Badaboom Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Game Components
• Cards
  • Bomb cards
  • Mechanism cards
  • Gadget cards
  • Trick cards
• Setup
• Order of play
• Turn sequence
  • Draw phase
  • Pre-tinkering phase
  • Tinkering phase
  • Post-tinkering phase
  • Explosion phase
  • Pass phase
• Playing cards
  • Temporary effects
  • Permanent effects
  • Interrupting effects
• Secret missions
• When the Bomb explodes
• Winning

Introduction

Badaboom is a humorous card game for 3-5 players. The object of the game is to be the first player with enough gold coins to bribe himself out of the bomb research dungeon. To earn gold coins you have to find out how the bombs crafted by humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes and fairies work. The only way to do this is to make them explode. You earn gold coins each time you survive explosions or fulfill one of the High Necromancer's secret missions. During the game, players take turns tinkering with the current bomb and changing its characteristics. The bomb consists of an explosive core and a number of safety mechanisms. As long as it has at least one mechanism in it, it's secure. When all mechanisms have been removed, it's armed and will explode. Then you'd better make sure you're not the one being killed in the explosion.

Game Components

This game includes:

• 5 Bomb cards
• 5 Mechanism cards
• 7 Gadget cards
• 47 Trick cards
• 50 Gold Coin markers
• 2 Bomb Armed markers
• Rules

Cards

There are four different types of cards:

Bomb cards

These cards define the basic configuration of the Bomb, which consists of one Bomb card and a number of Mechanism cards at the start of the game. The Bomb is passed from player to player during the game with the cards face up and the Bomb card on top. The Bomb card is never removed from the Bomb, but the other cards will be replaced with Trick cards, Gadget cards and sometimes even Mechanism cards. The Bomb is secure as long as it has at least one Mechanism card in it. When it doesn't have any Mechanism cards in it, it's armed and will explode.

Mechanism cards

These cards represent the different safety Mechanisms in the Bomb. During the course of the game you remove them from the Bomb, making the Bomb progressively more dangerous. You can also put Mechanism cards into the Bomb making it more secure. If you manage to salvage Mechanisms so that they aren't destroyed in the explosion, they'll increase your score.

Gadget cards

These cards represent various Gadgets that you can put into the Bomb to change its characteristics. They define the basic effect of the explosion, which can be changed by playing various Trick cards before the Bomb explodes. There can never be more than one Gadget card in the Bomb.

Trick cards

These cards represent all the Tricks a sneaky bomb research goblin possesses. You can play them from the hand or put them into the Bomb. If you play them from the hand, they affect the game in various ways. If you put them into the Bomb, they don't have any effect at all. They just take up space in the Bomb without changing its characteristics in any way. Some Trick cards have special effects that are temporary or permanent, or can be used to interrupt other Trick cards. Also, some Trick cards have secret missions that you can use to increase your score if you manage to fulfill certain objectives.

Setup

1. Put the Bomb cards and Mechanism cards aside from the rest of the deck in separate piles.
2. Draw a random Bomb card and assemble a Bomb according to the instructions on the Bomb card. A new Bomb always consists of a Bomb card and a number of random Mechanism cards. Put the cards face up with the Bomb card on top so that everyone can see what type of Bomb it is but not what it consists of.
3. Shuffle the deck and deal every player four cards face down. This is their Bag of Tricks. There's no upper or lower limit to the number of cards in the Bag of Tricks. Players should always keep their Bag of Tricks so that everyone can see the number and type of cards in it, for example by placing them face down on the table.
4. Place the deck in the center of the table with the cards face up. This is the Storage. All players can see the next card that will be drawn and what it'll do. Thus, players can manipulate the game to get to draw a card they want. Also, players who can remember who gets which card gain a tactical advantage. Only the top card should be visible. Reserve space next to the Storage for a discard pile. This is the Garbage. When you discard cards to the Garbage, you put them face down to avoid confusing the Garbage with the Storage. When the Storage is empty, you shuffle the Garbage and put it face up to become the new Storage.
5. The most goblin-like player starts the game with the first Bomb.

