HOW TO PLAY LIKE A PRO
Hot Tips for Nightshift
While the game is deliberately designed so that non-gamers can learn it easily, this post covers some more advanced ideas to help you out-earn your friends!
HOT TIP #1
Choose your Drinks wisely
Drinks are useful for mitigating bad luck and getting the most out of your Customers, but because the club serves responsibly, you can only hold 3 Drinks at any one time.
Both Drink types work in different situations: Shots help you get Customers into one of the rooms, whereas Champagne helps once you’re in there.
Your drink selection should align with your near-term objectives. The examples below show how careful Drink selection can be used to advance your agenda.
Extend your Drink capacity beyond 3 with the use of Power Cards
Only 3 Drinks can be held at any one time, but playing Power Cards while you're in a room can effectively allow you to exceed this.
While cards like Champagne Showers and Cheers! usually also benefit other Players, you can avoid this by playing the card when their hands are full.
Stock up on Shots before Stealing
Amethyst is seeking revenge on Sapphire, so she buys 3 Shots before approaching Gerald to maximise her chance of Stealing his commitment.
Each Shot can be played after her roll to add +1 to it. Gerald's Loyalty is only 5 so this makes the Steal attempt almost certain.
Maximise Champagne when a Commitment is certain
Egbert is ideal for Emerald (given his Dancer Preference) and his Outcomes guarantee a commitment from any any dice roll.
Emerald buys 3 Champagne to maximise her potential payoff once in the room because she doesn't need any assitance committing him.
HOT TIP #2
Don't let Energy go to waste
Your position in the club impacts your ability to access The Bar, the Customers you can get to, and which Players are within reach for a Steal. Think about how you might be able to utilise all of your Energy to gain an advantage, some simple examples below:
Check if there's a better option
Ruby would love to commit Zack & Roger and only needs 1 of her 4 Energy to get to them. She uses her extra Energy check whether the Customer next to them is better and grab a Champagne before coming back. Note that flipping this Customer will reveal them for others too. This means other Players won’t have to invest Energy to flip the Customer over.
Distract Tippers from your opponents
Emerald’s dancer ability gives her +1 Energy, so she has 5 Energy. Marvin is an excellent Customer for her due to his Dancer Preference, but she intentionally distracts two tipping customers on the way.
This will reduce the Stage Tips received for Ruby, Amethyst and Topaz by $1,000 (Tippers give $500 each) at the start of next Round.
Think carefully about skipping Stage
Beyond the tips and Power Cards, going on Stage resets your position within the club and allows you to walk to any Space. This is a great time to head to The Bar and restock your drinks.
It may be tempting to stay with a valuable Customer, but the Power Cards alone usually make the Stage worth it.
HOT TIP #3
Pay attention to the time
There are several points in the night to plan around, the most obvious of these is the Stage Roster. You generally want to avoid committing a Customer the round before your Stage, because you'll either have to abandon them to go on Stage, or pay the club a fine to skip it and stay with your Customer.
Make them wait!
Topaz is rostered on Stage next round, so if she commits to Herbert now, he will either be discarded or she will miss the Stage benefits.
A smart alternative is often to end your turn instead of rolling. Herbert will still be there after your Stage, unless another Dancer interferes...
Planning for Event Rounds
Another moment that you can prepare for are the Event Rounds and several of these result in free Drinks for the Dancers.
It's often a good idea to make sure that your hand isn't full immediately prior to an Event Round so that you receive this advantage.
Make the most of Lights On
It's worth remembering that when Players Commit a Customer on the Final turn, they get an extra turn to finish in the room.
If you don’t have a Committed Customer when the Lights On turn starts, it’s often worth spending this turn to stock up on Drinks, secure cash tips, and reposition yourself to commit a Customer on the Final turn to get the advantage of an additional turn.
HOT TIP #4
See the good in all Customers
There are several points in the night where a commitment may be unhelpful (e.g. before stage, or during lights on). This is a great opportunity to seek out Customers with other powerful outcomes.
Check the Loyalty of your Subscribers
While a Customer’s Wealth is enticing initially, Loyalty and Outcomes can be situationally more important. Subscriber Income can significantly change your end of game earnings.
Due to their preference, the Tax Agents can add between $2k and $13k to Emerald's end of game bonus depending on how much Loyalty she already has. Consider this when deciding how far to push your luck.
Using Power Cards to improve a Customers Value
There are several Power Cards that can completely change a Customer’s value to you. Love Potion and Sweet Talker allow you to commit or collect valuable Customers that wouldn’t ordinarily go to a room, while Rags to Riches can make certain 1-Star customers extremely valuable.
Not all 3-Star Customers are worth your time
Some Customers are very challenging to commit in the absence of Power Cards or Shots (which reduce the Drink slots for Champagne).
You may be better off investing in a less wealthy Customer that's easy to commit, and they're also less likely to attract Steal attempts.
HOT TIP #5
Be aware of your surroundings
There’s plenty of information that can give you an edge. Tracking who is winning can be difficult sometimes because Players have no obligation to show each other their cash pile, collected Customers or Power Cards (but you do have to show Drinks).
Card count in the Private Room
After each Private Room turn, the cards that were drawn are placed into a discard pile and cannot be drawn until the deck is refreshed.
While keeping track of everything that has been discarded is very challenging for most people, it’s pretty easy to observe when a card showing two of the same move is discarded as there is only one of these for each colour. This can allow you to safely push further than other players.
Watch out for Dad
The back of each Customer card shows their group size (1, 2 or 3 people) and whether they tip (bank note symbol). While there’s no reliable advantage to targeting tippers or a particular group size, as you become more familiar you'll start to see patterns.
One example is that Customers with a preference for Ruby all tip while those with a preference for Sapphire don’t, another is that the “Dad” card is a 1-person tipper so avoiding those could allow you to play it safe.
Steal Champagne when they need it the most
Champagne tokens are critical for smoothing things over in the VIP and Private Room, and these tokens are visible to all players...
Keep track of when other players have gotten too greedy, run out of Champagne and have no safety net to unleash these Power Cards with maximum effect.
HOT TIP #6
Get creative with your Power Cards
There’s no limit on how many Power Cards you can play in a turn, leading to virtually endless combinations. How you use these will have a big impact on whether your game is cutthroat or collaborative.
Cards like Resurrection can create very potent effects by allowing you to play another card twice. Here are some fun power card combinations that we’ve seen used:
Create an obstruction
Use Rearrangement on the Lights On round to place the Dad card in a way that obstructs other Players (as he cannot be skipped!)
Guaranteed cash bonus
Use Hey Big Spender alongside a card that forces a commitment (eg Love Potion / Hustler / Hypnosis) to guarantee your tip reward.
Collect any discarded Customer
Return a valuable customer from the discard pile with The Regular and then immediately collect them to your hand with Sweet Talker.