About the game

In Polite Society, players compete to collect guests to complete their ultimate dinner party table, bringing all your favourite Jane Austen characters to life.

From Elizabeth Bennet to Emma Woodhouse, every Janeite can now welcome their much-loved heroines, heroes, unwanted suiters and overbearing relatives to their dining table using societal assets - wit, wealth, heart and beauty. 

The better the seat at the table, the more likely the character will generate assets each turn. The first player to complete their dining table wins. Each of the cards has a unique quote from one of Jane Austen’s full-length novels - Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility - or from Jane's personal letters. Polite Society is a board game for lovers of literature and simply lovers of games.

While Janeites definitely will get a kick out of having Darcy sit at their dining table, anyone can play Polite Society. No knowledge of Austen or her works is required to play (or win). It's a fun game for all!

Contents

This is an digital file that you download, print and play. Upon purchase, you’ll be given an instructions file with a link on how to download the game. For a copy of the physical game professionally manufactured and sent to you, see here.

Each copy of Polite Society includes:

• 60 unique character cards

• 96 asset cards

• 50 action cards

• 10 social mission cards

• 4 dining table game boards

• 8 indisposed tokens

• Instructions

Reviews

GeekDad have reviewed Polite Society! Check it out here. 

"Polite Society is an excellent tabletop game for anyone to play. Fans of Jane Austen will find joy in the many quotes and references, and folks who’ve never heard of Jane Austen before will still enjoy the game greatly. Quick, fun, easy to learn [...] it’s a win, all the way around." - Rory Bristol, GeekDad

How to Play

The aim of the game of Polite Society is to be the first player to complete your dining table board with eight guests cards. 

There are four different types of asset cards: wit, wealth, heart and beauty. Think of these as different social currency. Guest cards cost a certain combination of asset cards to purchase and place at your table. Once at your table, guests can also generate asset cards that you collect from the 'asset bank'. 

Each player begins the game with 2 guests cards, which are placed at two of the 'seats' of their choice at their table. Each 'seat' corresponds to a number (i.e. [2 or 3], 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, [11 or 12]). 

At the beginning of each player's turn, they roll the dice. If the number rolled correlates to a seat number where a guest is placed, the asset reward of that guest is added to that player's hand. 

In each player's turn, they:

• Roll the dice. All players collect any asset rewards (if they have a guest card placed at the seat with the number rolled at their respective tables). [If a 7 is rolled, all players collect table improvements gained by action cards (if any).

• Draw up two action cards: they must discard one of their choice and play the other.

• Purchase up to four guests from the available invite list (which is replenished from the guest card pile at the end of each player's turn). They must then place them to free seat(s) of their choice at their dining table.

• [Optional] Trade any number of asset cards with any willing player(s).

The game ends when the first player complete's their dining table with 8 guests.  

There are also optional social mission cards. These are optional cards to add strategy and complexity to the game – each player receives a card with specifications on which guests need to be on their table in order to win, for example only female guests, or only guests from certain novels.