Obsession with this (and the Wessex expansion) makes the game playable from 1-6 players of ages 13+ and will play in approximately 30-90 mins. Round 11 (Extended Game: 13) is the Builder's Holiday: players may buy any number of Improvement tiles during this round.

Obsession The Board Game. To be honest, the name is pretty appealing if you ask me – it’s a game I see myself being obsessed with personally. Maybe that’s what they was aiming for?

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Rounds 4, 8, 12 and 16 (Extended Game: 5, 10, 15 and 20)are Courtship rounds. No regular turns are taken: instead, whoever has the highest score for that courtship's current Theme colour (shown by the most recent upturned card at the top of the board) may take either the Charles or Elizabeth Fairchild card into their hand, and draw a Victory Point Card. The final Courtship round is scored on the total for all four Theme colours, rather than just the fourth. (If a colour appears multiple times, it is counted multiple times.) This is the Upstairs, Downstairs expansion for Obsession the board game. This expansion brings a slew of new content to be inserted into the base game to enhance the game experience and offer you plenty of new content to play with. NEW IN THE 2nd PRINTING: Unique to the second printing (indicated by 2E topped by a crown in the upper right-hand corner of the box) are two new hybrid improvement tiles: The South Lawn and Green Room. Hybrid tiles refer to a room or outdoor space that is multi-purpose; as a result, the tile category changes with the activity, a power that greatly impacts courtship!

THE BUILDERS' MARKET RESERVE: New management of the Builders' Market prevents it from stagnating and increases access to service tiles. The Upstairs, Downstairs expansion brings with it four brand new servants for you: Hall Boy, Cook, Head Housemaid and Useful Man. The cook allows you to invite guests 1 or 2 levels above the reputation score. The Hall Boy gives the butler an outstanding service option. The Head Housemaid has impeccable reputation and helps assure that only the most prominent people get acquainted with the family. The Useful Man is for those well versed in Obsession and is, as the name would suggest, very useful and has some versatility in his play options giving him ways to mitigate Victorian Fate. Each turn, players choose a building tile representing a room or outdoor space in and around their 19th century British country house. The tile chosen dictates the event that can be hosted and the guests to be invited. Players must carefully plan, however, to have the proper staff available to service the event and support guests as needed. The reward for success is new investment opportunities, permitting further renovation of the estate (acquisition of more valuable/powerful building tiles), an increase in reputation in the county, an expanding circle of influential acquaintances, and a larger and highly-trained domestic staff. Of course, being of landed gentry, the very idea that you’d deign to let them ride without sending a servant to escort them is unthinkable. That means you’ve got to move one of your wooden servants from the Available Service box on your board to the tile, but only if you’ve got the correct type available. There’s no use in trying to send a Lady’s Maid off to the stables, they need a Footman. Round 14 (Extended Game: 11) is a National Holiday: player Reptutation does not limit actions this round. Players may host any event and invite any guest, irrespective of their Reputation.The families within the game are very well balanced in regards to their starting bonuses and there is a whole wealth of different guests that you can come across while playing the game. There is a real energy when it comes to balancing the various factors that better your fortune and the four courtship events that occur during the game will inevitably have you racing to secure new buildings and areas within your estate to attract one of the Fairchilds. Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation.” – Jane Austen, Emma There are plenty of games set in 19th Century England, and some are fantastic. Brass: Birmingham is a great example. All too often these games are very industrial in nature. They’re about the businesses, the resources of the time, and the Industrial Revolution. Few games take on the people of the time, and it’s a gap that Obsession gratefully squeezes itself into.