Auction

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3+

• A Priority deck for each player (a number of numbered cards, as many as there are players in the game). These cards have symbols on their backs matching the representative board of each player.
  • These cards do not represent how much a player is bidding, but instead symbolise the priority their representative gives in outbidding the other representatives. Therefore playing these cards show who a player wants most to lose the bidding.
• A representative deck (one of each colour in the game)
• A known bidder deck for each player (one of each symbol in the game)
• An item deck of objects to bid on. (as many cards as there are players, each card being the sum of two lower cards)

• A representative board for each play (with a unique symbol on each board, a space for their own representative card and spaces of each colour suitable for the bid cards)
• A final priority board for tallying bidding priorities.

1. Each player is given a board and one card from the representative deck. The card is kept secret and put to on their board. This is the colour of their representative.
2. Each player secretly looks at the representative card of the player to their right. This represents background research they have done before the auction.
3. Each player receives their Priority deck which contains cards numbered from 1 to the number of players in the game.
4. The item deck contains the following cards-

   Players	Item Values								Number of Rounds in a game
   	1	2	3	5	8	13	21	Total
   3	3	1						5	4
   4	3	2	1					10	6
   5	2	3	2	1				19	8
   6	2	2	3	2	1			33	10
   7	2	2	2	3	2	1		56	12
   8	2	2	2	2	3	2	1	93	14

5. Shuffle the item deck and turn the top card face up. This is the item being bid on for this round.
   • If the card is the highest value item, reshuffle until the card drawn isn't.
6. The player to the left of the dealer is the first player.

The objective of the game is to obtain the most valuable items. This usually means you need to work out what items are left in the auction, and which representative belongs to which player. Which player is represented by which colour will be discovered fairly early in the game, when they win an auction - the item goes to that player and their representative colour is revealed. Hence it may not be worth winning initial low value items if anonymity needs to be retained.

• A round in the game consists of each player taking a turn in clockwise order until all players pass (so every player is likely to have several turns in a round).
  • The first player for the next round is the player to the left of the last round's first player.
• A player may do one of 3 actions in their turn:-
  • Play a priority card face down on their board on a colour.
  • Move a priority card from one colour to another colour on their board.
  • Pass for the remainder of this round, taking no further turns until the round finishes.
• Players may make any deals during a round they wish.
  • Deals are not binding.
  • Cards may never be shown to other players. If a player makes a deal with another on what card they will play for a particular colour - it will remain unknown until the round ends and the cards are all tallied.
• Priority cards may never be removed from boards until they are tallied at the end of the round.

• After everyone has passed, the round ends and bidding priorities are counted.
• Each player places the cards on their boards onto the central tally board according to the colour.
• The first player counts the priorities for each colour from the central board.
• The colour with the lowest count wins the bid.
  • If there is more than one player with the lowest count, the auction does not meet the reserve price and the item is discarded for the remainder of the game.
• The player with the winning colour takes the item, places it face up in front of them so all items they own are visible, and turns over their representative card - all players now know what colour their representative is.
• All players receive their priority cards back for the next round.
• The next item card is turned face up.

The game ends when there are no more items left to auction.

• Count the points for each player's items.
• The highest point value wins.
  • If two or more players have the same highest value, then the next highest total wins.