DC Breakout: Arkham Asylum
DC Breakout: Arkham Asylum Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Map Tiles (10 regular and 1 Armory)
- 40 Villain cards
- 32 Gadget cards
- 40 Hench tokens
- 40 Villain Standees and 6 bases
- 1 Clayface™ token
- 2 Dice
Setup
- Shuffle and deal 5 Villain cards face down to each player.
- Place remaining Villain cards in a facedown stack.
- Shuffle the Gadget cards and place them in a facedown stack next to the board.
- Each player chooses a Team Pawn.
- Remove the Armory tile from the map tiles.
- Shuffle the remaining tiles together, and place them in a stack.
Setting Up for the First Escape
DC Breakout: Arkham Asylum consists of two Escapes. Follow these steps to set up for the First Escape.
- Take three tiles at random and lay them out in a track. Place the remaining tiles to the side. Note: The tiles are designed so that they can be placed in either direction (i.e. the Triangles do not need to all be pointing in the same direction), although the short ends should be placed against each other. When shuffling, rotate some tiles 180°, and just place them as drawn.
- Add the Armory tile to the end of the track. Place the correct side up based on the number of players.
- Draw one of the remaining Villain cards and place it face up where shown on the Armory board.
- Each player selects two of their Villains to participate in this Escape as a team, and places them face down in front of them. When all players have selected their team, turn them all face up. Players should go over their special abilities and make sure everyone understands what they do. Players should take any starting tokens for their Villains and place them on the cards.
- Each player inserts standees for their two Villains into a Base, creating their Team Pawn. Place the pawns behind the first tile. This is called the "Start" area.
- Randomly select who will go first. Play proceeds clockwise from the start player.
Special Villain Powers
Each Villain has a special power. The powers for both of your Villains are always active, and can be used in any order you choose. Some powers require spending a token. Tokens always belong to a specific Villain; they may not be shared by their teammate.
Special powers and Gadget cards always take precedence over the normal game rules. At the back of the rules there is a more detailed explanation of some of the powers and the way they interact.
Board Spaces
Each board consists of 12 spaces. There are three different types of spaces:
- Square, Circle, Triangle: These shapes interact with some powers and items. About half the spaces are Squares, a third Circles, and a sixth Triangles.
- Gadget: Some Square spaces also have the Gadget icon. When you move onto one of these spaces you may stop moving and end your turn. If you end your turn on a Gadget space, and have fewer than three Gadget cards you draw the top one from the deck. You may not choose to stop moving on a Gadget space if you are moving backwards.
Taking a Turn
On your turn, roll a die. You move that many spaces forward on the track. You must move your full movement.
Example: If Catwoman™ ends her turn on a Triangle, she takes another turn.
Exception: You may always stop on a Gadget space.
Any number of teams may occupy the same space.
If you move your pawn off the last tile, you have Escaped.
Turns continue clockwise until all players except for one have Escaped.
Ending the First Escape
When you move off of the third tile, you have Escaped, and will earn a bonus based on your position. You no longer take turns in this Escape, and your Villains and powers no longer affect the other players. The other players continue until all but one player has Escaped.
Armory
The Armory contains all the Gadgets confiscated from Villains over the years.
When a player Escapes, they place their Team Pawn on the farthest Armory space matching the number of players and follow the directions.
Note: Depending on player count, some spaces may not be used.
The Armory spaces are numbered #4, #3, #2, #1. When you Escape, place your pawn on the box furthest to the right (so the first to Escape is placed on Draw 5 / Keep 2).
If there were four players, the second player to Escape would be placed in the Draw 3 / Keep 2 space.
Perform these steps:
- Place your pawn on the furthest unoccupied Armory space matching the player count.
- Discard down to one Gadget card (if you have more than one).
- Draw the number of Gadget cards shown, and decide which you want to keep. The others are placed face down on the bottom of the Gadget deck. If you have saved a Gadget card from the prior Escape, you may not use that as one of your discards. You must discard from the cards you draw in the Armory.
- You may exchange one of your unused Villain cards (you'll have three at the end of the first Escape) for the one on the Villain Exchange space on the Armory. A Villain you place there will be available for a future exchange by a player finishing later. There will always be a Villain available for exchange.
When all but one player have Escaped, the first Escape is over. The final player (who did not reach the Armory) moves their pawn to the last space on the Armory and performs the normal Armory Actions.
Starting the Second Escape
For the second Escape, follow the same steps as the first, except that a fourth regular tile is used instead of the Armory. As a reminder:
- Shuffle the remaining seven map tiles together and draw four to create a track.
- Each player selects two of their remaining three Villains for their team.
- All players reveal their Villains, take tokens, create their Team Pawns, and explain their powers.
- The player who finished the first Escape first (and is in the Draw 5 / Take 2 space) takes the first turn. Play proceeds clockwise as normal.
Ending the Second Escape
The final Escape ends when a pawn exits the last tile. The first player to do this wins the game! Players may continue to play to see who finishes second, third, etc.
