Kitty Cartel is a fun incarnation of Geon Axis. It's premise is the same as Geon Axis- encircle territory, the more the better, with go rules of liberties and capturing stones applying. It's game boards are smaller, with each player given one 5x5 hexagon game tile - and one tile to start the game is placed on the table. At any stage a player can connect their hexgrid game tile to the original board, extending the size and shape of the board and offering the players more space. Placing a game tile is considered a move and so no stone may be placed by that player until the next round. Players don't have to play their game tile - choosing to do so is entirely up to them.
You always must nominate a 'common good cause' for each game - that's the reason for play. (raising money for a charity or pizza/beer fund are two clear examples)
You pay to play, with a 'buy in' system - each player pays the same amount of real money. The money is placed in the kitty and it up for grabs! So for example: 5 players with a $20 buy in means $100 can be won.
To solve the issue of 'who goes first' (there is a mathematical disadvantage to moving first) a honorable and charitable player will offer all other players a generous advantage by themselves moving first. This is a free choice and is a very honorable move. if no1 moves first then all money goes to the charity and the game is considered a great success.
Each player is given 10 'kitty' tokens at the start of the game - these tokens will be used to calculate your final winnings. You can think about each token as 10% of your winnings. At any time during the game you can put a token in the kitty as a charitable donation to the cause. If, by the end of the game, you are the winner - and you have 6 tokens left. that means that you keep 60% of the winnings, with the other 40% of money going to the common good.
Here's the gambling aspect of Kitty Cartel, it's very simple in practice but seems difficult to explain and understand.
You can swap a competitors stone on the board for your own stone - but you must challenge them to a little guessing game of "who will donate more Kitty Tokens to the Charity" you secretly write down how many tokens you are willing to donate, and place it face down on the table. You both reveal your nominated amounts at the same time. Who ever has the highest number wins! The winner donates the nominated number of Kitty Tokens to the Charity (if the number was 2 or higher, 1 token is given to the loser) Then the winner captures (removes and keeps) the loosing stone as a prisoner and replaces that stone with their own.
If you both nominate the same amount, so - if it's a tie, no stones are changed on the board and the challenger (aggressor) donates the nominated number of Kitty Tokens to the Charity and gets to make another move. (they can challenge the same stone again if they like).
There is only one 'Fat Cat Kitty Cartel' winner - They win the portion of their winnings as per the number of Kitty Tokens they have left (up to 100%).
And that's it. All disputes are handles with grace or the game ends and all money goes to the charity.
There's a cute gangsta kitten narrative that makes the game appealing to a wide audience.
