Cryptocurrency Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
• Cards
  • Characters
  • Transactions
  • Loans
  • Hash cards
  • Rumors
• Gameplay
• Setup
  • Assemble your Teams
  • Prepare the Boards
  • Fire up the Banana DX Directory
  • Get Ready to Rumble
• Prep Phase
  • Renewing the Job Seekers
• Action Phase
  • Expert Abilities
  • Mine
  • Trade
  • Example of a Turn
  • End of Action Phase
• Upkeep Phase
• Rumor Phase
• End of Round
  • Value of Cryptocurrency
  • Going Cashless?
• End of Game
  • Award Ultimate Hodlers
  • Resolve Face Down Rumor Cards
  • Determine the Scam
• Advanced Version
• Mini Expansion: Events
  • Preparation
  • Events Revelation
  • Events Resolution
• Experts Elaboration
• Appendix
  • Symbols
  • Terminology
• Quick Start Reference

Objective

Cryptocurrency is a 2-4 player game that puts players in a battle of wits to make the most amount of money from trading and mining cryptocurrencies. Players can choose to make the following actions during their turn with their Team:

1. Speculate and manipulate the prices of cryptocurrencies
2. Create wealth by mining for new coins through a push your luck system
3. Manipulate rumors to affect your opponents' investments while benefiting yours

Some of the rumors are hidden from view and will have an important impact for end game scoring and determining which cryptocurrencies are scams. The cryptocurrency with the least Rumor Points will be declared a scam and lose all of its value.

All players then tally their total wealth by adding their cash and total value of their cryptocurrencies. The player with the most value wins.

During the game, players must read their opponents' moves while planning ahead. Trade coins and spread rumors to bring yourself closer to victory.

Components

• 4 Info Boards. Each holds all the Rumor cards of that Coin (the Rumor Track), and the Mining Track for that Coin. The game ends when there are 5 Rumor cards on each board's Rumor Track, or 4 cards for a 4 player game.
• Rumor Track. Holds the Rumor cards of that Coin.
• Mining Track. Keeps track of Mining difficulty, rewards for mining successfully and fees collected for validating Transactions.
• 4 Mining Trackers.
• 4 Price Trackers.
• 1 Market Board. Its Price Track keeps track of the price of each Coin. The starting price for each Coin is marked by a circle instead of a box. The Market Supply area shows the starting supply of Coins. Coins available for players to buy and Coins sold by players are placed on their individual spaces here.
• 4 Player Reference Cards.
• 12 Interns + 23 Experts = 35 Character cards.
• 16 Transaction cards.
• 8 Hash cards.
• 36 Rumor cards.
• 100 Wonga cards.
• 8 Loan cards.

Cards

Characters

Interns are the starting members of your Team. They provide 1 Energy and have no special abilities. They also have a hiring cost of 0 W. Everyone starts with 3 Interns in their Teams.

Experts represent the people you've hired to join your Team. All Experts have a hiring cost of W and this cost is only paid once, the instance you hire them. Each Expert provides varying amounts of Energy and usually also has special abilities.

Team members stay permanently until you decide to replace them. You may only have 3 Characters in your Team. When you wish to add a new Character, you must remove a current member from your Team before adding the new one in.

Transactions

Transactions are laid out face down, with the back showing the type of Transaction it is. When a Transaction is Validated, flip it face up and resolve it by adjusting the price of the Coin by the number on the card. Then, the player who validated the Transaction earns a fee based on the value stated on the Mining Track of that Coin.

Loans

Loans are one-off sources of Wonga that players can take each round to increase the amount of money they have available. A player may not hold more than 2 Loans in their possession at any time. Each Loan provides the player with 8 W immediately but has an interest fee of 2 W that must be paid during each Upkeep Phase. All Loans must be paid off by the end of the game.

Hash cards

Hash cards represent the algorithm that players have to solve in the process of Mining Coins. There is only one Success card, with the rest being Failure cards. These cards are used when a player decides to Mine Coins.

Rumors

Rumors are powerful tools that players can use to adjust the price of a Coin, either benefiting themselves or thwarting their opponents.

