Mascarade (board game)
| Designers | Bruno Faidutti |
|---|---|
| Illustrators | Jérémy Masson |
| Publishers | Repos Production |
| Players | 2 to 13 |
| Playing time | 25 minutes |
| Age range | 10 years and up |
Mascarade is a 2013 card game by French game designer Bruno Faidutti.
Each player starts with 6 coins, and is dealt a character (initially face up, but concealed during game play). In each turn a player has three possible actions: to look at their character, to swap (or not) their character with another player, or to announce their character. When doing a swap, the player puts both cards under the table, face down, then returns them without saying which is which. When they announce a character, if unchallenged, they can perform the power associated with that character; if one or more other players also claims to be that character, then all involved players reveal their character, the true one (if any) uses the power, and then all false ones pay a coin to the courthouse as a fine. The first player to get 13 coins (or the richest player when somebody goes bankrupt) is the winner.
If a player's character was revealed in the previous turn, or if there have not yet been four turns played, then the player must do the swap (or not) action.
The base game defines 13 characters (counting Peasant twice):
- Bishop: takes two coins from the richest opponent
- Cheat: wins with 10 coins
- Fool: gains one coin and swaps two other cards
- Inquisitor: takes 4 coins from a player that doesn't know their character
- Judge: takes all coins from the courthouse
- King: gains 3 coins
- Peasant (2 copies): gains 1 coin, or 2 if both peasants are revealed
- Queen: gains 2 coins
- Spy: looks at their card and another one, then swaps them
- Thief: takes 1 coin from his two neighbors
- Widow: gains enough coins to total 10
- Witch: may exchange fortunes with another player
An expansion to the game adds 12 new ones:
- Actress: uses the power of the last played character
- Alchemist: players rotate their fortunes left or right
- Beggar: takes one coin from each richer player, in sequence
- Courtesan: takes 3 coins from player on her right, if male
- Damned: never announced; is eliminated if revealed
- Gambler: gains 1-3 coins, or another player does if they guess the number
- Necromancer: uses a random character
- Patron: gains 3 coins; neighbors gain 1
- Princess: gains 2 coins; chooses a player to reveal card without seeing it
- Puppet master: takes 1 coin from two players, who then change seats
- Sage: gains 1 coin and looks at 2 cards
- Usurper: uses another character if he guesses it
In the original release, "Beggar" was available as a user-defined character (no ability defined by the game author). In the expansion, "Beggar" was given an ability and "Bear Tamer" was introduced as a new blank card.
The game can be played by up to 13 people, with a different combination of characters in every game. The judge must always be present because he collects the fines of those who claim to be a character that they are not, and at least a third of the characters must add money to the game.
External links
- Mascarade at Bruno Faidutti's Website