Category: Sell Outs

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Sell Outs Rules

Game Preparation:

Shuffle each card type (Products, Features, Problems) into separate piles and place the cards within easy reach of everyone. The card type is written on the back of each card for ease. If you’re playing on a large table it may be a good idea to split each deck up into smaller piles so that everyone can reach a pile of each card type.

Each player draws three Product cards and five Feature cards. That’s it!

Gameplay Begins: 

To start off, the player who most recently purchased something will be the first Customer. The Customer will flip over one Problem card from the Problem deck, reading the prompt aloud to the other players.

The other players (Salespersons) will play one Product card and one Feature card face down in front of them from their hand. They will then pick one Feature card at random from the deck and also place it face down (no peeking!) with their previously played Product and Feature cards. You’ll know you’re ready for your pitch when you have one Product and two Feature cards face down in front of you.

The Pitches:

Starting to the Customer’s left, the players will give their sales pitches, flipping over their cards as they are mentioned. The order of which the Feature cards are revealed is entirely up to the person that played them. The Feature cards can either apply directly to the Product card, or even be effects of using it! Perhaps your pitch involves a car that’s wanted by the government, or simply driving the car means the Customer will be wanted by the government! Never be afraid to be creative with it.

The Salespersons should explain how their Product will be the best solution to the Customer’s Problem. Once one sales pitch ends, the next Salesperson to the left presents. Feel free to throw around a little banter from salesperson to salesperson, but keep it brief and be sure to let each player complete their full pitch. This goes on until the round gets back to the Customer, who then chooses the pitch that best solves the Problem denoted on their Problem card. The Problem card is then awarded to the Salesperson that pitched that solution, and the player to the Customer’s left becomes the new Customer.

After each round, the players will draw new cards back up to three Product cards and five Feature cards, while discarding their used cards.

How to Win:

After each player has gotten to be the Customer three times, the game ends and the player with the most Problem cards wins! If playing with large groups of players, you can play until one player has won three problem cards.

Special Cards

Certain cards are different than the others; cards with blanks on them for example. Refer to the card itself for specific instructions on how to proceed. Cards with ellipsis (…) indicate that this is where your Product’s name fits in. (Ex. … of Power! – would become the Boeing 747 of Power, Jetpack of Power, etc!)

Blank Cards

Every copy of Sell Outs comes with 3 completely customizable cards just for you! 1 Product card, 1 Feature card, and 1 Problem Card.

Variants

Sell Outs can be played in tons of fun ways, and we’re always coming up with new ones. Check out the list of our favorites (including team rules) on our website!  — https://bad-kerning.com/how-to-play-sell-outs/

*Sell Outs can be played with up to 10 people! To keep rounds moving at a healthy pace, we recommend that if you decide to play with 8 or more players, you divide into teams and use the Two-Faced Variant, available at the above URL. If you’re determined, Sell Outs could be played with more than 10 players, but we recommend against it since it could really slow things down. But you are your own person and we can’t tell you what to do!

Longer Game Sessions

If you play multiple games of Sell Outs in a row, you may run out of cards in the decks. If that happens, just gather up the discard piles from earlier play and reshuffle them into new draw piles!

Other Notes of Various Importance : 

NOTE: It’s possible to run into issues that these rules don’t address. DON’T LET THAT RUIN THE FUN! Quickly make up a ruling that everyone agrees to and play on. If you can’t decide as a group, the game owner gets the final say.

ADD’L NOTE: Remember, the text on the cards can be interpreted in many ways. (Ex. Ring could be a piece of hand jewelry, a circus/wrestling ring, a telephone call, or extra things we haven’t even thought of!) House rules are always a thing, but be sure to encourage creativity, it’s what Sell Outs is all about!

