World Cup Group Permutations

I deviate momentarily from games to talk about the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

I'm sure this has been done before but I find it quite interesting to analyse the various combinations of points possible in the Group Stage. For those who are unfamiliar with the Group Stage, basically it's a round-robin format of 4 teams where each team plays each other only once. Only the top two teams qualify for the next round of 16.

I will attempt to artificially categorise and describe the situations that lead to each permutation. All credit goes to the lovely contributors at Wikipedia for their helpful tables and links.




Category 1: "Super" Powerhouse and "Lesser" Powerhouse

This is the most common group that one can think of - two dominant teams, A and B, with A being significantly more dominant than B. The other two residual teams in the group, C and D, are simply no match for the two dominant teams so their results against each other don't really matter.

There are two variants I observe here:

Variant 1.1 [Clearly distinguishable ascending hierarchy]:
A > B > C > D

Here, A is clearly the strongest. It is equally clear that B is second strongest. And C is third strongest, being stronger than weakest D. Typically you would expect 9, 6, 3, 0 points in that order from first to last.

Example 1: Group E 2010 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
Japan	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Denmark	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3	3
Cameroon	3	0	0	3	2	5	−3	0

It is arguable of course whether Denmark was significantly stronger than Cameroon in 2010 (it is probably the better argument that Poland was significantly stronger than Costa Rica in 2006 below though?).

Example 2: Group A 2006 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9
Ecuador	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
Poland	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
Costa Rica	3	0	0	3	3	9	−6	0

Example 3: Group H 1998 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7	9
Croatia	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Jamaica	3	1	0	2	3	9	−6	3
Japan	3	0	0	3	1	4	−3	0

Variant 1.2 [Big Bully, Little Bully; Indistinguishable "Weaklings"]:

A > B > C = D

In this variant, A is clearly the strongest. It is equally clear that B is second strongest.
However, C is comparable in strength to D.

Example: Group H 2006 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9
Ukraine	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6
Tunisia	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1
Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Category 1b: Dominant but relatively equal duo

This is a major variation to Category 1.

The variation is simply that the powerhouses A and B are almost equal in strength.
Thus this means that, at least in theory, A and B should neutralise each other out and draw against each other. A and B are expected to (but don't necessarily) win their respective games against C and D.


Variant 1b).1 [Flawed Duo]: This occurs where one of the duo fails to meet expectations and doesn't win one of their games against weaker teams C and D.

Example: Group C 1994 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7
Spain	3	1	2	0	6	4	+2	5
South Korea	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2
Bolivia	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1

Whilst Germany and Spain drew with each other, Spain drew with South Korea.


Variant 1b).2 [Standard/Classic Situation]: A and B each deal with C and D relatively comfortably but draw with each other. Expectations are therefore met.

Example: Group F 1998 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
Yugoslavia	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Iran	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
United States	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0

Category 2 : The Love Triangle

A beats B. 
B beats C. 
C beats A.
A > B > C > A...

This creates an apparent logical fallacy in the sense that A is expected to beat C yet in fact loses to C!

The common factor, however, is that D loses to everyone else as D is easily the weakest in the group.

Goal Difference, Goals For and Head-to-head appear to be determinative here in separating 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Example: Group D 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Nigeria	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6
Bulgaria	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
Argentina	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
Greece	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

Example 2: Group F 1994 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
Belgium	3	2	0	1	2	1	+1	6
Morocco	3	0	0	3	2	5	−3	0

Category 3: Survival of the Second Fittest

In this situation, A is grossly (perhaps even absurdly) dominant; whereas B, C and D are all of comparable strength and must scrap for second place. It just takes 1 key victory amongst teams B, C and D for one to separate from the rest of the pack!

Classic example is Group F 2006 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
Australia	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
Croatia	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
Japan	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

I'd argue that Australia, Croatia and Japan were all of comparable strength in the sense that Japan and Croatia drew and Croatia and Australia also drew. The difference was that Australia was slightly stronger than the other two by pulling off a cool victory against Japan (3-1)!!

