Demon Worker Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Game Components
• The Flow of the Game
• Game Setup
• Interview Demons
• Play 5 Rounds
  • 1. Supply Phase
  • 2. Assignment Phase
  • 3. Cleanup Phase
• The Work Areas
• The Workers
• Count the Points
• Declare the Winner
• The Planning Cards

Object of the Game

Accumulate the most Evil Points.

You are one of the Demon Realm's power brokers. You will interview and hire brilliant demons, pay their wages, put them to work in appropriate areas to obtain resources, and rule over them. (Naturally!)

Use the resources you collect to complete evil plans to gain even more EP and further your nefarious goals.

The game is played over 5 rounds. The player with the most EP at the end wins!

Game Components

87 cards

• 11 Work Area Cards
• 8 Human Worker Cards
• 40 Demon Worker Cards
• 20 Planning Cards
• 4 Summary Cards
• 4 Turn Order Cards

36 Player Pieces: (9 each of 4 colors)

1 EP Board

110 Tokens

• 30 Sacrifice Tokens
• 20 Weapon Tokens
• 10 Magical Stone Tokens
• 40 Food Tokens
• 6 x5 Tokens
• 4 50EP Tokens
• 1 Round Token

The Flow of the Game

Game Setup → Interview Demons → Play 5 Rounds → Count the Points → Determine a Winner

(Play 5 Rounds loops back into itself until all 5 rounds are complete, then proceeds to Count the Points.)

Game Setup

1. Place the 11 Work Area Cards on the table as shown above, next to the EP Board. If you are playing a 3-player game, return the Cemetery and the Trash Dump to the box.
2. Shuffle the Planning Cards and make a face-down deck. Leave a space next to the deck for a discard pile.
3. Sort the Sacrifice, Weapon, Magical Stone, and Food Tokens, and put them by the EP Board.
4. Each player chooses a color and takes the matching player pieces, a Summary card, and 2 Human Worker Cards. Put your Human Worker cards face-up in front of you, and place one of your player pieces on each of them.
5. Each player puts one of their player pieces on the "0" space of the Scoring Track on the EP Board. Put the Round Marker on the "1" space of the Round Track.
6. Shuffle the Demon Worker Cards, and deal 6 to each player, face-down.
7. Deal 2 Planning Cards to each player. Do not look at your cards yet!
8. The player who has been evil most recently goes first (or choose randomly) and takes the "1" Turn Order Card. The other players also take Turn Order Cards in order, going clockwise around the table.
9. Give each player 3 Sacrifice Tokens, 2 Weapon Tokens, and 1 Magical Stone Token. (After the "Interview Demons" step, you will receive additional resources and EP, as shown on your Turn Order card; see "Supply Phase" below).

Interview Demons

Before the game begins, you must have a Demon Worker draft.

The Interview Process:

1. Look at your Demon Worker Cards. Choose one to keep.
2. Call out "You're Hired!" and place your chosen Worker face-down in front of you.
3. Give the rest of the Demon Worker Cards to the player on your left.

After you complete your first interview, repeat steps 1 through 3 with the cards you received from the player to your right. Continue to interview Demon Workers (with a shrinking pool of Workers each time) until each player has selected 6 Workers and put those cards face-down in front of them. Then, pick up your 6 Demon Workers into your hand. These are the demons that you will be able to summon over the course of the game.

Make Your Plans

Next, look at the 2 Planning cards you were dealt. Choose 1 to keep, and put the other one face-up in the discard pile, next to the Planning cards deck.

Point: By either gathering Demon Workers with a good balance, or focusing your efforts on a combination of skills, you will show off your management ability!

Point: If it's your first game, we recommend that you skip the Interview process. Instead, just deal out 6 Demon Workers to each player.

Play 5 Rounds

Now your efforts to control the Demon Realm can begin! The game is played over 5 rounds. Each round is divided into 3 phases, which you'll play in order:

1. Supply Phase
2. Assignment Phase
3. Cleanup Phase

1. Supply Phase

Each player receives the resources and EP shown on their Turn Order Card. Record your new EP by moving your player piece up the Scoring Track of the EP Board.

