Startups

To set up the game, each player receives 10 capital chips, initially valued at 1 point each. The deck of cards is shuffled, and 5 cards are randomly removed from the game without being revealed to ensure players cannot perfectly count the cards. Each player is then dealt 3 cards to form their starting hand. Finally, the 6 anti-monopoly chips, representing different companies, are laid out on the table.

The primary objective of Startups is to accumulate the most victory points by the end of the game. Victory points are primarily earned through capital chips and by owning a majority of stock in companies. Each capital chip held at the end of the game is worth 1 victory point, but their value can increase to 3 points if you are the sole owner of a company.

During your turn, you must first draw one card. You have the option to draw from the main deck or take a card from the marketplace. If you choose to take a card from the marketplace, you must pay one capital chip for each card you skip over in the marketplace before taking your desired card. After drawing, you must either play one card from your hand into your personal portfolio, or discard one card to the marketplace. If playing a card to your portfolio gives you the majority of stocks in a company, you take the corresponding anti-monopoly chip. If you already own the anti-monopoly chip and increase your majority, you keep it. If another player gains majority, they take the chip.

At the end of the game, after all cards have been played, scoring occurs for each company. For every company in which you hold the majority of stock (indicated by owning the anti-monopoly chip for that company), each other player who holds stock in that same company must pay you 3 victory points for each of their stocks. If there is a tie for majority ownership of a company, no player receives any payments for that company. Any capital chips you possess are worth 1 victory point each, but if you own the anti-monopoly chip for a company, your capital chips become worth 3 points each.

The game concludes when the main deck of cards runs out. At this point, any cards remaining in players' hands are automatically played into their respective portfolios. After these final cards are played, the game proceeds to the scoring phase to determine the winner based on accumulated victory points.