Big Badaboom Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal
• Game Components
• Setup
• A Player Turn
  • 1. Draw phase
  • 2. Trick phase 1
  • 3. Tinkering phase
  • Armed Bomb
  • Secure Bomb
  • 4. Trick phase 2
  • 5. Explosion phase
  • 6. Pass phase
• Trick Cards with Special Effects
• When the Bomb Explodes
• Game End
• Optional Rules
• Example of Play
  • Example 1: How to handle turn order
  • Example 2: How to arm the Bomb and use interrupt effects
  • Example 3: How to determine when the Bomb explodes
  • Example 4: How to determine the effect of the explosion and calculate the score

Goal

The players take turns tinkering with various Bombs, one after another, until they explode. They earn Gold Coins for each explosion by surviving, salvaging Mechanisms and fulfilling secret missions. The first player who earns 10 Gold Coins bribes himself out of the bomb research dungeon and wins the game.

Game Components

• 10 Bomb cards. These cards specify the design of the Bomb. When starting a new Bomb, it consists of one Bomb card and a number of Mechanism cards.
• 10 Mechanism cards. These cards represent the various safety Mechanisms in the Bomb. During the course of the game you remove them from the Bomb, making the Bomb progressively more dangerous. If you manage to salvage Mechanisms so that they aren't destroyed in the explosion, they'll increase your score.
• 7 Gadget cards. These cards represent various Gadgets that you can put into the Bomb to change the effect of the explosion. There can never be more than one Gadget card in the Bomb.
• 47 Trick cards. These cards represent all the Tricks a sneaky goblin engineer possesses. You can play them from your hand or use them to replace cards in the Bomb. If you play them from your hand, they affect the game in various ways. If you use them to replace cards in the Bomb, they don't have any effect at all. They just take up space in the Bomb.
• 18 Resurrection cards. These cards describe various resurrection penalties that might affect you each time you're resurrected. Put them aside unless you're playing with the optional rules (see "Optional rules").
• 50 Gold Coin markers.
• 1 Closed marker.
• 1 Bomb Armer marker.

Setup

1. Put the Bomb cards and Mechanism cards aside from the rest of the deck in separate piles. These are the Bomb and Mechanism 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 Mechanism cards. Put the cards face up with the Bomb card on top so that all players can see what type of Bomb it is but not what it consists of.
3. Shuffle the deck and deal every player 4 cards. This is their hand.
4. Place the deck in the center of the table with the cards face up. This is the draw pile. All players can see the next card that will be drawn. Only the top card should be visible. Reserve space next to the draw pile for a discard pile. When you discard cards to the discard pile, you put them face down. When the draw pile is empty, you shuffle the discard pile and put it face up to become the new draw pile.
5. The most goblin-like player starts the game with the first Bomb and takes the first turn.

A Player Turn

A player's turn starts when the Bomb is passed to him and ends when he passes the Bomb to the next player. Normally the Bomb is passed clockwise, but certain cards can change that. During his turn a player goes through a number of phases. The Bomb can be stolen or passed during his turn, so he may not always complete all phases. When a Bomb is passed to another player, or even back to the same player, that player begins a new turn from the very first phase.

Variable turn order

The player taking the current turn is considered the Bomb holder. The Bomb holder may look at the cards in the Bomb whenever he wants to. The other players may not look at the cards in the Bomb, but they should always be allowed to see the back of the cards in the Bomb so that they can see the number and type of cards in it.

Visibility of cards in the Bomb.

A turn consists of six phases:

1. Draw phase. The Bomb holder draws a card.
2. Trick phase 1. Any player may play Trick cards.
3. Tinkering phase. The Bomb holder may swap one of the cards in his hand for one of the cards in the Bomb.
4. Trick phase 2. Any player may play Trick cards.
5. Explosion phase. The Bomb holder checks if the Bomb explodes.
6. Pass phase. The Bomb holder passes the Bomb to the next player.

1. Draw phase

Draw a card from the draw pile. If the Bomb is armed, you may not draw a card. There's no upper or lower limit to the number of cards in your hand.

Draw a card unless the Bomb is armed.

2. Trick phase 1

Any player may play Trick cards from his hand. You may play as many cards as you like but only one at a time. Follow the instructions on the card and discard it afterwards. There is no set play order unless several players want to play a card at the same time. If so, they do it in clockwise order beginning with the Bomb holder.

No set play order unless several players want to act simultaneously.

Some Trick cards have special effects that work differently from regular Trick cards (see "Trick cards with special effects").

