Knock Out (1994) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• B. Components
• C. The Game Board
• D. The Boxer Cards
• E. Setup
• F. The Boxing Season
  • 1. The Challenge
  • 2. Training
  • 3. Placing Bets
  • 4. The Boxing Bout
  • 5. Awarding the Prizes
  • 6. Settling the Bets
• G. End of a Turn / End of a Bout
• H. End of the Game
• I. Taking Bets
  • 1. Placing Bet Tokens
  • 2. The Ways of Betting
  • 3. The Order of Bets
  • 4. The Ways of Betting (order of play; heading as printed in the source)
• J. Payment of Bets
• K. Payment Options
• The Pro Rules
  • Variable Starting Positions
  • The Second Boxing Season

B. Components

• 1 game board
• 2 pawns representing the boxers
• 1 red bet board for the Challenger
• 1 blue bet board for the Defender
• 30 boxer cards (10 boxers in each of three categories)
• 60 fight cards (12 cards each in 5 colours)
• 1 sheet of tokens (separate carefully before the first game)
  • 15 bet tokens
  • 1 trophy
  • 1 steak
  • 2 starting markers*
  • 5 "Superchampion" laurel wreaths*
  • 3 world champion belts*
  • *these items are only used for the pro version!
• 1 set of play money (currency: "Schmelings")
• 4 debt acknowledgements (IOUs) [Schuldurkunden]
• 5 information cards

C. The Game Board

The game board shows a boxing ring, in which the bouts take place. In the basic game, both boxers start on the large starting space with a double border.

In the pro version, the boxers start on either one of the starting spaces. Only in the pro version do the numbers on the spaces have a meaning.

D. The Boxer Cards

There are 10 different boxers for each colour of game piece, large and small. For each boxer there are three cards, each corresponding to a specific category.

The strongest card shows the boxer as a Champion (symbol: Ch), the second as a Professional (symbol: P), and the third as an Amateur (symbol: A).

For the 5 "large" boxers, the starting sum is 10,000 (Champion), 8,000 (Professional) or 6,000 (Amateur) Schmelings.

For the 5 "small" boxers, the starting sum is 8,000, 6,000 or 4,000 Schmelings.

Example for Robin Zorres: the category, Champion (10,000), Professional (8,000), Amateur (6,000). One boxer.

In the rest of the rules, when a boxer is referred to, all three cards are used together: the three different categories.

E. Setup

The game board is placed in the middle of the table, with the 2 pawns, the trophy, the steak and the two bet boards.

Each player chooses a colour and receives his boxing team in that colour: 2 boxers, one large and one small.

He places the 2 stacks (each of 3 cards) face up in front of him. At the start of the game, each player arranges his boxer cards so that the "Professional" (P) card, the middle one, is on top of the stack.

Example: a player chooses black. He receives Robin Zorres and Nick Hacker. The top card of each stack must show the Professional, with a starting sum of 8,000 for Robin Zorres and 6,000 for Nick Hacker.

Each player also receives:

• 12 fight cards in his team's colour (enough for 4 bouts of 3 rounds each)
• 3 bet tokens in his team's colour
• a starting capital of 100,000 Schmelings
• one information card

One player takes charge of the bank and the debt acknowledgements.

When three or four players are playing Knock Out, the boxer cards, fight cards and bet tokens that are left over are returned to the game box. They are not used in the game.

Finally, the starting player is chosen by any method.

F. The Boxing Season

Knock Out is played over one complete boxing season, which consists of many rounds. In each round, one bout takes place. The season ends when no further bout can take place, for example because no player has enough fight cards.

Special: in each round, two boxers fight each other, that is, two players each send one of their boxers into the ring. However: all players bet on the outcome of the bout.

Each round of play is divided into six phases:

1. Challenge
2. Training
3. Placing bets
4. The boxing bout
5. Determining the winner
6. Paying the bets

(Points 3 and 6 are explained below. The information card helps you follow the sequence of play during the game. To understand the game, we recommend playing one round of boxing without bets.)

