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Rules for The Alleyway Pharmacy

Madison Hurst

The AlleyWay Pharmacy

Idea: The Alleyway Pharmacy is a card game in which the players are drug dealers competing against other drug dealers where they have to collect various drugs to resell. The kick to it is, the drug dealers have to make sure whether the drugs they collected are real and not candy. If they are caught using candy (x amount of times) then they will go to jail (lose).

Objective: 

  • Players are rival dealers that are fighting for the same street block. They are competing to make the most profit by reselling drugs while avoiding fake ones (candy). To win, the player must be the first to reach the profit goal ($20,000) or by the last one that didn’t get busted. 

Materials needed:

  • Deck of cards:
  • Drug cards
  • Candy cards
  • Action cards
  • Profit tracker (score pad)
  • Busted disk trackers
  • Rules sheet
  • Your hand for your cards
  • Stash (faced down pile on the table)

Setup:

  • Shuffle cards into one deck which will become the draw pile
  • Each player will draw 3 cards that will be their starting hand 
  • Give each player 3 busted tokens
  • Have a space for the discard pile
  • Discuss what the profit goal will be for this game (default is $20,000)
  • The tallest player will go first

Insight:

  • Hand: these are the cards you can see and choose from (max. Card limit is 5)
  • Stash: cards you placed face down on the table (max card limit is 6)
  • Profit tracker: how much money you are at
  • Busted tokens: track how many times you had a candy drug (3=jail and you lost the game)

Turns:

  • Draw 1 card from the draw pile

You will then move into your action part of your turn:

  • You can choose one action play
  • Options:
  • Play a drug: place 1 card from your hand to you stash pile (face down)
  • Play an action: use it immediately (sneak, inspect, etc)
  • Slip a fake drug (sneak): Put a card from your hand (candy or real drug) to an opponents stash pile (face down) 
  • Pass (take no action)
  • Resell (You can resell if you think you have 3 of the same cards in your stash)
  • If you have all 3 of the same drug, then you will earn a profit based on the value of the drug type. After, you have collected your points you will discard this set

1 Candy drug:

If you have a 1 candy drug  in your stash during RESELL, then your resell fails (even if you have 3 of the same drug) and the player will take a penalty. 

Penalty: Lose ½ of the profit or discard 1 random hand card

  • Discard the candy card after 

2 or more Candy drug:

If the player has 2 or more candy drugs in their stash during resell then resell fails, and collect 1 bust token. Discard all candy cards 

Check hand and stash number:

  • If you have more than 5 cards in your hand, discard extras
  • If you have more the 6 cards in your hand, discard extras

Out of turn options:

Players are able to play an action card during another players turn

  • Inspect: peek at only one card in a players stash
  • Steal: Force a player to reveal one of their stash cards 
  • Snitch: take one random card from an opponent’s hand 
  • Hideout: block a sabotage or inspection against you 

Win/Lose:

  • Be the first person to reach the profit goal
  • Be the last person standing, if the other opponents went to jail
  • Player is out of the game if they received 3 bust tokens

Card Meanings:

  • Inspect: peek at only one card in a players stash
  • Steal: Force a player to reveal one of their stash cards 
  • Snitch: take one random card from an opponent’s hand 
  • Hideout: block a sabotage or inspection against you 
  • Sneak: place 1 card from your hand to an opponent’s stash
  • Swap: trade 1 card from your stash with 1 from an opponent’s stash (face down)

Drug Values:

  • Weed set: $3,000 
  • Pill set: $5,000
  • Coke set: $7,000
  • Heroin set: $10,000
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NEW UPDATED RULES – CHRISTINE URSINY

Tale Weavers: Official Rules

Game Description

Tale Weavers is a competitive storytelling game, with cards that you might find in Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, in which a group of players builds a narrative by drawing from a deck of character, setting, and plot cards to create and build a story amongst players. 

Objective

The main goal is to collaboratively build a story. The player who contributes the most compelling or humorous plot points, as judged by the Storymaster each round, wins the game. The player with the most successful Plot Cards, represented by Point Tokens, is the winner.

Setup

  1. Gather 3-5 players.
  2. Shuffle the Character, Setting, and Plot decks separately and place them face down.
  3. Deal five Plot Cards to each player. This is your starting hand.
  4. Place the Point Tokens in a central pile.
  5. Designate one player to be the Storymaster for the first round. (The player who most recently read a book for fun.)
  6. Use a 30-second sand timer to add urgency in selecting plot cards.
    • 30-second timer → wait until the timer runs out to start the round
    • Everyone has to have a card placed down by the end of the sand timer
    • What happens when the timer runs out and you don’t pick? → You take the top card

Card Color Key:

Coral Color – Character Card

Magenta Color – Setting Card

Lavender Color – Plot Card

How to Play:

The game is played in rounds, with the role of Storymaster changing after each round.

1. The Storymaster’s Turn 

  • The Storymaster draws 2 cards from the Character deck and 2 from the Setting deck.
  • They choose 1 Character and 1 Setting card from their hand to use and then discard the others.
  • The Storymaster begins the story with an opening sentence or two, introducing the character and location.

