Processing: A Game of Serving Humanity Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• In the Box
  • Card Anatomy
• Goal
  • Agenda Scoring
• Intro Game Set Up
  • Pass Out Agenda Cards
  • Pass Out the Voting Tokens
• Play Area Set Up
  • Take Your Position
  • Pick an Overseer
• Intro Game
  • Voting Phase
  • Tally
  • Scoring Phase
  • Examples
  • Scoring Example
• Game End
• Full Game
  • The Alien Agenda Draft
  • The Vote Doubler
  • Passive Aggressive Points

In the Box

• 21 Agenda Cards
• 27 Lot Cards
• 3 Fate Cards
• 1 VP track
• 6 Player Cards with two matching tokens
• 78 Voting Tokens
• 1 Mad CAO track

Card Anatomy

A Lot Card shows a Hipster Icon and/or Cow Icon, Voting Spaces, and Flavor Text. An Agenda Card shows Victory Points, Fate, Mad CAO and the CAO Race. Hipster Icons and Cow Icons have different expressions, but all expressions are treated equally.

Goal

The goal of Processing is to earn your survival in the new regime. You accomplish this by earning the most Victory Points while avoiding the most Mad CAO Points.

Control the conveyor belt with votes. Move hipsters or cows to destinations matching your personal Agenda Cards and score Victory Points. Prevent hipsters or cows from moving to destinations that will infuriate your alien bosses.

If you have the most Mad CAO points at the end of the game you automatically lose.

Agenda Scoring

Example of scoring the Classy Grey: 5 VP for Probed Hipsters, 4 VP for Processed Cows, 2 VP for Freed Cows.

Intro Game Set Up

Use this set up for your first game.

The CAO is not a single alien race, but rather a group of alien races who decided to confederate for the purpose of galactic conquest. Though they agree that all planets should be incorporated, they disagree what should happen to the conquered.

Pass Out Agenda Cards

In the intro game, cards with a "5" will not be used. Return them to the box.

3 or 4 - Player Intro Game: Return the Agenda Cards with a "6" in the upper right corner to the box. Keeping the Agenda Cards secret, randomly pass out the remainder to players. In a 3-player game, each player receives four Agenda Cards. In a 4-player game, each player receives three Agenda Cards.

5 or 6 - Player Intro Game: Secretly and randomly give each player one Agenda Card with a "6" in the upper right corner. Pass out two of the remaining twelve Agenda Cards to each player.

Pass Out the Voting Tokens

Pass out 3 PROCESS Voting Tokens, 3 PROBE Voting Tokens, and 3 FREE Voting Tokens to each player. Place remaining Voting Tokens in the Supply Area.

Play Area Set Up

• (A) Place the three Fate cards in a row at the top of the play area.
• (B) Draw three Lot cards and place them faceup in a vertical line below the Fate cards. This is the conveyor belt.
• (C) Place the scoring tracks alongside of the Lot cards.

The play area also includes a Tally Area (above the Fate Cards) and a Voting Token Supply Area.

Take Your Position

Place the player tokens at the start of each track.

Pick an Overseer

The player who aided in the most galactic conquest becomes the Overseer. Otherwise, the person who won the last game becomes Overseer. Once chosen, place the Lot Card deck in front of them.

Survival Tip: Be enthusiastic about your votes! If you're vocal about "meaty" hipsters, you'll find common ground with others.

Intro Game

A game has three rounds. Each round has a VOTING PHASE and a SCORING PHASE.

Voting Phase

The Overseer starts the Voting Phase. Before every vote by the Overseer, flip an additional Lot Card and place it at the end of the Conveyor Belt (the end furthest from the Fate Cards).

To Vote, place a Vote Token in an empty space on any Lot Card on the Conveyor Belt. If a vote fills the last empty space on a Lot Card, TALLY the card before the next player votes. (Some voting spaces on a Lot Card may be pre-filled: these are predetermined votes.)

Play moves around the table. Each player votes once on their turn. The Voting Phase ends after each player has voted six times.

Always flip an additional Lot Card before each of the Overseer's turns. If a sixth Lot Card is added to the end of the Conveyor Belt then, before the Overseer votes, Tally the Lot Card at the front of the Conveyor Belt, even if it still has empty spaces.

Tally

Tally a Lot Card when all spaces are filled after a player's vote, or when the Conveyor Belt requires it.

To Tally a Lot Card, determine which outcome is in the majority and move the Lot Card above that Fate. Return the Vote Tokens from the tallied Lot Card to the Supply Area.

If there is a tie for the majority, the Lot Card does not move to a Fate. Instead, return the Lot Card to the bottom of the Lot Card deck FACE UP.

After a Tally, check the Conveyor Belt. If fewer than three Lot Cards remain, the Overseer flips another Lot Card and adds it to the end before the game proceeds to the next vote or phase. The Overseer must still add another Lot Card before their own vote.

Survival Tip: Votes are a limited resource. You'll probably need help. Enlisting others and making deals improves your odds of survival.

Scoring Phase

Perform the following steps each Scoring Phase:

• Tally Down to 3 Lots

• Pick an Agenda

• Get VP

• Remove Scored Lots

• Replenish Tokens

• Tally Down to 3 Lots: If there are more than three Lot Cards on the Conveyor Belt at the beginning of a scoring phase, Tally the Lot Card at the front of the line even if it has empty voting spaces. Repeat until there are three Lot Cards left on the Conveyor Belt.

