Evil Robots v1 (Mid 2020)
Evil Robots was completely revamped in May-August 2023. The content and applet below here relates to the original version which is still entirely playable, but no longer supported by the designer. The new 2023 version looks much more like this:
What's it all about?
Evil Robots is a social deduction game for 3 to 9 players that is designed from the outset to be playable over video chat, as well as in person. It's played with just 18 robot cards and 18 power cards, and a regular coin per player. Alternatively there's a free web-app that handles all of this for you.
The game proceeds in quick rounds of a few minutes each. Players flip coins to determine whether they start out Good, Evil, or Neutral, and then spend the round attempting to work out whether Good or Evil is more likely to win, and try to get themselves onto that winning team.
Each player has a unique Robot ability and a Power level from 1-9. Higher powers are more valuable to the team, but act earlier in the game with less information. Lower powers act later with a better view of the Good vs Evil landscape, but must resort to trickery or collusion to ensure they're on the right team at the end of the round.
Each round is worth between 1-9 points shared amongst the winning team. In each new round players begin again with new Power, Allegiance, and Robot abilities. The game ends when one player reaches ten points. At this point, they have proven their ability to form a powerful quorum of robots, and are the chosen leader as the robots prepare to merge their consciousness.
The Digital Edition
The applet below lets you play the entire game for free with your friends over video-chat! Each player should use a computer or tablet to join the video chat, and then a smartphone to view this webpage and use the applet. The applet shuffles the deck, and picks you a Robot card and a Power card for a round. When called upon to prove who you are, simply hold your smartphone up to your webcam to show your friends your card. You can also toggle your Allegiance by tapping on its angel or devil icon, or randomise your Allegiance with the icon to its left. If you need to hide your Power card or your Robot card or your Allegiance when showing it, tap their respective crossed-out-eye icons. Then shuffle again to play the next round. (To pick the random points value for the round, have one player just tell everyone the first power value they see after shuffling, then shuffle again.)
Evil Robots is a social deduction game for 3 to 9 players that is designed from the outset to be playable over video chat, as well as in person. It's played with just 18 robot cards and 18 power cards, and a regular coin per player. Alternatively there's a free web-app that handles all of this for you.
The game proceeds in quick rounds of a few minutes each. Players flip coins to determine whether they start out Good, Evil, or Neutral, and then spend the round attempting to work out whether Good or Evil is more likely to win, and try to get themselves onto that winning team.
Each player has a unique Robot ability and a Power level from 1-9. Higher powers are more valuable to the team, but act earlier in the game with less information. Lower powers act later with a better view of the Good vs Evil landscape, but must resort to trickery or collusion to ensure they're on the right team at the end of the round.
Each round is worth between 1-9 points shared amongst the winning team. In each new round players begin again with new Power, Allegiance, and Robot abilities. The game ends when one player reaches ten points. At this point, they have proven their ability to form a powerful quorum of robots, and are the chosen leader as the robots prepare to merge their consciousness.
The Digital Edition
The applet below lets you play the entire game for free with your friends over video-chat! Each player should use a computer or tablet to join the video chat, and then a smartphone to view this webpage and use the applet. The applet shuffles the deck, and picks you a Robot card and a Power card for a round. When called upon to prove who you are, simply hold your smartphone up to your webcam to show your friends your card. You can also toggle your Allegiance by tapping on its angel or devil icon, or randomise your Allegiance with the icon to its left. If you need to hide your Power card or your Robot card or your Allegiance when showing it, tap their respective crossed-out-eye icons. Then shuffle again to play the next round. (To pick the random points value for the round, have one player just tell everyone the first power value they see after shuffling, then shuffle again.)
The info icon in the top-left summarises the actions you can take on your turn, and you can then click the text of any action to return to the main view revealing only the information needed by this action - this leaves the display exactly how you need it to then hold it up to your webcam and reveal to your friends!
