Ratzia
Ratzia Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
- Players: 2-5
- Age: 12+
- Length: approximately 45 minutes
The cards must be displayed clearly, sorted by colour and type. See the illustration.
Note: All cards marked with a black cross in the lower right corner are removed from the game after scoring. All other cards remain in the players' family estate.
Contents
99 Booty Cards (there are six types of Booty, each with a different coloured edge)
- 20 x Red - 20 Trinkets (4 each of Ring, Watch, Brooch, Chain and Diamond)
- 16 x Purple - 16 Bodyguards (Gangsters)
- 26 x Green - 16 Cars and 10 Drivers
- 6 x Blue - 6 Thieves
- 3 x Gold - 3 Gold Coin Cards
- 28 x Brown - 28 Businesses (4 each of: Casino, Transportation, Film, Horse Racing, Real Estate, Night Club and Restaurant)
Also:
- 21 Police Cards
- 16 Cheques with the values (1,000 to 16,000)
- 6 Scoring Information Cards
- 1 Board
Play Preparation (3-5 players)
The board is placed in the centre of the table. Each player receives an info card, which he keeps on the table in front of himself. Any extra info cards are returned to the box and are not required. With five players all 16 cheques are needed. With three and four players only, the cheques used are 1,000-13,000; the cheques 14,000-16,000 are returned to the box. The cheque with the value 1,000 is placed face up (in direction of arrow) beside the board.
From the remaining cheques each player takes the following cheques:
3 players
- Player A: 2,000, 5,000, 8,000, 13,000
- Player B: 3,000, 6,000, 9,000, 12,000
- Player C: 4,000, 7,000, 10,000, 11,000
4 players
- Player A: 2,000, 6,000, 13,000
- Player B: 3,000, 7,000, 12,000
- Player C: 4,000, 8,000, 11,000
- Player D: 5,000, 9,000, 10,000
5 players
- Player A: 2,000, 7,000, 16,000
- Player B: 3,000, 8,000, 15,000
- Player C: 4,000, 9,000, 14,000
- Player D: 5,000, 10,000, 13,000
- Player E: 6,000, 11,000, 12,000
The cheques are displayed face up in front of each player. The 120 game cards are well shuffled and divided then into two piles (equal in size). The two piles are put face down beside the board.
Course of Play (3-5 players)
The player with the highest cheques starts the game. Each player chooses 1 of 3 actions to perform. This continues until the end of the round and then scoring takes place.
Action A
Take the top card from one of the face down piles and place it face up beside the board.
When uncovering a card there are two possibilities:
1. A booty card is uncovered
The booty card is put face up (in direction of arrow) beside the board, underneath the cheque and beside any other booty cards already played.
Example: Miriam begins and uncovers a trinket (watch). She puts it directly beside the board. Felix uncovers a car and puts it right beside the watch. Elke uncovers a bodyguard and puts it right beside the car. Four more booty cards are put from left to right beside the board.
2. A policeman is uncovered
The policeman is put above the cheque beside the board, next to any other policemen already drawn if any. If this is the seventh policeman, the round ends immediately. Now play is interrupted and a normal auction is done.
Example: Dennis uncovers a policeman, which is put beside the board. A normal auction now takes place.
Normal Auction
Each player gets a single chance to bid a cheque or pass for the booty. The player to the left of the one who uncovered the policeman goes first, then clockwise through the rest of the players. As soon as a cheque is bid, the following players may only bid with higher cheques (or pass). Whoever bids the highest cheque takes all the booty cards from the table and adds them to his own family estate. He then takes the current cheque on the table and places it face down to the side of his family estate. He puts the cheque he bid beside the board. All other players retrieve their bids. The policemen remain all together beside the board.
Example: Dennis uncovered the policeman. The player to the left of him, Miriam, begins the normal auction and offers a 7,000 cheque. Felix passes. Elke offers a 9,000 cheque. Dennis, the last player, passes. Elke takes the booty cards from the table and places them face up within her family estate. She takes the 1,000 cheque from the table and places it face down next to her estate. She places the 9,000 cheque she won the bid with next to the board, face up. Miriam retrieves her 7,000 cheque.
Play now continues from where it left off with the player to the left of the one that uncovered the policeman.
Note: If all players pass in a normal auction, then all the cards remain lying on the table and play continues.
Action B
The player uses a thief, who is already in their family estate.
The player takes any booty card of his choice which lies face up next to the board on the table and puts it into his own family estate. The thief is discarded from the game into the box. If he has several thieves, these may all be used at once. All thieves used this way are discarded. If gaps appear beside the board, these will be filled in future rounds.
Example: It is Elke's turn. She already has a thief in her family estate. She uses the thief and takes a Driver from the table beside the board and places it into her family estate. The thief is discarded to the box. Elke's turn is complete. Dennis is next.
Action C
The player proclaims an auction by order of the court, by announcing this loud and clearly.
Auction by order of the Court is the same as a normal auction except for one difference. If all previous players pass, the last player to bid (the one that called the auction) must bid. If there has been a bid, then the last player may pass. Once the auction is complete, play continues with the player to the left of the one who proclaimed the auction by order of the court.
