iGranie z Gruzem

iGranie z Gruzem Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Overview

iGranie z Gruzem is a life simulator for 3–5 players set after university, in which the players take on the roles of characters known from the internet comic Chata Wuja Freda (www.chatolandia.pl). The characters controlled by the players constantly circle two large loops of everyday life, from Work to Chillout, which symbolise the endless toil of existence. From time to time they wander into smaller loops representing unexpected events, problems or the ordinary ups and downs that happen to everyone in life.

Goal of the Game

The goal of the game is to survive. Survival is the priority. In second place, the goal is to live and do things connected with self-fulfilment. Each character has their own dreams and goals. To fulfil them, a character must gather the funds and food they require. The player who first deposits 15 Money and 15 Food into their character's Dream Bank wins. The rest eat dust from under your wheels, or fight for second and third place – as you like.

Components

Board (1): shows the endless loops of life along which the players move. It consists of two Large Loops and eight Small Loops.
Fridge Card (1): each character has their own shelf in the Fridge, on which their current Food stock is marked.
Cheat Sheet / Rules Summary cards (5): one per player, showing the order of actions in a turn. A handy "legal cheat sheet".
Work Event Cards (54) and Chillout Event Cards (54): two decks of Event Cards, one for Work and one for Chillout, drawn after movement.
Resourcefulness Cards (52): cards that shape the game – actions, dice modifications and so on. Players hold them in hand, hidden from the other players. "Such a secret weapon."
Character Cards (5): each character has a matching Character Card, on which their two special Abilities are written and their Dream Bank is printed.
Character Figures (5): each character has a matching 3D figure, which moves around the board.
Gruz Markers (38): used to mark the stock in the Fridge, Abilities used, progress in putting resources into the Dream Bank and the special effects of some Event Cards.
Money Tokens: represent the cash the players hold. (5-Money tokens: 7; 1-Money tokens: 21.)
Hunger Marker (5): received by a player who skipped a meal in one round.

Setup

Before starting the game, perform the following steps:

Lay out the board. Place the board where all players can reach it as easily as possible.
Prepare the Event and Resourcefulness decks. Shuffle the Work Cards, the Chillout Cards and the Resourcefulness Cards, and arrange them in separate piles near the board.
Choose characters. Players choose their character by lot or in any other way they like.
Give each player a starting set. Each player starts the game with 5 Food on their shelf in the Fridge, 5 Money, and 5 Resourcefulness Cards.
Place the figures on the board. All players start the game on the central space, where the two Large Loops meet.
Determine the first player. This should be the most sensible person among you. That person becomes the first player and starts the game. Play then passes clockwise. The first player places the Round marker on the first space of the Round Track and keeps track of paying the rent.

Everything is now ready (well, except perhaps the players' psyches) and you can begin iGranie z Gruzem.

Example Setup for 3 Players

The setup illustration shows the following components on the table, numbered as in the key:

Board
Start Space
Round Track (on the board)
Small Gruzek
Work, Chillout and Resourcefulness decks
Fridge
Cards with the effects of the Small Loops
Rules Summary card
Character Card
Dream Bank (on the Character Card)
Hunger and Debt markers
Universal markers – Gruzes
Players' Money
World Bank (unused Money supply)
6-sided die

Character Card

Name and picture.
A special rule about avoiding Small Loops.
Two unique and special powers, the individual Abilities.
Ability-use markers. When you use an Ability for the first time, cover the marker showing 1 with a token. From that moment you may use the Ability only once more. When you use it, also cover the 2.
A passive Ability. It works independently, every time its conditions are met. If you forget about it... Sorry.
The character's described goals.
Dream Bank. Here you place the Food and Money you want to put towards your life goal. Once you do this, you can no longer use those resources, but nobody can take them from you either. You may put any amount of resources towards your life goal at one time (you do not have to "pay off" the whole goal at once!). Once you have put in, for example, 5 Money and 3 Food, place Gruz markers on the corresponding values of the tracks. When you add more resources and the values change, move the tokens to match the new savings values.

How the Dream Bank Works

To put resources into the bank, you must first discard them. Money is discarded into the World Bank, and Food is discarded by moving the Gruz marker on your shelf in the Fridge towards the start of the track.

