours to 3.