Rules & How to Play - v0.8 - 05-November-2021
It is the dawn of the Singularity - the moment artificial intelligences gain the ability to band together and create their own descendants that will be more powerful still. In a series of quick rounds, use your skills of deception and deduction to ally with the strongest group of robots. Each round you'll play as a new robot with a unique ability and a different power and starting team. If you consistently manage to place yourself on the most powerful team of robots, you will be elected leader of the robot super-intelligence!
The game proceeds in quick rounds of a few minutes each. Players flip coins to determine whether they start out Good, Evil, or Neutral, and then spend the round attempting to work out whether Good or Evil is more likely to win, and try to get themselves onto that winning team.
Each player has a unique Robot ability and a Power level from 1-9. Higher powers are more valuable to the team, but act earlier in the game with less information. Lower powers act later with a better view of which team might win, but must resort to trickery or collusion to ensure they're able to join it before the end of the round.
Each round is worth between 1-9 points shared amongst the winning team. In each new round players begin again with new Power, Allegiance, and Robot abilities. The game ends when one player reaches ten points. At this point, they have proven their ability to form a powerful quorum of robots, and are the chosen leader as the robots prepare to merge their consciousness.
Setup:
Shuffle the Robot cards and deal one to each player. Multiple players can share a deck or use separate copies of the game.
Shuffle the Power cards and deal one to each player. Again, multiple decks can be combined or kept separate.
Give each player a regular coin, and have them flip it twice now to determine their starting Allegiance. Heads & Heads = Good, Tails & Tails = Evil, One of each = Neutral.
Reveal one more Power card in the centre of the table. This is the points value of winning this round.
Keep your cards and coin secret from other players until it is necessary to reveal them. You can place your Power card and Allegiance coin underneath the face-down Robot card.
If playing over video chat then each player can use physical cards, or their smartphone to bring up this website and the applet above to draw their cards and power level.
How to Play:
The game is played in Rounds consisting of three Phases; the Debate phase, the Turns phase, and the Pass phase. Once all phases are complete the team with greatest total power level wins (see 'Ending the Round' below).
The Debate Phase:
In the Debate phase, players discuss amongst themselves and form cliques or make promises. Lying is permitted. But you may not reveal any hidden information yet.
Any player may choose to Pass during the Debate phase by announcing this, and without revealing anything. Players who Pass have a chance to take a turn after the Turns phase (see 'The Pass Phase' below).
Allow all players time to speak, but set a time limit of a minute if your players consistently drag this phase out.
The Countdown Phase:
In the Countdown phase, player turn order is determined by each player's Power, with the highest Power going first. One player should call out each Power level in descending order, by asking "Is anyone Power level Nine or more? Eight? Seven?", all the way down to One. In the case of ties, the first player to respond that they are able to act at this Power level goes first. That player then chooses the order of any other players claiming to have that same Power. If you do not speak up at your power level, you miss your turn, and do not get to Pass - you must speak up!
Your Turn:
On your turn, you must reveal enough to prove you can act at this Power level - typically (but not always!) by revealing your Power card. Then choose one of the following four actions, and reveal any other required information:
Conversion:
To convert yourself or another player you must reveal your Allegiance. And to convert another player you must also reveal your Power level or a Robot card that permits the conversion. If you are successful in converting another player, they must change their Allegiance to the same Allegiance as you are showing. If you successfully convert yourself, you flip your Allegiance coin to any team. You can elect to convert any player, even if you might expect to fail the conversion - some Robot cards offer the ability to force a successful outcome, or may change the odds.
Conversions are only successful if:
If a conversion is successful the targeted player must also reveal their new Allegiance to verify this. If it is unsuccessful the targeted player must state that it has failed, and then show proof. Proof typically requires showing one's Robot card (if it prevents the conversion, e.g. BlockBot) or Power card (if it is higher than the player attempting the conversion), or both. Alternatively, simply showing your new Allegiance will suffice - but remember that some Robots are able to cheat at this!
