Scandinavia and the World: A Heap of Trouble
Print and Playtest Rules
Card Types
Besides the special cards (“Leadership” “Lead Seeker” and “Nothing”) there are three types of card:
Objects depict and object on the front, showing its value (top left) and characters who want it
(surrounding image) as well as some flavour text with no game effect. The back of an object depicts
just its value (number of stacks of coins).
Events depict a non-country character on the front, along with their game effect. The back of an
event shows a red exclamation point.
Characters show their name (top), desires (below picture) and special ability (text box). If a text box
is shaded it indicates an ongoing ability, otherwise it is a one-off ability. The character cards are all
the same on the back.
Setup
Shuffle the character cards together in a face down deck.
Shuffle the objects and events cards together into a face down deck. Cut the deck and deal three
cards to each player.
Give each player a “nothing” card, remove the rest from play.
Place the “leadership” card in the middle of the table
Give the player with the fewest coins the “lead seeker” card. Treat events as being worth five coins
for this purpose. In the event of a tie give the lead seeker card to the player with the coolest hair.
Objective
The objective is to obtain three satisfied characters. The first player to do this wins immediately.
Play
A turn consists of the following phases
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Lead seeker draws and distributes wealth
Reveal characters
Bid
Take characters and use abilities
Pass on lead seeker card
Draw and Distribute Wealth
The lead seeker does the following:
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Draw one object per player (including yourself)
Look only at the back (value of these objects)
Give one object to each player
Reveal Characters
The lead seeker does the following:
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
Draw one character for each other player (not including yourself)
Place them in the middle of the table with “Leadership”
Bid
Each player does the following:
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Take one or more cards from your hand and place them face down on the table.
Cover them with your hand until all players have bid.
Reveal bids simultaneously.
Take Characters and Use Abilities
The player who made the largest bid does the following:
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Discard your bid.
Choose a card from the middle and place it face up in front of you on the table.
If you took a character with a white box (one-shot) ability, apply the effects of that ability
immediately.
If you bid just a “nothing” card return it to your hand. If it was the only card that you bid
then draw the top card of the items deck and add it to your hand.
Then the player with the next largest bid repeats these same steps. This continues until all players
have acted.
Pass on Lead Seeker card
The player who selected “Leadership” does the following:
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
Take the Lead Seeker card from its current owner (this may be yourself)
Place the Leadership card back in the middle of the table.
This ends the turn. Play continues until one player has three satisfied characters.
Satisfying Characters
A character is satisfied if any cards are underneath them.
If you have a character in front of you and they are not satisfied and you have an object that they
want in your hand you must immediately place that card underneath them. If they are already
satisfied then you may choose not to place a second object underneath them.
The sole exception to this rule is that it is not possible to satisfy a character between choosing them
and executing any ability that explicitly takes effect “when you gain” that character.
Once a character is satisfied any objects underneath them move with them. If they are stolen they
remain satisfied and take their objects with them. If they are discarded then their objects are also
discarded. If they need to be randomised in some fashion, randomise just the character cards and
then place the objects with them wherever they end up.
Understanding Abilities
If a card is “removed” or “discarded” place it into a discard pile with all other cards of that type
(treat objects and events as one type for this purpose). If either deck runs out shuffle the discard pile
to form a new deck.
Your “nothing” card is not considered an object. It may not be lost, stolen, discarded, traded or used
or targeted by any ability. If somehow lose it, return it to your hand.
If a character is “stolen” or “given” it moves from being in front of one player to being in front of
another player. That player does not get to activate its one-off ability again, but can benefit from an
ongoing ability. You may never have a character card in your hand.
If you are stealing or taking coins, you choose one or more cards to take with a total value less than
or equal to the target value. You do not get to look to see which objects the coins represent until
after you have taken them.
If you are giving or paying coins, you choose one or more cards with a total value of greater than or
equal to the target value.