Get the Scoop!
These rules reflect the game as demonstrated on 9.October.2011 at the Fall 2011 Cardboard Jam demo session.
Designed By:
Rik Eberhardt <reberhar@mit.edu>
Jonathan Johnson
David Ludwig
Dale Miller
Thanks to our playtesters!
Tim Stellmach, Jon Venezian, Calvin Crane Nelson III, Alex Gurany, Mitchell N. Charity, Ian Aguiar, Tam Miller, Goober, Tim Volpe, Brad Momberger
And Special Thanks to Boston Game Jams’ Darren Torpey and Vicki Torpey for organizing the Cardboard Jam (and partnered Food Jam), and to the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab for hosting the Jam!
Get the Scoop!
You are an erstwhile news producer at the latest Occupation. You’re trying to get an interview with one of the protest leaders. Try to talk them into getting into your camera van so you can get their story out before your rival producers, and if that fails, SHOVE!
Components
- game board: a 12x12 grid of 1” squares, the four sides of the board labeled with suits from a poker deck (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades)
- 20 Journalist pieces (Icehouse pieces, pip 1, or, d4’s of same color):
- 5 Journalists, Red
- 5 Journalists, Blue
- 5 Journalists, Green
- 5 Journalists, White
- 4 Protester pieces (Black, Icehouse numbered 1, 2, 3, 3+1, or d4’s set to a number)
- 8 Police Officer pieces (Yellow - the 2 and 3 Icehouse pieces work well, or d6s or anything else)
- Poker cards, Ace through 9 cards of all 4 suits (no 10’s or face cards)
- 1 First Player badge (or dealer button)
- 4 d4’s: 1 each red, blue, green, and white
Basic setup
- Place 5 Journalists (J) of a single color in each of the corners, surrounding a 2x2 block on two sides
- Place 4 Protesters (P1-P4) in the center 2x2 block of the board
- Place 8 Police Officers (o), each 2 spaces orthoganal from each of the Protesters
- Deal 3 cards to each player, place the deck face down and in reach of all players
- The person who last watched the news gets the First Player badge.
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Play
The game is divided into rounds and turns. Each round consists of:
- The Protesters’ turn, controlled by all of the players’ cards and dice
During the Protesters’ turn, the players talk to the Protesters simultaneously, trying to cajole them into coming towards the players’ own camera van, or away from the other player’s camera vans.
- The Journalists’ turn, controlled by each player in clockwise order
During the Journalists’ turn, each player (individually and in clockwise order) spends 3 actions trying to either push the Protesters closer to the players’ own camera van or they can change their hand of cards by (drawing and discarding no more than 3 cards) in order to build a better argument for the Protesters’ turn.
- The Police Officers’ turn, controlled by the First Player badge.
During the Police Officer’s turn, the Police Officers move in their prescripted order, clockwise around the center of the board, creating a cordon around the Protester’s original placement. They will push Journalists and Protesters out of their way.
- The First Player badge is then passed to the next Player, clockwise
The player with the First Player badge goes first during the Journalists’ turn.
Win Condition
The goal is to get one Protester to your camera van and not have it leave during the Protesters’ turn.
For each round of play:
First: the Protesters’ turn
- Each player may choose 1 card to direct a Protester.
- The players place 1 card face down and turn their d4 to the number representing the Protester they will move (hiding the d4 with their hand - and not putting down the die at all if the player wants to bluff and abstain)
- The face value moves the Protester the following number of spaces:
- 1 = Ace, 2, or 3
- 2 = 4, 5, or 6
- 3 = 7, 8, or 9
- The suit dictates the direction of movement, toward the side labeled with that suit
- During this turn, Protesters move orthogonally: only horizontally or vertically
- If the card value is 3, 6, or 9, Protesters will push other Protesters or Journalists in their way, but not Police Officers
- Pushing always happens in the direction of movement and only one square
- All players reveal their moves
- Protester movement is resolved in the order of lowest number Protester to highest
- If more than one player directs the same Protester, the cards are shuffled face down, and turned over one at a time with each card resolved before the next is turned over.
- Alternately, the players can agree on an order -- if they can agree!
- Unless directed with a 3, 6, or 9 card, Protesters end their movement when they are blocked by any other piece on the board.
- Cards are then discarded next to the deck
- Check to see if anyone won!
- If there is a Protester in a Player’s corner (the camera van), that Player wins and the game is over!
- There can be multiple winners.
Next: Journalists’ turn
- The player with the First Player badge takes their turn first, followed by the next three Players, in clockwise order.
- Each player has 3 actions - they can spend each action doing one of the following:
- Players can have no more than 3 cards in their hand
- Players may discard in order to draw - discarding does not count as an action
- Move 1 Journalist in one of the following ways:
- one square in any one direction
- Players can push a Protester to move it one square in the direction of movement, but cannot push any Journalists or Police
- Protester movement is blocked by other Protesters, Journalists, or Police
- No pieces may be pushed off the board
- to any square with at least 2 of the player’s Journalists adjacent, but more of that player’s Journalists than any other players’ Journalists adjacent
Last: Police Officer’s Turn
- The First Player moves each of the Police Officers one square clockwise (see the Police movement tables below)
- Police Officers push any number of Protesters and/or Journalists if they are in the way
- Non-Police pieces pushed by Police will push other pieces.
- If the line of Journalists and Protesters have already reached the edge of the board, the police are blocked.
- Other Police Officers will continue to move clockwise, until blocked in this manner or by other Police Officers.
Round end:
- At the end of the round, the First Player token is passed to the next player, clockwise, and the next round begins.
Police movement tables:
This example shows the starting setup for the Police Officers. (‘c’ denotes the center 4 squares of the board)
During the Police Officers’ turn they move 1 square, clockwise:
1 & 2 move 1 square Right
5 & 6 move 1 square Left
3 & 4 move 1 square Down
7 & 8 move 1 square Up
At the Police Officers’ turn on the next round they move diagonally, clockwise: