Raise Your Goblets: Your Invitation to a Deadly Dinner
Everyone loves being invited to a dinner party, but in the land of Otravia, people generally RSVP with a little trepidation. Long ago, they did away with royal bloodlines, meaning that when a king dies, the next leader is chosen from a pool of eligible nobles. The best way to assure your ascension to the throne is to eliminate the competition.
Raise Your Goblets is a party game for up to twelve dinner guests. During three different courses, players pour wine, poison, and antidote (in the form of colored gems) into the goblets in front of them while rotating and swapping them around the table. When someone feels brave enough, they call a toast, and the contents of the goblets are revealed. If a player has more poison than antidote, well let’s just say they’re out of the running to be king… and they will be remembered fondly.
Designer Tim Page came up with the idea for Raise Your Goblets on a whim while coming home from a party one night. He was partly inspired by the battle of wits scene from The Princess Bride, a movie he can recite word for word. The idea of having poison floating around a table, concealed in goblets and forcing the players to try and outthink their opponents just stuck with him. When it came to putting his ideas down on paper, the core mechanics turned out pretty similar to the final game.
“The game's main actions of pouring, peeking, swapping, and rotating, before finally calling the toast, were all basically there right off the bat. Of course, the devil is in the details, and I owe a great deal to my play-testers, and especially Horrible Games, to get it where it is today!” remembers Page.
Horrible Games worked to help flesh out the main idea of Raise Your Goblets into the finished product. Adding in separate characters, each with their own special ability, created some interesting depth and helped to develop more strategic gameplay. Some characters have a power that will aid them during the course as gems are being poured into goblets. Others will help you right before the toast. And some give you new ways to score points. It’s always important to take into account which characters are in play and how they can affect the game.
Players step into the role of the head of one of the six noble families that feels they have a claim to the throne. Each family has their own form of deadly poison that they’re fond of using. House McToadery hails from the swamps of Otravia and derive their deadly concoctions from the amphibians common to that region. House De Miceti lives in vast woodlands of the country. They are quite familiar with the fungi that grow there. Some will make a delicious meal, while others will signify your last supper. Living on the coast of Otravia, House Van Visser, finds their deadly concoctions in the puffer fish that swim in the oceans. No matter what family you align with, you’ll have a sworn enemy at the table.
Each round, you are dealt a target card. This signifies the family you really want to poison. When the toast is called, everyone gets one more action and then the contents of the goblets are revealed. You earn points for surviving the round, killing your target, and having the most wine in your goblet.
After three fun, but deadly, rounds, the family with the most points will ascend to the throne for a long and glorious rule… or until the next time they have friends over for drinks.
Raise Your Goblets is an engaging party game for players of all skill levels. Book your seat at the table on January 20, when it becomes available at your FLGS. Learn more about Raise Your Goblets here.
