Ben Cheung

GAME CONCEPT

The Host a Heist Dinner Party follows in the tradition of Dinner Party games. This is a game meant to take place over the course of a dinner. The host explains the back story to everyone. Loki, a thief, has stolen the sword of Avalon. The players work together to perform a heist to return the sword to the city over the course of a dinner. Players discuss how they will get into Loki's estate, get past the guard, the security dog, and bypass his security system. The players can role play the various characters such as the team leader, safecracker, security system specialist, guard, and designated driver.

INTRODUCTION STORY

The city of Avalon was founded hundreds of years ago. The Mighty Sword of Avalon was crafted by its finest weaponsmiths. It has great sentimental value and was the pride and joy of citizens. They used it in ceremonies and events. It was crafted from the finest steel and has a jewel encrusted hilt. The sword has been passed down through the generations. It has come to represent the heart and soul of Avalon. The sword was stolen from the city reliquary in a daring caper. The players are a team of investigators. Our heroes have learned of recent evidence that implicates a thief who goes by the nickname "Loki" as the one who stole the Mighty Sword of Avalon. The players will plan and execute a heist to recover the ceremonial sword from Loki and return it back to the city of Avalon restoring the respect of its citizens. Loki's secluded estate is protected by a guard, a rottweiler, and a security system. The sword is in a large 6’ safe on the estate. Mustering their wit and cunning, the players plan a heist to retrieve the Mighty Sword of Avalon.

HOST A HEIST DINNER PARTY GAME PLAY OVERVIEW

Host a Heist Dinner Party is played in six Stages: The Intro Story, Challenge #1 Getting into Loki's Estate, #2 Handling Helblindi the Guard, #3 Getting past Fenrir the Guard Dog, Bypassing the Security System and Cracking the Safe.

HOST A HEIST DINNER PARTY CHARACTER ROLES

CHARACTER ROLES - Players can pick from any of the following characters and are welcome to create roles. For an easier game, you may use the abilities associated with the characters roles once during the game. The abilities assist in solving the mission. For a more difficult game, do not use the character abilities. In that case, the roles are just for role-playing.
Acrobat - A skilled acrobat who is stealthy, good at climbing and infiltration. Add one to the value of the drawn Tech Deck result card when resolving the Estate Challenge.
Animal Trainer - A specialist knowledgeable about animals. Add one to your drawn card result in the Fenrir Challenge.
Arm Specialist - The weapons and small munitions expert. +1 to the value of the card for the Helblindi Challenge.
Choreographer - The person who coordinates the team movements. Automatically succeed in one Failure Test.
Computer Hacker - The computer software and electronics expert. Reveal 1 card in the Security system during setup.
Designated Driver - The driver who will get the team to and from Loki's estate. Redraw a card in the Estate Challenge.
Engineering Specialist - A specialist in home architectures and structures. +1 to the value for the Estate Challenge.
Guard - Guard at arms and martial arts expert. Add one to the value of the card drawn for the Helblindi Challenge.
Lookout - The person who is the lookout and communications expert. If you fail the Helblindi or Fenrir challenge, you can automatically succeed in one chosen failure test.
Safe Cracker - The person who is knowledgeable about safes. Play 2 cards (instead of 1) in one digit of one guess.
Scout - A tracker and naturalist able to ready the signs found in natural surroundings. +1 to the Fenrir Challenge.
Security System Specialist - A specialist in home security systems. Reveal 1 card in the Security system during setup.
Team Leader - The team leader and master planner. At the start of the game, choose an ability of any of the other character roles. You may use that ability for this game as if you were that character.

HOST A HEIST DINNER PARTY GAME PLAY

Host a Heist Dinner Party is played in six stages:
INTRODUCTION STORY - Read Loki and theft of the Mighty Sword of Avalon introduction story to all the players.
CHALLENGE #1 Loki is a private reclusive individual. Loki's estate is in a secluded rural area off a lonely country road in a wooded area. His mansion has three garages , a pool and 26 rooms. Loki is often home but travels regularly. The estate has security cameras located at the porch entrance, pool, and portico. The nearest home is miles way. A drive to the nearest town is 6 miles away. CHALLENGE #1: The players need to plan how they would get onto grounds and how to get into Loki's home.

