Description

DRG - Das Spiel - Ausgabe Innere Medizin 2005 (DRG - The Game - 2005 Internal Medicine Edition) by Jurgen Junghandel is a bluffing card game about the new accounting methods used in German hospitals (DRG stands for Die Riesige Gemeinheit, or The Huge Injustice). The game was released last year in a Neurology edition, but was completely reworked for this year. What’s it all about?

The game casts players as doctors doing their bookkeeping. They have to make sure that the numbers work out as much in their favour as possible – they can leave the cases that will incur huge costs to their colleagues. Cases are laid out – a primary diagnosis and a face-down ‘waiting’ card which eventually becomes a secondary diagnosis. Depending on the difficulty level of the secondary diagnoses, a table defines the value that the primary diagnosis will have in this case. This value can be changed by other players by playing out ‘on call’ cards. The next player tries to capture the trick by playing out a case with a higher value. When scoring, the ‘waiting’ card for each case is turned over separately and the value adjusted for a long or short waiting time. The costs are tabulated and the gains recorded. Over the course of the game, ‘after months’ cards can also be played that can ruin the best cases.