Poisons
Poisons Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 8 sets of 15 cards, one set per player colour, each set made of:
- 6 plain drinks;
- 1 poison drink;
- 3 special drinks;
- 1 character card;
- 4 scoring cards, worth 2, 3, 4 and 5.
- 12 special cards (used with the advanced rules).
- 66 scoring tokens, worth 1, 2 and 5.
Set-Up
Each player chooses their colour and takes:
- their 4 scoring cards;
- their character card;
- as many plain drinks as there are players, minus two; and
- their poison drink.
Each player shuffles their four scoring cards, then places them in a pile face down on their left. Each player puts their character card in front of them on the table and takes their poison and plain drink cards in hand. Scoring tokens are placed in the centre of the table.
Example with 5 players: each player takes 3 plain drinks (5 players minus two) and the poison drink.
Note: During the game, players who score points take the corresponding scoring tokens. Players' scores must always be visible.
Game Rounds
The game is played in four rounds, with each as follows:
1) Filling Goblets
- Each player flips over the top card in their scoring pile, showing its value.
- Each player takes their drink cards in hand.
- Each player slides their character card to the player on their left.
- Each player then chooses a drink card to pour into the character's goblet by slipping it face down under the character card without looking at the other cards there.
- Players then slide the characters (and cards underneath) to the left, and so on until all players are out of drink cards and have their own characters back.
Tip: It is important for game flow that the drafting and passing be done simultaneously. A good way to do this is to have one player call out when characters are to be slid to the left.
2) Drinking Goblets
All players simultaneously count down from 3, then hold out their fists, thumbs up or down. Thumb up means they drink; thumb down means they do not.
All players who played thumbs down score 1 point.
All players who played thumbs up reveal all the cards in their goblet in any order. If there are no poison cards, they score the number of points on their scoring card. If there are one or more poison cards, they do not score any points.
Then the players discard their scoring cards and take their drink cards back for the next round.
Game End and Scoring: The game ends after four rounds. The player with the highest total score wins. Tie breakers are the fourth round score, then the third round score.
Advanced Rules
The first round is played with only poison and plain drinks; the special drink cards are used in the following rounds.
Shuffle the round 2, 3 and 4 special cards separately and draw one of each. Put these cards in the centre of the table face down, with the 4 card on the bottom, the 3 card in the middle and the 2 card on top.
At the start of round 2, each player uses a special drink 2 card instead of one of their plain cards. Reveal the top card (the round 2 card) in the central pile. This is the effect that all special drink 2 cards have in the round.
Similarly, players replace their special drink 2 card with a special drink 3 card in round three, then with a special drink 4 card in round four.
Players who want things to become really wild can even use two special drink cards from different piles in the same round, but this can lead to complex interactions.
Special Card Effects 2 (Round Two)
- Spoil: Any player who drinks a non-poisoned goblet loses 1 point for every Spoil card in their goblet. A player's total score can't go below zero.
- Half Poison: A half poison card counts as half a poison. One is not enough to poison a character, but two half poisons will.
- Antidote: Two antidotes cancel the effect of one and only one poison in a player's goblet. A single antidote has no effect.
- Love Potion: If two players put love potions in each other's goblets and both drink their goblets, they score 2 extra points each, even if poisoned. Players who are a couple in real life cannot play their love cards on each other.
Special Card Effects 3 (Round Three)
- More Drinks For Me: If a player doesn't drink, all players who gave them a More drinks for me card score 2 points.
- Cordial: The player with the most Cordial cards in their goblet scores 3 points if they drink it. No one scores if there is a tie.
- Safe Bet: If there is no poison in a goblet, all players who put a Safe Bet card in that goblet score 2 points whether or not the player drinks it.
- Shot of Spirits: Any player who drinks a non-poisoned goblet with only 1 Shot of Spirits in it scores 3 points. More than 1 Shots of Spirits in the same goblet will cancel each other out and have no effect.
Special Card Effects 4 (Round Four)
- Shot of Liqueur: Players who drink a non-poisoned goblet score 1 extra point for every Shot of Liqueur in it.
- Sip: Owners of each Sip card add the points scored by the player in whose goblet they put it to their score. For example, A played a Sip card in B's goblet, so A adds all the points scored by B for drinking in this round (or 1 point if B doesn't drink) to their score.
- Poison Bet: Owners of Poison Bet cards score 1 point for every poison in the same goblet as their card whether or not a player drinks it.
- Double: Players drinking non-poisoned goblets double the value of their scoring cards. They triple it if there are two double cards, etc.
3 Player Game
Although Poisons is better experienced with more players, you can follow the 3 player rules below in order to enjoy the game in a 3 poison way.
The main difference is that in a 3 player game, each player will control two different goblets, one in their main colour and one extra. So before starting, each player picks an extra colour.
Set-Up
Follow the normal set-up (see Set-Up) but each player also takes the 4 scoring cards and the character of the extra colour they picked.
Players now shuffle each set of their scoring cards differently and place them as follows:
- One pile of 4 scoring cards on their left, face down, and beside them the character card of the same colour.
- On their right side, the other pile of 4 scoring cards, face down, with the character of the extra colour.
Finally, each player takes 3 plain drink cards and the poison card of their main colour only.
Rules Changes
Most of the rules remain the same with the following changes:
- In the 'filling goblets' phase, each player flips the top scoring card of both their main and extra goblet.
- Players do not rotate their characters and they simply assign their drink cards below the 4 enemy characters.
- In the 'drinking goblets' phase, players use both of their hands simultaneously to indicate if they drink or not from each of their 2 goblets. Players score points for their two goblets (Example: if a player decides not to drink from their left goblet and to drink from their right goblet, they score 1 point for their left goblet and score or not their right goblet depending on whether it is poisoned.).
Note: 3 player game can also be played with the advanced rules.