Learn John Company: Second Edition

Welcome to John Company

London, 1710. Each player is a British family sending its members into the East India Company. They run its offices, trade and fight in India, then come home rich to buy estates and titles.

The family with the most victory points at the end wins. Points come from:

• Retirements — family members leaving office buy prizes in London.
• Power — the most powerful families take an award at the end.
• Company shares — worth points if the Company survives, a loss if it fails.

1–6 players (one or two against the Crown), 2–4 hours. Ready to set up? Open the setup checklist — it adapts to your player count.

The Company

The Company belongs to nobody. Its offices — Chairman, Director of Trade, Manager of Shipping, Military Affairs and the three Presidents — are held by family members, and each office spends the Company’s money in its own box.

Three tracks tell you how it is doing:

• Balance — the money it has.
• Debt — what it owes; each point costs £1 a turn.
• Standing — its reputation. If it reaches the leftmost space the Company fails and the game ends at once.

The board · Company Operation.

A turn

Nine phases, in order:

1. London Season — family members retire to prizes; take a prestige or blackmail card.
2. Family — two actions each: writers, officers, enterprises, shares.
3. Hiring — the Chairman is elected by shares, then each office hires the next.
4. Company Operations — each office spends its money: trade, ships, armies, conquest.
5. Bonuses — £1 per fitted shipyard and per workshop.
6. Revenue — expenses, expectations and dividends.
7. Events in India — storms, then event tiles.
8. Parliament — a law is put to the vote.
9. Upkeep and Refresh.

Sequence of play.

Deals and promises

Almost everything in John Company is negotiated: who gets hired, where money goes, how you vote. You may promise anything, at any time, but only two things bind:

• Promise cards — each family has five. Give one away and its holder can call it in later.
• Trades done on the spot — money, cards and enterprises change hands at once.

Everything else is your word, and the table will remember it.

Negotiation · Promise cards.

The end

The game ends after the scenario’s last turn (turn 5 in 1710), or at once if the Company fails. Then:

1. Power award — most and second-most power score points.
2. Shares and workshops — each share scores if the Company survived and costs you if it failed; workshops score only on a failure.
3. Final retirement if the Company survived, or a Company failure card if it didn’t.

Most points wins. Game End and Scoring.