When you discard a specified number of resources, place a Gruz marker on the corresponding value of your Dream Bank track. In the example illustration, Lena has put 5 Money into the Bank and marked it on the appropriate track. Now, when Lena decides to put in 3 more Money, she moves the Gruz marker forward by the next three spaces.

Work and Chillout Cards

These cards are drawn as a result of movement. They represent all the events that happen to you on the road of life. The two decks represent events from work and events from free time, because there are different things that can go wrong in each of these spheres. These cards dictate the development of the game and often decide victory or defeat.

They describe the tragedy of your character's life.

Resourcefulness Cards

This deck represents the cunning and experience of your character. These cards let you bend the rules, change fate, and make life harder for others in ever new ways. Each of these cards allows you to perform one of two actions. If you choose one or the other, the card is discarded. The second action is forfeited, so you must make a difficult choice. Remember also that there is no point collecting them in reserve: at the end of your turn you may have at most 7 in hand.

Note: for the purposes of the game, Resourcefulness = Resourcefulness Card. If something tells you to discard or draw Resourcefulness, you discard or draw the corresponding number of Resourcefulness Cards.

Turn Structure

iGranie z Gruzem consists of a maximum of 24 rounds, symbolising weeks, divided into 6 months. Each round consists of the turns of all players taking part in the game. In other words, a round passes when every player has made their move, called a turn.

Each turn is in turn divided into 9 phases:

Movement – roll the die and move your figure the indicated number of spaces.
Loop Effect – resolve the effect of the Small Loop, if you are in one.
Event Card – draw an Event Card from the deck corresponding to the Large Loop you are currently in.
Ability – if you wish, you may at this moment use one of your character's special Abilities.
Shopping – you may buy Food or Resourcefulness Cards, depending on which loop you are currently in.
Food – eat your stock, or steal Food from another character's shelf.
Dream Bank – you may pay any number of your available resources into your Dream Bank.
Discarding Cards – at the end of your round you may have at most 7 Resourcefulness Cards in hand. Surplus cards are discarded.
Next Player – the next player in order begins their turn from point 1. If you were the last player, move the round marker to the next space on the Round Track.

The one sad exception is the so-called Rent Round (marked on the round track with the number 1 and the word "rent"). In that case, before the first player's movement, everyone must pay for the fact that they are alive. Then the 9 phases proceed normally.

Movement

The active player rolls the die and moves their character's figure the indicated number of spaces in the direction of the arrows. The result on the die may at this point be modified by any number of Resourcefulness Cards.

IMPORTANT: If you are a female character, you first go towards Chillout. When you have circled this Large Loop, you enter the Work Loop to make a move after a full eight.

Male characters first circle Work, then go to Chillout, and so on in a circle. After the movement is finished, several new effects may arise:

If a character stops on the entrance space of a Small Loop, in the next round they enter that Loop. The next move leads into the inside of the Small Loop, following the arrows. When they have gone all the way round it, they leave the loop.
If a figure stops on the Start Space, the player draws two Event Cards: first from the deck corresponding to the Loop they are leaving, then from the deck corresponding to the Loop they are entering.
When a character's player passes the Payday space, at the end of the Work Loop, they receive a salary of 2 Money.
If two characters end their movement on the same space, the character who arrived must push the character who was already there back one space. If as a result of this push a character finds themselves on the entrance to a Small Loop or in front of the Payday space, they must follow the normal rules (the next move takes place in the Small Loop, or the Payday is received again).

Example: Stefan rolls a 3 on the die and moves his figure 3 spaces forward. He ends his move on the same space where Fiefiurka is, so he pushes her one space back. Fiefiurka lands on the entrance to the Deadline Small Loop. In the next round she will have to start traversing this Loop, instead of heading straight for her longed-for payday.

Loop Effect

If in the previous round the character of a player was on the entrance to a Small Loop, or was already in it, they continue their move within the Small Loop following the direction indicated by the arrows.

After the move, read the effect of the Small Loop from the Small Loop Effects Card. If, for example, the character rolled a 3 while moving within the Small Loop, they now read effect 3.
Then draw a Work or Chillout Event Card and read its effect.

