The Greatest Show Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Buying Cards from the Trade Row
  • 2. Adding an Artist to a Show
  • 3. Playing an Action Card
• Shows and Acts
• Artist Types
  • Acrobats
  • Children's Performers
  • Oddballs (Cudaki)
  • Illusionists
  • Fire Dancers
  • Jugglers
• Action Cards
  • Pig
  • Popularity
  • Casting
  • Injury
• End of the Game
• Scoring

Components

The deck contains 72 cards:

• 42 artist cards:
  • 7 Acrobat cards,
  • 7 Oddball cards,
  • 7 Illusionist cards,
  • 7 Children's Performer cards,
  • 7 Fire Dancer cards,
  • 7 Juggler cards.
• 18 action cards:
  • 3 Injury cards,
  • 3 Casting cards,
  • 6 Pig cards,
  • 6 Popularity cards.
• 12 show cards.

Setup

The starting player is the player who has been balancing the game box on their nose the longest.

The starting player shuffles all artist and action cards together. They deal each player 3 cards at random from this shuffled deck. They place the remaining cards face down in the middle of the table, and to the right of that stack they turn 4 cards face up on the table. These 4 face-up cards form the trade row.

Next, the starting player shuffles the show cards and deals 3 to each player. Each player chooses one show to perform, and places it face up in front of them. The remaining, unchosen show cards are removed from the game.

Each player's starting hand is the 3 cards dealt to them.

Gameplay

Players take turns in clockwise order. On their turn, a player may do only one of the following three things:

1. Buy a card from the trade row into their hand.
2. Add an artist card to their show and use that artist's special ability.
3. Play an action card.

1. Buying Cards from the Trade Row

Buying a card into hand is one of the three things a player may do on their turn. The maximum hand size is 5 cards.

Cards are bought from the trade row as follows:

• The first card from the right (furthest from the deck) costs nothing. The player takes it into their hand for free.
• The second card from the right costs the player 1 card from their hand.
• The third card from the right costs the player 2 cards from their hand.
• The fourth card from the right (closest to the deck) costs the player 3 cards from their hand.

After taking a card, the player slides all the remaining cards in the trade row to the right, and turns over a new card from the deck into the fourth position. The trade row must always contain four cards.

Cards the player pays with from their hand are placed on the discard pile.

When the draw deck runs out, the player who took the last card from it shuffles the discard pile and it becomes the new draw deck.

2. Adding an Artist to a Show

Adding an artist to a show is one of the three things a player may do on their turn.

A player may add only one artist to their show on a turn. When they do, they may also activate that artist's special ability.

An artist's special ability can be activated only once in the whole game, and only at the moment the artist is added to a show. If a player does not use the special ability when adding the artist to the show, they can never use it later. Once an artist has been added to a show, it may not be moved to another position in the show, unless a special ability of another artist or of certain actions moves it.

Artist cards are placed in the acts of the show. Each act of the show has a maximum number of artists, shown by an icon on the show card.

3. Playing an Action Card

Playing an action card is one of the three things a player may do on their turn. A player may play only one action per turn. The four kinds of action cards are:

• Pig,
• Popularity,
• Casting,
• Injury.

The details of each action are given under Action Cards below.

Shows and Acts

There are several different shows in the game. Each show may contain up to 7 artists.

Each show consists of 3 or 4 acts, marked with Roman numerals. Each act may contain from 1 to 3 artists. The maximum number of artists in a given act is marked with an artist-count icon on the show card.

Some acts reward specific artists. Additional points are awarded for each artist whose symbol appears in the act.

Artist Types

There are six types of artists in the game.

Acrobats

Acrobats raise the level of the show depending on the act in which they perform. Some prefer to open the show, while others prefer to close it with their performance. Their very high level of performance makes other artists develop complexes, and those artists never return to the stage.

Special ability: Acrobats may remove cards from the trade row.

Children's Performers

This group includes clowns, animators, living statues and balloon artists. These artists bring pure joy: they are very positive and open, so their level of performance rises when they perform together with other artists.

Special ability: Children's Performers may play action cards from the hand.

Oddballs (Cudaki)

Artists in this group are unique in their own way. Because of their individualism, only one such artist may appear in a whole show. Their originality arouses such great curiosity that they attract other artists to the circus.

Special ability: Oddballs may draw one card of their choice from the trade row.

Illusionists

The illusionist's number is always the ace up the sleeve of every circus director. Illusionists can magically swap themselves, or any other artist in their show, for an artist of another player.

Special ability: Illusionists may swap cards on the table between the player who plays them and another player.

Fire Dancers

These artists command a beautiful and dangerous element. They know that its power comes from the amount of fire in a show, so the more Fire Dancers there are in a show, the more beautiful the spectacle. Fire Dancers give a bonus for each other Fire Dancer who performs anywhere in the whole show.

Jugglers

These artists can really stir things up in a show. When they share one stage, they can create a unique spectacle, tossing countless clubs, hoops and balls between one another. Jugglers give a bonus to the show when they form a joint act with another Juggler.

Special ability: Jugglers may swap the places of up to 2 cards within their own show.

Action Cards

Pig

A pig lowers the level of a performance. A player may place a pig on a chosen artist who performs in any show, even their own. The pig stays with the artist until the end of the game. It moves together with the artist between acts and between players. One artist may have an unlimited number of pigs. When an artist suffers an injury, the pigs are discarded together with the artist.

Component note: the Pig card shows a value of −3.

Popularity

Thanks to this action, the level of an artist rises: the artist gains popularity and receives additional victory points. A player may raise the popularity of an artist any number of times.

If an artist has received popularity twice, it may not change its place in the show, and it may not be taken by another player. The only thing that can happen to it is an injury.

Component note: the Popularity card shows a value of +3.

Casting

This is a great event at which previously unknown artists come to present themselves to the circus director. When playing this action, draw 3 cards from the face-down deck and choose 1 card to take into your hand. Discard the other 2 cards to the discard pile.

Injury

This action is an unfortunate accident that eliminates a chosen artist in any show, even in the player's own show. Together with the eliminated artist, any pigs placed under them and any popularity are also removed from the game.

End of the Game

The game ends when one of the players adds a seventh artist to their show, thus filling all the places in their show.

The other players must then add artists from their hands into the empty places in their shows. From this moment, players may no longer use the special abilities of artists that are being placed, and they may not play actions. Action cards left in hand are placed on the discard pile.

If a player has more artists in hand than there are empty places in their show, that player receives negative points equal to the base points of each such artist.

Scoring

Each player counts their points. They add up the base values on their artist cards, the bonuses for joint performances in the acts and in the show, and the bonuses for matching artists to acts. Then they add the points for popularity, and finally they subtract the points for pigs and for artists who did not perform in the show.

The player with the highest number of victory points has created the most spectacular show and wins the game.