Conspiracy! (2016) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Player Turn Summary
• Going Out
• Scoring
• Continuing Play
• Winning the Game
• Card Breakdown
  • Action Cards (23)
  • Conspiracy Cards (45)
• Expanded Card Explanations

Setup

1. Randomly select a dealer.
2. The dealer deals ten cards to each player.
3. The dealer turns over the top card of the draw deck (hereafter referred to as the Unknown) to start a discard pile (hereafter referred to as the Tabloids).
4. Play starts with the player to the left of the dealer and goes clockwise.

Player Turn Summary

Each player's turn consists of the following:

1. They must first draw a card from either the top of the Unknown or the top of the Tabloids. Should a player be required to draw a card from the Unknown when there are no cards left, the round ends and the normal end of round procedure is followed.

2. Any and all of the following may be done in any order:

• They may reveal one conspiracy.

  When initially revealing a conspiracy, the player must lay down at least three cards of a single conspiracy type. These cards can be three Conspiracy cards or two Conspiracy cards and a Proof! card. Playing a Proof!! card in this manner counts as a player's one Action card play for that turn. A conspiracy "type" is a conspiracy with all the same Conspiracy cards, and possibly a Proof! card.

  Leaked Files, which are wild Proof! cards, may be part of the initial conspiracy as long as no more than one Action card is played in a player's turn.

  Players may only reveal one new conspiracy per turn.

• They may add to one of their or another player's existing conspiracies (also called strengthening). Instead of revealing a conspiracy during their turn, a player may strengthen two conspiracies.

  Once a player has revealed a conspiracy, any player may during their turn add one or more Conspiracy or Proof! cards to that conspiracy as long as they do not violate the one Action card per turn rule. This is also called strengthening a conspiracy. This may be a single card or several on the same conspiracy. Cards are always played in front of the player who played them even when strengthening another player's conspiracy.

  Players may only strengthen one conspiracy per turn if they revealed a new conspiracy this turn. The strengthened conspiracy may be one of their own revealed conspiracies or another player's.

  Many conspiracies grant abilities that trigger when they are played. These abilities trigger only once on each player's turn regardless of how many cards are added to a particular conspiracy.

  Example - A player reveals the Chemtrails conspiracy by playing two Chemtrails Conspiracy cards and a Leaked File Proof! card. This triggers the Chemtrails optional ability to take a card from an opponent and return it to them or discard it. Whether or not the player uses that optional ability, if later in that player's turn they add one or more cards to the Chemtrails conspiracy, the Chemtrails ability would not trigger again.

  If a player adds to the conspiracy they revealed during their current turn or one they have already strengthened during the current turn, it does not count as their one strengthen for the turn. In other words, a player may freely add to the conspiracy they revealed or already strengthened during their current turn.

3. Lastly, they must discard one card to the Tabloids. A player may not perform any action that would leave them with no cards to discard at the end of their turn. This includes when you are going out. Your last action must be to discard a card to the Tabloids.

Drawing must always be a player's first action and discarding must always be a player's last action, but any of the other actions may be done in any order.

Going Out

At the end of a player's turn, after they have made the required discard, if they have no cards left in their hand they have "gone out" which ends normal play. After a player goes out each other player starting with the player to the left of the player that went out must discard one card to the Tabloids. The hand is then scored.

Scoring

By revealing conspiracies, or strengthening them, players are accumulating points which count toward proving to the world that the conspiracy revealed is genuine. When a round ends all conspiracies with ten or more points worth of cards showing are acknowledged as "proven" and as a result all points on those cards are doubled. It does not matter which or how many players have cards from a particular conspiracy in front of them, they all count towards proving that conspiracy.

1. Once every player has made their final discard the player who went out picks up the Tabloid pile and separates it by colors.

2. Each card in the Tabloids that is the same color as a conspiracy that has been played represents a sensationalistic story like "Reptilian Overlords Meet with US President!" that has appeared in the tabloid press discrediting that conspiracy. Therefore, for each card of the same color in the Tabloids, remove a card from the largest conspiracy of that type.

   Example - At the end of a hand one Mayan Apocalypse card and the Stela C Text, (the Mayan Apocalypse specific Proof! card) are found in the Tabloid pile. This causes two cards to be removed, one at a time, from the Mayan Apocalypse conspiracy with the most cards. Because the cards are removed as they are found in the Tabloids, the player with the most cards in a conspiracy can change resulting in multiple players losing cards.

