Crumbs Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Set Up
  • Setting Up the Fences
  • Dropped Critters
• Gameplay
  • 1. Turn Phase
    • Daily Buzz Cards
    • Daily Buzz Card Breakdown
    • Actions
    • Movement - Cost: 2
    • Spawn a Critter - Cost: 5
    • Dog Drop - Cost: 2
    • Pieces Affected by Dropped Pieces
    • Dog Placement - Cost: 5
    • Special Action - Cost: X
  • 2. Feeding Phase
  • Scuffling
• Winning the Game
• Rule Clarifications
  • A Drop
  • Fountain Space
  • Attack/Defense
  • +Crumbs/-Crumbs
  • Ties
• Alternate Rules
  • Starting Spaces
  • Alternate Maps
  • Longer or Shorter Game
  • Race to the Finish

Game Components

• (a) 40 Daily Buzz cards
• (b) 39 wooden critters (11 grey pigeons, 9 brown chipmunks, 9 yellow ducks, 9 orange squirrels, 1 black dog)
• (c) 20 beige wooden crumbs
• (d) 12 blue wet crumbs
• (e) 9 brown stockpile crumbs
• (f) 4 crumb trackers
• (g) 4 animal sheets
• (h) 4 black plastic fences
• (i) 4 green feeder dice
• (j) 2 white scuffle dice
• (k) 1 alternate park map (double sided)
• (l) 1 main park board (double sided)
• (m) 1 Crumb Trail score sheet
• (n) 1 Granny's Favor token

Set Up

1. Choose which park map you would like to play with and set up the fences according to the diagram on the right.
2. Shuffle the Daily Buzz cards, and separate out a pile facedown equal to the number of players in the game multiplied by 5. This is your Daily Buzz deck for the game. You can place the remainder of the cards back in the box.
3. Roll all of the green feeder dice and place them randomly on the marked spots on the map. (After this initial setup, to keep track of which die belongs to which space when rerolling: roll and place them one at a time.)
4. Each player chooses an animal (at random or by choice) and takes its corresponding animal sheet and wooden pieces (critters).
5. Place the Crumb Trail near the board and place the crumb trackers at 5 on the Crumb Trail.
6. Place the Daily Buzz deck near the track at the top of the Crumb Trail, and place the dog critter on the dog house.
7. To determine who gets the first player token (Granny's Favor), find out whoever last fed an animal. Or decide randomly! That player takes the Granny's Favor token.
8. The player with Granny's Favor collects critters from each army playing the game (2 from each animal army, except the pigeons who always start with 3) and performs a drop. Immediately resolve any resulting scuffles. ("Drops" and "Scuffling" are described in detail later.)
9. The game begins!

Setting Up the Fences

(a) Choose which map you want to play on for this game and insert the plastic fences into the slots of the game board, one at a time, until all 4 fences are inserted. With the fences inserted all the way into the board, the board with fences should stand on its own as shown below.

(b) If you want to play with one of the maps on the additional alternate map sheet provided, align the slots on the sheet with those on the game board and insert the plastic fences through both.

Dropped Critters

Whenever a critter is dropped, the space where the majority of the head of the critter is sitting is considered to be the space that the critter has fallen into. For the dog critter, it is the majority of its snout.

Gameplay

Play takes place in a series of rounds, kept track of by the Daily Buzz card deck. Once the final Daily Buzz card is drawn, and that player has finished their turn, players then complete one final crumb drop and scoring before determining the winner. Each round consists of four phases. The four phases are:

1. Turn Phase
2. Feeding Phase
3. Score Phase
4. Reset Phase

1. Turn Phase

Whichever player has Granny's Favor takes their turn first, followed by the other players in clockwise order. A turn consists of two parts:

(a) Draw and Resolve a Daily Buzz Card (b) Take Actions

Daily Buzz Cards

The active player draws a Daily Buzz card at the beginning of their turn. They read it aloud and resolve its effects immediately, placing it in the next available space on the Crumb Trail.

