How to Play Obsession: Activities, Guests, Servants & Reputation
Obsession is a Victorian estate-management game where your family hosts social activities, invites guests, deploys servants and renovates the estate while competing for reputation and courtship.
Scope: current second-edition base rules family; expansion modules are excluded.
Choose a valid estate activity
Select an Improvement tile you can host. Your family Reputation must meet its prestige requirement, and you need the required guests and servants available.
Invite eligible guests
Choose guests from your active hand whose prestige does not exceed your Reputation and whose service requirements can be met by available servants.
Assign servants
Place the required butlers, valets, lady’s maids, footmen, housekeepers or other eligible servants into service for the activity and guests. Those servants become unavailable until they recover through the normal service cycle.
Resolve favors and activity effects
Gain money, Reputation, new guests, servant benefits or other rewards from the hosted Improvement and attending guests. Then move guests into the appropriate discard/active cycle.
Buy estate Improvements
Use money to purchase available Improvement tiles from the Builders’ Market or reserves where permitted. New rooms and estate features create stronger activities, more VP and Courtship-category strength.
Courtship rounds interrupt normal hosting
At the end of each season, compare the relevant Improvement category for the current Theme. Winning Courtship can award VP benefits and access to a Fairchild guest for the next season. The final Courtship considers the cumulative revealed themes under the standard rules.
Final scoring
At game end, score Improvements, Gentry, Objectives, Reputation, servants, wealth and end-game/VP-card effects. Highest total wins.
Publisher reference: Kayenta Games rules compendium. Checked September 21, 2026.