Politrickers Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Tricks
  • 1. Ground rules - Be loyal to your party!
  • 2. If you can't follow your party's suit - Switch your party!
  • 3. If you can't follow the suits of both parties - Taking a step back!
  • 4. Determining the trick
• Party Switching
• Migration
• Trick Results
• Round End
  • 1. Special Condition 1: Disgraced
  • 2. Special Condition 2: Collapse
  • 3. General Condition: Balanced
  • Next round and VP tracking
• Game End
• Rules Summary
  • Summary: Setup
  • Summary: Tricks
  • Summary: Trick Results
  • Summary: Round End

Components

• 45 Policy Cards
  • Environment ×10
  • Health ×10
  • Safety ×10
  • Welfare ×10
  • Economy ×4
  • Migration ×1
• 5 Politician Cards / 5 VP Cards
• 5 Party Tokens (Tails and Claws)
• 25 Power Tokens
• 1 Libra Disc
• 1 Rulebook

Playing time: 30 minutes. Players: 3 to 5.

You can listen to BGM when you play the Libra Disc on the CD player.

Setup

The number of Policy Cards you use depends on the number of players:

3 players	4 players	5 players
Remove all Health suits and 9, 10 from the remaining suits. (Use 29 cards)	Remove 9, 10 from all suits. (Use 37 cards)	Remove no cards. (Use 45 cards)

1. Place the Libra Disc in the center of the table. This represents the balance of power between the two political parties.
2. Each player chooses 1 Politician Card of their choice, takes it, and stacks it on top of their VP Card.
3. Take 5 Power Tokens that match the color of the Politician Card, then place them on top of the Politician Card. If the Power Tokens look like people, you're mistaken - you never use people as resources!
4. Each player takes 1 Party Token. The player who most recently lied is the Chair and reveals the black side (Tails). Clockwise, the rest of the players reveal the side opposite the previous player (e.g., for a 5 player game, Tails → Claws → Tails → Claws → Tails). This indicates each player's current party affiliation.
5. Shuffle the Policy Cards according to the number of players and deal 9 cards each. If there are any Policy Cards left over, put them away face down. The Policy Cards represent the types of policies and budgets that players can present to voters.

Here are the 5 suits of Policy Cards. The names in parentheses are nicknames for each suit and have nothing to do with the actual policy!

Environment (Logging)	Health (Drug)	Safety (Violence)	Welfare (Gambling)	Economy (Vote buying)
Environment	Health	Safety	Welfare	Economy

6. The game consists of 3 rounds. Each round consists of up to 9 political "Tricks". In general, at the end of the round, one of the two parties, Tails or Claws, wins. Players who contribute to that party's victory earn VP. Now let's dive into the muddy waters of politics!

Tricks

• There are two political parties in the game (Tails / Claws). For convenience, let's call the party that the Chair (lead player) of this trick belongs to the Ruling Party and the other party the Opposition.
• Before playing a card on your turn, you may switch your party by flipping your Party Token face down if certain conditions are met (see "Party Switching").

1. Ground rules - Be loyal to your party!

You must follow the suit of your own party, but you must not follow that of the opposing party.

1. Starting with the Chair, play 1 Policy Card of your choice face up. This suit of card becomes the Ruling Suit.
2. Going clockwise, each player in turn plays 1 card face up. The player in the Ruling Party must play a card of the Ruling Suit, if possible.
3. The Opposition player, on the other hand, must play a card of a different suit than the Ruling Suit if possible. The first card played by the Opposition player determines the Opposition Suit. The next Opposition player must then play a card of the Opposition Suit, if possible.

In typical trick-taking game terms, the rule of thumb is "must-follow" within the same party and "must-not-follow" between different parties. You can also think of it as having different leadsuits for different parties.

2. If you can't follow your party's suit - Switch your party!

If you can't follow your party's suit because you don't have that card in your hand, AND you can follow the other party's suit (or the Opposition Suit has not yet been set), you must switch your party. You immediately flip your Party Token face down, switch your party affiliation, and follow the ground rules. You know, a decision for the nation! It's never easy to break the two-party system!

