Atari's Centipede

Atari's Centipede Rulebook

Table of Contents

Summary of Play

In Centipede, 2 or 4 Players venture into the world of the classic arcade game. On one side, a Player controls the Gnome, exploring the forest and attempting to defeat the Centipede. On the other side, the Centipede Player, eager to destroy the Gnome, must wiggle their way to the other end of the board.

The Gnome Player rolls and spends their dice to perform actions, while the Centipede Player uses a deck of cards to spawn Fleas, Spiders, and Mushrooms, trying to control the Game board. The first Player to eliminate their opponent wins the game!

Game Components

22 Centipede Cards (2 Decks of 11)
1 Game Board
1 Dice Pool Card
1 Creature Speed Card
2 Gnome Tokens (2 Colors)
30 Mushroom Tokens
3 Flea Tokens
3 Spider Tokens
12 Centipede Segments (2 Colors x6)
6 Gnome Dice
7 Gnome Control Cards

2-Player Game Setup

Place the Game board in the middle of the table. Set the Dice Pool card next to the board.
Players takes turns placing 3 Mushrooms in any empty squares, between the two dotted lines, in one empty column of the Game board. No column can have more than 3 Mushrooms to start the game. No mushroom can be placed on a Centipede spawn point. There will be 3 Mushrooms left over.
Choose roles: The Players roll off or choose if they want to play as the Gnome or the Centipede.

Gnome Player Setup

The Gnome Player sits on either side of the Game board -their choice. The Gnome Movement Area on that side will be yours for the game.
Place your Gnome piece in any square of your Gnome Movement Area.
Take the Gnome Control cards (Wrist Control, Slam the Ball, Trigger Finger, and Glitch) and place them face-up in front of you.
Take all 6 Gnome dice, roll them, and place them on the Dice Pool card.

Centipede Player Setup

Sit on the opposite side of the Game board as the Gnome Player. Your Centipede Spawn Points are the marked squares closest to your side of the board.
Choose a Centipede color. Take all 11 Centipede cards for that color, shuffle them, and place them facedown within reach. Leave space next to the deck for a Discard pile. Draw 3 cards for your starting hand.
Take the 6 Centipede segments that match the color of your deck and place them together to create a 6 segment long Centipede. Place it next to either of the Centipede Spawn Points on your side of the board. Then, move your Centipede forward 6 squares onto the board (see Moving a Centipede on page 10 for instructions on how the Centipede moves).
Return the other color Centipede segments and cards to the box.
Set the Creature Speed card and the Bug pieces in front of you.

Setup is complete when "The match is ready to begin!"

Gameplay

The Gnome Player and the Centipede Player alternate turns, starting with the Gnome Player, until one of the victory conditions is met:

The Gnome Player wins if the last Centipede piece on the Game board is destroyed.

The Centipede Player wins if any Bug eats the Gnome.

The Gnome

As the Gnome, during your Turn you will select one die from the Dice Pool and carry out the actions on that die to move and shoot. You may also use one or more Gnome Control cards to make helpful adjustments.

The Gnome's Turn is divided into two steps:

1. Refresh Dice Pool At the beginning of your Turn, if there is only one die on the Dice Pool card, you must take all 6 dice and reroll them, then set them on the Dice Pool card.

2. Activate 1 Die Choose 1 die on the Dice Pool card. You must use all the actions shown on the top face of the die you have chosen. Then move the die off of the Dice Pool card.

Optional: Use Gnome Control Cards At any point during your Turn, you may activate one or more of your Gnome Control cards.

Reading the Dice

Each side of the Gnome dice shows two or three actions. You must use all of the actions shown on the die if possible, from left to right, even if you don't want to!

Fire Your Magic Wand (a four-pointed star symbol)
Move your Gnome that many squares to the left or right (a number of stacked bars)
Recharge 1 Gnome Control card of your choice (a card-outline symbol)

Example: You have chosen this die to activate a die showing move 3, then fire, then recharge. You must first move your Gnome 3 squares, then fire your magic wand once, then recharge 1 of your used Gnome Control cards, if possible.

Moving the Gnome

When you move, you must move the Gnome token in one direction (left or right). You also must move the full distance shown on the activated die, if possible, stopping only if the Gnome reaches the edge of the Game board. If you begin the move next to the edge of the Game board, you must move the Gnome away from the edge.

