Caper (1970)
Caper (1970) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
The object is to be the player who obtains the highest number of points by stealing jewels.
Equipment
The equipment consists of a playing board and three platforms, three patrol cars, a deck of cards, a pair of dice, four jewels, four thief pieces, and a variety of tools.
Preparation
Open the board and locate the platforms according to the illustration. Place the jewels in their respective vaults as marked. Locate the playing pieces in the indicated starting positions. Assign each player the playing piece nearest him. Each player should note that his hideout, to which he will proceed after stealing a jewel, is on the opposite side of the board from where he starts. (After each game, rotate the board 90° so that each player has a different piece and a different hideout.) Each player takes the following equipment for his stockpile: one ladder, one screwdriver, one pipewrench, one wirecutter and one knife. Place the remaining tools aside into a general supply depot. Shuffle the cards and deal four to each player which he holds out of view of the other players. Stack the rest of the cards face down in a draw pile. Select one player to go first.
The Play
A player always begins his turn by rolling the dice. The number rolled determines what steps he will take. If doubles are rolled, regardless of other rules, the player will always be entitled to another roll. Prior to moving his piece, a player must determine which of his cards and pieces of equipment, if any, he will use on his turn. Any one or all of his cards may be "turned in." (All cards "turned in" are placed face up beside the draw pile.)
Only after a player has turned in all the cards he intends to use, may he place tools on the board and/or move his piece. A piece may be moved in any direction except diagonally and may change direction during the move. Each square on the grid counts as one space. A piece may enter or leave the grid area from any space except as noted under the section—Streets and Hideouts. A PLAYER MUST USE THE ENTIRE COUNT ON THE DICE. EACH COUNT ON THE DICE IS EQUAL TO ONE SPACE MOVED ON THE BOARD OR TO THE PLACEMENT OF ONE TOOL ON THE BOARD.
Before ending his turn, a player may "discard" any one or more cards remaining in his hand. He must, as the final action on his turn, replenish from the draw pile any cards "turned in" or "discarded" so that he ends his turn with four cards in hand.
The Use of Cards
Tool cards may be turned in for the tools which they represent and such tools may be used on that player's turn along with any other tools in his stockpile or he may add the tools received to his stockpile provided no more than five tools remain in his pile at the end of a turn.
If a Tool Theft card is turned in, the player may remove any one tool from the board or from the stockpile of any opponent, and that tool may be used as stated above.
If an Auto Placement card is turned in, the player locates an automobile as indicated. If all three automobiles are already on the board, any one of these may be moved to the new location.
If a Roll Again card is turned in, the player is entitled to another roll of the dice. A player may use only one Roll Again card on any one turn.
Obstacles
Players will encounter the following obstacles: bars, doors, alarms, barbed wire fences, and vaults. No obstacle may be passed unless the proper tool has been placed to clear the way. Pipewrenches are used to remove bars; knives are used to open doors; screwdrivers are used to silence alarms; wirecutters are used to cut through wire, and any tool can break through glass cases.
Before entering or exiting through a door or barred window, a player must place the appropriate tool on the barrier indicated. When entering or leaving a vault (the eight spaces surrounding a jewel), a player may use only those spaces inside the vault on which appropriate tools have been placed. Any tool placed remains on the board unless it is stolen. A player is not required to place a new tool to clear an obstacle which has an appropriate tool in place.
Players must remember that barbed wire fencing may be penetrated only at the point where wirecutters have been placed.
Ladders
Ladders are placed on the board in the same manner as the other tools. A ladder is placed against a wall to connect a square on any level with the square directly above or below on the next level (diagonal climbing is not permitted). Unlike other tools, ladders may be used only once, whether for an ascent or a descent. Once used they must be returned immediately to the general supply depot. If on a turn a player intends to make an ascent and a descent in the same location, he must be able to place two ladders on that location on his turn. A player may end his dice count by placing a ladder in front of his piece and under these conditions the ladder is not yet used and it remains on the board available to any other player for one ascent or descent, or is vulnerable to theft. (A ladder may also be stolen from an opponent's stockpile.)
Stealing a Jewel
A jewel may not be stolen until all alarms in its vault have been deactivated with screwdrivers (the sapphire has no alarms). To place a screwdriver on an alarm square, a player must land on or pass over that square. A player may steal a jewel only by landing on or passing through the jewel space. At that time the jewel is placed in the thief's hideout WHICH IS LOCATED ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BOARD FROM WHERE THE THIEF'S PIECE BEGAN. Although the jewel has been stolen, it is not considered safe until the thief has moved his piece in normal play to his hideout, where he must land by exact count. Only then is the jewel removed from the playing board to be kept by the thief who immediately scores points equaling the value of the jewel.
While proceeding to his hideout to complete the theft of his jewel, the thief may try to steal other jewels on the way. However, he takes the chance that jewels in his hideout will be captured before his piece successfully reaches the hideout.
Captures
After a thief has taken a jewel, he may be captured by any other player. A thief is captured when an opponent's piece lands by exact count on the same space as his piece. When a thief is captured, any jewels in his hideout are placed in the hideout belonging to the capturing thief, and the piece belonging to the captured thief must be returned to its own starting space. The capturing thief must then attempt to return his piece in normal play to his hideout without getting captured, so that he may remove those jewels from the playing board and score points for himself.
Streets and Hideouts
Players may move their pieces rapidly around the board by using the streets. A space on a street is equal to two spaces on the regular grid area. Each hideout is wholly contained within a street and is subject to the same rules as the rest of the street. Whenever an auto is placed on a street no player may ENTER HIS PIECE ONTO THAT STREET DIRECTLY FROM THE REGULAR GRID AREA. Entry to a street that has a car on it may be made only by entering the nearest street without an auto, and by proceeding along the street spaces as in normal play.
Winning the Game
The game is over when all the jewels have been stolen and removed from the board, or when enough jewels have been won by one player so that no other player can accumulate a greater number of points.
Points
The diamond equals 1,000 points, the ruby equals 800 points, the emerald equals 600 points, and the sapphire equals 400 points.