Bakschisch
Bakschisch Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Materials
- 1 game board
- 4 player pieces (in four colors)
- 4 thieves (black)
- 4 little bags
- 30 character cards (5 x 5 citizens, 5 x caliph)
- 40 gold pieces
Preparation
- Place the game board in the middle of the table. It shows part of the city of Akbahah with stairs leading to the caliph's palace.
- Each player chooses a player piece and places it on the start space.
- Each player also takes 1 thief, 10 gold pieces and one little bag. Place the thief and the gold into the bag.
- Shuffle all 30 character cards and place them as a face down draw pile onto the game board.
- Place the top 5 cards from the draw pile face down on the five character spaces next to the draw pile.
Board image (clockwise from top left):
- Thieves Forbidden
- Palace
- Throne space
- Starting space
- Draw pile
- Character spaces
- Movement direction
Order of Play
Unlike most other games, players do not take consecutive turns; rather they all act at the same time.
- Play proceeds in rounds. Each round, players attempt to bribe five characters (citizens or caliph).
- The goal of the game is to reach the throne space and manage to stay there until the end of the round.
- When bribing the first four characters, the player who secretly bid the most money moves forward.
- However, when bribing the last character, the player bribing the least amount of money will move backwards.
- At the end of each complete round (after five bribes) the total amount spent in bribes this round is evenly distributed among all players, assuming there is money left, because...
- Once each round, players may use their thief. That will not help them advance on the track but allows stealing the gold the other players have bid.
- The game ends when a player occupies the throne at the end of a complete round.
Round Overview
For each bribe, players complete the following five steps:
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Turn over Character Card As a first step, determine which character is the target of a bribe. Turn ONE of the character cards face up, starting with the left-most card and proceeding to the right.
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Secretly Bid Money or Deploy the Thief Each player either takes a number of gold pieces or the thief (not both) from the bag and secretly places them in his or her hand. Players may only use the thief once per round. Bids of zero are valid.
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Reveal Bids Once all players have made their decisions all bids are revealed, and players announce how much gold they have bid.
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Determine Results Depending on the bids, the following results are possible:
A. A Single Player Bid the Most Money (bribes 1 - 4)
- The player moves his or her piece forward on the track to the NEXT colored space showing the bribed citizen. Example: When bribing a guard, move your piece to the next space showing a guard.
- Any number of pieces may occupy the same space.
- Player pieces never occupy the Thieves Forbidden space. It only indicates when thieves may no longer be used.
- IMPORTANT: During the fifth bribe, pieces move backwards (see section "The 5th Bribe").
B. Several Players Tied for the Highest Bid
- In case two or more players are tied for the highest bid, ALL players move their pieces forward on the track. Example: A eunuch was bribed. Black and Grey each bid eight gold pieces. Black moves forward three spaces to the next eunuch while Grey moves forward 1 space to the next eunuch.
Round End
After five characters have been bribed (all five character cards are face up) the round ends.
- Place the five character cards onto a discard pile next to the game board.
- Place the top five cards from the draw pile face down onto the character spaces. If the draw pile is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile.
- Distribute the gold next to the game board evenly among all players. Leave any leftover gold next to the game board.
- Return played thieves to their owners. EXCEPTION: Do not return thieves to players already in the palace.
Once these steps are complete, start the next round by turning the first character card face up.
Special Rules
Caliph Character Card
When the caliph character card is turned face up during a bribe, the following applies:
Bribes 1 Through 4
The highest bidder moves forward a number of spaces equal to the current position of his or her player piece on the track.
In other words, the player in first place moves forward one space, the player in second place moves forward two spaces, etc.
Example: Black (in 3rd place) moves forward three spaces.
Bribe 5
The lowest bidder moves backwards but inversely proportional to the player position on the track. Whoever is in the lead moves backwards the furthest.
In other words, the player in last place moves backwards one space, the player in second to last place moves backwards two spaces, etc.
Example: Black (in last place) moves backwards one space.
In case multiple players are tied for the bid, each of them moves separately according to that player's position on the track.
Example: During the second bribe, Grey and Black tied. Grey (in the lead) moves forward one space, and Black (in third place) moves forward three spaces.
Thieves Not Allowed in the Palace
Thieves are not allowed to enter the caliph's palace. As soon as a player's piece passes the Thieves Forbidden space on the game board and enters the palace that player must place the thief next to the game board.
At the end of the round, do not return the thief to any player whose piece is still in the palace. However, if a player is forced to move backwards out of the palace, the thief becomes available again.
Game End
The multi-colored throne space in the palace is the target space.
A player who successfully bribes a citizen is only allowed to claim the throne if there is no other space showing the bribed citizen.
Example: Grey bribed a guard and moves forward to the next guard space. If Grey had bribed a servant, he or she could have reached the throne space.
A player who still occupies the throne at the end of the round (he or she was not forced to move backwards during the fifth bribe) becomes the new caliph and wins the game!
In case multiple players accomplish this during the same round, the winner is the player with the most remaining gold. If still tied, the winner is the player who reached the throne space earlier in the round.