Cards can affect all players. If any card has a round-lasting effect (such as +1 to attacks), that card's effects continue throughout the remainder of the other players' turns until the end of the round, with card effects stacking if possible.

Daily Buzz Card Breakdown

• Card Backs
• Card Title (for example, "LOUD NOISE")
• Card Effect (for example, "Pick up all the critters currently in the fountain and drop them over the center of the board. Resolve any scuffles.")

Cards always affect all players unless otherwise specified. Whenever a card refers to "you", it refers to the player who drew the card. Card effects resolve immediately, and some effects may last for the entire round.

Actions

After drawing a Daily Buzz card, players may do the following actions in any order they see fit. Each player may perform one free movement action during their turn. All other actions cost crumbs. Whenever a player must pay crumbs to perform an action (or for any other reason), they do so by moving their tracker crumb back down the Crumb Trail the respective amount. A player may perform as many actions as they wish during their turn, if they can afford those actions. Once the player has finished performing actions, they pass, and the next player takes their turn. The actions include:

• Movement
• Spawn a Critter
• Dog Drop
• Dog Placement
• Special Action

Movement - Cost: 2

Move up to 3 of your critters from one space (including the fountain space) into any adjacent space. Adjacent spaces are those which share a side (NOT a corner). If a player ends their movement in an enemy-controlled space, a scuffle begins automatically, with the active player considered the attacker (see "Scuffling" below).

Spawn a Critter - Cost: 5

Take a critter from your resource pool and place it onto a space already containing one or more of your critters, or on the fountain space.

Dog Drop - Cost: 2

Take the dog critter from the dog house and perform a drop with him. The dog critter is a special piece that scares the park animals from coming out to collect crumbs. Wherever he lands, the dog gives that space a value of zero, meaning that any crumbs in that space do not get scored. The dog may be purchased multiple times in one round. He will be removed from the board and placed back in the dog house during the Reset Phase.

Pieces Affected by Dropped Pieces

When any game pieces including crumbs, the dog, or critters are dropped onto the game board for any reason, pieces on the board that are moved around stay where they are and are resolved immediately, even in the middle of a turn.

This means that if a critter lands in another player's space, they must scuffle with the other player/s in that space. Whatever player controlled that space prior to the drop is considered the defender, and the player/s that entered the space are considered the attacker/s. If critters are knocked during a crumb drop, any scuffles must be resolved before the Scoring Phase.

If any special crumbs (brown stockpile crumbs or blue wet crumbs) are knocked into a space by dropped pieces, they are scored immediately by the controller of the space they were knocked into.

(Example image: Pigeons move 3 critters and attack the Ducks in a space in which the ducks have 2 critters. The Pigeons roll a 1 and the Ducks roll a 3. The Ducks win with a total combat value of 5 against the Pigeon combat value of 4. Because they lost, the Pigeons move all 3 critters to the fountain space.)

Dog Placement - Cost: 5

You may instead choose to pay more crumbs to place the dog critter on any space you wish. Wherever he is placed, the dog gives that space a value of zero. This may be purchased multiple times in one round. The dog will stil be removed during the Reset Phase.

Special Action - Cost: X

You perform the special action described on your animal sheet. Each animal army has a special action that only they can use!

2. Feeding Phase

The player with Granny's Favor performs a crumb drop by picking up and dropping all 20 crumbs at once. If any fall or bounce out of the board, pick them up and drop those stray crumbs again.

Scuffling

A scuffle is a great battle between two or more ultra-powerful armies of cute lil' critters in the park. They occur automatically when a player moves their critters into a space controlled by an opponent. The player with the highest combat value wins the scuffle. A player's combat value is determined by two primary things: the number of critters they have participating in this scuffle, and the result of their scuffle die roll.

When a scuffle begins, all players involved roll a single scuffle die, and add the result to the number of critters participating in said scuffle, as well as any other modifiers (such as Daily Buzz cards). Any player that wants to modify their combat value using an ability must do so before scuffle dice are rolled. Once the winner is determined, the loser/s move all of their critters that were involved in the scuffle into the fountain space. The winner controls the space.

