In this card game, you play as a merchant. Your objective is to maximize your points using two strategies:

■ Sales: Prioritize profitable products, carbon-neutral items, or fair trade goods

■ Espionage: Discover the secret rules of your opponents to cancel their best sales by replacing them with lower-performing products from your own stock.

Number of players: 2 to 5

Age: 11 and up

Duration: 30 minutes (with 4 players)

Skills: observation, logical deduction, risk assessment, memory

Mechanics: multi-use cards, matching, shedding

Author: Carlos Martin

Instagram: @covertalejeu

Facebook: Coverta

COMPONENTS

40 "Product" cards. Each product card has 6 characteristics, each one of them can have two different values.

Examples:

Number color: white / black
Type of shape: square / circle
Shape color: blue / yellow.
Shape filling: filled / hollow.

12 multi-use "consumer preference" cards. They can be used for:

Determining the consumption preferences of your own customers. You must always follow the "secret rule" defined in this way when it's your turn.
Determining each merchant's "secret power".
Providing privileged information that facilitates deducing the secret rules of other players.

A player's secret rule indicates a characteristic the next card they play must have compared to the card played by the previous player.

Examples:

Maintain the fill: play a hollow shape after a hollow one, and a filled shape after a filled one.
Change the color: play a yellow card after a blue one, and a blue card after a yellow one.
Change the shape: play a circle after a square, and a square after a circle.

SETUP

1. Dealing the cards: Each player receives:

1 “reference” card, to be placed in front of them
2 "consumer preference" cards, face down
9 "product" cards, face down

2. Exchange market: Place 3 of the undistributed "product" cards face up. These cards form the "exchange market".

3. Privileged information: Spread the undistributed "consumer preference" cards face down on the table.

4. Product card exchange: Each player chooses 2 "product" cards from their hand and gives them to the player on their right. Then, they receive the 2 cards passed by the player on their left.

5. Choosing the secret rule: Each player selects their secret rule from their 2 "consumer preference" cards. Cards played in their row must follow the chosen rule. The "secret rule" card is placed face down to the left of the reference card.

6. Secret power card: The remaining "consumer preference" card becomes the player's "secret power" and is placed face down to the right of the reference card.

7. Card '0': The remaining "product" cards are placed in a face-up pile to the left of the first player's row. The top card of this pile, or "Card 0," serves as a reference for the first round of the first player.

8. Starting the game: The player who has never played Coverta before goes first, or if not applicable, the player who lost the last game. In case of a tie, the youngest player starts. Play proceeds clockwise.

GAME PLAY

Card layout

Cards are arranged in rows and columns. Each player places their cards in their own row, and after each full round, a new column is started. Here is an example of the layout for 3 players:

Selling to regular customers

Each player, on their turn, places one of their "product" cards on the table, respecting their "secret rule" in relation to the card played by the last player.

Exchange market

To play, you can use either a card from your hand or a card from the exchange market. If you take a card from the market, you must replace it with one of your own cards, so there are always 3 cards available for everyone..

Out of stock

If a player cannot play any card (neither from their hand nor from the exchange market), they declare "out of stock". The opponent to their left can then offer a card to play in their place. If the proposed card does not follow the secret rule, the opponent takes back their card, and the opportunity passes to the next player in clockwise order. If no one can play a card, a blank space is left in the row of the player who is out of stock, and the turn continues with the next player.

Supplanting

At any time, even outside your turn, if you believe you have discovered your opponent's secret rule, you can attempt to discard an extra card and nullify the points of the last card played by your opponent, replacing it with one of your own that matches their rule. To do this, place your card face down on top of theirs, leaving the number and symbol of the lower card visible. In the following example, Player 2 discovers that Player 1 is following the "change of fill" rule and replaces Player 1's 6♦ (filled) with their 10♣ (filled).

The opponent checks your card without showing it to others and tells whether it complies with their secret rule.

Non-compliant card: You retrieve your card and receive a 3-point penalty.
Compliant card: Your card will be revealed at the end of the game and will replace the lower card for scoring purposes.

The replaced card remains relevant for the matching rules of the following turn. For example, after replacing the 6♦ (circle) with the 10♣ (square), Player 2 must continue using the 6♦ as a reference for their "change of shape" rule and place a square card (the 3♠).

Over-supplanting penalty: If the opponent has already suffered one supplanting, each new replacement imposes a penalty of 2 points on the player making the replacement for each face-down card that was present in the opponent's row before the replacement

Supplanting penalties are recorded on the score sheet as they occur.

It's not allowed to supplant the same card twice, and you cannot supplant one of your own cards either.

Privileged information

When a player experiences an "out of stock" or a supplanting, they are allowed to look at one of the undistributed "consumer preference" cards to gain clues that will help them deduce their opponents' secret rules.

End of the game

When a player discards their last card, each player who hasn’t yet played that round discards one final card, and then the game ends. For example, if Player 1 discards all their cards first, all the other players will have one last turn. However, if Player 3 discards first in a four-player game, only Player 4 will have a final turn.

Scoring

Supplanted cards: Reveal the face-down cards to begin scoring.

Sales margin: Add up the cards in your row and earn 1 point for every complete ten in the total (e.g., 4 points if the total is 49, and 5 points if the total is 50).

Zero emissions : Earn 1 point for each yellow card in your row.

Fair trade: Earn 1 point for each pair of red cards (♥ or ♦) in your row.

Exploitative working conditions: Add up the values of the clubs in your row and subtract 3 points for every complete ten in the total.

Unsold stock: Subtract 2 points for each "product" card left in hand at the end of the game.

Supplanting: Deduct the penalties already recorded on the score sheet during the game.

Note: The "Card 0" (used as a reference for the first player) does not count in the scoring.

Winner: The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, the player who played last wins.

“Secret power” cards

Each "secret power" card offers a unique advantage. To activate it, you must reveal it. Once revealed, it must remain visible until the end of the game.

To simplify the discovery of the game, in beginner mode, you can ignore the effects of "secret powers" to focus on learning the basic rules.

Playing with 5 or 6 Players

Distribution of "product" cards: In a 5-player game, each player is dealt 7 cards; in a 6-player game, 6 cards are dealt.

"Secret Power" card: Before determining the final "secret power" of the merchant, pass the "secret power" card to the player on your left and receive the one from the player on your right.

5 players: The "secret power" card exchange happens once. Each player thus knows the secret power of the player to their left and 3 consumption preferences that cannot be any opponent’s secret rule.
6 players: The "secret power" card exchange happens twice consecutively. Each player thus knows the secret powers of the two players to their left and 4 consumption preferences that cannot be any opponent’s secret rule.

It is forbidden to swap the "secret rule" card for the "secret power" card received from the player on your right: once the secret rule is chosen, it cannot be changed.

Team play

4 or 6 players: Organized into 2 or 3 teams, players are distributed around the table in an alternating pattern. The team with the highest score wins.

3 players: One player faces off against the other two. In return, they receive 2 secret powers (before starting, they exchange one "product" card from their hand for an undistributed "consumption preference" card) and can choose how many "product" cards are exchanged at the beginning or if there will be no card exchange. The solo player wins if they achieve the highest score and loses if they tie or lose against at least one of their opponents.