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Repertory

A game of touring theater companies

Lead a company of players through six Seasons on the road. Open new productions, send your Troupes along the railway, and build a name that lasts longer than any one show.

  • 2 to 5 players
  • Ages 14+
  • Six Seasons
Play free in your browserGet news about the box

Free to play at playrepertory.com while we playtest. The physical edition is in development.

Six Seasons on the road.

Each player runs a touring theater company in a land of rail lines, cities and market towns. You draft new plays and performers, open productions, and send your troupes out to perform them. Lease a theater in a city you love, or hire a star or two.

Every show gets three performances, and each one is good for something different. Most of the game is knowing which show to put on where, which to hold back, and when to let one go.

You all play to the same audiences. Every show leaves a town a little less eager for the next one, no matter whose company put it on, so your rivals are changing the map every turn. Nobody attacks anybody. Sharing the crowd is competition enough.

The Lantern Bride: a bride in white holding a lantern on a clifftop above a night sea.
The Lantern BrideDrama
  1. Opening3 Acclaim · 1 CoinBest for Acclaim while it’s new.
  2. Run1 Acclaim · 3 CoinsBest for Coins once it’s settled in.
  3. Closing0 Acclaim · 2 CoinsThen it retires and earns its Legacy.

Legacy 2, scored at the end.

Raise the curtain tonight.

The digital edition of Repertory plays in your browser on a computer or an iPad. Learn with a guided first game, take on rival companies run by the computer, or pass the device around the table. Free, with nothing to install.

Play it free

playrepertory.com

A playtest edition: the rules may still change.

Each Season: draft, act, and rest.

  1. 1

    Draft

    Four cards each. Keep one, pass the rest, keep one more. What nobody takes goes to the Circuit, where anyone can Scout it later.

  2. 2

    Actions

    One action a turn, around the table, until everyone has passed. Your Calendar says how many you get, and it can grow.

  3. 3

    Intermission

    Theaters pay, audiences recover wherever nobody performed, and your shows and Troupes get ready for the next Season.

Five actions

Stage
Tour a show to a Place and perform it, or Rehearse it for its printed effect.
Open
Put a new Production from your hand into an empty space on your mat.
Engage
Hire a Performer, buy Stagecraft, Recruit a Troupe, or add to your Calendar.
Lease
Take the theater lot in a City where you have a Troupe.
Busk
Raise a few Coins, sell a card, or Scout one from the Circuit.

Turns are a single action, so the table keeps moving. Seasons 3 and 5 each bring an Upgrade to your company.

One map, one audience, and everyone playing to it.

Every performance leaves its mark. A town that has just seen a show pays less for the next one, whoever brings it, and less again for the same kind of show. Audiences only recover where nobody performed.

Pick a show, then a place to take it. Each show plays once a Season, through its Opening, Run and Closing. This is a simplified version: the full game adds troupes on the railway, theaters, performers, stagecraft and rival companies.

  • CapitalFavors Drama and MusicCold to Puppetry
  • CityFavors Comedy and SpectacleCold to Drama
  • CityFavors Music and PuppetryCold to Comedy
  • CityFavors Drama and SpectacleCold to Music
  • CityFavors Comedy and PuppetryCold to Spectacle
  • CityFavors Music and ComedyCold to Puppetry
  • CityFavors Spectacle and DramaCold to Comedy
  • TownFavors Puppetry and ComedyCold to Music
  • TownFavors Drama and PuppetryCold to Spectacle
  • TownFavors Comedy and MusicCold to Puppetry
  • TownFavors Spectacle and PuppetryCold to Drama
  • TownFavors Spectacle and MusicCold to Comedy
Season
1 of 6
Acclaim
0
Coins
0
Legacy
0

Turn on JavaScript to take these shows on tour.

  • Drama
  • Comedy
  • Music
  • Spectacle
  • Puppetry
  • ★ Acclaim  ● Coins
  • The bars under a place show how tired its audience is. At three, nobody can tour there.

Every company plays its own way.

At the start you look at two Company mats and keep one. Each has a perk and a drawback, a home city, and an Upgrade of its own. New players can take The Strolling Players instead, who have a simple perk and no drawback at all.

The Marionette Theater

Home: Corvane

A wagon stage that goes where the big companies will not.

Perk
Your Reach is 1 higher. Before a Performance in a Town: +1 Acclaim.
Drawback
Before a Performance in the Capital: −1 Acclaim.

Grand Opera of Aldermere

Home: Aldermere

Expensive, glorious, and at its best in the grandest houses.

Perk
Before a Performance in the Capital: +1 Acclaim. Before a Performance in a City: +1 Coin.
Drawback
A Performance in a Town gives you 0 Acclaim. The Cost of each Production you Open is 1 higher.

