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Day 1: Head of Household
The game begins with all 16 players competing for the first Head of Household.
Players have the full game day to compete. The winner is not revealed until the day ends, when the first HoH is officially crowned.
16 players · 12-hour days · secret Veto · ranked vote
Palais is a 16-player social strategy game with hidden competition results, private power decisions, ranked eviction ballots, and a scored Final 4.
How Palais Works
Palais is a 16-player social strategy game that runs across fast 12-hour game days. Players compete for power, nominate each other, use a secret Veto, cast ranked eviction ballots, and fight to build a strong enough game to reach the Final 4.
Outside of competitions and required decisions, players can use their time to socialize, build alliances, make deals, campaign for safety, and prepare for the next round.
The Game Cycle
Palais begins with an opening Head of Household competition. After that, the game moves through a repeating cycle of Power Days and Voting Days until five players remain.
Power Day
The current HoH privately nominates three players for eviction.
At the same time, every active player competes in the Power of Veto competition.
The nominations remain hidden until the day ends, and the Veto winner is never publicly announced. Only the player who won Veto is told that they hold the power.
Voting Day
Voting Day brings several parts of the game together.
Players submit their eviction ballots, the secret Veto holder chooses which nominee to save, and the next Head of Household competition takes place.
When the day ends, the Veto is applied, the eviction vote is resolved, one player leaves the game, and the next HoH is determined.
The game then moves into another Power Day.
The Secret Veto
Every active player competes for the Power of Veto, but only the winner knows who holds it.
During Voting Day, the Veto holder must secretly save one of the three nominees.
There is no replacement nominee. Once Veto is used, the three nominees become a final block of two players who can be evicted.
The identity of the Veto holder remains secret.
Ranked Eviction Voting
Because players do not know which nominee will be saved by the Veto, eviction ballots rank all three nominees.
Rank them from the player you most want to evict to the player you least want to evict.
For example, if your ballot ranks Player A first, Player B second, and Player C third, the Veto result decides which of those ranked choices becomes your actual eviction vote.
After voting closes, the Veto is applied first.
If Player A was saved, your vote moves to Player B. If Player B was saved instead, your vote remains on Player A.
Your ballot always becomes a vote against your highest-ranked nominee who is still eligible for eviction.
The nominee with the most eviction votes is eliminated.
Who Can Vote?
Who ballots?
All active players can submit a ranked ballot, including the HoH and all three nominees.
Whose vote counts?
Once the Veto is applied, the two nominees who remain on the block do not have their ballots counted.
Saved nominee
The nominee who was saved by Veto is safe and their ballot still counts normally.
Tie break
The HoH's ballot does not count toward the normal vote total. If the eviction vote ends in a tie, the HoH's ranking determines which nominee is evicted.
Head of Household
A new Head of Household competition takes place during each normal Voting Day.
Because the competition happens before the eviction is resolved, a nominee who is later evicted may have performed well enough to win.
An evicted player cannot become the next HoH. If the top finisher leaves during the same Voting Day, power passes to the highest-placing eligible player who remains in the game.
The Social Game
Palais gives players plenty of time between required decisions to work on their position in the game.
Final Five and Final Four
The Final Five
When five players remain, Palais plays one final round using the normal nomination, Veto, and voting rules.
The HoH nominates three of the other four players, all five compete for Veto, and the following Voting Day determines 5th place.
There is no new HoH competition after this eviction.
Once 5th place is decided, the remaining four players advance to the finale.
The Final Four
The Final 4 are ranked based on the games they played throughout the season.
Final placement considers your activity, performance across Head of Household competitions, performance across Veto competitions, and how often you were nominated when you were eligible to go on the block. A small random element is also included.
Competition performance is based on your placements throughout the game, so consistently performing well matters even if you do not win every competition.
Activity and nomination history also matter, rewarding players who stayed involved and managed to avoid the block.
Once the Final 4 is reached, those factors are used to determine 1st through 4th place and crown the winner of Palais.
Placement Rewards
Final placement is recorded when Palais ends. Fame raises your standing, and F$ is spendable around Socipic.
