The second shift is a promise.

The shared result

Good work must leave room for every promise.

Across eight rounds, succeed on at least six work cards, complete all four public stewardship goals, and give every seat at least three productive rounds. Pull and Care are productive; actions still count toward personal tallies when a work card fails.

Players coordinate four fictional attendants. They do not play divine figures, decide sacred acts or compete for nectar. The game asks whether a demanding work schedule can respect everyone’s recovery and commitments.

Set the two ends

1. Seat four players clockwise as L1, L2, R1 and R2. L1/L2 are at home on LEFT; R1/R2 on RIGHT. Give each their matching mat, energy 6 and five reusable action tiles.
2. For teaching, deal G01 to L1, G02 to L2, G03 to R1 and G04 to R2. Goals stay public. A seat’s home end and assigned goal remain fixed.
3. Put two provision counters in Available and two in Supply. Begin at round 1 and zero successes. Keep the pair planner and round log visible.
4. Keep W01–W08 in teaching order with future faces covered. Reveal only W01 and W02. Experienced groups may shuffle work and separately shuffle the goals.

All energy, provisions, goals, tallies and revealed work are public. Future work faces stay concealed until their pair begins. Each player owns their own choices.

Choose your work

Each seat takes one action per round. Reusable action tiles can appear in both columns of a plan. Energy belongs to its seat and cannot be transferred.

Agree to two shifts, then resolve one

1. At odd rounds 1, 3, 5 and 7: reveal the next two work cards. Write one action per seat in both CURRENT and NEXT columns, including any Relief or boost.
2. Forecast the whole pair: resolve the first column’s costs and gains in your forecast before checking whether the second is affordable.
3. Ask every seat: each person explicitly consents to their own two entries. All four must agree to a legal pair and check the shared provision budget.
4. Lock, then work: resolve the first column. The second is now binding. On its even round, resolve it or consider one unanimous amendment costing 1 extra provision.

The facilitator rotates L1 → L2 → R1 → R2 and repeats. Facilitation does not confer control over anyone else’s action. “I can Pull3 now if you cover my end next shift” is the sort of concrete promise the game asks you to discuss.

Enough strength, a close rhythm

Every work card prints a minimum q for each end. Both LEFT and RIGHT must meet it, their difference must be no more than 1, and any printed Care requirement must be met. For q2, LEFT 3 / RIGHT 2 succeeds. LEFT 4 / RIGHT 2 fails the rhythm test. More Pull is not always better.

Check legality first, pay all costs, then test work. Only afterwards do resting seats recover and Care produce provisions. Failed work still pays costs and receives recovery and Care gains.

Four voices, four public goals

Every seat also needs three productive rounds. These are invented planning preferences, not measures of devotion, holiness or karma.

When agreement becomes difficult

A locked second shift permits at most one complete amendment proposal. It needs unanimous consent and one extra provision plus its action costs. If it is rejected, unaffordable or withdrawn, the original schedule stands.

For a new, unlocked plan, make at most two proposal passes. Two failed passes produce Stand-down: all four Rest, recover 3 up to 8, and lose that work card’s success. No boost, Care or provision spending occurs. An illegal draft is a correction, not a failed proposal pass. After an odd-round Stand-down, keep the next revealed card. On the following even round, negotiate that single shift with the same two-pass procedure and no amendment fee.

After round 8, finish all tallies before checking the shared result. If the group misses six work successes, any goal or any seat’s three productive rounds, the plan needs revision. Read the same fixed closing narrative either way.

The story & the game

One telling, carefully situated

This adaptation selects the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9, in the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust English translation and commentary associated with A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This is a situated Gaudiya Vaishnava / ISKCON witness among Hindu tellings.

The four attendants, portraits, energy economy, Care logistics, two-shift schedules and stewardship goals are original inventions. Kurma’s support, Shiva and Bhavani, and the Mohini/nectar/Rahu outcome remain fixed narration. Care does not replace Shiva or absorb poison; sacred beings and nectar are never bargaining rewards.

This publisher field guide introduces the current prototype; it is not the complete rulebook or a public game download. Sources were checked against committed Game Night Labs rules on 29 October 2026. Human play, balance, accessibility, cultural review and physical handling remain separate development work.