Tax the Rich
Tax the Rich Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
- Place the BOX TOP in the middle of the table.
- The 13 RULE CARDS can we put away. They are only used with the variant described at the end of the rules (experienced players may use them right away).
- When playing with 3-4 players: Remove the 12 playing cards marked with 5+ (Teacher, Bureaucrat, Stockbroker).
- When playing with 5-6 players: Use all playing cards.
- Shuffle the cards and deal them out to the players:
- In a game with 3-5 players, deal 12 cards to each player.
- In a game with 6 players, deal 10 cards to each player.
In a game with 3 players, 12 cards will be left over. These cards are not used or looked at during the round.
The player with the most money in their pockets begins the game.
Goal of the Game
Each round begins with a bidding phase, followed by a trick-taking phase where players play their cards to win tricks. Then, individual points are recorded before the next round begins. After the third round, the two players with the most points win the game together.
Bidding Phase
The starting player must make a starting bid by placing the bid marker on one of the four spaces in the lowermost row on the bidding board.
The other players follow in a clockwise order. Each player must either pass or increase the bid.
To increase the bid, you must either move the bid marker RIGHT within the same row (to any space to the right of its current position) or UP (to any space in the next row).
Players continue making bids. If you pass, you may still make a new bid when the turn comes back to you.
If a player makes a bid and all other players pass, the bidding phase ends. The player who won the bid becomes the PARTY LEADER.
This player must now request any ONE card by announcing it out loud (for example "Blue 8"). Whoever holds this card announces this, and is now the ALLY of the party leader.
In a 3-player game the PARTY LEADER does not get to request a card. They will play alone.
Trick-Taking Phase
The player seated to the left of the PARTY LEADER plays the first card. You can play any card except a President.
The game is now played as a regular trick-taking game. If you already know trick-taking games, you can note the following and then skip on to the next section: The trump suit is determined by the column of the bid marker. Players MUST follow suit if they can. If two cards are equally strong (e.g. same suit and value), the card that was played first is considered strongest.
The card played by the first player is the leading card.
In clockwise order, the other players must now play one card each from their hand: You MUST play a card of the same suit as the leading card if you can. If you do not have any cards of that suit, you can play any card from your hand.
When all players have played a card, compare the cards' suits: The suit indicated by the bidding marker's column is the strongest suit (this is called the trump suit, but you may call it the Obama suit if you prefer). If no one played a card of the trump suit, the suit of the leading card is considered strongest. If several players played cards of the strongest suit, the one with the highest value among these cards "wins the trick".
If two cards are equally strong (e.g. they have the same suit and value – which is possible through certain effects in the game), the card that was played first is considered the strongest.
The player who wins the trick collects the played cards and places them in a separate face-down stack in front of them, indicating that this is one trick.
The player who won the trick starts the next trick by playing any card from their hand.
Changes to a 6-player game: Both the strongest and the second strongest card wins a trick each turn. After evaluating the cards' strength, the player with the strongest card collects any 3 of the played cards as their trick. Then the player with the second strongest card collects the remaining 3 cards. The player with the strongest card leads the next trick.
Incompetent Leader
Normally you cannot lead with a President (value 12), meaning a President cannot be played as the first card in a trick. You can only do this if all cards in your hand are presidents.
Tax the Rich
If you ever win a trick using The Poor (value 1), you may steal ONE trick from the one among the other players who has the most tricks in front of them. If two or more players are tied for most tricks, you can choose who to steal from (the term "steal" is only used for rules clarity; in real life, taxation and redistribution of wealth is encouraged as a fun and healthy activity for all).
Class Revolution
If you play a card and all remaining cards in your hand have a flag (i.e. all cards are valued 1-3), you may declare a Class Revolution. If you do, reveal all your cards, placing them face-up in front of you. You (and only you) must play the remainder of this round with your cards in front of you, visible to everyone. Revealed cards still count as being part of your "hand".
When a Class Revolution is declared, the number rank of all cards is immediately switched: For the remainder of this round, the lowest number is considered the strongest, and the highest number is considered the weakest.
Note: The order of the suits remains unchanged (i.e. the trump suit still beats the leading suit, which beats remaining suits). The revolution lasts until the end of the round, and only one player can declare a revolution during each round!
End of Round
When all cards have been played, the round ends and players record their personal points:
Each player scores 1 point for each trick they have collected in front of themself.
If the PARTY LEADER and the ALLY have collected a total of tricks at least equal to the number indicated by the bid marker, they both also score the BONUS POINTS shown to the right of the bid marker's row. Make sure to score the bonus points corresponding to the current round.
If they have NOT collected enough tricks, all other players add these bonus points to their scores instead.
Then collect all cards, shuffle them, and deal them to the players. Then the next round begins. The player who won the last trick makes the first bid.
End of the Game
At the end of the third round, the two players with the most points win the game together (i.e. the two players with the most and second most points). Ties are broken in favor of the player who scored the most points in the last round. If still tied, all tied players share the victory.
