The Worst-Case Scenario Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How to Win
• Notes on Play
• Components
• What Is the Victim Wheel?
• Set-Up
• How to Play
• Chip Scoring Examples

How to Win

In a 3, 4 or 6-player game, the player with the most points after 12 rounds wins the game. In a 5-player game, the player with the most points after 10 rounds wins the game. If there is a tie at the end, continue play until the tie is broken and a winner is declared. For a quicker game, all players can simply have one less round playing The Victim.

Notes on Play

• The Victim changes every round, and every player has an equal number of rounds playing The Victim.
• Always rank the cards secretly based on how you think The Victim will rank the cards. Also, don't always play your #1 or #5 chip down first. That makes it obvious which card you're ranking "bad" and which card you're ranking "the worst".
• This game is designed to start funny and memorable "would you rather" style discussions, where the winner can be decided on the final round with good guessing and a lucky spin of The Victim Wheel. Enjoy a best-case scenario game night!

Components

• 225 Worst-Case Scenario cards
• 50 Make It Worse cards
• 30 ranking chips (5 chips per color, numbered 1–5)
• The Victim Wheel
• Score pad

What Is the Victim Wheel?

• The Victim Wheel determines how you score each round and has a mix of good and really good bonuses.
• If the spinner lands on a line, spin again.
• Do not move the spinner or the chips until scores are tallied at the end of each round.
• After each round, The Victim Wheel is passed to the player to your left to start a new round.

Remember: The Victim always gets the same number of points as the player(s) with the most points on each round (including any bonus).

Instead of players scoring one point per match, players score points based on the numbers shown on their matching chips.

For example, if a player matched The Victim's #1, #3 and #5 chips, that player would score 9 points by adding 1+3+5 (the matching chips). If a player matched all five chips, they score 15 points!

The Victim Wheel segments:

• THE 4 IS MORE! Players who match The Victim's #4 chip get a 4-point bonus.
• ALL = BONUS! Players who match all The Victim's chips get a 5-point bonus.
• BAD IS GOOD! Players who match The Victim's #1 chip get a 1-point bonus.
• SCORE YOUR CHIPS! Your point total equals the numbers shown on all your matching chips.
• TRIPLE UP! All players triple their points.
• DOUBLE UP! All players double their points.

Set-Up

1. Players select chip colors and keep their five chips (numbered 1-5 for increasing levels of "terribleness") in their play area.
2. Designate a scorekeeper to write each player's name in one of the rows on the scorepad.
3. Shuffle the Scenario cards and place the pile facedown where every player can easily access it.
4. (Make It Worse) Shuffle and deal 2 red Make It Worse cards to each player. Place the rest in a pile where everyone can reach.
5. The player who has survived on Earth the longest starts the game by taking The Victim Wheel and following the rules on the next page.

How to Play

1. SPIN AWAY! The first player, "The Victim," starts the game by spinning The Victim Wheel and reading aloud the space they land on.

2. FLIP 'EM OVER! The Victim then turns over and reads aloud, one by one, the next five worst-case scenario cards ... to create a row of five cards in the middle of the play area.

3. MAKE IT WORSE! (Make It Worse) All the other players may (but don't have to) make one Scenario worse, by playing one red card on top of one of the five scenario cards. If a Scenario card already has a red card on it, you can't pile on more.

4. RANK 'EM! What scenario is bad, very bad, awful, horrible, or the worst according to The Victim? Every player, including The Victim, decides how The Victim will rank the five cards from 1-5, by secretly placing their chips numbers down next to each card (as shown top right).

   • When there are 5-6 players, chips can be placed on either end of the card, so long as players remember their chip color.
   • Table talk is encouraged, but players should be discreet when placing their chips number-side down, so nobody knows how other players rank the five cards.

5. REVEAL 'EM! After all players have made their selections, The Victim reads aloud the first card on their left and turns over all chips assigned to that card. Players who match The Victim's number score! Turn non-matching chips back to the "X" side. Players repeat this step for the remaining four cards and chips until selections are revealed for all five cards.

6. SCORING TIME! Unless The Victim lands on SCORE YOUR CHIPS! (see next page), players get one point for every chip that matched one of The Victim's chips PLUS any bonus points awarded on The Victim Wheel. The Victim gets the same number of points as the player(s) with the most points (including any bonuses).

Chip Scoring Examples

We recommend The Victim plays their chips on one side of the card and the other players place their chips on the opposite side. In this 3-player game, The Victim is shown with the red chips.

In the example above, the blue player matched three of The Victim's red chips correctly, while the green player only matched one. Step #6 explains how points are awarded.

The example shows The Victim's red chips on the five scenarios: Lost at Sea (5, The Worst), Your Computer Is Hacked (1, Bad), Live Through a Pandemic (2, Very Bad), Chased by a Gorilla (4, Horrible), and Eat a Bowlful of Live Maggots (3, Awful). The blue player's chips are 5, 4 and 3 (matches on Lost at Sea, Chased by a Gorilla and Eat a Bowlful of Live Maggots); the green player's chip is 1 (a match on Your Computer Is Hacked).