Example:
If the Storymaster draws:

  • Character Cards: “A paranoid mother” and “A surprisingly eloquent badger”
  • Setting Cards: “The inside of a zoo food court” and “A wizard’s tower turned into a daycare”
    • “Once upon a time, a paranoid mother who frantically scoured through the jungle known as the zoo food court…”

Note: Everyone has to have a card placed down by the end of the sand timer

2. The Players’ Turn 

  • Starting with the player to the Storymaster’s left and going clockwise, each player takes a turn.
  • On your turn, place one Plot Card from your hand, play it face-up, and read it aloud.
  • Weave the card’s concept into the story, building only on the setting and character card, not any other players’ plot cards
    • Plot cards are independent of other players’ plot cards.
  • After playing your card, draw one new Plot Card to replenish your hand to five.

3. The Storymaster’s Turn (Judgment)

  • After every player has played one card, the Storymaster considers all the Plot Cards that were submitted.
  • The Storymaster selects the most compelling or entertaining Plot Card as their favorite for that round.
  • The Plot Cards that were not chosen are placed in a discard pile. If the draw deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to create a new one.

4. End of the Round 

  • The player whose card was chosen collects 1 Point Token.
  • The winning player becomes the new Storymaster for the next round.
  • The new Storymaster can then decide to either continue the existing story or start a completely new one by drawing a new Character and Setting card.

Ending the Game

1. Point-Based Victory 

  • First player to reach 5 Point Tokens wins.
  • Optional twist: If multiple players hit 5 in the same round, the Storymaster chooses the funniest/most creative winner.
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Tale Weavers – Playtest 1

Date of Playtest: 10/02/2025

Playtime Observed: 6 minutes 25 seconds (first round)
Learning Time: 2 minutes 41 seconds (to learn rules)

1. Player Questions

  • Does the story flow from player to player, or is it told individually?
  • How do players weave their cards into the story, build on the last or reset each round?
  • What happens when the timer runs out and a card hasn’t been played?
  • Should a specific book be read to determine who goes first?
  • How does the game end — tokens, alternate endings, or another system?

2. Learning Curve

  • It took 2:41 minutes for players to learn the rules.
  • Players commented that the setup was easy.
  • The example card in the rules was helpful.

3. Player Interactions

  • Players laughed, smiled, and nodded throughout gameplay.
  • Conversations about cards applied to characters and settings.
  • Debated whether the story should be told cumulatively or individually.

4. Points of Confusion

  • Story flow: cumulative vs. sectioned/individual.
  • How exactly to “weave” cards into a story.
  • The role of settings in character and plot cards.
  • Game endings: whether to use tokens or multiple end conditions.

5. Sources of Excitement

  • Randomness of card draws (“random is better”).
  • The tension created by a sand timer mechanic.
  • Room for interpretation and creativity in storytelling.
  • Loved leading humor in the narrative.

6. Player Enjoyment

  • Making connections between cards and the story.
  • Building individual story sections rather than a single collaborative plot.
  • Experiencing humorous or unexpected story twists.

7. Sources of Frustration

  • The collaborative story felt confusing and less engaging.
  • Settings on cards felt restrictive.
  • Multiple game-ending options created uncertainty.

8. Design Adjustments

  • Clarify Flow
    • Emphasize that each player tells an individual story, not a cumulative one.
  • Simplify End Conditions
    • Establish one clear win condition (ex., first to 5 tokens?).
  • Refine Card Design
    • Remove settings from character and plot cards; make prompts more open-ended and funny.
  • Timer Rules
    • Require players to place a card before the sand timer ends; if not, they must take the top card.
  • Rules Support
    • Keep and expand example cards in the rules to streamline learning.
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5 New Ideas with same Theme – Languages

languages are a hobby of mine and any “gaming” i usually do by myself has to do with learning languages – i wanted to be able to incorporate this into some of my games in this class since I enjoy them so much and would love to share with others

  1. Traditional Matching Game but with different languages – there are two cards in square of like 100 cards with the same interpretation of the two languages and several players try to remember what they mean and match them and get most matches

2. like TacoCatGoatCheesePizza and War combined but different greetings in languages – each player has a hand of cards and when they match you must shout that greeting and whoever has the closest pronunciation to what it actually means gets that round (have google translate at the ready)

3. Accent game – very simple trying to guess languages by sound – more collaborative with less “winning” just having a good time

4. National Market/Menu Game – each player has a menu/list they must complete by drawing ingredient cards BUT CATCH they’re not in english – there’s also tokens and event cards mixed in to spice it up – you accumulate a hand as you play and place ingredients that match to your menu/list and finish by completing it first and have money and stuff. Each list though is a different language/nationality and you must complete it in that language. So sort of go fish/bartering sort of game

5. For people who already know a little bit of a language, there are different language stacks that basically work as vocab review so obviously is a very niche game since you’d have to have a rudimentary understanding of a language… as many players as possible, single players to collective playing, racing to point out the words fastest.