Si, Oscuro Padrino!
Si, Oscuro Padrino! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
110 cards:
- 11 brown Family cards
- 3 Mood cards (green, yellow, red)
- 1 grey "Cement Shoes" card
- 11 black Suitcase cards
- 84 blue Explanation cards
Rulebook
Cards
Family (1–11)
The brown Family cards depict typical representatives of the Italian Mafia as it is known from the many films about America in the 1930s.
Each family member (except the Boss) has a Favourite: the one toward whom this character feels some emotion (friendship, love, passion). The number of the Favourite is shown in the diamond at the bottom right of the Family card. During the game you will have to stand up for your Favourite, and your actions will affect both your character and the object of their feelings. If, because of the number of players, your character's Favourite is not in the game, the Favourite is the Bodyguard (2).
Epigraph on the Boss card: "Blood-sucking leeches everywhere, who only think how to get their hands on my money. And someone actually managed it. Well, let them be happy..."
Mood (12–14)
These cards show the Boss's current mood. The Boss player always keeps one of these cards in front of them. The other players can see the Boss's mood and choose a strategy for using their Explanation cards from hand to best effect. Explanation cards may be of any colour, but in order to accuse a rival you must play one whose colour matches the Boss's mood.
Cement Shoes (15)
By playing this card, the Boss accuses the Family member he considers guilty of stealing the money. Passing sentence ends the game. The Cement Shoes also affect the Favourite of the accused character.
Suitcases (16–26)
The black Suitcases, of which there are plenty in the Family's house, contain a lot of good (and evil), including money stolen from the Boss. Because the Don has turned the whole house upside down, it is hard to tell which Suitcase might make you rich.
Explanations (27–110)
The blue Explanation cards allow players to invent excuses and shift the blame for the disappearance of the Boss's money onto others. On the right side of each card is a "traffic light" of the Boss's moods. If the colour that is "lit" on it matches the Boss's current mood and your explanation satisfies the Boss, you may use such a card to accuse another Family member, diverting the Godfather's anger away from yourself.
After successfully playing an Explanation card (that is, immediately after accusing a rival), apply its effect, shown by the symbol at the bottom left:
- The Eye symbol allows the player who played the Explanation card (and only that player) to look at the contents of their own Suitcase.
- The Rotation symbol forces all players to exchange Suitcases without looking into them. The player who applied the Explanation card decides how the Suitcases are passed: clockwise or counterclockwise.
- The Exchange symbol forces the player who applied the Explanation card to blindly exchange Suitcases with the accused player.
Setup
- Separate the cards by type.
- Take, in numerical order, as many Family cards as there are players in the game (at least five). Return the remaining Family cards to the box; they are not needed in this game. Choose or appoint the player who will be the Boss (we recommend rolling dice if all players are roughly equal in skill and experience). Give the Boss the Boss card, the three Mood cards and the Cement Shoes card. Then deal each player one Family card face down. Players reveal their cards and sit around the table clockwise in numerical order, so that each character's Favourite is always seated next to them. If you consider yourselves experienced players, or prefer chaos to order, you may sit however you like, but remember your Favourites.
- The Bodyguard takes the Money from the pile of Suitcases, then blindly draws Suitcases until there are as many as there are players (not counting the Boss). The Bodyguard shuffles the drawn cards and deals one to each player except the Boss, face down. Players look at the contents of the Suitcases they received, but only the player who received the Money reveals their card. That player becomes the first player: it is they whom the Boss will start tormenting.
- The Accountant takes his own Suitcase, the Wife's Suitcase and the Money (or any other Suitcase, if the Money was in the Wife's or the Accountant's Suitcase), shuffles them and blindly deals them out among the three players who are temporarily left without a Suitcase. From this moment, no player may look into their own Suitcase unless a special effect allows it. Note: the printed text does not name these three players explicitly; this follows the printed wording.
- The Wife shuffles the Explanation deck and deals three Explanation cards to each player except the Boss (or instructs the Bodyguard to do so). Players take the cards dealt to them into their hands. Cards in hand may be looked at at any time. Place the remaining Explanation cards face down in the middle of the table as a draw pile.
- The Boss places the yellow Mood card in front of himself and asks the first player the inevitable question: "Where's the money, honey?"
- The game begins.
Game Overview
The Boss wants to get back the stolen Suitcase with the money and publicly punish the guilty. Sooner or later the Boss will decide that he knows the thief, and then the traitor, together with their Favourite, will go for a stroll along the bottom of the bay in Cement Shoes. The other Family members care only about their own interests and try to pin the blame on one another, so as not to fall victim to the cruel Boss. It is not impossible that one of them will manage to slip away with the money in the company of their Favourite. The game becomes more interesting if players not only invent explanations but also stick to their roles.
