Cupboard's Folly

Cupboard's Folly is a Quentinian card game created around 1912 by Patrick Zevlons in Snowland, The United States of Quentin. The game is based around the USQ executive advisory counsel called the Cupboard. Each player is given 2 cards to begin with, and must try to gain as high of cards as possible by making a set of decisions and moves resembling the powers and actions the Cupboard takes. The game is one of the more popular ones in the USQ, along with Squabble and Trime Kicker. The game is played in many other countries, most popularly in The Protectorates of Allia, Ravensonia, and The Iridium Coast.

How to Play

Setup

Cupboard's Folly can be played with up to 26 players, however in casinos and other establishments, it's most commonly played with 11 players. The game begins with the dealer giving two cards to each player randomly, after shuffling thoroughly. The players look at their cards, without showing others, and designate one card their Identity Card and the other their Burrow Card. The identity card should be placed face up on the table, while the burrow card should be kept secret.

After these cards are examined, the dealer identifies the President of the game, the one with the highest identity card, then the GTNEC, the one with the second highest, then Secretary of State, then Secretary of Foreign Affairs, then Secretary of Defense, then Secretary of Health, then Secretary of Infrastructure, then Secretary of Transportation, and finally the last three as Misc 1, 2, and 3, or however many players are playing.

Beginning, Process, and Powers

The game should also have a pile of cards that is the Trician Pile, all the remaining cards the players don't have. The first round will begin with the President picking up a card, and looking at it. The ultimate goal of the game is to have the highest burrow card possible at the end of 2 rounds, which end when the Trician pile runs out. The President will then see if they want the card, either for their identity card or their burrow card. If they do, they'll replace the card with the other card and pass the old card to the GTNEC, if not they'll pass the card they just picked up to the GTNEC. They will then take that card, and go through the same process with it as the President, with the card going down the line, until it reaches Misc 3, who will put the card in the discard pile after going through the same process with it.

The game goes on like this for both rounds, however there are also added powers the players in higher positions get. Below are each position's powers, if they have any, and the frequency at which they can use them.

President: First power is the ability to call on the dealer, who will replace the burrow card of any player the President wants with the top card on the Trician Pile. This can be used three times per round. Their second power is the ability to swap any player's identity card, which switches their Cupboard position, turn order, powers, etc, and replace them with another player. This can be used twice per round. Finally, the President can take 10 cards from the Trician pile and swap them, as he wishes, with everyone's else's burrow cards. This can be used only once in the game.

P GTNR| The GTNEC's powers are the ability to hold a card from the rest of the Cupboard after they receive one from the President and examine it, and place it in the discard pile, as well as confer with other players for 2 and a half minutes, and possibly come to an arrangement on strategy. The first power can be used twice per round, and the second once with every player. The Secretary of State can switch where people place their cards, used whenever, Foreign Affairs has no powers, Defense can, if they get a picard in their burrow, use it to make someone skip a turn, as much as they want, Health has no powers, Infrastructure can create a pile of cards, called an Archipile, with the top three cards on the Trician pile. This pile can be accessed by the Secretary at any time, to be swapped with their burrow card. They can build a pile once per round. Finally, neither the Miscs nor the Transportation have any powers.