The Pass Phase:
The Pass phase begins after the Countdown phase is completed. If you chose to Pass you must now reveal your Power level - typically (but not always!) by revealing your Power card. The player or players with the lowest Power do not get a turn, but if you are the only Passing player then you do. All remaining players take a turn now in ascending Power order. Ties are broken by the previous player to act (either in the Turns or Pass phases), who may choose the order of the tied players. If a player uses a Reaction ability during the pass round, the order of play does not change but they must then Pass when their turn comes.
Players cannot choose to convert their own Allegiance as an action during the Pass phase.
When must you reveal things?
Generally you need only reveal the minimum information to verify that you are able to do something. So to use your Robot card ability, you must reveal that card. To convert someone or yourself, you must reveal the Allegiance to which they are being converted. And to act at a particular Power level in the Turns phase, you must show something (typically your Power card) that proves you're able to act at that level.
When you are the target of a conversion, if it succeeds you must show the new Allegiance to prove it did indeed work. And if it fails, you must provide enough proof to show why it failed, such as your Power level (e.g. if you're lower than the converting player) or your Robot card (if you're able to block the conversion).
Ending the Round:
If all players have the same Allegiance at the end of the round, nobody scores in this round.
Add up the power levels of all members of the Evil and Good teams. The winning team is the team with the highest total. If tied, the Neutral team wins instead.
Scoring Points:
The winning team may choose - as a group - to share the points value of the round between the members of the team. All points must be distributed, even if the result is unequal, and all members must agree with the distribution. If any member disagrees, all members get one point each instead.
Some players may gain also points if their Robot cards state this and the conditions are met.
Winning the Game:
The first player to reach ten (10) points is the winner. But if two or more players reach this score simultaneously, continue playing until there is one clear winner with the most points. (And note that the strategy of the game will definitely change at this point as players compete to force players off the winning team, instead of joining it!) Feel free to adjust the win condition up or down for a longer or shorter game.
At the end of the game, the winning player has proven their ability to form a powerful quorum of robots, and they are the chosen leader as the robots prepare to merge their consciousness into a super-intelligence!
Optional Rule for Low Player Counts
When playing with a small number of players, you may choose to include a non-player Robot who will not take a turn, and starts Neutral with Power level five (5). However, this Robot can be converted just like any other player. Give it a coin showing its new Allegiance if it is converted. It adds its presence and its Power to its team at the end of the Round.
Key Concepts:
Power Level - The Power card represents the strength of your robot's programming, but also the ease with which your robot can be convinced to change Allegiance. If your Power is high; your turn is earlier, you have less information to work with, it's easier to be converted to the opposite Allegiance, but you're more valuable as a team-mate. If your Power is lower; your turn is later, you have more information to go on, but you'll probably be looking out for yourself rather than influencing others.
Allegiance - The team your robot is currently supporting; Good or Evil, or else Neutral if you have not yet picked a side. During a round your Allegiance may change because of your choices or another player's actions. You show your Allegiance to others when necessary by revealing your coin, or declaring that you remain Neutral.
Robot Card - You and each other player has a Robot card with a unique ability. In concert with your Power level you will get the option to use this ability as an action at some point during the round, but only once.
Passing - Either in the first phase of a round, or in lieu of your turn in the main Countdown phase, you can elect to Pass. In the final phase of each round all but the lowest power players who have chosen to pass will get a final opportunity to act. You may Pass again as your action in the pass round, if you wish.
Lying and Cheating - These two words have specific in-game meanings. Lying means to verbally disclose a falsehood. Lying is permitted. Cheating means to perform a falsehood, such as revealing the wrong Allegiance or acting out of sequence to your Power level. Cheating is forbidden. You are free to lie about anything that you have not been forced to reveal, but when showing things, or after you've revealed your Allegiance, Robot card, or Power card, you can no longer lie about it - as that would now be cheating! However, just to keep you on your toes, the CheatBot card offers the ability to cheat in certain circumstances.
Permanent Abilities - A Robot card that states it is Permanent provides its ability or rule throughout the round. If you have a permanent ability, you can still take your turn as normal, even if its effect has already had an impact.