Starting with the first player, each player tries to present the Boss with convincing explanations of why the suspected Family member was given the Suitcase with the money. To support their version, a player must use Explanation cards.
Course of the Game
A player's turn begins with the Boss accusing them of stealing the money. Given the circumstances, the player tries to build a convincing version of events, to confuse the situation, calm the Boss and shift the blame onto another player.
- Speak as meekly and respectfully as possible, and as far as fits your role.
- Build your speech around the things linked to the characters, places, objects, actions and events on your Explanation cards. When you mention one of these topics, play the corresponding card from your hand. This shows the Boss your diligence, which he will appreciate at face value. For this use of an Explanation card, its traffic-light colour does not matter.
- Be careful when accusing rivals. Even if you have a card whose traffic light shows the Boss's current mood colour, the Boss will not allow the blame to be shifted onto another player without a convincing version. If your version seems credible to the Boss, he will allow you to accuse a rival (not your Favourite, and not the player who accused your character).
- After a successful accusation, apply the effect of the Explanation card you played (Eye, Rotation or Exchange).
- Every time you play a card from your hand, immediately take a replacement card from the Explanation deck.
Accusation
- To pin the blame on another player (other than your Favourite and the accuser), play at least one Explanation card whose traffic light shows the Boss's current mood colour.
- If on your turn you accuse a rival by playing just one Explanation card, the Boss calms down a little (he changes his Mood card either from yellow to green, or from red to yellow).
- If on your turn you play two Explanation cards to accuse a rival, the Boss's mood does not change.
- If on your turn you play three Explanation cards for a successful accusation, the Boss becomes even more enraged (he changes his Mood card either from yellow to red, or from green to yellow).
- After a player accuses a rival, the Boss switches to a new victim. All cards played earlier are discarded.
Mood Levels
- When the Boss's mood level changes, he replaces his Mood card, and all Explanation cards in play are discarded.
- The mood level may change several times during a single turn.
- Every three Explanation cards played during one turn worsen the Boss's mood by one level (but no further than red).
- If the mood level is red and a player plays a fourth Explanation card but still cannot accuse anyone, the Boss is entitled to play the Cement Shoes. The game ends.
Cancelling a Card's Effect
- Any rival may play an Explanation card from their hand to cancel the effect of an Explanation card you have just applied during your turn, if their card matches yours by type (character, place, object, action or event). The rival replaces your played card with their own.
- The Boss is always entitled to cancel the effect of any played Explanation card if he considers the story built on it too contradictory, muddled or unacceptable.
- Cards whose effect has been cancelled are not discarded. Turn them face down to show that they have no effect. Cancelled cards still count when assessing the Boss's mood.
Helping Your Favourite
If your Favourite is in trouble, you may help them with one of your Explanation cards by working it into the story. That card counts as played by the Favourite, but you will be the one telling the story to the Boss, although perhaps not without the Favourite's help.
- In this way you may apply no more than one card in a row.
- If the played Explanation card allows a player to shift the blame onto another, its effects are applied by the helper, not by the Favourite who needed help.
- An Explanation card played to help your Favourite changes the Boss's mood, alongside the cards played by the Favourite themselves.
Suitcases
After shifting the blame onto a rival, do not forget that at the end of your turn you will be obliged to apply the effect of the Explanation card to the Suitcases.
Ending the Game
The game ends when the Boss decides that the accused character is guilty and hands them the Cement Shoes card. The game also ends when the cards in the Explanation deck run out. In that case, the Boss chooses the Family member who deserves the Cement Shoes most.
Guilt extends to the Favourite of the accused hero: both players are eliminated from the competition.
If one of the wearers of the Cement Shoes has the Suitcase with the money, the Boss takes back his millions and wins the game.
If the Money ends up in the hands of a surviving Family member, that player and their Favourite become the winners of the game, after which they plunge into a sea of wealth with the Boss's consent. After all, he is a generous man...
Variants
A Suitcase for the Boss
If the game seems insufficiently complicated, add one more Suitcase, which will be kept by the Boss.
Any player may play one of the Explanation cards "Feds", "Police" or "Arrest" to "rat out" the Boss. In this case the game ends, and the outcome depends on the Boss's Suitcase:
- If it contains the Money, the Boss is put under investigation, and the player who accused him wins the game.
- If the Boss is arrested with a Weapon, he is put on trial, and the winner is whoever has the Money.
- If the Boss has any other Suitcase, the player with the Money and the Boss's accuser go to the bottom of the bay in Cement Shoes.
Less Is More
If there are only four players in the game, the rules change slightly:
- During setup, after the Boss is appointed, players draw their roles blindly from the ten available, ignoring all rules concerning cards and Favourites.
- During play you may accuse any rival (except, of course, the Boss), even the one who has just shifted the blame onto you.