CUPIDO
Love and Marriage on the Planet of Ten Sexes
Rules
These rules can be downloaded in ether MS Word format or Post Script
format.
If you wish to construct your own Cupido game follow these
instructions.
See copyright information before you copy or distribute Cupido.
Introduction
The planet Cupido is a peaceful and serene place to live, but its single population leads an intense social life. A young Cupidoian who wants to go out on a date must find nine other Cupidoians of different sexes whom it likes, who all like it, and who all like each other. Cupidoian parents receive government subsidies to help offset their phone bills.
Out of necessity, Cupidoians have a more hard-boiled view of romance than earthlings do. When they reach adolescence, they decide on exactly what they are willing to settle for in a relationship. They do not accept anything less or hold out for anything more. Most earthlings behave in the opposite manner.
While one God of Love is generally enough for Earth, Cupido requires several. Each player of the game is an invisible cupid, hovering around a small town that contains 100 single Cupidoians, ten of each sex. The first player who can get ten Cupidoians of different sexes to marry each other is the winner.
Cupido is a game for two to six players that takes about a half-hour for experienced players to play. The game requires a deck of 100 cards and a "love dart" prop [such as a matchstick or a coin] for each player. Each player will also need a long space on the table to spread out ten cards.
You will have to construct the card deck from images available on this web site. When the deck is completed, look at the cards. Each card represents a Cupidoian. It shows the Cupidoian's name and picture, and three pieces of information about it: it's sex, it's attributes, and it's desire.
SEX: The 10 Cupidoian sexes are referred to by letters: A, B, D, F, G, M, N, 0, P, and T. You can tell a Cupidoan's sex by the first letter of its name.
ATTRIBUTES: Most of the cards have red, yellow, and/or green circles across the top. These represent the Cupidoian's "good points." [Red represents looks, green represents money, and yellow represents charisma.]
DESIRE: Most of the cards have a red, yellow, or green oval with a number in it. This represents the number of attribute circles of that color that this Cupidoian requires a group to have before it will be satisfied.
GETTING STARTED
Shuffle the deck and deal one card to each player face up. The player who gets the highest desire number will go first. If there is a tie, deal cards to the tied players until someone gets a higher number.
Put all of the cards back in the deck. The player to the right of the "first" player shuffles the deck and deals three cards to each player face down. Players may look at their cards. Each player also gets a love dart. The "first" player takes a turn and play then proceeds clockwise.
SUMMARY OF PLAY
Each player may place cards face-up on the table from his hand, from the discard pile, and/or [stolen cards] from in front of another player. Your face-up group may contain only one Cupidoian from each sex. Each Cupidoian in this group is either satisfied or unsatisfied. Another player can steal an unsatisfied Cupidoian. The group cannot marry if any of it's members are unsatisfied. A Cupidoian is satisfied if the number of same-color attribute circles in the whole group match or exceed the number in the Cupidoian's desire oval. A Cupidoian with no desire oval is always satisfied. If you have ten satisfied Cupidoians in front of you, YOU WIN!
YOUR TURN
During your turn, you can draw one card from the deck and add it to your hand OR you can steal a face-up card from another player OR you can switch one of your face-up cards with the top card on the discard pile if it is a card of the same sex. You can only do ONE of these actions, so THINK before you impulsively draw a card.
In addition to one of these three main actions, you can take any number of the following actions. You can take these actions more than once, either before or after your main action, and in any order.
* Take the top card from the discard pile and put it face-up in front of you. You can only do this if you don't already have a Cupidoian of the same sex face-up in front of you.
* Play a card from your hand face-up in front of you. You can only do this if you don't already have a Cupidoian of the same sex face-up in front of you.
* Play a card from your hand into the discard pile.
* Play a face-up card into the discard pile.
You can have up to four cards in you hand during your turn, but you can't have more than three at the end of your turn. Your hand cards cannot be stolen and you can have more than one hand card of the same sex.
STEALING
You can steal a face-up card from another player if:
* You don't have a face-up card of the same sex in front of you.
* The target Cupidoian is unsatisfied.
* Your face-up group has MORE of the attribute that the target wants than the other player's group.
[For example, if your group has five yellow attribute circles and the other player's group has four; you can steal a Cupidoian who has a yellow six desire oval but not one who has a yellow four desire oval.]
Once per game, a player can play her love dart to enhance her stealing ability. The love dart allows you to steal ANY face-up Cupidoian from another player if you don't already have a Cupidoian of that sex in your group. You can steal a satisfied Cupidoian, even if your group has none of its desired attribute at all. Your "love dart steal" takes the place of your regular steal during your turn. Discard your love dart after you use it.
COURTESY
When it isn't your turn, you should line up your group in alphabetical order facing towards you. You should also push your unsatisfied Cupidoians a little towards the center to show who is available for stealing. This will speed up the game considerably. Be sure to review each Cupidoian's satisfaction status every time that your group changes.
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