Pumafiosi
Pumafiosi Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 55 Pumafioso Cards (1-55)
- 9 Hierarchy Cards (-3, 1-3, 5-8, 10)
- 48 Point Tokens (24x 1, 24x 5)
- 5 Wealth and 5 Penalty Point Cards (1 of each per player)
- 40 Family Tiles (8 of each per player color)
- 20 Item Tokens, optional (a set of 4 per player)
Objective
Earn your way to the top of the Pumafia Hierarchy while knocking down rival families! Win a round by playing the second-highest card, then position your winning card onto the Hierarchy. The higher you place your card, the more points you'll receive at the end of the game. The catch is that these cards can be knocked down the Hierarchy by higher-valued cards, and whoever owns a falling card receives penalty points! After 3 games, the player with the most points wins.
Game Set-Up
Display the 9 hierarchy cards with descending values face up in a vertical column. Each player receives the 8 family tiles of one color plus the matching wealth point card and penalty point card.
For each of the 3 games, shuffle the 55 Pumafioso Cards. Deal each player a hand of 3 cards and a personal draw pile of 7 face down cards. Each player may only ever have 3 cards in their hand. The remaining Pumafioso cards do not take part in the 3-5 player game and are discarded face down into the box.
Any player who takes more than 3 cards into their hand violates the code of honor and immediately receives 5 points on their penalty point card. This player must then shuffle all the cards from their hand and their personal draw pile and draw 3 new cards into their hand.
Play
The second-oldest player starts the first round of the first game. In the second and third games, the player with the most wealth points starts the first round (in the case of a tie the second-oldest tied player starts the round). This person plays 1 Pumafioso card from their hand face up in front of them. In clockwise order, all other players play 1 Pumafioso card from their hands face up in front of them. The player who played the second-highest card wins the round.
Amongst the Pumafiosi, it is wise to keep your head out of the firing line. The highest Pumafioso stands out and soon finds themself in prison, if not murdered by the rival families.
The winner of the round must place the Pumafioso card they played next to one of the hierarchy cards with one of their family tiles on top of their Pumafioso card. The Pumafioso cards played by the other players are discarded face down into the box.
The new Pumafioso card may be placed next to any hierarchy card which is not occupied by another Pumafioso card, or which is occupied by a Pumafioso card of a lower value. If there are then 2 Pumafioso cards next to 1 hierarchy card, the Pumafioso card with the lower value immediately drops down 1 hierarchy step. If this leads to 2 Pumafioso cards on the next hierarchy step, the lower Pumafioso card immediately drops down 1 hierarchy step. This continues until there is only 1 (or no) card next to each hierarchy card.
Exception: The lowest hierarchy card, the casualty card (-3), has room for any number of Pumafioso cards. If the new Pumafioso card cannot be placed anywhere else, it ends up there.
Penalty Points: For each hierarchy step that a Pumafioso card drops, the respective player immediately receives 1 penalty point. Penalty points are distributed by placing point tokens on a player's penalty point card.
Example: Green plays the second highest card and therefore wins the round. They add their family tile to the winning card and decide where to place it in the hierarchy. Green places their Pumafioso card next to hierarchy step 8. Purple drops 1 step and receives 1 penalty point. Orange drops 2 steps and receives 2 penalty points.
As soon as a player has played a card, they may draw a new Pumafioso card from their personal draw pile to replenish their hand to 3 cards. When the pile is used up, no further cards can be drawn.
The winner of the previous round starts the next round. Play continues until all 10 Pumafioso cards have been played in ten successive rounds. Then the game is scored.
Hint: Try to win rounds with high Pumafioso cards to place your Pumafioso safely into high positions. More importantly, avoid winning with low cards, as weak Pumafiosi usually end up next to the casualty card.
Scoring
At the end of each game, every player receives positive or negative points for their Pumafioso cards in the hierarchy corresponding to the value of the hierarchy step. If any player is not represented in the hierarchy with at least 1 Pumafioso card, they receive 10 penalty points.
A family so weak or cowardly that they do not even show up for business, does not deserve better...
Points are distributed by placing point tokens on the wealth cards (positive points) and penalty cards (negative points) using the point tokens. Once all point tokens have been distributed, each player subtracts their penalty points from their wealth points by returning 1 point from each card to the general supply until 1 card runs out of tokens. The other card retains the remaining tokens; these points are carried over into the next game. After 3 games, these points represent a player's final score.
Example: Pink ends a game with 12 wealth points and 4 penalty points. Pink subtracts their penalty points from their wealth points, ending with 8 wealth points.
Game End
The player with the most wealth points after 3 games is the winner and becomes the Big Boss. In the case of a tie, the tied player with a Pumafioso card currently on the higher hierarchy step is the winner.
2 Player Rules
Follow the general rules as described above with these changes:
Keep the remaining Pumafioso cards as a face down deck between the 2 players. This deck belongs to Tony who acts as a third player.
Each round the start player first reveals 1 card from the face down deck for Tony. Then the start player plays their own card, and finally the opponent plays their card.
If Tony wins the round, the opponent becomes the start player of the following round. In other words, each time Tony wins the round, starting alternates between the 2 players. Otherwise, the player who wins the round becomes the start player of the next round, as usual.
If Tony wins the round, his card is placed next to the highest possible hierarchy card – either an unoccupied step or a step occupied by a Pumafioso card of a lower value. Tony does not use any family tiles. All "empty" Pumafioso cards in the hierarchy belong to Tony.
Tony's Pumafioso cards do not receive penalty points when dropping down, and Tony does not receive any point tokens. He merely competes with the 2 players for valuable hierarchy positions.
Optional Item Tokens
Each player receives one set of the following item tokens face up in front of them. Each token can only be used once during the 3 games. After their use, the item tokens are discarded into the box.
Machine Gun: Play the machine gun together with your card face up in front of you. The value of the card increases by 10 1/2. After the winner of the round is determined, the machine gun is discarded. (It does not remain on the card if the card is placed in the hierarchy!)
Bulletproof Vest: Place the vest on top of your Pumafioso card together with one of your family tiles when you place your card in the hierarchy. This Pumafioso card does not receive penalty points if it drops down the hierarchy. The game end score is unaffected.
Notebook: Place the notebook on top of your Pumafioso card together with one of your family tiles when you place your card in the hierarchy. This Pumafioso card always scores double points – double penalty points each step the card drops down in the hierarchy and double hierarchy points at the game end. You may not use your Notebook and Bulletproof Vest together on the same Pumafioso card.
Wedding Ring: If you place your Pumafioso card on the hierarchy next to an opponent's card, bumping their card down the hierarchy, you may then add the wedding ring and your own family tile to that player's bumped card (only the card you initially bumped, not any subsequent cards that may get bumped). For the rest of this game, both you and that player receive full penalty points and score the full game end hierarchy points for this card. You may not use the wedding ring on a card that already has an item token. In a 2-player game, this can also be used if you bump Tony, and you would effectively become the new owner of Tony's card.