Witch Trial

You Need: One counter, two six-sided dice, money.

*****

It is a dark time in American history. Society has chosen to rid itself of the influence of "witches," i.e., unmarried women, free thinkers, vegetarians, the homeless, and other undesirables.

In Witch Trial, you play an attorney at a prestigious law firm. You will act as prosecutor or defender in several cases involving unsavory characters mentioned above. While witchcraft per se isn't really a crime, it's customary to bring suspects into court on related offenses, such as Card Playing, Smoking, and Tampering with the Post.

There's no burning-at-the-stake in this game, for two reasons. First, once the case is out of the courtroom you don't really care what happens. But more important, you don't normally burn witches at the stake. You press them to death with stones.

This game requires lawyer-like reflexes, a little bit of luck, and the willingness to plea bargain when you know you can't win.

Game Synopsis: Players take turns being both prosecutors and defenders in this barely realistic courtroom game. First, build your case by pairing a Suspect with a Charge. Then entice an opponent to defend your case on his turn, or choose a random "public defender" on yours. The Defense has a harder job, but gets a little easy money at the start of the case. The majority of the case money goes to the player who plays the best collection of Evidence, Witnesses, Motions, and other courtroom drama to lull the Jury into believing their side. The Jury is a little unpredictable, since it always comes down to the roll of 2 dice (modified by the cards played), but the lawyers can agree to "plea bargain" before the end and spit the case money however they see fit.