At the start of the first round, choose a player to represent the monarch. This role then rotates amongst the players in a clockwise fashion.
The monarch then envisions a physical object and records it on a piece of paper. It is then the task of the scholars to collectively deduce the nature of the object while at the same time being the first among their peers to arrive at the conclusion.
To this end, each scholar will be granted a private audience with the monarch in turn, starting with the scholar to the left of the monarch and proceeding in a clockwise fashion. Before the beneficiary departs with the monarch though, they must pose a question (any question) to their peers. The discussion the question causes determines how long their audience with the monarch may last. During this audience they can ask the monarch up to five questions about the object. The monarch’s role is to be as vague as possible while actually answering the question without lying or deflecting the question.
Simultaneous to the audience, the other scholars discuss the question they were posed. If they reach an unanimous consensus while the audience is still in session, they may yell “CONSENSUS” at which point the audience ends.
Once all the scholars have been thus debriefed by the monarch, they shall debate what their conjecture of the object is. It is up to each scholar to decide whether they will collaborate, withhold or deceive.
At any point during this discussion a scholar can make one of two proclamations: “the object can be nothing but X (X being their conjecture)” or “the monarch is an imbecile!” If the first proclamation is made and the monarch confirms the conjecture is accurate, that scholar receives 3 prestige while the other scholars who haven’t yet made a conjecture receive 1. If on the other hand it is incorrect, the scholar may no longer participate in the discussion and receives no prestige if another scholar guesses correct later.
However, if the second proclamation is made, a vote is taken. If all scholars unanimously agree then the monarch is overthrown and loses prestige equal to twice the number of scholars and the round ends. If the other scholars don’t unanimously agree however, the scholar loses prestige equal to how many of them disagree and is also not permitted to participate in the discussion (negatives scores are possible).
The discussion is permitted to take as long as the scholars desire it to. If at least half the scholars find that the subject tiresome, it is suggested that the remaining scholars make their final conjectures and end the round. At this time, any who are right get 2 prestige while the rest get 1. If none are right, the monarch instead gets points equal to the number of scholars that have been successfully baffled.
The game ends either when the majority of players feel like ending it or all monarchs have been overthrown. The player with the most prestige (even if negative) is declared victor and the preeminent scholar.