Agile Unicorn Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Objective of the Game
  • Game Process
  • The Cards
  • Stories (Victory Points)
  • Team Members
  • Events
  • Incentives
  • Symbols
• Setup
  • Game Setup
• Sprints
  • The Sprint
  • Sprint Start
  • Sprint Backlog
  • Sprint End
  • Retro and New Sprint
• Pitching
  • The Pitches
  • Conduct Pitch Rounds
  • End of the Game
• Enterprise Ecstasy (Expansion)
  • Highly Professional in the Corporation
  • New Mechanics
  • Game Setup (Enterprise Ecstasy)

Introduction

Objective of the Game

Survive the IT chaos with your startup and be the first to win the most victory points.

To beat your opponents, you must effectively use the potential of your development team in duels for new stories and the best minds. Unfortunately, things rarely go as planned, as the other players will also be using their possible means to secure the best stories for themselves.

Winner

The winner is the player who is the first to reach the agreed number of victory points.

Game Process

The game runs over multiple rounds (sprints). A sprint consists of several duel rounds (pitch). During a sprint, players try to outperform their opponents in multiple duels by playing their team and event cards to win the most valuable new cards for their startup.

TLDR

Team members are secretly assigned cards that grant victory points. The team members have different strengths (dice). Effects cards can be played before and after rolling to gain an advantage. The team with the highest dice result wins the story victory point card.

The Cards

There are four different types of cards. They are differentiated by their card color. For the rules, the card texts are not important; only the numbers and symbols in the top left matter.

Stories (Victory Points)

Stories (blue) have a value between 3 and 20 victory points (namely 3, 5, 8, 13, 20). It corresponds to the number in the top left of the card.

Whether a story can be successfully implemented is determined by rolling dice against the value. On success, the player with the highest dice result receives the story card and places it face up at the end of the sprint next to their other won story cards.

Team Members

You can only win cards with team members (purple). Their strength is shown in the top left by dice symbols. This indicates the number of dice you may roll when pitching for a story. Some cards also show a bonus or penalty below the dice.

Your team can consist of a maximum of 5 members. If a 6th member is won, the player must dismiss another member of their choice and place it under the draw pile.

The team members remain in hand until they are used. This is possible once per team member per sprint.

Events

Event cards (red) have a one-time effect before rolling and can only be used by players against other players. They cannot be played against the pitch card in the center of the table to modify it.

There is no limit to the number of event cards in hand and they can be collected over multiple sprints. After being played, they are consumed and placed under the event card pile.

Incentives

Incentives (green) can be used after rolling to improve the result. Their effect is shown in the top left of the card.

Each card can be used once per sprint after rolling to improve the dice result. After use, they are placed face down until the end of the sprint.

Symbols

Effect symbols as printed in the manual's table (the symbol images are not reproduced here; the effect name and description are given):

Effect	Description
Point Value	Bonus or penalty on the rolled result.
Skip	The player must immediately take all placed team cards back into their hand. The team cards can continue to be used in the next pitch, but played event cards are lost. Event cards that are still in hand can be played (e.g. magic wand or "add team member" to still use individual team members).
Magic Wand	Immediate cancellation effect: Cancels the effect of another recently played event card once (as a reaction to a card just played). It is not possible to cancel effects that have already triggered follow-up reactions. The card can also be played against other magic wand cards.
Dice	One-time addition or reduction of the shown dice in the pitch.
Add Team Member	The targeted player must use an additional team card in the pitch. This card must come from their hand and is selected by them. If the player has no team cards left in hand, the effect is void.
Remove Team Member	The targeted player must remove an already played team card of their choice from the pitch. This team card may only be taken back into hand in the next sprint. Event cards that are still in hand can be played (e.g. magic wand or "add team member" to still use individual team members).