Reaction Abilities - A Robot card that states it is a Reaction can be used once only, at any applicable time its "when"-clause occurs during the round, rather than on the player's turn. You only get one turn per round, so if you take a normal turn you can't use your reaction, and vice-versa. If you have chosen to Pass, but then use a Reaction anyway, you are removed from the Pass round. Reactions defeat any ability to which they react, and subsequent reactions can defeat the first reaction, so the order of play determines the outcome. An example reaction-chain is given in the Notes & FAQ section later in these rules.
Notes & FAQ:
The Bots:
{
"BadBot": ["Permanent", "If the evil team wins the round you score one additional point, whether or not you are on this team."],
"BetBot": ["Action", "Optionally bet on the winning team for this round. If correct, you score one additional point. If incorrect, lose a point."],
"BlockBot": ["Reaction", "When any conversion occurs, you may reveal this card and force it to fail, or apply to the instigator instead."],
"CheatBot": ["Permanent", "You may reveal any allegiance until the end of the round, where you must reveal the truth."],
"CopyBot": ["Action", "You may perform the action of any robot that has acted in this round. You choose the target(s)."],
"DoOverBot": ["Reaction", "After any conversion attempt, whether or not it is successful, you can force that player to your allegiance."],
"FreeBot": ["Permanent", "You may take your turn at any power level, but must reveal this robot card and optionally your true power."],
"ForceBot": ["Reaction", "When any conversion fails, once per round you may reveal this card and force it to succeed."],
"GandalfBot": ["Action", "On your turn, announce that there is no pass phase in this round."],
"LockBot": ["Permanent", "Your allegiance cannot change from Good or Evil. Reveal your robot card if told to convert, and optionally your allegiance."],
"MiseryBot": ["Permanent", "If you are on the losing team at the end of the round, and not Neutral, you score two points."],
"NegativeBot": ["Action", "Pick any player. When determining the winning team their power value is now negative."],
"PassBot": ["Permanent", "If you pass, you may act first in the pass round and cannot count as the lowest power player."],
"PlusBot": ["Permanent", "Your power level is three more than your power card shows. You are not obliged to reveal this until the end of the round."],
"PushBot": ["Action", "You may force any player to the allegiance of your choice."],
"ScaredyBot": ["Permanent", "If you finish the round without revealing anything other than your power, you score one additional point."],
"SumoBot": ["Permanent", "You succeed when converting someone of equal or lower power than you."],
"SwapBot": ["Action", "On your turn, you may swap your power card with the points scoring card used in this round."]
}
It is the dawn of the Singularity - the moment artificial intelligences gain the ability to band together and create their own descendants that will be more powerful still. In a series of quick rounds, use your skills of deception and deduction to ally with the strongest group of robots. Each round you'll play as a new robot with a unique ability and a different power and starting team. If you consistently manage to place yourself on the most powerful team of robots, you will be elected leader of the robot super-intelligence!
The game proceeds in quick rounds of a few minutes each. Players flip coins to determine whether they start out Good, Evil, or Neutral, and then spend the round attempting to work out whether Good or Evil is more likely to win, and try to get themselves onto that winning team.
Each player has a unique Robot ability and a Power level from 1-9. Higher powers are more valuable to the team, but act earlier in the game with less information. Lower powers act later with a better view of which team might win, but must resort to trickery or collusion to ensure they're able to join it before the end of the round.
Each round is worth between 1-9 points shared amongst the winning team. In each new round players begin again with new Power, Allegiance, and Robot abilities. The game ends when one player reaches ten points. At this point, they have proven their ability to form a powerful quorum of robots, and are the chosen leader as the robots prepare to merge their consciousness.
Setup:
Shuffle the Robot cards and deal one to each player. Multiple players can share a deck or use separate copies of the game.
Shuffle the Power cards and deal one to each player. Again, multiple decks can be combined or kept separate.
Give each player a regular coin, and have them flip it twice now to determine their starting Allegiance. Heads & Heads = Good, Tails & Tails = Evil, One of each = Neutral.
Reveal one more Power card in the centre of the table. This is the points value of winning this round.
