Widgets n' Digit$
Widgets n' Digit$ Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Choose Your Complexity
Widgets n' Digit$ offers 4 different game modes allowing you to play the game that's right for you! We recommend beginning with Classic Mode, and gradually increasing complexity as you become more familiar with the game!
1. Classic Mode (Rules in purple)
The crowd pleaser! Play with the standard ruleset your first game, featuring Engine Building, Push-Your-Luck, and Marketplace Trade! Try one of these included expansion experiences on your next game!
2a. Worker Wars
Outbid the competition to hire workers in Worker Wars! Adds Worker Placement and Bidding Mechanics for 2x Strategic Depth. Look for rules with this expansion's icon!
2b. Boardroom Battle
Wield devastating card abilities in Boardroom Battle! Adds Asymmetric Strategy and Take That for 2x Strategic Depth. Look for rules with this expansion's icon!
3. The Executive Experience
The full Widgets n' Digit$ package with the best of both worlds! Include all rules from the Worker Wars and the Boardroom Battle expansions for 4x Strategic Depth!
Setting Up The Game
In the center of the play area:
- Set up the Marketplace Board.
- Place resources onto the spaces of their Markets that are indicated by a sparkle. For a 2-player game, only fill the left 2 columns of each Market. For a 3+ player game, fill the 3rd column as well.
- Place the Fiscal Year token on Q1 of the Fiscal Year.
- For Worker Wars, place two Worker Cubes per player in the Labor Market.
- Shuffle the Upgrade Card Deck and deal 3 Upgrade Cards face up in view of all players.
- For Boardroom Battle, use the blue Boardroom Battle Upgrade Cards instead.
- Place the remaining Resource Tokens, Worker Cubes, and Digit Dollar Bills in easy reach of all players and set the First Mover Advantage Elephant aside for now.
Each player gets:
- A D.W.E.E.B. scorepad sheet
- A Player Mat
- $20 of seed capital
- 4 Worker Cubes
- A Bid Token
Gameplay Reference
Widgets n' Digit$ is played over the four Quarters of the Fiscal Year. Your objective is to have the highest Net Worth at the end of the year! Net Worth is the sum of your total cash and the Resale Value of your Upgrade Cards.
Start the game by inventing Widget ideas – best idea gets to go first!
In each Quarter, all players will bid for workers and then each take one turn. Gameplay moves to the left.
Labor Bidding
- Fill the Labor Market: Add 2 workers to the market per player.
- Bidding Phase: Going by turn order, set your bid price for workers.
- Hiring Phase: In descending order of bid price, hire workers!
Individual Turns
- Investing Phase: Buy and sell Upgrade Cards and resources!
- Production Phase: Run your Supply Chain and rake in the profits from selling Widgets and excess resources!
- Upkeep Phase: Pay your Labor Cost and Warehousing fees!
At the end of each Quarter:
- Pass the First Mover Advantage Elephant to the left.
- Refresh the available Upgrade Cards.
- You may fire workers and return them to the Worker Stockpile.
- Advance the Fiscal Year Tracker to the next Quarter.
At the end of the Fiscal Year, tally up your Net Worth and see how you stack up!
Getting Started
Founding your Widget Company
- Before you play, you'll first have to register your company with the Department of Widget Entrepreneurship, Elephants and Branding! Each player starts the game by filling in a D.W.E.E.B. form with:
- Your Widget name
- Its function (a Widget can do anything!)
- A catchy slogan for your company
- Ignore the lower section for now – it'll come in handy at the end of the game!
Deciding Who Goes First
- Once everyone's founded their Widget company, choose the best Widget idea!
- Our house rule is that whoever is the last to create their idea must share it first!
- The Best Widget Idea wins the First Mover Advantage Elephant and will go first in the first Quarter!
Making Widgets
Before we get started, let's go over the fundamentals!
- Widgets are made through your Supply Chain! It runs once every Turn in order, from Sourcing to Retail during your Production Phase.
- Each stage requires the resource type produced in the previous stage as an input. You will receive one output resource for every input.
- The maximum number of inputs a stage can handle each Turn is its Capacity.
The Supply Chain stages, in order, are: Sourcing (free), Fabrication (takes Raw Materials, makes Parts), Assembly (takes Parts, makes Finished Goods), and Retail (takes Finished Goods, makes money).
Card Breakdown
- Purchase Price – The one-time fee paid to the Bank to purchase this card.
- Card Stage – Cards can only be played to their respective stage: Sourcing, Assembly, Fabrication, or Retail.
- Card Text – Card name and questionable humor! If the card has a glowing blue border, the card has an ability!
