Since the beginning of time, two opposing forces have been the pillars of the universe and coexist in eternal balance. The Goddess, in her infinite wisdom, has sent a group of Overseers to protect our world. They have the power to bend human traits to their will, and will always battle between each other to create the perfect symmetry between the virtues and vices of humankind. In Overseers, a game of bluff and misdirection, each player represents an Overseer, whose objectives are to bend traits to their favor to create the most dominant combination of virtues and vices. The heart of the game is the round where you must try to convince the other players to vote in your favor using your character’s abilities and your wits. The following is an example of play...

Theresa, Julie, Jeff, and Zach are playing Overseers. Theresa is playing Lui and has three ‘hope’ and two ‘anger’ cards in her hand. That’s a great hand because Liu can hide three cards instead of two as her ability. Liu will be able to hide the hope set worth 21 points. Zach has Suyin with three ‘courage’ and two ‘lust’ cards. They’re not as good as Theresa’s hand because Suyin gives you two extra points for each anger and it looks like Theresa already has them. They’re still good because a courage set sums 18, plus 6 points for the two lust cards. Jeff, who has Xie, is holding two ‘hope’, two ‘courage’, and one ‘anger’. He may be in trouble with those cards because there isn’t a good way of hiding information and he has two incomplete sets. Plus, Xie’s ability gives one extra point for each hope and courage card, so players will probably vote for him. Finally, Julie has Meixiu and holds two ‘greed’, two ‘benevolence’, and one hope card, which is the worst hand of all. She has the lowest cards because each greed card is two points, each benevolence is four points, and one hope card counts as zero, a total of 12 points. In this case, Theresa will try to convince everyone else her hand is much worse than it is, while Julie must project confidence, trying to show that single card and make her opponents think she may have a completed hope set, making her the most valuable player. A conversation among the players may sound something like this:

Theresa: “I have nothing to lose, I’ve got two greed cards. I want to steal a card at the end of the game, so if you wanna vote for me, it’s fine!”

Zach: “I think Theresa is bluffing and she has a good hand, but I think that Julie’s green card looks lonely. Theresa’s hidden cards could complete Julie’s set.”

Jeff: “Zach I think you’re right, but Theresa is hiding something under those three cards.”

Julie: “I will clear all your minds by seeing two of the three cards from Theresa’s combination. It’s Meixiu’s ability (Julie peaks). Ok, you know I don’t know how to bluff. She has two courage and one greed.”

Now comes the time to vote. Based on their conversation, Theresa votes for Julie, Julie votes for Jeff, Jeff votes for Theresa, and Zach casts his vote for Julie. The accused player is Julie!

Julie played well, by tricking the others, without adding too much heat to the conversation that she may be the highest. Theresa is happy because her combination is safe…for now! Now, Julie knows she has a very low score, so instead of admitting being the highest, she will deny.

Everybody will show their hands and count points. Julie is, indeed, not the highest, so as a reward, she takes a card from the discard pile. She will get a benevolence card that grants four points.

The last phase of the round (called greed) begins. The player with the most greed cards may steal a card from another player. Julie has two, while the others have none. She chooses Theresa, who doesn’t want to lose her set, so she gives an anger card to Julie.

The final score for the round is Theresa: 27 points, Jeff: 20 points, Zach: 24 points, and Julie: 25 points. Everybody will hide their points and a new round will start with new characters. At the end of the third round, the player with the most victory points is declared the winner!

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Gonzalo Aguirre Bisi is a passionate gamer and game designer that joined the gaming industry in 2007 working as a video game publisher. He hit it off with Greenbrier Games at Spiel Essen 2016, and are now partnering together.