Extraordinary Shift
An Extraordinary Shift lets the CEO ignore the seating rotation and personally appoint the next CEO: anyone still alive. It hands one player the keys to the next government, which is exactly why both teams covet it. This is Service Rat's version of the Secret Hitler power called Special Election.
What it does
When the directive fires, the current CEO chooses any living player to be the next CEO. That player runs the following Shift: they nominate a Chief Engineer, the table votes, and a government is formed as usual. After that single special Shift, normal rotation resumes from where it would have gone. The chair returns to the player who was next in line before the interruption.
When it unlocks
Extraordinary Shift is a larger-table directive. It fires at the 3rd Sabotage blueprint in 7–10 player games. It does not exist at 5–6 players, where the third-Sabotage slot belongs to Blueprint Preview instead.
Interaction with term limits
The Extraordinary Shift only changes who becomes CEO. It does not bend the term-limit rule (the "Staff quarantine"). The hand-picked CEO still can't nominate the previous Chief Engineer — and, while more than five players are alive, the previous CEO either. (Once five or fewer players remain, only the previous Chief Engineer stays locked out.) So if you appoint someone hoping they'll re-nominate a specific trusted player, check first whether that player is currently in quarantine. The full quarantine wording is in the How to Play guide.
Strategy
As a Worker CEO
Use it to put a Worker you trust into power at a critical moment — someone who'll draw blueprints honestly and nominate a clean Chief Engineer. It's also a way to break a logjam: if the rotation was about to hand the chair to a player half the table suspects, you can skip them entirely. Just remember everyone watches who you pick, and putting a future traitor in the chair will be held against you.
As a Saboteur or Rat CEO
This is a power grab. Appoint a teammate to engineer a friendly government, or, late game, hand the chair to a Saboteur who can nominate the Rat as Chief Engineer once 3+ Sabotage are on the board, which is an instant win. Even appointing the Rat as CEO can be cover: it lets them quarterback a Shift while looking like a neutral pick. The risk is transparency; gift the chair to an obvious ally and the Workers learn your alignment for free.
Extraordinary Shift is the only directive that creates a double-shift. A Saboteur who lands it at the right moment can chain two friendly governments back to back, which is often enough to tip a close game.
Where it fits in the bigger picture
Extraordinary Shift is one of five CEO directives — see the full set and unlock grid on the directives hub. Since it only appears at 7–10 players, it's most relevant to the larger player counts.
The app handles the off-schedule shift and snaps rotation back afterward. Free on Android and iOS, no account.