Management Material: Information Technology Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Card Types
  • Projects
  • Excuses
  • Recognition
  • Events
• Game Play
  • Setup
  • Turn Sequence
  • Bits and Pieces
• F.A.Q.
  • How many times can a project card get passed around a table?
  • Can you use more than one Excuse to get out of a Project?
  • I have Excused myself for more points than the Project requires, can I bank my Excuse points for the next project that comes?
  • Do recognition cards get passed with the project card?
  • What Makes Management Material fun?

The Card Types

Projects

These are the horrific tasks that Management has cleverly devised in order to test the employees, and determine who is worthy of joining their dark ranks.

The Point Value, located in the lower left hand corner, shows how challenging Management believes this project to be. Collecting 30 of these points shows that you are worthy of being Management Material. In other words you lose.

Excuses

These are the only bastion of sanity standing between you and the abyss known as Management. You will try every sorry story, pathetic claim, and lame excuse to avoid the watchful stare of Management. Sound familiar yet?

The Point Value, located in the lower left hand corner, determines the effectiveness of your plea for mercy. If the total point value of your excuses is equal to or greater than the Project Point Value, then you will be spared for now.

Recognition

Even when you are trying your best to avoid work, your boss always manages to praise you at the wrong time. Recognition cards are used against opponents to make it more difficult for them to excuse themselves from a project.

The Point Value located in the lower left hand corner is the level of praise that the boss has so graciously imparted onto you. The Recognition Point Value is added to the Point Value of the Project, making it more difficult.

Events

These are the cosmic forces that randomly wreak havoc throughout the corporate world. Things such as Mergers…Stock Splits…Legendary office parties, all have unpredictable effects on the work place.

If one of these cards is drawn, quietly lay it down, read the card and follow its instructions. Try to keep weeping to a minimum.

Game Play

Setup

Separate the cards into two piles.

1. The Assignment pile, consisting of the Project and the Event cards.
2. The Resource pile, consisting of the Excuse and the Recognition cards.

Shuffle each deck and deal out 5 Resource cards to each player.

Decide which player starts by Rock/Paper/Scissors, long division contests, dice throwing, mud wrestling, or whatever works best for you. The winner gains initial control over the Turn Marker, making them special.

Turn Sequence

1. Take control of the turn marker to let everyone know it's your turn and you're more special than they are.
2. Draw 2 cards from the Resource Pile. There is no limit to your hand size. If you are able to hoard Excuses, more power to you.
3. Turn over a card from the Assignment Pile.
   • If it is a Project, weep internally, and then try to excuse yourself out of it. This is done by playing one or more Excuse cards so that their total point value either equals or exceeds the Project point value.
     • If you cannot excuse yourself from the Project, smile, take your lumps, and accept the Project. Remember, it takes 30 points to be Management Material.
     • If you are able to excuse yourself from the Project, it passes to the next person, as no project will go undone. You are not required to excuse yourself out of a project. If you just want to add it to your resume as completed simply take it and the turn marker passes on to the next player.
   • At any time someone is trying to excuse him/her out of a project, Recognition cards may be played to make it more difficult for him/her to get out of work. The Recognition Point Value is temporarily added to the Project Point Value.
   • After you have attempted to excuse yourself from a project, and nobody has played a Recognition card within a few seconds, the Project passes to the next player. All Excuse cards and Recognition cards are put in the discard pile.
   • If the card turned over is an Event, read the card and follow the instructions. Once completed, draw another Assignment card.

Once the Project is completed it goes on your resume and sits in front of you counting in your point pool. The Turn Marker is then passed on, and the next person begins a new round.

If the completed project puts your point pool at 30 or more, you are out of the game. Play continues until only one cunning weasel has managed to avoid the dark attention of Management.

Bits and Pieces

Two to five people can play with one deck. In a four or five person game, it is standard for an individual to be "Promoted" to Management after they accomplish 30 points worth of Projects. However, in games with less than 4 people, this number may need to be modified. Pick an arbitrary number that works for you and then try to force your friends to that number before you.

If you have more than 5 players, it is recommended that 2 decks be combined. If two decks are combined, it is suggested that a "no duplicates" rule is instituted, since there is no way that Management will accept the same excuse twice on one Project. If the Project happens to make it's way completely around back to you, then you may play the duplicate excuse. After all, you could still have the same issue that you did the first time you got out of the Project.

In any game, if either draw pile is depleted before someone wins, either (a) reshuffle the discards to form new draw piles, or (b) declare the player with the fewest Project Points the winner.

F.A.Q.

How many times can a project card get passed around a table?

The answer is actually…"A Whole Bunch". Once a Project hits the table and is played it will go around the table until someone completes it. Because let's face it…in the real world…Projects never just go away. They just shuffle around until some poor soul is unfortunate enough to have to complete it. With this in mind, in our own games we've seen Projects go around the table three, almost four times. It doesn't matter that you've already Excused yourself out of that specific Project twice before…so has everyone else. So it just keep going and going until someone is either unable to pass it on, or they just decide it's not worth using so many Excuses to do so anymore. When the Project is finally accepted by someone, the turn ends, the marker moves to the next player and it starts all over again.

Can you use more than one Excuse to get out of a Project?

The answer is simply…Yes, you can. In fact not only are you able to play multiple Excuses in order to get out of a particular project…most of the time you will have no choice BUT to use more than one. If you happen to be the lucky player with a hand full of low point Excuses, you most likely will find yourself stringing your small Excuses together in a wild story of doom and gloom of why you couldn't possibly do that particular Project. Even if you have to burn most of your hand in order to get out of a particular Project, sometimes it worth it to keep your point total low. When the turn marker comes back around you'll start to build your hand up again, and you never know, perhaps fate will smile fondly upon you and just give you a small Project to cope with next time.

I have Excused myself for more points than the Project requires, can I bank my Excuse points for the next project that comes?

Unfortunately not, but we're sure it looked impressive to overkill with the perfect Excuse for the Project at hand. Some people like to play where they deliberately use higher Excuses than are really needed in order to deter Recognition cards being slid their way. However, others find it more useful to play Excuses that only add up to the Project total and then play it by ear for any sneaky Recognition that might slide in. Regardless of the preference, when that Project is passed off to the next player, all points attached to it, be that Excuses or Recognition, are sent to the discard pile.

Do recognition cards get passed with the project card?

No, fear not, you will never have to worry about a Project growing to the point where there just aren't enough Excuses to get out of it. Whenever someone manages to weasel out of a Project and pass it on to their new found friend next to them, all of the Recognition and Excuse cards played get tossed into the discard pile.

What Makes Management Material fun?

Believe it or not, what makes Management Material the fun game that is the telling of the stories of why they can't possibly be bothered to do that horrible project they have been tasked with. Anyone can lay down cards, add up the points but the true master of the game is the one that can tie their many excuses together in a story weave that would make their mother's proud. So go on, tell your stories, weave your tales and make sure that you aren't the first one to fall into the dreaded grip of Management.

The publisher's artist-credit passage at the end of its rules page is omitted as credits.