Trick phase 1 ends when no player wants to play any more Trick cards or when a player plays a Trick card that forces you to pass the Bomb. If a Trick card forces you to pass the Bomb, either to yourself or to another player, you skip the remaining phases except the pass phase.

3. Tinkering phase

You may tinker with the Bomb. This means that you swap one of the cards in your hand for one of the cards in the Bomb. It's optional to tinker with the Bomb, and you may only tinker with it once during the same tinkering phase. If you don't have any cards in your hand, you may not tinker with the Bomb.

Swap a card in the hand for a card in the Bomb.

Rules for tinkering with the Bomb:

• You may remove one card from the Bomb and must replace it with one card from your hand.
• You may not remove the Bomb card from the Bomb.
• 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 remove that Gadget card from the Bomb.
• 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 the Closed marker on top of the draw pile to indicate that players may not draw cards during the draw phase. You may still draw cards outside the draw phase if a card tells you to.
• Put the Bomb Armer marker in front of you to indicate that you're the one 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 trick phase 2. The same goes if you've tinkered with a Bomb that was already armed.

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.

Place the Closed and Bomb Armer markers.

Secure Bomb

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

• All players discard all active Trick cards with permanent effects (see "Trick cards with special effects").
• Remove the Closed marker from the draw pile and the Bomb Armer marker from the player who armed the Bomb.

Discard permanent effects and remove the Closed and Bomb Armer markers.

4. Trick phase 2

Trick phase 2 works exactly in the same way as trick phase 1.

5. Explosion phase

If the Bomb is secure, or if you armed it this turn, nothing happens. If the Bomb was already armed when the turn began and was never secure at any time during the turn, it explodes (see "When the Bomb explodes").

The Bomb explodes if it has been armed throughout the whole turn.

6. Pass phase

Put the Bomb face up with the Bomb card on top in front of the next player. Normally you pass the Bomb clockwise, but this may change during the game. All players discard all active Trick cards with temporary effects (see "Trick cards with special effects").

Pass the Bomb and discard temporary effects.

Trick Cards with Special Effects

Temporary effects. Trick cards with temporary effects are active until a player passes the Bomb, or the Bomb has exploded and the score has been calculated. Put them face-up in front of you and discard them when they're no longer active.

Permanent effects. Trick cards with permanent effects are active until a player secures the Bomb, or the Bomb has exploded and the score has been calculated. Put them face-up in front of you and discard them when they're no longer active.

Interrupt effects. Trick cards with interrupt 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. If another player wants to play a card without an interrupt effect, you have priority.

Secret missions. Some Trick cards have a secret mission in addition to their regular effect. If you fulfill the conditions of the secret mission, you can discard the Trick card when calculating the score to receive extra Gold Coins.

Example secret mission card: "SECRET MISSION: You get 1 Gold Coin if you're the Bomb holder when the Bomb explodes."

When the Bomb Explodes

1. Find out who survives and who's killed.

   • First, find out who's directly affected by the explosion by looking at the Bomb. Normally only the Bomb holder is directly affected. If there's a Gadget card in the Bomb, the Gadget card says who's directly affected.
   • Second, find out if any active Trick cards with temporary or permanent effects make the explosion affect other players as well, or protect players.
   • A player is killed if he's affected by the explosion without being protected.

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.
   • Salvage pay: Every player who has Mechanism cards in his hand and survives gets 1 Gold Coin for each Mechanism card.
   • 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.

   The sheet shows four icon-to-coin equations, one for each kind of pay.

3. Return the Bomb card to the Bomb pile and all Mechanism cards to the Mechanism pile.

4. Discard all active Trick cards with temporary and permanent effects, all cards in the killed players' hand and all remaining cards in the old Bomb.

Game End

The first player who earns 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.

Optional Rules

This game includes 18 Resurrection cards that you can add to the basic game for more slapstick humor.

Setup. Put the Resurrection cards in a separate Resurrection pile.

When the Bomb explodes.

1. All players discard their current Resurrection cards, if any.
2. Every killed player draws a Resurrection card and puts it face up in front of him.

Resurrection penalties. When you have a Resurrection card in front of you, you have to follow its instructions until the next explosion. Each time you fail to do so, you are fined 1 Gold Coin.

If you want to discard your Resurrection card before the next explosion, you have to pay 2 Gold Coins.

Example of Play

Five players, A to E, are playing with a "Human Bomb" containing 3 Mechanisms.

Example 1: How to handle turn order

Player A starts with the Bomb and takes the first turn. First he draws a card in the draw phase (1). No one plays any Trick cards in trick phase 1. In the tinkering phase player A removes a Mechanism card from the Bomb and replaces it with a Trick card from his hand (2). No one plays any Trick cards in trick phase 2. In the pass phase player A passes the Bomb to the next player, player B (3).

