Divorce! The Game
Divorce! The Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Goal
Have more Net Worth than your ex by the end of the game. That's it.
You increase your worth by owning better Assets, winning Big Items in Legal Battles, and gaining custody of your Children in order to get child support. Lawyers can help you to win, but they are expsensive...
Who Goes First?
Determine the starting player using any of the following suggestions:
Whoever most recently suffered a bitter breakup goes first.
Get a mutual friend to decide which one of you they like more.
See who has more money in their wallet right now.
Roll the dice, and suffer at the hands of fate.
Contents
- 52 Assets Cards
- 27 Legal Cards
- 2 Child Cards (with plastic sliders)
- 2 Playmats
- 1 six-sided die
- a stack of play money
Setup
Give each player $10K in Cash. Set aside the Child Cards and have each player set their slider on the child's custody track to the "zero" postion.
If this is your first time playing the game, we recommend you do not shuffle the Asset Deck, it is arranged in a special introductory order that makes the game easier to learn. Otherwise, shuffle.
Optional Rule for Advanced Play: Remove the top 4 cards from the deck face down without looking at them.
How to Play
Each turn, a player goes through a sequence of three phases, in order:
1. Give and Take
A player draws two cards from the Asset Deck, and chooses one to keep for themselves. The other card MUST be given to their ex.
All cards are played face up. A player may look at whatever cards their opponent possesses (we ecourage players to spread things out rather than pile them up) There are no secrets in Divorce! ...only in Marriage.
2. Legal Actions
If a player has retained any Lawyers, they may pay Cash now to use its Legal Power.
A player may use the powers of as many Lawyers as they like, as many times as they like during this phase, as long as they have money to pay for them.
Note, there are two costs for a lawyer: The cost for each use of their Legal Power (paid in cash during the turn), and their Legal Fee at the end of the Game, which is subtracted from your Net Worth (and thus your final score).
Example Lawyer card, "BURN": Card type Lawyer. Legal Fee $50,000, payable at game end. Cost per use $10,000. Card text: "Burn any Asset, Big Item, or other Lawyer that isn't offshore. Discard that card." The card carries two icons: "Card cannot be Burned" and "Card cannot be Repossessed" (the icons are shown on the card face, not on this sheet's text).
3. End Phase
After using and all Legal Powers they like, the player announces the end of their turn.
Any cards which process at the End of a Turn (like Sugar Daddy) carry out their effect now.
After this, it is the other player's turn, and the sequence repeats.
Pawning Items
Additionally, AT ANY TIME during their turn, Players can Pawn their Assets in order to get additional Petty Cash if they need it. The trade-in value is listed on the bottom of any card that can be Pawned. If a card does not have a Pawn Value listed, it cannot be sold.
Players can also Pawn items to pay for additional cards during Legal Battles, or to purchase Bribes, even if it is not their turn.
Card Layout
- Card name: the title of the card.
- Repo score: the number shown in the die icon at the top-right of the card. When a Lawyer attempts to Repossess this Asset, they must roll equal to or higher than this number on a six-sided die in order to succeed. More valuable Assets have a higher Repo Score.
- Asset value: the "Worth" amount, shown at the bottom-left of the card. How much the Asset is worth during End of Game Scoring.
- Pawn value: the amount shown on the green band ("Pawn for"). How much Cash the card can be sold for if money is needed before the end of the game. Cards without a Pawn Value cannot be sold.
- Custody modifier: shown as a round badge with a child's name and a number (for example "SALLY +1"). Some cards increase or decrease the appeal you have towards certain children.
- Card type: indicated by the colour of the card border.
Other Icons
- Card cannot be Repossessed: the card shows a building icon.
- Card cannot be Burned: the card shows a red flame icon.
- Card cannot be Mistrialed: the card shows a grey crossed-out icon.
The icon shapes are described from the printed legend; the sheet does not explain the Mistrialed mechanic itself.
Types of Cards
- Assets: These represent simple possesstions.
- Collections: The total value of a Collection depends on how many pieces you own...but they Pawn for a flat rate each.
- Actions: Actions represent ongoing effects or those delayed until the end of the game.
- Instants: Instants are cards which must be played immediately and then discarded.
- Big Items: Big Items are incredibly valuable and interrupt the usual Give And Take sequence, replacing it with a Legal Battle.
- Bribes: Bribes help gain Custody of your kids, but must be paid for on the spot. They can't be Repo'd, Burned or Mistrialed..
- Lawyers: Lawyers grant useful abilities that can be used each turn, and help win Legal Battles,, but they are expensive.
- Cash: Cash cards are traded immediately for paper money from the bank.
Legal Battles
If a Big Item card is drawn, the usual "Give and Take" phase is interrupted for a Legal Battle.
Legal Battles are a blind auction where players bid to increase the strength of their case for the Item.
Each Player is dealt one free Legal Card, FACE DOWN, for each Lawyer they have hired.
For example, if a player has 3 Lawyers, they get three free Legal Cards.
Example Big Item card, "HOUSE": Card type Big Item. Worth $75,000. Pawn for $10,000. Card text: "STOP! Resolve with Legal Battle. Get one free Legal Card for each Lawyer you have." Flavour text: "Two bedroom house filled with broken dreams. Extremely flammable."
Additional Legal Cards may be purchased by either player for $3,000 each.
The Player whose turn it is buys additional Legal Cards first; the other player may then purchase some. If the first player wants to buy more after seeing their opponents decision, they may up their bid. This continues until both players pass on buying any more Legal Cards.
KEEP ALL CARDS FACE DOWN UNTIL PURCHASING HAS STOPPED.
When both players are ready, flip the legal card over. The player with the highest total wins the Big Item (and MUST take it). The other player gets the second card that was drawn that turn.
Note: If two Big Items appear at once, reshuffle them into the deck and do the turn over.
End of Game
The game ends after all the cards in the deck have been dealt. In the rare instance that there is only one card left at game's end, the final player decides who gets it.
Scoring
1. Determine Custody. Tally up each player's Custody Rating for Sally and Billy. Award each Child to whichever parent had the most corresponding points. In the event of a tie, a Legal Battle must be fought for the child.
2. Calculate Net Worth. Tally up all value from Children, Big Items, Collections, Assets, and Cash. Then, subtract Legal Fees. The player with the highest score wins.