Hollywood 1947 is packaged in a magnetic book box, focuses on a particular city and year from history, and includes a dark, secretive, or mysterious element in its gameplay.
Hollywood 1947
Number of people: 1~9 ｜ hours: 20~40 minutes
In 1947 Hollywood, you're working at a famous film studio during a time when there's suspicion of communists inserting unpatriotic messages into movies. Your goal is to identify these communists before the studio is shut down, while also avoiding being blacklisted yourself.
The game ends as soon as one team achieves their goal.
It's a mix of strategy and social deduction. Players must keep their cards and loyalty secret, but they can say anything about the cards they play or their allegiance. Open discussion and strategizing about which cards were added to a movie are encouraged. However, communists and the rising star may benefit from lying to reach their objectives, as most players will be patriots.
PATRIOTS : your goal is to make 4 movies that have a majority of patriot symbols.
COMMUNISTS : your goal is to make 4 movies that have a majority of communist symbols (communists also win ties).
RISING STAR : your goal is to keep the score as close as possible up until the very end ( more details below)
- 9 FILM STRIPS
- 60 PROPAGANDA CARDS
- 9 JOB CARDS
- 4 TOKENS
1. Shuffle and deal one job card face up to each player. Put remaining job cards face up in the center.
3. Everyone closes their eyes, the dealer tells the communists to open their eyes to see each other, then close their eyes.
4. Shuffle and deal three propaganda cards to each player for their hand. Place the rest in a face-down deck in the center.
5. Give each player a die, have them roll it, and place it in front of them.
6. Shuffle the genre posters and place them in a face-down deck in the center.
Put all tokens and filmstrips in the center.
Each round, a movie will be made. For each movie the following process (PRODUCTION, POST, and PREMIERE) occurs. Playing cards "into the movie" refers to adding propaganda cards face down into the center.
PRODUCTION :
Starting with the player with the lowest number on their job card and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player takes a turn. On your turn you may select one of the following three options, or pass.
OPTION 1: PERFORM YOUR JOB
If any job is not currently filled by a player in the game, that job will not be performed this round. When the rules say "any player" it includes yourself.
1 | SCREENWRITER draws two genre posters and secretly picks 1 to reveal and place in the center of the table. The other genre poster is removed from the game face down. Players are not allowed to "interrogate" the screenwriterabout anything on the rejected poster (name of the genre, details about the picture, etc) besides the symbol in the bottom corner.
IMPORTANT! If there is no screenwriter (or that player chooses a different option on their turn) a genre is simply revealed from the top of the genre deck and placed in the center of the table at this time.
2 | PRODUCER swaps any 2 job cards. These can include jobs from the center as well as any jobs currently owned by players, including their own. If the producer swaps their own job with another player, the (former) producer may immediately perform the new job if it has not yet been performed this round.
3 | DIRECTOR gives any player a token. The same player cannot receive a token in consecutive rounds.
4 | GAFFER performs 3 total re-rolls. Unlike other players' dice rolls (described more in Option 3), the gaffer is allowed to spend 2 or 3 of their re-rolls on the same player's die.
5 | CINEMATOGRAPHER forces any player to discard their hand and draw 3 new cards.
6 | ACTRESS allows any player to draw 2 cards & then discard 2 cards.
7 | ACTOR allows any player to draw 2 cards & then discard 2 cards.
8 | COMPOSER draws 2 cards, puts 1 face down into the movie & discards the other.
9 | EDITOR indicates whether they would like to edit the upcoming movie by moving their job card closer to the center.OPTION 2: SWAP YOUR JOB WITH ONE FROM THE CENTER
Swapping your job costs your turn, so you will not be able to perform your new job until the next round. In a 9-player game, the job-swap action is unavailable.
OPTION 3: RE-ROLL ANY TWO DICE
Roll each die one at a time and then return it to its owner. You may not re-roll the same die more than once. You may select your own die as one of the two. If you would prefer, you may re-roll only one die.
POST:
After everyone has had a turn:
1. EACH PLAYER WITH A STAR ON THEIR DIE MUST ADD 1 CARD FACE DOWN INTO THE MOVIE
Next, any player with a token (given to them by the director) may return it to the center to add an extra card face down directly into the movie (even if they do not have a star showing on their die).
