Knock Out

Game invented by Wolfgang Panning.
Published by TM Spiele.
Copyright 1994, Wolfgang Panning.
Translated by Mike Schloth (mrmikes@aol.com).

Game Idea

You are a manager of a boxing club of two promising fighters. If they fight well they will earn big prize money and be able to charge a bigger fee just to show up for a fight (start money). Clever betting will also line your pockets with cash. Strategy, tactics, bluff, and luck will allow you to pull in the most money and win the game. The basic game represents one boxing season. A season is made up of several fights. The players get to challenge each others boxers and everyone is allowed to bet on the results.

Components

The Game Board

This shows the boxing ring. In the Basic Game both fighters will start on the larger circles (marked "6/8"). In the Professional Game the boxers may start on different circles. Only in the Professional Game do the numbers in the circles have any meaning.

The Boxer Cards

There are 10 different boxers. For each game color there is a heavyweight and a lightweight boxer. Each boxer is represented by 3 cards. One shows him as a Champion (symbol: Ch), one shows him as a Professional (symbol: P), and the third shows him as an Amateur (symbol: A). The Heavyweights get start money of: $10,000 for a Champion, $8,000 for a Professional, and $6,000 for an Amateur. The lightweights get start money of: $8,000 for a Champion, $6,000 for a Professional, and $6,000 for an Amateur. For the rest of the rules, if the term "boxer" is used then all three cards are being referred to.

Preparation

The Boxing Season

The season consists of several fights. The season is over when no one can make a legal challenge. Each fight is divided into 6 phases:

  1. The Challenge
  2. Training
  3. Placing Bets
  4. The Fight
  5. The Victory Celebration
  6. The Payoffs

1. The Challenge

In turn, each player will be the Challenger.

The Challenger may demand to know how many Fight cards a player is holding. They may not ask what they are.

Conditions For The Challenge

Neither the Challenger nor the challenged boxer may have fought in the last fight (at the start no one has fought so all are eligible in this respect. After the first fight, the winner is marked with the Trophy and the loser is marked with the Steak).

The challenged boxer (the Defender) must get the same or higher amount of Start Money as the Challenger.

Both the Challenger and the Defender must have at least 3 Fight cards left.

2. Training

Both managers of the fighting boxers look through their fight cards. At the start of the game everyone will have 12. As they are used they are discarded. You must have at least 3 to fight.

Each manager selects 4 Fight cards to represent his boxer's training. 3 will be used in the upcoming fight (1 per round). Less than 3 may be used if there is an early Knock Out (see below).

The remaining Fight cards are set aside for future fights. Usually your 4th fight (if you get one) will force you to send your boxer into the Ring with only 3 cards.

3. Placing Bets

I'll get back to this.

4. The Fight

The Challenger takes the RED Boxer pawn and places it on the large space marked "6/8".

The Defender takes the BLUE boxer pawn and places it on the other space marked "6/8".

DING DING! FIRST ROUND!: In each round each manager selects one of his Fight cards (among those chosen in 2. Training) and places it face down on the Table.

Simultaneously, both managers reveal their cards.

After the Fight cards are revealed and resolved, they are removed from the game.

Fight Card Resolution:

The fight ends after 3 rounds through:

Defeated By Points
After 3 rounds the loser is the boxer who is furthest from his Start Space.

If both are equally distant from their Start Spaces, then the Challenger loses (tie goes to the Defender).

If in any round a boxer moves onto the "k.o." space, that boxer immediately loses.

Defeated By K.O.
Each player puts his unused Fight cards back into their unused Fight card deck. They may be used in a later fight. This is the only way that a player may avoid using 3 cards in a fight. In the Basic game you can get a K.O in 2 rounds, in the Professional Game its is possible to do it in 1 Round.

Example: Robin Zorres challenges Arnold Blackndecker:

Round 1
Zorres plays 4. Blackndecker plays 2. the blue pawn of the Defender Blackendecker is moved 2 spaces towards the "k.o.".
Round 2
Zorres plays 5. Blackndecker plays 1. Blackndecker's left hook came outta nowhere and nailed Zorres. The red pawn of the Challenger Zorres reels 4 spaces towards the "k.o.".
Round 3
Zorres plays 4. Blackndecker plays 5. The red pawn is moved onto the "k.o." space and Zorres loses by K.O.

If in Round 3 Zorres had played a 4 and Blackndecker had played a 2, then Zorres would still have lost. When after 3 rounds both boxers are the same distance from their starting places the Challenger loses.

