Trick of Fixer Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Game Objective and Flow
• Game Preparation
  • Determining the Start Player
  • Preparation of Additional Rule Cards
  • Fixer Mat Preparation
• Flow of the Round
• Preparation Phase
  • Deal the Hand
  • Running for Boss
    • 2-1 Trump Selection
    • 2-2 Bidding (Number of Face Cards Captured)
    • 2-3 Additional Rule Declaration (Optional)
    • 2-4 Fame Point Acquisition
    • 3-1 Pass
  • Post Decision
  • Fixer Designation
  • Selection of Surplus Cards
  • Additional Rule Decision
• Trick Taking Phase
  • Play a Card
  • Strengths
• Score Calculation
• Preparation for the Next Round
• Victory Judgement (End of Game)
• Additional Rule Cards Explanation
  • Handling of Additional Rules
  • Rank Trump
  • Joker Trump
  • Discard
  • Assignment
  • Counter-clockwise
  • No Same 2
  • As Is
  • Monopoly of Suit
  • Monopoly of Face Cards
• Q & A

Contents

Players: 4-5. Duration: 40 minutes.

• 53 play cards
• 19 additional rule cards
• 1 strength chart card
• 1 Fixer mat
• 12 player tokens (3 each in 4 colors)
• 1 fortune meeple
• 1 trump marker (red disc)
• 1 rulebook

Game Objective and Flow

The game is played by repeated trick-taking, with the player with the highest score winning.

• The game ends when any player has reached the specified score at the end of a round.
• For each round, the players are divided into two camps, the Boss camp and the common animal camp, and play as teams according to the rules.
• This title is a revival of the trick-taking game "Napoleon".

Game Preparation

Determining the Start Player

The player with the most lions will be the starting player at the beginning of the first round. If no one owns any lions, use a method of your choosing to pick a start player.

Preparation of Additional Rule Cards

Shuffle the additional rule cards face down to make a deck.

Turn over the top 6 cards of the deck and place them to the right of the mat.

Fixer Mat Preparation

Each player receives 3 player makers of their favorite color.

Each player places a player marker on 0 on the Noblesse Oblige and Score tracks. The remaining marker is used to remember your color.

Flow of the Round

Preparation Phase

• 1-1 Deal the hand

Running for Boss — clockwise from the starting player.

Running for Office

• 2-1 Trump Selection
• 2-2 Bidding
• 2-3 Additional Rule Selection
• 2-4 Fame Point Acquisition

Not Running for Office

• 3-1 Players who pass cannot run again this hand

The right to run for office moves clockwise to the next player. Once everyone else has passed, the last player to run becomes the Boss (lead player) of the round.

Fixer Designation — The Boss declares a card and the player who has that card becomes the Fixer. The Fixer does not reveal their identity until that card is played from their hand.

Surplus Card Selection — The Boss may swap cards from their hand with the cards that were not dealt to players.

Additional Rule Execution — If the Discard/Assignment Additional Rules are in play, follow them.

Trick Phase (repeated until all cards are played)

1. Lead player plays a card.
2. The next players play cards in turn.
3. Strength of cards is determined.
4. Acquisition of cards and determination of next lead player.

Score Calculation

1. Fixer player disclosure.
2. Determine if the Boss's team (Boss and Fixer) has won more than what they declared. If so, the players on the Boss's team score 3 points. If not, every other player scores 2 points.

Next Round Preparation

1. The player with the lowest score and the lowest Prestige Points is the starting player for the next round.
2. Return the unused cards to the deck.
3. Discard the cards that were selected as Additional Rules.

Total Score Calculation

1. Go to Total Score Calculation if any player has more than 13 points in a 5-player game or more than 9 points in a 4-player game.
2. Add 2 points to the player with the highest Fame points.
3. The player with the highest score wins.

Preparation Phase

Deal the Hand

Shuffle the playing cards and deal them according to the number of players.

• 5 players: Deal 10 cards to each player (place the remaining 3 cards face down).
• 4 players: Deal 13 cards to each player (place the remaining card face down).

Running for Boss

The starting player looks at their cards and declares whether or not they will run for Boss this round. If they pass, move to the next player clockwise. If ALL players pass, the player with the A of Pistols becomes the Boss with an automatic declaration of 11.

If a player DOES want to run for Boss:

2-1 Trump Selection

The player declares the suit they want to play as the trump card in the round. Place the trump marker on the suit you have declared. If the trump marker is already placed, move it to the suit you declared. It is possible to declare the same trump suit as the previous player.

2-2 Bidding (Number of Face Cards Captured)

When running for Boss, you are bidding how many of the face cards (10-J-Q-K-A in each of the 4 suits, 20 total) you can capture when winning tricks.

You must bid more than 11.

If another player has already bid, you must exceed their bid.

If either team takes all 20 face cards, they will lose the hand (this does not apply if the Monopoly of Face Cards Additional Rule is in play).