Important: The Gnome can only move inside the Gnome Movement Area! You cannot leave this area during the game.

Example: You are moving the Gnome 3 squares this Turn. If you move to the right, you must move all 3 squares. If you move to the left, you move 2 squares before you reach the edge of the board and stop. Next Turn, you would have to move right, since the Gnome is now against the edge of the board.

Shooting

The Gnome is equipped with a powerful magic wand that can destroy any object it hits! When you fire your wand, imagine a bolt of magic energy shooting upwards from the Gnome's current location, until it hits the first object:

If it hits a Mushroom, remove that Mushroom from the board.
If it hits a Flea or Spider, remove the Bug from the board and replace it with a Mushroom (if available).
If it hits a Centipede segment, remove that segment from the board and replace it with a Mushroom (if available).

Example: It's time to fire your wand. The magic bolt flies across the board, hitting the Centipede right on the head! That segment of the Centipede is removed from the board. A new Mushroom is placed in that space.

Gnome Control Cards

These cards allow you to fine-tune the actions of your Gnome. When you use a Gnome Control card, complete the action shown on the card then flip it over. You cannot use that card again until it has been recharged.

The Gnome Control cards show these actions:

Refresh Dice Pool
Move Once
Shoot Once
Remove One Mushroom

There are two ways to recharge a Gnome Control card:

Use a recharge action (the card-outline symbol) when you activate a die on your Turn.
At the end of your Turn, if you did not use any Gnome Control cards that Turn, you may recharge 1 Gnome Control card of your choice. When you recharge a Gnome Control card, flip it back face-up to show that you can use it again.

The Centipede

As the Centipede, during your Turn you will play 1 card from your hand, carry out the instructions on that card, then move all of your Bugs in an attempt to eat the Gnome.

The Centipede Turn is divided into three steps:

1. Play 1 card: Choose 1 card from your hand to play. Follow the instructions on the card, then place it on the Discard pile (exception: Spawn Centipede cards are not discarded, as explained on the card).

2. Move your Bugs: There are three types of Bugs that you might control: Centipedes, Spiders, and Fleas. You must move all of your Bugs (see pages 10-11), but you may move them in any order you choose. You must complete each Bug's entire movement before you can move the next Bug.

3. Draw 1 card: At the end of your Turn, draw 1 card and add it to your hand. If there are no cards left in your deck, reshuffle the Discard pile and create a new deck to draw from.

The Centipede Cards

Spawn Bug: Most Centipede cards allow you to "spawn" a Bug, in other words, add a new Bug to the Game board if it is available. Each card tells you where the new Bug can be placed.

Example card text: "After moving your creatures, spawn a Spider in any empty space on the left or right edge of the board."

Important: Unlike other Bugs, Spiders are spawned after you move all your Bugs. This means that the new Spider cannot move that Turn!

If you play a Spawn Bug card when all of the matching Bug pieces are already on the board, your card has no effect.

Spawn Centipede: This is a special kind of Spawn Bug card that has two valuable effects:

First, take all of the Centipede segments of your color that are not on the board (i.e., any that have been shot by that pesky Gnome!) and create a new Centipede. Then choose one of your Centipede spawn points and move that Centipede six spaces onto the board, starting from that spawn point.
Second, do not discard this card! Instead, tuck it under the edge of the board so the "+1 Speed to all your Bugs" is showing. For the rest of the game, all of your Bugs will move 1 square farther each time they move.

Mushroom: When you play a Mushroom card, you may either remove 1 Mushroom from the board or place 1 Mushroom in any empty square, following normal mushroom placement rules, on the board. You cannot place the Mushroom adjacent to any Centipede segment on the board.

Berserk!: When you play this card, one of your Centipedes makes a leap towards the Gnome! Move your Centipede two squares directly towards the Gnome's side of the board, following the normal rules for moving a Centipede.

Moving a Centipede

A Centipede is made up of one or more Centipede segments. The segment at the front of the Centipede is called the "head". All the other segments are called the "body." The Centipede always moves in the direction the head is pointed, with all the body segments following behind.

If, at any point, a segment of the Centipede is removed, the body segment that follows it becomes a new head. In this case, the Centipede could possibly turn into two smaller Centipedes, and they each move individually!