CHALLENGE #2 - The Loki estate has one armed security guard, Helblindi, who lives on the estate. He doubles as Loki's assistant and the grounds caretaker. Helblindi has access to firearms and may shoot on sighting trouble if he is armed. He has a daily seasonal routine caring for the estate and regular patrol route. He takes trips into town to get groceries and sundry goods. CHALLENGE #2: The players need to plan how to deal with Helblindi, the guard.
CHALLENGE #3 - Loki has a black and tan guard dog named Fenrir. It is a sturdy trained rottweiler. Fenrir is 3 years old, weighs 110 pounds (50 kg) and in its prime. It has a front right leg injury from the past but can still run. He will bark at any stranger it sees which will alert Helblindi, the home guard. Fenrir will attack to detain an intruder. Fenrir has free range of the grounds and does not have any regular routine. CHALLENGE #3: The players need to plan how to deal with Fenrir, the guard dog. Once the players get past Fenrir, proceed to the Security System.
BYPASS THE SECURITY SYSTEM - Loki has installed special Security System which requires a particular sequence of keys to be pressed to bypass. The keys are represented by face down Tech Deck cards laid out in a grid of face down cards. To bypass the security system, the players must reveal three matching pairs in an ascending sequence.
CRACK THE SAFE - The final part of the mission is to crack the safe. Loki's safe uses a six- digit code represented by six face-down Tech Deck Cards. One of the players will serve as a Code master and administer clues when the other players make guess attempts to crack the code of the safe.

HOST A HEIST DINNER PARTY CHALLENGES

BYPASS A CHALLENGE The players read each story challenge and discuss as a group how to overcome them. This is an open ended “dinner conversation”. Any reasonable suggestion can be tried. To test an attempt, reveal a Tech Deck Card and compare its value to the following to determine the results:
Value [1-4] ATTEMPT FAILS: The attempt fails; and the players need to pick and succeed at a failure test. If the players fail three attempts, the mission fails. If they succeed in the failure test, try again with a new approach.
Value [5-9] SOMETHING GOES WRONG: The attempt goes awry, and it does not work. The players can try to solve the challenge with a new approach. Discuss again and propose a different viable alternative to draw again.
Value [10-13] SUCCESS! Proceed to the next Challenge or if Fenrir has been passed go on to the Security System.

HOST A HEIST DINNER PARTY FAILURE TEST

To try a failure test, select one of the following that the group has not yet picked:

ROTATE TEST: One player balances a Tech Deck card on the tip of their index finger, another player must turn the card 360o using only their index finger. The Tech Deck card must remain balanced on the index finger.
BACKHAND TEST: One player puts a Tech Deck card on the back of their hand and must transfer the card to the back of another player’s hand without touching the other player's hand and without the card falling.
FLICK TEST: One player puts a Tech Deck card on their thumb and index finger and flicks the card like flipping a coin in a coin toss. The Tech Deck card must land into another player’s upturned palm without falling.
PULL MY FINGER TEST: One player puts a Tech Deck card on the tip of their index finger. They need to pass the card to another player’s index finger without either finger touching and without the card falling.
FRISBEE TEST: One player throws a Tech Deck card, Frisbee style, to another player who is at least 3 feet (0.9 meters) away. The second player must successfully catch the thrown card.
HOUSE OF CARDS TEST: Players build a two-story house of cards. Prop cards up by forming “T” shapes.

CHALLENGES #2 (DEAL WITH FENRIR) EXAMPLE

The following diagram illustrates an example of with Challenge #2 (dealing with Fenrir), the players discuss how they might get past Fenrir, and entertains different ideas. Once they have discussed the nuances, they reveal a Tech Deck card to see if they succeed.