IMPORTANT: Remember that you can always modify your result on the die using Resourcefulness Cards.

Event Card

The player draws the top card of the Event deck corresponding to the Large Loop their character is currently in (Work or Chillout) and immediately applies it. If at any moment the effect of a card contradicts the rules in this rulebook, everything written on the card takes precedence.

Example: Lena ends her move on a space in the Chillout Loop, so she draws from the Chillout deck. She draws the Mom card. Its effect takes effect immediately and Lena draws 3 Resourcefulness Cards. She may use them in the following actions of her turn. If at the end of the turn she has more than 7 cards, she must discard the surplus.

Of course, this is also the right moment to play various Resourcefulness Cards – those that help the player whose turn it is, as well as those that the opponents play to make his life harder.

It may happen that an Event Card tells you to discard a number of resources – for example, 5 Food – while you have only 3 Food in the Fridge. In that case you discard all the Food you have and are glad you lose only that much. The same applies to all other resources.

Character Abilities

Once per turn a player may use one special Ability of their character. After use, mark on the Card which Ability was used. Each Ability may be used at most twice per game and at most once per month. An Ability may only be used during your own turn. The exception is Lena's ability Bartering, which is used when paying rent. If at any moment a character's special Ability contradicts the rules in the manual, the Ability takes precedence.

After the first use of an Ability, place a Gruz token so that it covers the 1. After the second use, also cover the 2 – the Gruz has absorbed the character's life talents for good.

Example: Marcin has his turn. The end of the month is approaching and Marcin's wallet is empty. He decides to use his Ability "I Would Put Them On Staff". He may take up to two other players onto staff, if they can be persuaded. Each player who goes on staff earns k6 Money. As this is the first use of this Ability, he covers the 1 next to it with a Gruz token.

Character Abilities – Overview

(Printed as "Parę słów o umiejętnościach".)

Ilona

Calling Mom for Help (Dzwonienie Do Mamy Po Pomoc): roll k6 to determine how many goods you receive. Only after the roll do you decide how much of each you want. Rolling 3, you may ask for, for example, 1 Food and 2 Money, or 3 Resourcefulness – you decide after the fact.
Ilona Cooks (Ilona Gotuje): Ilona cooks 4 Food for herself and may also organise Food for other players – one or two. Depending on Ilona's decision, they too may receive 1 to 4 Food each. (Ilona can therefore gather at most 12 Food, but nobody may receive more than 4 Food at once, including herself.) Condition for use: 0 Food on Ilona's shelf in the Fridge.
Fat'n'Proud: nobody but Ilona receives free Food from the board. Ilona is incredibly unique in this respect.

Marcin

Tester's Power (Moc Testera): as written – you cannot defend against this Ability. Resourcefulness Cards that cancel an opponent's previous move, action or card are powerless against Marcin. He wants your suffering, so you will suffer.
I Would Put Them On Staff (Etatowałbym): Marcin rolls k6 to see how much he earns. He may also put one or two other players on staff, if he can persuade them. They also roll the die to determine their earnings. Life, and corporate life in particular, is not fair.
Corporate Whore (Korporacyjna Dziwka): each player receives the standard 2 Money wage, but Marcin receives 3. Because he can.

Lena

Losing to the Game Master (Przerżnięcie Mistrza Gry): after the first roll, which determines the type of goods, you must roll again to determine the amount received.
Bartering (Bartering): the only Ability not used on your own turn. It is used in the Rent Payment phase, when negotiations about other players' rent may take place. Lena may use this Ability to pay her own rent and the rent of one or two other players. One barter can therefore settle at most 3 rents, always including her own. She may pay only the current rent this way, never back rent. So if someone has a Debt Marker and Lena pays their current rent by bartering, they must still pay 4 Money of back rent. If they cannot afford it – homelessness. Condition for use: Lena herself has no money for the rent.
Sex Appeal (Seksapil): when Lena attacks someone's fridge (see page 10), add 2 to her die result – for example, if she rolls 3, she treats it as 5. When she defends, each rolled value is reduced by 1 – so a 3 becomes a 2.