ADD’L ADD’L NOTE: You might have noticed the interesting font we use on our cards and rules. This font (named Dyslexie) was designed by Christian Boer to improve readability for those with Dyslexia. This font is available for free for home users at their website : https://www.dyslexiefont.com/

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Sell Outs Variant Rules

We love alternate rules where we can get them, and Sell Outs has plenty! Feel free to implement these rules for the whole group in a session of Sell Outs (“Let’s play Two-Bit Sell Outs”) or on a per-player basis (“I’m going to be a Brainless Sell Out”).

Draconian (For large groups, shorter games, or heavier discussions)

  • One player gives a pitch for their business selling a product.
  • Every other player becomes a judge (Dragon or Shark).
  • The pitching player should present their product as a business idea.
  • The judges can ask questions about the business or product.
  • Tally the number of interested investors after each pitch. Most investors wins!

Two-Faced (Suggested for Large Groups or Teams)

  • Too many players? Team up, combine your hands and make your buying decisions and pitches together!
  • Collaborate on what product card you will use together, but each player contributes a feature from their hand in secret!

Lying (For people who like bluffing games)

  • Players do not reveal the cards they play.
  • During the pitch, Sellers can lie about modifiers, or be completely honest.  (If you have bad feature cards, you might choose to make your product more appealing this way).
  • The Customer can either buy a product or call false advertising.  
  • If the Customer calls false advertising, the accused player reveals their feature cards, and if they lied during their pitch the consumer keeps the problem card.  If the Sellers did not lie, that Sellers gets the problem card.

Feel free to include these overcomplicated Lying rules for adding some drama to the game as well:

False advertisement!

  • The Seller can offer a deal for the Customer to drop the accusation.
  • If a deal cannot be made, the lawsuit goes to court.

The Lawsuit

  • All other players except the plaintiff and defendant become the jury and judges.  
  • You can bribe the jury to vote in your favor!
  • The jury members do not need to honor the terms of a bribe! But you probably won’t make any friends that way.
  • The Seller and Customer may make a case to the jury.
  • After all cases have been made, the jury votes.  It is recommended that the verdict be announced out loud to all players, even if everyone already knew.
  • The jury decides the penalty, and it must be paid right away.  The winner collects anything the jury awarded to them, and everything in the reserve.

Discovery!

  • Playing with the Sneaky variant? The consumer may file for Discovery! by paying $3 to the reserve.  The Seller must hand out their modifier cards to members of the jury at random.  Only give each jury member one card.  Some members may not get cards, and some cards may not be handed out. This is fine.
  • The jury should not share the contents of the card, but they may ask a question about the pitch.

Greedy (For people who like complicated rules)

  • Grab some poker chips or other tokens you have a lot of available. This is now money.
  • Everyone takes three money to start with.
  • Every time you become the Customer, you collect your salary, equal to 3 moneys + one for each product you have sold so far during the game. (Hide money because it can have an effect on the sale.)
  • The Seller must reveal the product’s price at some point during the pitch.
  • Instead of winning the problem card, when the Customer buys the product, they must pay the price given to the Seller, and the problem card may be discarded.
  • At the end of three rounds, the player with the most money wins!

Two-Bit

  • Instead of drawing one random Feature card during your pitch, draw two.  You can play one or both Features on your own card. If you hold on to one, you can play it on another player’s product during their pitch.

Dirty

  • Hold on to the products you buy.  Add these products to your options of products to sell to other players. 
  • If playing with the Greedy variant, add a Used modifier, using half the product’s original value, but the same quality of life!

Cheap

  • Haggle! The rules of the haggle are up to you! You can choose to allow anything to be offered in a haggle. Want to bribe the judge with $2, another card from your hand, and a backrub? Who are we to judge?

Ignorant

  • Make up your own rules variant or play a different way altogether! You own the game, it’s your responsibility now.

No-Good

  • Have the consumer draw some products for their problem and choose one.  Each seller then has a chance to apply features to the product and sell the same product to the consumer.

Brainless

  • Draw your product and features cards at random, and sell whatever you draw!

