Billionaire (Card Game)

Billionaire is a card game played with between 3 - 8 players. Billionaire is a re-themed version of the classic (1904) game Pit.

Object of the game

The object of the game is to be the first to collect a complete set of commodity cards, e.g. 8 Oil, or 8 Shiping or 8 Gold etc. When a player collects a full set of cards they call out "Billionaire", which stops trading and scores the winner the value of the cards in their hand. i.e. a full set of gold is worth $180 million. The first player to get $1,000,000,000 wins the game.

The game can be shortened by stopping at an agreed time or any amount of money.

The Cards

The cards and their values are:

Preparation

Since the game can be played by 3 - 8 players, use only the number of commodities according to the number of players i.e. If there are only five players, use only the top five valued commodities (Oil, Gold, Shipping, Property, Diamonds). If there are six players then six commodities are used and so on, up till the the full pack with 8 players. The Billionaire and Taxman cards are always used in a game.

Playing the game

One player shuffles and deals all the cards face down (two players will have 9 cards while the remainder of the players will have 8). The dealer rotates clockwise after each round. Each player looks at their cards and silently decides which commodity to collect (this may change during the game) and then trades surplus cards.

Trading

The dealer declares "the market is open" and trading commences. All players trade at the same time. Players trade surplus cards (i.e. Cards other than the commodity they have decided to collect) by holding the cards they wish to trade face down on the table and shouting the number of cards they wish to exchange. You may only trade cards of the same type. e.g. 2 Diamonds, 4 Shipping etc. with the exception that the Taxman and Billionaire cards can be included as one of the cards in any group. Any number of cards from one upwards can be traded at any one time, provided they are the same type or include wild cards.

An exchange take place when two players both declare an equal number of cards to trade (e.g. "two, two"). Trading must then take place.

Scoring

When a player has collected all of one commodity (i.e. 8 cards) the player shouts "Billionaire". All trading stops immediately and that player wins the round.

The player who calls "Billionaire" scores the value of the commodity they have collected. The player with the Taxman in their hand at the moment "Billionaire" is called is debited $40,000,000. The player with the Billionaire in their hand at the end of the round, unless they are the winner, is also debited $40,000,000. If a player announces 'Billionaire' at any other time other than having a full set, they are fined $40,000,000.

The Billionaire card (known as the Bull card in 'Pit') can be an asset or a liability and can be used as a wild card to complete a set i.e. 7 Diamonds plus Billionaire is a winning hand. In each round there will be two players with 9 cards in their hand. If one of those players collects all eight of a commodity plus the Billionaire, their score is doubled.

The Taxman (known as the Bear in 'Pit') is never a wanted card. The player holding the Taxman when someone shouts "Billionaire" is fined $40,000,000.

Winning the game

The first player to reach $1,000,000,000 or an agreed amount of money wins the game.

External links

* [http://www.smorgasboardofgames.com/GameDataBase/Spears/db_Billionaire_Card_RulesPage02.html "full complete rules for Billionaire"]
* [http://www.espplusnc.com/cardgames/pitrules.html "complete rules for Pit"]
* [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/140 "Board Game Geek 'Pit' entry"]