Round & Revel / Tableau engine-building
Pocket Foundry
The right machine is only half the answer; it also needs the right place in line.
Original authored print-and-play game. Time is a planning estimate; this edition has not had a live group playtest.
Good for: A small group interested in building a working system over several turns.
What you need
- One copy of the 16 market cards: two copies of eight machine types
- One Starter Feeder card and one four-slot mat per player
- Pencils for FEED, PART and point tallies; one twelve-lap record and starting-player marker
How to play
A small production line
Build a personal row of four machine slots. Slot 1 always contains your Starter Feeder; you may install and replace machines in slots 2–4. On each turn either build one machine or run the whole row. A run resolves strictly from left to right, so the outputs of one machine can fuel a later machine during that run. Earn the most points by the end of twelve laps.
Set out the market
Shuffle the sixteen market cards, including both copies of every machine type. Deal four face up in a shared market and leave the rest face down as a refill deck. Give each player one mat, a Starter Feeder in slot 1, 3 FEED, zero PARTS and zero points. Slots 2–4 start empty. Choose a first starting player and mark lap 1. All installed machines, market cards and resource amounts are public.
Build on your turn
Choose one face-up market card and pay its printed BUILD COST from your current resources. Install it in any one slot numbered 2, 3 or 4. The slot may be empty or occupied; discard a replaced machine permanently before placing the new one. You receive no refund and cannot keep the replaced machine in reserve. Slot 1 cannot be replaced. A build is the whole turn: neither the new machine nor any other machine runs now.
Refill and hold the order
Refill the emptied market space immediately with the top deck card, if any. When the deck empties, the remaining market cards stay available; empty spaces remain empty. Never reshuffle discarded machines. Buying a second copy of a type you already own is allowed. Once installed, cards cannot slide into another slot, swap places or leave voluntarily. To change your order you must later buy and install a replacement through a normal build turn.
Run the row
Instead of building, activate slot 1, then slot 2, then 3, then 4. Each occupied slot offers its printed RUN effect once. You may skip any effect, even if you can pay it. If it has a cost, pay the full cost before taking the reward; partial payments and partial rewards are not allowed. Empty slots do nothing. Finish or skip one slot before moving to the next. You cannot return to an earlier slot during this run.
Store only what fits
Store at most 6 FEED and 4 PARTS, separately. After each machine’s effect, immediately discard any excess above either cap. Resources discarded now are unavailable to the next machine. Points have no storage cap and are recorded separately. A resource produced later in a run cannot pay an earlier slot’s cost, and you cannot borrow against a future run. A capped free-gain machine can be skipped or run with its excess discarded.
Read the cards literally
BUILD COST is paid once when buying from the market. RUN is the optional effect each time you later run your row; do not pay the build cost again. FEED and PARTS are fictional counters, not points or money. A machine that awards points adds them immediately. Resources themselves have no final value. No card grants an extra turn, activates another slot, modifies another card or creates an ongoing effect beyond its printed run.
Twelve equal laps
During a lap, the marked starting player takes one turn, followed clockwise by everyone else once. After all have acted, move the starting-player marker one seat clockwise and advance the lap. Keep every row, resource and score between laps. Each player takes twelve turns and starts the same number of laps at every supported player count. Running remains legal with an empty market or without enough resources for paid effects; your Starter Feeder can still supply FEED.
End without a bonus run
After everyone has acted in lap twelve, stop. Do not run new machines for free, sell resources or clear the market. Highest recorded points wins; tied leaders share the win. Installed cards, leftover resources and unused deck cards score nothing. For a new game reset all machines, resources and points, return both copies of every market type, and shuffle again. A changing market can reward different build orders; the game does not promise equal strength for every possible row.
Errors and access
Read the chosen card and slot aloud. If a cost or cap error is caught before the next player begins, restore the earlier amounts and replay that same build or run correctly. Use crossed-out tallies to preserve enough history. If an older state cannot be reconstructed, agree a correction and mark the session as practice. A helper may move named cards and record chosen payments. Allow calculators, clear written labels and unlimited thinking time; performance speed does not score.
