Blind Gavel

A Victorian Theater. A locked glass case. One player has the gavel and the one honest number in the room, what the item is actually worth. Everyone else bids blindly on a letter read from the podium, a letter the auctioneer may be reading faithfully or inventing on the spot.

The bidders in the dark include his partners. They know who they are and unlike everyone else in the room, they know the true value of everything that comes up. They bid like they are guessing at it. They’re not.

THE RITE

Backstage a black box is loaded with the night’s items. The auctioneer reaches in and pulls one out at random, he doesn't know what he's going to sell any more than the room does. He does it with both hands, in front of everyone, and leaves it in the glass protector.

Then he reads the letter. The page is only visible to him.

YOU CAN SEE FOR YOURSELF

The item is behind glass, but you’re not left to read the letter and hope. Click the glass to look at it close up, look for the cracks, the wrong stitching, the details that don’t match what the auctioneer just told the room. Try and catch him out in a lie.

THE FLOOR IS YOURS

The paddles go up. Each bid is public, a number flashed on a paddle for all the room to see. All begin the night with the same budget.

The gavel then falls where the auctioneer wants it to fall. He doesn't have to sell to the highest bid. He can sell a treasure to a partner for a pittance, or sell the loudest skeptic in the room a beautiful forgery for full price.

OPEN DETECTIVE

Any buyer can accuse someone of being the partner, the room heads to the detective room to decide.

All buyers vote. The auctioneer does not. Is the accuser correct, or are they lying?

The loser of that vote faces the elimination minigame, but no one knows the truth yet.

Then the room decides how. Anyone still standing has to play their part. And when the dust settles, everybody finds out who was right all along

YOUR DEATH IS CAST IN THE ROOM

It's not like the person voted out just sits there, each time someone is up for elimination the room votes on what minigame determines their fate and the other buyers play their part in it.

THE SIDE WITH THE MOST MONEY WINS

Profit equals truth minus price. Buy a masterpiece cheap and you are rich. Overpay for a fake and that budget is gone - spent on nothing, unusable on every lot after that. When the gavel drops for the final time, all are aware of who was playing what part and the books close. Partners are unmasked. The winning side is identified.

FEATURES

• 4 to 8 players online/lan, in-game voice chat, this game is an argument, and it needs voices.

• Play the room, not the monitor. First-person, physical: the auctioneer really walks the item out, and you watch him.

• The dead watch. The eliminated players ride with the living and see the con thru to the end.

• Empty seats with bots that bluff, accuse and run the gauntlet.