BYPASSING SECURITY SYSTEM

After players have completing challenge #2, they then try to bypass the Security System by following these rules:
SECURITY SYSTEM Loki has installed a special Security System which requires a particular sequence of keys to be pressed to bypass. The keys are represented by face down Tech Deck cards laid out in a grid of face down cards. The players must reveal a sequence of three ascending pairs of cards (representing a 3-digit code). E.g. A pair 3s, 4s and 5s.
GRID SETUP: For a 2-5 player game use a 4x4 Grid of face down Tech Deck cards. Set up the grid using cards of values 1-8 in two domains (suits). For a 6+ player game use a 5x5 Grid of face down Tech Deck cards. Set up the grid using cards of values 1-12 in two domains (suits) and one value 13 card.
OBJECTIVE: To deactivate the Security system, players try to get matches by revealing three ascending pairs of cards. Players must reveal three pairs in an ascending sequence within 7 attempts for a 4x4 grid and an ascending sequence of three pairs within 9 attempts for a 5x5 grid.
BYPASSING SECURITY SYSTEM GAMEPLAY: One attempt constitutes revealing pair(s) of cards. If the value of the first two revealed cards match, the players may reveal another pair of cards. If the second pair revealed also match in value and have a value one higher than the first pair, the players may reveal a third pair. If the third pair also matches and has a value exactly one higher in value than the second pair, they have cracked the keypad code and proceed to cracking the safe! If at any time a revealed pair of cards do not match in value, flip over all revealed cards and proceed to the next attempt. If players reach the maximum number of attempts before solving the security system code, the alarm sounds and they must flee with the mission ending in failure. Gameplay is cooperative and players may discuss what cards to reveal; but may not take notes and must rely on their collective memory to reveal matching pairs.

BYPASSING SECURITY SYSTEM EXAMPLE

The following two diagrams illustrate the setup and gameplay for bypassing the security system:

CRACK LOKI'S SAFE

After players have bypassed the security system, they then try to crack Loki's Safe by following these rules:
SELECT CODEMASTER: Choose a player to be the Code master to administer code clues for the group.
CODE SETUP: Loki's safe uses a six-digit code represented by six Tech Deck Cards. The Code master shuffles the Tech Deck, takes the top six Tech Deck Cards and places them face down in a row to form the code. If three or four cards in the code have the same values, the Code master shuffles the code cards back into the deck and redraws a new code. The rest of the cards form the draw deck. Only the Code master can look at the cards and may look at them any time.
OBJECTIVE: The objective is for the players to deduce the value and domains of the six cards that comprise the code within seven attempts.
DRAW CARDS The players draw 10 cards to begin with.
MAKE A GUESS Players make a guess by placing six guess cards face up in a row beneath each digit of the code.
GIVE CLUES FOR GUESSES The Code master rotates guess cards for the code digit to give clues about the code:
VALUE MATCH: If a guess card matches the value of the code card in that digit of the code, the Code master rotates that guess card 180o turning it upside down.
DOMAIN MATCH: If the guess card matches the domain of the code card in that position, the Code master tilts the guess card 45o.
DISPLACED: If the guess card value is in the code but not in that digit of the code, the Code master turns that guess card sideways (90o).
ABSENT: If the value of the card is not in the code at all, the guess card is not changed.
EXACT MATCH: If the players have deduced both the domain and value of a code card for a position of the code, explain the deduction. If they players are correct, the Code master reveals that digit of the Code card.
DRAW CARDS Between attempts, players draw cards until they have 10 cards in their collective hand.
DISCARD TO DRAW CARDS As players get more information about the code, some cards will be “dead cards ”. At any time, and any number of times during their turn, players may discard 2 cards to draw a card from the draw deck.
CARRY FORWARD CARDS Due to a limited number of cards, after guessing and drawing, players may “ carry forward” guess cards from any prior round into the next round’s guess. Maintain the orientation of the forwarded guess cards.
VICTORY If the players have deduced all 6 digits of the code, they have opened the safe and won the game!

CRACKING LOKI'S SAFE EXAMPLE

The following two diagrams illustrate the setup and gameplay for cracking Loki's safe:

DOWNLOAD THE RULES

Host a Heist Dinner Party Full Rules: Host a Heist Dinner Party Rules Full
Host a Heist Dinner Party Compact Rules: Host a Heist Dinner Party Rules Compact

INTRODUCTION VIDEO

Watch a video on the introduction of Host a Heist Dinner Party. The introduction video describes the basic concepts, objectives and an introduction to the Tech Deck.

PLAY GUIDE VIDEO

Watch a play guide video for Host a Heist Dinner Party. The play guide video is an in depth video on how to setup the game, and all the steps involved in playing the game.

ENTRY ON BOARD GAME GEEK

You can read and explore the BoardGameGeek entry for Host a Heist Dinner Party.

PUBLICATION INFORMATION
· Published: October 1, 2023
· Format: Card Game
· Elements: 54 Cards
· Size: 3.75" x 2.8751" x .875"

ORDERING HOST A HEIST DINNER PARTY
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