The Princess & The Goblin: The Golden Thread

Transcription

1 This rulebook belongs to the unfinished prototype. All artwork is for testing purposes only and is not final. Please contact to provide feedback or comments. Thank you for playing! The Princess & The Goblin: The Golden Thread A game by Dennis Hoyle "She did not hesitate." - George McDonald (1872) When the young Princess Irene discovered the magic golden thread her great-grandmother had given her led straight into the goblin kingdom under the mountain, she did not hesitate, but followed it at once. There, in the dark, she discovered her friend, the miner boy Curdie, who had been trapped while searching for clues to the goblins' evil plans. Now, together they must make a daring escape. Can you retrace Irene's steps through the dark maze of caverns, using only her special golden thread as your guide? Can you discover clues to save the kingdom? Or will the goblins catch you first? Players: 1-4, ages 7+ (See end of this rule book for 1-player rules) Contents: 35 tiles and 16 breadcrumb tokens Setup: (See Example 1). 1. Place the 4 Goblin Palace tiles face-up in a stack on the table. 2. Place the 6 Home tiles face-up in a row on the table. 3. Shuffle the rest of the tiles and place them face-down in one stack in the middle of the table to form the Mountain. 4. Draw 4 tiles from the Mountain and place one each face-down on each side of the Mountain to form the Caves as shown below. Example 1 5. Each player takes 4 breadcrumbs of the same color (see Example 2). Leave the rest in the box. Example 2 Goal: Collect the most clues (see Example 3) as you escape the goblin kingdom! Example 3

2 How to play: The first player to shout "Goblins!" goes first. Play in clockwise order from this player. On your turn, you may either A. "Explore" or B. "Make Your Escape." A. Explore: Draw the top tile from the Mountain. After carefully examining it, place it face-down in the Caves so it shares at least one side with other tiles. Then, you may secretly peek at each face-down tile adjacent to the one you just placed (see Example 4). Then, your turn is over. Example 4: Place a tile in the Caves. Then you may peek at each adjacent tile. Note: You may Explore as many turns as you would like, but once you decide to Make Your Escape, you may no longer Explore. B. Make Your Escape: 1. At the beginning of your turn, announce, "I'm going to escape!" Select a Goblin Palace tile and place it in front of you face-up. This begins your Escape Path! Start your escape Then, flip face-up any tile in the Caves or the top tile of the Mountain. If this tile continues your Escape Path (i.e. the symbols on the signposts match up), place it next in-line in your Escape Path and take another turn by flipping another tile to see if it too continues your path. You chose correctly! Flip again! 3. If you place a tile in your Escape Path that connects to a Home tile, select any available Home tile and place it at the end of your path. You've escaped! You made it home! Good job!

3 4. If you flip a tile that does NOT continue your Path, leave it in the Caves face-up and lose your turn. Note: If you flipped the top tile of the Mountain, place it in the Caves face-up. Any player Making Their Escape may use face-up Cave tiles in their Escape Path on their turn! Goblins!: The goblins cause mischief in several ways: The tile you flipped does NOT continue the path. Lose your turn. 1. If you flip a Goblin tile while you are trying to escape, you are caught! Return all the tiles in your Escape Path (except for the Goblin Palace) to the Caves face-up! Next turn, restart your Escape. 2. You may shout "Goblins!" whenever a player is Making Their Escape. If you are the first player of that turn to shout "Goblins!", flip any tile in the Caves. If you reveal a Goblins tile, the player Making Their Escape loses their turn. If you reveal any other tile, leave it face-up in the Caves and the player Making Their Escape may finish their turn without further interference. 3. If you are the first player to make it safely Home, you have a special job to do. Every time it's your turn, flip one of the Home tiles (see Example 5) to reveal the Goblins on the back. Players trying to escape may not use Home tiles that have been flipped to the Goblin side! Example 5. Breadcrumbs: On any turn you Explore you may move one of your breadcrumbs to a Cave tile. Your breadcrumbs may help you remember what you saw (see Example 6). Note: If you peek at a tile that has a breadcrumb on it, put the breadcrumb back on the tile after you look at it. Example 6. Capturing Breadcrumbs: If you use a tile with a breadcrumb on it (even an opponent's breadcrumb!) in your Escape Path, you capture that breadcrumb! Place it on the tile you used in your Escape Path. It is worth 1 point at the end of the game. Game End: The game ends whenever either all players have escaped or when all remaining Home tiles have been flipped to show Goblins. Only players who escaped earn points.

4 You earn 1 point for every clue in your Escape Path, plus 1 point for every breadcrumb you captured. You win the game if you escaped and earned the most points! In Example 7 below, Jaliel wins! In case of a tie, the player who escape first is the winner. Example 7 Play Again?: Reset the game and play again. The first player to win twice is the overall champion! Advanced Rules: Ready for a greater challenge? Try these rules for advanced play. The advanced game plays exactly like the standard game, with a couple differences, noted below: Advanced Setup: Shuffle the Home tiles face-up before placing them on the table. Advanced Gameplay: 1. You may choose to secretly swap the locations of the face-down Cave tiles you peeked at this turn. 2. You may not swap the locations of any tiles with breadcrumbs on them. 3. When you Make Your Escape, first look at the backs of each available Goblin Palace card and choose one with a symbol that you think will match the most symbols in your Escape Path. 4. At game end, you earn one bonus point for every symbol in your Escape Path that matches the one on the back of your Goblin Palace card, including symbols on the signposts, inside clues and on breadcrumbs you've captured. 5. To win you must score higher than the other players AND higher than the highest numbered Goblin tile revealed on any flipped Home tiles. If no player wins, the Goblins ransack the village! (See Example 8).

5 Example 8 1-Player Rules: Trapped in the Mountain alone? Try these 1-Player rules. The 1-Player rules play exactly like the standard game, with a couple differences, listed below: 1-Player Setup: 1. Shuffle the Home tiles face-up before placing them on the table. 2. Choose one Goblin Palace tile and place it face-up in front of you. You may peek at its back to see the symbol. 3. Set the rest of the Goblin Palace tiles and all the breadcrumbs in the game box. 4. Do not start with any tiles in the Caves. Example 8 1-Player Gameplay: 1. When you Explore, draw 1 tile and place it face-up in the Caves. 2. Instead of Exploring you may "Chart Your Path": Take half (rounded-down) of the tiles in the Caves and set them face-down beneath your Goblin Palace tile. This is your Escape Pile. You may not look at tiles in your Escape Pile until you choose to Make Your Escape. Set the tiles you did not select in a discard pile nearby. 3. Any time you Chart Your Path, you must immediately flip a Home tile of your choice to its Goblin side.

6 4. If you draw Goblins while Exploring, immediately discard all of the tiles in the Caves to a new discard pile away from the play area. Place the Goblin tile on top of this discard pile. 5. Whenever there are exactly 3 discard piles with Goblins on top (see Example 9), shuffle all the discard piles together and place these tiles underneath the Mountain face-down. Then flip one of the Home tiles to the Goblin side! Example 9 1-Player Game End: When you choose to Make Your Escape, reveal all of the cards from your Escape Pile and place them in the correct order on the table to connect the Goblin Palace card to any one of the Home cards still face-up. If you are able to make a complete path, you've escaped! Add all of the clues in your path and any symbols (on signposts or inside clues) that match the back of your Goblin Palace card. This is your score. If your score is higher than the revealed Goblin tile with the highest number, you win! If your score is not high enough or you fail to make a complete Escape Path, the Goblins ransack the village and you lose! Note: You are not required to use all of the cards in your Escape Pile to escape, but you only get to count points included in your path for your score.