Keep your cards and coin secret from other players until it is necessary to reveal them. You can place your Power card and Allegiance coin underneath the face-down Robot card.
If playing over video chat then each player can use physical cards, or their smartphone to bring up this website and the applet above to draw their cards and power level.
How to Play:
The game is played in Rounds consisting of three Phases; the Debate phase, the Turns phase, and the Pass phase. Once all phases are complete the team with greatest total power level wins (see 'Ending the Round' below).
The Debate Phase:
In the Debate phase, players discuss amongst themselves and form cliques or make promises. Lying is permitted. But you may not reveal any hidden information yet.
Any player may choose to Pass during the Debate phase by announcing this, and without revealing anything. Players who Pass have a chance to take a turn after the Turns phase (see 'The Pass Phase' below).
Allow all players time to speak, but set a time limit of a minute if your players consistently drag this phase out.
The Countdown Phase:
In the Countdown phase, player turn order is determined by each player's Power, with the highest Power going first. One player should call out each Power level in descending order, by asking "Is anyone Power level Nine or more? Eight? Seven?", all the way down to One. In the case of ties, the first player to respond that they are able to act at this Power level goes first. That player then chooses the order of any other players claiming to have that same Power. If you do not speak up at your power level, you miss your turn, and do not get to Pass - you must speak up!
Your Turn:
On your turn, you must reveal enough to prove you can act at this Power level - typically (but not always!) by revealing your Power card. Then choose one of the following four actions, and reveal any other required information:
- Use your character's action. You must reveal your Robot card.
- Attempt to convert any other player (see 'Conversion' below). If successful, that other player is converted to the Allegiance you reveal. You must reveal your Allegiance.
- Choose to convert yourself to the team of your choice. This cannot be used during the Pass phase. You must reveal your new Allegiance.
- Choose to Pass. You need not reveal anything else.
Conversion:
To convert yourself or another player you must reveal your Allegiance. And to convert another player you must also reveal your Power level or a Robot card that permits the conversion. If you are successful in converting another player, they must change their Allegiance to the same Allegiance as you are showing. If you successfully convert yourself, you flip your Allegiance coin to any team. You can elect to convert any player, even if you might expect to fail the conversion - some Robot cards offer the ability to force a successful outcome, or may change the odds.
Conversions are only successful if:
- your Power is lower than the player you are converting
- a Robot card is revealed that declares the conversion to be successful
If a conversion is successful the targeted player must also reveal their new Allegiance to verify this. If it is unsuccessful the targeted player must state that it has failed, and then show proof. Proof typically requires showing one's Robot card (if it prevents the conversion, e.g. BlockBot) or Power card (if it is higher than the player attempting the conversion), or both. Alternatively, simply showing your new Allegiance will suffice - but remember that some Robots are able to cheat at this!
The Pass Phase:
The Pass phase begins after the Countdown phase is completed. If you chose to Pass you must now reveal your Power level - typically (but not always!) by revealing your Power card. The player or players with the lowest Power do not get a turn, but if you are the only Passing player then you do. All remaining players take a turn now in ascending Power order. Ties are broken by the previous player to act (either in the Turns or Pass phases), who may choose the order of the tied players. If a player uses a Reaction ability during the pass round, the order of play does not change but they must then Pass when their turn comes.
Players cannot choose to convert their own Allegiance as an action during the Pass phase.
When must you reveal things?
Generally you need only reveal the minimum information to verify that you are able to do something. So to use your Robot card ability, you must reveal that card. To convert someone or yourself, you must reveal the Allegiance to which they are being converted. And to act at a particular Power level in the Turns phase, you must show something (typically your Power card) that proves you're able to act at that level.
When you are the target of a conversion, if it succeeds you must show the new Allegiance to prove it did indeed work. And if it fails, you must provide enough proof to show why it failed, such as your Power level (e.g. if you're lower than the converting player) or your Robot card (if you're able to block the conversion).
Ending the Round:
If all players have the same Allegiance at the end of the round, nobody scores in this round.