5. The Victory Celebration

The winner receives double his Start Money. The loser receives his Start Money as printed.

The winner moves up a level (Example: Pro to Champion) . The loser moves down a level (example: Pro to Amateur).

The players rearrange their boxer cards so that their new status is on top.

You can't go higher than Champion (in the Basic Game). You can't go lower than Amateur (in either game).

If a boxer loses by K.O., his career is over and he is now removed from the game.

The winner is marked with the Trophy--he can't fight in the next fight.

The loser is marked with the Steak--he can't fight in the next fight.

6. Paying Off the Bets

I'll get back to this later.

End of the Fight/ Next Fight...

The Challenger and the Defender are returned to their respective managers with their new level on top.

Now the Challenger player passes the RED Betting Table to the player on his left. That player must use one of his boxers to make the next Challenge. If that player cannot make a legal challenge, then the RED Betting Table keeps passing clockwise until a player can make a legal challenge. If no one can make a legal challenge then the season and the game is over.

Game Over

As soon as no player can make a legal challenge, the game is over. The player who owns the boxer pulling in the highest Start Money wins the money in the BONUS space. In case of ties, divide the BONUS money among the players that own boxers with the highest Start Money.

A Question From The Translator

What if three boxers have tied for highest Start Money and 2 of the boxers are owned by the same player. For instance, the highest Start money could be $10,000 and one player could have a Professional Heavyweight and a Champion Lightweight. Do the 2 players divide the Bonus money 50/50 or should the player with 2 qualifying boxers receive 2/3rds of the BONUS?

For each unused Fight card, a player receives $5,000 from the bank. Therefore, it is important to spread the challenges as evenly as possible among all of the players.

Each IOU must be paid off. The player with the most money wins.

Betting

The following will be explained using the RED (Challenger) Betting Table but applies to the BLUE (Defender) Betting Table as well.

Placing the Bets

You use your Betting Chips to place bets. 8 different bets (4 on each Betting Table) may be "Offered" (triangles). An "Offered" bet may be "Accepted" (Circle at the end of the triangle).

Offering a Bet

If you believe that the Challenger (RED) will win, then you should place a chip on one of the bet offerings (triangles) on the RED Betting Table.

Accepting a Bet

If you believe that the Challenger will lose, then you may accept any one of the offered bets (if any) on the Challenger's (RED) Betting Table.

Before a bet can be ACCEPTED (Circle) it must first be OFFERED (triangle).

Alternatively, you can bet against the Challenger by betting for the Defender and placing a Betting Chip on one of the Bet Offerings (triangles) of the Defender's (BLUE) Betting Table.

The Types of Bet

There are 3 ways to bet:

Simple Win
Place a betting chip with the blank side up.

Doubled
Place the chip with the "x2" side up. You will win (or lose) double the amount of the bet printed on the Betting table.

K.O. Bet
Place the chip with the "k.o." side face up. You are betting that the boxer will win by Knock Out. You will win (or lose) triple the amount printed on the Betting Table.

Remember: A bet may be ACCEPTED (circle) only after it has been OFFERED (triangle). And when you accept a "Doubled" or a "k.o." bet you too will win or lose double or triple the printed value of the offered bet.

The Betting Order

After the Challenger and the Defender have chosen their Fight cards (2. Training) everyone gets 3 chances to place 3 bets.

First Chance
The Challenger and the Defender MUST place bets they may not pass. The Challenger places the first bet and the Defender places the second bet. Then the first player to the left of the Challenger who has not yet placed a bet gets his First Chance to bet. this continues clockwise until everyone has had their First Chance to bet.

Note: Only the Challenger and the Defender are not allowed to pass their First Chance to bet. All other players may bet or pass. To pass you place a chip on the PASS space.

Second and Third Chance
The Challenger begins the Second and the Third Chances to bet. Then the Chance to bet passes to the person on his left and so on until all have had their Second Chance to bet and then (starting with the Challenger again) their Third Chance to bet. Note that the Defender does not bet second in the Second and Third Chances (unless he is sitting to the Challengers left of course). Also, in the Second and the third Chances to bet, neither the Challenger nor the Defender are forced to bet. They may now pass.

After all players have had their Third Chance to bet and all Betting Chips are either on the 2 Betting Tables or on the PASS space, the fight begins.