In a 3-player game, the PARTY LEADER plays without an ALLY. If the PARTY LEADER doesn't manage to collect enough tricks to match their bid, the other two players both score the bonus as usual. In a 3-player game, there is only one winner.
Optional Advanced Rules
When playing with experienced players, you may want to also play with the rule cards, and/or the feminist revolution.
Rule Cards
At the beginning of the game, shuffle the RULE CARDS and place one rule card face-up below the bidding board. It adds a special rule for the shown card type. At the beginning of the second and third round (before the bidding phase begins), reveal another rule card and place it next to the first. The second and third rounds are thereby played with 2 and 3 active RULE CARDS respectively.
Note: Some rule cards are only used with 5-6 players.
Scenarios
Each round you may play one of the following scenarios (or create your own), using a set of rule cards:
- Vaxx on, Vaxx off: 7 (Scientist), 8 (Doctor)
- Union Buster: 3 (Worker), 11 (Billionaire)
- Snow on my Parade Uniform: 6 (Police), 10 (Influencer)
- 50 Grades of Shady Business: 4 (Artist), 9 (Judge)
- The Scandal: 2 (Mother), 5 (Journalist), 10 (Influencer)
- Dictatorship: Each round, after bidding, let the PARTY LEADER choose which rule card is added that round.
- Anarchy: Play with all rule cards at once. Yolo.
Feminist Revolution
If you play a card and all remaining cards in your hand have a feminist symbol, you may declare a Feminist Revolution. If you do, reveal your cards and play the remainder of the round with your cards visible. From now on, all female characters (even those without a feminist symbol) have +10 added to their values (e.g. The Judge has value 10+9 = 19). The characters who identify as female are Mother, Teacher, Artist, Journalist, Bureaucrat, Scientist and Judge. Of course, all women benefit from feminism, even those who aren't feminists.
Important: At most ONE revolution can be announced during a round; either a class revolution OR a feminist revolution.
Rule Cards
2 The Mother — Extra Life If you win a trick that includes this card, keep it in front of you as a separate trick.
3 The Worker — Unionize If a worker is played as the last card in a trick, you decide if it has value 0 or 13.
4 The Artist — Free Spirit If an Artist has been played in a trick, card suits does not matter when determining the strongest card. Only the cards' numbers are considered.
5 The Journalist — Free Press When a journalist is played, all other players must immediately reveal 2 random cards from their hand. Players keep their revealed cards face-up in front of themself – they still count as part of their hand.
6 The Police — Stop & Frisk When you play a police, immediately draw a random card from one of the other players' hand (or take a card of your choice from any revealed card in front of them). Then give them any 1 card (of your choice) in return.
7 The Scientist — Debunked When determining the winner of the trick, ignore the strongest card, meaning the second strongest card wins instead. If several scientists are played, each will ignore one card (i.e. if 2 scientists are played, the third strongest card wins the trick). Note that a scientist may end up debunking themself, and if all played cards are scientists, no one wins the trick.
8 The Doctor — Vaccination Time A doctor that is played in the same trick as The Poor is considered the strongest card, regardless of its suit. Remember that if several doctors are played, the one played first is considered the strongest.
9 The Judge — Overruled If you win a trick with The Judge, you must move the bid marker to another space within the same row. This means that you will change the trump suit and possibly also the number of tricks needed to score bonus points.
10 The Influencer — Narcissist When recording scores at the end of the round, any player who has collected 2 or more Influencers among the cards in their tricks must pass 1 of their tricks to any player on the opposing team. If you collect all 4 Influencers, you must pass 2 tricks.
You are not allowed to look through the cards in collected tricks during the trick-taking phase, so try to remember where the influencers hide (in case you get to steal a trick).
11 The Billionaire — Power Grab When played, you must swap the Billionaire card with a card that has already been played by another player. If you play the Billionaire as the first card of a trick, you must swap with whichever card is played by the last player.
Note: If the received card has a when-played-effect, you do not activate the effect again. If the card was face-down (due to Stockbroker's Insider Trading), you get to carry out any when-played-effect on this card when you reveal it.
Rule Cards Only Used With 5-6 Players
3.5 The Teacher — Correction When played, immediately point to another player. The value of their card will be reduced by 2 during the evaluation of this trick.
5.5 The Bureaucrat — Executive Order If you play a Bureaucrat, you will decide who leads the next trick (it must be a different player than the one who would otherwise lead). If several Bureaucrats are played in a trick, only the first Bureaucrat (earliest in play order) uses this ability.
7.5 The Stockbroker — Insider Trading When playing a card in a trick, you may play your card face-down if you simultaneously reveal a Stockbroker from your hand. A revealed Stockbroker is kept face-up in front of you and counts as part of your hand (but it cannot be revealed again).
If you lead the trick with a face-down card, you must announce the card's suit. When all players have played a card, reveal your face-down card (and carry out any "when played"-effects). If several players play face-down cards, they are revealed in player order.