Carnival Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Set-Up
• Game Turn Summary
• Dice Roll Actions
• Using Tickets
• Winning
• Game Notes and Clarifications
• Strategy Notes
• Team Carnival for 4 Players

Game Components

• 80 Parts cards (20 each of banners, lights, materials, seats)
• 20 Midway base cards (4 each of bumper cars, carousel, ferris wheel, rollercoaster, swings)
• 6 Wild cards
• 12 Tickets
• 3 Dice
• 1 Tableau
• 4 Reference cards

Game Set-Up

• For a 2- to 3-player game, remove cards with white-tip ribbons.
• Give each player a set of 5 Midway cards; each card represents one of the 5 rides. These cards are placed in front of the player Ticket-side down; this is the player's Midway.
• Give each player one Wild card. Shuffle remaining Parts and Wild cards to form a deck. Deal each player 5 cards. These cards plus the Wild become the player's starting hand. Remove the same number of cards as players from the top of the deck and place face up in a single stack to start the discard pile.
• Give each player 3 Tickets.
• Place dice and tableau in center of play area within easy reach of all players.
• Youngest player goes first.

Example of 2-player set-up: diagram showing the draw deck, discard pile, a player's Midway, and each player's starting hand.

Game Turn Summary

1. If no cards are in the discard pile, take top card from deck and place face up in a single stack to create a discard pile.

2. If more than 6 cards in hand, discard down to 6 cards.

3. There are two options:

   a) Discard a Wild card from own hand or Midway along with any number of cards from hand; draw from deck the same number of cards as discarded (including Wild).

   -OR-

   b) Roll 3 dice; choose 2 and perform assigned action(s) (see pg. 5 for Dice Roll Actions - and exceptions for triples).

   All dice must be assigned to the tableau prior to any action being taken.

4. Begin building any number of rides and/or build upon any number of rides in own Midway, if desired.

   • To begin construction of a new ride, player must use a minimum of two different parts of same ride from hand (one of these cards may be a Wild).

     Diagram: 2+ cards played from hand.

   • NOTE: Players may add to a ride with less than two parts from their hand if there is already a single part in that player's Midway. This may occur from cards being stolen from existing sets or being placed into the Midway as a result of Dice Roll Actions (see pg. 5).

   • Player may add to existing, incomplete rides.

   • Ride is considered complete upon collecting each of its four parts (one to three Wilds may be used as parts).

   • If a natural set is built, turn entire stack over to reveal the Ticket-side of the Midway base card. A natural set consists of all 4 ride parts (banners, lights, materials, seats) with no Wild cards used.

     • NOTE: The four parts of a natural set can neither be traded with or against, nor taken. This set is considered locked for the rest of the game.

Dice Roll Actions

Two out of three dice are assigned to the tableau. If all three dice show the same value, the third die is assigned to the "bullseye" on the tableau and that player takes all three Actions.

Dice Roll Actions must be taken, but may be in any order.

• Deck Draw: Take a card from the top of the draw deck.
• Discard Draw: Take a card from the top of the discard pile.
• Hand Draw: Take a random card from another player's hand and add to own hand.
• Hand Trade: Take a random card from another player's hand, look at it, then set it aside. Choose a card from own hand and give to that player, then add the set aside card to own hand.
• Midway Trade: Take a card from another player's Midway and place that card in own Midway. Then give player one legal* card from own Midway to place in their Midway.
• Midway Steal: Take a card from another player's Midway, place that card in own Midway*, then choose one card from own hand and place face up on top of discard pile.

*NOTE: A player may never have two or more of the same card (except Wilds) in his Midway. Thus, in Midway Trade and Steal actions, a player cannot give or take a card that results in duplicate cards in his or target player's Midway.

Using Tickets

On his/her turn, a player may discard one (and only one) Ticket to:

• Add or subtract one pip from a die rolled before any actions are taken.
• Roll all three dice again.

On another player's turn, a player may discard one (and only one) ticket to:

• Block another player's Dice Roll Action immediately before that particular Action is taken, even if that Action does not directly involve the player discarding the Ticket.

TICKET NOTES:

• Each player may never have more than 3 Tickets; this includes any Tickets gained by completing natural sets.
• When adding or subtracting to the value of one die, a 6 cannot be changed to a 1, nor a 1 to a 6.
• Use of a Ticket can never be blocked.

A NOTE ON ACTION PROTOCOL:

• Players must declare the target player of a Dice Roll Action before taking that Action to give opponents the chance to block with a Ticket; however, players are not required to declare the card that is targeted. For instance, when declaring a Midway Steal, a player can say "I want to Midway Steal from you" but the player does not have to indicate which card he will take. If no Ticket is played to block the Action, then the target card is announced.

Winning

Play immediately ends when one player has achieved victory by building 4 (out of 5 possible) carnival rides in their Midway, whether they are completed with or without the use of Wilds.

Game Notes and Clarifications

• Dice Roll Actions must be taken, but there may be instances where this is not possible (for example: when a player has no cards in his Midway). In these cases, the player is not required to take all Dice Roll Actions.
• There is no limit to how many Dice Roll Actions can be taken against one player in a turn.
• Once a card has been played onto a Midway, it can never be placed back into any player's hand; it must always remain on a Midway.
• No player may look through the discard pile at any time.
• Wild cards may be reassigned to other established, incomplete rides in a player's Midway during Step 4 of that player's turn.
• A player taking or receiving a Wild card as a result of a Dice Roll Action may place it onto any established, incomplete ride in that player's Midway.
• Wild cards may never be left on their own (unattached to a Parts card) in a player's Midway. If at any time a Wild is left on its own as a result of Dice Roll Actions, etc., the Wild card must be immediately reassigned to an established, incomplete ride in that player's Midway, or else immediately discarded.

Strategy Notes

• Look for opportunities to use Tickets to get closer to completing a natural set; this may result in getting a Ticket back and bring victory closer.
• Remember that both Wild cards and the Hand Trade Dice Roll Action can help cycle useless cards out of hand.
• Players can only use one Ticket per turn. Take advantage of this to get a desired card from their Midway by using multiple instances of the same Action against them on a single turn; they can only block one of those Actions.

Team Carnival for 4 Players

Team Carnival is a blast, and is the recommended way to play with 4 players. Two teams are formed; teammates sit across from each other. All base game rules remain unchanged, except for:

• Each team (not player) is given 3 Tickets; this is the maximum number of Tickets a team may have at a time.
• On another player's turn, a team may discard one (and only one) ticket to Block a player's Dice Roll Action.
• Dice Roll Actions may be used on any player.
• The first team to complete 4 out of the 5 rides wins; completed rides from both team members' Midways are counted toward this total. Teammates may build rides of the same type in their respective Midways.