2-3 Additional Rule Declaration (Optional)

Select one additional rule card from the face-up rule cards and place it on the Additional Rule space 1. If a card is already in that space, move it one space to the left. If all three Additional Rule spaces are filled, discard the card in space 3.

After placement, reveal one card from the top of the deck of Additional Rule cards, so that there are always 6 face up. If there are not enough cards in the deck, shuffle the discards to make a new deck.

2-4 Fame Point Acquisition

Running for Boss gives you Fame. Move your token up once on the Noblesse Oblige track, just for making a bid. You cannot go over 10.

If a player DOES NOT want to run for Boss:

3-1 Pass

Once you pass, you lose the right to run for office. You cannot run for office again this round.

Post Decision

If everyone after the last candidate passes, the last candidate becomes the Boss.

Fixer Designation

The Fixer is the Boss's ally. The Boss team always consists of the Boss and the Fixer. Players other than the Boss and Fixer are on the Common Animal team.

The player who is the Boss designates the Fixer by declaring a card (such as K of Pistols). The player who has that card in their hand will be the Fixer, but they do not reveal who they are immediately - only when that card is played.

Selection of Surplus Cards

The Boss may replace cards in their hand with the cards not dealt. After replacing the cards in their hand, place the extra cards off to the side - they will not be used in this round.

Additional Rule Decision

The cards placed on the Fixer Mat in spaces 3 and 2 are the additional rules for this round. If there is only a card on space 1 or no cards at all, there are no additional rules for this round.

All the cards are collected and shuffled, including the cards that have been put aside.

Check the Additional Rules, and if the Discard/Assignment Additional Rules are in play, follow them.

The cards in the Additional Rules spaces 3 and 2 are discarded.

The card in Additional Rules space 1 is carried over to the next round.

Trick Taking Phase

Play a Card

The Boss is the first lead player. The lead player plays a card from their hand, face up.

In turn order from the next player clockwise, each player plays a card from their hand. If players have any cards that match the suit played by the lead player, they must choose a card from that suit. If not, they may play any card they wish.

Strengths

The rules are followed to determine who wins the trick. The winning player takes all the cards played into the trick.

High to Low:

• A of Pistol (only loses if Q of Pipe is also in the same trick)
• J of Trump
• When everyone plays a card of the same suit, if there is a 2, that player wins.
• J in the anti-Trump suit (see Fixer mat)
• Trump cards specified in the Additional Rules have the same strength
• Non-Trump cards in order of strength: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2
• Joker (always loses; if the lead player plays a joker, the next player and subsequent players with trump cards must play trump)

The player who wins the trick becomes the next lead player.

Score Calculation

The number of face cards acquired by the Boss's team is counted.

If the Boss's team meets the victory criteria, they get 3 points each.

If the Boss's team fails to meet the victory criteria, the Common Animal team gets 2 points each.

Move the scores on the Fixer mat.

Preparation for the Next Round

After the second round, the player with the lowest score will be the starting player.

If there is a tie, the player with the lowest fame will be the starting player.

Victory Judgement (End of Game)

At the end of the round, the game ends when any player has scored more than 13 points (5-player game) or 9 points (4-player game).

In addition to the above scores, the player with the highest fame will receive an additional 2 points.

The player with the highest total score becomes the Elegant Boss.

Additional Rule Cards Explanation

Handling of Additional Rules

When "Additional Trump" is specified on the Addtional Rules card, the strength is treated the same as the normal trump. When cards of the same rank are played, the player who played later wins.

Example: When Pistol is the trump card and the Additional Rule is "5s are trump"

• Pistol 1 → Pistol 2 → Pistol 3 → Cross 5 ⇒ Cross 5 wins
• Pistol 1 → Pistol 2 → Pistol 5 → Cross 5 ⇒ Cross 5 wins
• Pistol 1 → Pistol 2 → Pistol 6 → Cross 5 ⇒ Pistol 6 wins

Rank Trump

In addition to the trump suit chosen by the Boss, the ranks shown on the Additional Rules card are also trump (in all suits).

Joker Trump

The Joker is trump (but is the weakest trump).

Discard

All players discard one card from their hands, face down. Any card can be discarded.

Assignment

All players pass one card to the player indicated by the arrow.

Counter-clockwise

Normally, the turn proceeds clockwise, but when this rule is in play the turn proceeds counter-clockwise.

No Same 2

2s are no longer special when everyone follows suit.

As Is

This card has no rule change.

Monopoly of Suit

If the Boss team takes all face cards of a suit (A-K-Q-J-10), they will score 1 additional point.

Monopoly of Face Cards

If the Boss team takes all face cards (A-K-Q-J-10) of all suits, they will score an additional 1 point.

Q & A

Q: Why are there 20 face cards but the Victory Reference Point track goes up to 21?

A: If the Monopoly of Face Cards rule is chosen as an Additional Rule, an extra 1 point is added, so the rule is valid only when this rule is chosen, and the number of cards to be declared is 21.