The Efficiency Engine

Nobody knows where the machine came from or how long it's been there. All we know is we need to keep the damn thing running. Efficiently! Process the materials into usable output and avoid waste!

The Efficiency Engine is a solitaire card game using a standard 52-card deck (no jokers) and this printable game board. The printout is not required to play, but may be helpful for understanding the layout, or you can just refer to it digitally. The instructions are always visible on the board if you do decide to use it.

There is also a digital version of the game available to play on screentop.gg - HERE.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Standard deck of cards
• 2d6
• This game board (optional)

HOW TO PLAY:

The aces are removed and make up the FAVOURS stack in the top left. The face cards (J+Q+K) are also removed and make up the BATTERY stack on the right. The values of face cards are not used except as a representation of how much battery you have left. The rest of the cards are your materials draw deck.

ON EACH TURN:

 1. Deal cards from draw deck to bays 1-6, face up.

 2. Add the values of bays 1-3 (Bank A) together, and add values of bays 4-6 (Bank B) together. The total of Bank A must match the total of Bank B. If they do not match you can take either (or both) of these actions (once per turn):

•  Roll 2d6 (fuses) and place each in any of the +/- boxes to adjust that bank's total. Both must be placed if rolled.

• Use the top FAVOUR (ace) to draw a new card. Replace the card in any bay with the new card and shuffle the old one back into the draw deck. The suit of the card you choose to swap must match the suit of the FAVOUR.

NB You can do these actions in any order. You may move the fuse dice to different +/- positions if you played a FAVOUR after first positioning them.

3. If  A and B now match, take all RED cards and stack in the OUTPUT box. Discard the number of cards from the BATTERY equal to the number of RED cards won. You may choose not to take all RED cards if BATTERY is low.  Discard BLACK cards and any FAVOURS used.

 4. If Banks A and B do not match, take all BLACK cards from their bays and stack in the waste box. Discard RED cards. The BATTERY is not affected. 

REPEAT STEPS UNTIL ALL MATERIAL CARDS FROM THE DRAW DECK ARE GONE. THE BATTERY MUST LAST UNTIL ALL THE CARDS IN THE DRAW DECK ARE PROCESSED (6 TURNS).

Fuse dice are reset at the end of each turn.

Efficiency is key, have more RED cards than BLACK to win. Have no BLACK cards in the waste and no RED cards discarded to achieve...

               100% EFFICIENCY!

All art and text was human-made by me.