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At the beginning of the last century in the USA, some brave entrepreneurs foresee the possible economic developments of the Lumière brothers’ invention and found the first motion picture production companies. In a short time, their studios became the source of dreams that every American could believe in. Initially the actors came from the theatre, but soon the cinema could count on more and more famous stars who were adored by the public and were able to ensure the success of the movies simply with their presence. In “Star System”, two renowned film directors compete to engage the most famous stars in their films.

GOAL OF THE GAME:
Using at best the actions of the Studio cards, the winner will be the director able to identify the five actors in the hand of the opponent.

GAMEPLAY: The player who went to the cinema more recently plays first. He turns his Director card to the side with the number “1” face-up, while his opponent turns her Director card to the side with the number “2”. The first player chooses one of the four Studio cards and puts his Director card on top of it so that his Director card covers only the lower half of the Studio card. Then the second player will place her Director card similarly on one of the three remaining uncovered Studio cards. Each Studio card lists two possible actions. The action in the top half is executed by the player who put his Director card on it (thus cancelling the lower action). If a Studio card does not have a Director card on it, the action in the top half is ignored, and the action in the bottom half will be carried out. When both players have selected a Studio card, the actions are executed from the leftmost card to the rightmost one (as shown by the arrows on each card). The cards with no Director will ignore their main action (top half), applying the secondary action (bottom half) instead.

Once all four actions have been executed, the round is over. Each player takes back his Director card and turns it over (thus the player that had the number “2” will now have the number “1” and will choose first which of the four main actions to use). Move the Searchlight one spot forward, in the direction shown by its arrows. The four Studio cards are shuffled and randomly repositioned face-up in a line. The players place their Director cards (first number “1” and then number “2”) and apply the effects of all Studio cards (starting from the leftmost one) as described above.

VICTORY: The winner is the first player to unveil all five actors composing the cast of the opponent. Alternatively, at the end of the tenth round (when the Searchlight has no more spaces to move), the winner is the player who has revealed more actors of the other cast. In case of a tie, the player whose Director card is on the “1” side can say a name. If the named actor is held by the opponent, the player can immediately call another actor. If he is wrong, he must stop and the opponent can say a name with the same rules. The winner, in this case, is the first player to unveil all five stars composing the cast of their opponent.

A Game by Walter Obert
Artwork by Paolo Vallerga

2

10+

30 min