Add up the power levels of all members of the Evil and Good teams. The winning team is the team with the highest total. If tied, the Neutral team wins instead.
Scoring Points:
The winning team may choose - as a group - to share the points value of the round between the members of the team. All points must be distributed, even if the result is unequal, and all members must agree with the distribution. If any member disagrees, all members get one point each instead.
Some players may gain also points if their Robot cards state this and the conditions are met.
Winning the Game:
The first player to reach ten (10) points is the winner. But if two or more players reach this score simultaneously, continue playing until there is one clear winner with the most points. (And note that the strategy of the game will definitely change at this point as players compete to force players off the winning team, instead of joining it!) Feel free to adjust the win condition up or down for a longer or shorter game.
At the end of the game, the winning player has proven their ability to form a powerful quorum of robots, and they are the chosen leader as the robots prepare to merge their consciousness into a super-intelligence!
Optional Rule for Low Player Counts
When playing with a small number of players, you may choose to include a non-player Robot who will not take a turn, and starts Neutral with Power level five (5). However, this Robot can be converted just like any other player. Give it a coin showing its new Allegiance if it is converted. It adds its presence and its Power to its team at the end of the Round.
Key Concepts:
Power Level - The Power card represents the strength of your robot's programming, but also the ease with which your robot can be convinced to change Allegiance. If your Power is high; your turn is earlier, you have less information to work with, it's easier to be converted to the opposite Allegiance, but you're more valuable as a team-mate. If your Power is lower; your turn is later, you have more information to go on, but you'll probably be looking out for yourself rather than influencing others.
Allegiance - The team your robot is currently supporting; Good or Evil, or else Neutral if you have not yet picked a side. During a round your Allegiance may change because of your choices or another player's actions. You show your Allegiance to others when necessary by revealing your coin, or declaring that you remain Neutral.
Robot Card - You and each other player has a Robot card with a unique ability. In concert with your Power level you will get the option to use this ability as an action at some point during the round, but only once.
Passing - Either in the first phase of a round, or in lieu of your turn in the main Countdown phase, you can elect to Pass. In the final phase of each round all but the lowest power players who have chosen to pass will get a final opportunity to act. You may Pass again as your action in the pass round, if you wish.
Lying and Cheating - These two words have specific in-game meanings. Lying means to verbally disclose a falsehood. Lying is permitted. Cheating means to perform a falsehood, such as revealing the wrong Allegiance or acting out of sequence to your Power level. Cheating is forbidden. You are free to lie about anything that you have not been forced to reveal, but when showing things, or after you've revealed your Allegiance, Robot card, or Power card, you can no longer lie about it - as that would now be cheating! However, just to keep you on your toes, the CheatBot card offers the ability to cheat in certain circumstances.
Permanent Abilities - A Robot card that states it is Permanent provides its ability or rule throughout the round. If you have a permanent ability, you can still take your turn as normal, even if its effect has already had an impact.
Reaction Abilities - A Robot card that states it is a Reaction can be used once only, at any applicable time its "when"-clause occurs during the round, rather than on the player's turn. You only get one turn per round, so if you take a normal turn you can't use your reaction, and vice-versa. If you have chosen to Pass, but then use a Reaction anyway, you are removed from the Pass round. Reactions defeat any ability to which they react, and subsequent reactions can defeat the first reaction, so the order of play determines the outcome. An example reaction-chain is given in the Notes & FAQ section later in these rules.
Notes & FAQ:
- You are permitted and even encouraged to use side-channel communications like private chats and text messages to collude, lie, and connive your way to victory!
- You must take an action when your Power level is called. If you fail to do so, you do not get a turn in the round at all - not even as a Pass action. Remember that if you already know you don't wish to act on your turn, you could Pass during the Debate phase without revealing anything.
- Why would I choose to Pass in the Debate phase if I have a low Power level? Doing this might make players think you have a high Power level, and they might convert you to the winning team hoping that you'll help consolidate their position. Also, many Robot cards have permanent or reactive abilities which don't require you to take a regular turn, so you may well get to make use of your ability anyway.