3. If two or more players are tied for the most number of cards in a conspiracy that must remove a card due to the Tabloids, a card is removed from each tied player.

4. When all of the discredited cards are removed, total the points for all cards of the same conspiracy type, counting all players. Points are the numbers in the upper left corner of each card directly under the suit icon. If the number is ten or greater, then all points for cards of that conspiracy are doubled for all players who played them. If the number is less than ten, the cards are counted at face value.

5. After the discredited cards have been removed, if any single player has twelve or more points for the Mayan Apocalypse conspiracy, and they are the player who went out, they have proven that a "galactic alignment" did indeed happen in 2012. That player scores all of their points, following the above rules while all the other players score zero.

Otherwise, each player totals the cards in front of them and then subtracts from that number the face value of points for cards left in their hands. This is their score for the round.

Continuing Play

If no player has 100 points or greater after scoring the round, the player who has the highest score becomes the dealer. In the event of a tie for highest score the first tied player to the left of the last dealer becomes the dealer.

Winning the Game

At the end of any hand if any player has reached 100 points or greater, the player with the largest total wins the game. In the event of a tie, play another hand.

Card Breakdown

Action Cards (23)

10 - Investigation

• 3 - Men in Black
• 3 - Remote Viewing
• 4 - Secret Informant

13 - Proof!

• 1 - Crashed Saucer
• 1 - Demonic Monster Manual
• 1 - Hitler's DNA
• 1 - Human Mask
• 1 - Internet Documentary
• 1 - Lab Explosion
• 4 - Leaked File
• 1 - Stela C Text
• 1 - USS Eldridge
• 1 - Waving Flag

Conspiracy Cards (45)

• 5 - Area 51
• 5 - Chemtrails
• 5 - Cold Fusion
• 5 - They're Cloning Hitler!
• 5 - Mayan Apocalypse
• 5 - Moon "Landing"
• 5 - Philadelphia Experiment
• 5 - Reptilian Overlords
• 5 - Role-playing is Devil Worship!

Expanded Card Explanations

Area 51/Crashed Saucer - The effect of drawing two cards, selecting one and returning the other to the top of the Unknown only affects a player's draw at the start of each turn. A player may only use this conspiracy's ability if at least one card from the conspiracy remains in play in front of them.

Chemtrails/Internet Documentary - Should the victim of a Chemtrail attack be left with no cards in their hand, the round continues as normal. On their next turn the player must draw a card from the Unknown or the top card from the Tabloids. They must still discard as normal at the end of their turn.

Leaked File - Strengthening an existing conspiracy with a Leaked File will trigger that conspiracy's effect. For example, adding a Leaked File to an existing Philadelphia Experiment will triggered its effect of forcing the player to take a card from the Tabloids. Once in play, a Leaked File must always be attached to a conspiracy. In other words, it must have one or more cards from the actual conspiracy played next to it. Should a situation occur where it is not, for example if the card it was attached to were removed with the Moon "Landing" effect, the Leaked file would be discarded to the Tabloids.

Philadelphia Experiment/USS Eldridge - The Philadelphia Experiment's effect of retrieving of a card from the Tabloids is not optional. If the Tabloids is empty ignore this effect.

Reptilian Overlords/Human Mask - If you have this conspiracy in play and have not yet played an Action card, you may as part of revealing a new conspiracy use the conspiracy's Proof! card and a Leaked File or with two Leaked Files. A player may only use this conspiracy's ability if at least one card from the conspiracy remains in play in front of them.

Secret Informant - Only the card retrieved from the Tabloids, if it is an Action card, may be played immediately breaking the one action card a turn limit. This effect does not apply to the "Draw two cards from the Unknown" effect regardless of the type(s) of cards drawn in this manner.

They're Cloning Hitler!/Hitler's DNA - Even though they are considered wilds (cards that may be a part of any conspiracy), once the conspiracy has been revealed, They're Cloning Hitler! cards may still be used to strength the They're Cloning Hitler! conspiracy. They're Cloning Hitler! cards count both towards the conspiracy they are a part of and towards doubling the They're Cloning Hitler! conspiracy.