GOAT Game Overview

In GOAT, players enter a demonic casino, gambling their life in exchange for the chance to have their dearest wish granted. Players use their numbered chips to strategically bet on which of three suits they think has the higher value during the round. The player with the highest chip value on the strongest suit wins the round, while the player with the lowest value loses some of their life force. Players repeat rounds until one player's life reaches 0 or one player wins 3 rounds. But that's not all...players can make contracts with demons before every round, gaining an asymmetric power they can use to strengthen themselves or deceive and weaken their opponents. There is, of course, risk. In exchange for the demon's power, if you lose a round while contracted...you lose additional life! Can you strike the right balance and make it out of the casino alive? Below is a brief overview of the game. More detailed rules can be found in the rulebook.

Contract Phase:
During the Contract Phase, players currently in a contract with a demon can cancel their contract by paying 1 of their life points.

Players can then make a new contract or renew their current contract. New contracts are made exchanging a standard chip for the demon's special chip. Be careful - if you use a low value chip to make your contract, another player later in the turn can steal your contract by placing a chip of higher value - a takeover contract. Players renewing their contract will need to exchange their currently exchanged chip for a higher value one.

Draw Phase:
After making contracts, players then each draw a double-sided tile from the bag and look at it secretly. One side has a suit, while the other side has a value. If a tile with the GOAT suit and a value of 2 is pulled, this means the GOAT suit will have at least +2 value during this round. Players carefully consider which side to reveal to the other players. After revealing one side of everyone's tiles, one more tile - the dealer tile - is pulled from the suit bag. This tile is immediately placed down without looking at the other side, acting as a boost to the information available to the players.

Betting Phase:
Play then moves to the Betting Phase. In this phase, players bet their chips face-down on which of the three suits they think will have the highest total value.

Players may split their chips across the three suits however they like, concentrating them all in one spot or faking out opponents by using low-value chips as decoys. If you have a demon chip, you'll need to carefully consider how your contracted demon's ability works - does it swing probabilities in your favor? Force opponents to take back a chip? Provide you with extra decoy chips? Your demon's ability should have some level of influence on your play style for the round - use it well!

Showdown Phase:
Once all players have bet, players reveal the other side of the tile they drew during the Draw Phase. The value of each of the three suits is totaled. The suit with the highest total is the top suit!

In player order, players reveal all of their chips, activating their demon chip's ability when it is overturned, if applicable. Players then determine who bet the most on the top suit! That player is the winner of the round, gaining 1 win. The player who bet the least on the top suit is the loser of the round - they lose 1 life. If they were contracted with a demon, the penalty for losing is even worse - you lose an additional 1 life and your contract!

End of the Game:
The game ends when one player has either accumulated 3 wins or loses all of their life.

If one player reaches 3 wins, they immediately win the game!

If a player loses all of their life, they are eliminated and the remaining players immediately compare their win totals to determine the ultimate winner!

If none of the game end conditions are met, players start a new round from the Contract Phase!