2016 · JAMA
Kacper Ryx i Król Żebraków ("Kacper Ryx and the King of Beggars") is a picaresque board game for 2-5 players, based on the motifs of the novel series about sixteenth-century Cracow detective Kacper (eng. Casper) Ryx written by a Polish writer Mariusz Wollny.
Players assume the role of gangs ringleaders, who fight for the title of the King of Beggars, the ruler of the Cracow underworld. The winner will be the one who at the end of the game will have the highest value of points of influence (respect). The players score points by performing tasks described on the objective cards which they are drawing at the start of each turn. Many objectives will require a capture of taverns, which will become bases of operation for players and will allow to take control over districts of the Renaissance Cracow.
Each turn is divided into 4 phases. Income, Action, Objective phase, and Investigation. With the passage of time and the disclosure of new crimes conducted by players, both the time and investigation marker, which start at the opposing end of the time-investigation track, will move closer to each other. When they meet the game ends and the player who scores most points of influence will be the new King of Beggars.
A 2 players variant follows a somewhat different principles. The map of Cracow is limited to 6 districts, players do not use time/investigation track as well as the influence track. Instead they compete for fulfillment of the 4 explicit objectives drawn from separate "duel deck" set next to the board. Upon completion of a task, the player takes the duel card to his pool and draws new one to replace the one he took. The player who first accumulates 4 objective cards wins the game. Thanks to these modifications the game is as playable as the 3-5 players variant, but much shorter.
