Choice or Chance Card Game

CHOICE OR CHANCE RULES

DESCRIPTION OF GAME
The object of the game is to lay down as many Sex cards as possible without accepting any Baby cards as a consequence. The purpose of the game is to learn what it would feel like to be denied the choice of whether or not to keep a pregnancy if contraception fails. In the process, players learn about different kinds of contraceptive options. Choice or Chance is played with two decks of cards: the Action Deck and the Contraceptive Deck.
• The Action Deck has three basic kinds of cards: Sex cards, Choice cards and Blockade Cards. There are also four kinds of special cards.
• The Contraceptive Deck has cards representing different approaches to contraception.
• Separate decks of Baby cards and Reward cards are used to keep score.

DESCRIPTION OF CARDS

ACTION CARDS
SEX CARDS: represent acts of sexual love. Every time a Sex card is laid down, a Contraceptive card must be drawn from the Contraceptive Deck to determine whether or not a baby results. Love cards are worth 2 points each.
CHOICE CARDS: are good for one abortion. These can be used to prevent babies that result from rolling the dice with Contraceptive cards. They can also be used to overcome Blockade cards.
BLOCKADE CARDS: to force other players to have unwanted babies and lose points, a blockade card can be played on top of a Choice card. If the opponent has another Choice card, it can be used to overcome the Blockade card. Similarly, a second Blockade card can overcome a second Choice card and so on until one player uses all the cards in her hand.
SPECIAL CARDS: Four kinds of special cards are found in the Action Deck. The RU-486 card and Emergency Contraceptive card can be used instead of a Choice card, and Blockade cards are ineffective against it. A Poverty card can be used by an opponent to force an unwanted baby. A Poverty card makes the player too poor to afford an abortion and renders all Choice cards ineffective. Either player or opponent can use an Election card in place of a Choice or Blockade card. When an Election card is played, both player and opponent roll the dice in turn. The highest score wins the election and the winner imposes his will on the other player.

CONTRACEPTIVE CARDS
These cards show different contraceptive methods to be used with Sex cards. These methods are associated with different probabilities of conception, and a roll of the dice is often required to determine whether they work or not. If the dice come up wrong, the player must take a Baby card. See separate sheet for detailed descriptions.

SCORING CARDS
BABY CARDS: Each player is allowed one free Baby card. After the first Baby, Baby cards are worth ten negative points. See scoring chart for more info.
REWARD CARDS: At the end of each round or “generation”, any player with no babies gets to choose four reward cards. Any player with one baby gets three reward cards, and a player with two babies gets one reward card. Reward cards are worth 10 points each. They represent the both the personal and planetary benefits of families with two or fewer children.

HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED
Play with 2-6 players. With more than 2 players, the opponent is always the player to the left.

Beginning Play: To begin the first round (after both playing decks are shuffled), 6 cards are dealt from the Action Deck to each player and then the deck is placed face down on the table with the Contraceptive Deck face down next to it. Throw dice to see who goes first and the first player must lay down a Sex card if he has it. If not, he must pass to the next player, but first he must draw 1 new card from the Action Deck and discard 1 card face up in a pile next to the Action Deck.

The Player: If the first player plays a Sex card, he must immediately draw a Contraceptive card and follow the instructions which will usually involve rolling the dice to determine if conception results. If he loses, he may use a Choice card, an Election card or the RU-486 or Emergency Contraceptive cards (see card descriptions, "Special Cards") from his hand to avoid taking a Baby card. If he uses the RU 486 card or Emergency Contraceptive card, he can’t be stopped and the play moves to the next player.

The Opponent: Once the first player uses a Choice card or an Election card, the player to his left becomes his opponent and may use a Blockade card, a Poverty card or an Election card to force the first player to have a Baby. The first player can respond to a Blockade or Election card with another Choice card or an Election card and the play goes back and forth until the opponents have used up all their Choice, Blockade and Election cards. If the opponent plays the untrumpable Poverty card, there is no choice and the player takes a Baby card and the play moves to the next player.

Scoring after each turn: Before passing to the next player, the player puts his Sex card in his Sex card pile. If he has used a condom he records 1 extra point for safer sex. If he loses choice, he must also add a Baby card to his Baby card pile. The Contraceptive card is placed face up in the Contraceptive Deck discard pile, and the other played cards are put into the Action Deck discard pile. The player, and then the opponent draw new cards from the Action Deck until they each have 6 cards again, and the opponent takes her turn as a player.

Ending the Game: When all the cards in the Action Deck have been drawn, play continues until all the Sex cards are played. If any player has no Sex card, she must pass, but can still act as an opponent using Blockade, Poverty and Election cards. When all the Sex cards have been played, the round or “generation” is over. Use the scoring chart to determine the score for that “generation”. Then shuffle the two playing decks and let the next generation try to do better.

SCORING RULES
0 Babies: 4 Reward cards worth 10 points each plus Sex card points plus safer sex points
1 Baby: First Baby is free. 3 Reward cards worth 10 points each plus Sex card points plus safer sex points.
2 Babies: Minus 10 points for the second Baby plus 1 Reward card worth 10 points plus Sex card points plus safer sex points*
3 Babies: minus 20 points plus Sex card points plus safer sex points
4 Babies: minus 30 points plus Sex card points plus safer sex points
5 Babies: minus 40 points plus Sex card points plus safer sex points
x Babies: each additional Baby is minus 10 points
* Although 2 babies per woman will eventually lead to zero population growth, one child families are preferable right now because population needs to be reduced as fast as possible in order to avoid irreversible damage to the planet’s climate and ecosystems.