Example 2: Group C 1998 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	3	3	0	0	9	1	+8	9
Denmark	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
South Africa	3	0	2	1	3	6	−3	2
Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Example 3: Group B 2010 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
South Korea	3	1	1	1	5	6	−1	4
Greece	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3
Nigeria	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

Note that the difference between this group and the others is that 3rd place (Greece) actually wins a game against 4th place (Nigeria).


Variant 3.1 [Tiebreaker Required]: Here, the difference between second and third comes down to Goal Difference or Goals Scored! (by virtue of each team drawing and winning one game each)

Example 1: Group B 2002 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	3	3	0	0	9	4	+5	9
Paraguay	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	4
South Africa	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
Slovenia	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

Example 2: Group C 2002 FIFA World Cup

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	0	11	3	+8	9
Turkey	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
Costa Rica	3	1	1	1	5	6	−1	4
China PR	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0

Variant 3.2 [Undefeated Second]: This occurs where 2nd place is snatched by not losing to any member of the group (this is extremely rare and is unlikely to be successful - note that New Zealand were undefeated in the 2010 World Cup but failed to proceed to the knockout stage)

Example: Group B 1998 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7
Chile	3	0	3	0	4	4	0	3
Austria	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2
Cameroon	3	0	2	1	2	5	−3	2

Amazingly, Chile secures progression with three draws!!!






Category 4: Closely contested 

In this category, the points in the group are very evenly spread amongst all teams either because of:

i) An unusually high number of draws (probably due to a large number of defensive or relatively poor teams) OR

ii) What I call a broken love triangle (basically a Category 2 situation where A > B > C > A but the last group member D does NOT score 0 points but manages to draw and win a match).

Example 1:

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Paraguay	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
Slovakia	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4
New Zealand	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
Italy	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2

Example 2: Group D 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	0	1	5	1	+4	6
Ghana	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Australia	3	1	1	1	3	6	−3	4
Serbia	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	3

In this case Ghana > Serbia > Germany > Ghana but Serbia loses to Australia and Australia draws with Ghana, hence the broken love triangle.

Example 3: Group C 2010 FIFA World Cup 

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
England	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
Slovenia	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Algeria	3	0	1	2	0	2	−2	1

Example 4: Group E 1998 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	3	1	2	0	7	2	+5	5
Mexico	3	1	2	0	7	5	+2	5
Belgium	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
South Korea	3	0	1	2	2	9	−7	1

Imagine a group where everyone draws all games -- I don't think this has happened from 1994 onwards? (or ever?)


Category 5: "Group of Death"

This category is, strictly speaking, not categorised by final points but by apparent closeness in contest between high-ranking/seeded on the one hand, and seemingly underrated teams on the other, before the competition starts. It is usually a phrase thrown around by the media in anticipation of the World Cup to generate hype.

It often happens when at least 1 "good team" (that has enjoyed previous success) fails to be properly seeded, perhaps because they have not been doing well of late.

To make for a "proper" group of death, there probably ought to be at least 3 strong teams and perhaps 1 average or stronger-than-normal team. Another way of checking to see if there is a Group of Death is to add up the seedings of all the countries - the lower the number, the more likely you have a Group of Death.

One credible World Cup example would be Group C 1982 FIFA World Cup, but this only had 3 members:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	2	2	0	0	5	3	+2	4
Brazil	2	1	0	1	5	4	+1	2
Argentina	2	0	0	2	2	5	−3	0

I'm not sure whether any credible Groups of Death existed from 1994 and onwards (when the 3-point for a win system was used).

Arguably, Group G 2010 FIFA World Cup fell short of the mark because North Korea was not "average" by any means, though some media outlets thought it was a Group of Death at the time:

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
Portugal	3	1	2	0	7	0	+7	5
Ivory Coast	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
North Korea	3	0	0	3	1	12	−11	0

However, a good non-World Cup example is Group C Euro 2008 where 2006 World Cup finalists Italy and France were drawn with Netherlands and Romania.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	3	3	0	0	9	1	+8	9
Italy	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
Romania	3	0	2	1	1	3	−2	2
France	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1

Another good example would be Group C Euro 1996 where the respective world rankings of the groups members were 2, 3, 7 and 10!

