How to Play
Card Types
Event Cards (100) – Recently declassified Event cards contain a summary of known facts surrounding a controversial event. Event cards contain a Briefing for context and an example question. The question is entirely optional, players are encouraged to pose their own.
Subjects (200) – Subject cards are the insidious participants of history. They are people and groups from history, politics, and popular culture who have played an important role in shaping the Events.
Motives (200) – Motive cards describe the motivation of subjects – their modus operandi. Players must use these cards to explain why a Subject participated in an Event.
Set Up
(1) First things first – thoroughly shuffle the Events, Subjects, and Motives into their three separate decks. Do not mix them together.
(2) Each player will first declare the last time they personally consumed mainstream news (radio, television, internet, or your crazy uncle). This player will take the first turn representing the General Public.
(3) The rest of the players are Mainstream Media outlets
(4) All Mainstream Media players will draw five Subject cards and five Motive cards.
(5) The General Public player will draw two Event cards and choose one to ask a question about.
The Department of Truth has deciphered how to play “Wake Up Sheeple”. See below for instructions.
Gameplay
The player representing the General Public will reveal the card they’ve chosen in the setup phase. After examining the card, the General Public player has two options:
(1) The player can read the Example question provided on the Event card in an attempt to seek the truth to that question.
(2) Players are permitted to make up their own question, as long as it fits the following guidelines: “Who participated/covered up/invented etc etc the Event, and why?
After the Event question has been asked by the General Public, the Media Outlet players will attempt to answer the question with one Subject and one Motive card. The Mainstream Media players should come up with an answer in the format of some crazy news story.
After all the news stories are heard, the General Public decides which story they believe in, and the Media Outlet with the best story is awarded the Event card. The General Public role is passed to the player on the right, and Media Outlets should draw back up to 5 motives and 5 subjects. The first to 5, 10, or 15 cards win. The maximum score is up to the players to decide.
Gameplay Notes
- The Media Outlet players may ask the General Public to read the briefing on the Event Card.
- People think at different speeds and thats okay! Whoever has their story ready first can go first. Turn order is determined by the players.
- Conspiracy Theories at their core do not make any sense. Sell your story! Have fun! Make Julius Caesar somehow keep the United States in Vietnam! Roleplay and get into it!
Gameplay Example
The General Public will draw the Event card similar to the above. They can read the Example or ask a question in the format of who or what faked/created/stopped/started the event and why. The General Public may ask questions similar to the following:
“Nuts to these Scientists. GMOs are deadly! Who is covering up GMOs true purpose and why?! ”
Gameplay Example (For the News Outlet)
In this example, a Media Outlet player has chosen to use “Those Meddling Kids” as a Subject, and “To Sell Guns to Children” as a motive.
“Its so obvious... I’ll tell you who invented GMOs and why! WHO ELSE would create deadly genetically altered foods to infect our bodies?! It’s those got danged Meddling Kids! Obviously years of solving spooky Eldritch mysteries with a talking dog has driven those kids insane! They have hatched a new plan to keep our children safe from the Old Man Jenkins of our respective towns! They’re using Genetically Modified Organisms to not only infect our bodies, but our brains! They want to use these mind control foods to get us to buy guns FOR our children! It’ll create utter chaos! There will be first grade grenadiers on every street corner!”
As stated earlier, conspiracy theories do not, should not, and probably will not make sense. Be absurd, but also be confident in your story! Point! Yell! Scream! Sweat! Make the general public believe that you know what you’re talking about.
Discarding
During play, a player might find themselves holding cards for extended periods without any opportunity to play them. Fortunately for you, we have a solution! Unfortunately, discarding comes with a price.
Once per turn (before any stories have been pitched) a player may discard a maximum of four out of ten cards from their hand. However, they are not allowed to draw up to ten immediately... They must play out the round with the smaller hand. At the end of the round they may draw back up to their full hand of 5 motives and 5 subjects.
Example: Travis has a full hand of ten cards at the beginning of a round. He has been holding onto useless cards this whole game and he wishes to get rid of them. Before playing the round, he discards 2 Events and 2 Motives, leaving him with 3 Events and 3 Motives in his hand. He must play out the round, then draw back up to 5 cards each after the General Public has awarded the event card to a player.
Alternate Rules Slightly Unhinged
The more popular a news network gets, the harder it will be stay on top. You’ll have to come up with crazier and crazier stories to raise the bar. In this mode, each little victory will come at a price, making the next victory more challenging. The following is assuming the table is playing to five points. Play with the rules as you wish.
For 1 or 2 points:
Use 1 Subject Card and 1 Motive Card in your news story about the event
For the 3rd point:
Use 2 Subject Cards and 1 Motive card in your news story about the event
For the 4th point:
Use all 2 Subject Cards and 2 Motive Cards in your news story about the event.
For the 5th point:
Use 3 Subject Cards and 3 Motive Cards in your news story abou the event.
You get the idea, mess with this mode for however many points the players set. Don’t be afraid to force everyone to use all 5 Subject and Motive Cards for the game winner.
Alternate Rules I Become Fake News
Sometimes the most popular network runs out leads and has to work with the leads that they have. Don’t give up! Own your story, no matter how difficult or nonsensical your truth is. The following is assuming the table is playing to five points. Play with the rules as you wish.
For the 3rd point:
From this point on, you’re not allowed to draw back up to five cards. You must work with the cards left in your hand. You may play 1 subject and 1 motive as usual.