Downsize

Downsize is a competitive card game for 2-6 players, which focusses on competing players firing employees, and racing to make investments and 'downsize' before the market crashes. At the start of each game, players are given 10 Employees, and can discard them either in Pairs to resolve an effect (which changes depending on what Employees you discard) or on their own, in the case of rare Specialist Employees, who have their own unique abilities. When Players have fired all of their Employees, they have 'downsized,' can no longer be affected by the actions of other Players, and do not take losses if the market crashes. The winner is the Player with the highest value of Returns at the end of the game. As well as several possible strategies, both passive and aggressive, the game requires Players to balance their workforce and rate of investment, to avoid losing money at the end of the game. Downsize can also be read as a satire of corporate business.

Players: 2–6 best 4
Playing time: 10–40 min
Age: 10+
Complexity: 1.5 / 5