HIGH SOCIETY

A GAME BY REINER KNIZIA

Illustrated by MEDUSA DOLLMAKER

You are the cultural elite, the quintessential bon vivants,

the true icons of the age. The competition is fierce amidst
highborn and nouveau riche to assert your status and earn
prestige in the eyes of your peers. Adorn yourself with
splendid jewellery and high fashion, enjoy fine cuisine and
fizzing champagne, and waste away money in casinos
and at the races. Show off your exquisite palette and
excellent tastes, but don’t be caught penniless or be
cast out as an impostor!
Fashion is fickle but style is forever. Show
them what it really means to be a member
of High Society.
Components
16 status cards
10 luxury cards 3 prestige cards 3 disgrace cards

The luxury cards are Prestige cards multiply your Disgrace cards decrease
numbered 1 to 10, and status, and count down to your status in different
increase your status. the end of the game. ways.

5 sets of 11 money cards

2
Setup
Give each player a set of eleven money cards of the same
colour to keep secret in their hand. Shuffle the status cards and
place them as a face-down deck in the middle of the table. The
player who shuffled the deck starts the game.

How to Play
Players are socialites trying to live as lavishly and frivolously
as possible, outbidding each other
to prove they are living life to the
fullest. At the end of the game, the
poorest player (or players)
will be cast out of the group.
The remaining player who has
managed to become the most
fashionable, by collecting the
highest value status cards, will
earn the envy of all
and win the game.
Auction Rounds
At the start of each round, flip the top card of the status deck
face-up – this card will now go to the highest bidder. The
starting player must either bid or pass.

Bidding
To bid, you must play one or more money cards face-up in front
of you and announce the total of all your face-up money cards. If
you have already bid this round, you can only increase your bid
by adding new cards to the ones already on the table - you cannot
pick up cards you have already played. You can only bid if your
new total is higher than the previous bid made this round.

Passing
If you don’t want to bid, you may pass instead. If you have
already bid this round, return all of your face-up money cards
to your hand. You may no longer bid this round.

When a player has either bid or passed, the turn moves to the
player to their left. The last remaining player after everyone
else has passed wins the auction! It’s possible (but rare) that
everyone will pass without making a bid, in which case the
last remaining player gets the card for free. Place the contested
status card face-up in front of the winner. Discard all of the
money cards on the table face-down. The winner of the auction
becomes the starting player for the new round, and reveals the
next status card from the deck.
Disgrace!
If the revealed status card is a disgrace card, the auction works
slightly differently. This time you are bidding to avoid taking
the card, and the round will end as soon as any one player
passes. That player picks up their money cards as usual, but
must take the disgrace card and place it in front of them. All
other players must discard their money cards on the table face-
down. The passing player starts the next round.

If a player takes the Faux Pas card, they

must immediately discard one of the luxury
cards in front of them (their choice). If they
currently have no luxury cards in front of
them, they must discard the next luxury
card they receive. Once a luxury card has
been discarded, discard the Faux Pas card.
Note that only cards with a value between
1 and 10 are luxury cards. Discarded status
cards are returned to the box.

The Passé card

reduces a player’s
status by 5.

The Scandale card

halves the player’s
status at the end of
the game.

5
Game End
Four cards in the status deck have a dark green background
– the three prestige cards, and the Scandale card. As soon as
the fourth one is revealed, the game ends immediately, with no
bidding for the revealed card.

Cast Out!
All players reveal their hands and announce the total of their
remaining money cards. The player or players with the least
remaining money are cast out, and cannot win!

Scoring
Each luxury card awards status equal to its value. Each prestige
card doubles the owning player’s status, while the disgrace
cards decrease the status. The player with the highest status
that hasn’t been cast out wins.

If there is a tie, the player with the most money left wins. If there is
still a tie, the player with the single most valuable luxury card wins.

Clarifications
• The status cards a player has accumulated are always
visible face-up in front of them. The money cards they
have spent are always hidden face-down.
• If you have two prestige cards, multiply your status by
four. If you have all three, multiply your status by eight.

6
Scoring Example
Rahul has the following status cards in front of him:

He first adds up his luxury cards for a total of 12. He then has
to lose 5 due to being caught Passé, for a total of 7. Rahul then
gets to double his status twice because of his prestige cards,
for a total of 28! Finally, the Scandale card halves his status,
leaving Rahul with a total of 14.

7
 First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Osprey Games,
an imprint of Osprey Publishing Ltd
c/o Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK
Or
c/o Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.
1385 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018
Osprey Publishing, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
OSPREY and OSPREY GAMES are trademarks of Osprey Publishing,
a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
© Dr. Reiner Knizia, 2018. All rights reserved.
This edition © 2018 Osprey Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
www.ospreygames.co.uk

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