• Pick an Agenda: Each player simultaneously and secretly chooses an Agenda Card to score this round. Place one Agenda Card FACE DOWN on top of your Player Card.

• Get VP: Score a Victory Point on the VP Track for each cow or hipster matching a fate on your chosen Agenda Card with a Victory Point symbol. Score a Mad CAO point on the Mad CAO track for every cow or hipster matching a fate on your Agenda Card with a Mad CAO symbol. Discard your scored Agenda Card. Agenda Cards can only be scored once in a game. See the scoring example on page 4.

• Determine Overseer: After Get VP, the job of Overseer transfers to the player who scored the most points this round. In case of a tie, the player with the most Mad CAO points becomes Overseer. If there is still a tie, the job moves to the tied player closest to the Overseer in turn order.

• Remove Scored Lots: Clear all scored Lot Cards from the Tally Area above the Fate Cards. Set them aside.

Fact: The Fabuluxians are glamorous vegetarians who like to probe Hipsters. Feel free to celebrate the alien overlords. (Except the Space Clowns, no one likes them.)

Examples

Example 1: Voting. Detainee 1138 must vote. Any of the empty spaces on any of the Lot Cards are open to them. Detainee 1138 chooses to put a Probe Token on the first Lot Card. Though they will pick only one of their Agenda Cards to score during the Scoring Phase, this vote can score VP on two of their Agenda Cards, giving them more flexibility as the round develops.

Example 2: Tally. Detainee 1138 chose to place their token on the second Lot Card, filling the last empty space. This Lot Card is now tallied; it has a majority of Probe tokens, so the tokens are cleared and returned to the Supply Area and the card is placed above the Probe Fate Card.

Example 3: Tally Tie. Freeing hipsters does not help Detainee 1138 please his alien overlords. They decide to ruin it for others. A Probe Vote Token on the card ties the vote and begins a Tally on the troublesome card. The tie sends the Lot Card to the bottom of the deck.

Scoring Example

Example: Pick an Agenda. Detainee 1138 has a hard choice: they can choose to score the Classy Greys for 9 VP but will also earn 2 Mad CAO points, or they can play it safe and score the Minotaurans for a mere 4 VP but avoid any Mad CAO points.

Game End

The game ends after the third Scoring Phase.

The player with the most Mad CAO Points is immediately sent to Processing! Of the remaining players, the player with the most VP is the winner and earns their place in the new Alien-topia. The player with the second highest VP is sent to be Probed "for science". Everyone else is meat.

Congratulations, involuntary worker! As a human/bovine you should be commended on your continuance! The full game awaits. To give new involuntary workers the best experience and greatest chance at success, it is worth the time to play a quick intro game. Signed, The Management

Full Game

The Full Game of Processing includes these additions to the Intro Game:

• The Alien Agenda Draft
• The Vote Doubler
• Passive Aggressive Points

The Alien Agenda Draft

Setup is different from the Intro Game to accommodate The Alien Agenda Draft.

3, 4 or 5 - Player Game: Return the Agenda Cards with a "6" in the upper right corner to the box. Pass out three Agenda Cards to each player in a 4 or 5-player game. Pass out four Agenda Cards to each player in a 3-player game. Keep any unused Agenda cards secret and return them to the box.

Simultaneously, all players make a very suspicious face and look at their own Agenda Cards. Choose one to pass to the left, and one to pass to the right.

Keep your chosen Agenda Card FACE DOWN and UNDERNEATH your Player Card. Place the Agenda Cards going to your neighbors FACE DOWN and on TOP of their Player Card.

6 - Player Game: Set aside the Agenda Cards with a "6". Pass out two Agenda Cards to each player and return the remaining three cards to the box without revealing them.

Choose an Agenda Card to keep. Pass the other Agenda Card to the left. When all players have finished, pass out one Agenda Card marked with a "6" to each player to keep.

Variant: I Like Mini Races! Agenda Cards marked with a "6": In a 4 or 5-player game, you can pass out one "6" card to each player after the Alien Agenda Draft. Alternatively, in a 5-player game, you can follow the rules for a 6-player game returning unused "6" Agenda cards to the box, unseen.

The Vote Doubler

When passing out voting tokens during game setup, also pass out one Vote Doubler Token (marked "2") to each player.

Once per game, you may use the Vote Doubler Token with a regular Vote Token to occupy two vote spaces (worth two of that vote) on a Lot Card. If you do not use your Vote Doubler Token, it is worth an extra 2 VP during the last Scoring Phase.

Important: You can not use the vote doubler on a Lot Card if there are not two empty spaces available on that card.

Passive Aggressive Points

It's hard to keep a good human down. In the Full Game, you may get points for making the CAO angry!

At the end of the game, send the player with the most Mad CAO points to processing. They are the losingest loser. However, as a reward for showing plucky human spirit, all remaining players convert Mad CAO points to VP points.

Example: Final Full Game scoring

• Orange would lose automatically
• Green would gain 8 VPs
• Blue would gain 4 VPs
• Purple would gain 2 VPs