PLAI
THE TECH WORKER'S
2 to 5 players
Ages: 19+
Playtime: 7-59 min
GAME'S OBJECTIVE
Be the only startup alive and leave the others out of business, or destroy all startups with your cooperative Open Source Project.
Lead your AI startup to dominate the competition, aiming to become the ultimate greenwashing monopoly in this ever- changing landscape. The number of cards in your hand are your company’s assets, they will allow you to mess with the other startups. Do not let the number reach zero, but beware if you have too many.
Starting the game
The bottom left of some cards have roman numerals, depending on the number of players pick the following:
- 2 plaiers
- Numeral I
- 3-4 plaiers
- Numerals I & II
- 5 plaiers
- All cards
Remove Market Event cards from the deck. Shuffle, cut and deal 6 cards to each player. Add the Market Event cards back into the deck, shuffle and put the deck face down on the table.
Your turn
During your turn you can do oneof the following actions:
- Do a funding
- Pl ai a special card
- Fight
By the end of turn, if any startup has run out of assets their company is declared bankrupt and can't continue on the market. Any eliminated player becomes an Open Source Maintainer.
Funding
Family Funding
Draw one card from the deck.
Nobody can attack you
Regional pitch
Draw two cards from the deck.
The next player can attack you
Venture capital
Draw three cards.
Anyone can attack you
During a Regional pitch or a Venture capital, do not look at the drawn cards right away, leave them face down in case another startup wants to attack you.
If no one attacks, keep the assets raised during the funding.
Fight
Steal assets from other startups.
- Hostile Takeover : if you have 9 or more cards, you can challenge any player at your turn.
- During a Funding : you or another startup does a Regional pitch or a Venture capital
Use Adversaries if you are attacking and Use Cases if you are on the defensive. In both cases you can add Buzzwords to increase the number of your attack or defense.
Specific special cards can be played in the middle of battle, such as cards that negate other card's effects. These Special cards do not need to be in the four picked cards at the beginning of the battle.
You can bluff and only attack or defend yourself with Buzzword cards. However, if the other startup has Use Cases or Adversary cards you will have lost the battle.
Order of events during a fight
- The attacker(s) chooses their cards to play and places them face down. The defender decides if they want to defend, and if so, put their cards face down.
- Defense cards are revealed and their effects are applied. Then, do the same for the attacker's.
- Add up the stregnth of each played card. Whoever has more points wins, or in the event of a draw, the defense is the winner.
- The winner takes the drawn cards if it is a Funding, or the entire losing hand if it is a Hostile Takeover.
- Discard all the played cards.
Fight examples
Example 1: A tied fight
Attack
Defense
Daily Standups (3) vs Internet of Things (3). Strength: 3 = 3.
Defense wins the tie. Internet of Things is a valid Use Case. Equal strength goes to the defender.
Example 2: Hype with an Adversary
Attack
Defense
Daily Standups (3) + Pandas and Scikit Learn (3) vs Internet of Things (3). Strength: 3 + 3 = 6; 6 > 3.
Attack wins, 6 to 3. The Buzzword adds strength to a valid Adversary. Internet of Things has lock defense strength 3, not an automatic win.
Example 3: A bluff gets called
Attack
Defense
Pandas and Scikit Learn (3) vs Discrimination (2). Printed strength: 3 > 2.
Defense wins: the bluff gets called. The attacker tries to bluff with Buzzwords alone, but has no Adversary. Discrimination is a real Use Case, so the defense wins despite its lower strength. Defenders can bluff with Buzzwords alone too—but lose if the attacker reveals an Adversary.
Example 4: Discard before counting
Attack
Defense
- The defender reveals Discrimination (2) and Pandas and Scikit Learn (3). Neither has an effect to apply.
- The attacker reveals Daily Standups (3) and GDPR Fine (−1). GDPR Fine says: “Discard 1 of your rival’s played cards”. Discard one of the defender’s played cards at random. In this example, the random card is Pandas and Scikit Learn. Put it in the discard pile immediately.
- Count only the remaining cards. The discarded Buzzword contributes nothing: the defense is 2, not 5. The attack is 3 − 1 = 2. A tie goes to the defender.
- After the fight, discard Daily Standups, GDPR Fine and Discrimination too. Pandas and Scikit Learn is already in the discard pile. Do not discard either player’s unplayed hand.
Attack: 3 − 1 = 2. Defense: 2, not 2 + 3. Strength: 2 = 2.
Defense wins the tie. GDPR Fine discards one rival’s played card at random, not a card you choose and not one point from their total. Its own −1 still counts on the attacker’s side.
Open Source Project
Your startup is bankrupt, but its not your end. You morph into an Open Source Maintainer and can do one of the following actions during your next turns:
- Family funding
- Pl ai a special card
- Help fight other startups
Open Source Maintainers must act in collaboration and talk in public. They can only have a maximum of 6 assets between them and any additional ones must be discarded.