Dickless

  • Use only features from your hand.

Hopeless

  • Ignore the regular rules.
  • Play Cards Against Humanity style, except use products instead of black cards, and features in place of white cards.

Heartless

  • Ignore the regular rules.
  • Play Superfight style, except you are the fighter, and your product is your weapon.

Rotten

  • Hold onto all of your cards unless you sell one.  
  • Do not draw new cards when you sell one.
  • Play until someone runs out of cards.
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Board Games and the Importance of Accessibility in the Industry

Board games have been a source of entertainment for people all around the world for centuries. From ancient games like Senet to modern games like Settlers of Catan (now just Catan), board games have been a fun and social way for people to spend time together. However, accessibility remains a big problem in the board game industry, particularly for people with disabilities. And with the increasing game complexity and rising game piece production costs, these issues are bound to grow. This article will discuss the problem of accessibility in board games and what the industry can do to address it.

Accessibility Barriers in Board Games

One of the main barriers to accessibility in board games is the physical design of the game components. Many board games come with small pieces that can be difficult for people with fine motor difficulties to manipulate, or with text that is too small for people with visual impairments to read. This can make playing the game a frustrating and impossible experience for some players.

Another issue is the lack of accessibility options in the rules. For example, some games require players to remember specific sequences or recall specific details from previous rounds, which can be difficult for people with memory difficulties or cognitive impairments. This can also make it difficult for players with hearing or speech impairments to participate, as they may not be able to communicate effectively with other players.

Additionally, many in the gaming community have to contend with issues such as dyslexia or colorblindness. These can lead to difficulty with reading text on cards or differentiating between game pieces that are the same shape but different colors.

All of these can lead to an interruption in the flow of gameplay, sometimes leading to other issues, such as impatience, loss of interest, or loss of attention. In the board game industry, designers need to take these issues into account, especially when the success or failure of the game depends on entire groups of players being able to follow the flow of the game.

Working Towards Greater Accessibility in Board Games

Thankfully, some game designers and publishers are starting to address these issues. For instance, some games now come with larger pieces and clear, easy-to-read text, making them more accessible to people with visual impairments. In addition, some games are being designed with alternative rules that make the game more accessible to players with disabilities, such as allowing players to use prompts or special tools to help with memory or fine motor difficulties.

Disability Friendly Emblem
An emblem added to the Sell Outs box design to display what color combinations and fonts are used in the game components.

It is important for the board game industry to continue to work towards greater accessibility for all players. This can be achieved through collaboration between game designers, publishers, and accessibility advocates to ensure that all players have equal opportunities to enjoy and participate in board games. The industry should also provide more information and resources to help players understand the accessibility features of different games and how to modify them to make them more accessible.

Board games are a popular and enjoyable form of entertainment for many people, but the industry needs to do more to make them accessible to everyone. By addressing the physical design and rules of games, and by providing information and resources to players, the industry can ensure that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the fun and social benefits of playing board games. If you are looking for accessible board games, check out the resources and information available online. Help promote accessibility in the board game industry and ensure that everyone can enjoy the fun of playing board games.

We here at Bad Kerning Games decided to do our part while designing Sell Outs to make a game that is fun and accessible to as many players as possible. We have tested the card colors and designs for colorblindness. We used a font on the cards that is dyslexia friendly. The rules of Sell Outs are incredibly flexible and can be modified as a group see fit. We want accessibility and fun to be at the core of our games and we think Sell Outs is a good first attempt at that.

Sell Outs

Sell Outs

The game about saying anything to get a sale! Craft the perfect product with your choice of one feature (and a random feature) and explain why your product is best!

$39.99
Shop now

What do you think? Should board game designers make considerations for players of differing abilities? Do you think it is helpful to add emblems on to game boxes to inform potential buyers of what to expect if playing with someone who is differently abled? Do these considerations make you more or less likely to make a purchase when considering a game purchase?