Setup

Game Setup

Set Victory Points

Depending on how long you want the game to last, the required victory points can be varied:

• 22 Victory Points "MVP" (approx. 20 minutes)
• 32 Victory Points "Quick Scrum" (approx. 40 minutes)
• 42 Victory Points "Full Fledged" (approx. 60 minutes)

Distribute Team Cards

Each player receives their starting deck:

• one Chief Technical Officer (CTO, 3 dice)
• one team member with 2 dice
• one noob (1 die)
• one green incentive card with a value of 2
• two event cards

All remaining CTOs and noobs are removed and put back into the box.

Prepare Piles

All event cards are placed face down in a pile. All other cards (stories, incentives and team cards) are shuffled and placed face down in a separate draw pile.

Adjustments

Easy Start

Inexperienced players can play one sprint without event cards to learn the basic mechanics. Experienced players can start directly with event cards.

With 2 Players

If only 2 players are participating, each receives 2 additional team cards: one with strength 2 and one with strength 1.

Teams (Cooperative Mode)

For an even number of players (4), teams can be formed: team members can coordinate and pitch on cards together, meaning that the dice results are added up. All effects of event and incentive cards then apply to the entire team (e.g. skip, magic wands). The victory points of the team members are also summed.

If a team member does not participate in the pitch, they are not allowed to use their event and incentive cards.

Sprints

The Sprint

The game runs over multiple sprints: A sprint consists of up to 5 duel rounds (pitches). During a sprint, players try to outperform their opponents in several duels by playing their team and event cards to win the most valuable new cards for their startup.

Sprint Start

All players have their complete team as well as any incentive cards in their hand. If event cards are used, they are also in hand.

Sprint Backlog

The content of the sprint is determined by laying out a sprint backlog of 5 random cards drawn from the draw pile (stories, incentives, team cards). The first card is placed face up in the center of the table, the next one as a preview next to the remaining cards (which are still face down). This is followed by several pitch rounds for the sprint backlog cards.

Sprint End

The sprint ends as soon as the last pitch round has been played. It may also end prematurely if all players have used their team cards or have passed. If only one player still has unused team cards in hand, they can continue the remaining pitches alone. However, if they pass, the sprint is over.

Retro and New Sprint

Each player ensures that their team consists of a maximum of 5 members. Extra team cards are placed back in the draw pile.

All team cards as well as new and used incentive cards are retrieved. Each player draws two new event cards; unused ones remain in hand. The sprint backlog is replenished from the draw pile (5 cards, or 6 cards with 5 players) and the next starting player begins the new sprint.

Pitching

The Pitches

Within a sprint, several pitch rounds can be played. In these rounds the newly revealed pitch card in the center can be won (story, incentive or team card).

Conduct Pitch Rounds

1. Start Pitch

The first card of the sprint backlog is placed in the center of the table. This is the card that is pitched for. To win it, players must reach or exceed its value.

• For a story card, the depicted victory points are used.
• For a team card, its value is determined by rolling according to its strength (number of dice including modifiers) when it is placed in the center.
• For an incentive card, the bonus of the card is simultaneously the target value.

2. Pitch or Pass

The player with the funniest t-shirt receives the starting player card (First Mover) and begins. In turn, each player can either pass, in which case no cards are played, or pitch using their team cards by placing one or more team cards from their hand face down.

Example

The next card in the sprint backlog is a blue story card with a value of 13, meaning that 13 dice points must be reached. Players then decide in turn whether to bid (pitch) on this card or pass.

Player A places his CTO (strength 3 dice) face down in the center. Player B, wanting to save his team for later rounds, passes. Player C does not want to let Player A win the story card without a fight and also pitches by placing two team cards face down (with strengths of 3 and 1 die).

3. Reveal Team Cards

Once each player has decided whether to pass or pitch, all played team cards are revealed.

Example

Player A has 3 dice available because he used his CTO. Player C now has 4 dice available as he played two cards with the corresponding strengths.

4. Play Event Cards

At any time now players taking part in the pitch may play additional event cards before rolling their dice . The effects take place immediately. Any number of event cards may be played at the same time, even targeting different players.

Event cards cannot be used to modify the pitch card in the center. Whenever a player plays an event card, the other players in the pitch may react and play additional cards until everyone has passed.