1. The Challenge

The player whose turn it is must take the role of Challenger.

a) He takes the red bet board. At the start of the game, the first player is the Challenger. He places the red bet board in front of him on the table, at the edge of the game board.

b) On the left-hand space of the board, he places the boxer he wishes to send into the ring (the three cards of the stack, with the current category on top).

c) He then challenges a boxer belonging to an opponent.

Conditions for the challenge:

• Neither the challenging boxer nor the challenged boxer may have taken part in the previous bout. (At the start of the game, no boxer has taken part in a bout. But from the second round on, the boxers from the previous bout are recognisable by the trophy (winner) or the steak (loser).)
• The challenged boxer must have a starting sum equal to or higher than that of the boxer who challenges him.
• Each player taking part in the boxing bout must still have at least three fight cards.

d) The Challenger names the boxer he invites to the bout, clearly stating its name, and gives the player who owns that boxer the blue bet board.

The challenged player is now the Defender.

e) The Defender then places his boxer on the bet board.

An example: at the start of the game, the black player sends Robin Zorres (starting sum 8,000) into the ring as Challenger. He has challenged "Arnold Blackndecker" (starting sum 8,000), controlled by the green player.

The Challenger may ask the Defender to tell him how many fight cards he has in his possession.

2. Training

• The Challenger and the Defender each take their set of fight cards still available (all remaining cards; at the start of the game, therefore 12).
• Each chooses 4, with which he will conduct the fight, and takes them into his hand. (At most 3 or 4 fight cards will be used. Towards the end of the game, a player may have only three fight cards left. In that case, his last bout is fought with just three cards.)
• The remaining cards are again placed face down in a pile on the table.
• A player with fewer than three fight cards can no longer take part in bouts.

3. Placing Bets

Each player bets on the outcome of the bouts. In three rounds of betting, each player must have placed his 3 bet tokens. For details see below.

4. The Boxing Bout

• The Challenger takes the red pawn and places it in the ring, on one of the two starting spaces. For this he chooses the corner nearest to him.
• The Defender takes the blue pawn and places it on the starting space of his corner of the ring.

The ring is free for the first round. A boxing bout generally lasts three rounds!

• In each round, both players choose one of their four fight cards from their hand and place it face down in front of them.
• The two cards are turned over at the same time and the result is applied.
• The cards used are then removed from the game and returned to the box. These cards may no longer be looked at either.

a) The two players have chosen fight cards of different values: The boxer with the card of lower value has lost the round! He moves his pawn by the difference in points between the cards, in the direction of the K.O. space.

Exception: "1" beats "5". If one player uses the "1" and the other the "5", the player with the "1" has landed a sudden left hook. In this case, the player who used the "5" must move his pawn 4 spaces in the direction of the K.O. space.

b) The two players have chosen fight cards of the same value: The round ends in a draw, and the two pawns stay where they are.

The bout ends in any case after 3 rounds:

a) Victory on points:

• After three rounds, the player whose pawn is farthest from the starting space loses the bout.
• If both pawns are the same distance from the starting space, the Challenger loses.

b) Victory by K.O.:

• If, during any of the three rounds, one of the pawns reaches the K.O. space, that player has lost the bout immediately by K.O.

In all cases, the players return their unused fight card(s) to their reserve stack. They may be used in future bouts.

Example: Robin Zorres as Challenger and Arnold Blackndecker as Defender meet: (play this example on the game board)

• 1st round: Zorres 4, Blackndecker 2. The blue pawn (Blackndecker) moves 2 spaces in the direction of the K.O. space.
• 2nd round: Zorres 5, Blackndecker 1 (the hidden left hook got through). The red pawn (Zorres) is moved 4 spaces in the direction of the K.O.
• 3rd round: Zorres 4, Blackndecker 5. The red pawn (Zorres) must be moved onto the K.O. space. So the boxer is K.O.'d. If in the 3rd round Zorres had played a 4 and Blackndecker a 2, Zorres would have lost on points, since at the same distance from the starting space, the Challenger loses.