Order of play

The order of play changes depending on who gets the Bomb. Normally the Bomb is passed clockwise, but certain cards can change that. A turn starts when the Bomb is passed to you and ends when you pass the Bomb to the next player. During your turn you follow the turn sequence. The turn sequence consists of a number of phases. The Bomb can be stolen or passed during your turn, so you may not always complete all phases in the turn sequence. When a Bomb is passed to another player, or even back to you, a new turn begins and the turn sequence starts all over again. As long as it's your turn, you're considered the Bomb holder.

Turn sequence

The turn sequence consists of six phases:

1. Draw phase
2. Pre-tinkering phase
3. Tinkering phase
4. Post-tinkering phase
5. Explosion phase
6. Pass phase

Draw phase

When the Bomb is passed to you, you draw a card from the Storage. If the Bomb is armed, you may not draw a card.

Pre-tinkering phase

When the draw phase has ended, the pre-tinkering phase begins. Any player may now announce that he wishes to play a Trick card from his Bag of Tricks. If a player plays a Trick card that forces you to pass the Bomb to another player, or even to yourself, you skip the remaining phases except the pass phase. The pre-tinkering phase ends when a Trick card forces you to pass the Bomb or when no player wants to play any more Trick cards.

If a player wants to see the number and type of cards in the Bomb before he plays a Trick card, that's allowed. Hold up the Bomb so that all players can see the reverse of the cards in it.

Tinkering phase

During the tinkering phase you may tinker with the Bomb. This means that you may remove a card from the Bomb and replace it with another card from your Bag of Tricks. If you remove a card, you must replace it. If you can't replace it, you may not remove any card.

It's optional to tinker with the Bomb, and you may only tinker with it once during the same tinkering phase. Certain cards can, however, tell you to remove or replace cards in the Bomb outside the tinkering phase.

The following rules apply when tinkering with the Bomb:

• If you remove a Gadget card or Trick card from the Bomb, you must put it in your Bag of Tricks.
• If you remove a Mechanism Card, you may either put it in your Bag of Tricks or in the Mechanism pile. If you put it in the Mechanism pile, you draw a new card from the Storage and put that card in your Bag of Tricks. You may use this card or any of the other cards in your Bag of Tricks to replace the removed card.
• There may never be more than one Gadget card in the Bomb. If you want to put a Gadget card into the Bomb when there already is a Gadget card in it, you must first remove the current Gadget card from the Bomb.
• You may never remove the Bomb card.
• If you remove the last Mechanism card from the Bomb, you've armed the Bomb (see below).
• If you put a Mechanism card into an armed Bomb, you've secured the Bomb (see below).

Armed Bomb: An armed Bomb is a Bomb without any Mechanism cards. When you've armed the Bomb, do the following:

• Put a Bomb Armed marker on top of the Storage to indicate that players may not draw cards during the draw phase. You may still draw cards outside the draw phase as usual, that is if you remove a Mechanism from the Bomb during your tinkering phase, or if a Trick card tells you to.
• Put a Bomb Armed marker in front of you to indicate that it was you who armed the Bomb.
• Publicly announce that the Bomb is armed and what the effect of the explosion will be, so that all players have a chance to react to this during the post-tinkering phase.

Note: The Bomb won't explode on the same turn as it was armed, but on the next turn that it reaches the explosion phase.

Secure Bomb: A secure Bomb is a Bomb with at least one Mechanism card. When you've secured the Bomb, do the following:

• Discard all active Trick cards with permanent effects.
• Remove the Bomb Armed markers from the Storage and from the player who armed the Bomb.

Post-tinkering phase

As soon as a player has tinkered with the Bomb or declared that he won't tinker with it, the post-tinkering phase begins. The post-tinkering phase works exactly in the same way as the pre-tinkering phase.

If the Bomb will explode in the explosion phase, you must publicly announce this and what the effect of the explosion will be, so that all players have a chance to react to this during the post-tinkering phase. The reason for having to announce it again is that you might have changed the effect of the explosion during your tinkering phase.