- Capacity – The maximum number of input resources this card can convert. Each symbol represents one unit of Capacity. E.g., the Motivational Cat Poster can convert up to 3 Raw Materials into 3 Parts in the Fabrication stage.
- Resale Value – The amount of money the card is worth when sold or valued at the end of the game.
- Labor – The upkeep cost of each card. The number of workers required to run the stage.
Additional Notes
- In the Sourcing stage, the Capacity section shows the number of Raw Materials that you receive for free every time you run your Supply Chain.
- In the Retail stage, the Capacity section shows the number of Finished Goods you can sell as Widgets for $20 each – e.g. a Capacity of 2 means up to 2 Finished Goods can be converted to $20 each.
Gameplay Rules
- Widgets n' Digit$ takes place over the Fiscal Year, which is split into four Quarters.
- In Worker Wars, each Quarter starts with a round of Labor Bidding (see Expansion Rules below).
- In each Quarter, each player will take one Turn.
- Your Turn consists of 3 phases: Investing, Production and Upkeep.
- Each player starts their Turn by drawing Upgrade Cards until there are 3 available for purchase (do not discard any cards left over by the previous player).
- The player with the First Mover Advantage Elephant goes first. Play proceeds to the left.
Investing Phase – Buy and sell upgrade cards and resources!
- There are 3 types of actions you may take in the Investing phase (4 in Boardroom Battle).
- You may take these actions in any order as many times as your available cash allows.
Buy and Sell Upgrade Cards
You may buy as many of the available Upgrade Cards as your cash allows. You may sell any Upgrade Cards you own for their Resale Value.
- Do not replace purchased Upgrade Cards until the next player's turn (unless you pay for a Card Refresh).
- If you run out of cards, reshuffle the Discard Pile to make a new deck.
- When purchased, Upgrade Cards must be immediately placed on your Player Mat in their corresponding stage (you cannot store them), replacing the base Capacity and Labor.
- You can only have one Upgrade Card in each stage at a time.
- If you already have a card in a stage, you must sell (or discard) it before buying a new card of the same stage.
Refresh Upgrade Cards
- To draw new Upgrade Cards for sale on your turn:
- Pay the Refresh Cost.
- Discard any remaining Upgrade Cards for sale.
- Draw 3 new Upgrade Cards.
- The current Quarter's Refresh Cost is indicated on the Fiscal Year Tracker - increasing from $1 in Q1 to $4 in Q4.
Buy and Sell Resources in the Marketplace
- The prices to buy or sell resources are shown to the left of each row.
- You can buy any available resource and sell to any available space for its corresponding row price.
- E.g., in the highlighted row, you could buy a Raw Material for $4 or sell a Raw Material to the available space for $4.
- If no inventory is available, you cannot buy resources.
- If no empty spaces are available, you cannot sell resources.
- You can trash resources back into the Stockpile for free at any time.
Move Workers
- You can freely move workers between stages or the Breakroom.
- A stage may have 0 workers.
- If a stage's Labor Requirement is not fulfilled, it does not run!
- Remember: base stages have a Labor Requirement of 1 worker.
Production Phase – Make & sell your Widgets and leftover resources!
Time to make some Widgets!
- From left to right, starting with your Sourcing stage, run all four stages of your Supply Chain in order.
- Each stage only runs once per Production Phase.
- You can use any resources you produce or currently own as inputs.
- Move any resources produced/consumed from/to their corresponding Stockpile.
Each stage can only convert up to its maximum Capacity. You can choose to run a stage below max Capacity, producing fewer outputs. If a stage's Labor Requirement is not met, it does not run at all!
Example: Your base Fabrication can convert up to one Raw Material into one Part. Upgrading it with Hot Coffee allows you to convert up to 2 Raw Materials into 2 Parts! If you only have one Raw Material, you can still run your Fabrication with Hot Coffee - but it will only make one Part! Hot Coffee needs 2 workers, but only 1 has been assigned - the stage does not run at all!
- You get Raw Materials for free (no inputs required).
- Finished Goods always sell for $20 each in the Retail stage – they're branded as your Widgets now and sell for more!
Leftover Resources
- Once you have completed all four stages of your Supply Chain, you may sell any leftover resources to their respective Marketplace if empty spaces are available.
- Up to 6 resources may also be stored in your Warehouse (saved for use in future Quarters). You must pay Warehousing fees of $1 per saved resource per turn in the Upkeep Phase.
- Resources can be trashed to the Stockpile for free at any time.
Upkeep Phase – Pay Labor and Warehousing costs!
Payday!
- Pay your Labor Cost, which is the sum of all your Labor across all your stages (e.g. Labor of 3 = $3 Labor Cost).
- In Worker Wars, instead of Labor Cost you must pay Wages! You must pay $1 per Worker you have, including everyone in the Breakroom!