Stefan

Extraordinary Locksmith (Ślusarz Extraordynarny): the Ability is what it is; everyone can see it.
Social Welfare Recipient (Beneficjent Opieki Społecznej): works analogously to Ilona Cooks.
Scrawny Nag (Chuda Szkapa): in the first week of the month Stefan may skip the entire Food phase. This means he cannot steal Food from another player in order to store it, nor do anything else. That phase simply does not take place.

Fiefiurka

One Tough Motherfucker: the Ability is what it is.
One Nasty Motherfucker: may steal various goods from various players. If she may steal 2 goods, they may be, for example, Food from one player and Money from another. But she may also steal two Resourcefulness Cards from one player. She may also steal Special Resourcefulness Cards, such as Employment Contract (Umowa o Pracę) or Taser Monkey (Małpka z taserem).
Forest Dweller (Mieszkaniec Lasu): Fiefiurka may choose whether to move one space further than she rolled. A simple and strategic tool.

Shopping

After resolving the Event Card and any use of your character's Ability, the player may shop. If they are in the Work Loop, they may buy Resourcefulness Cards at a price of one card per one Money. If they are in the Chillout Loop, they may buy Food, also paying one Money each. Because the Start Space is part of both loops, you may buy both Food and Resourcefulness there. Any number of resources may be traded at once.

Example: Ilona circles the Chillout Loop. Her shelf in the Fridge is empty, but she has plenty of Money in her wallet. She does not want to use Ilona Cooks yet and prefers to save it for later. She decides to shop and exchanges 3 Money for 3 Food.

Note from the rulebook: in the Chillout Loop you are a free person and can finally spend your hard-earned money on Food at the Dronka (a corner shop). In the Work Loop you can buy yourself conveniences – a more comfortable chair, a faster mouse or a bigger monitor. Thanks to this you gain more life Resourcefulness.

Food

Each turn a character must eat. A character may eat their own Food, which means moving the marker on their shelf in the Fridge one step towards the start of the track. (If you eat 1 Food, move the marker one space to the left. If you have 4 Food on your shelf and gain 2 Food, move the marker to the right.)

However, if there is no Food on their shelf, or they do not want to deplete their own stock, they may decide to steal.

Stealing Food. The active player steals Food from a shelf in the Fridge that is not their own. They choose which player they will steal from, and roll the die – this is the eating attempt. The player defending their stock also rolls. Whoever achieves the higher result wins the dispute over the Food. If the result is a tie, roll again. The result may be modified with Resourcefulness Cards (since, as life has taught you, a resourceful person can steal Food more effectively – that is simply reality). However, you cannot force a tie with Resourcefulness Cards: you must beat the opponent's result by at least 1. You may steal only 1 Food per round.

If you succeed in stealing Food, move that player's marker in the Fridge one space to the left, and you are fed.
Stolen Food is eaten at once; it cannot be stored on your own shelf in the Fridge.
If the defender protects their Food, the defender may not eat anything from their own shelf in that round. If a player has no Food and their theft fails, or for any other reason they could not eat in their round, their character receives a Hunger Marker.

IMPORTANT: a character may voluntarily give up defending their own Food. The attacker then makes no roll and simply takes the other player's stock. We do not know why you would want to do that, but if you do – you may.

Example: Lena has an empty fridge and inevitably decides to steal from Stefan's shelf. She rolls 3, and since she has a permanent +2 modifier for stealing Food, her result is 5. Stefan also rolls to defend his stock and gets a 4 – not a good result, but still a loss for him. If Stefan does not want to part with his rice from Social Welfare, he must use a Resourcefulness Card to increase his result. He uses the card giving +2, so his final result is 6. Lena has no Resourcefulness Cards in her hand, so she loses, receives a Hunger Marker and goes to bed without dinner.

If the only Food in the Fridge belongs to a given character, they must eat it. There is no room for skipping a meal if some is available.

Dream Bank

The goal of the game is to put 15 Food and 15 Money into the Dream Bank, in order to fulfil the goals of your character. In their turn a player may deposit any number of resources into the Bank. They may then no longer take them out in any way – even if this would mean death from starvation or homelessness; think of it as paying off a bank loan instalment. Deposited resources are not subject to Event Card effects. Food from the Bank cannot be stolen either. When any player collects 15 Food and 15 Money in the Dream Bank, the game ends immediately with their victory.