Each Rumor card has flavor text that describes news that would affect the price of the Coin and a certain amount of Rumor Points stated on it. These Rumor Points affect the Coin's price immediately if the card is played/flipped face up. At the end of the game, these points decide the Coin that is a scam.

Gameplay

Cryptocurrency is played over a series of rounds, each round consisting of 4 Phases:

1. Prep Phase. Prepare your Team and resources.
2. Action Phase. Mine and Trade for Coins and Wonga.
3. Upkeep Phase. Pay Interest for Loans and Refresh your Team.
4. Rumor Phase. Spread Rumors for riches and ruin.

The phases must be played in order, and a phase must be completely finished before moving on to the next. At the end of each Rumor Phase, check if the endgame condition has been fulfilled. If it has, move on to the end of game. Otherwise, start a new round.

Setup

Assemble your Teams

Distribute a Player Reference Card, 3 Intern Expert cards and a total of 6 W to each player. W represents Wonga, which is the fiat currency in Banana Republic. You can use Wonga to hire new Experts or buy Coins from the Market Supply. Wonga is also used in end game scoring.

Prepare the Boards

Info Board. Place the Cryptocurrency Info Boards next to each other in the middle of the play area.

• Place a Mining Tracker on the first space of each board's Progress track.

Market Board. Place the Market Board next to the Info Boards.

• Place a Price Marker on the starting point of each cryptocurrency's Price Track.
• Place Coins on the Market Supply based on the starting supply of each cryptocurrency.

Unmined Coins. Place the rest of the Coins within reach, these are the Unmined Coins. These Coins can only be taken when a player is successful in a Mine action. Sold Coins are not returned here but instead go to their respective Market Supply spaces. Players may purchase Coins from the Market Supply during the course of the game.

Fire up the Banana DX Directory

Expert cards: Prepare the Job Seekers. Shuffle and reveal the top 5 cards from the Expert deck, placing them in a row next to the Expert deck. These are the Job Seekers, the Experts which you can hire during the game.

Prepare Ongoing Transactions. Take the top 3 cards from the Transaction deck and place them face down next to the Transaction deck. These are the Ongoing Transactions.

Prepare Initial Rumors. Shuffle the Rumor deck and draw 2 Rumors for each cryptocurrency. Without looking, place 1 Rumor face up, 1 Rumor face down as each cryptocurrency's Initial Rumors and adjust the Prices of the Coins based on the Rumor Points on the face up Rumor. For example, if there are +2 Rumor Points, move the price marker up by 2 steps.

Prepare Loans. Loans allow players to have instant access to extra money but come with an interest rate which players have to pay back each round. Players start with no Loans. Place the Loans together next to the Info Boards.

Prepare Ultimate Hodler Tiles. Ultimate Hodlers are scored at the end of the game based on who has the most of each type of Coin in their personal supply. If there are any ties, those players will split the reward equally. Place the 4 Ultimate Hodler tiles near the Info Boards within sight of all players.

Hash cards and Currency cards. Place the Hash cards and remaining currency cards in a suitable area within reach.

Get Ready to Rumble

The player who last bought something online goes first. If in doubt, decide on a suitable alternative. Give that player the First Player token. Give the player to the right of that player the Last Player token.

Prep Phase

Gather your wits and worthy teammates.

Renewing the Job Seekers

The First Player may initiate a mulligan by asking if all players agree to renew the Job Seekers. If all players agree, the current Job Seekers are discarded and 5 new ones are revealed off the top of the deck. This can only be done once per round. Should the deck ever run out, reshuffle the discarded Experts to form a new deck.

After which, in clockwise turn order, each player:

1. Draws a Rumor from the Rumor Deck. Players keep this card and should not show it to other players.
2. Takes up to 1 Loan. You may not take a new Loan if you already have 2 Loans.
3. Hires up to 1 Expert from the Job Seekers. Pay the hiring cost and choose a Character in your Team to be replaced by it. That Character is discarded.

After each player has had the chance to hire a new Expert, discard all remaining Job Seekers and reveal 5 new ones. Then, the Prep Phase ends.

Action Phase

The time has come.

