Millions of Dollars
Millions of Dollars Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 8 sets of Character cards
- 8 sets of Role cards
- 10 Loot cards
- 50 x $1M bills and 25 x $5M bills
- 1 Leader card
- 8 Intimidation cards
- 8 Game Aid cards
Goal of the Game
Reach $20M after a successful heist OR be the richest player when the game ends at the end of round 8.
Game Set-up
- Each player chooses a gang and takes:
- 3 to 5 Character cards from the chosen gang and the corresponding Role cards, depending on number of players.
- 5 $1M bills
- 1 Game Aid card
- Any unused Character and Role cards are removed from the game.
- All the remaining bills are placed in a stack on the side to form a Reserve of cash.
- Randomly choose 8 Loot cards, shuffle them and place them face down in a pile next to the Reserve of cash. The unused Loot cards are removed from the game.
- Place the Intimidation cards on the side of the play area.
- The Leader card is given to the player who last watched a heist movie.
Number of Character cards taken by player count:
| Role | Player count |
|---|---|
| Driver, Brute, Crook | 4 to 8 players |
| Snitch | 5 to 8 players |
| Mastermind | 7 or 8 players |
For 3 players, see the 3-Player Game section.
Playing the Game
Players will play one round after the other. Each round consists of 4 phases:
- Planning - Draw a Loot card and all players secretly choose a Role.
- Negotiation - Players negotiate to stay or leave.
- The Heist - Players who stayed reveal their Role, some may be eliminated.
- Sharing the Loot - Any players still in the game win millions of dollars!
1) Planning
A) Draw a Loot card and place it face up in the middle of the table.
Each Loot card indicates:
- The amount of money that players will get to share (from $8M to $12M).
- The ante each player must put down to participate in the heist ($1M or $2M).
- Sometimes, the symbol of a specific Role which will make more money if successfully involved in this heist.
B) Then, each player chooses one of his Character cards and places it face-down in front of him.
He then places his ante on top of his card ($1M or $2M, depending on the amount indicated on the Loot card). If a player does not have enough money to pay for his ante, that amount is taken from the Reserve of cash.
C) Each player then takes the matching Role card and places it face-down in the center of the play area.
All the players' Role cards are shuffled together. One of them is set aside and placed face down; the others are turned face up and placed in the middle of the table.
2) Negotiation
During this phase, players have the chance to leave by withdrawing their Character card.
Players can talk about their Role (telling the truth, bluffing or shamelessly lying!), call for others to leave, negotiate their departure for some money or just give-up and leave on their own. Any money offered to another player needs to be given before his Character card is taken back. Once a deal has been struck or a decision made, a player cannot change his/her mind.
A player who leaves:
- gets the ante money he put down back.
- cannot talk and keeps his/her Role secret until the end of the round.
The Leader Card
The Leader Card grants enhanced authority in the discussion. If players have trouble getting involved, any initiative leading to heated negotiations, insidious lies and underhand deals is welcome, he can for instance:
- go around the table asking for each other's Role (players being in no way compelled to tell the truth).
- call for a quick decision if players take too long to find an agreement.
Once players have settled to decide who leaves and stays, the Heist can start.
3) The Heist
Players who left during the Negotiation phase are not concerned by the Heist phase. The others will now reveal their Character cards in the following order:
1. Players whose choice was "Snitch" go first, if there are:
- Two or more: they are all eliminated, lose their ante which goes back to the Reserve.
- Only one: The player takes back the ante money he/she put down. The player names a character type among the visible Role cards. Players who chose that Role are eliminated. For maximum suspense, they will reveal themselves last (regardless of the following order) so players will not know who's in and who's out until the very end of the phase.
Example: Being the only Snitch, Al is not eliminated, takes his ante back and has to take out a Role amongst the revealed cards (only Driver or Crook, here). He chooses the Drivers. Eliminated Drivers reveal themselves after all other Roles. Here, no one does, as all Drivers had already left during the Negotiation…
2. Players whose choice was "Brute" are next, if there are:
- Two or more: they are all eliminated. They take back the money they put down. (Brutes are the only ones to get their ante money back no matter what.)
- Only one: The player takes back the ante money he/she put down. He/she earns an Intimidation card. At any time during a future round, this player can spend the Intimidation card to look at the Character card of a player. The Intimidation card is then discarded. A player can have multiple Intimidation cards.
3. Players whose choice was "Driver" are next, if there are:
- Two or more: they are all eliminated, lose their ante which goes back to the Reserve.
- Only one: The player takes back the ante money he/she put down.
4. Players whose choice was "Crook" are next, if there are:
- Two or more: they are all eliminated, lose their ante which goes back to the Reserve.
- Only one: The player takes back the ante money he/she put down.
5. Players whose choice was "Mastermind" are next, if there are:
- Two or more: they are all eliminated, lose their ante which goes back to the Reserve.
- Only one: The player takes back the ante money he/she put down.
Now, players with the Role chosen by the Snitch (if any) reveal themselves, lose their ante (except Brutes who take it back) and are eliminated. If at this point, a Snitch is left alone in play, he/she immediately loses $3M and is eliminated. Skip the Sharing the Loot phase.
4) Sharing the Loot
Players remaining are now sharing the hard-earned Loot:
- If there is a Mastermind left amongst participating players, add $2M to the amount indicated on the Loot card.
- The total amount is taken from the Reserve and divided equally by the number of remaining players, rounded down. There may be a remaining undistributed balance, which goes back to the Reserve.
- Each player who received a share of the Loot immediately pays $1M to the Driver (if any).
- The Crook steals $2M from the Brute (if any).
- A player with the Role matching the symbol on the Loot Card gets $1M extra (taken from the cash Reserve). Ignore that if the card has no symbols or if the corresponding Role is not in play.
Example: After a breakneck heist, three robbers share the loot from the First Bank. Thanks to the Mastermind, they have $10M to split. Each receives $3M ($1M is left undistributed). The Crook then steals $2M from the half-witted Brute, which then receives $1M from the Reserve as the Brute symbol is indicated on the Loot card.
End of Round and Victory Conditions
All players take their Character and Role cards back.
The Leader card is given to the next player clockwise.
The Loot Card is discarded.
Another round starts unless:
- A player reaches $20M after receiving a share of the loot, thus winning the game. If more than one player reach that amount, the richest wins.
- Or there are no cards in the Loot Card pile (at the end of round 8). The richest robber wins the game.
If robbers end up equally rich, they share (reluctantly, of course...) the victory. It will take more double-crossing next time to be the one and only kingpin of crime!
3-Player Game
Players choose one gang and take all 5 Character and Role cards.
In the Planning phase, each player places 2 Characters face-down instead of one, puts an ante on each of them and places the 2 matching Role cards in the center of the table. All Roles but one are then revealed as usual.
During the Negotiation, both of the player's Characters are considered individually. Therefore, a player can take out one, both or none during the Negotiation. As usual, the ante of any Characters leaving is returned to the player.
The Heist phase happens as usual.
In the next phase, the Loot is divided equally by the number of Characters remaining, i.e. a player with both Characters remaining gets two shares of the booty. Likewise, the Driver gets paid for each Character.
Note that you can end up paying your own Driver or stealing from your own Brute with a Crook, with no effect on your overall wealth.
Optional Rule - "Won't Get Fooled Again"
With this variant (best suited for 4-8 players), robbers cannot pick the same Role two rounds in a row, allowing the most cunning players to predict their opponent's moves more accurately. During each Planning phase, each Player takes the Role card they had chosen in the previous round and places it in front of him/her for all the others to see. He/she then chooses a Role for the round amongst the remaining cards.