Art Robbery
Art Robbery Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
Be the player with the most points after four rounds. But don't forget to collect Alibis, otherwise the police will catch you!
Contents
- 55 cards:
- 36 Number cards from 0–5
- 6 Boss cards
- 6 Guard Dog cards
- 7 Greedy Thief cards
- 36 Loot tiles (9 tiles each for 4 raids)
- 1 Guard Dog figure
- 1 rulebook
Players: 2–5. Playing time: 20 minutes. Ages: 8–99.
Game Design: Reiner Knizia. Artwork: Petra Eriksson.
Setup
Sort the Loot tiles (Sketches, Sculptures, Antiquities, Paintings) into four stacks, separated by their different backs. Place the Guard Dog figure in the middle. Shuffle the cards. Give each player a hand of five cards and keep the remaining cards face down in a draw pile.
How to Play
The game is played over four rounds (called raids). At the beginning of each raid, place all the Loot tiles of the respective raid in the middle. The Guard Dog figure only starts in the middle during Raid 1. Raids are played in the following order:
- Raid 1 — Sketches
- Raid 2 — Sculptures
- Raid 3 — Antiquities
- Raid 4 — Paintings
The player who visited a museum most recently starts the first raid, then play continues clockwise. On your turn, play a card from your hand face up onto the discard pile in the middle. Then take the tile shown on the card, either from the middle or from another player, and place it face up in front of you. Finally, end your turn by drawing the top card of the draw pile to replenish your hand to five cards. When the draw pile is emptied, reshuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile.
If you play a card that does not let you take a tile, nothing else happens.
Number Cards
When you play a Number card, take the corresponding Loot tile from the middle of the table. If there are multiple tiles with the same value, only take one. If there are no tiles with that value in the middle, steal a tile with that value from another player.
Guard Dog
Take the Guard Dog figure when you play a Guard Dog card. If you steal a tile from another player who has the Guard Dog figure, then they can decide to give you the Guard Dog figure instead of the tile.
Greedy Thief
When you play a Greedy Thief card, take a single tile of your choice from the middle. You cannot use this card to take a tile from another player.
The Boss
When you play a Boss card, take the Boss tile. At the end of the round, you can only keep the Boss tile if you also hold a 4 or 5 value tile from the same round, otherwise you must discard the Boss tile.
Alibis
On certain Loot tiles, like the number 0 tiles, you will find white dots called Alibis. You need to collect as many as you can during each raid. Every white dot counts as one Alibi. At the end of the game, the player with the fewest Alibis will be caught by the police and eliminated from the game or loses some their loot in a two-player game.
End of a Raid
A raid ends as soon as the last tile is taken from the middle.
The player who has the Boss tile may only keep this tile if they also hold a 4 or 5 value tile from the same raid – otherwise the Boss tile is returned to the box.
All players put their Loot tiles in a face-down stack in front of them. They are now safe and can't be stolen by other players.
Then prepare the next raid. Place all the Loot tiles for the next raid face up in the middle. Keep your hand of cards as-is for the next raid. Do not shuffle the deck.
The player with the Guard Dog figure keeps it and starts the new raid.
End of the Game
The game ends after the fourth raid.
Alibis: First, players count the number of Alibis on their tiles. With three to five players, the player with the fewest Alibis is arrested (eliminated); if there is a tie, all players with the lowest number of Alibis are eliminated. With two players, the player with the fewest Alibis is not eliminated, but they must discard tiles with a total value of 10.
Loot: Next, players add up the values of their Loot tiles. Each Boss tile is worth 5 points.
The player with the most points wins!
If there is a tie, the tied players count their Alibis. The player with the most Alibis wins.
Reiner Knizia thanks all the playtesters who contributed to the development of this game, in particular Iain Adams, Sebastian Bleasdale, Chris Bowyer, Karen Easteal, Martin Higham, Ross Inglis, Kevin Jacklin, and Chris Lawson.
© Dr. Reiner Knizia. All rights reserved.
UK Importer: Coiledspring Games, Unit 3, Hampton Hill Business Park, Hampton Hill, TW12 1NP