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	1	0	5	0	+5	7
Czech Republic	3	1	1	1	5	6	–1	4
Italy	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Russia	3	0	1	2	4	8	–4	1

Category 6: Seemingly Random Chaos

This category accounts for all the left overs. We are talking about random patterns and oddities here. In other words, this category involves a combination of one of the above categories.

For the time being I can only think of one group that partially (though not completely) fits the bill:

In Group H 2010 FIFA World Cup, whilst Spain and Chile were the dominant teams, Spain somehow lost to Switzerland in its opening match. Spain were "lucky" that Switzerland only drew with Honduras and that Chile did not score more goals against Switzerland.

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Chile	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
Switzerland	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	4
Honduras	3	0	1	2	0	3	−3	1

It is probable that this would fit into the Flawed Duo variant mentioned in Category 1b).1 above, but it doesn't feel completely right categorising this group as such because the top team loses to the 3rd-ranked team.




So that's all for now.
Have I missed anything?
Perhaps more to come later...

Andre Lim

Top Trumps

It's popular amongst kids, especially in the UK. For adults, it probably suits as more of a collector's item rather than as a game.

It is the simplest game you will ever encounter, and chances are you already know how to play it. The emphasis is on theme; whilst enjoyment factor purely hinges on your appreciation, knowledge and how much you are a fan of that particular theme.

My sister refuses to even call it a game - and that's completely understandable.

Name: Top Trumps (1968!!)

Versions/Themes: There are HEAPS of versions. Almost as many versions to choose from as there are topics under the sun (of course, this is a bit of an exaggeration). Here are only a handful of examples:

English Premier League Sport Clubs (Eg. Manchester United, Arsenal - see below)
Top Gear: Cool Cars
Dinosaurs
Roald Dahl
Wonders of the World
Power Rangers (in Japan)
NBA

Lord of the Rings (see below); Harry Potter; Star Wars;
World Football Stars 2013/14
DC Universe: Heroes and Villains
Disney Pixar
The Simpsons Classic Collection (Earlier volumes are dearer because they are rarer)
Plop Trumps (A spin-off, based on animal poo - kind of cool, but may yuck people out - see below picture of tin)

There's even a Royal Wedding Special as below

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge feature in their own card game

Publisher: Winning Moves

Original Game Designer: "None" really - the concept is as old as card games itself.

Players: As many as you want but doesn't play that well with lots of people.

Age: 6+

Time to play: Very fast - can be as little as less than 10 minutes?

Price Range (AUD): $10-$40+, depending on how rare the set is you are after and whether you are paying shipping.

Availability:  Quite widely available online. A very limited range is offered in the ABC Shop at the time of writing (Deadly 60 and Dinosaurs from memory)

Genres: 

• Kids
• Card
• Collection/Special Interest/References/Thematic
• Classic

Andre Lim's Rating and Brief Summary:

5.0+ out of 10. (Barely Passes as a game, but I reserve my judgement on its "fun" factor as that truly depends on where your interests lie and which themed pack you purchase - See my Rating Scale)

"Highest card wins". That's basically all there is to Top Trumps.

However, the fun factor of this game purely hinges on your interests. It is mind blowing to think that there are so many different versions of the game that appeal to different interests. For example, if you like superheroes and supervillains, you will enjoy the Marvel or DC Universe packs which feature your favourite comic book characters.

If you enjoy sport, you might appreciate some of the teams or sport-specific packs, particularly for a certain year (further you go back, the more expensive), available such as these:

Examples of club football (or to use the allegedly dreaded expression, soccer) Top Trumps
Taken from http://cartophilic-info-exch.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/waddingtons-top-trumps-arsenal-chelsea.html

Other varieties that I have are below:

From left to right, starting from top row Top Trumps: ....
Deadly 60 (based on the UK TV series featuring dangerous animals)
Simpsons Volume 3 (featuring Apu and Lisa)
Lord of the Rings Collector's Tin (Featuring Bad guys and Good guys - see below pictures in the Rules)