- Pay Warehousing fees for any resources you want to save for the next Quarter ($1 per saved resource per turn).
- Resources can still be trashed for free in this phase, but if you want to carry them over to the next Quarter, now's the time to pay!
- Bankruptcy: If you do not have enough cash to make a required payment, you must sell resources or Upgrade Cards to make the payment (don't worry, this is rare!).
- If you still owe money even after selling all your assets, you lose immediately!
Firing Workers
- You may fire workers only after you have paid their Wages for this Quarter.
- Fired workers are removed from your board and returned to the Worker Stockpile – they're going to need a little time off after this treatment…
Quarter End
- Once each player has taken their Turn, the Quarter ends. Advance the Fiscal Year token to the next Quarter.
- Pass the First Mover Advantage Elephant to the left (in the direction of turn order).
- Discard any remaining face-up Upgrade Cards for sale and draw 3 new ones.
Ending the Game
Drumroll, please…
- Once the last player finishes their Turn in Q4, the Fiscal Year ends and the game is over!
- Tally up your company's total Net Worth to find your final score. Your company's Net Worth is the sum of your assets:
- Total cash on hand.
- Total Resale Value of your Upgrade Cards.
The player with the highest Net Worth is the Widget Winner! Congratulations on building a successful Widget company!
The winner gets to immortalize their Widget name and final Net Worth on the Wall of Widget Winners.
In case of a tie…
- …the player with the highest total Resale Value wins (i.e. the most valuable Supply Chain).
- If the game is still tied, the player with the most workers wins.
- If the game is still tied, all tied players win! (wow!)
Whether you won or lost this Fiscal Year, check out how your company stacked up against the Score Rankings board on the back of this rulebook!
Worker Wars Rules
- In Worker Wars, Labor is now the Labor Requirement (i.e. the number of Workers required by each stage to run) (see the Production Phase section for details on producing Widgets).
- Players start with 4 Workers and can bid for more at the beginning of each Quarter.
- Start each Quarter by adding 2 Workers to the Labor Market per player. E.g., a 2-player game will have 4 Workers up for hire at the start of each Quarter.
- Each Quarter now starts with a round of Labor Bidding followed by a round of Individual Turns.
Labor Bidding – Competitively bid for Workers!
Labor Bidding is split into 2 phases: the Bidding Phase and Hiring Phase.
Bidding Phase
- Your bid is the amount you will pay to hire per Worker in the Hiring Phase.
- Starting with the player with the First Mover Advantage Elephant and going in turn order, publicly declare your bid on your Player Mat using your Bid Token.
Example: Player 1 bids $1, Player 2 bids $2. Player 2 bid the highest and gets first dibs at hiring Workers!
Hiring Phase
- Once all bids are in, the player who bid the highest can hire Workers first, followed by other players in descending order of bid price.
- If bids are tied, tied players will hire Workers in turn order.
- You can hire as many available Workers as you want when it's your turn to hire.
Example: Player 2 chooses to hire 3 of the 4 available Workers. Since they bid $2 per Worker, they pay a total of $6. Even if Player 1 wanted more Workers, they can only hire the 1 remaining Worker for $1!
- Labor Bidding ends once all players finish hiring or if the Labor Market is empty.
- Any unhired Workers at the end of Labor Bidding return to the Worker Stockpile and do not carry over into the next Quarter.
Boardroom Battle Rules
Get ready to throw down! Replace the classic Upgrade Card deck with the Boardroom Battle deck to play!
Card Effect Triggers
- On Sale: Activates once you sell the card and receive its Resale Value.
- On Discard: Activates once you discard the card, forfeiting its Resale Value. Card Refreshes do not trigger On Discard abilities - you must own a card to use its ability!
- Once Per Turn: You may use this ability once on your Turn during any phase.
- When Played: Activates once when this card is played to your Player Mat.
- Always Active: Activates when this card is played and lasts for as long as the card is owned.
- Note: You may not activate any other card effects while a card effect is being resolved.
- Note: You must sell or discard a card before purchasing a new card for its stage!
- Note: Activating the effect of a card that you own is always optional.
Broken Mineral Analyzer
Once Per Turn: Scan the top 6 cards of the Upgrade Deck! Discard 3 and place the remaining 3 at the top of the Upgrade Deck in any order.
- "Scan" is defined as looking at the top X cards of the Upgrade Deck.
- Broken Mineral Analyzer's discard effect does not trigger On Discard effects.
Canary Actuary
Always Active: Attract workers with safety standards! You can hire workers at a $1 discount on your bid price.
- E.g., If you bid $2 for workers, you only need to pay $1 per worker to hire them.
