The Elusive Pimpernel (2022)

It is 1793, and France is in the throes of bloody revolution. Every day the Committee of Public Safety carts dozens of aristocrats and royalists to the hungry guillotines. But a mysterious hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, has been rescuing dozens of condemned Frenchmen and their families, whisking them away to the safety of England. Nobody seems to know who he is, for he and his League of supporters are masters of cunning and disguise. But can they continue to outwit agent Chauvelin and his guards who are determined to stop them?

Based on the novels of Baroness Orczy, this card game sets each player a secret identity and a different win condition. The Scarlet Pimpernel and his League try to rescue as many prisoners as possible, against Chauvelin and his agents for the Committee for Public Safety who try to execute the condemned. Depending on the player count, there may also be a corrupt guard, out to make as much bribe money as possible, or a tricoteuse (knitting woman) who simply aims to be near the heart of the violence.

The game is played over a maximum of seven rounds, corresponding to seven prisoners to be rescued, each with unique rule variations so that no two rounds are the same. Within each round, players must simultaneously place face-down cards containing coins, pimpernel flowers or swords at one of two potential rescue locations. Once all cards have been played, the location with the most bribe money (coins) is where the rescue attempt takes place, and at that site the fate of the prisoner depends on whether there are more swords (executed) or flowers (rescued). Players must use bluff and cunning to deduce the identities of the other players, then work with their allies to swing the outcomes to their favour.

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