DC Universe Heroes and Villains (Batman, Superman, Joker, Scarecrow etc)
Disney Pixar The Collection (featuring Woody, Buzz, Mike Wazowski etc - see below picutres in the Rules)
Plop Trumps (Cards based on real animal poo - whilst gross for many, it is pretty educational in a very strange sense)

Whatever your interest, there probably is a Top Trumps pack available. And that is the beauty of Top Trumps in a nutshell. The packs can be quite cheap if you buy them in-store, but here in Australia the variety isn't that great. Ordering online can be significantly costlier, with shipping adding on 100% to 200% more on price ($10 or $20 dollars more), which is probably not worth it.

I'll explain the rules below but it's simple enough - each of the cards contains statistics unique to a particular theme. A random player calls a statistic out (for example, number of goals scored; strength; temperature; courage). Everyone plays their top card (they don't seem to have a choice, they always play the top card - for example, if using the Man United deck: Player A might play Robin Van Persie; Player B plays Wayne Rooney; Player C plays Antonio Valencia). Then the numbers of that statistic are compared. Usually the highest number wins (so, for number of goals scored for that season, Van Persie would win based on the 2012-13 season).

At the risk of sounding repetitive, Top Trumps' fun factor purely derives from the theme of the cards you purchase. I find that, no matter how childish the gameplay is, if the topic interests everyone it will still be fun for all and stimulate much discussion.

The Good:

• Fun if you choose a topic/theme that interests you and the group - promotes discussion and interest in a particular franchise or topic
• Collectors' item makes for some degree of attachment to the cards
• Extremely easy to play, perhaps even too easy (can be a bad point)
• Good for kids
• Statistics on card genuinely match the topic concerned. For example, you can be sure that Gandalf, Aragorn and Legolas all have high scores for the statistics "Fighting skills" and "Destiny of the Ring" (the latter statistic reflective of their importance to the storyline/events/fate of Lord of the Rings)

The Bad:

• Childish game - gameplay has very little strategy; some will argue there is no discernible "gameplay" at all.
• Too many to collect

What makes this game fun? 

The ability to play a game relating to something that interests you - be it a movie, a sport, a comic book series or some other random topic - generates quite a lot of fun, even if it is mindless fun.

- This concludes the basic overview of the game.

If you are interested in reading about the components & rules to the game, please read on -

Rules & Components (Photos courtesy of my mum, Joanne)

Follow these easy steps:

1) Grab a deck of Top-trump cards

2) Distribute the cards as evenly as possible to all players. All players hold their cards face down, or if face up, hidden away from other players.

3) Randomly assign a player to be the starting player

4) Starting player calls out a statistic

5) Everyone takes the top card of their deck (without looking or choosing their card) and reveals their card. Highest number of that statistic usually wins, but occasionally, another victory condition has to be triggered (for example, earlier year)

6) Whoever wins takes all the cards placed down by everyone. (This rule can make the game finish very quickly, especially if a lot of people are playing). These cards get taken by the winner of that round and placed on the back portion of their deck face, hidden away from the view of others.

Example 1

Suppose North calls out the statistic "FIRST APPEARANCE" for Buzz Lightyear (1995)
West plays Nemo (2003)
East plays Alfredo Linguini from Ratatouille (2007)

North wins because they were the earliest first appearance. North takes Buzz, Nemo and Alfredo and places them to the bottom of their deck. North now calls a new statistic. This is repeated until someone loses all their cards.

6a) If there is a tie between two or more players, no one wins anything for that round. Those cards are then placed in the middle. A new round starts with a new statistic being called for a new card of the person who called the previous round. The winner of the next round gets to take all the cards in the middle (from the previous round) and the cards of that current round!

Example 2

Suppose East calls out the statistic "Destiny of the Ring" for Aragorn (a stupid move - enough characters have a high Destiny of the Ring stat, whereas Fighting Skills is unmatchable)  Aragorn's score is 5 - the highest value for this statistic
West plays Gandalf whose value is also 5
North plays Legolas whose value is 4

Because there is a tie, all three cards go to NO ONE. Under default rules, East calls out a new statistic for the next card, and whoever wins that call gets all the cards.

