Lawyer Up
Lawyer Up Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Basic Concepts
- Game Setup
- Art Forgery Setup: Case 00
- Murder Trial Setup: Case 01
- Discovery
- The Trial
- Witnesses
- Questioning Phase
- Card Anatomy
- Objection!
- Example
- Resolving the Witness
- Ending the Game
- Ending Case 00
- Ending Case 01
- Additional Rules
- Locking or Unlocking Bias
- Biased Judge Variant
- Solo Mode
- Card Reference
- Glossary
- Credits
Components
- Defense Base Deck (26 cards)
- Prosecution Base Deck (26 cards)
- Art Forgery Case 00 (73 cards)
- Murder Case 01 (90 cards)
- 7 Judge Cards (double-sided)
- 4 Reference Cards
- 12 Juror Cards (double-sided)
- 2 Influence Dials (1 Blue, 1 Red)
- 12 Bias Tokens (2 of each)
- 6 Objection Tokens (3 Blue, 3 Red)
- 2 Sidebar Tokens (1 Blue, 1 Red)
- 2 Discredit Tokens
- 2 Dice for Solo Play (1 Blue, 1 Red)
Basic Concepts
Bias
Most cards in Lawyer Up feature a Bias symbol (Bureaucratic/Justice, Emotional, Evidential, Corruption/Nefarious, Logical/Factual, Reputation/Morality) on them. The symbols highlight elements that can tie Witnesses and Jurors to specific types of Arguments and Evidence that players are presenting in court.
- Evidential (magnifying glass)
- Logical, Factual (owl)
- Emotional (heart)
- Reputation, Morality (thumbs up)
- Bureaucratic, Justice (scale)
- Corruption, Nefarious (skull)
While examining a Witness, players will need to make sure that their legal arguments make sense; they accomplish so by chaining cards that have at least 1 symbol matching the Bias symbol on the Witness being examined.
Generating Influence
A card's Value can be found in the upper left of Argument, Evidence, and Procedure cards and on the upper left and lower right of Witness cards. Higher Values are better than lower Values.
When these cards are played, players gain Influence equal to the card's Value if it is Neutral (N, gray) or corresponds with their side as Defense (D, blue) or Prosecution (P, red). Playing a card of the opposing side generates 0 Influence.
Players want to generate the most Influence possible because it is used to win Witnesses and sway the Jury (see Witness Resolution on page 20).
Game Setup
(see example on page 7)
- Case Selection: Players agree on which Case to play and pick which player will be the Prosecution (Red) and which will be the Defense (Blue).
- Gather Base Components: The Prosecution takes the Prosecution Base deck (26 cards), 3 Objection tokens, and 1 Sidebar token. The Defense player takes the Defense Base deck (26 cards), 3 Objection tokens and 1 Sidebar token.
- Judge: Select a Judge (we recommend using the Unbiased Judge shown for your first game, see Biased Judges on page 28) and place them off to the side of the play area, with them favoring the Prosecution.
- Case Setup: Take all of the components specific to the selected Case and follow the setup instructions. If this is your first game, we recommend playing the Art Forgery Case (Case 00) and following the setup on Page 8.
- Player's Procedure Area: Players will play Procedure cards here during the Trial.
Once setup is complete, start Discovery (page 10).
Art Forgery Setup: Case 00
(see example on page 7)
4a. Select a Strategy: Take the Case 00 Strategy Cards. Players choose one to play with, and return the others to the box. If this is your first game, we recommend playing "Opening Statements."
4b. Key Witnesses and Witness Deck: Place the Witnesses listed on the selected Strategy around the Judge. Shuffle all remaining Witnesses together to form the Witness deck and set it off to the side.
4c. Jury: Take the 12 Juror cards and place them normal side (no lock symbols visible) up in two rows off to the side of the main play area. Each row must have a complete set of Jurors, from 1 to 6.
4d. Jury Bias: Take the 12 Bias tokens and assign one at random to each Juror. Assign them so that all Jurors in the top row have one of these tokens on one empty slot (2nd space from left to right) on the Prosecution's side, and all Jurors in the bottom row have one on the Defense's side (3rd space).
4e. Case Deck: Remove any pencil or spider web cards that are not shown on the selected Strategy card. Shuffle together all the remaining Case 00 cards in the middle of the play area within easy reach of both players.
Murder Trial Setup: Case 01
(see example on page 7)
4a. Select a Strategy: Take the Case 01 Strategy Cards. The Prosecution selects a Prosecution Strategy (P, red) and the Defense selects a Defense Strategy (D, blue). Any unused Strategies are returned to the box.