Ties in a scuffle always go to the attacker. However, in a scuffle where there is no clear attacker or defender (such as two or more players' critters being knocked into a space which neither player controlled beforehand), players simply keep making combat rolls until one player rolls high enough to win.

Positioning Critters on the Board

During a player's turn, they may alter the positions and placements of their critters within the spaces they reside however the see fit. No player may move around another player's critters, nor may they move their own critters around during any time other than their own turn (unless picking up knocked over pieces). Critters may not be placed up against or touching the fences, and they may not be placed lined up side by side (that is, there must be some space between each critter).

Immediately following the crumb drop, adjust all the fallen crumbs to clearly distinguish their locations. Sometimes, crumbs will fall onto the border between two spaces, or on the line between grass and pond. If it is unclear, a majority of players must agree on which space or area most of the crumb sitting on. Move the crumbs accordingly so they are clearly distinguished.

3. Scoring Phase

Scoring takes place in turn order, starting with the player with Granny's Favor and moving clockwise. Players multiply the number of crumbs that land in a space they control by that space's value to determine the crumb points gained from that space. Once they've added up all their crumbs points, they move their tracker crumb up the Crumb Trail according to the total number of points they received.

Any crumbs that land in ponds count as zero for the controller of the space when scoring, unless the space containing that pond is controlled by the ducks, in which case they are scored normally. The fountain space is considered to have a value of zero. Therefore, crumbs that fall into the fountain space are not scored by any players that may have critters residing there.

Example: The pigeons are scoring. 2 crumbs fell into their space with a feeder dice set to 3, and 1 crumb is on their space with a static value of 2. The pigeons will score 8 total crumbs this round.

Animal Army Sheet Breakdown

• A glorious illustration of your valiant army to boost morale and remember who you're fighting for
• A little reminder of what side of the animal sheet you're looking at
• The species of your brave warriors
• Each army has a unique animal ability they can use to best their enemies
• They also have a unique upgrade condition, which allows them to flip their sheet and use an upgraded version of their animal ability
• Each army also has a unique special action they can pay to use
• You can arrange your critters here (the row of critter silhouettes along the bottom of the sheet)

Pigeons example sheet:

PIGEONS

Fidgety Flocks: You start with 3 pigeons on the board instead of 2. You have a total of 11 critters, and critters only cost you 4 crumbs to spawn. When you have 9 pigeons on the board, flip this card.

(Special Action) Feathered Friends - Cost 2: Fly up to 3 pigeon critters from any spaces on the board to 1 other pigeon-occupied space, ignoring distance.

4. Reset Phase

Now that all the players have scored, reset for the next round.

1. Transfer the Granny's Favor token to the player with the most crumbs on the Crumb Trail. That player will now begin the next round.
2. Pick up all of the crumbs from the board (except those which would not leave the board because of special abilities) and place them off to the side.
3. Remove the dog from the board (if it was dropped or placed during the round) and put it back in the dog house.
4. Finally, clear up the Daily Buzz cards and place them in a face-up discard pile.

Crumb Trail Breakdown

The Crumb Trail is the score track. It shows a quick player reference for all to enjoy, including a round order and an action cost table:

Round Order

1. Turn Phase (a. Draw Daily Buzz Card & Actions)
2. Feeding Phase
3. Scoring Phase
4. Reset Phase

Actions

• First Movement: Free
• Additional Movement: 2 Crumbs
• Spawn a Critter: 5 Crumbs
• Dog Drop: 2 Crumbs
• Dog Placement: 5 Crumbs
• Special Action: X Crumbs

Other callouts on the Crumb Trail: the top of the track is where you place your drawn Daily Buzz card in order (you can do so above this track); the dog critter is kept in the dog house on the Crumb Trail when he is not on the board; and the numbered track (1 to 100) is where you keep track of the score.

Winning the Game

Once the Daily Buzz deck runs out, the game ends following the scoring of the current round. The player who drew the last Daily Buzz card finishes their turn, and players complete one final crumb drop and scoring as normal. The player with the most total crumbs wins the game!

