A game takes place over 7 days, Sunday to Saturday. Each day, an auction is held where agendas and assets are offered.
Each player starts with a certain amount of money and their goal is to maximize it by the end of the game. Players spend money during the auctions on agendas and assets. Players increase their money by having agendas and also the resources (provided by assets) to realize their agendas at the end of end of the game. In other words, a player starts with some money, spends it during the game, and at the end of the game hopefully gains a larger amount of money than they spent. The player with the most money at the end wins.
There are 7 auctions during each game:
- the opening auction,
- 5 common auctions,
- the closing auction.
Each auction happens at 17.15 each day. Players enter their bids before that time. Bids are secret before the auction. The results of each auction are public.
The items offered in each auction are announced at the start of the game.
Agendas are offered during the opening and closing auctions.
Each agenda is different. Agendas have a certain value if realized, and a certain cost in resources to realize.
Agendas are realized automatically after the closing auction in the optimal combination, if the player has sufficient resources.
Example:
- agenda “silk tax” provides 20$ if realized, and costs 0 force, 10 popularity, and 20 influence to realize,
- agenda “exile competitor” provides 50$ if realized, and costs 20 force, 5 popularity, and 10 influence to realize.
Assets are offered during the common auction.
Each asset provides a certain amount of each resource to its owner.
There are three resources: force, popularity, and influence. Each asset provides a combination of them to its owner.
Example:
- asset “opera” provides 0 force, 20 popularity, 0 influence to its owner,
- asset “senator” provides 0 force, 5 popularity, 5 influence to its owner,
- asset “swiss mercenaries” provides 10 force, 0 popularity, 0 influence to its owner.
The items and number of each item offered at each auction is announced at the start of the game. For example, the lineup for an auction may be: 2 x A, 1 x B, 5 x C.
The auction happens at 17.15.
Players may place bids at any time before the auction. Players may bid for each item in the auction, up to the number offered for each item.
Bids are secret before the auction. After the auction ends, the winning bids are made public. After the last common auction (so, before the closing auction), all bids in all auctions are made public.
Auctions happen automatically without any input from the players. The items offered are considered in the announced ordered. For each item, the highest bid wins it. The player immediately pays the money and gains the item.
A bid is of the form “bid X$ for N of A”. X is the amount of money bid for each item. N is the maximum number of items the player desires. A is the name of the item. Players only pay for the items they win. For example, if a player bids for 4 of C, but only wins 2 of C, he only pays for the 2 of C he won.
Bids for which the player does not have enough money are automatically nullified.
A player starts with 0$. Before the opening auction, he may borrow money from the treasury up to a certain fixed amount. After the closing auction, he must return the money borrowed and also interest amounting to 5%/day.
Only money matters in the end.
After the closing auction, assets are realized automatically, and the money they provide is added the the player’s stash. The player then repays the treasury the amount originally borrowed and any interest applicable. The amount of money left is what is used to rank the players.
There is a chat window permanently open at the bottom of every game screen. Players are allowed to say anything they want at any time.
Any number of player may take part in a game. The number of each agenda and asset offered during the auctions is increased if there are more players. Players are allowed to hold multiple copies of each asset or agenda.