"Hey Boss! That was quite a haul we got there, hunh? Wasn't it? Hunh? What's that? That's my whole share, eh? Is it? I don't know... Maybe it's time somebody else call the shots around here. What's that? I don't got the muscle? Well, let's see what the other critters have to say about that!"

It's the most anticipated moment of any heist: time to split the loot. Of course, everybody trusts the boss to divide everything evenly, right? But will the boss be even-handed and make sure that every "made critter" gets a piece? Maybe the boss will only payoff some of them and keep the rest of it...

But in this animal house, the crew has the final say. If they don't like the split, they might just tell the boss to take a hike and put some other mook in charge!

In GoodCritters, you are members of a truly wild gang that makes a business of stealing piles of loot. After each heist, everybody eagerly tries to get the biggest share possible. In the end, the critter that can collect the most valuable stash of loot wins!

Components

• 140 loot cards
• 40 action cards
• 1 The fuzz! card
• 8 Threat markers with plastic stands
• 1 Boss marker with a plastic stand
• 16 Payoff tokens
• 40 Payoff cards

Setup

• Each player chooses a critter to play and takes all of the matching pieces: 5 Action cards and 1 Threat marker.

  If you are playing with the optional Payoff rules, each player also takes 5 Payoff cards and 2 Payoff tokens of the matching color to their critter.

  
  
  

• Give each player 4 Loot cards to start their Stash: one of each value ($2,000, $3,000, $4,000, and $5,000). The type of Loot does not matter (but might in future expansions), and should be chosen randomly.

  Your Stash includes all of the Loot cards you own, and never includes your Action cards (or any Payoff cards if you're using that optional rule).

  
  

  Important: Always keep your Stash secret from the other players.

• Now you need to create the Loot pile.

  1. Shuffle the rest of the Loot cards to create a face-down pile.

  2. Divide the deck into roughly equal parts, according to the number of players, as shown on the chart below. Don't worry about making the parts exactly equal in size.

  3. Randomly shuffle The Fuzz! card into one of those parts, as shown on the chart below.

  4. Stack the parts of the deck on top of each other to form a single pile. Be careful that the part with The Fuzz! card is in its appropriate position.

  Number Of Players	Divide The Deck Into This Many Parts:	Randomly Shuffle The Fuzz! Card Into This Part:
  4	6	4
  5	7	5
  6	5	4
  7	7	6
  8	5	5

  Example: In a five player game, the deck is split in 7 roughly equal parts. The Fuzz! is randomly shuffled into the fifth part, then the deck is put back together: 2 parts are at the bottom, then the part with The Fuzz!, and the other 4 parts on top.

  
  
  

  When you are finished, you will have a face-down Loot pile in the center of the table, with The Fuzz! card randomly placed in the lower half of the pile.

• The owner of the game is always the first Boss. The Boss takes the Boss Marker, and should do the best they can to keep the other critters in line.

Game Play

GoodCritters is played over a number of rounds, continuing until The Fuzz! card is revealed. Then the Fuzz show up and everybody has to take it on the lam... and count their "hard won" loot.

During each round, a number of Loot cards will be drawn from the Loot Pile. The Boss will decide how to spread the Loot around, then everybody votes on whether they can accept it or not.

If they vote yes, the Boss hands out the loot and stays in charge for another round. If they vote no, the Boss has to surrender the Boss Ring and a new Boss gets to split the loot!

When the Fuzz show up, the game ends immediately. Any Loot left on the table gets confiscated. The critter with the most valuable Stash when the Fuzz bust in is the winner.

Each round is divided into these four steps, which are played in order:

• Step 1: Show the Loot
• Step 2: Distribute the Loot
• Step 3: Choose Actions
• Step 4: Resolve Actions

Step 1: Show the Loot

The Boss turns over a number of cards from the top of the Loot Pile equal to the number of players +2 and places them face up in the middle of the table. Everybody takes a moment to ooh and aah over the awesome goodies!

Example: Al, Bonnie, Louie, Kate, and Sammy are ready to divvy up the Loot. Al's the Boss, so he turns over the top 7 Loot cards (5 players +2 cards) and puts them on the table. "Look at all that lettuce!" he croons.

Step 2: Distribute the Loot

Now the Boss has to decide how to spread the Loot around. It's totally up to the Boss how to distribute the cards-they are not required to give everybody a card. They can even give everything to just one player if they want. The Boss can even give Loot to themselves. But, all of the face up Loot cards must be distributed.

Once the Boss has made up their mind and distributed the shares, this step ends. Nobody gets to take their Loot yet, though!

The shares cannot be changed during Step 3 and Step 4.

Example: Now Al gets to split up the Loot. He knows he needs more Yes votes than No votes to stay the Boss, so he tries to make some friends: He offers 2 Loot cards to Bonnie and 2 to Sammy. He keeps the best 2 Loot cards for himself, of course, and tries to hedge his bets by tossing the last Loot card to Louie.

Step 3: Choose Actions

During this step, all players play at the same time-there are no turns! Players can try to make deals or issue Threats and ultimatums.

At some point, each player must choose exactly one of their Action cards to play, placing it face down in front of them. You can change your mind after you choose your card and play another one, 35pntil th(' point that everybody has a card in front of them, and nobody wants to make any changes.

If you are playing with the optional Payoff rules, players can also offer bribes to other players to influence their vote. See "Payoffs" on page 10 for the low down.