Example: It is Miriam's turn and she proclaims an auction by order of the court. Her left neighbor, Felix, begins. He passes. Elke and Dennis pass likewise. Miriam is last and must bid a cheque now. She offers her lowest cheque, the 3,000. Miriam takes all booty cards from the center, and puts them into her family estate. In addition she receives the current cheque from the table center and puts it face down beside her estate. The 3,000 cheque is placed face up beside the board in the table center. Thus the auction by order of the court is complete and the next player, Felix, continues (interrupted) the play.
Play Tip: Proclaiming an auction by order of the court is an important tactical play element. It is frequently useful to proclaim an auction by order of the court if only one or two booty cards are on the table. In this way you can put the owners of high cheques under pressure and it becomes necessary also for those with low value cheques.
If seven booty cards are placed on the table, there is an automatic normal auction. If no one bids then all the booty cards are discarded to the box.
When a player has spent all of his cheques for the current round, he takes no more turns and waits until the round has ended. The other players continue skipping the player(s) who have spent up. If there is only one player left in the round, he continues playing by himself. If one of the stacks of face down cards is used up, split the remaining stack in half to form two new stacks. The round ends when all of the players have spent their cheques or seven policemen have been uncovered.
Scoring for the First Two Rounds
Each player receives points for each of the booty cards in their family estate except for the Business cards, which are only scored in the final round. The points for each player are written down.
Thieves: Each thief brings 2 points to its owner (not used).
Example: Elke has two thieves in her family estate. She receives 4 points for them.
Bodyguard: The player with the most bodyguards gets 5 points and the one with the fewest gets -2 points. If several players should have equally the most and/or the fewest bodyguards, all players involved get the appropriate points. All other players get no points.
Example: Miriam and Felix have four bodyguards each, Dennis has two and Elke only one. Miriam and Felix get 5 points each. Elke gets -2 points. Dennis gets 0 points.
Car and Driver: For each car and for each Driver the owner receives one point. Note: If a player does not possess at least one Driver, then he does not receive points for any cars.
Example: Felix has one car and three Drivers. He gets 4 points for this. Elke has five cars, but no Driver. She gets no points. Miriam has two Drivers. She gets 2 points. Dennis has three cars and a Driver. He gets 4 points.
Trinkets: If a player does not possess any trinkets, then he gets -5 points. For one or two different trinkets he gains no points. If a player possesses three different trinkets, he gets 5 points. Four different trinkets bring 10 points and five different give 15 points.
Example: Felix possesses two watches, three chains and two rings. He therefore has three different trinkets and receives 5 points. Elke possesses two brooches and a ring. She does not get points. Dennis and Miriam do not have any trinkets. They get -5 points each.
Gold coins: For each gold coin card a player possesses, he receives 3 points.
Example: Dennis possesses two gold coin cards and receives 6 points.
Important: After the points for each player have been noted, all booty cards with a small black cross shown in the bottom right are discarded from the game into the box. All other booty cards remain in the family estate and available for the next scoring round.
On to the Next Round
Each player now turns all their cheques face up and places them in front of themselves. Each player begins the next round again with just as many cheques as he had at the beginning of play (only with different values). All booty cards, which are still laid out on the table, as well as all the policemen, are discarded face down into the box. The cheque which lies face up beside the board remains there. The player with the highest cheque begins the next round - as normal, by deciding on one of the three possibilities of action.
Scoring the Third Round and Game End
Score the third round as you did the first two rounds. Additionally there are now points for the businesses which a player has in their family estate, as well as for the cheques.
Businesses: The business is evaluated in two ways: there are points for owning different ones and also for identical businesses. For 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 different businesses the owner receives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 points respectively. For 7 different businesses a player receives 10 points. In addition, three identical businesses bring in an additional 5 points and four identical businesses, 10 points. If a player has several times three or four identical businesses, in each case he receives the appropriate points.
Example: Dennis has 5 different businesses. He gets 5 points. In addition Dennis has one lot of four identical businesses (4 restaurants) and one lot of three identical businesses (3 Casinos). For the restaurants he receives 10 points, for the Casinos 5 points. Altogether that is 20 points.
Cheques: Each player adds the numbers on his (open and covered) cheques. The player with the highest sum gets 5 points, and the player with the lowest sum receives -5 points. If several players should have equally the highest and/or lowest sum, all the players involved get the appropriate points. All other players receive no points.
Example: Miriam's three cheques have a total value of 25,000, those from Felix 21,000 and from Elke and Dennis in each case 17,000. Miriam gets 5 points. Dennis and Elke receive -5 points each.
The player who has the most points after the third scoring round is the winner.
Variant for Two Players
The interaction between the two players is more direct and with it a high probability that altogether fewer booty cards are uncovered. The cheques with the values 10,000-16,000 are removed from the game and put into the box. Only 9 cheques are thus needed for play. A player receives the cheques with the values 2,000, 5,000, 6,000 and 9,000. The other player receives the cheques with the values 3,000, 4,000, 7,000 and 8,000. The 1,000 cheque is placed face up beside the board in the table center. A round ends with the uncovering of the fifth policeman. All other rules and the further operational sequence remain the same.