4b. Key Witnesses and Witness Deck: Place the 9 Witnesses listed on the selected Strategies (5 on the Prosecution's Strategy, 4 on the Defense's Strategy) around the Judge. Give the Defendant, "Jessica Fairmount" to the Defense. Shuffle all remaining Witnesses together to form the Witness deck and set it off to the side.
4c. Jury: Take the 12 Juror cards and place them lock side (lock symbols visible) up in two rows off to the side of the main play area. Each row must have a complete set of Jurors, from 1 to 6.
4d. Jury Bias: Take the 12 Bias tokens and assign one at random to each Juror. Assign them so that all Jurors in the top row have one of these tokens on one empty slot on the Prosecution's side, and all Jurors in the bottom row have one on the Defense's side.
4e. Case Deck: Shuffle the 60 Case 01 cards in the middle of the play area within easy reach of both players.
4f. Murder Weapon: Set aside the "Bloody Knife" for the Prosecution.
Discovery
Discovery is a pre-trial process in which the Prosecution and the Defense obtain evidence from the other party or parties relevant to the case. During this step, players draft Evidence and other cards specific to the case for use during the Trial of the game. Note that Discovery happens only once.
Each player draws 3 cards from the top of the Case deck (the Prosecution draws first). Players simultaneously choose 1 card to add to the Prosecution deck, 1 card to add to the Defense deck, and 1 card to add to the Buried Evidence. All cards are added face-down. Players cannot look at cards that have been drafted to these decks.
Note: Cards entering the Buried Evidence pile don't belong to any deck, and often they won't be used during the Trial; however, there are some effects in the game allowing players to recover cards from this deck.
If this is your first game (using Case 00) and you're not familiar with drafting, you can deal 10 cards at random to the Prosecution, Defense, and Buried Evidence. This will help you get accustomed to the game and cards before you attempt to draft.
Players continue drafting cards 3 at a time until all cards in the case deck are in either player's deck or in the Buried Evidence.
Each player then gathers their deck (now composed of their Base deck and of the cards just added) and shuffles it.
After shuffling, each player draws 5 card as their opening hand. Default hand size is 5 cards. There is no hand limit. Each player may take a mulligan where they discard any number of cards from their hand and then draw back up to their hand size.
In Case 01 the Prosecution adds the "Bloody Knife" to their opening hand as a sixth card after the opening hand has been drawn.
The Trial
During the Trial, each player pleads their case in an attempt to sway the bias of the Jury and win the case for their side. The Trial involves calling Witnesses to the stand for questioning. During questioning, players will play Evidence and Arguments as they attempt to win the Witness and sway the Jury to their side.
The Trial ends when there are no Key Witnesses left to call or when any special conditions of that case have been met (see Ending Cases on pages 24-25).
Calling a Witness
The player who currently has the Judge's favor calls the Witness. The Prosecution starts the game with the Judge's favor. When a player calls a Witness, they choose one of the available Key Witness and place them horizontally between both players, so that the Primary Value is closer to the player having called the Witness. This Witness is now the current Witness. The player who called the Witness now adds the Witness Primary Value to their current Influence, while the other player adds the Secondary Value to their Influence.
Witnesses
- Primary Value: This is the Influence added to the Influence of the player that calls the Witness.
- Witness Name.
- Keywords: Any identifying keywords such as Expert.
- Bias Symbols: The associated Biases are listed on both sides of the card.
- Flavor Text
- Case Number
- Card Effects
- Secondary Value: This is the Influence added to the Influence of the player who did not call the Witness.
Example card — "Richard Sprint," Expert. Forensic investigator with extensive knowledge of the case and a propensity to talk for hours and hours on the subject if allowed the opportunity. Prosecution Favored: Lock 1 Evidential. Victory: Shuffle all Evidence from your discard into your deck.
Questioning Phase
Starting with the player who called the Witness, players alternate taking turns performing one action from the list below:
1. Play an Evidence or Argument card
Players can play any card from their hand into their playing area (called "the examination"). Cards are played in the examination overlapping previously played cards, so that everything of previous cards is covered but their Bias symbols and Value atop of the card.
The first card that is played into examination must match at least 1 Bias symbol of the Bias symbols showing on the active player's side of the current Witness; following cards need to match at least 1 Bias symbol on the topmost card of the examination stack. When a card is played into examination, any Examine effects on the chosen card, must be resolved if possible.
Card Anatomy
- Value: Players gain Influence equal to this number if it is Neutral (N, gray) or corresponds with their side as Defense (D, blue) or Prosecution (P, red).
