Theming: What’s the point?
Lead an IT company: turn coffee and other resources into code while managing employee burnout.
Edition warning
Office Lockdown is presented as a stand-alone expansion to IT Startup: The Card Game. It can also be combined with earlier products, but this page covers neither combination rules nor final-edition card text.
Setting up: How to get started?
The game is a stand-alone expansion for 1-6 players. Follow the available PDF for the shared deck, cards, resource tokens, and burnout cubes, but note that it is explicitly a work-in-progress prototype rather than a verified final-edition rulebook.
Prototype setup only
Use the prototype document only if everyone agrees to play that prototype. For a printed copy, use the printed rulebook’s component counts and setup diagrams instead.
Modes
The publisher describes standard shared-deck play and additional solo, tournament, custom-deck, and 2-vs-2 modes. Their setup and exceptions are edition-specific.
Rounds and Phases
Use the prototype PDF for the turn sequence and card effects. Do not assume that prototype wording, balance, or modes exactly match the final printed edition.
Guest-facing teach
Explain the resource-to-code theme and burnout pressure first. Then read the active version’s turn sequence from its rules before play, including when cards enter play and when burnout is checked.
Card precedence
If prototype text and printed card text differ, the printed card and final rulebook should control the printed game.
Scoring
Use the prototype PDF or the final printed rulebook for the applicable mode’s victory condition. This page does not treat prototype values as final.
Do not mix modes
Do not combine a standard-mode end condition with a tournament, solo, or team-mode setup unless the final rules explicitly say to do so.
Terminology
Resources: items used to develop the company. Burnout cubes: markers tracking burnout. Shared deck: the standard game’s common card supply.
Stand-alone expansion
This means the product can be played without owning the older base game; it does not mean that all prior-product rules automatically apply.
Official rules
IT Startup prototype rulebook PDF is publisher-hosted but explicitly a prototype. See also the official IT Startup site and creator campaign.
Limitation
No verified final public rulebook was located. This page deliberately avoids repeating prototype card effects, numerical thresholds, or detailed mode rules as if they were final.