TPOC: The Politics of Cannibals Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Elements
• Game Set-Up
• Game Play
  • Action 1: Play 1 card to your platform
  • Action 2: Draw 1 card and 1 tile
    • If a Leader tile is drawn, one of 2 things will happen
    • If the Chef tile is drawn
  • Action 3: Discard 1 card and place 1 tile in the pot
  • Action 4: Discard 1 card, remove 1 tile from the pot, draw 2 tiles, and keep 1
  • Action 5: Discard 1 card, remove 1 tile from the pot matching the dominant color of the discarded card, and return it to play
• Ending the Game
  • Prepare the Board for Scoring
• Scoring Votes
  • Helpful Hints
• Game Play Example
  • Determining Support

Game Components

TPOC Board: The game board depicts the village with 7 play areas for use in the game.

Villager Tiles: There are 90 total cannibal villager tiles. These tiles each represent a member of the Tpoc tribe and displays the 2 issues (defined by colors) most important to them. The dominant color shows the most important issue to the villager, and determines which area of the game board the tile will be placed in. The secondary color is their next most important issue. These 2 colors together show what issues each specific villager will base their vote on.

Leader Tiles: There are 21 special leader tiles in the bag along with the villagers. 18 of these (3 each of 6 different colors) correspond to the 6 basic areas. These are: The Shaman (Red), The Architect (Grey), The Head Farmer (Green), The Storyteller (Yellow), The Champion (Orange), and The Ambassador (Blue). Leader tiles do not have a secondary color.

There are also 3 special tiles for the Chef (Black) who is in charge of the pot area.

Issue Cards: The 90 card deck consists of 15 colors of each of the 6 issues important to the villagers of Tpoc.

Draw Bag: Used to hold all 111 tiles until drawn and placed on the board.

Game Elements

Issue platform: Your issue platform will be defined by a set of up to 7 cards that will determine which villagers choose to support your rise to the position of chief over your rivals. You will start the game with 4 cards in your platform and may add cards as play progresses until you have reached a total of 7. If you wish to add cards to your platform after you've reached 7 down, you may do so, but must discard 1 issue card of a different color to keep your total number of platform cards at 7 or below. Once per game you will be able to add 1 Secret card to your platform. Once added, this card is permanent and cannot be discarded or changed out with another card. This Secret card does not count against the 7 card maximum.

Hand of cards: You hand of cards are used to take an action each turn. You may not have more than 6 cards in your hand and may NOT draw additional cards until you hand size is less than 6.

Villager support: To determine who has the support of a particular cannibal tile (at game end), each player adds up all of the cards in their platform that correspond with the 2 issue colors on each cannibal tile in question. The player with the most total cards shown of the 2 colors COMBINED will win the vote of that villager.

See the section on "Scoring Votes" for more details.

Winning: At the end of the game, the player who receives the most support from the remaining villagers (tiles) will become the new chieftain and win the game!

Game Set-Up

1. Shuffle the deck of cards and randomly remove:

   • 36 cards in a 3 player game
   • 18 cards in a 4 player game
   • 5 cards in a 5 player game

2. Deal out 10 cards to each player.

3. Place all tiles into the bag and have each player draw 3 tiles.

4. Each player will choose 4 of their cards to be their starting platform, placing them face down in front of them. They will also choose from 1 to 3 of the tiles they have drawn to start the game in play. The chosen tiles are placed face-down in front of the player while the unchosen tiles (if any) will be removed from the game. Any tiles removed from the game are set aside FACE DOWN. Leader, or special tiles that are drawn at game start MUST be removed from the game, and the removing player may not tell the other players of this. On the off chance a player draws 3 tiles that must be removed it is a mis-deal. Showing the other players, all tiles are returned it to the bag and everyone re-draws their 3 starting tiles.

5. Once all players have chosen their 4 cards and tiles, each player places their tiles on the board in the section corresponding with the dominant color of the tile, and reveals their platform cards.

6. At this time each player should have 4 cards face up as his or her starting platform in front of them, and 6 cards in his or her hand. There should also be tiles face-up on the board in play. The players can then start the game.

Game Play

Starting with the first player, take 1 of the 5 following available actions. Play proceeds to the left until the last card is drawn which immediately ends the game, and the village is then scored.