- Bias Symbols: At least one of these symbols must be matched with the same symbol either on the current Witness card (if the examination is empty) or with the top card of a player's examination.
- Case Number
- Card Name
- Card Type, Keywords: Card type (Argument, Evidence, or Procedure) followed by relevant keywords that interact with card effects.
- Flavor Text: No mechanical effect.
- Card Effects: Resolve any Examine effects when the card is played.
Example card — "Jerrod's Gun," Evidence, Material. Found hidden in the dresser of the victim was an unlicensed .44 Magnum with the serial number filed. Signs show that it had been recently fired. Examine: If the current Witness is an Expert, your opponent discards 1 card. Victory: Sway 1 Evidential.
Note: Sometimes an effect will have a player Sway a Bias. When swaying a Bias on a Juror, players move the Bias token on that Juror's card one step towards their side.
IMPORTANT: Cards in an examination that are neutral (gray) or match the active player's color (red for the Prosecution, blue for the Defense) add their Value to that player's Influence. Cards in a player's examination that match their opponent's color do not add or subtract from either player's Influence.
2. Play a Procedure card
Procedures can either be played into examination as a card to use its Bias symbols, or they can be played into the active player's Procedure area to be activated in a future turn. The action on the Procedure cannot be resolved in the turn the card is played. Procedures stay in play between Witnesses.
3. Activate a Procedure
Resolve the Action effect on a single Procedure card in the current player's Procedure area if they have the Judge's favor. The Procedure is then discarded and the other player gains the Judge's favor.
4. Sidebar
If the active player's Sidebar token is not exhausted, they may exhaust it to draw a card and gain the Judge's favor. Players can call a Sidebar even if they already have the Judge's favor. A player's Sidebar is refreshed when they lose a Witness.
5. Pass
Players may pass. Once a player passes, they cannot take any more actions until the current Witness is resolved; however they may still Object (see page 18). When both players have passed, move onto Resolving the Witness (see page 20).
Objection!
Once per Witness, players may object to an Argument played by their opponent as long as they have an unexhausted Objection token. Players cannot object to Evidence or Procedures. When a player objects, they exhaust one Objection token, and their opponent's card is immediately discarded with no effect and their opponent must immediately take another action. If all of a player's Objection tokens are exhausted, they cannot Object.
Keep in mind that you have only 3 Objections for the entire trial so use them sparingly!
Objection tokens can be refreshed by certain card effects.
Example
In this example, the Defense has called Richard Sprint turning the top left Value (P3) towards them. Since this Value is not beneficial to the Defense, they don't advance their Influence dial. However, the Prosecution value in beneficial to the Prosecution player, who advances their dial by 1, bringing the current Influence to D0-P1.
The Defense takes the first action and plays Jerrod's Gun taking the lead with influence D3-P1.
The Prosecution wants to play Jessica's Diary but it doesn't match any Bias icons on the Witness so they play Inadmissable as a wild card instead.
The Defense plays Key Evidence. The card's printed Value is 2 but the card's Examine effect increases this to 5. Influence is now D8-P1.
The Prosecution plays Jessica's Diary. Each player discards a card from their hand. Influence is D8-P4. Both players will continue to take actions until they both pass.
Resolving the Witness
After both the Prosecution and Defense have passed, the Witness is resolved, according to the following:
1. Compare Influence
Players start by comparing the total Influence gathered while questioning the Witness. To do so, they can compare the current total as shown on their Influence dials. The player with the most Influence wins that Witness. If there is a tie, the player who currently has the Judge's favor wins.
2. Resolve Victory/Defeat Effects
The player who lost the Witness resolves any Defeat effects on the top card of their examination and on the Witness card. Then the player who won the Witness resolves any Victory effects on the top card of their examination and on the Witness card. Each player may choose the order in which they resolve these effects. Players adjust their current Influence in function of Victory / Defeat effects.
3. Spend Influence to sway Bias
Subtract the loser's Influence from the winner's Influence. The winner then spends this difference to sway Bias. To sway a Bias on a Juror, they must spend Influence equal to that Juror's Skepticism value in the upper right. The same Juror can be swayed as many times as desired until the token is locked, as long as the player has enough Influence to pay the cost for every step the token is moved. Any unspent Influence is lost.
4. Claim the Witness and Clean-up
Players take all cards in their examinations and discard them to their personal discard piles. The player who won the Witness claims that card and places them in their Claimed Witness area. The player who lost the Witness gains the Judge's favor and refreshes their Sidebar. Both players then reset their Influence to zero.