The smaller a Centipede is, the faster it moves: see the chart on the Creature Speed card. Remember to add the speed bonuses from any Spawn Centipede cards you have played!

The Creature Speed card lists:

Centipede: Length 6 = Speed 1; Length 5 = Speed 2; Length 4 = Speed 2; Length 3 = Speed 3; Length 2 = Speed 3; Length 1 = Speed 4
Flea = Speed 2
Spider = Speed 9
Plus all speed bonuses

Important: A new Centipede always moves 6 squares during the Turn that it is spawned, instead of its normal movement speed.

A Centipede always moves horizontally across the board in the direction it is facing. It continues to move in that direction until it runs into a Mushroom, the edge of the board, or another Bug.

If it runs into one of these obstacles, it gets to move down one row closer to the Gnome Player's side of the board. Then it must start moving back in the other direction (from right to left or left to right). If anything is in the square that you must move down into, it is removed from the board.

Example: A Centipede with 4 segments normally moves at a speed of 2, but because you played a Spawn Centipede card earlier in the game, it moves 3 squares. The head is at the right end, so you know that the Centipede is moving to the right. It moves forward 1 square before reaching a Mushroom. The second square of movement must be towards the Gnome, but there is another Mushroom there. That Mushroom is removed so the Centipede's head can move into that square. Now it has to reverse direction, moving to the left with its third and final square of movement.

Moving a Spider

A Spider can move up to 9 squares per Turn, but it can only move vertically or diagonally, never horizontally, and it cannot change direction during its move. A Spider cannot move into or through other Bugs, and it cannot leave the game board or enter the Gnome Movement Area.

A Spider removes any Mushroom from a square it moves into.

A Spider never moves on the same Turn that it spawns.

Moving a Flea

A Flea moves 2 squares each Turn and must always move in a straight line towards the Gnome Player's side of the board. Any Mushroom, Bug, or Centipede segment that is in a square the Flea moves into is removed from the board. A Flea cannot enter the Gnome Movement Area, and must stop moving when it reaches the last row of the board.

You may place a Mushroom (if available) in any square a Flea leaves.

Eating the Gnome

If your Centipede ever enters the Gnome Movement Area (even if the Gnome is in a different square) it eats the Gnome and you win the game!

If any Bug is ever in the square directly above the Gnome at any point during your Turn, it eats the Gnome and you win the game!

Win Conditions

The game ends immediately when either of the following happens:

If the last Centipede segment is removed from the board, either because the Gnome shoots it or a Flea runs into it, the Gnome Player wins the game.
If any Bug eats the Gnome, the Centipede Player wins the game.

Want an extra challenge? After playing, switch sides and see if you can win both ways!

4-Player Variation

You can also play Centipede as a 4-Player team game! All of the normal rules still apply.

Before the game begins, split into two teams. Each team will have a Gnome Player and a Centipede Player, and they both sit on the same side of the Game board.

When placing Mushrooms during setup, each team takes turns placing 3 Mushrooms, instead of each Player. After the Mushrooms have been placed, the Gnome Players dice off to see which team gets to choose their side of the Game board. The high roller picks the side, but the low roller gets to take the first Turn.

Important: Each Gnome Player has their own set of Gnome Control cards. The 'Glitch' Control card is not used in 4-Player mode.

Playing the Game (4-Player)

The two teams take turns. During a team's Turn, the Gnome Player must finish their Turn before the Centipede Player takes their Turn.

The Dice Pool (4-Player)

The 2 Gnomes both share the same Dice Pool. This means that the die you pick won't be available for your opponent to use! Remember to reroll the Dice Pool when there is only one die left.

The Spider and the Flea (4-Player)

When you spawn a Spider or a Flea, make sure you use the side matching the color of your team's Centipede face-up and that your Bug is pointed towards your enemies' side of the board. That way you won't get it confused with the enemies' Bugs.

Shooting the Other Gnome (4-Player)

If you fire your wand and hit the other Gnome, the Centipede Player on your team may immediately move any one of their Bugs, following the normal rules for movement.

This is in addition to the normal movement for that Bug during the Centipede Player's Turn.

Win Condition (4-Player)

The first team that can complete either victory condition (destroying the last opposing Centipede segment or eating the opposing Gnome) wins game.