7) Whoever won that round round picks the next card from the top of their deck. They now look at it and get to call out any statistic they like in the next round.

8) Repeat until someone has no cards left. Whoever has the most cards when someone runs out of cards wins.


Variations?

To increase the fun/strategy/length of the game, perhaps the rules can be altered so that:

a) different people get to call out the statistic?
b) players get to choose which cards they can play?
c) not all cards are given to the winning player, just a few cards?

And that's it!!

Sultans of Karaya

A light, friendly, different and blindingly quick version of mafia (sort of, anyway). It is, quite surprisingly, very effective and a bang for one's buck.

Front cover holds a lot of meaning once you know the rules

Name: Sultans of Karaya (2011)

Publisher: MJ Games (in the US - Asmodee; but there are other publishers as well)

Designer: Alex Weldon (Illustration by Terry Michaux and Alex Weldon)

Players: 5 to 15!!! (but I highly doubt this plays well with more than 8 people; or at the very least, it's far more challenging with more than 8 people!)

Age: 12+

Time to play: 45 minutes +

Price Range (AUD): $13.95 to $22, though on ebay or other sites it may be about $45+ when shipping is included. The game is tiny so is probably not worth paying more than $15.

Availability:  Because this appears to be a relatively lesser-known publisher it seems to be hard to find.

Genres: 

• Mafia/Hidden Identity
• Social Deduction
• Some degree of bluffing

Andre Lim's Rating and Brief Summary:

6.9+* out of 10. (Decent to possibly borderline Great; the latter rating occurs only if the game is played with the right numbers of people - see my Rating Scale)

This is a pretty good game. There are plenty of positive things to say about it.

First, the most attractive element of this game is the fact that it plays very fast, and has several rounds. One other unique feature of this game is that, unlike other mafia games, you constantly change roles and identities and you (eventually) even get to see who everyone is.

Third, there are three teams involved in this game: The Loyalists (who are loyal to the Sultan - ie. the good guys), The Rebels (the bad guys) and the Neutrals. Neutral characters are on no one's side at the start but they can turn sides easily depending on what they do. See rules for further clarification.

Fourth, Sultans plays incredibly cleanly and is relatively simple to follow in terms of your game turn. On your turn you have one of three choices: peek at someone's identity/card, swap identities (cards) or perform a special ability. That's it.

However, one downside is that, from the perspective of a non-gamer, this game plays poorly in large groups. The only reason for this is because there is a lot of memory work involved in this game: hence, it becomes difficult to keep track of who everyone is where there are more than 7 players, and it becomes almost impossible to play the game with 10 or more players.

That being said, large-group games can most certainly still be done - it will just take a rather committed, willing and open-minded group. This point about it not playing well with large groups would apply mainly to those with a bad memory (like myself, to some extent), those who don't enjoy much of a challenge or those who aren't particularly into games.

*September and July 2014: Revised down from 8.25+. This game is too heavily biased towards the bad guys in small groups. With 5-6 players, when I play with my friends we find that the bad guys lose significantly more often than the good guys. The chances of calling a revolution with the slaves OR that the sultan is vulnerable to a kill from the assassin (after he reveals himself for the Loyalist's victory condition) is significantly high. When the group gets too big however (perhaps with 9 players in the group or above), the game is hard to play because it requires everyone to possess fantastic memories. The game requires the right balance of people - as for what that is, I'm not so sure. Perhaps 7 to 8 players fits the bill. With this number, the game can be really fun. However, it's a real shame that the quality of the game is significantly affected by the number of players playing, especially when it proclaims to play 5 to 15 players. That is why I have decided to revise its score downwards. The game has got a lot of things right though; perhaps the execution isn't completely there though. Game mechanics are simple and good in that sense but there isn't much meat in them. But it certainly is a bang for one's buck.

The Good:

• This game will keep you guessing. There is plenty of strategy and options involved with gameplay.
• Victory conditions are quite interesting and unique
• Games are very quick and relatively clean
• After first few playthroughs, rules are easy to remember
• Quite cheap in terms of price
• Because you play many rounds and score points for each round, there is an opportunity to experiment with many different scenarios. The game (in a sense, but not necessarily) rewards the person who plays consistently and wins with different team members.