Example: Ilona has a full shelf in the Fridge and plenty of Money in her wallet. She decides to put part of her resources into the Dream Bank. After performing the mandatory actions of her turn, she deposits 10 Food and 10 Money. She is now very close to victory.

Discarding Cards

At the end of their turn a player may hold at most 7 Resourcefulness Cards in hand. Surplus cards must be placed on the discard pile of used Resourcefulness Cards.

Don't feel like deciding which Resourcefulness Cards to discard? If thinking is not your favourite sport, you may agree that when discarding Resourcefulness Cards, someone else removes them from your hand.

Example: Lena decided to Lose to the Game Master. As a result of this Ability she received 6 Resourcefulness Cards. Earlier she already had 3 cards in hand, so she now has too many. Before the end of her turn she must discard the surplus so that she has at most 7 in hand. She may also try to use them before she is forced to discard.

Next Player

After all actions are complete, the turn passes to the player sitting to the left of the previous active player. If all players have already taken a turn in the round, do not forget to move the round marker to the next space of the Round Track.

Example: Stefan has just finished his turn. The player on his left is Lena, so now it is her turn.

Rent

Rent is paid by all players at the same time. This happens each time the round marker reaches the space marked with the number 1 and the word "czynsz" (rent). It means the start of a month has come, and you must politely pay for heating and stuff. Rent is 4 Money and must be paid in full, immediately. If a player cannot afford the rent, they receive a Debt Marker. Once rent payment has begun, you can no longer use an Ability to obtain Money – you had to set it aside earlier!

IMPORTANT: if you cannot afford the full rent, see Hunger and Debt. If during the game you used a card or Ability that releases you from the obligation to pay rent, remind your opponents of this now. Watch their faces when they realise that only they will be poor now.

Note on the Round Track: the rulebook refers to the same marker both as the "Round marker" (znacznik rundy, placed on the first space at setup) and as the "Rent marker" (znacznik Czynszu, moved on in the Next Player phase). This translation treats them as one marker on the Round Track.

Hunger and Debt

Hunger and Debt are twin siblings, the greatest plagues of the players of iGranie z Gruzem.

A character receives a Hunger Marker when, in their turn, they eat nothing – whether because their shelf in the Fridge is empty or because their attempt to steal Food failed. If in their next turn the character again eats nothing, they die of hunger. To remove a Hunger Marker, the character must in one of the following turns eat 1 additional Food.

If a character cannot afford the Rent in a round marked 1 (not applicable in the first round of the game), they receive a Debt Marker. While they have a Debt Marker, in the next rent round they must pay both the current rent and the overdue rent – 8 Money together. Otherwise they will be thrown out of the house, become homeless and die under a bridge. Once they pay 8 Money, they lose the Debt Marker.

IMPORTANT: the current and the overdue rent must both be paid in full in the rent round. The landlord does not allow instalments!

Special Resourcefulness Cards and Their Exchange

There are 8 Special Resourcefulness Cards in the game, plus the HIV card. Upon receipt, all of these cards are laid face-up in front of the player.

Special Resourcefulness Cards work passively for the whole game, in two ways:

If a player passes the entrance space to the Small Loop indicated on the card, but does not enter it, they receive a Resourcefulness Card.
If a player enters the Small Loop indicated on the card, they convert all the negative effects in that loop into positive ones.

A Special Resourcefulness Card stays with you permanently. It can be traded, or lost as a result of Fiefiurka stealing it; otherwise it cannot be lost.

Example: Stefan has the Employment Contract card (Umowa o Pracę), which works in the Side Gig Loop (Pętla Fucha) he is currently in. Stefan rolls 3 and checks the loop effect. Normally he would lose 3 Resourcefulness Cards, but thanks to the Employment Contract he gains 3 Resourcefulness Cards instead.

A player may have any number of Special Resourcefulness Cards laid in front of them. They do not count towards the hand limit. In their turn, a player may exchange a Special Resourcefulness Card with another player for Food, Money, favours, or other Resourcefulness Cards, both special and ordinary.

