Speakeasy (2015) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Materials
• Moderator Guide
  • How to Be a Good Moderator
  • Explaining Speakeasy to New Players
• Game Setup
• During Game Play
• Role Guide
• Variations
• Rules
  • Types of Cards
• Other Rules
• Final Scoring
• Card Text and Special Rules for Roles and Powers
  • Fed and Mob Roles
  • Power Cards
  • Password Cards
  • Rat Cards
  • Whiskey Shipment

Overview

Speakeasy is a game of creative deception, hidden identities, and friendly social manipulation. To start, one player volunteers to be the Moderator and gives everyone a secret role on one of two teams: the Mob or the Feds. The fog of war is thick in the beginning, as players' first task is to use their secret passwords to identify whom to trust. As the game goes on, players continue to identify and organize their teammates, discover enemy secrets, sow misinformation, infiltrate the opposition, and score points—all while watching their backs.

The game ends after one hour, and the team that has accrued the most points wins.

Materials

• 40 Role Cards
• 40 Power Cards
• 75 Two-sided Password Cards
• 40 Blank Password Cards for customization
• 96 Point Cards
• 4 Rat Cards
• 1 Whiskey Shipment Card
• Instruction Booklet
• Information Sheets*

*More can be printed at TheGameHasChanged.net/Speakeasy

Moderator Guide

The Moderator is a vital role in any game of Speakeasy. As the Moderator, you hold all of the insider knowledge. You set up the game, teach new players the rules, answer questions, interact with certain roles throughout the game, and facilitate scoring. You also get to sit back and watch your friends plot, scheme, and stab each other in the back... all in a day's work in this town.

How to Be a Good Moderator

Keep the rule book near you and be ready to help players with questions throughout the game.

1. Read all the rules carefully before setting up the game.
2. When interacting with players, be discreet. If necessary, have the conversation in another room away from the other players.
3. When not interacting with players, stay where you can be easily found.
4. Keep extra Point Cards, Password Cards, and your master Information Sheet with you at all times.
5. Keep an eye out for players who need help. If someone looks confused, ask to see their role and give them one concrete task they should do next.

Explaining Speakeasy to New Players

Set out the cards according to the game setup instructions below. Then gather the players and explain the following topics:

1. The overview of the game.
2. The name and function of each type of card.
3. The winning conditions.
4. The rules in the "Other Rules" section below.

Game Setup

Example: the printed setup diagram, "Setup for a Team of Ten," lists player numbers 1–10 against rows for Role Cards, Password Cards and Point Cards, plus a Rat Card.

1. Set out one Role Card of your choice for each player, dividing the group evenly into two teams: the Mob and Feds. Take note of which player will get which role on an Information Sheet. You will use this master Information Sheet for reference throughout the game.

   • Paired Roles: Every role has a foil on the other team. When dealing roles, use the Role Guide below to ensure that if one role is given to a player, its pair is given to another player.
   • For an odd number of players: Give one team an extra player with a role of your choice. Take one Point Card from another player on the odd player's team and give it to the odd player so that both teams start out with an equal number of points. You can also assign the odd player the role of the Femme Fatale instead.
   • When playing with the Bootlegger and Temperance Crusader: Deal the Bootlegger the Whiskey Shipment card.

2. Place two Point Cards per player on top of each Role Card.

   • Exception: The Femme Fatale does not start out with Point Cards.
   • Exception: The Backer and Evil Backer start out with four Point Cards each.

3. Distribute passwords. Select which side of the two-sided Password Cards you are using: white or blue. Each player receives one password of several assigned to the team.

   • Select 2 passwords per team for teams of 5–7 players.
   • Select 3 for teams of 8–10 players.
   • Select 4 for teams of 11–13 players.
   • Select 5 for teams of 14–16 players.

During Game Play

Have your master Information Sheet, extra Point Cards, and copies of in-play passwords at the ready to interact with the following roles:

• All players: Each player can purchase one Power Card per game for one Point Card each.
• Senator/Corrupt Politician: Can learn the passwords of two players of their choice.
• Internal Affairs/Interrogator: Are able to name two players to the Moderator to find out if they are a Rat or not.
• Informant/Speakeasy Owner: Can make one guess as to the identity of the other team's Boss or Federal Marshal respectively, or guess all the other team's passwords. Give them two Point Cards for each correct guess.
• Undercover Cop/Con Artist: Receive one of the other team's Password Cards.
• Dispatcher/Lookout: Are able to learn the identities of two roles of their choice.
• Special Agent X/Falconer: Can guess who has the target role you give them and receive a new target role if they are correct (up to three roles per game).

