Gonza Index Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Aim of the Game
• Contents
• Setup
  • Layout
• Gameplay
• Actions
• Events
• Auctions
• Broker Cards
• Endgame
• Solo Play
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
  • AI Actions
  • AI Broker Cards

Aim of the Game

The aim of Gonza Index is to have the highest credit total at the end of the game. This can be from a mix of the credits you own and the value of your investments.

Contents

• Event Track and 3 Event Tokens
• 12 Corporation Cards
• 5 Reference Cards
• 14 Broker Cards
• 100 Credits
• Dice (5 communal dice; see Gameplay)

Setup

1. Shuffle the corporation cards and place the top 6 corporation cards individually, face-up in a communal area. Each will need a value marker placed onto the white starting space. Place the remaining cards face-down in a deck nearby.

2. Each player chooses a colour. Give each player 1 reference card and place the credit tokens of each player's colour into a general supply.

3. The event cards need to be shuffled and then 4 are taken into a face-down deck for play in this game (the rest being placed back in the box). Also take the event track and 3 event tokens and place these near the event deck.

   Note: For longer games, add more event cards and for shorter games take them away. We do not recommend playing with less than 3 or more than 6 event cards.

4. The broker card deck is shuffled and the top 4 cards are laid face-up in the communal area (with the remaining broker cards face-down in a deck).

The player who goes first is the one who has most recently earned some money (or choose randomly). Play will happen in turns moving clockwise from the first player. Once the first player has been decided, that player takes one credit into their personal supply, all other players take 2 credits.

Note: All of your credits start in the general supply; but as you earn them they move to your personal supply for you to spend either investing in corporations or buying cards from brokers. You may only ever take credits of your own colour.

Layout

Components shown: Corporation Cards, Value Markers, Reference Cards, Event Cards and Track, Player Credits.

Note: Value Markers start each game on the indicated white spaces of each corporation. The value marker indicates the value of each credit that is placed onto this corporation.

Gameplay

Roll the 5 communal dice (all are the same except 1 has two event actions: this die is a different colour to the rest). You may re-roll any or all of the dice up to a maximum of two times*. Once you are satisfied with the actions rolled and/or you have re-rolled the dice up to two times, you begin performing the actions indicated by the dice. You may perform the actions in any order you wish. You do not have to take the action on a die, it's up to you! If you do not take the corresponding action, it is ignored.

Dice roll actions: Stock +1, Stock -1, Earn 1 credit, Place a stock, Bid on a Broker Card, Add Event Token.

*Note: The event action is only available on the black event die. If you roll the event icon on this die it is fixed and cannot be re-rolled.

Actions

Earn 1 Credit: Take 1 credit from the general supply and add it to your personal supply.

Place a Stock: Take 1 credit from your personal supply and place it on any corporation. This credit is now worth the equivalent amount as indicated by the value marker on that corporation card. If you do not have any credits in your hand then you cannot perform this action. There is a maximum total number of credits permitted on each corporation card (from all players) this is based on player count:

Player #	Maximum Credits
2	6
3	8
4	10
5	12

Stock +1: You may move the value marker of a stock on any corporation up by 1 space.

Stock -1: You may move the value marker of a stock on any corporation down by 1 space.

Bid (on an Broker Card): A credit can be put onto any of the 4 face-up broker cards in order to place a 'bid'. When bids are counted in a broker card auction (see Auctions), the player who has the most bids on a card adds it to their hand. You may only place 1 credit per 'bid' symbol rolled.

Events

If the add event token icon is rolled, you must add one of the yellow event tokens to the event track. When the third of these tokens is added to the track, an event is initiated* followed by a broker auction.

When an event is activated, the top card of the event deck is flipped and the instructions on the event card are activated. This card is then discarded. If there are no more cards in the event deck to reveal, then this is the trigger for the end of the game (see Endgame).

Event cards will affect different types of corporations. There are four different types of corporations in the game: financial, services, tech and resource-based corporations. Events will make specific types of corporation(s) move their value markers up or down.

Corporation types are indicated in the top-right of corp cards.

In addition to activating the instructions on the event card, immediately after an event card is activated, the broker card auction is also initiated. This is described below.

*Note: Players who activate the third event token can decide when in their turn the event is initiated, e.g. they can perform one action, activate the event then perform the rest of their actions. Yellow event tokens are added to the event track to trigger event cards.

Auctions

After every event card is activated a broker auction is immediately initiated. When this happens, the bids on the face-up broker cards are counted and the player with the most credits on each card adds that card to their hand. The winning bidder pays their bid to the general supply and all other lower bidders receive their money back to their personal supplies.

In the case of a tie, the player who activated the current auction (the player whose roll placed the third event token on the event track) breaks the tie. If equal bids are on a card and neither player was the one to activate the event, then the card is discarded and all bidding players have their bids returned to their personal supply.

At the end of the auction all four face-up broker cards are discarded to the bottom of the deck and 4 new cards are revealed.

Players cannot ever have more than 2 broker cards in their hand at the end of their turn. If a player ever has more than 2 broker cards they may keep and use them until the end of their next turn (or current turn if they are the active player) but must then discard back down to 2.

Broker cards can grant you powerful abilities and bonuses. The use of these cards is explained below.