5. Draw
Each player may discard any number of cards from their hand. Then players draw cards until they have cards equal to their hand size. If a player's deck runs out of cards, there is no reshuffling. If a player's deck is empty, they continue playing normally until the game is over.
6. End Step
The player who just lost and has gained the Judge's favor will call the next Witness and a new Questioning Phase begins.
If both players passed in the example on page 19, the Defense would win the Witness: 8 Influence to the Prosecution's 4. The Defense would trigger Richard Sprint's Victory effect and then would spend 4 Influence swaying Jurors. Each player puts all the cards in their examination into their discard. Since the Prosecution lost the Witness, they gain the Judge's Favor and refresh their Sidebar. Players may discard any remaining cards before they both draw back up to 5 cards in their hand. A new Questioning Phase begins and the Prosecution calls the next Witness.
Ending the Game
When all Key Witnesses have been called and resolved, the game proceeds to Closing Statements; at this point the game ends and a winner is determined.
Note that some cases have special victory conditions that can end the game preemptively or they can have altered Closing Statements.
Ending Case 00
In the Art Forgery case, the game ends after all Key Witnesses have been called and resolved OR if at the end of a round, either player has no cards remaining in their deck.
Closing Statements
The player with the majority of Jurors swayed to their side wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most Claimed Witnesses wins. If that is also a tie, it is a hung Jury and the Defense wins.
Ending Case 01
In the Murder case, the game ends after all Key Witnesses have been called and resolved OR preemptively if the Prosecution has the Bias of all 12 Jurors locked on their side.
Closing Statements
Each player gains 3 influence for each Bias symbol on their claimed Witnesses that matches their Strategy. The player with the most influence will get to spend the difference to sway the Jury one last time. After closing statements, the game ends. The Prosecution wins if every Juror is on their side. The Defense wins if at least one Juror is on their side.
Additional Rules
Juror cards have two sides, a normal side (no visible locks) and a locked side that depicts a lock symbol on the leftmost space of the card. Jurors have 4 spaces that represent the side they are currently leaning towards. These spaces are colored red and blue to correspond to the Prosecution and Defense respectively.
Jurors also present a Skepticism value on the upper right. This value represents how easily they can be swayed with Influence. The same Juror may be swayed more than once as long as the winner pays the required Influence.
Sway Bias: Move a Bias token from one space on the selected Juror card to an adjacent space on the same card. This movement is done towards the swaying player's side.
Example: You have 6 Influence to spend, you can sway a Juror with Skepticism of "3" twice or a Juror with Skepticism "5" once and a Juror with Skepticism "1" once.
Locking or Unlocking Bias
Case 01 introduces additional asymmetry in the game with the Lock side of Juror cards being face-up.
Lock Bias: When a Prosecution effect instructs players to Lock a Bias, a Bias token is moved one space from the open red space to the locked position. A Bias token can never be moved from a blue space to the locked position. Only the Prosecution can Lock. If the specified Bias is not lockable, the effect is ignored. The Prosecution may spend Influence to lock Jurors.
Lock 1 Emotional: Card effects ignore Skepticism values, but will restrict by Bias Symbol.
Unlock Bias: When a Defense effect instructs players to Unlock a Bias, a Bias token is moved from the locked position to an adjacent open red space. Only the Defense can Unlock. If the specified Bias is not unlockable, the effect is ignored. The Defense cannot spend Influence to unlock Jurors.
Unlock 1 Emotional
Biased Judge Variant
The game comes with variant Judge cards featuring a Bias symbol (Bureaucratic/Justice, Emotional, Evidential, Corruption/Nefarious, Logical/Factual, Reputation/Morality) on them. These Judges are biased and can be used in any game of Lawyer Up to change the way objections work.
When using a Biased Judge, players may object to any Argument or Evidence played by their opponent as long as it does not have the Bias symbol matching the Bias on the Judge. For example: If the Judge with the Corruption/Nefarious bias is presiding over the case, players cannot object to cards with the Corruption/Nefarious symbol on them.
Solo Mode
Setup the game as normal then take the solo reference cards and dice.
Discovery: Draft all of the cards in the case deck, drawing 3 cards at a time and choosing a card to add to the player's deck, a card to add to the Automa's deck and a card to the Buried Evidence.
Trial: Resolve the Trial normally, but any time there's need for their opponent to sway Jurors, call Witnesses, and Objects, refer to the "Automa's Decisions" card.
Questioning Phase: On the Automa's turn, draw 1 card from the Automa's deck to add to its examination and then roll both dice. If the card played has a Bias icon associated with the red die result, that result's effect is resolved.