Role Guide

Each role has a corresponding role on the other team. If you include one, include the other as well.

Mob	Feds
Boss	Federal Marshal
Consigliere	Untouchable
Corrupt Politician	Senator
Interrogator	Internal Affairs
Thief	Vigilante
Hitman	Enforcer
Bootlegger	Temperance Crusader
Falconer	Special Agent X
Speakeasy Owner	Informant
Mob's Lawyer	District Attorney
Lookout	Dispatcher
Con Artist	Undercover Cop

Femme Fatale (no team affiliation)

Variations

Playing with a different mix of roles can bring variation into the game. Here are some suggestions for roles that create different types of games:

• Roles that increase deception: Undercover Cop/Con Artist, Informant/Speakeasy Owner, Femme Fatale, Vigilante/Thief, Enforcer/Hitman.
• Roles that increase the potential for action: Enforcer/Hitman, Vigilante/Thief, Special Agent X/Falconer, Temperance Crusader/Bootlegger, Backer/Evil Backer.
• Roles that increase player knowledge: Federal Marshal/Boss, Internal Affairs/Interrogator, Senator/Corrupt Politician, Informant/Speakeasy Owner, Dispatcher/Lookout.

Rules

Types of Cards

Role Cards: The Role Cards divide the group into two teams: the Mob and Feds. Each Role Card lists a special ability that determines that role's utility to the team.

• Using special abilities: When using your special ability on another player, show that player the portion of your Role Card that explains your special ability. Alternatively, you can elect not to use your ability in order to keep your role hidden.

Password Cards: Use these passwords to discreetly find your allies. Casually drop your password into conversation to see who shares it—if they do, they're on your team. Every team has approximately one password per three players, so your password will be shared by several, but not all, teammates. Each Password Card has two words on it. The Moderator will tell you which side of the Password Card the group is using this game: white or blue.

Power Cards: Power Cards can be purchased at any time from the Moderator for one Point Card each. A player may only purchase one Power Card per game. Power Cards cannot be traded or refunded. If two players want to buy the same Power Card, the card goes to the first player to offer two Point Cards for it instead of one. Each Power Card tells you what it does and how to use it. When using your Power Card, let your opponent read the card. Some Power Cards require you to know information about the player you are using it on (usually their role or password). If you want to use one of those Power Cards on another player, confront them with the Power Card and make a guess as to their role or password. If you are correct, your opponent must do what the Power Card says.

• Incorrect Guess Penalty: If you are using a Power Card that requires you to know another player's role or password and you make an incorrect guess about that information as you use the Power Card, you must pay that player one Point Card. If you do not have any Point Cards, you must reveal all your cards to that player.
• Honor Code: If another player wants to use a Power Card on you and makes a guess about your role or password, you must answer truthfully. It is helpful to ask them to show you the Power Card they are using to establish that they are in fact using a Power Card and not simply asking a casual question about your role or password.

Point Card: Worth one point each, Point Cards are the currency of the game.

Rat Card: On each team lurks a Rat whose true loyalties lie with the opponent. If you get a Rat Card, you're actually playing for the other team, not the one listed on your Role Card—but don't reveal your identity until the Moderator tells you to, after the points are scored. If a team can correctly identify the Rat in their midst, they earn 10 bonus points.

Information Sheets: Take one Information Sheet when you pick up your cards at the start of the game.

Other Rules

• Only Point Cards can be exchanged freely during the game. Players cannot exchange any other type of card unless prompted to by a Power Card or forced to by another role's special ability.
• You are free to show your cards to anyone you want to at any time.
• Keep all of your cards together and on your person at all times—including the Rat Card.
• If another player has a Power Card that enables them to draw from your cards, let them draw from all of your cards.
• Speakeasy is a timed game that ends 60 minutes after all players have received their cards. No player actions, including interactions with the Moderator, are allowed after time is up.