2. Assignment Phase

During this phase, you will assign your Workers to the Work Areas. Each time you assign a Worker, you can gain the benefits of the special abilities of both your Worker and the Work Area you assigned them to.

Players take turns assigning Workers to Work Areas, starting with the player who has the lower numbered Turn Order Card. When you do, you must pay your Worker their salary (Dispatch Cost + Additional Costs):

Dispatch Cost: Each Worker has a Dispatch Cost on the left side of the card. You must pay the resources shown in order to use that Worker.

Additional Costs: It is more expensive to have multiple Workers in the same Work Area. You must pay an additional 2 Food Tokens for each Worker who is already assigned to that Work Area.

Exceptions: There are never any Additional Costs to assign Workers to the Trash Dump or Human Resources, no matter how many Workers are already there, as indicated by the symbol.

When you place your Worker, you must call out "Go [Worker's name]!" so the other players can easily see which Worker you are using. You then pay the Worker's salary and take your player piece from that Worker and put it on the Work Area card that you want to assign the Worker to.

Note: If you summoned a new Demon Worker this round, it will not have a player piece on it (see "Audience Chamber" below). For this reason, new Demon Workers cannot be used until the next round after they are summoned.

When you assign a Worker to a Work Area, the Worker's special abilities take effect first. Then, the effects of the Work Area are resolved in the order shown, starting from the top. You must use the Worker's special abilities and the Work Area's effects, with the exception that the War Room's effects are optional. If you cannot pay for a Worker's special ability, you cannot use that Worker, and if you cannot pay for a Work Area's effect, you cannot send a Worker there.

After you have assigned a Worker, the next player (in turn order) takes their turn.

If you cannot place a Worker on your turn, or if you cannot pay their salary, or if you simply don't want to place a Worker, you must pass. If you pass, you are done with the Assignment Phase for this round, and you can't change your mind later and place another Worker. Once all players have passed, the Assignment Phase ends.

For Example

1. Satan posts his Black-steel Golem to the Weapons Factory. First he must pay the Golem's Dispatch Cost of 2 Food Tokens.
2. Since there are already 2 Workers at the Weapons Factory (1 of Satan's and 1 of Asmodeus'), Satan must also pay an Additional Cost of 4 Food Tokens.
3. Next, Satan uses the Golem's special ability, which shows that when it is assigned to the Weapons Factory, it produces 2 Weapons. Satan takes 2 Weapon Tokens.
4. Finally, Satan gets the benefit of the Weapons Factory effect, taking 2 more Weapon Tokens.

Then Asmodeus takes a turn:

1. She is thinking of assigning someone to Demon Worship, but in order to do that, she would have to pay 4 Sacrifice Tokens, and she only has 1.
2. She sends her Cyclops to Demon Worship. First, she has to pay his Dispatch Cost of 2 Food Tokens. Since nobody is working at Demon Worship yet, there are no Additional Costs.
3. Cyclops' ability produces 3 Sacrifice Tokens each time he is assigned to any Work Area. Asmodeus uses those 3 Sacrifice tokens, plus the one she already has, to pay the 4 Sacrifice Tokens that Demon Worship requires! She gains 2 EP and 2 Weapon Tokens.

Note: There is no limit to the number of resources you can collect! If you run out of tokens, use a x5 token to represent 5 of a resource. If that's still not enough, please use any suitable substitute. We don't recommend using real food or weapons, of course...

Point: You can acquire new Demon Workers by assigning your Human Workers to the Audience Chamber (see "The Work Areas" below).

Point: One of the keys to victory is summoning a Demon Worker early in the game! You can also get a bonus if you summon all of the Demons you interviewed.

3. Cleanup Phase

Once all players have passed, and the Assignment Phase ends, follow these steps to prepare for the next round:

First, each player collects their playing pieces from the Work Area Cards.

Then, place one of your playing pieces on each of your Workers in play (including any new Demon Workers you summoned that round).

Next, all players pass their Turn Order card to the player on their left. If you just finished the 5th Round, the game ends! Proceed to Count the Points.

If it was not the final round, move the Round token 1 space on the Round Track and start the next round with the Supply Phase.