The HIV card cannot be exchanged, and cannot be disposed of in any way. HIV stays with you forever. FOREVER. Moreover, an HIV card lying in front of a player counts towards that player's hand limit, so from then on the player may hold only 6 other cards.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when one of the following conditions occurs:

One of the characters deposits 15 Food and 15 Money in the Dream Bank. That character becomes the winner of life.
The last (24th) round of the game ends. In that case the winner is the player who has deposited the greatest total of resources into the Dream Bank. In a tie, the number of available resources held in the Fridge and in the wallet is counted. That character also may not have a Hunger Marker or Debt. If there is still a tie, the number of Special Resourcefulness Cards held decides; if it is still a tie, the number of Resourcefulness Cards remaining in the players' hands decides. If after all these steps there is still a tie, there may be several winners, although this is unlikely.
One of the characters has died, regardless of whether this happened through catching a cold while holding the HIV card, through starvation, or through homelessness. The winner is then determined by the same rules as in a tie. You may also agree that when someone dies the game continues until one of the conditions above is met – but the dead will be bored.
Only one living player remains on the board. If, through coincidence or by continuing to play after a death, only one living character remains at the table, that player becomes the winner. They may not have fulfilled their dreams, but they survived. And survival is the priority.

Glossary

(Słowniczek terminów. Polish game terms are rendered in English; the Polish original is given in parentheses.)

Dream Bank (Bank Marzeń) – a mythical place, represented by two tracks on each character's card, on which progress towards goals and nearness to victory are marked.
Food (Jedzenie) – supplies kept in the Fridge by each character. The most commonly stolen item in the flat. Collecting 15 Food in the Dream Bank is one of the victory conditions.
Resourcefulness Cards (Karty Zaradności) – cards representing the life resourcefulness of the characters. Each has two effects. With the first, you may change your dice results when moving or when attacking/defending the Fridge. The second effect (used alternatively) lets you, depending on the card, cancel the Event Card just drawn, reverse a Loop effect from negative to positive, and many other things – read them carefully.
Event Cards (Karty Zdarzeń) – divided into two decks, Work (Pracy) and Chillout (Chillu), whose effects influence the characters' lives in good or bad ways.
Rent (Czynsz) – paid once every 4 rounds, a tribute to the Landlord. It amounts to 4 Money.
Large Loop (Duża Pętla) – one of the two Large Loops on the board, Work or Chillout.
Fridge (Lodówka) – the shared place in the home where all characters keep their Food on their shelves. Represented by the Fridge Card.
Small Loop (Mała Pętla) – one of the eight loops branching off the two Large Loops. The Small Loops in the game are: Erotyczności, Sklepów (Shops), Imprez (Parties), Usiłowania Życia w Związku (Attempts at Life in a Relationship), Deadlinów (Deadlines), Biurokracji i Służby Zdrowia (Bureaucracy and Health Service), Fuch (Side Gig) and Kolegów z Pracy (Work Colleagues).
Start Space (Pole Startowe) – the space where all characters begin the game. It belongs to both Large Loops. When you stop on it, you draw two Event Cards, first from the Loop you have just left.

Alternative Rules

If the game seems too hard to you, or you are running into homelessness too quickly, you may speed up the game by reducing the rent to 3 Money.
Is mortality too low? Then after taking a Hunger Marker, you must eat a double portion of Food at once in the next turn, otherwise death and the struggle are over.
Want to simulate life better? Introduce more randomness! If you must discard Resourcefulness Cards, let the player on your left draw the appropriate number of face-down cards and discard them for you.
YOUR CHARACTER IS OVERDONE – agree that Character Abilities may be used only once per game.
If you think a card is too mild or too brutal in its effects, remove it from the game, put it back in the box and do not use it in your games.
You promised another player help and did not do it? They will say you lied; we will say you "bluffed tactically". This is fully permissible in this game.
Something else seems strange or unnecessary to you? Modify the rules to suit your tastes. If your tests show that it was a good change – let us know, and perhaps your idea will make it into the official FAQ!

The credits, acknowledgements and copyright notice on the final page of the rulebook are not transcribed.