The player with the First Player token goes first, and gameplay continues clockwise. During your turn, you must choose 1 of 2 actions to perform:

• MINE: Attempt to mine Coins by solving an algorithm.
• TRADE: Buy Coins from the Market Supply or sell Coins from your own supply.

Once you finish performing that action, your turn is over and play passes to the next player on the left. If you do not wish to take an action, you may choose to pass. However, passing Exhausts all of your remaining Characters and you can take no further actions.

After you have chosen an action to perform, you must choose a number of Characters on your Team to Exhaust in order to perform the action. Characters that have been Exhausted cannot be chosen again in the same round.

When a Character is Exhausted for an Action, their Energy is contributed to the Action. The amount of Energy spent on an Action determines how effective the Action is. When Exhausting multiple Characters, the sum of their Energy is contributed to the Action.

Expert Abilities

There are many Experts who have special Abilities that can bring advantages to you. These abilities may only be used during the Action that the Expert is Exhausted for. Abilities that modify the Action are resolved during the Action, whilst other kind of Abilities may only be resolved after the Action is over. You may choose not to use an Expert's Ability.

Mine

Choose a cryptocurrency and create the Hash deck by taking the Success Hash card and adding on Failure Hash cards up till it has cards equal to the current difficulty level stated on the Mining Track. i.e. For difficulty level 5, the deck would have 1 Success and 4 Failure cards.

Then, the player to your right shuffles it and fans it out face down for you. You must then choose Hash cards from it equal to the total amount of Energy spent on this Action and flip them face up. i.e. if you spent 4 Energy, flip 4 cards face up.

If the Success Hash card is revealed, you have mined successfully and the following happens in order:

1. You earn new Coins based on current Reward level stated on the Mining Track, adding Coins from the Unmined Coins to their own supply. If there are not enough Coins left, you gain whatever is left.
2. If there are any ongoing Transactions of the same type, Validate them by flipping them face up and resolving them. Then, discard them. Example: Resolve these two Transactions by increasing Flyt's price by 2.
3. Collect Transaction Fees based on the number of Transactions Validated. Example: You just successfully Mined Flyt at difficulty 4, validating 2 Flyt Transactions. You get to collect 4 W from the Bank (2 W per Transaction validated).
4. Empty Transaction slots are replenished from the top of the deck immediately. Should the Transaction deck run out, shuffle the discarded Transactions to form a new Transaction deck.
5. Move the Mining Tracker forward by one space. If the Mining tracker is at the final space, it will stay there.

Otherwise, if you reveal Failure Hash cards only, you have failed to Mine the cryptocurrency and your turn is over.

Trade

Choose a cryptocurrency to trade in. For each point of Energy spent on this Action, the player may either buy or sell up to 4 Coins. All Coins involved in the trade must be of the same cryptocurrency. You cannot buy and sell in the same Action.

Buying Coins. You may only buy Coins that are available in the Market Supply. For each Coin you wish to purchase, you must pay the price stated on the Price Track of that Coin in W. Purchased Coins are added to your own supply.

Selling Coins. You may only sell Coins from your own supply. For each Coin sold, you receive W equal to the value stated on that Coin's Price Track from the Bank. Sold Coins are added to that Coin's Market Supply.

Market Shift. Market Shifts happen whenever you trade 4 Coins of the same type in a single Action. For every 4 Coins bought, Market Shift causes its price to rise by 1. This is the opposite for Coins sold to the Market Supply, where the price drops by 1 for every 4 Coins sold. Market Shifts only occur after you have finished resolving your action and can happen multiple times in the same turn.

Example of a Turn

After examining the situation, Eric decides to take the Trade action and sell off his 6 Eruptium Coins. He decides to Exhaust his Data Analyst and Black Hat Hacker to provide enough Energy to sell 6 Eruptium at once.

First, he collects his 36 W at 6 W per Eruptium Coin and moves the Coins from his own supply to its Market Supply.

Then, he activates Data Analyst's ability and Market Shifts Eruptium's price thrice from 6 to 3.

As he also Exhausted Black Hat Hacker for this action, he is able to take a face down Rumor from Eruptium's Rumor Track and replace it with his own in face up position.