Explosion phase

When no more players want to play any cards in the post-tinkering phase, the explosion phase begins. If the Bomb is secure, or if you armed it this turn, nothing happens. If the Bomb was armed when the turn began and was never secure at any time during the turn, it explodes (see "When the Bomb explodes").

Pass phase

When you're done with the above phases or forced to pass the Bomb, you put the Bomb face up with the Bomb card on top beside the next player's Bag of Tricks. This ends your turn sequence and starts the next player's turn sequence. Normally you pass the Bomb clockwise, but this may change during the game. Discard all active Trick cards with temporary effects when you pass the Bomb.

Playing cards

During the pre- and post-tinkering phases any player may play Trick cards from his Bag of Tricks. You may not play Trick cards during any other phases, and Trick cards are the only cards that you can play during these phases. You may play as many Trick cards as you like.

To play a Trick card, you reveal one of the Trick cards in your Bag of Tricks to all players and then follow the instructions on it. When a card says "you", it refers to the person playing the card. When it says "Bomb holder", it refers to the person holding the Bomb.

When you play Trick cards, you normally resolve them one at a time before a new Trick card can be played. If several players want to play Trick cards at the same time, they do it in clockwise order beginning with the Bomb holder.

To play a Trick card, its effect must be legal. For an effect to be legal, it must be possible to carry it out completely according to the instructions on the Trick card. If the effect isn't legal, you may not play that Trick card.

Some Trick cards have special effects that work differently from regular Trick cards:

Temporary effects

Trick cards with temporary effects are active until the current turn ends. Put them face-up in front of you and discard them when the Bomb is passed.

Permanent effects

Trick cards with permanent effects are active until the Bomb is secured or explodes. Put them face-up in front of you and discard them when they're no longer active.

Interrupting effects

Trick cards with interrupting effects can be used to cancel or take control of the effects of other Trick cards. You play them immediately after the Trick card you want to interrupt.

Secret missions

Some Trick cards have a secret mission in addition to their regular effect. Instead of using the regular effect you can use the secret mission to increase your score. If you fulfill the conditions of the secret mission, you can discard the Trick card when calculating the score and will then receive extra Gold Coins as stated on the Trick card.

When the Bomb explodes

1. Determine who survives and who's killed. To do this, first find out who's directly affected by the explosion by looking at the Bomb. Normally only the Bomb holder is affected, but Gadget cards in the Bomb can change that. Then, find out if any active Trick cards make the explosion affect other players as well, or protect players from being killed. A player is killed if he's affected by the explosion and hasn't got any protection from being killed.
2. Calculate the score.

Players earn pay according to the following:

• Survival pay: Every player who survives the explosion gets 1 Gold Coin.
• Hazard pay: A player who holds the Bomb when it explodes and survives gets 1 Gold Coin.
• Piecework pay: Every player who has Mechanisms in his Bag of Tricks and survives gets 1 Gold Coin for each Mechanism.
• Secret mission pay: Every player (even killed ones) who discards Trick cards with secret missions during this phase gets Gold Coins according to the text on the Trick cards.

3. Return all Mechanism cards in all players' Bag of Tricks and in the Bomb to the Mechanism pile.
4. Shuffle all Bomb cards, draw a random Bomb card and assemble a new Bomb.
5. Discard all active Trick cards with temporary and permanent effects, all cards in the killed players' Bag of Tricks and all remaining cards in the old Bomb.
6. Deal every killed player four cards (they've been resurrected) and every surviving player one card. Deal from the bottom of the Storage so that it's not possible for others to see which cards they get.
7. The player to the left of the player who held the exploding Bomb continues the game with the new Bomb.

Winning

The first player who gets 10 Gold Coins bribes the troll guards, leaves his miserable companions to their own fate and wins the game. If several players get 10 Gold Coins or more at the same time, the player with the most Gold Coins wins. If there's still a tie, the victory is shared between the players with the most Gold Coins.