Slush Fund 2
Slush Fund 2 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 2 player decks (red and blue). Each deck has:
- 20 money cards: 6 x $1M, 7 x $2M, 6 x $3M, 1 x $4M
- 10 power cards: 2 hackers, 2 accountants, 3 spies, 3 journalists
- 5 politician cards
- 6 rule cards
Setup
- Place the 5 politicians in a row between the players.
- Give each player a player deck.
- Both players remove a $1M and a $2M card from their decks, shuffle their decks, place the removed cards back on top, and place the decks face-down as draw-piles.
- Determine a starting player.
Overview of Game Play
Players take turns drawing and playing cards. Use money cards to "contribute" to the politicians' election funds. Use power cards to affect the contributions and the values of the politicians.
At game end, players score victory points (VPs) from each politician by contributing the most money.
Playing the Game
Players alternate turns beginning with the starting player. On a turn, choose 1 of 2 options:
- Option 1: Contribute from Own Fund or
- Option 2: Contribute from Slush Fund
Option 1: Contribute from Own Fund
Draw 3 cards from your own deck. Choose 1 of them to put face-down into the "slush fund" — a common face-down pile of cards that grows each time a player takes this option. After putting a card in the slush fund, play the other 2 cards according to the rules for playing cards (see below).
Option 2: Contribute from Slush Fund
Option 2 is possible only if the slush fund contains 3 or more cards. For this option, look at all the cards in the slush fund, take 3 of them, and play all 3, according to the rules for playing cards (see below). Return the other cards to the slush fund. By looking at the slush fund cards, you commit yourself to option 2.
Note: Be careful not to confuse the slush fund with the discard pile.
Playing Money Cards
Play money cards in overlapping columns on your side of each politician so that the values of face-up cards are visible. Play face-down cards so they can be easily counted (see image on p. 6).
A face-up money card represents a legal contribution. A face-down money card is an illegal contribution.
Follow these rules when contributing to a specific politician:
- Contribute to any politician.
- If no money cards are on your side of a politician, you may only place a legal contribution.
- If a politician has at least one legal contribution and no illegal contributions, you may place 1 illegal contribution.
- You may not have more than 1 illegal contribution next to a politician, except by use of a power card (see "accountant" and "spy").
- You may not have more than 5 total cards on your side of a politician.
- You may remove and discard a money card to make room for a new one.
- Play money cards in any order.
- Play money cards before and/or after power cards (see "power cards").
After a few rounds, the game might look something like this (illustration on p. 6, not reproduced).
Playing Power Cards
There are 4 types of power cards, each of which provides a unique power. After a power card is played, discard it from the game (exception: see "journalist"). You may play them in any order. You may play them before and/or after money cards.
Spy
Reveal any one of your opponent's illegal contributions (i.e., turn any face-down money card of your opponent's face-up) and make any one of your legal contributions illegal (i.e., turn one face-down). By use of the spy, you may have more than 1 illegal contribution at a politician.
Accountant
Pick up any 2 of your contributions (legal or illegal), and move them. Place them together at 1 politician or separately at different politicians. Legal contributions remain legal and illegal contributions remain illegal. By use of the accountant, you may have more than 1 illegal contribution at a politician.
Hacker
Exchange any 1 of your legal contributions with one of your opponent's legal contributions at the same politician.
Journalist
Place journalist cards underneath a politician, signifying that the politician has been caught in a scandal. Each politician may have up to 3 journalists underneath it. Place multiple cards so they can be easily counted. The effect of the journalist is to lessen the value of the politician (see "Scoring").
Special Action: Paying Off the Journalist
You may remove a journalist from a politician by paying him off. To do so, play a power card without using its power and discard one of your legal contributions on that politician. The power card, the money card, and the journalist card are all discarded.
Additional Rules
- Recall rule: When taking option 1, you may decide to shuffle the drawn cards back into your deck and draw 3 new cards. However, to do so, you must discard any 1 of your legal contributions.
- The recall rule may not be used during the final turn of the game (see "game end").
- Players may look at their own illegal contributions at any time.
- Players may not look through the discard pile.
- Either player may count the cards in both player decks and the slush fund at any time.
Game End: Final Turn
When a player draws the final 3 cards from his deck, the other player immediately draws 3 cards from her deck. Unlike a normal turn, each player plays 1 card at a time, starting with the player whose turn it is. After each player has played all 3 cards, the game is scored.
Scoring
Each politician is worth a base number of victory points (VPs), which is the highest of the 3 numbers on the card. For each journalist played under a politician, the value is reduced to the next value. If a politician has 3 journalists, its value is 0.
For each politician, the players add up their contributions (both legal and illegal). The player with the most money scores the VPs of that politician. If players tie, no one wins the politician's VPs.
If a player has cards remaining in her deck, she deducts 1 VP for every 3 cards. Note: Remaining cards should always be in multiples of 3.
The player with the most VPs wins. If tied, the player who won the politician with the higher base value wins.