As his Rumor card was a "-1", he further reduces Eruptium's price once more from 3 to 2.

After making all the necessary adjustments, his turn passes to the next player on his left.

End of Action Phase

The Action Phase ends after ALL Characters have been Exhausted. Players then move on to the Upkeep Phase.

Upkeep Phase

Pay your dues.

All players Refresh their Experts in preparation for the next round and are required to pay interest based on the number of Loans they have, i.e. 2 W per Loan. Loans may also be paid off during this time by paying off the lump sum that was borrowed, which is 8 W. Interest must always be paid before paying off the Loan. Then, players move on to the Rumor Phase.

Rumor Phase

Spread Rumors for riches and ruin.

The player holding the Last Player token goes first, and gameplay continues anti-clockwise. Each player is to place the Rumor that they kept throughout the round on a Rumor Track of their choice with the following restrictions:

• You cannot place your Rumor on a Rumor Track that has already received a Rumor during this phase.
• Your Rumor must be placed on the leftmost empty space.
• Your Rumor must be of the opposite face from the previous Rumor. For example, if the previous Rumor card is face down, you must place the Rumor card face up and thus affect the price of the Coin immediately.

In a 2 or 3 player game, there will be Rumor Tracks that did not receive any Rumor cards during this phase. In each case, add the top card of the Rumor deck to their Rumor Tracks in any order, following the rules of placement.

After all Rumor Tracks have received a Rumor, the Rumor Phase ends.

End of Round

The round ends after the Rumor Phase is over. Pass the First and Last Player tokens to the next player on the left and start a new round.

The game ends when there are 5 Rumors on each Rumor Track, or 4 if playing with 4 players. If there are, proceed to End of Game.

Value of Cryptocurrency

The price of each Coin is capped at its lowest and highest points. If the resolution of a card or effect should move the price beyond its cap, that effect is instead nullified.

Going Cashless?

Should a player be unable to afford to pay for something using Wonga, they must forfeit one Coin to the Market Supply.

End of Game

Award Ultimate Hodlers

Give out the Ultimate Hodler tiles to players who have achieved them, i.e. have the most Coins of each Cryptocurrency. If there are ties, split the rewards evenly between all achievers, rounding the value down if needed.

Resolve Face Down Rumor Cards

Separate the face up and face down Rumors on each cryptocurrency. Flip all face down Rumors face up and resolve them accordingly.

Determine the Scam

Add up the Rumor Points from the Rumors for each cryptocurrency. The Coin with the lowest balance has been revealed to be a scam, causing its value to fall to zero. If there are any ties for the lowest balance, all cryptocurrencies tied for it are considered to be scams.

Players now automatically sell all of their remaining Coins for their final Prices and must pay off all of their Loan cards still in possession. Each player then totals up all their currency cards and the player with the most Wonga wins! If there is a tie, the player who had more Coins at the end is the winner. If still tied, the player whose turn came earlier in the last round wins!

Advanced Version

For the crypto veteran.

Hold up! We recommend playing the Basic version of the game a few times before trying out this version of the game!

The Advanced version features new characteristics for each cryptocurrency, with unique Mining Tracks and Price Tracks. Game setup remains the same, but the boards are flipped to the Advanced side instead.

Gameplay remains the same as the Basic version of the game. However, the playing field has changed immensely, allowing for wilder strategies and power plays.

Mini Expansion: Events

The digital economy has grown more susceptible to events happening in Banana Republic. Stability and predictability have hit a new low, can you adapt fast enough? Or will the waves swallow you whole...

The Events mini expansion contains 15 cards that brings a new layer of excitement to the table. With a random event being revealed every round, players will be forced to stay sharp and adapt quickly to new situations.

Preparation

During Setup, shuffle the Event deck and place it next to the Market Board.

Events Revelation

At the start of each Action Phase, reveal the top card of the Event deck and resolve it before the first player takes their action.

Events Resolution

There are 2 types of events: Immediate Events and Continuous Events. Immediate Events are resolved and discarded immediately when revealed. Continuous events have an ongoing effect and are kept in play until the end of the game unless otherwise stated.