Gadget Cards
Gadget cards are earned by stopping in a Gadget space, and in the Armory. Gadget cards may be played in any Escape. They are hidden from other players until played, and are placed face down on the bottom of the Gadget deck when used.
- Adrenaline: Play at the start of your turn. You take an extra turn at the end of your normal turn.
- Fickle Fingers of Fate: Autoroll a 5 if on a Circle.
- Fog Generator: Play at the end of your turn. Until the start of your next turn, any 6's that are rolled are turned to 1's.
- Four Leaf Clover: Autoroll a 4 if on a Circle.
- Grappling Hook: Play at the start of your turn. Advance to the space occupied by the team immediately ahead of you.
- Jet Pack: Play at the start of your turn. Skip Square spaces this turn.
- Lucky Coin: Reroll a die.
- Morph Powder: Play at the start of your turn. Gain the ability of an opposing Villain until the end of your turn. You are considered to have the same number of tokens they have (if any).
- Nanobots: Discard this item and draw two random items from the deck.
- Null Cloud: Play at the start of your turn. Cancel the ability of an opposing Villain for the duration of your turn.
- Phantom Zone™: Play at the end of your turn. The team(s) currently in the lead lose their next turn.
- Phase Shift: When an opponent targets your team with a Gadget discard this to cancel it.
Villain Abilities and Clarifications
- Teams in the START space before the first tile are never considered to be in the same space as another team, and are not affected by any abilities that apply to teams in the same or adjacent spaces (or any specific distance away).
- If abilities both multiply and add/subtract to a die roll, do the multiplication first, and then the addition/subtraction.
- Some abilities say you "Autoroll" a number. This means that it is as if you rolled that number, so it can be used with any abilities that are based on a die roll. The Autoroll number counts as the unmodified die roll. If an Autoroll is 'rerolled' (by The Joker™'s ability, for example), the Autoroll is spent.
- If you have several abilities or Gadgets that happen at the same time, like "End of Turn" or "After you roll" you may apply them in any order. This includes "Draw a Gadget Card at End of Turn" if you end your turn on a Gadget Square. The only exception is that multiply abilities must be used before add/subtract. Example: You play a Four Leaf Clover Gadget card for an Autoroll of '4'. The Joker™ spends a token to force you to reroll. The Gadget is discarded and you roll normally (or use a different dice roll-based ability).
- Teams who have finished the Escape are not considered to be 'ahead' of another team (for the purpose of Condiment King™'s ability, for example).
- Any abilities that "skip" spaces (like Harley Quinn™) or move directly to a space (like Kiteman™) ignore any effects on spaces that are skipped, like Killer Croc™.
- "Advance" means that you teleport to the destination space, ignoring anything in between.
Villains
- Bane™: You may use an Autoroll to substitute for rolling one of the two dice.
- Calendar Man™: If the 'Autoroll' is rerolled (by The Joker™, for example), you must roll a die for the reroll. However you still gain a token.
- Clayface™: As a reminder of who he is copying, Clayface™ can place his special token on the other Villain card.
- Condiment King™: Players who have Escaped do not count for who is in the lead.
- Copperhead™: Teams that start in the same space as Copperhead™ do not "pass" him. They must start on one side and end on the other. This ability triggers whether the other team is moving or Advancing forwards or backwards.
- Deadshot™: A Villain that is affected by Deadshot™'s ability is treated as if the text on their card is blank. If Riddler™ is targeted by Deadshot™, the Riddle has no effect for any player.
- Egghead™: If you predict Square and stop your turn on a Gadget, you gain the Gadget card before you Advance.
- Falcone™: You cannot use an 'Autoroll' for the second die roll, only for the first. Rerolls or modifiers (like Penguin™ or The Joker™) may be used on the first or second die. But after any rerolls or modifiers are applied to the first die roll and you decide to roll the second die you can't go back and reroll or otherwise change the first die. It is locked.
- Falcone™ and Bane™: If Falcone™ and Bane™ are on a team, first roll two dice and select one. This counts as the first roll for Falcone™. You may then decide whether or not to use Falcone™'s ability. The second roll will only be a single die.
Rules Summary
- At game start, deal five Villains to each player.
- Game is played over two Escapes.
- First Escape: Three random tiles plus Armory tile. Place Villain from remaining Villains face up on the Armory space.
- Second Escape: Four random tiles.
- Before each Escape, each player secretly selects two Villains, then all reveal at the same time.
- Randomly choose the first player for Escape 1. Then play proceeds clockwise.
- The winner of Escape 1 is the first player for Escape 2.
- On your turn, roll a die and move exactly that many spaces, except that you may always stop on a Gadget space.
- Villain special powers and Gadget cards supersede normal rules.
- When a player reaches the Armory they:
- Are placed on the rightmost space for player count
- Discard both the Villains they used
- Discard down to 1 Gadget card
- Draw and keep Gadget cards based on Armory space
- May swap one of their three remaining Villains for the Villain on the Armory tile
- In the Second Escape, the Villains who escape first win the game!