Published by FX Schmid
Designed by Klaus Kreowski
Translation by Julian Simpson (simpsonnj@jas-net.de)
Posted 10/18/98
A game by Klaus Kreowski, comprising 88 cards, for 3 - 8 players from age 8.
In the underworld there is a big battle underway for Big Max's inheritance. One of the master thieves needs to acquire five suitcases, each containing a million pounds, to resolve the dispute. The players take on the role of gang leaders who try to bring the underworld under their control. Each use special thieves to steal money and card-sharps to remove cards from their opponents' hands. Gunmen are also available to prevent their opponents from doing the same.
The aim of the game is to be the first gang member to display 5 suitcases.
The Master Thief: Marked with a blue 10 this is the highest defensive card. It is needed, along with 5 million pounds gathered during the game, to win.
The Henchmen: Marked with blue values of 2, 3, 4 and 6 these cards represent the gang leaders' henchmen who defend the cash held against opponents' thieves.
The Thieves: Marked in red with values of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 these cards represent the thieves that try to steal money from the other players.
The Card-Sharp: This card is used to take a card from an opponent's hand.
The Gunmen: This card cannot be overcome by an opponent's thief. A gunman compels a thief to work against his original employer.
The Suitcases: These cards represent the bags, containing a million pounds each, which all the players are trying to get their hands on. Five of them are sufficient to win the game.
The cards are shuffled and dealt out so that each player receives six cards. The remaining cards are left face down in the middle of the table. Each player takes it in turn to play a card from his hand. Once he has played a card he replaces it immediately with one drawn from the stock. A player has a choice of 4 actions:
Action 1: The player places a card (for example a henchman or thief card of low value) next to the stack of cards in the middle of the table. This is a means of discarding cards that are not required. There is no subsequent action and it is then the next player's turn to go.
Action 2: A player can place a suitcase card on display in front of himself. It is not possible to put more than five out. There is no subsequent action and it is then the next player's turn to go.
Action 3: A player challenges another player by putting a thief card in front of him. A challenged player must act immediately. There are four situations/responses:
a. The thief is countered immediately by a henchman card of the same, or higher, value. The challenge has failed. Both cards are discarded.
b. A gunman card is placed under the thief card and both are sent back to the original challenger. He must reply to this himself with one of the actions given at a, b, c or d.
c. The player cannot defend against the attack and has a suitcase in front of him. The challenger is successful, take the suitcase card and lays it in front of himself immediately. The thief card is then discarded.
d. The player cannot defend against the challenger and does not have a suitcase card in front of him. The thief remains where it is until the situation is resolved by one of the following actions during a later turn.
The challenged player can play a sufficiently strong henchman to counter the thief. Both cards are then discarded.
He challenges a player with one of his own thieves, steals a suitcase and then gives it up to the thief challenging him.
He discards a card and hopes that he draws a better card from the pile.
Note that a player cannot lay down a suitcase if there is a thief challenging him.
Action 4: A player places a card-sharp card face up in front of an opponent and takes one card, unseen, from the opponent's hand. As a result of this action the challenger does not draw a card from the pile for he already has 6 cards. The player losing the card can replace it with. The card-sharp card is then discarded.
Each player may only play one card per turn. He may not lay more than one suitcase down at a time nor may he add two or more henchmen together to counter a thief.
All players must refill their hand to a total of 6 after each play. This applies to a challenged player as well as the challenger. If the pile of cards becomes exhausted then it is reshuffled and reactivated.
Subsequent actions do not count as a separate turn. For example play order is A, B, C etc. 'A' chooses to challenge 'B' with a thief. As a subsequent action 'B' defends against it. The subsequent action is now over and it is 'B's turn to go.
As soon as a player has five suitcase laid out in front of him with a master thief (of value 10) he has won the game.