We like to allow the player who has last tasted human flesh to go first, SCABS DON'T COUNT!

Action 1: Play 1 card to your platform

Give a speech about how you will make the current issue your #1 priority.

Take 1 card from your hand and place it on your platform. If your platform exceeds 7 cards you must discard 1 of a different type/color than you just played.

Make secret promises (Optional action once per game) Once per game you can play a Secret Card face-down to your platform. This card cannot be removed OR replaced by yourself or another player, and does not count toward your 7 card limit.

Accuse a rival of not caring about an Issue (Optional additional action to above) Discard an additional card of the same type just played from your hand to force either the player to your right or left to discard a matching card from their platform. If the player whose platform you target has none of this color down, you may skip past them to affect the next player! The affected player may immediately replace the lost card out of turn with another from their hand of a different issue/color. If unable to play a replacement card, they must skip this reactive action. This action cannot be taken after playing your secret card.

Action 2: Draw 1 card and 1 tile

Talk to the villagers and find out what issues they are concerned about.

Draw 1 card from the deck and 1 tile from the bag. A player may not take this action if they already have 6 cards in hand. The card gets added to your hand while the tile is added to the board. The tile is placed in the area that matches it's dominant color. If there are no more cards left at the end of this action, the game ends and is scored.

If a Leader tile is drawn, one of 2 things will happen

(Leader tiles have only 1 color and look different than the typical villager tiles)

1. If that leader is NOT already in play, then the player with the most cards already down of that issue type will get the support of that tile immediately, and it is placed in front of that player as a tile to be scored at the end of the game. If there is a tie, then he abstains to give his support, and is removed from the game. Once claimed, these tiles cannot be sent to the pot, are worth 1 point, and will allow you to break ties during the vote at the end of the game.

2. If that leader is already in play, then check to see which of the players have a majority of his color cards in their platform. If there's no new majority player, then he stays with the original player and nothing happens. If there is a new majority color card holder, then the leader tile moves to the new majority player. If this happens, the player who lost him loses 1 card of the leaders color from his platform as penalty. If there is a tie, the owner loses him and a card, but no one claims him and he is then removed. In either of the above cases where a player loses a card, he may then replace that card out of turn with any other color card from his hand.

If the Chef tile is drawn

The drawing player may discard 0 to 3 tiles from play by discarding 1 card per tile. Leader tiles cannot be affected.

Action 3: Discard 1 card and place 1 tile in the pot

Send a rivals' supporter to the pot.

Discard 1 card from your hand and move any tile on the board to the pot area. There can never be more tiles in the pot area than number of players. These tiles will not show up to vote at the end of the game.

Action 4: Discard 1 card, remove 1 tile from the pot, draw 2 tiles, and keep 1

Do lunch with a potential supporter.

Discard 1 card from your hand and remove 1 tile from the pot which is removed from the game. Then draw 2 tiles from the bag and choose 1 you want to add to the game board as normal. The tile not chosen is removed from the game. This action cannot be taken if there are no tiles in the pot. If any leader or special (Chef) tiles are drawn, the player may choose among those drawn which one is played as normal.

Action 5: Discard 1 card, remove 1 tile from the pot matching the dominant color of the discarded card, and return it to play

Save a supporter from the pot.

Discard 1 card from your hand of the dominant color of the tile to be saved from the pot, and put it back in play.

Ending the Game

Prepare the Board for Scoring

As soon as the last card is drawn, the final tile will be added to the board and the election is then held! The village is scored by the cannibals who show up and support the player who most closely matches their issues of concern.

Turn all tiles on the board face down, and remove any tiles in the pot as they have been eaten in the pre-election feast!

Shuffle the tiles and have each player randomly remove 1. Just like in the real world, not everyone actually shows up to vote. These tiles are removed from the game!

All players reveal their secret card (if they have remembered to play one!) adding it to their platforms giving them a new maximum of 8 issue cards in their platforms.

In any order, flip over 1 tile at a time and score it with the winner claiming the tile and placing it in front of themselves.

Scoring Votes

Each tile shows 2 colors representing the interests of that tribe member. The players each total the number of cards they have in their platform for BOTH the colors shown on the tile. The player with the greatest total cards matching these colors wins the support of that specific villager. The winning player must have BOTH colors to gain the support of the villager in question.