The Bad:

• Plays "poorly" with large numbers of people (probably starts to get "bad" where more than 7 or 8 people play, in the sense of being difficult to newcomers, confusing and a memory-stretcher) - the exception is if your game group has a very very very good memory and does not mind a challenge.
• As alluded to above, those who have a bad memory will resent this game
• May be hard to grasp some of the victory conditions and character abilities when first played.
• Player elimination - but this is a minor problem because many rounds are played and each round doesn't take long.
• Game may, at times, appear to be imbalanced or favouring one side (especially if there are too many guards)
• From my experience, bad guys probably win more often with 5-6 players.
• It's certainly no The Resistance: Avalon, but what game is?

What makes this game fun? 

If you like hidden identity or social deduction (mafia) games, and want to experience a quick and interesting version of it, try this.

- This concludes the basic overview of the game.

If you are interested in reading about the components & rules to the game, please read on -

Rules & Components (Photos courtesy of my mum, Joanne)

There is not much to show here by way of pictures as the game has a dearth of components (not that it really needs any more).

Set-up

Everyone sits in a circle. The cards (usually N+1 cards, N being the number of players playing) are shuffled. Everyone gets a role card face down. The extra role card is placed in the middle.

What a 5 player game looks like.

The types and numbers of roles present depends on the number of players present.

For example, in a 7 player game this is the set-up:

1 Sultan
1 Guard
1 Assassin
3 Slaves
2 Neutrals

[I will explain what these are under Special Character Actions]

On your turn...

You may perform ONLY ONE of three actions:

1) PEEK at someone's card
2) SWAP cards with someone else
3) Perform a special character action [at the cost of REVEALING YOUR IDENTITY]

Note that, for Action 2), you cannot swap with a person who is already "revealed" (this means their card is face up, usually because they performed a special character action). However, a person who is revealed may choose to "hide" - which means that everyone else must close their eyes and they will swap with someone else whose identity is unknown (this also means that they may choose to not even swap with anyone else and may, for example, make noises pretending that they have swapped with someone else)

Special Character Actions: Explaining the Roles and Sides

Now I explain what each character does.
Note that I have not played or completely understood the implications of all the neutral characters so bear with me here.

The 8 different types of characters that exist in the game
Good guys are Blue (Loyalists)
Bad guys are Red (Rebels)
Green guys are Neutrals (No one's side - can change)

I find it easier, and more intuitive, to explain what the Bad Guys do first.

Bad Guys (Rebels)

The bad guys are trying to overthrow the current government powers above them. They can do this via one of these two ways:

1) Kill the Sultan (Assassin's Special Action) - this is the easiest goal to remember
2) Perform a revolution (Slave's Special Action) - this means that 3 slaves must be sitting next to each other in a row and they must all reveal themselves once a slave has called for a revolution.


Rebel Abilities

Assassin:

i) Reveal yourself to kill a target. This removes the target permanently from the game UNLESS a guard interferes (see below)

Slave (has two abilities):

i) Call for revolution. When a revolution is called, the slave reveals themselves. Other fellow slaves may CHOOSE to reveal themselves (if they are confident or think they can get three slaves in a row). If three slaves reveal themselves and they are sitting all in a row (ie. adjacent or next to each other), then the Rebels win. Of course, this is risky because if no one follows your call for revolution (because they aren't sitting next to you) you might risk being killed by the Sultan or otherwise detained/captured.

ii) JOIN revolution: When another slave calls a revolution, you may choose to join the revolution by revealing yourself. Only do this if you are next to another revealed slave and think there is a good chance of having three slaves in a row.

Good Guys (Loyalists)

The Loyalists wish to retain power via one of these two ways:

1) Neutralise the Bad Guys' methods of winning. Ie. Kill off all Assassins AND leave only 2 slaves or less alive. This is intuitive. It prevents the three-in-a-row victory condition and the kill-the-sultan victory condition.

