Get the Goods is 90% of a great game and lots of gamers have tried to come up with that last 10%. Here is my contribution, developed over time and coddled together from suggestions made by many others. This is the version that I think really lets the game shine.

Begin by removing the 2x and Wild cards as well as the $ cards. Shuffle the remaining 90 cards and deal 4 to each player. Also give each player a 2x card. This card is placed face up in front of the player. The players own these cards, but they are not yet part of their hands.

Shuffle the $, Wild, and any remaining 2x cards back into the deck. Deal the first three cards face up, as with the standard game.

During the first round, players may get less than their usual three actions to compensate for the advantage of going earlier in the turn order. In a three player game, the first player only gets 1 action and the second player 2 actions. In a four player game, the first player gets 1 action and the second and third players each get 2 actions. In a five player game, the first and second player each get 1 action and the third player gets 2 actions. All other players get 3 actions and all players after the first round get their normal 3 actions.

As with the “official” variant, it costs 2 actions to pick up a Wild or 2x card from the display. It also costs 2 actions to pick up the 2x card that begins the game in front of you and place it in your hand. Moreover, it costs 2 actions to play a 2x card from your hand. The cost to play a Wild card is the usual 1 action.

The rest of the game uses the standard Get the Goods rules.

There are two additional optional rules which can be used. With 3 or 4 players, you can choose to discard the remaining 2x cards rather than shuffle them back into the deck. This means that each player will have exactly one 2x card, which may reduce some luck. But with the variant rules, it’s not at all clear that having a second 2x card is beneficial. After all, it takes 8 actions and a minimum of 4 turns to pick up and play both 2x cards.

Finally, the reduced actions in the first round do not totally equalize the different playing positions in the 4 and 5 player games. So if you wish, you can use the playing position to break any ties in the final scoring. In a 4 player game, the third and fourth players should win ties over the first and second players. (Ties between first and second players or third and fourth players result in joint winners.) In a 5 player game, the player in the second position wins all ties, followed by the fifth player, the third player, the first player, and the fourth player. (This is based on an analysis which shows that the actual advantage per position in a 4 player game is 3/4 of an action and in a 5 player game is 3/5 of an action. The advantage in a 3 player game is exactly 1 action per playing position, so the variant properly handicaps the players and ties simply result in joint winners.)