Overview

In Draft & Write Records, each player drafts cards to recruit the best singers, musicians, producers, and road crew. Upgrading equipment, recording singles, and touring venues helps you score beaucoup points and rockin' bonuses. Each round is a week in your band's life, with the weekend used to tabulate scores and gain bonuses for completing goals.

Each member of your band and crew has a set of four skills (blue levels, red tune, yellow tempo, purple pitch), one in each direction. If two members have the same skill in a connecting direction (ex. the bottom one going north and the top one going south), that create a "harmony" which can be used to mark off any bonus.

Setup

Before game start, each player chooses a skill for their lead singer in the north position. Then each player must choose one private goal for themselves.

Week

At the start of each week, players draw 5 play cards each from the play deck. Then players choose 1 card to play. Once all players have chosen, they mark the appropriate spot on their player sheets, either in the Crew, Agenda, or Assets. Players can always choose to Fail a card, which results in a penalty. Then each hand is passed to another player and the process repeats. The final card of a hand is always discarded.

There are 3 types of play cards:

• Crew: Each crew has a subsection: Singer, Musician, Producer, and Backstage. They can only be placed in their matching subsection. Some spaces require a cash restriction to be lifted before the crew can be placed. Crew can have harmonies between them if their color matches.
• Agenda: Agenda must be marked in the Agenda section on the player sheet.
• Asset: Assets must be marked in the Assets section on the player sheet.

Weekend

When all cards but one have been drafted, the end of round occurs, called the Weekend. Each public goal is checked to see if any players have accomplished the goal. If they have, they can claim the reward or pass. If claimed, a new goal is drawn to replace it. Any public goal that cannot be claimed by any players is discarded. Private goals are checked after public goals.

Player Sheets

Each player sheet has ten sections:

• Fail: If you cannot place a play card or if you choose not to place it, you can fail. You check spaces from left to right and you will lose points based on the rightmost checked space. You gain a cash restriction bonus on your second fail.
• Goals: When you claim a goal, you write its score in these spaces. You can claim a maximum of 6 goals.
• Agenda: You can check these spaces in any order with a play card or with some bonuses. You gain bonuses if you check all spaces in a row, a column or diagonal.
• Release: You can release Album or Singles. In either case, you check spaces from left to right. Some spaces give you bonuses. You score points based on the number of Album multiplied by the number of Singles.
• Crew: You place the score of a crew play card and you color each of the 4 spaces around. You can use a multiplier on the score if you have unused multiplier in your multiplier section. If the color matches the color of another crew, you gain a bonus. You cannot place crews in spaces where there’s a cash restriction, you must check the cash restriction first. You lose points at the end of the game if your crew is not full.
• Tour: You start checking spaces from the top-left. You must check a space before to be able to go further. Some spaces are protected by cash restriction which must be checked before you can go further. Some spaces give you bonuses.
• Multiplier: When you gain a multiplier, you check a space. You can use a multiplier when you place crews to gain a bigger score.
• Assets: You can check these spaces in any order with a play card or with some bonuses. You gain bonuses if you check the two spaces around a bonus.
• Harmonies: You can check these spaces in any order when you gain a harmony bonus for a specific color for the crews. You can also gain harmony bonuses for any color. Some spaces give you bonuses. You score points if you check all spaces in a row or a column.
• Scores: This section only contains the total of the score of each sections.

End game

End game can be triggered by one of three ways.

• One player checked all possible Fails
• One player has placed all crew
• One player has claimed the maximum number of goals

Each player checks a Fail for each missing crew.

Solo Mode

In Solo, you do not have a private goal. The turn structure is also different:

On your turn, you draw two play cards. You then choose:

• Option A: you play one of the two cards and discard the other. You then start another turn.
• Option B: You draw a third card. If all cards are of the same section or if no cards are of the same section, you can play any one card. If not, then there are two cards with the same section and you must play the other card. Then, you can claim or pass a single goal. If you pass or cannot claim a goal, you discard the 4th goal. If you claim a goal, you discard the 4th goal, except if you claimed the 4th goal. You then slide all goals right and draw a new goal. You then start another turn.

The game ends when you cannot draw two play cards or if you checked all Fails, or placed all Crews or claimed the maximum number of goals on your player sheet.