The Work Areas

Human Realm, Weapons Factory, Fairy Mine Mountain Range, Slime Farm, Cemetery You gain the resources shown.

Trash Dump Gain 2 Food Tokens. No matter how many Workers are assigned here, the Additional Cost is always zero.

War Room

1. Draw 2 cards from the Planning Card deck. Choose one to keep and put the other in the discard pile. There is no limit to the number of Planning Cards you can hold. If the deck runs out of Planning Cards, shuffle the discard pile and create a new deck.
2. After you draw Planning Cards, you can convert your resources into other resources as shown on the War Room card, as many times as you like.

Unlike other Work Areas, using the War Room to convert resources is always optional. Even if you don't use the Work Area effect, your Worker's special ability still activates.

Demon Worship, Battle, Increase Power You must pay the cost shown at the top of the card, which in turn gives you the resources shown. If you can't pay the costs or just don't want to, you can't place a Worker here.

You can use any resources you just gained from your Worker's special ability to pay the cost of using the Work Area.

Audience Chamber After you place your playing piece here, you can summon one Demon Worker from your hand and put it in front of you. However, you have to pay the Summoning Cost shown on the Demon Worker you want to summon. If you can't pay the cost, you can't summon that Demon Worker.

No matter how many Workers are assigned here, the Additional Cost is always zero.

Note: You don't get to put a playing piece on a Worker you just summoned until your Cleanup Phase, which means you won't be able to use your new Demon Worker this round.

The Workers

Humans The only Workers you have at the beginning of the game. They're mostly useless, but you have to start somewhere!

Fanatic If you assign them to the Human Realm, you gain 2 Sacrifice Tokens.

Black-steel Golem If you assign it to the Weapons Factory, you gain 2 Weapons Tokens.

Medusa If you assign her to the Fairy Mine Mountain Range, you gain 1 Magical Stone Token.

Orc If you assign him to the Slime Farm, you gain 3 Food Tokens.

Jeweled Gargoyle Since its Dispatch Cost is zero, you don't pay anything to assign it to a Work Area, except for Additional Costs, of course. At the end of the game, you get its EP for free.

Warlock You never pay Additional Costs when you assign him to a Work Area.

Cyclops When you assign him to a Work Area, you gain 3 Sacrifice Tokens.

Old Dragon If you assign him to Demon Worship, Battlefield, or Increasing Power, you gain 2 EP.

Note: If you can't pay the costs of a Work Area, you can't assign a Worker there, which means that you can't use the Old Dragon's special ability unless you can pay those costs.

Dullahan The effects of any Work Area he is assigned to are doubled, but so is the cost. If you can't pay the costs of a Work Area twice, you can't use its effects twice, in which case you can't assign a Dullahan to that Work Area. His Dispatch Cost and any Additional Costs are only paid once, however.

Ghost His summoning cost, Dispatch Cost, and EP value at the end of the game are all zero.

Jack-o'-lantern If you assign him to the Audience Chamber, you gain 1 Food Token and 1 EP.

Goblin Tank If you assign it to any Work Area, you gain 1 EP.

Devil If you assign him to the War Room, you gain 4 EP.

Goblin King If you assign him to any Work Area, you gain 4 EP.

Witch If you assign her to any Work Area, you gain 1 Magical Stone Token.

Cerberus If you assign him to any Work Area, you gain 3 Food Tokens.

Goblin If you assign him to any Work Area, you gain 1 Sacrifice Tokens.

Minotaur If you assign him to any Work Area, you gain 1 Weapon Tokens.

Demon's Head If you assign it to any Work Area, draw 1 Planning card from the deck.

Basilisk To summon it, you must discard 1 Planning card. If you don't have any Planning cards, you cannot summon it.

If you cannot pay the 2 EP Dispatch Cost, you cannot assign it to a Work Area.

If you assign it to any Work Area, you gain 1 Magical Stone Token.

Count the Points

After the Cleanup Phase of the fifth round is over, it's time to calculate your final score. You can obtain EP by completing Planning Cards and by paying the Dispatch Cost of the Demon Workers you summoned during the game.

