Guillotine

Guillotine is the wonderfully macabre 2–5 player card game about manipulating a line of French nobles so that the valuable heads arrive on your turn and the unpopular ones become somebody else's problem. Twelve Nobles begin each day queued for the blade. You may play an Action card to rearrange that line, interfere with another player, or change how certain cards score. Then you collect whoever is currently standing at the front. Three days later, the executioner with the most valuable collection wins.

The Line Is Everything

There is almost no hidden strategic mystery about what everybody wants. Marie Antoinette is sitting right there. Everyone can see how many points she is worth.

The problem is that there are several turns between her current position and the guillotine, and everybody is holding Action cards designed to make that calculation unreliable.

A weak Noble near the front may suddenly be sent backward. A valuable one can jump ahead. The entire line can shift just far enough that the card you carefully prepared to collect ends up belonging to the player immediately before you.

How the Game Works

At the beginning of each of the game's three days, place twelve Noble cards face up in a line leading to the cardboard guillotine.

On your turn, you may first play an Action card. These cards manipulate the order of Nobles, modify scoring, move cards between players, or otherwise interfere with the very orderly proceedings.

After resolving your Action, collect the Noble currently at the front of the line. Nobles are worth positive or negative points and may also interact with particular groups, titles, or other cards in your collection.

Continue until the day's line is exhausted. After three days, total the value of your collected Nobles and other scoring effects. Highest score wins.

Why You’ll Love It

• The rules can be taught almost immediately: manipulate the line, then take the front Noble.
• Visible high-value cards create obvious targets and plenty of opportunities for tactical interference.
• Action cards make turn order matter without requiring a complicated board state.
• Individual Noble abilities and scoring quirks make some collections more interesting than simply adding printed numbers.
• The deliberately tasteless French Revolution humor remains a big part of the game's personality.

Game Details

🧩 Players: 2–5
⏱️ Playtime: About 20–30 minutes
🎂 Age: 12+
🗂️ Genre: Light strategy card game, line manipulation, set collection, take-that, French Revolution
🎯 Complexity: Light; very easy to learn, with most of the strategy coming from timing Action cards and reading the queue
🔁 Replayability: High for a filler because Noble order, Action hands, and player interference make every line develop differently
🎮 Great for fans of: Fluxx-level accessibility with more tactical control, Jaipur-length fillers, interactive card games, and historical themes with an exceptionally dark sense of humor

What's in the Box

• 50 Noble Cards
• 60 Action Cards
• Cardboard Guillotine
• Game Rules