• Scam Intensifies (Continuous). Set this Card aside. At the end of the game, for each of this card set aside, there is one additional Scam Coin. Example: When the card Scam Intensifies is revealed, there is no immediate effect. The card stays in play and affects the end of game by causing the Coin with the next lowest balance to be a Scam as well.
• Understaffed (Immediate). Each player must Exhaust an Expert of their choice.

Note: the printed page shows a fan of the 15 Event cards at a size where only the titles and fragments of text are legible, and only the two cards above are printed in full. The remaining Event card texts are not transcribed here.

Experts Elaboration

Blockchain Engineer. When you fail a Mine action the first time in a turn, reset the Hash deck and choose again. Multiple instances of Blockchain Engineer does not stack.

Tech Whiz. If there are no more Unmined Coins, this ability does nothing.

Data Analyst. You may choose to Market Shift for every 2 Coins of the same type you buy or sell. i.e. if you buy 8 Flyt Coins you may increase its price 4 times. The normal Market Shift rules will apply if you choose not to use this ability.

Newshawk. Choose 1 to keep from the 4 Rumors you have after drawing and return the rest and shuffling.

Black/White Hat Hacker. Your Rumor must be placed in the same spot as the card you took. You keep the Rumor you took.

Tweetman. Flipping a face down Rumor face up will cause it to take effect immediately. Flipping a face up Rumor face down will have no effect.

Replicator. You may copy any Expert ability, even if they are Exhausted. Replicator is treated as that Expert for the current Action only.

Headhunter. Headhunter is simply added to your Team when hired. You do not have to remove a Character from your Team. This is a passive ability.

Appendix

Symbols

• Rumor card
• Cost to hire this Character (Wonga)
• Energy provided by this Character
• Intern
• Expert
• Continuous Event
• Immediate Event
• Wonga

Terminology

• Bank: the main supply of Wonga not owned by anyone.
• Coin: a token of that cryptocurrency.
• Energy: the resource required to take actions, provided by Experts.
• Exhaust: flip face down, Characters only.
• Expert: a specialist that can be Hired to join your Team.
• Hire: adding a chosen Expert to your Team.
• Refresh: flip face up, Characters only.
• Rumor Point: the number stated on Rumors, affects prices of Coins and decides which Coin is a scam.
• Team: Characters that are working for you within the game.
• Validate: flip face up and resolve, Transactions only.
• Wonga: currency used in game to hire Experts and buy/sell Coins.

Quick Start Reference

Setup. Each player gets 3 Interns & 6 W.

Prep Phase

• Start from first player, go clockwise.
• Each player draws a Rumor card from the Rumor Deck.
• You may take a Loan. Up to 1 per round, may only hold up to 2 loans at any time.
• You may hire a new Character. Up to 1 per round, cannot have more than 3 Characters in Team. New Character will replace old Character.

Action Phase

• 1 action per turn.
• Choose Team Members to Exhaust for action.
• Mine
  • No. of hash cards = Difficulty.
  • Reveal cards equal to Energy spent.
  • Success = Gain Reward and Validate Transactions.
  • No Success = Turn is over.
• Buy Coins
  • 1 Energy spent = Buy up to 4 Coins.
  • Every 4 Coins bought, increase price by 1.
• Sell Coins
  • 1 Energy spent = Sell up to 4 Coins.
  • Every 4 Coins sold, decrease price by 1.
• Passing your turn Exhausts all your Characters.
• When all players' Characters are Exhausted, end Action Phase.

Upkeep Phase

• Refresh all Characters.
• Pay interests for Loans, forfeit 1 Coin for each interest you cannot afford.
• You may pay off any Loans you have after paying the interest.

Rumor Phase

• Start from last player, go anti-clockwise.
• Place Rumor card on Rumor Track that has not received Rumor card this phase.
• Must be placed in opposite face from previous card.

End of Game

• Game ends when each Info Board has 5 Rumor cards (4 if 4 players).
• Give out Ultimate Hodlers, players share if tied.
• Reveal all face down Rumor cards, Coins with lowest balance on Rumor Track are Scams.
• Scam Coin's price drops to 0.
• Highest net worth wins!