A worked example
Your row is Starter Feeder, Small Press, Polishing Wheel, Ticket Stamp. You begin a run with 3 FEED and zero PARTS. The feeder adds 2 FEED, making 5. The press spends 2 FEED and creates 1 PART, leaving 3 FEED. The wheel spends that PART for 4 points. The stamp spends the remaining 3 FEED for 3 points. You finish with no resources and 7 new points.
If Polishing Wheel were before Small Press and you began with no PARTS, the wheel could not use the part produced later. You would skip it and keep that later part for another turn. If the feeder raised 5 FEED to 7, discard one immediately because the cap is six.
Printable materials
Print both physical copies of each market type, sixteen cards total. Print one Starter Feeder and one whole mat per player. Cut machine cards apart; keep public market faces visible. Print the lap reference once. No card back may reveal the type of an undealt market card.
Feed Belt · copy 1
BUILD COST: 2 FEED.
RUN: Gain 3 FEED.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Feed Belt · copy 2
BUILD COST: 2 FEED.
RUN: Gain 3 FEED.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Small Press · copy 1
BUILD COST: 2 FEED.
RUN: Pay 2 FEED to gain 1 PART.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Small Press · copy 2
BUILD COST: 2 FEED.
RUN: Pay 2 FEED to gain 1 PART.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Sort Scoop · copy 1
BUILD COST: 2 FEED.
RUN: Gain 1 FEED and 1 point.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Sort Scoop · copy 2
BUILD COST: 2 FEED.
RUN: Gain 1 FEED and 1 point.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Ticket Stamp · copy 1
BUILD COST: 2 FEED.
RUN: Pay 3 FEED to gain 3 points.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Ticket Stamp · copy 2
BUILD COST: 2 FEED.
RUN: Pay 3 FEED to gain 3 points.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Twin Press · copy 1
BUILD COST: 1 PART.
RUN: Pay 3 FEED to gain 2 PARTS.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Twin Press · copy 2
BUILD COST: 1 PART.
RUN: Pay 3 FEED to gain 2 PARTS.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Polishing Wheel · copy 1
BUILD COST: 1 PART.
RUN: Pay 1 PART to gain 4 points.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Polishing Wheel · copy 2
BUILD COST: 1 PART.
RUN: Pay 1 PART to gain 4 points.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Packing Line · copy 1
BUILD COST: 2 PARTS.
RUN: Pay 2 PARTS to gain 9 points.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Packing Line · copy 2
BUILD COST: 2 PARTS.
RUN: Pay 2 PARTS to gain 9 points.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Return Chute · copy 1
BUILD COST: 1 PART.
RUN: Pay 1 PART to gain 3 FEED and 1 point.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Return Chute · copy 2
BUILD COST: 1 PART.
RUN: Pay 1 PART to gain 3 FEED and 1 point.
Run at most once per production turn, in slot order. Paying BUILD COST does not run this machine.
Starter Feeder · print one per player
STARTER ONLY: begins in slot 1; cannot be replaced or bought.
RUN: Gain 2 FEED, then discard down to the six-FEED cap.
Foundry mat · print one per player
Player: __________
Slot 1: STARTER FEEDER Slot 2: __________ Slot 3: __________ Slot 4: __________
Resolve from slot 1 to slot 4. Leave enough table space below each label for a machine card.
FEED: 3 → __________________ (cap 6). PARTS: 0 → __________________ (cap 4). POINTS: 0 → __________________
Turn: BUILD one market card, or RUN your entire row. No free run after building.
Foundry lap record
Cross off only after everyone has taken one turn.
Laps 1–6: 1 □ 2 □ 3 □ 4 □ 5 □ 6 □
Laps 7–12: 7 □ 8 □ 9 □ 10 □ 11 □ 12 □
Move the starting-player marker clockwise after every lap. Stop after lap twelve; no free final actions.
Starting-player marker
Place in front of the first player of this lap. Move one seat clockwise after everyone has acted.
Round & Revel. First edition, October 2026. Uses only the listed printable materials and ordinary supplies.