2. ADD I CARD FROM THE TOP OF THE DECK FACE DOWN INTO THE MOVIE
Skip this step if the composer used their turn to add a card to the center.
3. SHUFFLE ALL CARDS IN THE MOVIE AND DISCARD ONE AT RANDOM
Do not view the discarded card. If the editor chose to perform their job, instead of discarding this card give it to the editor to view. The editor can either discard the card or place it back into the movie. If they placed it back the movie cards are again shuffled and a random card is discarded.
PREMIERE
The team with the majority of revealed symbols (including the symbol on the bottom corner of that round's genre poster), wins the round! If the total number of symbols are tied, the communist team wins the round. Indicate the winning team for the round by placing the winning team's filmstrip on top of the genre poster.
2. CHECK FOR CONGRESSIONAL HEARING AND SHAKE-UP CARDS
If one or more "Congressional Hearing" cards were revealed in the movie, re-roll all dice, otherwise leave them as they are. If one or more "Shake Up" cards were revealed in the movie all job cards (including those from the center) are shuffled and re-distributed.
3. DRAW
Finally, everyone with less than three cards should draw back up to three.
Discard all played cards from the round and continue the game by repeating the steps above and making a new movie.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE DISCARD PILE
This game does not use a standard discard pile. Instead, whenever the rules say to "discard" cards you must place them face down in an area away from the table, so that they are never seen or accidentally re-drawn by other players. If the deck runs out, shuffle discarded cards to reform the deck.
As soon as either team (communist or patriot) has won 4 rounds, that team wins and the game is over!
PATRIOTS WIN!
If seven total movies are made (meaning after six movies the score was tied three to three) and in the seventh movie the symbols are either tied, +1 patriot, or +1 communist, the rising star wins alone. If the patriots or communists win the seventh round by +2 or more, that team wins alone and the rising star loses. Note: in 1, 2, 3, and 5-player games there is no rising star and the seventh round is scored normally.
RISING STAR WINS!
You are now ready to play! Example Rounds, 1-3 player adjustments, nitty gritty rule clarifications, and optional rules can be read below as needed.
a) EXAMPLE ROUNDS
At the end of a round, 3 players had stars on their dice, so they each added a card face down to the center. Since the composer had already added a card, no additional card was drawn from the deck. The editor shuffled the 4 cards, drew 1, viewed it, and decided to discard it. The remaining 3 cards were revealed, showing double patriot, neutral, and communist symbols. With the genre poster showing a patriot symbol, the patriot team won the round with 3 patriot symbols against 1 communist symbol. Since the double patriot card was a "Congressional Hearing," all dice were re-rolled before the next round began.
At the end of a round, 4 players had stars on their dice, so they each added a card face down to the center. A random card was also added from the deck because the composer didn't perform their job this round. The editor chose not to perform their job, so the 5 cards were shuffled, and 1 was discarded at random. The remaining 4 cards were revealed, showing neutral, neutral, double communist, and patriot symbols. With the genre poster showing a patriot symbol, the round ended in a tie with 2 communist symbols and 2 patriot symbols. In tied rounds, the communist team wins. The double communist card was a "Shake-Up," so all jobs were shuffled and redistributed before the next round began.
At the end of the 7th round, 2 players had stars on their dice, so they each added a card face down to the center. No random card was added from the deck because the composer had already added a card during the round. The editor chose to perform their job, shuffled the 3 cards, drew and viewed 1, then put it back in the pile. The pile was shuffled again, 1 card was discarded, and the remaining 2 cards were revealed, both showing communist symbols. The genre poster showed a patriot symbol. Despite the communists having more symbols (2 communist vs. 1 patriot), the rising star won the game since it was the 7th movie and the score was only +1 for the leading symbol.
b) 1-3 PLAYER ADJUSTMENTS
For 1-3 player games follow all rules in the main game, applying the following adjustments:
• Remove the producer from the game.
• Give each player 2 dice and 2 random jobs.
