Assassin: The Final Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object of the Game
• Preparing the Game for Play
• General Rules
• How to Attempt an Assassination
• Example
• Special Assassin Rules
• Defenses
• Winning the Game
• Miscellaneous

Components

• 1 Playing Board
• 2 Dice
• 4 Colored Markers
• 30 ASSASSIN FILE cards: 10 each in Classes A, B and C
• 7 sets of Illegal Commodity cards: DRUGS, PLUTONIUM, MUNITIONS, OIL, SECRETS, DIAMONDS and GOLD. Each set has 10 cards, except GOLD, which has 5.
• 15 LOCATION cards
• 15 WEAPONS cards
• ASSASSIN! game money in denominations of $10,000, $50,000 and $100,000
• 1 card listing the total resale value of each complete set of Illegal Commodity cards

Object of the Game

To arrange the assassination of all opposing players and thereby take control of world traffic in illegally obtained commodities.

Preparing the Game for Play

1. Shuffle WEAPON cards and place them face down on the appropriate space on the board.
2. Shuffle LOCATION cards and place them face down on the appropriate space on the board.
3. Place the seven sets of Illegal Commodity cards face down in separate piles.
4. Place the ASSASSIN FILE cards face down in three separate piles: Class A, Class B, and Class C.
5. Designate one player as the banker and distribute $50,000 (Five $10,000 bills) to each player. The remaining money forms the bank.
6. Each player chooses a marker and rolls the dice. The player with the highest dice roll begins the game.

General Rules

1. All players start in St. Louis and move counterclockwise (in direction of arrow) around the board.

2. Players, in turn, roll the dice and advance that number of squares on the board.

3. When a player lands in a city, he may buy the commodities listed in red in the lower left-hand corner of the square; OR sell the commodities listed in black in the lower right-hand corner of the square.

   Players buy commodity cards by paying the BANK $10,000 for each one. The amount on the back of each card indicates its resale value. Players may buy any or all (or none) of the available cards in a single commodity (Oil, for example) in one turn, but they may not see the resale value of the cards beforehand.

   Players may sell their commodity card only when they land in specially designated cities. For example, players may sell DIAMOND commodity cards only in Athens and Chicago; they may sell PLUTONIUM cards only in Shanghai, Cairo, Berlin, Tel Aviv and Bagdad. At that time, they may sell any, all or none of the cards they hold in that commodity. To do this, they show the resale value of the cards to the other players, collect payment from the BANK and return the commodity cards to the bottom of the appropriate pile.

   If a commodity card is marked "worthless", it has no resale value and may be returned only when the player sells the BANK another card of that same commodity.

   Players may buy or sell (but not both) only one type of commodity in a single turn.

4. During his turn, a player may attempt to assassinate another player IF:

   A. he lands on either of the two ASSASSINATION squares, in which case he may choose any player as his victim;

   B. he lands in a city already occupied by another player, in which case he may attempt to assassinate that player only (if more than one opponent is in the same city the attacking player chooses only one as his target);

   C. he pays for a $500,000 Bonus Assassination Attempt. In this situation, the player pays $500.000 in addition to the cost of an assassin and may attempt an assassination on any player he chooses, forfeiting his turn to move on the board. Players may attempt Bonus Assassinations only once in every trip around the board.

How to Attempt an Assassination

If a player meets any of the three conditions stated above for making an assassination attempt, he may do so by using the following procedure:

1. Choose one player as the assassination target.

2. Choose a "class" of assassins and pay the BANK the appropriate fee: Class A Assassins ($100,000) are proficient with five weapons; Class B Assassins ($50.000) are proficient with four weapons; and Class C Assassins ($10,000) are proficient with three weapons.

   Note: Players may hire only one assassin per assassination attempt. The assassin must be used immediately, and may not be saved for later use.

3. Take the top ASSASSIN FILE card from the appropriate class and read aloud the dossier on the assassin.

4. Take the top LOCATION card and place it face up on the board. This indicates where the assassination attempt will take place, and what weapons are permissible in such a situation.

   If the hired ASSASSIN is not proficient with at least one weapon listed on the LOCATION card, the assassination attempt is a failure. No money is refunded to the player. The LOCATION and ASSASSIN FILE card are returned to the bottom of their respective piles, and board play resumes.

5. If the hired ASSASSIN is proficient with at least one of the weapons listed on the LOCATION card, take the top WEAPON card and place it face up on the board. This indicates which weapons will be available for this particular assassination attempt.

