Ankh Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object of the Game
• Set-up
  • Mummy cards
  • Papyrus cards
• Course of the Game
  • Play a Mummy card
  • Play a Papyrus card
  • Making a sacrifice
• Scoring
• End of the Game
• Credits

Components

90 cards:

• 72 Mummy cards in 4 colors (values 1-5)
• 18 Papyrus cards

Have paper and pencil ready in order to write down your points.

Object of the Game

The player who has accumulated the most victory points wins the game. To this end, the mummies have to appear before the pharaoh with the right gifts at the right time.

Set-up

Put any Papyrus card in the middle of the table. Shuffle the remaining cards (Mummy cards and Papyrus cards together) and lay them out as a face-down draw pile. Then, each player takes 4 cards into his hand.

Mummy cards

The game has mummies with gifts in 4 colors, showing values from 1 to 5. You place Mummy cards in a row in front of you, trying to collect cards as valuable as possible.

Papyrus cards

There is always only one Papyrus card on display – the pharaoh's current wish list. It indicates for all players what mummies score at the next scoring for their gifts. The pharaoh always wants two kinds of gifts.

The first gift gives you twice the number of points. The second gift is scored the regular number of points. The third gift is uninteresting to her; you don't score any points for it. The fourth gift displeases her; it gives you minus points.

The number indicates the number of Mummy cards that need to lie in front of at least one player in order to trigger a scoring for all players.

Course of the Game

The player who has last worn a bandage becomes the starting player. On your turn, you put any card from your hand either down in front of you (if it is a Mummy card) or on the Papyrus card pile (if it is a Papyrus card). After that, you take another card from the draw pile so that you always have 4 cards in your hand. Then play continues in clockwise order.

Play a Mummy card

Lay a Mummy card down in front of you forming or adding to your own row. In doing so, you try to collect especially those mummies whose gifts will give you the most points at the next scoring.

But beware: The pharaoh is very moody!

Play a Papyrus card

Place a Papyrus card on top of the topmost Papyrus card. The pharaoh now prefers different gifts. This changes your goal. It might occur, for example, that mummies that were just favored with their gifts suddenly fall into disgrace and no longer score any points or even give you minus points.

Example: A Papyrus card is now covered by another one.

1. Up to then, the green Mummy card with the scarab just scored 8 points (4 x 2) and the red Anubis scored 0 points.
2. With the new Papyrus card, the points you can get for the Mummy cards change: At a scoring, you would now get 4 minus points for the green Mummy card, and the red Mummy card would give you 3 points.

Making a sacrifice

On your turn, you may – instead of playing a card – discard any number of hand cards and take the same number of cards from the draw pile: If you discard 3 cards, for example, you then draw 3 new cards.

Scoring

The number on the Papyrus cards indicates how many mummies minimum the pharaoh requires to curry favor. If at least one player has the desired minimum number of Mummy cards lying in front of him, a scoring takes place immediately.

The scoring can be triggered in one of the following two ways:

1. One player reaches the currently required minimum number by playing a Mummy card – that means, for example, he places the 5th Mummy card in front of him to curry favor with the pharaoh who currently desires at least 5 mummies; in this case, a scoring takes place immediately.
2. The pharaoh can also change her mind; that happens when a new Papyrus card is played that requires a lower number of mummies. The previous Papyrus card demanded 5 mummies, the new one only 3, for example. If, after a new Papyrus card has been laid out, at least one player already has the required 3 mummies in front of him, a scoring takes place immediately.

At a scoring, all players write down the points they have earned. After that, all cards played (except for the top Papyrus card) are put on the discard pile. A new round begins. The player to the left of the player who triggered the last scoring becomes the new starting player.

Example: With this Papyrus card, a scoring is triggered when one player places the 5th mummy in his row. Then, all players score immediately – even if they don't yet have 5 mummies in front of them.

When Tanya lays out a 5th Mummy card in front of her and thus triggers a scoring, Tom has only these 4 mummies in front of him:

• a yellow mummy with a value of 4 that scores double points (2 x 4 = 8)
• a green mummy with a value of 3 that scores regular points (1 x 3 = 3)
• a blue mummy with a value of 5 that doesn't score any points (0 x 5 = 0)
• a red mummy with a value of 2 that gives him minus points (1 x -2 = -2)

Consequently, Tom scores: 8 + 3 + 0 - 2 = 9 points in total.

Julia has only 2 yellow mummies, each with a value of 3, but she scores 12 points for them: 3 + 3 = 6 → 2 x 6 = 12 points.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as at least one player reaches or exceeds 50 points. The player who has accumulated the most points wins the game.

In case the draw pile is depleted before the game ends, the top Papyrus card stays in place. The other Papyrus cards played and the cards from the discard pile are reshuffled and put out as the new face-down draw pile.

For a longer game, you can call upon the pharaoh's patience a bit more and play until you reach 100 or 150 points.

Credits

© 2016 HUCH! & friends Author: Dave Grigger Illustration & design: Oliver & Sandra Freudenreich Editor: Britta Stöckmann Translation: Sybille & Bruce Whitehill, "Word for Wort"

Manufacturer and distributor: Hutter Trade GmbH + Co KG, Bgm.-Landmann-Platz 1-5, D-89312 Günzburg, www.hutter-trade.com

Warning! Choking hazard. Not suitable for children under age of 3 due to small parts.