All Wound Up Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• The Game
  • Passing Cards
    • 2-Player Game
    • 3- or 4-Player Game
  • Bidding
• Action Cards
  • Wind 1-4 (1 to 4 turns)
  • Turn Right
  • Turn Left
  • Turn an Opponent
  • Wild (Joker)
• Tile Action Zones
  • Mausoleums
  • Open Grave
  • Brain
• Winning the Game

Components

• 60 cards
• 4 characters to wind up
• 4 double-sided tiles
• 25 Brain tokens (5 for each of the 5 colours)
• 4 "Start here" tokens
• 1 "Dealer" token

Setup

• Each player chooses one of the characters at random and takes a "Start here" token. Set the Brain tokens aside, stacked by colour.
• Place the four game tiles in any configuration. All players together choose the starting point of the race. The finish is always the gate.

Example: the players may place the tiles to make an oval track (2 x 2, as shown below) and decide that the gate is both the start and the finish of the race.

• All players agree on the exact course of the race before the game begins.
• No character is placed on the board until an action card concerns it.
• The oldest player is the first "dealer".
• The player to the left of the dealer is the first "bidder".

Legend: Brain token, Start Here token, Dealer token, examples of board layouts.

The Game

Each game round, you perform the following actions in this order:

• The dealer deals each player 10 cards, taken from the top of the deck.
• Each player passes or discards and then draws a number of cards to improve their hand (see Passing Cards below).
• All players bid in order to play action cards (see Bidding below).
• The player to the left of the dealer becomes the new dealer.

Passing Cards

When passing cards, you perform the following actions in this order:

2-Player Game

• Each player passes 3 cards from their hand to the other player. Then each player discards 2 of their cards and draws 2 from the deck to replace them. Finally, each player discards 1 card from their hand and draws one from the deck to replace it.
• The hands are now ready to play this round.

3- or 4-Player Game

• Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, each player passes to the player on their left a number of cards from their hand (equal to the number of players + 1). Each player then passes to the player on their left a number of cards equal to the number of players. Then each player passes to the player on their left one card fewer, and so on until only one card has been exchanged.
• Example: in a 4-player game, each player passes 5 cards to their left, then 4 cards, then 3, then 2 and finally 1.
• The hands are now ready to play this round.

Bidding

When bidding, you perform the following actions in this order:

• Step 1: The bidder may either pass, or choose a card type (except "Wild" cards) and play all the cards of that type they have in their hand, plus one or more "Wild" cards (if they have any and wish to use them). The total number of cards played by the bidder is their "card bid".
• Step 2: Starting with the player to the left of the bidder, each player must play all the cards of the same type they have in their hand, plus one or more "Wild" cards (if they have any and wish to use them). The total number of cards played by each player is their "card bid".
• Step 3: Starting with the player to the left of the bidder, each player may pass or play one or more "Wild" cards to increase their card bid. This step continues until all players pass.
• Step 4: The player who bid the most cards of the chosen type (Wild cards included) performs the action shown on that card type. In case of a tie, all the tied players perform the action shown on that card type, clockwise and starting with the bidder.
• Step 5: The player to the left of the bidder becomes the new bidder.
• Steps 1 to 5 are repeated until all players have no cards left.

Action Cards

The action cards have the following effects, explained in detail:

Wind 1-4 (1 to 4 turns)

When a player plays this action card, they place a "Start here" token directly in front of or behind their character (where there is room to mark the character's exact position). They then take their character and wind it up by exactly the number of turns shown on the card. The player must wind neither more nor fewer turns than the card states. The player must hold the key in one hand and turn the character on itself once per turn (one turn corresponds to a 360-degree rotation of the character).

Finally, the player must put their character back on the board in the same position and in the same direction without releasing the key or the feet. They then remove the "Start here" token and let go of the character. If the player releases the key or the feet too early, they must remove their character from the board and wait until it has finished moving before winding it up again.

When a character is correctly released, all movements of the player's character and of the other characters are final. If characters fall over, each owner of a fallen character must stand it up, clockwise starting with the dealer. To stand a character up, the player must keep the edge of the character's feet that points downward flat against the tile and must not move that edge.

Example: a character falls on its back. Its owner must place the back edge of its feet on the board and move it forward, towards the upright position.

If a character leaves, or has completely left, a tile, its owner must place it anywhere on the tile preceding the one it left from. The owner may point the character in any direction when putting it back on the board.

Wind your character like this! Turn that! Hold that!

Turn Right

When a player plays this action card, they turn their character clockwise, by 180° at most (that is, until it is facing the opposite direction). The player must not lift their character off the board.

Turn Left

When a player plays this action card, they turn their character anticlockwise, by 180° at most (that is, until it is facing the opposite direction). The player must not lift their character off the board.

Turn an Opponent

When a player plays this action card, they turn another player's character clockwise or anticlockwise, as they choose, by 180° at most (that is, until it is facing the opposite direction). The player must not lift the character off the board. Its owner must place it on the board before the action is played.

Legend: Turn left! Turn right!

Wild (Joker)

Wild cards are not action cards. They may only be used to increase a player's card bid (see Bidding above). They may be used for an initial bid that does not accompany another action card, if no bid was made on that action card and this player does not have that type of action card.

Tile Action Zones

Each tile has one or more "action zones", whose effects are as follows (only these affect movement; the tombstones, trees, etc. have no effect on play).

Mausoleums

When a character touches or passes over a mausoleum, it is removed from the board. The next time it is the target of an action card, its owner must place it anywhere on the tile preceding the one from which it was removed. The owner may point the character in any direction when putting it back on the board.

Open Grave

When a character touches or passes over the edge of an open grave (the area inside the white rectangle, not the earth outside it), it is removed from the board. The next time it is the target of an action card, its owner must place it directly on that grave. The owner may point the character in any direction when putting it back on the board.

Brain

When a character touches or passes over a Brain for the first time, its owner gains 1 black Brain token. Each time this same character passes over another Brain, its owner may gain 1 additional black Brain token or upgrade one of their tokens, as shown in Table 1: Brain Tokens (see below).

If a player gains or upgrades a Brain token and the corresponding colour is no longer available, the player gains or upgrades to the next rank up, as shown in Table 1: Brain Tokens (see below). A player cannot upgrade if there are no more Brain tokens of the next rank up.

Example: Steve has a black Brain token and his character walks over a Brain on the board. He chooses to upgrade the Brain, but no purple tokens remain. He takes a green one instead.

Except for the black and green Brain tokens, a player may use one or more tokens at any time. All effects of Brain tokens are immediate. If two or more players use tokens at the same time, or if there is confusion about the order in which Brain token effects and other actions take place, the player whose turn it is and the players who used Brain tokens act in clockwise order, starting with the dealer. Each player decides the order of their own actions and Brain token effects.

Table 1: Brain Tokens

Token	Rank	Effects
Black	1	(Can only be used when a character is moved.) The player may reduce the number of turns by 1.
Purple	2	The player changes the direction of their character clockwise or anticlockwise, by 180° at most.
Green	3	(Can only be used when a character is moved.) The player may increase the number of turns by 1.
Yellow	4	The player may take a card at random from another player's hand.
Red	5	The player may increase a card bid by 1.

Special note: Brain tokens may only be used to touch the owner's own character. A player may not target another player's character with their Brain tokens.

Winning the Game

• The first character that follows the race course and completely crosses the edge of the gate wins the game.
• A player cannot win the game by moving their character in the reverse direction, even if, in doing so, their character crosses the edge of the gate.