The Prodigals Club

To set up The Prodigals Club, place the central board in the middle of the table. Depending on whether you are playing with two or all three competitions (Possessions, Election, and Society), arrange the corresponding player boards around the central board. Distribute starting money and tiles or possessions to each player. Shuffle the respective card decks for each competition and place them on their designated spaces on the boards. Prepare the round markers, bonus tokens, and other components, ensuring everything is accessible for the players before beginning the first round.

The main objective of The Prodigals Club is to get rid of your wealth, lose your political support, and become thoroughly disliked by high society. Unlike most board games where you want to accumulate points or wealth, here you must attempt to lose all your possessions, upset voters in elections, and drive down your social influence to win. The winner is the player who achieves the lowest final score across the competitions you choose to play.

Each round in The Prodigals Club is divided into six distinct phases. First, cards and tiles are dealt and set up on the respective boards. Second, players take turns placing their errand boys on available spaces to carry out specific actions. Third, players enter the action phase where they can play cards from their hands. Fourth, specific competition phases like Hyde Park or Dame Beatrice are resolved depending on the active competitions. Fifth, turn order and boards are reset for the next round. Players must strategically manage their actions and card plays to maximize their losses.

Scoring in The Prodigals Club is calculated individually for each active competition. Players receive a score based on their remaining possessions, votes, or social influence. However, unlike traditional games where the highest score wins, the game is decided by your performance across these areas. The final score is determined by the highest of your individual competition scores, and the player with the lowest final score at the end of the game is declared the winner.

The game concludes after five completed rounds, or immediately at the end of a round in which any player's marker reaches a score of zero in one of the competitions. Once the game ends, players evaluate their scores in each active competition. The player with the lowest final score wins the game, proving themselves to be the most successful at squandering their wealth and alienating high society.