Broker Cards

Broker cards can be played at any point during your turn*. After a broker card is played, that card is discarded to the bottom of the broker deck. The effects of the broker cards are described on the cards themselves with a detailed description on our website. At the end of each of your turns you must discard down to a maximum hand size of 2 broker cards.

*Some broker cards have end game effects and so cannot be played until the end of the game. Others can only be played in specific circumstances, e.g. just as an event is about to start. These exceptions are written on the cards themselves.

Endgame

The end of the game is initiated when all event cards have been activated. When this happens there is one final round played and then the final scores are calculated.

Final Round: The player who initiates the last auction does so on their final turn of the game using all 5 dice. Every other player then gets one final turn, however they have increasingly limited dice to work with. How many dice each subsequent player uses depends on player count. See the table below for details:

• 5 player game: 4 dice, 3 dice, 2 dice, 1 die
• 4 player game: 4 dice, 3 dice, 2 dice
• 3 player game: 3 dice, 2 dice
• 2 player game: 3 dice

After the final turn the game is scored. Players can gain credits from the following:

1. Each credit in your personal supply is worth 1 credit.
2. Each of your credits placed on a corporation is worth credits equal to the current value marker location of the corporation it is based on.
3. Any broker cards which give you end game credits are also counted.

Once all of the credits have been counted the player with the highest amount is declared the winner! In the case of a tie, then (of the tied players) the player who used the least dice in the final round is declared the winner.

Example: At the end of the game, Caro has 1 credit in her personal supply and 2 credits on the Hensler corporation card, the value marker for this corporation is at 2. She also has the 'Inheritance' broker card granting her 5 extra credits. This means Caro has a total value of 10 credits at the end of the game. This is a very low score and Caro should be very disappointed in herself.

Solo Play

The Minister AI resource allocation programme is designed to invest in the Gonza Index with perfect efficiency. It always makes the best strategic decisions based on the current data input. Minister AI has been proven to outperform 99.99% of human traders... but that's not 100%, can you be the outlier?

Gonza Index can be played solo against one or multiple AI opponents. AI opponents can even be added in to multiplayer games.

Setup

There are no changes to the setup for games with AI players.

Gameplay

When taking the turn of the AI opponent, roll the action dice once then follow the instructions below for each of the icons rolled. If you want to make the game more challenging, then you can increase the number of die rolls the AI player takes each turn. We recommend starting with all 5 dice being rolled once then adding in more rolls of the yellow dice should you find the AI opponent too easy. This way the opponent will perform more actions each turn.

AI Actions

Bid: The AI player will only bid for cards with the AI symbol (a hexagon-cluster symbol) on them. If there are more than one, the AI player will always bid for the card that currently has the least bids from other players. If there is a tie, then you may choose which of the tied broker cards the AI bids for. If the AI player has no available credits, this action is ignored.

Earn 1 Credit: The AI player collects a credit as normal (if they have any left to collect).

Stock +1: The AI player will increase the stock of the corporation which they have the most stock in (minimum 1). If there is a tie for this, then they will increase the corporation that has the least amount of opponents' stocks on it. If there is still a tie then you decide which stock to increase (of the tied stocks).

Stock -1: The AI player will decrease the stock of the corporation which they have the least stock in. If there is a tie for this then they will decrease the corporation that has the most amount of opponents' stocks in it. If there is still a tie then you decide which stock to decrease (of the tied stocks).

Event: If an event is rolled, then an event token is added to the event track as normal. If the last event token is added, then events are triggered as normal.

Place a Stock: The AI player will always invest in the corporation which has the highest current valuation. If there is a tie, then they will invest in the corporation which has the most opposing players' stocks invested in it. If there is still a tie then you may choose which of the tied corporations the AI player invests in.

Note: If you are playing with AI player(s) and other people, when you are asked to choose something, human players take it in turns to have this power starting with the player who went last in the first round of turns.

AI Broker Cards

AI players will use the broker cards with the AI symbol on them immediately after they receive them (even if it is not their turn). See below for a description of how the AI player will use each broker card. (The original identifies each broker card by its icon.)

• AI players use these cards immediately to manipulate the value markers of corporations. Use the standard rules for AI value manipulations (see AI Actions).
• AI players will keep this card until the end of the game to use on any stocks they make a loss on. If there are multiple, they use it for the card they would have made the most loss on.
• AI players use this card immediately to gain up to 4 credits.
• AI players use this card immediately and place up to three stocks using the usual stock placing rules (see AI Actions). If they do not have any available credits, this card is simply discarded after purchase.
• AI players use this card immediately and use it as described on the card. If they do not have any available credits, this card is simply discarded after purchase.
• AI players use these cards immediately to manipulate the value markers of a corporation. Use the standard rules for negative AI value manipulations (see AI Actions).
• AI players will keep this card until the end of the game and add 7 extra credits to their final score if they have satisfied the criteria.
• AI players will use this card on the next event which would have had a negative net effect on the value of their stocks.
• AI players use this card immediately and take the first card they draw which has the AI symbol on it.
• AI players will keep this card until the end of the game and add the extra 5 credits to their final credit score.

Note: Unlike human players, AI players can have up to 4 broker cards in their hand. If they exceed this amount, randomly discard down to 4 at the end of their turn.

That's everything you need to know to incorporate AI opponents into games of Gonza Index!