Special

  1. You are allowed to accepted a bet that you yourself offered. The bet is then a wash-- you will neither win nor lose anything. This can be a bluffing tactic but if someone else accepts the bet before you get your next chance to place a bet then one way or another the bet will have a payoff.
  2. If you have made a bet with the chip that has the "k.o." on the other side and you now want to make offer a bet and make it a "k.o." bet, then replacing the simple bet chip with another chip is allowed as long as the simple bet stays a simple bet. You can't change it to a Doubled bet. the same applies if you have played both "x2" chips (and at least one of them is face down) and you want to make your last bet a Doubled bet.

NOTE: if you accept a "Doubled' or a "k.o." bet you do not have to place a "x2' or a "k.o." chip onto the corresponding acceptance circle. The type of bet is determined by whoever placed the offering chip. You are simply accepting what they are offering and may place any chip on the circle face down.

The Payoff

Two Possibilities:

bets between two players
One person offered a bet (triangle) and another player has accepted the bet (corresponding circle). The loser pays the winner the printed value of the bet: x1 for a simple bet x2 for a Doubled bet x3 for a "k.o." bet.
bets between a player and the bank
Here a player has offered a bet (triangle) and no one has accepted the bet (the corresponding circle is empty).
The player wins
The bank pays only HALF of the total winnings.
The player loses
The player pays the ALL of the loss into the BONUS space.

After the payoffs, everyone gets their Betting Chips back.

Busted

If a player cannot meet his financial obligations, then he receives $50,000 and an IOU from the bank.

The Pro Rules

New Bits

New Rules

These are in addition to the Basic Game rules.

Different Start Positions

The Start Money printed on the Boxer Cards determines where that boxer will start in a fight.

The Lightweight boxers start on space "4" if an Amateur ($4,000 Start Money) or on the "6/8" if a Pro or a Champion ($6,000 / $8,000 Start Money).

The heavyweight boxers start on space "6/8" if an Amateur or a Pro ($6,000 / $8,000 Start Money) or on the "10" if a Champion ($10,000 Start Money.

At the start of a fight determine from which space each boxer should start and mark each start space with the Start Space discs.

If after 3 rounds neither boxer has reached the k.o. space, then the boxer furthest from his own Start Space disc loses. As in the Basic game, if both boxers are the same distance from their Start Space discs then the Challenger loses.

The Second Boxing Season

There are 2 boxing Seasons in the Professional Game.

  1. At the end of the First Season:
  2. preparation for the Second Season:

Changes to Game Play

All of the Basic game rules apply with the following additions:

Title Fights

If one or more Superchampions or World Champions fight, then the fight is a Title Fight.

The winner of a fight between 2 Superchampions becomes a World Champion. The winner gives up his Superchampion marker and takes a World master marker.

If a Superchampion beats a World Champion, then the Superchampion becomes a World master.

The Start Money of a World Champion is tripled. A lightweight World master gets at least $24,000 to fight. A Heavyweight World Master gets at least $30,000 to fight.

Superchampions and World Champions can make challenges and they can be challenged. However, as in the Basic game you may only challenge those boxers that are paid an equal or greater amount of Start Money to fight.

An additional restriction on making a challenge: Amateurs cannot challenge Superchampions or World Champions.

If a titled boxer is defeated by a non-titled boxer (Pro or Champion), then the non-titled boxer wins the title. If the non-titled boxer was a Pro, then he is also promoted to the Champion rank.

For All Title Fights:

If the Title holder wins then he maintains his title or wins a higher title if he fought against a boxer with a higher title.

If a Title holder loses, then he loses his title to his opponent and he is dropped to the Pro rank.

If a Title holder loses by a k.o. then he is out of the game.

NOTE: The higher Start Money in the Second Season leads to bigger prizes.

Example 1

If a World Champion heavyweight wins a fight, then he wins $60,000 in prize money:

Example 2

If the same World Champion loses to a Pro with Start money of $6,000, then he will still get $30,000 ($10,000 x 3 for having been the World Champion) while the winner will get "only" $12,000 ($6,000 x 2 for the victory). But in his next fight, the new World master will get at least $24,000 in Start Money ($8,000 (promoted to Champion) x 3 (the World Champion))

Game Over

The Player(s) who owns the most successful boxer (the most Start Money) will win the BONUS money. Usually this is a Heavyweight or a Lightweight World Champion. Again, ties will divide the BONUS money.

Each player receives $5,000 for each unused Fight Card.

Each player must pay off their IOUs.

Most Money Wins.

The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Ken Tidwell