13 Dead End Drive Rulebook

Table of Contents

Assembly
Object
Setup
How to Play
Special Gameboard Spaces
- Secret Passage Spaces
- Trap Spaces
How to Spring a Trap
Bluffing
Winning
How to Play a 2-Player Game
Putting It All Away

Assembly

For all assembly instructions, see the separate Assembly Instruction Booklet. Refer to it as you complete all 7 assembly steps.

Object

Your pawn must get out of the mansion when its portrait is shown hanging on the wall to win.

Two Other Ways to Win:

If your pawn is the last one alive, you win!
If your pawn's portrait is shown hanging on the wall when the Detective arrives at the front door, you win the game.

Setup

1. The Gameboard

Take a look at the gameboard fully set up for play in Figure 1. All players should face the front of the fully-assembled mansion.

The gameboard shows portrait cards, a secret passage space, walls, a trap space, trap cards, a game over space, a red chair starting space (place all pawns on Red Chair Starting spaces), a gameboard square space, and the start space (place the Detective pawn here).

2. The Pawns

Remove the 12 pawns and Detective pawn from the cardboard parts sheet and discard waste. Place each pawn into a pawn stand. Put each pawn (except the Detective) onto a Red Chair Starting space in the center of the gameboard in any order. Place the Detective pawn on the Start space on the gameboard.

3. The Cards

Separate the card deck into 3 piles (29 Trap cards, 13 Portrait cards and 12 Character cards). Here's a look at their card backs.

Trap Cards: There are 3 different kinds of cards in the Trap card pile: Trap cards, Wild cards and Detective cards. Shuffle all of them and place them facedown in a pile on the gameboard's front lawn.

You'll draw Trap cards throughout the game as you move pawns onto Trap spaces. You'll either play the cards immediately or keep them in your hand for future use.

Portrait Cards: Remove Aunt Agatha's Portrait card and set it aside. (Make sure the portraits on the rest of the cards are right-side-up.) Shuffle the cards and put them facedown in a pile. Slide the Aunt Agatha card facedown underneath the pile and pick up the pile so only Aunt Agatha is shown. Do not look at the order of the cards! Put all 13 Portrait cards into the Portrait Frame as shown in Figure 4.

Character Cards: Shuffle the 12 Character cards and deal them out facedown according to the number of players. See chart below. Players can look at their cards, but must keep them secret from each other! You own the pawns that match your Character cards.

Number of Players	Number of Character Cards per Player
4	3
3	4
2	4 (plus 2 secret Character cards each)*

*See How to Play a 2-Player Game below.

How to Play

Each player rolls the dice. The player with the highest roll goes first. Play then continues to the left.

First remove Aunt Agatha's Portrait card from the frame and place it facedown on the gameboard's large sofa. The card that is shown underneath Aunt Agatha is the current favorite to inherit! That pawn must try to get out the front door without being "knocked off" to win! A pawn gets "knocked off" when it gets caught in a trap.

Note: Throughout the game, the portraits will change many times. You must time your escape from the mansion exactly to the appearance of your pawn's portrait in the frame.

On Your Turn

Roll both dice and move two different pawns, one for each die. Each pawn must always move the full count of a die roll. For example, if you roll a 4 and a 6, move one pawn 4 spaces and another pawn 6 spaces. See Pawn Movement Rules below.

IMPORTANT: You may move any pawns on the gameboard — not just your own! Keep the pawns you own secret so you can escape more easily when your pawn's portrait is shown in the frame! Try to move opponents' pawns onto Trap spaces to knock them off!

Pawn Movement Rules

Each space or gameboard square is "1" count of a die roll. Pawns can move vertically or horizontally, but not diagonally.
All pawns must be moved off the Red Chair Starting spaces before any pawn can be moved either a second time or onto a Trap space.
A pawn cannot land on or pass through the same space twice during the same move (including the space from which it began its move).
Pawns cannot land on or pass through a space occupied by another pawn or any furniture pictured on the gameboard (such as tables, sofas, chairs, vases, a desk, a gold statue or an easel). Exception: Pawns may move on Red Chair Starting spaces only if blocked by another pawn.
Pawns may move on top of rugs.
Pawns cannot pass through any walls on the gameboard.

Rolling Doubles

If you roll doubles, do the following:

You may change the portrait! Move the Portrait card currently showing to the back of the deck in the frame and reveal the new card underneath! (If you don't want to change the portrait, you don't have to.)

AND

Either move one pawn the total amount of both dice or move two pawns (one pawn for each die).

Your Turn Ends

Your turn is over after you move a pawn (or pawns).

If you move onto a Trap space, your turn is over after you try to play a Trap card and spring the trap. Be sure to finish the moving, card-playing and trap-springing actions for one pawn before you move another pawn!

Special Gameboard Spaces

Secret Passage Spaces

There are 5 Secret Passage spaces, each with a wooden door. Use them to move opponents' pawns closer to the Trap spaces for which you have matching Trap cards.

You may move any pawn onto a Secret Passage space and then move it to one other Secret Passage space, counting "1" on your die roll to do so. Then continue moving the full count of the die roll, if you have any moves left.