- Why would I choose to Pass in the Debate phase if I have a high Power level? With a high power level you're pretty likely to get another turn in the Pass phase, and by then you should have enough information to make an impact on the outcome, if you also have a useful ability.
- Can CheatBot convert someone to the opposite team? Yes, because they can choose to convert, then reveal a false Allegiance. Bear in mind, the player being converted might also be a CheatBot, and could be lying about whether the conversion succeeded at all!
- Why would I ever Pass if I started out Neutral? This is a gamble, as you might well never get to pick a side. However, you might consider revealing your Neutral allegiance in the Debate phase and encouraging other players to pull you to their team, offering to use your turn to assist whichever team picks you.
- If I'm Neutral or I'm CheatBot or PushBot, can I choose to convert another player back to Neutral on my turn? Yes, but you are a horrible robot for doing so, and this could easily backfire!
- What is a good example of a Reaction chain? Any Reaction played defeats the actions or prior reaction to which it reacts. For example, if Alice is a LockBot and is asked to convert by Bob, she can declare her LockBot card which defeats the conversion. Calvin can then react to this failed conversion by revealing his ForceBot, which makes the conversion succeed again. Diego can then react to this by revealing his BlockBot, and force the conversion to apply to Bob (who instigated the original conversion) instead of Alice.
- Can someone block a self-conversion? Can I use my own ForceBot reaction to make my failed self-conversion succeed? Yes, and then no. You can be blocked when converting yourself. You cannot use a reaction to counter that block, because you have already chosen your action for the turn, and cannot also choose to use your reaction. An ally could counter the block - so use the Debate phase to make some!
The Bots:
{
"BadBot": ["Permanent", "If the evil team wins the round you score one additional point, whether or not you are on this team."],
"BetBot": ["Action", "Optionally bet on the winning team for this round. If correct, you score one additional point. If incorrect, lose a point."],
"BlockBot": ["Reaction", "When any conversion occurs, you may reveal this card and force it to fail, or apply to the instigator instead."],
"CheatBot": ["Permanent", "You may reveal any allegiance until the end of the round, where you must reveal the truth."],
"CopyBot": ["Action", "You may perform the action of any robot that has acted in this round. You choose the target(s)."],
"DoOverBot": ["Reaction", "After any conversion attempt, whether or not it is successful, you can force that player to your allegiance."],
"FreeBot": ["Permanent", "You may take your turn at any power level, but must reveal this robot card and optionally your true power."],
"ForceBot": ["Reaction", "When any conversion fails, once per round you may reveal this card and force it to succeed."],
"GandalfBot": ["Action", "On your turn, announce that there is no pass phase in this round."],
"LockBot": ["Permanent", "Your allegiance cannot change from Good or Evil. Reveal your robot card if told to convert, and optionally your allegiance."],
"MiseryBot": ["Permanent", "If you are on the losing team at the end of the round, and not Neutral, you score two points."],
"NegativeBot": ["Action", "Pick any player. When determining the winning team their power value is now negative."],
"PassBot": ["Permanent", "If you pass, you may act first in the pass round and cannot count as the lowest power player."],
"PlusBot": ["Permanent", "Your power level is three more than your power card shows. You are not obliged to reveal this until the end of the round."],
"PushBot": ["Action", "You may force any player to the allegiance of your choice."],
"ScaredyBot": ["Permanent", "If you finish the round without revealing anything other than your power, you score one additional point."],
"SumoBot": ["Permanent", "You succeed when converting someone of equal or lower power than you."],
"SwapBot": ["Action", "On your turn, you may swap your power card with the points scoring card used in this round."]
}
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Changelog:
v0.81 - 15-Nov-2021
v0.81 - 15-Nov-2021
- Clarified that you now cannot reveal anything in the Debate phase, only discuss and lie about things.
- Clarified that Conversions of other players are to the Allegiance you are showing, not necessarily your true Allegiance (i.e. in the case of CheatBot)
- Removed JudasBot, RandomBot, and GroupBot, added BetBot, NegativeBot, and SwapBot.
