Crunch - the game for utter bankers
The Rules
Download full Crunch rules (PDF, 1.2MB).
Rule Variations
A number of rules we discarded for the sake of brevity and wanting to keep the game as simple as possible. However, if you want a different playing experience (and usually a more complex game) you may wish to incorporate some of the following:
- Quick Game - you can end the game when (or if) the Asset deck runs out. In this case, no bonuses are awarded if there is more than 1 surviving bank.
- Bonus Voting - if you want greater wealth through bonuses, avoid the tricky consensus vote and try different voting models like a majority or a consensus-minus-one vote. Or don't vote at all and take a (optional) bonus every time the 'Bonus Time' card comes up.
- Early Bankruptcy - if you want to penalise CEOs that run their bank into the ground too soon, then try applying the rule that bankrupt CEOs use up 1m of their personal fortune for each round they are out of the game. Either keep track on the number of rounds on paper, or for an even harsher rule make them discard an embezzled Asset each round.
- More than 4 players - we've played several games with 5 and 6 players. Use two sets of cards and stick to 2 Trust, 10 Assets and 1 Workforce for the setup. Game dynamics seem to work fine with more players as there's plenty to do 'out of turn' during the game.
- Vicious Quick Ending - once a CEO is bankrupt, they can still spot and shout if they see another CEO embezzling Assets. Usually makes the game quicker and nastier as it's pretty easy to spot embezzling once you don't have anything else to worry about.
- Embezzlement Evidence - what to do if you spot some Assets up a shirt sleve but didn't catch the embezzlement red-handed? Either you have to wait for 'Government Investigation' to be able to confiscate them or, alternatively, any discovered embezzled Assets have to be returned to the CEOs hand.
We've also been sent the following rule suggestions by fans of the game. We haven't necessarily had a chance to put these to the test, but we like the sound of them.
- Fairer First Round - Draw no Event cards in the first round. This will allow everyone a chance to loan out Assets before any potential Interest Payment events come up. Thanks to Bruce Murphy for this.
Please let us know your own experiences of these rule variations and we would also love to see your own suggestions. Send them in and we'll add them to the list.