Example

To improve his chances (since Player C has 4 dice), Player A decides to play an event card from his hand. He plays "Quick Scrum", which allows him to add another team member from his hand to the pitch.

He selects his strength 2 developer to gain an advantage. However, Player C also plays an event card that grants him an extra die. Player A then uses another event card with a magic wand symbol to cancel the effect of Player C's card. As a result, Player C continues pitching with only 4 dice.

Player C might play an event card in response but has none suitable and passes. Eventually, Player A also passes.

5. Roll Dice

Each player rolls a number of dice corresponding to the total strength of his team cards (e.g., CTO 3 dice + Noob 1 die = 4 dice).

6. Use Incentives and Determine Winner

Each player, starting with the starting player, may use their unused incentive cards to improve their dice result. Any number of incentive cards may be used. Whenever a player plays an incentive card, the other players may respond by playing additional cards until everyone has passed. These cards, however, are then considered used for the remainder of the sprint.

Bonuses from incentive and event card effects are applied to the dice result. The player with the highest total wins the card provided the target value is reached. In case of a tie, dice are rolled again (while event and incentive effects remain). If the target value is not reached, the pitch card is moved to the discard pile.

Example

Dice are rolled. Player A scores a total of 15 with his 5 dice. Player C rolls a 17. Player A must decide first whether to use his unused incentive "Free Massages," which provides an additional 3 points for this pitch.

Since Player C has no incentive cards left, Player A uses his incentive card and wins the pitch with 18 points.

7. Set Aside Cards

All played event cards are set aside in a separate pile.

Additionally, each player places the team cards they used face down in front of themselves. The winner also adds the newly won card to their pile. All set aside or won cards remain face down until the end of the sprint and cannot be used again until the next sprint, and not in the immediately following pitch rounds.

Example

Player A receives the story card, which he places face down along with his played team cards until the sprint ends. These cards are considered used for the current sprint. This also applies to Player C's team cards even though he did not win the pitch card. All played event cards go to the discard pile.

8. Change Starting Player

After each pitch round, the starting player rotates clockwise, the next pitch card is moved to the center, and the next, previously face-down card in the sprint backlog is revealed. The next pitch round then follows according to the above procedure using the remaining hand cards.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as a player possesses blue story victory point cards totaling the agreed victory points (or more) at the end of a sprint, thereby winning the game.

Enterprise Ecstasy (Expansion)

Highly Professional in the Corporation

Enterprise Ecstasy is a separately available expansion of the base game and allows you to play Agile Unicorn with up to 6 players and introduces new tactical elements. It is not a standalone game.

With 6 players, the game time increases, which is why there are stronger incentives and more valuable stories in the deck. The cards of the expansion deck complement the cards of the base game, meaning they are shuffled together with the others. They have a marking to distinguish them from the other cards and to be able to sort them out if needed.

New Mechanics

Reroll

Incentive to reroll dice

Rerolls can be used for yourself or against an opponent to repeat a complete roll of all dice. Tip: Remember to take your reroll card back after the sprint.

Take back the reroll

Remember to take back your player reroll cards after the pitch and to put them on your personal stack.

The Bomb

Event to cancel the pitch

The entire pitch is canceled and all used cards are consumed. This card affects all players who participated in the pitch.

All In

Event to use all team members

All remaining team members must be used in the pitch.

Sabotage

Steal incentive

An incentive can be permanently stolen from an opponent's hand. The opponent holds the incentives face down and the player who played the sabotage card draws one of the cards. Used incentives cannot be stolen.

Game Setup (Enterprise Ecstasy)

Sorting Cards

The cards of the expansion deck are shuffled with the cards of the base game with the following exceptions:

• One reroll card per player is sorted out for the starting deck. Additional reroll cards are shuffled into the draw pile.
• All CTOs and noobs that are not needed by the players are removed from the game.
• The further preparation proceeds as in the base game.

Dealing Starting Deck

Each player receives the following cards:

• one Chief Technical Officer (CTO, 3 dice)
• one team member with 2 dice
• one Noob (1 dice)
• one green reroll incentive card
• one green incentive card with value 2
• two red event cards