One player is the monster, others may be hunters. How can you tell who is who? As the cards keep getting exchanged , the identity of the monster remains vague.
In one turn you can be a hunter trying to capture the monster and in the next moment you might become the monster escaping the hunters
Components
- 38 cards
- 40 tokens
- rule book
Setup
Shuffle the 5 Monster cards and set them aside facedown as the Monster deck. Place the Victory Point (VP) tokens next to the Monster deck. Make a general deck with the remaining cards.
Round Setup
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Take the following cards from the general deck to make the starting deck: 1 Hunter, 1 Hide, 1 Wanted
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Shuffle the general deck and take a number of cards according to player count as indicated below and add them to the starting deck:
Nunber of Players 3 4 5 6 7 8 Number of Cards 8 12 16 20 24 28 -
Take a card from the Monster deck and add it to the starting deck to complete it. Now, no one should know what cards are in the starting deck except the 3 cards taken out in step 1
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Shuffle the starting deck and deal 4 cards to each player.
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Place the remaining general deck in the center of the play area.
Note: Be careful not to mix the Monster deck and the general deck.
Game Play
Round Overview
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The player who has the Wanted card in his hand begins the round by playing it. The Wanted card has no effect except for determining the starting player.
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Take turns in a clockwise order. Each player will play only one card each turn. The played cards are placed in front of the player who played them.
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The round ends when the Monster card is played or forced to be discarded by a Hunter or Dog card (see below for details).
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Scoring.
Note: As players don't refill their hand, each round will last a maximum of 4 turns per player.
General Rules
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Monsters can only be played on the last turn of a round
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Hunters can not be played on the first turn of a round.
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The colored numbers on some cards are a reminder for these restrictions:
- may not be played during the turn (here, the 1st turn)
- may be played during the turn (here, the 1st), but without effect
- may be played during the turn (here, the 3rd) if the condition is met
- may be played during the turn (here, the 4th)
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When a card effect contradicts the rules, the card effect takes priority.
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Cards discarded: Depending on the card that caused the discarding,cards go to different places to allow the players to keep a better overview:
- Discarded by the Friend effect: Discard to the bottom of the general deck.
- Discarded by the Dog effect: Discard facedown to the pile of played cards of the player who played the dog.
Special Cards
Monster
If you play the Monster, you win the round immediately! Remember that the Monster can only be played on your last turn of a round or if its special condition is fulfilled.
Hunter
If you force a player to discard the Monster with a Hunter, you win the round immediately! But be careful: Certain cards allow the targeted player to ignore your Hunter!
Note: You cannot play a Hunter card during the first turn of a round.
Dog
If you force a player to discard the Monster with the Dog, you win the round immediately!
However, be aware that when you play the Dog, the target player chooses which card to discard. So most likely you will only manage to catch the Monster with the Dog if it is the last card in a player's hand.
Friend
When you play a Friend card, you become the monster's friend and win or lose the game with the monster!
When a player is forced to discard the Monster by a Friend , it is a Friend's Betrayal! In this case, the Friend will also lose the game!
Note: Unplayed Friend cards have no effect.
Hide
The Hide card (and certain Monsters ) allows a player to ignore any Hunter effects as long as it is in the player's hands. These cards are not revealed when you use their effect.
Note: Hide does not protect you from the Dog discard effect!
Scoring
(at the end of each round))
If the Monster was successfully played: Monster & Friends gain 2 VP.
If the Monster was discarded : The player who forced the Monster card to be discarded gains 2 VP. Everyone else, except Monster & Friends, gains 1 VP.
If the Monster was forced to be discarded by a Friend: Everyone, except Monster & Friends, gains 1 VP.
Each player takes the necessary VP tokens as a reminder.
New Round
The cards used this round are put back in the general deck, except the Monster card, which is set aside.
Start the next round with a new Monster.
End of the Game
The game ends after the scoring of the 5th round. The winner is the player with the most VP.
If there is a tie, the tied players share the victory. If you still want to decide the sole winner, shuffle the used Monster cards and begin an additional round until the sole winner is decided.
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