5. Awarding the Prizes

a) At the end of a boxing bout, the bank pays out the prize money:

• To the player of the winning boxer, the bank pays double his starting sum.
• To the player of the losing boxer, the bank pays once his starting sum.

b) The category of each boxer is changed according to the outcome of the bout:

• The winner moves up one class.
• The loser drops one class.

The player changes the order of the three boxer cards so that the card of the new category is on top of the stack. However:

• If a boxer is already in the highest category (Champion), he cannot move any higher.
• If a boxer is already in the lowest category (Amateur), he cannot drop any lower.

In both cases, the card already on top of the stack stays in place.

If a boxer has been knocked out, the entire stack is removed. He ends his career and is out of the game.

c) Finally, the winner receives the trophy, which is placed on the stack of three cards.

d) The loser may tend his wounds with a steak. The steak is placed on the stack of three cards.

6. Settling the Bets

For the details of settling bets, see below.

G. End of a Turn / End of a Bout

a) Finally, the Challenger and the Defender take back their boxers in their new category and place them in front of them on the table.

b) The Challenger now passes the empty bet board to his left-hand neighbour. This player becomes the new Challenger and begins a new turn.

It may happen that the new Challenger cannot challenge anyone because the prerequisites are not met (on his side or on his opponent's). In that case, he passes the bet board to the next player in clockwise order.

H. End of the Game

The game ends as soon as no player can challenge another.

a) The player who owns the boxer with the highest starting sum receives all the money on the bonus space. If several boxers meet this condition, they share the sum.

b) For each fight card he still holds, each player receives 5,000 Schmelings from the bank. (Do not underestimate this bonus. Each player should watch during the game that every player is involved in bouts as often as the others.)

c) Each debt acknowledgement reduces a player's fortune by 50,000 Schmelings. (For debt acknowledgements, see below.)

The player who then has the most money is the winner and master of all the c[l]a(i)sses.

I. Taking Bets

The game lives from the various betting possibilities, which everyone should know in detail before the game begins. To explain an example, the Challenger's red bet board is used. However, all of the following information is equally valid for the Defender's blue bet board.

Bets are taken and confirmed by placing bet tokens. Each bet board has 4 bet spaces, and the 4 corresponding winnings spaces for 4 betting outcomes. Only one token may be placed on each space, so there can be at most 8 concluded bets for each bout.

1. Placing Bet Tokens

• Placing a bet: Whoever thinks the Challenger will win places his token on a red bet space on the red bet board.

• Following a bet: Whoever thinks the Challenger will lose may remove a bet already placed. To do so, he places his bet token face down (blank side up) on the matching space on the blue bet board.

Basically, this means that a bet token must be placed on the red bet board before the bet can be followed on the blue board.

Alternatively, of course, it is possible to bet on the Defender's victory! The player then places his token on the bet space of the blue bet board.

(In the source, the spaces labelled "Cases de pari" and "Cases de suivi de pari" are the bet spaces and the follow-bet spaces on each board.)

It frequently happens that a proposed bet is not followed by any player. In that case the bank follows, and the corresponding space remains empty.

• Pass: Whoever does not wish to bet places his token on the Pass space of the game board. There may be as many tokens as desired on this space.

2. The Ways of Betting

With the bet tokens there are three ways to bet and to influence the size of the bets:

a) The simple victory bet The player betting on a boxer's victory places a blank-side-up token on the matching bet space. The sum concerned is shown on the area with the amount in figures.

Example: the player places a bet of 10,000 Schmelings on the Challenger's victory.

b) The double victory bet Each player may, twice per bout, bet on a double victory (2 tokens available). A player who wants to bet this way on a boxer's victory places his token with the "x 2" side up on the chosen space. The sum bet is then the amount shown on the x 2 space.