• Start each round with the player who owns the lowest numbered job and proceed clockwise around the table 2 times (for 1-player games take 2 consecutive turns). Players may perform either of their jobs on their turn, but no job can be performed twice in the same round.
• The screenwriter job can only be used on the first turn of the round, so if the screenwriter is in the center to start the round or the screenwriter does not want to use that job this round, draw a genre at random to start the round.
• Like the normal rules, players can instead use a turn to re- roll any 2 dice or swap either of their jobs (including one they already used that turn) with one from the center.
•If a player has two dice showing stars at the end of a round, they must add two cards to the center.
• Place 1-3 "ghost" propaganda cards (3 for 1-player, 2 for 2-player, 1 for 3-player) face down in the center of the table and roll 1 die next to each of them. If at the end of a round any of those dice show a star, its matching card will be shuffled into the movie and then it will be replaced by a new random face-down card. Cards without stars are not added, but will remain in place for the next round. You can spend a turn to view all current ghost cards. At the start of each round you must re-roll each of the ghost's dice. If you spend a turn re-rolling dice you may select ghost dice as one or both of your re-rolled dice.
For 3-player games the communist only needs to win 3 rounds instead of 4 to win the game.
For 2-player games remove the "Monster" and "Horror" genres from the game and the 6 non-Shake Up double communist cards from the deck. In 2-player games if a round ends in a tie the round counts as a victory for both players. If both players reach 4 victories simultaneously the game ends in a tie.
c) OPTIONAL RULE VARIANTS
Your group is welcome to try out any of these advanced variants of the game!
HANDPICK JOBS: Remove any particular jobs from the game, as long as there are at least enough jobs for each player to have one.
JUSTICE SERVED: In the 7th round, do not add a random card (though a card may still be added by the Composer on their turn) and do not remove a random card (though a card may still be removed by the Editor).
RANDOM LOYALTIES: Deal out random loyalties from the 9 available so that nobody will know exactly how many patriots, communists and rising stars are in the game. Some games may be very one-sided, but that will make unlikely victories all the sweeter!
STUDIO ORDER: Instead of taking clockwise turns, take turns in the number order listed on the job cards. If the producer swaps with a number later than their own, the swapped player will not get a turn that round. If a player swaps their job with a later number from the center they will get to perform the later job when it becomes their turn again.
UNION STRIKE: Each time a neutral poster is active for the round the players with stars on their dice may each play any number of cards (0-3) at the end of the round and then draw back up to 3 cards.
d) NITTY GRITTIES
ACTRESS/ACTOR: The player who draws 2 cards is allowed to discard cards they just drew as part of their 2 discarded cards.
DIRECTOR: The director can give themself a token, but only every other round (since the same player can't receive a token in consecutive rounds, even if the director changes). If all tokens have already been assigned, the director may move a token from one player to another for their job. In 1-3 player games if the director gives a token to a ghost, the ghost will spend one token to play their card the next time they don't have a star on their dice.
EDITOR: If the editor chooses to edit but then loses their editor job because of the producer (or a job swap in a 1-3 player game), they may still edit that round.
PRODUCER: The producer may swap any two job cards, including their own producer job, jobs belonging to other players, or jobs from the center. Swapped players who have not had their turn yet during the round may perform their new job on their turn. However, the same job cannot be performed twice in the same round, so a player receiving an already-performed job (including a player receiving the producer job) can only use their turn to re-roll dice or swap their job with one from the center. If the producer swaps their own card with another player (not with one from the center) they may immediately perform their new job, unless their new job has already been performed that round, in which case the (original) producer's turn ends. See "Editor" and "Screenwriter" sections for further details.
SCREENWRITER: The screenwriting job can only be used on the first turn of a round, so if someone becomes the screenwriter mid-round (because of a job swap or producer swap) they will not be able to perform that job until the beginning of the next round.
TOKENS: A player does not need to have a star showing on their die in order to spend a token to add a card into the movie. A player is allowed to spend multiple tokens in the same round. If there is a debate about the order 14
in which tokens should be played, play all tokens in turn order (starting with the lowest number and proceeding clockwise).
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