Maskenball Venezia Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Purpose of the Game
• Preparing to Play
• Starting to Play
• Ending the Round
• Scoring
• Ending the Game

Purpose of the Game

To recognise as many guests as possible of those playing along while oneself not being recognised by too many others.

Preparing to Play

• The players sit in a circle around the table.
• Have paper and pencil ready.
• Important: It is recommended to make a plus and minus table for each player and to enter the points in the form of dashes.
• Sort all cards according to guests.
• Pick out one guest for each player (5 cards each).
• When 5 players are playing the game, only 4 guest cards (1 light, 3 dark backs) are used in each case.
• Of all the chosen guests, pick out the cards with the white backs and shuffle together.
• Of the latter, each player receives one card face down which he or she may not yet look at.
• Put the remaining guest cards together so that 4 identical guests always form one stack, which then lie face up in the middle of the table at the centre of the circle of players.

Starting to Play

• At the word go, each player takes a look at the guest on his or her own card and memorises well the gesture shown by the guest on it.
• Each player then tries, on the one hand, to show those playing along his or her own gesture but, on the other, to recognise the others' gestures as well.

CAUTION: At most 2 players may see any one player's gesture. Otherwise there will later be no additional points for the player who has shown the gesture.

Ending the Round

• Should any player have guessed who a guest is, he or she immediately picks a card out of the middle and lays it face down in front of him or her.
• As soon as a player has 3 others' guest cards in front of him, he may call "stop" and end the round at once, or
• he goes on playing until another player calls "stop" and ends the round.
• One round of the game ends when a player has been able to recognise 2 other guests.

Scoring

• All collected cards are picked up. The player who has ended the round asks aloud about his or her own identity (gesture).
• The players who believe they have recognised him lay the corresponding guest cards face down in front of them on the table and turn them over at the same time at the word go.
• Should one player have reacted too late, he or she receives for this card 1 minus point.
• The player to be recognised now turns over his or her own guest card and unmasks himself.
• Each player who has discovered the correct guest gets 1 plus point.
• If the tip is wrong, he or she gets 1 minus point.
• The recognised player also receives 1 plus point for each correct tip of those playing along.
• If 3 or more players have recognised another player, the recognised player receives no point, whereas those who have recognised him do (1 plus point each).
• A player who has shown a wrong gesture, and the latter has been recognised by at least 2 other players, gets 1 minus point for each of these other players.
• The players who together have recognised the wrong gesture get no point.
• The players may in turn ask about their identity and gradually take off their masks.
• If a player has cards left over after scoring (i.e. he or she has found a guest, but does not know after they are matched up to whom the card belongs), he or she receives a penalty of 1 minus point for each card left over.

Hint: Points are always immediately noted down during scoring.

Ending the Game

• As soon as one player has scored 10 points, the game ends.
• The round is again completely scored.
• The player with the most points wins.