The Melodrama Players

Home: Dunholt

Audiences never tire of them, though first nights can be rough.

Perk
Fatigue counts 1 step fewer for you.
Drawback
Before a Performance from the Opening row: −1 Acclaim.

The Music-Hall Company

Home: Brantwick

More turns on the bill than anyone, and shows that come and go fast.

Perk
Your Calendar has 5 spaces at the start (4 in Season 1).
Drawback
Open puts the Counter on the Run row: your shows have two Performances.

The Classical Players

Home: Esterlane

Premieres that people talk about, and a legacy that lasts.

Perk
Before a Performance from the Opening row: +1 Acclaim. Each face-up Production in your Archive scores 1 more Legacy.
Drawback
Before a Performance from the Run row: −1 Coin.

Ballet & Pantomime

Home: Gildenhall

Machinery, painted cloths and spectacle, if the stagecraft is there.

Perk
The Cost of each Stagecraft card you Engage is 2 lower. After you Tour a Spectacle Production: +1 Acclaim.
Drawback
Before a Performance of a Spectacle Production while you have no Stagecraft in play: −1 Acclaim and −1 Coin.

The Strolling Players

Home: Farrowmere

The beginner company: one simple perk, nothing to trip over.

Perk
After your first Tour each Season: +1 Acclaim.
Drawback
None.

132 unique cards, each with its own artwork.

Productions to open, performers to hire, stagecraft to build, and one-time Notices, all with beautiful original artwork.

  • The Great Balloon Ascent, Production
    The Great Balloon AscentProduction
  • The Great Zandor, Performer
    The Great ZandorPerformer
  • The Ice Palace, Production
    The Ice PalaceProduction
  • Travelling Wagons, Stagecraft
    Travelling WagonsStagecraft
  • The Lighthouse Ballet, Production
    The Lighthouse BalletProduction
  • Old Bastien, Puppeteer, Performer
    Old Bastien, PuppeteerPerformer
  • The Dragon of Dunholt, Production
    The Dragon of DunholtProduction
  • Rain Curtain, Stagecraft
    Rain CurtainStagecraft
  • Beneath the Glass Sea, Production
    Beneath the Glass SeaProduction
  • Maestro Corvi, Performer
    Maestro CorviPerformer
  • The Gilded Barge, Production
    The Gilded BargeProduction
  • Limelight, Stagecraft
    LimelightStagecraft
  • The Goblin Fair, Production
    The Goblin FairProduction
  • Signora Lucenti, Performer
    Signora LucentiPerformer
  • The Vicar's Bicycle, Production
    The Vicar's BicycleProduction
  • Revolving Stage, Stagecraft
    Revolving StageStagecraft
  • Carnival of Lanterns, Production
    Carnival of LanternsProduction
  • The Marionette Queen, Production
    The Marionette QueenProduction

More than one way to be remembered.

Big premieres, long tours, a theater of your own, a company of stars, the finest stagecraft: the cards you draft decide which way you go. The last Seasons count for a lot, so a slow start can still finish strong.

  1. AcclaimEarned during the game, mostly from performances.
  2. LegacyPrinted on each show, scored if it retires face up.
  3. PrestigePrinted on each Star in your company.
  4. Theaters2 points for each one you lease.
  5. AwardsFour of the six are in play each game: 5 points for first, 2 for second.

The Awards

  • Long RunMost face-up Productions in your Archive.
  • House StyleMost face-up Productions of one Genre in your Archive.
  • Star AttractionMost Stars in play.
  • Company of DistinctionMost Performers and Stagecraft cards in play, added together.
  • Resident CompanyMost Theaters.
  • Full HouseMost Productions on your mat at the end. Revival counts.

A whole touring season in one box.

  • 132 unique cards: 54 Productions, 26 Performers, 20 Stagecraft, 8 Notices and 24 Company starters.
  • 6 Award cards, 4 in play each game.
  • A folding map: 12 Places on 17 rail links, each with its own Playbill track.
  • 6 Company mats, and 5 Beginner mats for The Strolling Players.
  • 60 Playbill cubes, twelve in each Genre color.
  • Wooden Troupe meeples, Theater markers and Acclaim markers for five companies.
  • Upgrade tiles, coins and five player aids.

The physical edition is in development, so the contents may still change. Everyone on the mailing list will hear first when it’s ready.

How we make our games

A closed red stage curtain, lit by wall lamps and a row of shell footlights.

Production notes.

Playtests, the physical edition, and news about the digital one.

Read all updates
NewsRepertory

Introducing Repertory

Our second game is about touring theater companies, and its digital edition is free to play in your browser today. The physical edition is in development.

Hear when the box is ready.

We’ll let you know when the physical edition of Repertory is on its way, including any Kickstarter and the launch itself, with the occasional note about our other games. Not often, and never spam.