Rules for the Second Contest

Dear Contestants,

As I'm sure you're all aware, today is the last day of the first round. As a quick reminder for anyone who might find themselves with negative points, you have until midnight tonight to earn enough Victory Points to put you at or above zero or else you will be eliminated.

With that unpleasant business out of the way we can move onto something more exciting. A new round means a new contest. This time we will be playing a game of White Elephant.

Contestants will arrange themselves in a randomized order on the plaza podiums. In the center will be forty small boxes, each of which will contain a chip. Most chips will be worth between one and ten points. Some chips however will have no effect on the contest itself; instead, these chips impart some effect, positive or negative, on whoever holds them at the end of the contest.

On each contestant's turn they may make one of three mutually exclusive choices: open a new box, initiate a trade, or bank their chips.

• If a player chooses to open a new box they will get to keep whichever chip is inside.
• If a player chooses to trade, then they may either give one of their chips to another player or else take a chip from another player. Then, the other player has an opportunity to complete the trade; if they had a chip taken from them they make take a chip from the player who initiated the trade, else if they had a chip given to them they may give a chip to the player who initiated the trade. A chip may not change hands more than once per round.
• If a player chooses to bank their chips then any held chips will no longer be available for trade. Banked chips are guaranteed to stay with the player who banked them until the end of the contest.

The game ends when the last box is opened. At that point, all held chips will automatically be banked and the winner will be whoever has the most points from their chips.

I hope you all have had a wonderful first round, and I look forward to our second round together.

Sincerely,

Violet Boehm