Prompt Refinery · four capitals, four sectors · PLY
RUNWAY
You have exactly one pitch per round. Spend it well. 2–4 players · 30 min · ages 8+ · 32 capital + 12 Deals + 6 Shocks + 4 table cards (54).
What is in the box
4 table cards, 32 Capital cards (four kinds — $ Cash, ◎ Network,▲ Tech, ★ Talent — numbers 1–8, each with its own color, line-mark, and printed name), 12 Deal cards, and 6 Shock cards. Board: four Sectors in a row — FinTech, Social, DeepTech, Marketplace. Deals sit beside their Sector, not on it.
How to start
Put the 4 table cards out. Shuffle the 32 Capital cards, deal 6 each, flip 3 as theBench. Shuffle the 12 Deals with the 6 Shocks; flip a Deal in play and a next Deal (tuck any Shock under the Deal it arrived with). Give everyone 8 Footholds and a Reputation marker at 0. Hype starts at 0. Youngest pitches last on the first Deal.
A turn — three phases
Pitch: play one Capital card matching the Deal's Sector, or pass (then trade 1 card for a Bench card you can see, or a blind card off the pile — a known upgrade or a gamble). Cash may pitch anywhere; Network may Ride any other Deal for 1 instead of matching it. You do not need to want to win — a small matching card still denies, since a match beats Cash on a tie.Close: once everyone has pitched once, the biggest matching number wins — a later pitch beats an earlier one on a true tie. Cash winning outside FinTech scores 1 less. If nobody could match, the Deal is Dumped: no score, no Foothold, Hype does not move. Scale: the winner draws back up, places a Foothold (a second Foothold in a Sector scores +2 at once), Hype advances, and the next Deal flips. Whoever has the fewest Reputation points pitches last next Deal — a catch-up seat.
Hype
One shared marker, 0 to 10. It advances by each closing Deal's printed Hype cost. At 5+, every reward is +1; at 10 (max), every reward is +2 instead.
Score
Reputation from Deals you win (after Hype and the Cash penalty), +1 per paid Network Ride, +2 per Sector the moment you lock it with a second Foothold, and +1 per different Sector you hold a Foothold in, added once when the 12th Deal closes.
Sample turn
Conference Badge needs Social and scores 3; Board Seat (Social, 4) is showing next. Bo pitches Network 3. Cam has neither Network nor Cash and passes, trading toward a Cash 7. Ana pitches Network 7 and wins Conference Badge for 3, locking in a Social Foothold. Board Seat comes forward; Cam's Cash 7 beats everyone else and wins it for 4 − 1 = 3 (Cash, outside FinTech). Cam was richer. Ana specialized.
2 players
Nothing changes — deck, Bench, Footholds, and scoring are the same. Turn order just alternates.
9-up sheets. Every Capital kind reads by color, line-mark, and printed name — never color alone.
Live rules: https://tablepress.space/capital-run/rules/ · Shareable intro: https://tablepress.space/capital-run/ · Pitch deck for educators: https://tablepress.space/capital-run/pitch/