In the case of a tie, the player who has control of the leader of the dominant color will determine the breaking of the tie (even if he himself is not included in the tie!)

If it is still a tie, then the player with the most cards of the dominant color wins it.

If no player has still gained it, the tile is not scored and is removed.

See the Game Play Example below for scoring examples.

Once scored, the player with the most tiles won (including any leader tiles) is hailed the new Chief of Tpoc!

His first order of business will be to have his rivals served at a feast in his honor...

If there is a tie for the most votes, then the player with the most leaders declares victory. In the case that there is still a tie, then pull ties from the draw bag and score them "sudden death" style until a player gains a majority of tiles.

Helpful Hints

1. Make sure you play your secret card before game end, but not too soon.
2. Look for issues that no one else has or others are weak in.
3. Make sure to have a few cards in hand near the end of the game so you're not forced to lose a platform card and not be able to replace it.
4. Come hungry!
5. Pay attention to the number of cards used of the different colors.
6. Pay attention to how many cards may be left in the deck.

Game Play Example

Jamie's turn: He takes action 2 (Draw 1 card and 1 tile). He draws 1 card from the draw pile and adds it to his hand (not shown). He then draws 1 tile from the bag. This is a dominant Yellow (Culture) - secondary Orange (Warfare) tile. The tile is placed in the Culture area atop any other identical tiles already in play.

Sarah's turn: She takes action 1 (Play 1 card to your platform). She plays an Orange (Warfare) card from her hand to her platform giving her 2. This brings the total number of cards in her platform to 8, so she must then discard 1 to bring her total down to 7.

Jon's turn: He takes action 3 (Discard 1 card and place 1 tile in the pot). He sees that Jamie clearly has the support of the Green/Orange tiles, and so discards 1 card from his hand and sends 1 of the tiles to the pot. This tile is no longer able to vote, and may now be eaten by any player on a later round by taking action 4.

Laura's turn: She takes action 4 (Discard 1 card, remove 1 tile from the pot, draw 2 tiles, and keep 1). She discards 1 card from her hand to take 1 tile from the pot and remove it from the game. She then pulls 2 new tiles from the draw bag and chooses to keep the Yellow/Grey one, placing it in the Culture area of the board. The Blue/Orange tile is removed from the game.

Jamie's turn: He takes action 5 (Discard 1 card, remove 1 tile from the pot matching the dominant color of the discarded card, and return it to play). He discards 1 Green card from his hand to save the Green/Grey tile from the pot and returning it to the Farming area.

Sarah's turn: She takes action 1 (Play 1 "Secret" card to your platform). She plays 1 Green card to her platform face-down as her Secret card. This card won't be revealed until the end of the game right before scoring.

Jon's turn: He takes action 1 (Play 1 card to your platform and "accuse a rival"). He plays 1 Grey card to his platform, and then discards an additional Grey card from his hand to force either Laura or Sarah to lose 1 Grey card from their platform. Sarah does not have any Grey cards, and so Jon skips past her to Jamie and forces him to lose 1 Grey card from his platform. Jamie immediately replaces it out of turn with an Orange card from his hand.

Laura's turn: She takes action 2 (Draw 1 card and 1 tile). She draws 1 card and the Chef tile. She chooses to discard the maximum 3 cards from her hand in order to remove 3 tiles supporting other players.

Jamie's turn: He takes action 2 (Draw 1 card and 1 tile). He draws 1 card and the Shaman (Red/Religion) leader. Jon has the most Red cards in his platform, so he wins the endorsement of the leader tile placing it in front of his Red platform cards. This will allow him to break ALL ties involving dominant red tiles during the Scoring phase. He may lose this leader if another Shaman tile is drawn in the future and he no longer has the most Red.

Determining Support

Jon would clearly win the Red/Orange tile as his card total is 5 (4 red, 1 orange). Sarah is the next closest with a total of 3 (1 red, 2 orange).

There is a tie for the Yellow/Orange tiles between Laura and Sarah. Sarah however has won the endorsement of the Storyteller (Yellow leader), so she gets to break the tie in her favor. If Sarah did not have his endorsement, then Laura would win the tiles as she has the most cards of the dominant color (Yellow). If there was still a tie, then no one would win those tiles as they would abstain.