At the end of the Automa's turn, you will check whether the Automa has met its "Rest Condition" based on the blue die roll. If it has, the Automa passes for the rest of the current Witness.
Solo mode is recommended for Case 00 only.
Card Reference
Discredit the Witness: When the current Witness is discredited, their Primary or Secondary Value is reduced to 0, and a Discredit token is placed to cover that value on the card. Current Influence is recalculated in the light of the canceled Value. If "Surprise Witness" or another effect changes the Witness, the Discredit token is discarded and the new Witness enters play not discredited.
For the Greater Good: Players may look through all of the cards in their opponent's examination for the Victory effect that they want. It does not have to be their opponent's top card.
Surprise Witness: When a player resolves "Surprise Witness", they claim the current Witness to their Claimed Witness area, but the do not resolve any other effects in the Claim the Witnesses section on page 21. Then they draw the top card of the Witness deck as the new Witness. Both player's examinations remain in play. The new Witness replaces the old and the player who called them may orient the card either way, to their best benefit. The current total Influence is then adjusted in function of the new Witness' values. Any Called effects on the new Witness are ignored, but Defeat/Victory effects are still resolved as normal.
Logical, Moral, Legal, Evidential, or Emotional Argument: These Arguments all have an Examine effect that sets their Value based on a Bias symbol. When one of these cards is played, it gains +2 Value for each card (including this one) in that player's examination featuring the listed Bias. Once this card is played, its Value is not further changed by adding more cards with the same symbol. If the card is removed from an examination, its total Value is subtracted from that player's Influence.
Glossary
Bury refers to when a card is shuffled into the Buried Evidence.
Called effects are on Witness cards and trigger when that Witness is called. Sometimes these only can be triggered by one role i.e. Defense Called is only triggered by the Defense.
Defeat effects are resolved when a player loses a Witness. Only Defeat effects on the Witness and on the top card of the losing player's examination are resolved.
Draw effects cause a player to draw the top card of a deck. If drawing from a revealed set of cards (i.e. either player's discard), the active player looks through all the cards in the discard and selects one to draw.
Examine effects trigger when cards are played into a player's examination. When cards are added to an examination, these effects do not trigger.
Influence refers to the total Value generated by cards in a player's examination and the side of the current Witness facing a player, and typically tracked on the Influence dials.
Judge's Favor refers to the side of the Judge card that is currently face-up. For example, if the Judge card is on the Defense side, then the Defense has the Judge's favor.
Key Witness refers to the current Witness being questioned and any other Witnesses face-up waiting to be called. Once a Witness is claimed (or removed from the game via some other effect), they are no longer a Key Witness.
Refresh refers to flipping over an exhausted token (Sidebar or Objection) so that it may be used again.
Search refers to when a normally hidden set of cards, such as a player's deck or the Buried Evidence, is looked through. When a set of cards is searched, it is always shuffled afterwards.
Shuffle is a type of card effect (i.e. Shuffle 1 card from your discard into your deck.) Unless otherwise specified, you may choose the card to shuffle into the deck.
Top Card refers to the card on top of an examination. This is typically the card most recently played, but cards like Bribery may add cards to an examination without playing them.
Value refers to the Value found in the upper left of Argument, Evidence, and Procedure cards. Many Examine effects might modify the Value of the card being played (i.e. +3 Value). As soon as one of these effects is removed from play or discarded, the relative Influence bonus is immediately subtracted from the affected player's current Influence.
Victory effects are resolved when a player wins a Witness. Only Victory effects on the Witness and on the top card of the winning player's examination are resolved.
Credits
Game Design and Development: Samuel W. Bailey and Mike Gnade
Illustrations: Sean Simmons / Vimes art (Base Decks), Vincent Christiaens (Art Forgery), Lacey James (Murder Trial)
Cover Illustration: Matt Zeilinger
Graphic Design: Joel Finch
Solo Mode Design: Don Riddle
Tech Editing: Andrea Dell'Agnese & Julia Faeta
Playtesters: Oliver Alexander-Adams, Audrey Bailey, Alexander Bruner, Samuel Bryant, David Gerrard, Tyler Kendig, Jared Keller, Spencer Klevgaard, Lukas Litzsinger, Gwen Ruelle, Yuri Danger Tolpin, G Kelly Toyama, Todd Walsh, Ryan Ward.
Honorary Producers: Matt "Judge, Jury, And Ak-secutioner" Andrysiak, Shannon Claire Bailey, Kristian Carlson, Wes Fielding, Randal Lloyd, Justin Mitchell, Patrick Olmstead Law LLC, Kevin S. Santos, Sr., Steve Trawley