- The amount you pay for each worker cannot go below $0.
- The discount can be stacked using A Trained Sloth.
- This ability can only be used with Worker Wars - it has no ability with Classic rules!
A Dog
When Discarded: Dig through the Discard Pile! You may purchase one card you find at a 50% discount.
- Remember: You may look through the Discard Pile whenever you want!
Invisible Tool Belt
Always Active: You may ignore any negative competitor card effects.
- Doesn't stop A Trained Sloth from copying cards.
- Doesn't stop Broken Mineral Analyzer or Canary Actuary.
- Can block Big Red Button, Creative Accounting, and Sleazy Car Salesman.
A Big Red Button
Once Per Turn: Shuffle, draw & discard a card. If Sourcing or Fabrication: Steal $2X from richest competitor. If Assembly or Retail: Sell this card (kaboom!) (X = current Card Refresh cost).
- "Richest" is defined by the amount of cash on hand each player has. Resale Value of cards does not count toward the total. Now that's a tax haven!
- If a target is protected by effects such as Invisible Tool Belt's effect, Big Red Button's steal effect targets the next-richest competitor.
- Ties for "richest competitor" are broken by the total Resale Value of their Upgrade Cards. Further ties are decided by the Button owner.
A Trained Sloth
When Played: Train the Sloth! Copy of ability of a card currently in play.
- After copying an ability, treat A Trained Sloth as having its card text replaced entirely by the copied card's text.
- A player with Invisible Tool Belt cannot stop A Trained Sloth from copying their cards' effects.
- A Trained Sloth may copy another A Trained Sloth's copied effect.
- A Trained Sloth can copy Spit n' Prayers while it is attached to another card.
- A Trained Sloth retains its copied ability until it is sold or discarded, even if its original target is discarded, traded, or sold.
Phillips Head Screwdriver
Once Per Turn: Get a free Card Refresh!
- Who doesn't love a free Card Refresh?
Pizza Parties
When Sold: Throw a pizza party for your hardworking team! Pay $0 for Labor/Wages this Turn.
- In Classic Mode, your Labor Cost is $0 this Turn.
- In Worker Wars, you pay $0 in Wages this Turn.
Spit n' Prayers
When Discarded: Attach this to any card to add a +1 Capacity bonus to it. The bonus is removed when the target card is discarded or sold.
- Spit n' Prayers must be immediately attached to a card when discarded.
- When attached to a different card, Spit n' Prayers does not contribute towards your total Resale Value or Labor Cost/Labor Requirement.
- Spit n' Prayers cannot be attached to an un-upgraded stage of your Supply Chain.
- Spit n' Prayers' bonus follows the target card as long as the target card remains in play, even when swapped between players by Sleazy Car Salesman.
- If the card it is attached to is removed from play, Spit n' Prayers is placed in the Discard Pile and its effect does not reactivate.
Creative Accounting
Always Active: Commit tax fraud! Each competitor must pay $1 to the Bank for each Widget that you sell in the Retail stage.
- This card's effect only triggers for Finished Goods converted to $20 apiece through the Retail stage.
- Creative Accounting's effect can be stacked using A Trained Sloth.
- This card's effect on a competitor can be blocked by Invisible Tool Belt's effect.
Suggestion Box
Once Per Turn: You may trash one resource you own and collect its bottom row Marketplace value from the Bank.
- The resource used for Suggestion Box's effect must be owned prior to activation.
- "Bottom row Marketplace value" refers to the maximum sale value of each resource's Market ($7 for Raw Materials, $11 for Parts, $17 for Finished Goods).
- When trashing the resource, return it to its respective Stockpile.
Sleazy Car Salesman
When Discarded: Trade one of your Upgrade Cards for a competitor's of the same stage. You may not trade to/from an empty stage.
- You must trade cards of the same stage (i.e. Sourcing for Sourcing, Fabrication for Fabrication, etc.).
- You and the target must both have a card to trade – you cannot take a competitor's card to fill an empty stage in your Supply Chain.
- You cannot trade Sleazy Car Salesman using its own effect, since it must be discarded first to be activated.
- If there are no valid trades available, discarding this card has no effect.
Score Rankings
See how you stack up against the competition! The D.W.E.E.B. scorepad ranks your final Net Worth against the following titles, from highest to lowest:
- $130 — Turtlenecks & Magazine Covers
- $125 — Unicorn
- $120 — Market Disruptor
- $115 — Hockey Stick Growth
- $110 — Attracting Venture Capital
- $105 — Moonshot
- $100 — Small Business
- $95 — Garage Startup
- $90 — Don't Quit Your Day Job
- $85 — Money Pit
- $0 — Bar Discussion