Co-operative
Four players
60-90 minutes
Age > 12
Negotiators is co-operative game were the players take the roles as delegates to a top summit meeting. Each player has an hidden agenda which they must fulfill before the end of the game.
Simple rules which can be taught in less than 10 minutes.
Hidden goals to prevent one player to steer the co-operative play. A trade mechanism for exchanging resources between players, with a unique acceptance mechanism making sure that all players participate in the game.
In negotiators the players take the roles of top diplomats sent to a summit meeting. Each player has a one or more secret goals, that they will try to achieve during the course of the game. The active player lays forth a suggestion for a section to be included in the final document to be signed by the countries leaders at the end of game. The other players can accept or reject the proposal, but remember the time is short and the document must be finished before the end of the second day. Unless all the secret goals are met one or more signatures will be missing and the players lose, on the other hand with all goals met the document is signed and the players win.
Every player chooses a country and put a marker on zero for each of the four resources and keeps the last one in front of themselves to indicate which country they are playing. The acceptance cards are shuffled and each player is dealt three face up. Each player is also dealt three propsal cards. The scenario generator is used to generate a scenario with goals for each player. The players studies their own goals and under no circumstances looks at the other players goals.
At the end of the game all players should have fullfilled every one of their goals for the players to win.
The player whose turn it is chooses two of three proposal cards and creates with these a proposal. The proposal are of the type I give away X of resource Y for N of resouce M (or the other way around). At this time the other players are allowed to discuss how to handle the proposal. When the discussion is finished the other players in order pushes forward zero or more matching acceptance cards. The active player select one of these or rejects them all by playing rejection card from the pile. Should no player choose to play an acceptance card, then the player must play a rejection card. If an acceptance card is selected then the proposal is executed, resource values are adjusted and the acceptance card goes to the active player. The last proposal card that the player has in his hand is discarded together with the two used cards. The player draws three new card and play continues with the next player around the table. The player can choose to instead of making a proposal directly play a rejection card and discard the three proposal cards, draw three new ones and end the round. A proposal may not include two proposal cards with double resources. If a player only have such cards then that player must directly play a rejection card.
Proposal the left and matching acceptance cards on the right. Active player's card on top and cards are placed so that the opponents can read the cards from their side. The grey rectangle shows where the opponents should look for matching acceptance cards.
The games ends either when the rejection deck is empty or when the deck of proposal cards is depleted for the second time. The players win if they all have fulfilled all of their goals.
The players may never discuss their own goal. They are allowed to discuss the other players' goal, but may never in words or gestures give any hint of their own goal. The active player must not join in on the discussion. The players are not allowed to show which proposal cards they have in their hand or what cards they discard. The players are not allowed to tell why they like or dislike a proposal, but they can in general terms say how much they like or dislike a proposal. They are also allowed to say if they want a specific country to accept a proposal.
The country's environmental awareness. Legislation to protect the environment, both locally and globally.
A measure of the country´s civil rights - the level of social security and democracy and the function of the justice system.
The country's military capacity - the military power as well as the type of weapons at the country's disposal.
The country's trade agreements. The amount of tolls and duties the country imposes on foreign goods, but also the lack of embargoes.
Here are the types of trades were the different acceptance cards can be used. Since one resource will be decreased and one will be increased and the construction of the black acceptance cards; there will always be three acceptance cards that match any given trade.
The resource environment is decreased for either player in the trade.
The resource human rights is decreased for either player in the trade.
The resource military is decreased for either player in the trade.
The resource trade is decreased for either player in the trade.
The resource environment is increased for either player in the trade.
The resource human rights is increased for either player in the trade.
The resource military is increased for either player in the trade.
The resource trade is increased for either player in the trade.
The player accepting will decrease a resource with one and the proposing player will increase with one.
The player accepting will increase a resource with one and the proposing player will decrease with one.
The player accepting will change a resource with one and the proposing player will change with two.
The player accepting will change a resource with two and the proposing player will change with one.