If there is a tie for winner, both players rule sovereign over the park, consuming the souls of the losing animal armies and securing their power for eternity.

Rule Clarifications

A Drop

Any time a card or rule refers to "a drop" (whether that be a dog drop, crumb drop, or dropping critters), it is always done in the same way. Pick up all of the game pieces you are instructed to drop, and hover your hand/s about a foot above the center of the board. Be as central as possible, and release all of the pieces at once over the board, trying not to drop the pieces off to one side or the other. If any pieces make their way over the fences and out of the board, simply gather the stray pieces and drop them over the center of the board in the same manner until everything is settled.

If your group finds that there isn't quite enough (or there is too much) "bounce" when dropping pieces, try adjusting the drop height or playing on a different surface (the harder the surface the higher the bounce and vice versa).

Fountain Space

The fountain space is the large area of grey on each park map with an illustration of a fountain. This is where critters go when defeated in a scuffle. It has a permanent value of 0, and is a neutral space shared by all players. It is the only space on the map where players' critters may peacefully coexist without triggering a scuffle.

Players may voluntarily move critters into and out of the fountain space as though it were a normal empty space. They may also spawn a critter in it, even if they don't currently have any critters there.

The water in the fountain space does not function like the ponds.

Attack/Defense

The attacking player or players are the ones who trigger a scuffle by entering a space that another player controls. This is usually the active player or players whose critters have just been knocked into a space. The defending player is the one who controls the space being fought over in a scuffle.

An "attack value" refers to the combat value for the "attackers" and the "defense value" is the combat value of the "defenders".

Additions to attack or defense from Daily Buzz cards add to the total attack or defense combat value of a player during a scuffle. They can stack on each other if multiple Daily Buzz cards like these are drawn in one round.

+Crumbs/-Crumbs

When a card says "+2 crumbs" or "-2 crumbs", the players affected move their tracker crumb up or down the Crumb Trail as is necessary.

Ties

Unless otherwise specified elsewhere, any time there is a tie in the game (for the player in first place when transferring Granny's Favor, in a battle in which there is no attacker, when players cannot decide which space a crumb has fallen on, etc) each player involved rolls a scuffle die once. The player who rolls higher wins the tie. If players roll the same value, simply keep rolling until one player succeeds over the other/s.

Alternate Rules

Starting Spaces

During setup, if your group would prefer a less random way to determine starting spaces for each animal army during step #8, try this method:

Starting with the first player, each player places 1 critter on any empty space or space already containing their own critters. A player may not place a critter in any space containing an opponent's critters during this setup. Each player does the same until all players have placed 2 critters. After all the players have finished placing their 2 critters, the pigeons (if playing) may place a third critter following the same rules as above.

Note: The squirrels may NOT place their critters in spaces with other players during this initial setup.

Alternate Maps

Thereh are a selection of maps to choose from when you play. Pick whichever map suits your group best!

Longer or Shorter Game

If you wish to play a game with more or less rounds, do this during the set up:

After shuffling the Daily Buzz cards, separate out a pile facedown equal to the number of players in the game multiplied by the number of rounds you would like to play. The maximum game length possible is 10 rounds.

Race to the Finish

Looking to freshen things up a bit? This is an alternate way to play where players set a specific number of points as a finish line, and the first animal army to make it to that finish line wins!

HOW TO PLAY:

Shuffle all 40 Daily Buzz cards and set them aside as normal. This is your Daily Buzz deck for the game. If you ever run out of cards during the game, simply shuffle the discard pile together to form a refreshed Daily Buzz deck.

Determine a point value to be your win condition for the game. We suggest 50, but you may choose any number on the track.

Whichever player reaches this point value first wins the game immediately. Because scoring is done in turn order, this means that a player early in turn order may reach the goal and end the game before the other players score, even if other players would have also reached the goal on their upcoming turn.

Keep in mind, using this alternate win condition means the game can potentially be much longer or shorter than when using the standard rules, due to the nature of players spending or saving their crumbs.