Overview

Have the most profitable stocks in your portfolio by game's end

Setup

Each player starts by picking two cards to add to their portfolio, one visible and one hidden.

Each of those cards gives the player one stock per suit icon in that company; these stocks will score the player points at the end of the round.

The player with the lowest visible card will start the round, with ties being split in favour of the lowest starting share value.

Turn

This is a trick taking game.

At the start of each trick the top card of the deck is revealed - this can be claimed by the person who wins the trick, it desired.

The starting player (or whoever won the last trick) plays a card, and all subsequent players (clockwise) must play a card of the matching suit.

If unable, they can play any card or a trump card - the trump suit is the current company with the lowest market value.

If a player plays a card with the Stock Market symbol (a set of two arrows) then they also get to adjust the Stock Market as discussed below.

The player with the highest value card in the starting suit wins the trick, unless a trump was played in which case the highest trump card wins. (But see Speculation below.)

The winner of the trick chooses one of the played cards or the face-up card which was flipped at the start of the trick, and adds it to their portfolio. They then commence the next trick.

Stock Market

If a player plays a card with the Stock Market symbol (a set of two arrows) then they also get to adjust a stock in the market by one level up or down at the time of playing (This could change Trump)

Some cards have TWO Stock Market symbols, in which case both must be applied to the same company in the same direction, if this would push the company further than allowed (i.e. there is just one space left in that direction) the player has to move in the other direction or pick a different company

Whatever company just got changed will gain the black mark, a company with the black mark cannot be adjusted at the next adjustment, at which point the adjusted company will instead gain the black mark (i.e. there will always be one company which cannot be affected, but this will always be changing)

Speculation

One Speculation card can be played per round, so the first player to play one blocks that option for the remaining players

If the starting player plays the speculation, they also place a normal card face down, then card call any company to be the suit for the round

At end of round, the facedown card is revealed and scored as normal i.e. if it were the suit called (but doesn't have to be) or perhaps it were the trump suit, it has a chance at winning through highest suit. Any market exchange symbols are forfeited

If the facedown card was not from the lead suit, and no one played a suit or trump card, no one wins the trick, the cards are all discarded, and that player starts again

If a follower wishes to play the Speculation, they have to have NO Lead suit cards in hand, if this is the case they can play Speculation along with a faceup other card and make it the Lead suit e.g. a Red is lead, a player can play a yellow 13 with a Speculation and call it a red 13

A later player can counter a Follow Speculation by playing the real card, e.g. the real red 13 in the above example, which nullifies the Speculation and returns the card to its original form, a yellow 13 in the example

Regardless of how a Speculation card is used, it is discarded at the end of the current trick

Round End

The round ends when all players have 1 card left in hand, this card is discarded.

Each player sorts their portfolio by company and, if they did not use their Speculation, adds it to the company with the lowest market value among the stocks they own.

For each company, players multiply the number of suit icons by the market value of that company, e.g. 5 icons obtained for a company with a market value of 3 results in 15 points.

After scores are logged, a new round begins.

Game End

The game ends after the number of rounds determined, 3 for short or 5 for long.

The player with the most points, wins!

If tied, the player with the least cards in their stock portfolio on the last round wins. If still tied, the player with the least stocks wins.