Instructions for Bankrupt the Card Game!

How to Start:

  • Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards facedown to each player. Players may look at their cards.
  • Place the remaining cards in the center of play to form a Draw pile.
  • Designate a space next to the Draw pile to act as a Discard pile.

On Your Turn:

  • Always start your turn by drawing 1 card from the Draw pile.
  • After drawing, players get 1 move:
  1. Play an Action card 
  2. Get rid of a Bankrupt Card (with 3 of the same Asset or an Angel Investor).
  3. Pass your turn
  • At the end of their turn, a player may have a maximum of 7 cards in their hand. There is no minimum. 
  • If  a player has more than 7 cards at the end of their turn, they must choose which card(s) to discard into the Discard pile to get back to 7 cards.
  • You may not discard a Bankrupt card by itself.
  • After player is finished with their turn, play continues clockwise.

How To Win:

  • To win the round, collect all 5 Assets without holding any Bankrupt card.
  • When a player has won the round, they drop their cards face-up to signal that they have won and initiate the scoring process.
  • Play 3-5 rounds. The player that has the most points at the end of the 3-5 rounds wins the game!

Scoring Process:

10 points 

  • The first player to drop all 5 Assets face-up without holding any Bankrupt cards wins the round and receives 10 points.

5 points

  • Players holding any amount of Asset cards and no Bankrupt cards receive 5 points.

0 points

  • Players holding a Bankrupt card or no Asset card at the end of the round receive 0 points. 

Partnership Score Exception: If a player outside of a partnership wins the round and the partnership collectively has all 5 Assets and no Bankrupt cards, all partners receive 10 points.

Bankrupt Card:

A Player may NOT discard a Bankrupt card by itself.

  • A player may discard a Bankrupt by placing an Angel Investor card on top of the Bankrupt card and placing them both into the Discard Pile.
  • A player may discard a Bankrupt card by placing 3 of the same Asset (Ex. 3 Creativity cards) on top of the Bankrupt card and placing them all info the Discard pile.
  • A player may play a Private Trade card and give a Bankrupt card to another player in a trade. 
  • A player may play a Business Shark card and give a Bankrupt card to another player.

Angel Investor Card (Protection Card):

A player may use an Angel Investor card to discard a Bankrupt by placing it on top of the Bankrupt card and placing both cards into the Discard pile.

  • Players may only use 1 Angel Investor card to discard 1 Bankrupt card at a time.

A player may use an Angel Investor card to block an Action card that directly targets them. Simply place the Angel Investor card face-up in the Discard pile and say, "No".

  • Play an Angel Investor to counter another Angel Investor. See Ex. 1.

Ex. 1: Player A plays a Private Trade with Player B and Player B blocks the trade with an Angel Investor. Player A can then play another Angel Investor to counter the block and force the trade. 

Players may counter more than once. 

Action Cards:

After drawing, play an Action card by placing it face-up in the Discard pile.

Steal an Asset

  • Play this card to steal any Asset from a player. Decide what Asset you want to steal and choose a player. Players can be specific in their request (ex. Give me a Capital card) or players can make a general request (ex. Give me an Asset). Players may also give a range of what they are looking for (ex. Give me a Creativity, Capital or Great Accountant). 
  • If the player being stolen from has the Asset card, they slide it over facedown. If not, the turn is over and the player that played the Steal An Asset may not make another request. 

Discard Cards

  • Play this card and choose 1 player to discard the Asset on the card. If the player chosen has the Asset, they must discard it into the Discard pile. If not, the turn is over and the player choosing may not choose another player.
  • If a player plays The Stock Market Crash card, all players must discard an Asset card of their choice into the Discard Pile.

Private Trade

  • Play this card and choose one player to swap a card with. Both players pick a card they want to trade, lay it facedown and make the trade. Once either player looks at their traded card, they cannot block it. 

Feeling Risky

  • Play this card to draw 2 more cards from the Draw pile. 
  • If you have more than 7 cards after playing this card, choose which cards to discard back into the Discard pile.

Resource Recovery

  • Play this card to draw 1 card from the top 3 cards in the Discard pile (the Resource Recovery played does not count as the 1st card).

Business Shark

  • Play this card to give any card to another player. Choose one player that you want to give a card to and lay your card facedown and slide the card over. 
  • Once the player looks at the card, they may not block it.

Partnership Cards

Play this card face-up in front of you to start a partnership. Players may choose to join by laying their card Partnership card face-up in front of them.

If no players lay their Partnership card down with yours, proceed to place your Partnership card into the Discard pile and your turn is over.

Once the Partnership is formed, no other players can join and no partners may leave the partnership. 

  • Once all players have joined the partnership they keep their partnership cards face-up in front of them and continue playing the round individually trying to help each other win the round.
  • When the round is over and all players are scoring their hands, all players in the partnership collectively score their hands as 1.

Note: If a player in the partnership wins and drops their cards, initiating the scoring process and another partner has a Bankrupt, the partnership receives 0 points. The round is over and all players score their hands accordingly.