Example: the player bets 12,000 Schmelings on the Challenger's victory.

c) Special case: the K.O. bet Each player may, once per bout, bet that the boxer will be knocked out (one token available). A player who wants to bet that a boxer will be knocked out places his token with the "K.O." side up on the bet space for the sum of the boxer he thinks will be knocked out. The bet sum is then the amount shown on the x 3 space.

Example: the player bets 18,000 Schmelings that the Challenger will lose by K.O.

Reminder: players may only place tokens on a follow-bet space if the space facing it is filled.

Example: another player does not believe the Challenger can be beaten by K.O., and follows the K.O. bet. His bet sum is also 18,000 Schmelings.

3. The Order of Bets

After the Challenger and the Defender have chosen their fight cards, the bets are placed in three rounds.

4. The Ways of Betting (order of play; heading as printed in the source)

Note: this section carries the same heading as section 2 in the source. Its content is the order in which bets are placed, so it is transcribed under that heading as printed.

Round 1: First, the Challenger and the Defender must bet (not follow) on a victory or a K.O.!

a) The Challenger begins.

b) Then it is the Defender's turn, and he must also place a bet.

c) Now the other players may bet, follow or pass. Starting from the Challenger's left, bets continue clockwise. Each player who has not yet placed a token places one.

Example: Anja = Challenger. Doris = Defender. Order of placing: Anja, Doris, Bernd, Chris, Eike.

Rounds 2 and 3: After each player has placed one token, there is a second and a third round. In each round the Challenger always begins. Then each player, clockwise, places a second token. The Challenger and the Defender are not obliged to bet during this second round of betting; they may follow or pass.

Example for rounds 2 and 3: Anja = Challenger. Doris = Defender. Order of placing in the second and third rounds: Anja, Bernd, Chris, Doris, Eike.

After the third round of betting, all tokens have been placed and the bout may begin.

Two special rules must also be observed:

1. For tactical reasons it is permitted, and often used, for the same player to place a bet and in a later round to follow his own bet. Such bets complement each other!

2. Bet tokens placed blank side up may be exchanged during a later round of betting. But the new token must also be placed blank side up; the original bet cannot be changed.

Such an exchange is necessary when a player wants, for example, to bet on a K.O. and notices that he has already used the K.O. token for a simple bet (blank side up).

J. Payment of Bets

During the seventh phase of a round of play, the bets are settled. To do so, the following possibilities apply:

a) Bet between two players (one player has bet, another has followed the bet): The loser pays the sum concerned to the winner, as indicated by the token on the bet space and the sum printed on the board.

b) Bet between a player and the bank: In this case the follow-bet space (circle) has not been filled.

• The player won. He receives half of the bet sum, paid by the bank.
• The player lost. He pays the full bet sum to the bonus space on the game board.

If the players are not certain, it is recommended to take each bet one at a time on one board and settle it. If the players have some practice with the game, the bets may be settled simultaneously.

After the bets have been settled, the players take back their tokens.

K. Payment Options

If a player cannot pay the sums he owes, he receives 50,000 Schmelings from the bank together with a debt acknowledgement.

The Pro Rules

With the following rules, Knock Out becomes even more interesting!

The additional material comes into play here:

• 2 starting markers*
• 5 "Superchampion" laurel wreaths (x 2)
• 3 world champion belts*

There are two groups of rules that extend the basic rules. Both can be inserted into the game independently.

Variable Starting Positions

The starting sum shown on each boxer's card indicates the space on which the pawn begins. "Small" and "large" boxers can thus take more or less punishment, that is, they will be knocked out more or less quickly:

• A "small" boxer starts as an Amateur on the space with the 4, and as a Professional or Champion (or Superchampion or World Champion) on the space with the 6/8.
• A "large" boxer starts as an Amateur or Professional on the space with the 6/8, and as a Champion (or Superchampion or World Champion) on the space with the 10.

