Table Press

Free print-and-play card games and an open game-design curriculum.

Prompt Refinery · four capitals · PLY

TECH EMPIRE

You are always rich in the wrong currency. 2–4 players · 25 min · ages 8+ · 36 capital + 12 Deals + 4 Shocks + 2 table cards. Play one card on the Deal, or pass.

Play / simulatePrint the 9-up sheetShare the introBack to Make
Thesis: This game is about being rich in the wrong currency, felt as the public scramble to convert before a deal closes, decided by whether you spend a rare matching card now or let money talk and take the hit.

How to start

Put the 2 table cards out. Mix 36 capital. Give 6 each. Three extras are theBench. Mix 12 Deals with 4 Shocks. Flip a Deal in play and a next Deal face-up. If a Shock appears, tuck it under the Deal it arrived with. Youngest plays last on the first Deal.

A turn

Play one capital card onto the Deal, or pass (you may trade one card with the Bench). Going left, everyone gets one chance. Then the Deal closes.

Match the Need to compete. Funds may play on any Deal; if they win a Deal they did not need, score 1 less. A matching card of the same number beats Funds.Connections may ride a Deal that does not need Connections: a ride cannot win; if someone takes the Deal, you score 1.

Who takes it

Biggest competing number. Later player wins a true tie. If nobody played a matching card or Funds, dump the Deal — it still counts as a close. Lowest score plays last next time. If you played, draw 1 (Bench or pile).

Score

Fame on Deals you took, plus 1 per ride, plus 2 for every different Need among those Deals. After 6 closes, most Reputation wins.

Sample turn

Meet-Up Night needs Connections and scores 2. Prestige College (Connections, 3) is showing next. Cam spends First Hire (9) and takes 2. Ana passed and traded toward Connections. Prestige College comes forward. Ana’s Warm Hello (7) beats Cam’s leftover 6. Cam was richer. Ana waited.

2 people / young table

Give 8. Bench 3. Play until 8 Deals close. Young table: ignore the +2 per Need kind for the first two Deals.

Print

9-up sheets. Numbers are 1–9. No A, J, Q, or K. Kinds have a word and a mark.

Live rules: https://tablepress.space/tech-empire/rules/ · Shareable intro: https://tablepress.space/tech-empire/