2) "Proclamation": I made this term up, but the Loyalists win if a) the Sultan proclaims the throne by revealing their identity at any time (or if their identity is revealed for any other reason) AND b) the Sultan survives one whole round of turns (ie. the Sultan makes it back alive to the start of the player's turn when the Sultan was first revealed)

The Sultan has just revealed himself. A white token is placed there to indicate the "starting point" of the victory condition. If everyone else (after the person who has the white token) takes their turn once and it reaches the white token again, the Loyalists win.

At this stage the Rebel team has to ensure that the Assassin is in a good position to kill the Sultan (by ensuring the Assassin isn't next to a guard) OR they must be ready to perform a Slave revolution.

Loyalist Abilities

Sultan: Has quite a number of abilities

i) Claim the throne: Can reveal himself at any time to start the "timer" on Victory Condition 2)

ii) Execute: Can kill any one KNOWN rebel. Cannot kill hidden players

iii) Avoid Detention: If a guard accidentally detains the Sultan, the Sultan can avoid detention by revealing themselves

(This too also triggers the Victory Condition 2 timer, even if it isn't the Sultan's turn!! In this case, the white token will be placed on the guard that forced the Sultan to reveal themselves - the white token symbolises the "start" and "end" of how long the Sultan must survive for if the Loyalists are to win: in other words, the Sultan must survive one whole round of turns and be alive at the start of the player-with-the-white-token's turn.)

Guard: Has two abilities, one automatic and one that must be chosen

i) Prevent assassination attempt (automatic, but you must reveal yourself to activate it): If you are ADJACENT to the TARGET of an assassination OR ADJACENT to the ASSASSIN, you not only STOP the attack, but you kill the assassin in the process. This is a very powerful automatic ability. You must reveal yourself though obviously to do this.

ii) Detain: Can detain anyone. When someone is detained, a grey counter is placed on them and it means they skip only one of their turns. (It is unclear to me whether a slave can still react to a call for revolution - would it not defeat the purpose of this ability if a slave could still react to a call for revolution? Or does the ability still have use because it prevents a call for, but not the act of joining, revolution?)


Neutral Characters

Belly Dancer:

When hidden, with the loyalists. When revealed, with the rebels. This is because when she reveals herself, she dances: This causes guards adjacent to the belly dancer to be vulnerable: such guards cannot use their detain or "prevent assassination" ability!

Slave Driver:

If revealed, he is with the Loyalists. This is because when he reveals himself he may perform two actions involving capturing slaves:

i) Capture: The slave driver may capture any KNOWN/REVEALED slave then END his turn (compare this with the hunt ability). This involves placing a black token on that slave. So long as the black token is there, the slave cannot take their turn nor can they join a revolution.

ii) HUNT: The slave driver may take a GUESS as to whether a person is a slave. If they are a slave, he captures them with a black token (same rules apply as above under capture) and then gets to make ANOTHER GUESS. This keeps going until he guesses wrong.

If hidden, with the bad guys because he isn't capturing slaves.

Fortune Teller:

Can look at 3 player's identities and make a prediction as to who will win. If they are right, they win points. If they lose, no points. If it comes to their turn again and no one has won, they must hide.

The Vizier (complicated - I've never played with this guy, properly anyway):

Manipulate: Declares which team he intends to support (by grabbing a blue or red token, blue for the good guys, red for the bad guys - shares their victory if correct). Then he reveals a hidden player and forces them to use their Special Character Action immediately (by placing a yellow token - the forced player still chooses how they use their ability). This same player that is the victim to the Vizier's manipulation may not use their action again on their next turn, but may do so after that turn.

However, if hidden (chooses not to manipulate), he wins if he's next to a player who has won two points.

Scoring at the end of a round..

You win 1 point if you are on the winning team, even if dead.

You win 2 points if you are on the winning team, revealed yourself and you made an active contribution to your team's success. This rule is vague. I assume it means you actually took an action at the very least -- but how does one measure whether this contributed to your team's success?

I find it hard to enforce this rule about 2 points.

You can play as many rounds as you like - highest scoring person wins.