To recognise each pawn's starting space, the starting markers are used. They are placed on the game board so as to indicate the relevant starting spaces.

Example: for a boxer with a starting sum of 6,000, the marker is placed on the 6/8 space; for a boxer with a sum of 10,000, on the 10 space.

As before, the respective positions of the two pawns relative to their starting spaces determine the winner and loser. The boxer with the greater distance from his starting space loses. In case of a tie, the Challenger loses.

The Second Boxing Season

After the first boxing season, as described in the basic version of Knock Out, a second season takes place immediately. The following changes to the rules apply:

1. The end of the first boxing season

• There is no count-up at the end of the first season.
• The money on the bonus space is not shared.
• The debt acknowledgements remain with the players.
• But: each player receives 5,000 Schmelings from the bank for each fight card he has not used.

2. Preparation for the second season

• Each player again receives his full set of fight cards for the second season.
• The crowning of the champion: boxers who, at the end of the first season, reached the Champion category are rewarded with the title of Superchampion. They receive a Superchampion marker (x 2), which is placed on the boxer card stack.
  • The starting sum of a Superchampion is double the value printed on the card, that is 16,000 or 20,000 Schmelings.
• Boxers who were knocked out during the first season may return to play. They begin in the lowest category, as Amateurs.
• The other boxers (Professionals and Amateurs) begin in their current category, the one they reached at the end of the first season.
• The trophy and the steak are placed back near the game board.
• Even boxers who took part in the last bout of the first season may take part in the first bout of the second season.
• The left-hand neighbour of the player who was Challenger during the last bout of the first season begins this second season.

3. Course of play

• All rules of play described in the basic version apply to the second season. The following extensions must be taken into account:

The title fight Title fights are bouts in which at least one Superchampion or World Champion takes part, who competes as the defender of the title.

• If two Superchampions box each other, the winner obtains the title of World Champion. The winner and the loser return their markers. The winner receives for this a World Champion belt (x 3).

Consequently: if a Superchampion defeats the World Champion, he receives the world champion belt. If two world champions fight each other, only the winner keeps his world champion belt.

• The starting sum of a World Champion is 24,000 and 30,000 Schmelings respectively, that is 3 times the sum printed on the card.
• Superchampions and World Champions may, as described in the basic rule, be challengers or defenders.

It follows that a World Champion with a starting sum of 30,000 Schmelings may only challenge another World Champion with the same starting sum.

The conditions for challenges are changed by the following rule: Amateurs may not challenge World Champions or Superchampions!

• If a Superchampion or a World Champion is challenged by a boxer without a title (Champions and Professionals are allowed) and defeated, the title passes to the winner. He receives the title from the loser for this victory.

If the challenger was in the Professional category, he naturally moves up to the Champion category (see the victory rules in the basic version above).

For all fighter titles, the following applies:

• If the holder of the title wins the bout, he keeps his title (and his marker).
• A World Champion (Superchampion) defeated on points drops to the Professional category and returns his belt (laurel wreath). In a defeat by K.O., the boxer is eliminated from the game.

Play tip: The highest starting sums of the second season act (in game terms) on the prize money and the play:

• High starting sums lead to high prizes!
  • Example 1: If a World Champion with a starting sum of 30,000 wins a bout, he receives 60,000 Schmelings in prize money: 10,000 (starting sum) x 3 (world champion) x 2 (victory prize).
  • Example 2: If he loses to his challenger (for example a Professional with a starting sum of 6,000 Schmelings), his starting sum of 30,000 is secured, whereas the winner receives "only" 12,000 Schmelings. But in return, the latter is now world champion with a starting sum of 24,000 for the next bout.

4. End of the game

• The money on the bonus space goes to the player with the most successful boxer (with the highest starting sum). As a rule, this is the world champion.
• At the end of the second season too, each player receives 5,000 Schmelings from the bank for each fight card he has not used.
• Each debt acknowledgement reduces the player's fortune by 50,000 Schmelings.