Example (diagram, as printed): The Chair plays a Health 2, which sets the Ruling Suit (Health). The 2nd player plays an Environment 4, which sets the Opposition Suit (Environment). The 3rd player follows the Ruling Suit with a Health card ("Follow the Ruling Suit"). The 4th player cannot follow the Opposition Suit, so they "Switch your party because you can't follow Opposition Suit."

3. If you can't follow the suits of both parties - Taking a step back!

If you can't follow EITHER party's suits, play 1 card of your choice from your hand face down. You cannot win a trick with this card.

4. Determining the trick

4. Once all players have played 1 card, determine the result of the trick (see "Trick Results"). The Winner places 1 of their unspent Power Tokens on the plate of the Libra Disc that matches their current party affiliation. For example, if the Winner is the Tails, they place a Power Token on the black Tails plate to the right of the Libra.
5. Set aside the cards used in this trick, face down. The Winner then becomes the new Chair and begins the next trick.

Party Switching

Before you play a card on your turn, flip the Party Token face down if any of the following conditions are met:

1. If you can't follow your party's policy but can follow the opposing party's policy, you must flip your Party Token over. The exception is when you play the Migration card (see "Migration").
2. Even if you don't fulfill the conditions of 1, you are free to flip your Party Token when you spend 1 of your Power Tokens. Put the spent token aside from the Politician Card. If you don't have any tokens to spend, you can't do this.

Migration

Migration is the special card that is distinct from regular Policy Cards.

1. On your turn, you may ignore the normal rules and play the Migration card. Move 1 of your Power Tokens currently on the Libra Disc to the opposite plate.
2. If you don't have any of your tokens on the Libra Disc, this has no effect. But if you have any tokens, you must move one.
3. Migration does not count as any policy. This means that it cannot win a trick. If the Chair plays the Migration card, the next player becomes the new Chair and continues the trick.

Trick Results

1. Winner: Cards of the same suit (i.e., ruling party to ruling party, opposition to opposition) add up their values. The suit with the larger sum of values is the Popular Policy, and the player with the smallest value among the Popular Policy is the Winner of the trick. Voters favor policies with more money in the budget, and politicians benefit from spending less money.

Example (as printed): Chair plays Welfare 2, 2nd player plays Environment 4, 3rd player plays Welfare 5, 4th player plays Welfare 1. The Welfare suit has the larger sum of values (2 + 5 + 1 = 8, against 4 for Environment), so Welfare is the Popular Policy. The player with the smallest value among the Popular Policy, the 4th player (Welfare 1), is the Winner.

Note: Sometimes only one suit is played because all players are of the same party. In this case, that suit is the Popular Policy and there is no Big Spender.

Note: If the sum of the values is the same, the suit of the last card played is the Popular Policy.

2. Economy: As a special case, if there are Economy (black) suits among the suits played, Economy is always the Popular Policy. In this case, the last player to play an Economy card is the Winner. As you know, buying voters is an effective political tactic!

Example (as printed): Chair plays Health 2, 2nd player plays an Economy card (money bag), 3rd player plays a Health card, 4th player plays an Economy card. Economy is the Popular Policy, and the last player to play an Economy card (the 4th player) is the Winner.

Note: In typical trick-taking game terms, the Economy suit is the "trump suit". Since the Economy is a type of suit, not a special card, the 4th player in the example must follow the 2nd player if they have an Economy card in their hand.

Round End

There are a total of 3 end-of-round conditions. Each condition determines how the VP is calculated.

1. Special Condition 1: Disgraced

1. If someone needs to spend a Power Token by winning a trick and has no more tokens left to spend, that player is disgraced and the round ends immediately.
2. All other players, except the disgraced player, earn 1 VP for each of their unspent Power Tokens (i.e., the tokens left on your Politics card). Sometimes you need to distance yourself from the heated political arena and save your political muscle!

Figure captions (as printed), giving the VP shown on each Politician card for this condition: Vote for the future (Disgraced) 0VP; Wind of Change 5VP; Make Politics Sexy 3VP; Keep Hope Alive 2VP.

2. Special Condition 2: Collapse

1. Only a maximum of 6 Power Tokens may be placed on each side of the Libra Disc. If more than this number of Power Tokens are placed, the Libra loses its balance and collapses, immediately ending the round. Collapse can also be caused by the effect of the Migration card.
2. Players who placed Power Tokens on the overloaded plate lose 1 VP for each of their tokens on that plate. On the other hand, players who placed Power Tokens on the opposite plate earn 1 VP for each of their tokens on that plate.

Figure caption (as printed): The moment the 7th token is placed on the right plate, Libra collapses.

Figure captions (as printed), giving the VP shown on each Politician card for this condition: Vote for the future -2 + 1 = -1VP; Stable is Better 1VP; Make Politics Sexy -2VP; Wind of Change -3VP.

3. General Condition: Balanced

1. If the last (9th) trick ends with all Policy Cards played without "Disgraced" or "Collapse", check the Libra Disc for a plate with more Power Tokens. Only the plate with more tokens counts.
2. Players who placed Power Tokens on that plate earn 1 VP for each of their tokens.
3. At this time, if you don't win a single trick in this round (0 trick wins), you earn the same VP as the player with the highest VP for this round. The public will be dazzled by your mysterious and clean impression!

Figure captions (as printed), giving the VP shown on each Politician card for this condition: Vote for the future 3VP; Stable is Better 0VP; Make Politics Sexy 3VP (0 trick wins); Wind of Change 2VP.

Next round and VP tracking

• Each player moves their Politics Card upward the VP Card to show their VP. If there is negative VP, move the Politician Card downward. The lower limit for VP total is -3, so it won't go below that.
• The player who won the previous trick becomes the Chair and reshuffles and deals all the Policy Cards. All the Power Tokens reset to 5 available. Going clockwise, start a new round with each player adjusting their Party Token to the opposite side from the previous player.

Game End

• If any player has a VP total of 7 or more, the game ends immediately and the player with the most VP total at that point wins. If no one has a VP of 7 or more, the player with the most VP total after 3 rounds wins. If there is a tie, the player who earns more VP in the final round wins. If there's still a tie, share the joy of victory and rule together.

Rules Summary

The final page of the rulebook is a quick-reference summary, transcribed here as printed.

Summary: Setup

• Place 5 Power Tokens on top of your Politician Card. Reveal your Party Token (the side opposite the previous player). Shuffle the Policy Cards according to the number of players and deal 9 cards each.
• 3 players: Remove all Health suits and 9, 10 from the remaining suits. 4 players: Remove 9, 10 from all suits. 5 players: Remove no cards.

Summary: Tricks

1. You must follow the suit of your own party, but you must not follow that of the opposing party.
2. If you cannot follow your party's suit but can follow the other party's suit, you must flip your Party Token face down, switch your party affiliation. Or you are free to flip your Party Token when you spend 1 of your Power Tokens.
3. If you cannot follow either party's suits, face down 1 card of your choice from your hand.

Summary: Trick Results

1. Winner: Cards of the same suit add up their values. The suit with the larger sum of values is the Popular Policy, and the player with the smallest value among the Popular Policy is the Winner of the trick. The Winner places 1 of their Power Tokens on the plate of the Libra Disc that matches their current party affiliation.
2. Economy: If there are Economy suits among the suits played, Economy is always the Popular Policy. In this case, the last player to play an Economy card is the Winner.

Summary: Round End

1. Disgraced: If someone needs to spend a Power Token and has no more tokens left to spend, that player is disgraced and the round ends immediately. All other players earn 1 VP for each of their unspent Power Tokens.
2. Collapse: If more than 6 Power Tokens are placed on a side of the Libra, the Libra collapses and the round ends immediately. Players who placed tokens on the overloaded plate lose 1 VP for each of their tokens on that plate. Players who placed tokens on the opposite plate earn 1 VP for each of their tokens on that plate.
3. Balanced: If the 9th trick ends without "Disgraced" or "Collapse", check the Libra Disc for a plate with more Power Tokens. Players who placed tokens on that plate earn 1 VP for each of their tokens. At this time, if you don't win a single trick in this round (0 trick wins), you earn the same VP as the player with the highest VP for this round.