Band Grab
Band Grab Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
The goal of Band Grab is to collect cards to build a band and to use that band to play a gig (a live music performance). The first player to play a gig wins the game!
Set Up
Make sure you have a table or flat playing area large enough for all players.
Start the game by shuffling all the cards together then dealing 3 cards to each player. These cards form each player's Hand and should be kept private and off the table. A player's Hand should not be confused with a player's Band!
Next, place the deck (all unused cards) face-down in the middle of the table.
Finally, choose a player to have the first turn.
How to Play
Players take turns one at a time. Each player has their turn after the player on their right.
On each of your turns, you must choose to complete one action only! For example, you cannot draw and play on the same turn.
There are 3 different action options to choose from on each turn, as explained throughout the rest of these instructions.
Option 1 - Draw a Card
If you choose to draw a card on your turn, simply pick up one card from the top of the deck and add it to your Hand.
You cannot choose to draw a card if you already have 5 cards in your Hand.
Option 2 - Play a Card
If you choose to play a card (use a card), you can play any one card from your Hand. Each type of card is played differently, as explained below.
Musician Cards (Purple Background)
These cards can be played face-up onto the table in front of you. Once a musician is on the table, it is counted as a band member and is now a part of your Band. Every player has their own Band with their own different musicians in it, each visible to all players.
Every musician has an instrument type (either Vocals, Treble, Bass or Drums), as shown by a symbol in the top right corner of the card.
Your Band can only contain one of each instrument type at any time.
If you play a musician card with an instrument type that is already in your Band, you must swap the card of the matching instrument type back into your Hand.
Each musician card also has two or three genre symbols at the bottom of the card. These symbols represent the genres of music each musician is skilled at performing. Some musicians are extra skilled in a certain genre and have two of the same genre symbol.
A Band with at least 6 matching genres is ready to play a gig and win the game. This is explained on page 7.
Support Cards (Blue Background)
These cards are played exactly like musician cards except that instead of genres, they each have a special ability written on them.
When a support card is a part of a Band, its special ability applies to the player that owns the Band. Support abilities apply regardless of the other rules in these instructions.
Just like each instrument type, you can only have one support card in your Band at a time. You can have a support card in your Band even if you have no musicians in it.
Event Cards (Green Background)
These cards are played face-up onto a pile beside the deck called the event pile. When you play an event card, you must follow the instructions on that card, even if following the instructions has no effect.
Note: If you use an event card to steal a band member, the stolen card must enter your Band immediately and the card it replaces (if any) must be given to the Band of the player you stole from. If you are required to steal a card from a player's Hand instead, the stolen card must enter your Hand, not your Band.
Gig Cards (Orange Background)
You can use a gig card to play a gig and win the game!
To play a gig, simply play the gig card anywhere onto the table! But you can only play a gig if your band has at least 6 matching genres in it (for example, 6 Jazz genres).
If your Band has the matching genres required when you play the gig card, then you win the game and the game is over!
Option 3 - Dump a Card
If you do not want to use a particular card in your Hand, you can place it face-up onto the event pile to get rid of it. This action counts as your whole turn.
You cannot dump event cards (green cards). Any event card placed on the event pile must be played (not dumped).
Finishing the Game
Continue playing until one player wins by playing their first gig!
Note: If all the cards in the deck are drawn before the game is finished, players can then also win by playing the Busking Gig event card on their turn!