If this step is taking too long because players keep changing their minds, you can have everybody take turns, starting with the Boss and going clockwise, offering bribes and making threats. Afterwards, players can choose an Action card at the same time.

Making Threats

During Step 3, players can make any deals they want to make to try to get the others to vote the way they want them to. But sometimes, the best way to get a goon to follow your orders is to make a good threat.

Each player has one Threat marker that they can use to threaten another player. A Threat means that the player may try to steal Loot from the player by playing a Rob card (see "Taking Actions"on page 8). A Rob card can only target the player that has the robber's Threat marker in front of them.

Threat markers can be used as a bluff: a player is never required to play a Rob card, even if they have placed their Threat marker in front of another player. If a player threatens another player but does not play a Rob card, the Threat marker has no effect.

Threat Example: Now the free-for-all begins, with the critters making demands and complaints. After a lot of finger-pointing, Sammy Threat token in front of Louie A, who returns the favor B.

Bonnie thinks that's fun, so she puts her Threat token in front of Sammy, too C. Then everybody picks an Action card and places it face down in front of them.

Step 4: Resolve Actions

Now it's time to see how all the previous turn's scheming will unfold, and whether or not the Boss will stay in power or if a different critter will don the ring. During this step, each player has a turn, starting with the Boss and going clockwise around the table, revealing the Action card they played during Step 3.

When a card is revealed, the player that revealed it then carries out the action shown.

Exception: If a player played a Guard card, they must reveal it out of turn order if it is revealed that another player is robbing them with the Rob card.

• Vote Yes is a vote in favor of the current Boss and the Loot distribution they are proposing. If there are at least as many Vote Yes cards as Vote No cards, the vote passes (but see "Results of the Vote" on page 9 for more information).

  
  
  

• Vote No is a vote against the current Boss and the Loot distribution they are proposing. If there are more Vote No cards than Vote Yes cards, the vote fails.

  
  
  

  Though it may seem strange, the Boss can V. J Vote No against themselves!

• Skim allows a player to take the top Loot card from the Loot Pile and add it to their Stash (it is not taken from the face up Loot cards being voted on-always the top face down card from the deck).

  But, only the first player to reveal a Skim card each round gets to carry out this action! Anybody else who plays one gets nothing for their trouble.

  
  
  

• Rob means that a player is trying to take Loot directly from another player. The player who is robbed is always the one that has the robber's Threat marker in front of them.

  If the player didn't put their Threat marker in front of another player, the Rob action has no effect.

  If a player successfully robs, they pull a random Loot card from the Stash of their victim and adds it to their own.

  
  
  

• Guard is used by a player to protect themselves from being robbed. If a player plays this card, they reveal it any time another player reveals a Rob card, if the robber's Threat marker is in front of them.

  Instead of being robbed, the guarding player gets to steal one random Loot card from the robber's Stash!

  A single Guard card protects the player from all robbery attempts against them for the entire round. If multiple players reveal Rob cards against a player who is guarding, the guarding player gets to steal one random Loot card from each of the robber's Stashes!

  
  
  

  Remember: The Guard card is revealed out of turn if you are the target of a Rob card.

Results of the vote

• 
  
  

  If there are more Vote Yes cards than Vote No cards, the vote passes.

  A Yes Vote: If the vote passes, the distribution of Loot put forth by the Boss is accepted. Everybody takes the Loot assigned to them and adds it to their own Stash. The Boss gets to keep being the Boss, and a new round starts with Step 1.

• 
  
  

  If there are exactly as many Vote Yes cards as Vote No cards (or if no Vote Yes or Vote No cards are played at all), the vote is a tie.

  A Tie Vote: If the vote is a tie, the gang reluctantly accepts the distribution of Loot, but they lose faith in the Boss and decide it's time for somebody else to take charge. Everybody takes the Loot assigned to them, and then the next player clockwise from the previous Boss becomes the new Boss, and a new round starts with Step 1.

• 
  
  

  If there are more Vote No cards than Vote Yes cards, the vote fails.

  A No Vote: If the vote fails, the gang has rejected the Boss' plans. All of the Loot cards distributed in Step 2 are returned to the middle of the table, still face up.

  The first player clockwise from the Boss who revealed a No card during the voting becomes the new Boss. They turn over two more cards from the Loot Pile and add them to the Loot already in the middle of the table. Then a new round starts with Step 2.

  In the rare case that the only vote is a No vote placed by the Boss, they keep the Boss job. Return the Loot cards to the center of the table and draw two more Loot cards. Begin the next round with Step 2.

  If there aren't any votes placed at all, voting should be resolved as if it were a tie.

Next Round

Retrieve Action Cards: Each player takes back the Action card they played and their Threat marker if they gave it out. You must always have all five Action cards to choose from each round and your Threat marker to place.

Depending on the result of the vote, the next round will begin with either Step 1 or Step 2, possibly with a new Boss.

End of the Game

The players continue to play, round after round, voting and collecting Loot until The Fuzz! card is revealed.

• If The Fuzz! show up when you are drawing new Loot cards to be distributed, the game ends immediately. This can happen during Step 1 at the start of a new round, or when there was a NO vote and you are drawing 2 additional Loot cards for the new Boss to distribute.

• If The Fuzz! don't make an appearance until Step 4, which can happen if the Skim action is played, a new Loot card is drawn for the Skim, and the game continues until the end of the current round.

When the game ends, everybody counts up all of the Loot in their Stash. The player with the most valuable wad of lettuce wins the game!

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