THE RULES OF

CHANNEL "X"

FOR 2 TO 6 PLAYERS

The Object of the Game

is to make money by:-

1. Selling advertising time on TV and
2.Renting out TV programmes

THE GAME

is played by 2 to 6 players and comprises a pack of 52 cards, plus 12 small cards—6 Channel cards and 6 Advertising Company cards—and £300,000 of "Pepys Currency" token money.

The 52 cards comprise 24 Programme cards—6 each (one for each of the 6 Channels) of Sport, Variety, Thriller and Panel Game, 12 "Advertisement" cards (2 each of 6 advertised products), 9 "Time" cards of 60 minutes, 3 of 30 minutes and 4 of 2 minutes.

The 60-minute Time cards represent time taken for Sport, Variety and Thriller programmes; the 30-minute cards for the Panel Game. The 2-minute Time cards represent time taken for showing Advertisements.

DEALING Money

The dealer, chosen by agreement, gives to each player 8 £5,000 "notes", 8 of £1,000 and 4 of £500, that is £50,000 each. Surplus money Is put aside.

Channel Cards

He then takes the 6 small Channel cards (numbered 1 to 6) and gives one to each player; No. 1 to the player on his left, No. 2 to the next player and so on. Players are now assumed to have the right from the "AUTHORITY" to use these Channels.

If 3, 4 or 5 players, the surplus cards are placed near the centre of the table, preferably in a receptacle such as the box lid. These surplus Channel cards are "held by the Authority".

If 2 players, they get 2 Channel cards each and the Authority keeps 2.

Each player now has 1 or more Channels.

Advertising Companies

Next, the dealer takes the 6 small Advertising Company cards (also numbered 1 to 6) and deals them all in rotation around the players. This means that 2 players would have 3 each, 3 players 2 each, while with 4 or 5 players some would have 1 each and others 2. Each player is now the owner of 1 or more Advertising Companies.

The Card Pack

He now shuffles the pack and deals the cards until each player has 5 cards, placing the remainder of the pack face-down in the centre of the table with the top card face-up by its side.

OBJECT OF PLAY

The object in each round is to be the first to collect a hand in which the 5 cards are:-

(a) 3 Programme cards having THE SAME CHANNEL NUMBER, NOT 3 OF THE SAME PROGRAMME, e.g., not 3 Sport cards. The Channel numbers are shown at the top left corners.
(b) 2 Advertisement cards having any numbers.

The first player to achieve this is referred to as the "Winner" in these rules.

The Programme card numbers indicate the TV CHANNELS on which the programmes are shown and are the same as the numbers on the small Channel cards held by each player.

The "Winner" with a hand in which the 3 Programme cards have his own Channel number, has shown his own programmes. If, however, they have the number of another player's Channel card, then the Winner is assumed to have hired that other player's programmes and must pay him a renting fee (see page 6).

The Advertisement cards are numbered to correspond with the Advertising Company cards. The Winner is assumed to have screened the two advertisements shown on the 2 Advertisement cards in his hand. The players owning those Companies must pay the Winner for having advertised their products (see page 6).

If, however, the Winner's cards have the number of his own Advertising Company he receives no money, as he has advertised his own products.

It would not, therefore, pay a player to collect a hand composed of Programme cards of someone else's Channel (for which he must pay rent) AND Advertisements for his own Company only. But it can pay to win on a hand having Programme cards of another player's Channel, one Advertisement card of another player's Company and one of his own. (See the scale of payments on page 6).

Time Cards
These are used in play to help obtain wanted Programme and Advertisement cards.

THE PLAY

Players place before them their small Channel and Advertising Company cards so that everyone can see them. They pick up their 5 cards and look at them. The player on the left of the dealer begins. He decides which numbered Programme cards he will collect, remembering he must collect 3 of the same index number. He also needs 2 Advertisement cards. He then does "1", "2" or "3" as follows:-

1. He looks at the face-up card (the "exposed" card) in the centre of the table. If it is a Programme card and he wants it he can only take it by exchanging it for a Time card having the same period of time marked upon it. So, if it is a Sport, Variety or Thriller card (60 mins.) and he has a 60-min. Time card in his hand, he can take the Programme card into his hand and put his Time card face-up in its place on the table. For a Panel Game he would need a 30-min. Time card to make the exchange.