   If this card does not match at least one weapon listed on both the LOCATION and ASSASSIN FILE cards, the assassination attempt is a failure. No money is refunded; the LOCATION, ASSASSIN FILE and WEAPON cards are returned to the bottom of their respective piles, and board play resumes.

6. If the ASSASSIN FILE, LOCATION and WEAPON cards all have at least one weapon in common, you have reached the final stage of the assassination attempt. The weapon shared by all three cards now becomes the "designated" weapon. (On occasion, more than one weapon will qualify as a designated weapon.)

   Now look at the ASSASSIN FILE card, and note the numbers listed next to the designated weapon (or Weapons). Then roll the dice. If the dice roll matches one of the numbers next to any of the designated weapons, the assassination is successful. The victim is eliminated from the game, and must return his money and Illegal Commodity cards to the BANK.

Example

An attacking player hires a Class A Assassin (proficient with all five weapons) and draws CONSTANTINE MONTROSE. The player then draws (turns over) "Restaurant" LOCATION card, which lists BOMB, HANDGUN and POISON DART as permissible weapons. Next he draws a WEAPON card that lists KNIFE and POISON DART. In this case, POISON DART is the only weapon that appears on all three cards, so it becomes the designated weapon. MONTROSE's dossier shows that a dice roll of 3 to 7 constitutes a successful assassination with a POISON DART. The player now must roll a 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 to assassinate his victim.

If, however, the same player, with the same ASSASSIN FILE and LOCATION cards, draws a WEAPON card that lists only KNIFE and RIFLE, the assassination attempt would be declared an immediate failure because no weapon is shared by all three cards.

Special Assassin Rules

While every assassin has his or her own "quirks," three assassins possess unique qualities that can have a special impact on the game. These qualities are noted on their cards by an asterisk (*).

• DIETRICH MANNSTADT: if MANNSTADT is hired and his intended victim is in Berlin, the assassination attempt is an automatic success.
• GREGOR MANEVSKY: if MANEVSKY is hired and his intended victim is in Moscow, the assassination attempt is an automatic success.
• JACQUELINE CARTIER: if CARTIER is hired and her intended victim is a woman, the attempt is an automatic failure.

Defenses

The intended victim may try to stop an assassination attempt by offering the attacking player $1,000,000 in cash. The attacking player then has the option of accepting the money and cancelling the assassination attempt, or refusing it and proceeding. (If he accepts the money, an attacking player may not attempt any other assassination during this turn.) The intended victim may offer this bribe only in the final stage of an assassination attempt, when the attacking player has drawn ASSASSIN FILE, LOCATION and WEAPON cards with matching weapons. The offer must be made immediately before the dice roll. This rule does not apply during $500,000 Bonus Assassination Attempts (see below).

During $500,000 Bonus Assassination Attempts only, the intended victim may try to defend himself by hiring an assassin of his own for "protection". To do this, he must pay $500,000 plus the fee for an assassin of the same class as the attacking assassin. If he chooses this option, a player must declare his intention to defend himself as soon as he has been singled out for an assassination attempt.

The defending player's assassin acts as a bodyguard to shield him from attack. The attacking player proceeds with an assassination attempt in the usual manner. If the attack fails, board play resumes as normal. However, if the assassination attempt is successful, it means only that the bodyguard has been disabled; the player himself is unhurt. To try to assassinate the player himself, the attacker, using the same ASSASSIN FILE, LOCATION and WEAPON cards, rolls the dice a second time. If this attack succeeds, the victim is out of the game. If it does not, board play resumes as usual.

Winning the Game

The last player left in the game is the winner.

Miscellaneous

1. No player may borrow money from the BANK or any other player.
2. Doubles: a player who rolls doubles is entitled to a free turn. This may continue indefinitely as long as the player rolls consecutive doubles.
3. Before buying any Illegal Commodity cards, a player must announce how many he wishes to purchase during that turn; he may not buy one, look at its resale value and then decide to buy more. This rule prevents players who have bought worthless commodity cards from trying to cover their losses during the same turn.
4. There is no limit to the number of Illegal Commodity cards, or complete sets of Illegal Commodity cards, that a player may purchase in the course of a game. To simplify the sale of complete sets, the total resale value of each Illegal Commodity set is listed below and on an enclosed card. The purchase price for any complete set of ten is $100,000; the purchase price for a complete set of GOLD commodity cards (5) is $50,000.

Commodity	Resale value of a complete set
DIAMONDS	$600,000
OIL	$430,000
GOLD	$400,000
PLUTONIUM	$350,000
SECRETS	$340,000
MUNITIONS	$330,000
DRUGS	$320,000