Final Scoring

At the end of 60 minutes, the Moderator gathers all the players. It's time to reveal where their loyalties lie, so ask all players to divide according to the team listed on their Role Cards. The Rats should remain hidden, sticking with the team listed on their Role Card. Each team will turn in one Information Sheet to the Moderator for scoring. The sheet must contain the following:

• As many of the opposing team's passwords and roles as your team could discover during game play. (1 pt. each)
• The team's final number of Point Cards, written at the top of the Information Sheet. (1 pt. each)
• A guess as to the Rat's identity. Vote on who among you is the Rat, then write that person's name on the Information Sheet. (10 pts.)
• Special points: If you played with the Bootlegger and Temperance Crusader, the team who ends up with the Whiskey Shipment earns 5 bonus points.
• When playing with the Falconer or Special Agent X, each role those players successfully named to the Moderator (up to three roles) earns 2 bonus points per role correctly identified.

The team with the most points is the winner.

Card Text and Special Rules for Roles and Powers

Fed and Mob Roles

• Federal Marshal & Boss: You start the game with all your team's passwords.
  • Special Rules: The Federal Marshal and Boss are vulnerable to all of their passwords being used against them by another player using a Power Card, but if they are forced to show a Password Card, they only have to show one.
• Untouchable & Consigliere: You are immune to powers that require your password to be used.
  • Special Rules: The Untouchable and Consigliere are immune to Power Cards that make them show their password. Their immunity only extends to Power Cards that require knowing their password to be used, for example, the Blackmail or Snitch powers.
• Senator & Corrupt Politician: The Moderator will reveal to you the passwords of two players of your choosing.
• Internal Affairs & Interrogator: Name two players to the Moderator to find out if they are a Rat or not.
  • Special Rules: Neither Internal Affairs nor the Interrogator can ever be the Rat. The Moderator cannot reveal to you whose Rat they are, yours or the other team's.
• Vigilante & Thief: If another player uses a Power Card to make you reveal your role or password, you may take a Point Card from them.
• Enforcer & Hitman: You can choose one extra Power Card for free.
• Informant: Gain two Point Cards from the Moderator if you can: (1) Identify all the Mob's passwords or (2) Identify the Boss. You can gain up to four points in this way.

Power Cards

• Bribe: Look at another player's Role or Password Card (your choice). To use: give that player a Point Card.
• Quid Pro Quo: Look at another player's role. To use: show that player your password.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Look at another player's password. To use: show that player your role.
• Snitch: Force a player to identify all their known teammates. To use: know the password of that player.
• Eye for an Eye: If someone forces you to reveal your password or role, they must show you the same. To use: show them this card.
• Last Mistake: If anyone draws this card from your hand, they must show you their Role Card.
• Word on the Street: Name one player to the Moderator to find out if they are a Rat or not. To use: show this card to the Moderator.
  • Special Rules: You may only use this card once.
• Blackmail: Take all of another player's Point Cards. To use: know the role and password of that player.
• Wiretap: If another player voluntarily touches this card, they must reveal their Password Card. To use: show them this card after they have touched it.
  • Special Rules: You do not have to keep this card on your person. After purchasing it, no other player may use it as their own.

Password Cards

There are two passwords per Password Card. The Moderator will decide which side you will be using.

1. Liar—Drink
2. Hesitate—Discover
3. Find—Alone
4. Part—Play
5. Glass—Listen
6. Formal—Bang
7. Shake—Bust
8. Enjoy—Play
9. Cocktail—Stir
10. Box—Fish
11. Toast—Prove
12. Change—Cross
13. Style—Fox
14. Possible—Fake
15. Piece—Short

Rat Cards

You are the Rat! Your true team is the opposite of the one listed on your Role Card.

Whiskey Shipment

This card can only be taken from the Bootlegger by the Temperance Crusader. The Bootlegger must keep it with his or her other cards at all times. Whoever has it at the end of the game receives a point bonus.

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Transcriber's note: the booklet's "Game Play Synopsis" (a narrative example of play) and its credits (Informant Campaign backers, Special Thanks, and the About/design credits) are not transcribed. The printed phrase "inthe Mob" in the Special Agent X card text is read as "in the Mob."