For Example: In Figure 10, you rolled a 4. Move a pawn two spaces onto the Secret Passage space, hop to another Secret Passage space and land on it for the count of "1," and then move off that Secret Passage space one space to complete the full die roll of 4.

Trap Spaces

There are 5 Trap spaces, each with a colored skull. Use these Trap spaces to "knock off" your opponents' pawns! You may move any pawn onto a Trap space by landing on the space by exact count. You could move an opponent's pawn onto a Trap space or even your own pawn onto a Trap space (especially if you wish to bluff your opponents into thinking that it isn't your pawn — see Bluffing below). Once on a Trap space, you'll then need a Trap card to spring the trap.

Move and Spring Rules

You can spring a trap to "knock off" a pawn only if you have moved that pawn onto a Trap space on your current turn.

For Example: At the beginning of Donna's turn, she notices that an opponent's pawn is already on the Bookcase Trap space. Although Donna has a matching Bookcase Trap card, she cannot play it to spring the trap because she didn't move the pawn there on the same turn. She could move the pawn off the Bookcase Trap space to allow another player to move it back on the Trap space and spring the trap.

When you move two pawns on a turn, be sure to finish the moving, card-playing and trap-springing actions for one pawn before you move another pawn!

Playing Trap Cards

If you have the matching Trap card or a Wild card in your hand, you may play the card by placing it faceup on a discard pile on the gameboard's front lawn. (A Wild card matches any trap!) You may then spring the trap (see How to Spring a Trap below).

If you do not have the matching Trap card or a Wild card in your hand, draw one card from the Trap card pile. If it matches, you may spring the trap. If it does not match, you cannot spring the trap — just announce that it's the wrong card and keep the card in your hand to play on a later turn!

IMPORTANT: You cannot draw a card and then play another card that you already had in your hand on the same turn.

If you draw a Detective card instead of a Trap card or a Wild card, place the Detective card in the discard pile and move the Detective pawn one space towards the front door of the mansion. Then draw another card from the Trap card pile. Note: If the Detective pawn reaches the Game Over space, the game ends immediately — no other card play is allowed! (See Winning below.)

If you run out of cards in the Trap card pile, shuffle the discard pile.

"Knocked-off" Pawns

After a trap has been sprung, that pawn is automatically out of play. Then reset the trap for the next victim. The player who owns the "knocked-off" pawn must then discard his or her matching Character card by laying it down faceup with its pawn on top. During gameplay, when the "knocked-off" pawn's matching Portrait card appears in the frame, remove the card and place it facedown on the gameboard's large sofa.

Out of the Game

If a player loses his or her last Character card, that player is out of the game and must discard all Trap cards in his or her hand (except in a 2-player game — see How to Play a 2-Player Game below).

How to Spring a Trap

To spring a trap, do the following:

Stairs: Move the pawn up the stairs to the blue label and press the finger lever to fling the pawn down the stairs.

Fireplace: Move the pawn onto the red label on the trap and push the finger lever back to flip the pawn into the fireplace.

Chandelier: Press the finger lever to release the chandelier.

Statue: Press the finger lever to topple the statue.

Bookcase: Move the pawn up the ladder to the purple label and press the finger lever at the back of the bookcase to topple the ladder.

Bluffing

Since you do not want the other players to know which pawns are yours, you may BLUFF by moving pawns other than your own towards the mansion's front door.

Bluffing on Trap Spaces: You can also bluff by moving your own pawns onto Trap spaces! Then, even if you have a matching Trap card or Wild card in your hand, draw a new card from the Trap card pile. If it matches, do not use it! Just pretend it's the wrong card and keep the card! This way your "trapped" pawn remains safe and you gain an extra Trap card!

Winning

Your pawn must leave the mansion and land on the Game Over space when its portrait is shown hanging on the wall to win. (You do not need to land on this space by exact count.)

Two Other Ways to Win:

If your pawn is the last one alive, you win!
If the Detective pawn reaches the Game Over space, then the player whose pawn's portrait is shown hanging on the wall wins.

If a player loses his or her last Character card, both players continue playing until one of the following "win" situations happens: (1) only one pawn remains on the gameboard; or (2) a pawn exits the mansion's front door while its portrait is shown hanging on the wall; or (3) the Detective pawn reaches the Game Over space so the pawn whose portrait is shown hanging on the wall then wins.

If a player is holding a Character card that matches the winning pawn, that player wins! If neither player is holding the matching Character card, players then turn over their secret Character cards. The player who owns the secret card that matches the winning pawn is the winner!

How to Play a 2-Player Game

In a 2-player game, deal a hand of four Character cards to each player. Then, separately deal two secret Character cards facedown to each player. These secret cards must be kept facedown during the entire game — NO PEEKING BY ANYONE! (Even if you lose your hand of Character cards, you cannot look at the facedown cards.) Players play as above with all 12 pawns.

Putting It All Away

When you've finished playing the game, remove the fireplace, chandelier & beam assembly, portrait frame, statue and bookcase from the gameboard. Then remove the stair top (with rim). Carefully take off the Right Back Wall (the chandelier's side). Then remove the remaining wall as one piece, keeping the stairs still attached to the Left Back Wall and the Center Wall. Place all components inside the box for the next time you play.

Milton Bradley Company P.O. Box 1247 East Longmeadow, MA 01028