Deal with the Devil in stores before Christmas
Deal with the Devil (german version) will be released in stores before Christmas. Orders placed with us, HeidelBÄRen are guaranteed to be shipped before Christmas. Unfortunately, we can’t influence how fast the game will arrive, because this depends on the shipping service. You can also ask directly at the retailer if you can pick up the game there. If you don’t know where the nearest retailer is, you can find an overview here.
Deal with the Devil is a competitive and asymmetric connoisseur game by Matúš Kotry for exactly 4 people. The game is published in English by our partner publisher Czech Games Edition and now by us HeidelBÄRen in German.
In the Euro game, four kingdoms compete to give greatness to their city. Two kingdoms are ruled by mortals, one by cultists, and one by the devil. Each kingdom offers players their own unique strategy and scoring options. The starting conditions are also different. Each person gets starting resources according to their position on the board and receives a chest. This shows the person their role and contains role-specific items. For example, mortals start with three soul pieces and tokens to suspect other people of being devils or cultists. The cultists receive two cultist soul pieces and a few resources. The devil starts without a soul, but with lots of resources and money.
Take full advantage of your role and starting conditions, adapting your strategy to the role. During the game, you’ll try to expand your city spectacularly to collect as many points as possible. The central element of the game are the trading phases. Here, mortals can offer resources in exchange for money, and the devil lures mortals with valuable resources in exchange for a part of their soul. While cultivators will gladly make this deal, mortals must carefully consider whether they want to make this risky deal.
The trading phase is played with the help of the app. This way, the app knows the role of each person at all times, while the people don’t know the role of the others. So be careful when you’re trading and afterwards that you don’t let your role show. After all, you don’t want the Inquisition to check the integrity of your soul in case you sold it.
The app is an important element in Deal with the Devil. It adds a digital element to the game and is intuitive to use. The app itself does not take up too much space, but merges playfully with the game in the background.
You are the builder of the most spectacular medieval city ever… if your carefully managed loans are enough to outdo your rivals. Hah, wouldn’t it be nice to have unspeakable wealth at your disposal to erect important buildings at once and thus catapult your city to the top? The price for such extravagance? Oh, nothing more than a piece of your soul … But be careful. Others may notice that you are missing this precious piece of yourself. And punish such impudence! No reward without risk – the choice is yours.
Deal with the Devil is played over 5 rounds, and each round consists of 6 phases.
- Production Phase: Each round starts with manufacturing. You craft the resources that the crafting wheel points to in that round. The resources change each round and are therefore different for each person. You can craft coins, basic resources, and luxury resources.
- Cards Phase: Now all players draw buildings and events. These remain secret until you play them in the Action Phase.
- Deal phase: Now the chests are used to offer trade to other people. You place your offer, including the demand, in your chest and place it in the center. Once everyone has placed their offers, the chests are shuffled and the app ensures that you never know who made the offer. You are free to decide whether to accept or reject offers.
- Action phase: Now you construct buildings and play event cards. You plan your actions secretly behind your screen.
- Interest phase: This phase is only relevant for people with debts. They have to increase their debts because of the fees now.
- Reputation Phase: As the game progresses, your reputation will change. If it rises a lot, you will receive angel wings; if it drops a lot, you will receive demon wings. Each type of wing gives you unique advantages that can affect your game.
In rounds 2 and 3, there is also the Witch Hunt phase, and rounds 3 and 5 end with the Inquisition.
Deal with the Devil is by Matúš Kotry and for exactly 4 people 14 years and older. One game lasts about 120 minutes. The connoisseur game comes with a lot of game material. Including 1 manufacturing board, 4 viewing screens, 1 inquisition board, 4 chests, 6 soul pieces, 2 cultist souls, 12 voting rings, 80 building cards, 20 event cards and over 200 tiles. Playing requires a free app, which you can download from Google Play and the App Store.