The Great Dalmuti is a shedding-type card game published by Wizards of the Coast in February 1995.<!-- this was a pilot magazine now considered 'issue 0'; it did not have a date, volume, or issue number; the front cover is marked 'display until April 1995' -->
Description
The Great Dalmuti, a card game for 4–8 players, is a commercial variant of the card game of President and the Japanese game Daifugō. The object of the game is to become the Greater Dalmuti and remain in that office for as long as possible by being the first person to get rid of all the cards in their hand.
Components
The game is sold in a box containing two 40-card decks
Card names and ranks
Each card in Dalmuti has a medieval name. Each rank is represented by an equal number of cards to its rank, except for the two Jesters.
{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor="#efef"
! Card !! Rank
|-
|align=center|Jester || 13 (wild)
|-
|align=center|Peasant || 12
|-
|align=center|Stonecutter || 11
|-
|align=center|Shepherdess || 10
|-
|align=center|Cook || 9
|-
|align=center|Mason || 8
|-
|align=center|Seamstress || 7
|-
|align=center|Knight || 6
|-
|align=center|Abbess || 5
|-
|align=center|Baroness || 4
|-
|align=center|Earl Marshal || 3
|-
|align=center|Archbishop || 2
|-
|align=center|Dalmuti || 1
|-
|}
Setup
Each player draws a card and reveals its rank. (For purposes of the draw, the Jester counts as the highest card.) The players then seat themselves around the table in clockwise order from lowest card to highest. The person who drew the lowest card is the Greater Dalmuti, the player to the left of the Greater Dalmuti is the Lesser Dalmuti, the player to the right of the Greater Dalmuti (the player who drew the highest card) is the Greater Peon, and the person to the right of the Greater Peon is the Lesser Peon. All other players are Merchants. After ceasing production of the game, WotC re-released it in 2005.
Reception
In the May 1995 edition of Dragon (Issue 217), Lester W. Smith said "the game is fun," but cautioned that this was not one of designer Richard Garfield's best games, saying, "People who purchase this game expecting another Garfield masterpiece are likely to be disappointed, especially if they’ve played a version of it before with regular playing cards. But the art is good; the package is nice; the rules are well written; and play is enjoyable."
On the German website GoodGameGuide, the reviewer noted the Jesters and the possibility of revolution was a major improvement to the game's generic card game predecessor. The reviewer concluded by giving the game an average 6 out of 10 rating, saying,. "A nice card game for in-between times with several people."
Reviews
- Family Games: The 100 Best
Awards
- Mensa awarded The Great Dalmuti "Best New Mind Game of 1995"
- The Great Dalmuti was included in Games Magazines "Top 100 Games of 1996".
- In 2004, The Great Dalmuti was nominated for the Nederlandse Spellenprijs
Corporate Shuffle
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|alt=Corporate Shuffle|Corporate Shuffle Box -->Dilbert's Corporate Shuffle is a Dalmuti spinoff based on the comic strip Dilbert., using the same game mechanics but set in Dilbert's cubicle hell. It was released in May 1997 and sold in 60-card fixed decks as a dedicated deck card game for four to six players.
The Dalmuti and Peon ranks are replaced by the Big Boss, Little Boss, Senior Intern, and Junior Intern. Taxation is called Executive Bonuses, and Revolution is called Corporate Takeover. The two jesters are called Dogbert, and several special cards are added to the deck:
- Twirling Wedgie, a card with value 6 which also allows the player to choose another player who may not play any further cards in that trick.
- Ratbert, a single card with value 11 (worse than any other card) with the special rule that any player who wins a trick containing Ratbert must take it into their hand, unless no other cards were played in the hand or the trick winner played his last card in the round. Thus, this allows players a "free" chance to throw away a useless single, with the tradeoff that they'll have to offer the same chance to other players later in the hand.
- Dogbert, World Ruler, a single card with value 0 (better than any other card). The Dogbert, World Ruler card can only be played during tricks of single cards and immediately wins that trick.
When executive bonuses are granted to the bosses, wilds are given first, then the numerical cards in order from smallest to largest.
{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor="#efef"
! Card !! Rank
|-
|align=center|Ratbert || 11
|-
|align=center|Engineer || 10
|-
|align=center|Marketing || 9
|-
|align=center|Sales || 8
|-
|align=center|Managers || 7
|-
|align=center|Accounting || 6
|-
|align=center|Twirling Wedgie || 6
|-
|align=center|Human Resources || 5
|-
|align=center|Lawyers || 4
|-
|align=center|Consultants || 3
|-
|align=center|Vice Presidents || 2
|-
|align=center|CEO || 1
|-
|align=center|Dogbert, World Ruler || 0
|-
|align=center|Dogbert || W!
|}