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How to Play

High Society

3-5 players 15-30 min 7.2 Board Game Geek Rating

Players compete in auctions to collect valuable wealth cards and beneficial multipliers while dodging harmful negative cards and divisors. The twist: whoever has the least remaining money is automatically eliminated from contention, regardless of their card total. Victory goes to the wealthiest remaining player with the highest card score.

Published 1995

High Society

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Each player receives a set of 11 money cards of their color, kept hidden in hand
2
Shuffle all Status Cards and place the deck in the center
3
The deck contains
10 Luxury cards (positive points), 3 Prestige cards (multiply points), 3 Disgrace cards (negative points or divide)

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Flip the top card of the deck to begin an auction (if it's the 4th green card, the game ends immediately)
2
The Start Player or winner of the previous auction bids first
3
Players take turns either bidding or passing until only one player remains
4
Bid:
Play one or more money cards face-up; must bid higher than all previous bids
5
Pass:
Take back any money you bid and exit the auction for this round
6
The last remaining player wins the auction and takes the Status Card, discarding their bid
7
Disgrace cards work differently:
8
Status cards are public information; money cards are hidden

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
The game ends immediately when the 4th green card is flipped (no auction occurs)
2
Cast Out:
Player(s) with the least remaining money are eliminated and cannot win
3
The player with the highest score wins
4
Tiebreakers:
Most money remaining → highest single Luxury card
5
Scoring:
Luxury cards add points; Prestige cards multiply total (×2 each, so ×4 for two, ×8 for three); Disgrace cards subtract points or divide

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

Conociendo High Society

Conociendo High Society

Instructional

High Society ¿cómo se juega? | Reiner Knizia | Playte | Popcorn | Ravensburger | Partida de Locos

High Society ¿cómo se juega? | Reiner Knizia | Playte | Popcorn | Ravensburger | Partida de Locos

Instructional

MORE VIDEOS

FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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