Cantraband Card Game

About

Cantraband is a team-based card game set in the world of international smuggling. Players are divided into two rival gangs competing to gain control over criminal empires — 9 in total, each running 6 illicit trades across categories like Substances, Weapons, Gems, Spices, and Fashion. Setup 4–8 players split into two equal teams and sit alternating around the table so no two teammates are adjacent. Choose a difficulty by picking an odd number of empires to play with (3 for beginners, 5 for more advanced). Shuffle the deck and deal all 54 cards out across all players. How to Play On your turn, ask any opponent for a specific trade card — but only under an empire you already hold cards in, and only for a trade you don’t already have. If they have it, they hand it over and your turn continues. If they don’t, your turn ends and it becomes their turn. Asking for a trade you already hold, or from an empire outside your hand, means your whole gang must surrender those empire cards to the rival gang immediately. How to Win Your gang wins an empire by declaring — either when you hold all 6 trades yourself, or when you know exactly who holds every trade in that empire (teammate or opponent) and you’re 100% right. A wrong declaration gifts the empire to your rivals. The gang that controls the majority of the chosen empires wins the game. —description from the designer

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