The "time" Is the number of minutes a programme occupies on the TV screen.

Equally he can exchange a 2-minute Time card from his hand for an Advertisement card if one of these is the top exposed card. He may exchange only one card at his turn.

2. If he has not an appropriate Time card in his hand (see 3 below) or if the exposed card is of no use to him he takes into his hand the top face-down card from the centre pack. He then discards one card from his hand (which may be the one he has just picked), placing it face-up on top of the exposed card.

3. Buying Time Cards

If a player wants the exposed card but has not got the appropriate Time card, he may try to buy that Time card by offering any card from his hand by displaying it plus a sum of money, minimum £500, to all the players in exchange for the Time card he needs. If anyone accepts the offer, the player exchanges his displayed card for the Time card. Then he exchanges the Time card for the top card of the discard pile, which he wanted, and this completes his turn.

It may be necessary for the offer of £500 to be increased before anyone will accept. Also there may be no player willing or able to sell.

If nobody accepts, the player returns the displayed card to his hand and plays as "2" above.

Any of the actions as described in "1", "2" or "3" : completes the turn, which passes to the player on his left and so on around the players.

PACK USED UP

If all the face-down cards of the centre pack have been used before there is a Winner, the dealer takes the top discard, places it (still face-up) in the centre of the table, shuffles the rest of the discard pile and places it face-down beside the single discard. The next player in turn continues play.

END OF ROUND

Play ends immediately a player, having finished his turn, lays down a complete hand, i.e., 3 Programme cards bearing identical numbers and 2 Advertisement cards. He has succeeded in putting on a "show" of 3 programmes, with advertisements, and is the winner of the round.

N.B. No player should ever, at the end of his turn, have more or less than 5 cards in his hand.

Payments Made by the Winner

If the Programme cards are of another player's Channel he is assumed to have rented those programmes and he pays that player rental for each of the 3 programmes at the following rates:-

Sport; Thriller; Variety	£1,000 each.
Panel Game	£500

Payments Received by the Winner

Advertisement cards—the Winner receives nothing if both are his own Advertising Company's cards—he is assumed to have advertised his own products on If one or both are other players' Advertisements, those players pay him £5,000 each for each Advertisement as the fee for 2 minutes advertising of each product. As one player can at times have 2 Advertisement Companies, that player may find he has to pay £10,000 to the Winner. If one card is one of the Winner's own advertised products and the other is that of another player, he receives nothing for his own and £5,000 for the other.

Payments to the Authority

If there were surplus Channel cards at the start of the game these were not handed out to the players, but retained by the Authority, and displayed throughout the game (in the box lid) on the table.

If the Winner's Programme cards are of a Channel retained by the Authority he must pay £10,000 to the Authority for the use of that Channel—by placing the money in the box lid. He then takes the Channel card, placing it in front of him. He now has the right to use this Channel for the rest of the game.

After Each Round

The deal passes to the next in turn, who shuffles all the game cards and deals as for the first round.

Channel cards remain as they were—with the players or with the Authority (if any left there).

Advertising Company cards also remain with the players EXCEPT when there are "extra" ones. With 4 players the 2 players on the left of the dealer will have had 2 cards each during the first round. These 2 extra cards are passed to the other two players before each new round begins. With 5 players the extra Company card is always held by the player on the left of the dealer.

Number of Rounds in a Game

depending on length of game required.

END OF GAME

The game ends when the last round has been won. Each player counts his money and adds to this the sum of £5,000 for each Channel card in his possession.

THE WINNER is the player with the most money.

NOTE

1. If a player runs out of money, he withdraws from the game.

2. Any money paid to the Authority for the use of an extra Channel remains with the Authority and is not taken into account at the end of the game.

3. While the rules of this game have been devised to make it as realistic as possible, it has been necessary to infringe certain sections of the Television Act, 1964, e.g., making players both Advertising Companies and Channel users is not technically correct.

CASTELL BROTHERS LTD.
15-17 St. Cross Street, London, E.C.1
Made in Great Britain