Summoning Demons

If you summoned 5 of your Demon Workers (Human Workers don't count), you get a bonus of 5 EP. If you managed to summon all 6 of your Demon Workers, you get a bonus of 10 EP instead. You get this bonus even if you don't pay your Demons.

There is no penalty for having unsummoned Demon Workers in your hand.

Planning Cards

If you pay the resources shown on your Planning Card, you earn the EP shown on the card. There is no penalty for failing to complete your assigned task; you just don't get the EP bonus. You can complete as many Planning cards as you can pay for.

Paying Your Workers

You can also earn the EP shown on each Worker you have in play at the end of the game if you pay their Dispatch Cost one last time. You cannot score for Demon Workers you weren't able to summon.

How you allocate your final resources is up to you! You can pay for any combination of Planning cards and/or Demon Workers.

Move your token on the Scoring Track to record your points. If you complete a circuit of the Scoring Track, take a 50 EP token and continue from the "0" space.

Example of EP Calculation

At the end of the game, Beelzebub has the resources shown.

Since he summoned 5 Demon Workers, he gets a bonus of 5 EP.

He then checks his Planning cards. He could complete "Invade the Human Realm," but then he couldn't complete the other 2 cards (that would earn him 22 EP and leave him with 4 Food, 2 Weapons, and 2 Magical Stones). Or, he could complete Demon Realm Virus Plan and Purge Operation instead, and he would get more points (24 EP, leaving him with 8 Food and 1 Magical Stone).

He could also assign resources to pay the Dispatch Costs on his Worker cards (Human = 1 Food; Fanatic = 1 Food; Medusa = 2 Food; Warlock = 3 Food; Old Dragon = 1 Food). Added together, it could be 19 EP.

Beelzebub gets to decide how to spend his final resources. He chooses to complete Demon Realm Virus Plan and Purge Operation, so he can still pay the Dispatch Costs of his Workers, giving him 5 + 24 + 19 = 48 EP. He adds this to the EP he collected during the game to determine his final score.

Declare the Winner

When all is done, the player with the most EP wins the game!

If there is a tie, the tied player with the fewest Workers in play wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player who owns the most board games wins.

The Planning Cards

Invade the Human Realm The netherworld loves nothing better than to invade the human realm. Make the foolish humans fear demonkind! And apparently humans call this "Armageddon" or something?

Resurrect the God of Destruction It's probably not a good idea to resurrect the fabled God of Destruction, and it takes an inadvisably large number of sacrifices. Once he returns to the world, it's going to be a big problem! This might be a huge mistake, okay?!

Purge Operation The netherworld is suffering a contagion of unnecessary ideas like "love" and "morals." We will use our military might, our hatred, to purge those notions and be reborn!

The Philosopher's Stone This stone contains the source of all things, an unlimited power. They say that the one who takes on this power will meet a grim fate, yet alchemists dedicate their lives to pursuing it.

Turn the Oceans into Fresh Water So like, turning the oceans from salt water to fresh water would cause problems for humans, right? I think I read that somewhere. Anyway, it'll damage the ecosystem or whatever!

Netherworld Bacteria This fearsome plan involves taking cultures of the unique bacteria of the netherworld and unleashing them on the human realm. As the contagion spreads, the demonic bacteria world will sap the life force of the humans who inhale them.

Golem Mass Production The industrial revolution has also come to the netherworld. Reformers and traditionalists clashed, and the reformers took power. Since then the quantity of golems produced has risen, though unfortunately the quality has declined.

Force of Numbers The plan is simple: get a bunch of goblins, orcs, mass-produced golems, etc., and throw them at the human realm. It's a pretty basic plan, and kind of an expensive one, but it does actually work. Monsters with crude weapons just surge in and spread chaos. Pretty cool, huh?

Resurrect Former Demon Kings Some of the prior Demon Kings were sealed away by humans or imprisoned by angels, and you could free them to shore up the netherworld's power. This plan does have some drawbacks, the biggest one being that the old Demon Kings are just kind of hard to deal with.

Ice Age Humans have this new technology called an "air conditioner." We're going to build a giant air conditioner and create a new ice age! And it'll have the bonus of heating up the netherworld!