Player B starts his turn by drawing a card in the draw phase (4). In trick phase 1 player D plays "Give me that" to take the Bomb (5). Trick phase 1 immediately ends and player B passes the Bomb to player D (6).

Player D starts his turn by drawing a card in the draw phase (7). No one plays any Trick cards in trick phase 1. In the tinkering phase player D removes a Mechanism card from the Bomb and replaces it with a Trick card from his hand (8). In trick phase 2 player D plays "Give it a shot" and chooses himself as the player that the Bomb holder should pass the Bomb to (9). Trick phase 2 immediately ends and player D passes the Bomb to himself (10).

(Diagram of the example turns, numbered as in the text.)

Example 2: How to arm the Bomb and use interrupt effects

Player D starts his new turn by drawing a card in the draw phase (1). No one plays any Trick cards in trick phase 1. In the tinkering phase player D removes the last Mechanism card from the Bomb and replaces it with the Gadget card "Dead rat" (2). Since he has armed the Bomb, he puts the Closed marker on the draw pile and the Bomb Armer marker in front of himself. Also, he announces that the explosion won't affect the Bomb holder but the player to the left. In other words, if no one interferes, player D will pass the Bomb to player E, where it will explode and kill player A.

In trick phase 2 player C plays "Take that" to force player D to pass the Bomb to player C (3). However, player D plays "No way!" to cancel player C's card, so nothing happens (4).

Still in trick phase 2 player B plays "Give it a shot" and chooses that the Bomb holder should pass the Bomb to player B (5). Player E plays "I'll handle this!" to take control of player B's card and selects that the Bomb holder should pass the Bomb to player C (6). No one plays any further interrupt cards, so trick phase 2 immediately ends and player D passes the Bomb to player C (7).

(Diagram of the example, numbered as in the text.)

Example 3: How to determine when the Bomb explodes

Player C starts his turn but does not draw a card in the draw phase since the Bomb is armed. No one plays any Trick cards in trick phase 1, and player C does not tinker with the Bomb in the tinkering phase. In trick phase 2 player D, who is currently affected by the explosion since it affects the player to the left of the Bomb holder, plays "Say hello to my little friend" and chooses that the explosion should also affect player C (1). Now both player C and D are affected by the explosion.

Still in trick phase 2 player C plays "Bomb on a stick" and chooses that the explosion should also affect player B (2). Now player B, C and D are affected by the explosion, but player C is also protected by "Bomb on a stick" and won't get killed.

Still in trick phase 2 player B plays "Give me that" to force player C to pass the Bomb to him (3). Trick phase 2 immediately ends and player C passes the Bomb to player B (4). The temporary cards "Say hello to my little friend" and "Bomb on a stick" are discarded.

Player B starts his turn but does not draw a card in the draw phase since the Bomb is armed. No one plays any Trick cards in trick phase 1. In the tinkering phase, player B removes the Gadget card "Dead rat" from the Bomb and replaces it with the Gadget card "Marbles" (5). He announces that the explosion won't affect the Bomb holder but everyone else.

In trick phase 2, player A plays "Trolls hide" to become protected from the explosion (6).

In the explosion phase the Bomb explodes since it was armed when player B received it and never was secure at any time during his turn (7).

(Diagram of the example, numbered as in the text.)

Example 4: How to determine the effect of the explosion and calculate the score

The players now find out who survives and who's killed. Since the Gadget card "Marbles" says that the explosion doesn't affect the Bomb holder but everyone else, all players except player B are directly affected by the explosion. However, player A is protected from the explosion by "Trolls hide". This means that player A and B survives and player C, D and E are killed.

The score becomes as follows:

• Player A gets 2 Gold Coins, 1 Gold Coin for surviving the explosion and 1 Gold Coin for salvaging 1 Mechanism.
• Player B gets 2 Gold Coins, 1 Gold Coin for surviving the explosion and 1 Gold Coin for holding the Bomb and surviving.
• Player C does not get any Gold Coins.
• Player D does not get any Gold Coins, not even for his Mechanisms.
• Player E plays a Trick card with the secret mission "You get 1 Gold Coin if the player to your right dies in the explosion" and gets 1 Gold Coin.

The surviving players, player A and B, are dealt 1 card each. The killed players, player C, D and E, discard their hands and are dealt 4 cards. Player C assembles a new Bomb and takes the first turn with it.

(Diagram of the example.)