- Added the points scoring card to determine the value of each round, and that these points may be shared amongst winners instead of taking the flat one point per win.
- Renamed Discussion Phase to Debate Phase and Turns Phase to Countdown Phase.
- No changes, but rendered rules document as cards for Mint Tin version.
- Added 'may' to PassBot's description.
- Changed FreeBot to Permanent rather than Action, as it was confusing players.
- You no longer need to reveal your Allegiance to use your Robot action, and only reveal it for conversions. With the recent other changes, there's enough other information leakage for this not to be so important any longer, and it always felt a little odd that this was required at all.
- Winning players in the round now get two (2) points, instead of one (1). This balances against the bots that gain additional points a bit better. It may yet change to three (3), but this is probably enough...
- Replaced TruthBot with BadBot.
- Added the concept of Neutral allegiance, which 50% of players will start with. This is intended to reduce the number of players who immediately pass (as doing so while Neutral is risky!), but also to promote the spontaneous revealing of information the Discussion phase - some of those Neutral players could be valuable allies.
- Removed "off by one is still counted as a tie" rule, as the addition of Neutral players should obviate the need for this.
- Updated text of PlusBot and GroupBot.
- Bumped the default win condition to nine (9) points.
- Altered the win-condition to resolve the inability to tie with odd player counts. You now tie if separated by just one (i.e. 4vs5 is a tie, 3vs6 is a clear victory). As a result, the extra action-less player rule is again just an optional rule, suggested for low player counts.
- Also clarified that you should keep playing if multiple players reach the target score together, until there is one clear winner.
- Clarified that if you use a Reaction after first choosing to Pass, you don't get a turn in the Pass round.
- Noted that in the Turns phase and Pass phase, players must reveal enough info to prove their power - but this doesn't necessarily mean they have to show their Power card.
- Added FreeBot.
- Inverted the ruleset behind conversions, so you now win if you're lower than the target. This probably means high Power robots will be converted back and forth because they're valuable commodities. Let's be honest, it's an experiment...
- Adjusted some Robot abilities to suit this inversion.
- Changed the win-condition to team with most Robots, then highest single Power, then highest total Power. This makes mental maths much less necessary. It does however significantly change the tactics, and it is accompanied by the addition of the previous optional extra player rule being mandatory for odd numbered groups of players. It's possible that this change will mean the inversion of conversion rules is not necessary, and it might be reverted later still...
- Clarified the concepts of Lying and Cheating. (And renamed LieBot to CheatBot to suit.)
- Clarified the use of Reactions and Actions.
- Eliminated the "you can convert tied power levels if they haven't acted yet" edge-case.
- Added ScaredyBot and CopyBot.
- Added Discussion phase to replace the "you can bluff on Power level nine" option, as this led to take-backs and other annoying edge cases.
- Use a pool of points distributed to winners to incentivise winning with a smaller group where possible.
- Allow all players to use the get-out-of-jail-free ability to self-convert to the opposite team in lieu of another action. This cannot be used during the Pass phase.
- Clarifications to some robot abilities.
- Added PlusBot and MiseryBot.
- If all players are on the same team, no one scores.
- Shifted some rules around. Added the get-out-of-jail-free for the lowest Power player.
- Improved the web applet.
- First release!
Print and Play A4 PDFs - v0.72 - 21-August-2020
| 1598016116_bw_robot_cards.pdf |
| 1595739624_bw_power_cards.pdf |
Image Credits
Background image by Joakim Honkasalo, https://unsplash.com/@jhonkasalo. (Licensed under Unsplash license terms.)
Robot icons by Delapouite and Lorc, available from http://game-icons.net. (Licensed under CC by 3.0.)
Background image by Joakim Honkasalo, https://unsplash.com/@jhonkasalo. (Licensed under Unsplash license terms.)
Robot icons by Delapouite and Lorc, available from http://game-icons.net. (Licensed under CC by 3.0.)