Doctor Who: Don't Blink Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Objective
  • Rounds
  • Choose Angels Phase
  • Hero Move Phase
    • Hero Movement
    • Picking up Repair Parts
    • Moving into the TARDIS
    • Dragging Angels
    • Hero Movement Examples
• Hero Card Phase
  • Hero Blink? Cards
  • Special Blink? Cards
  • Optional Rule: Timed Hero Turns
• Angel Phase
  • Frozen Angels
  • Move
  • Catch Attention
  • Capture
• Line of Sight
  • Line of Sight Examples 1
• Angels Entering Line of Sight
• Angels Taking Actions Already in Line of Sight
  • Line of Sight Examples 2
• Clean Up Phase
  • Special Blink? Cards
• Important Terms
• Round Example
• Appendix: Special Cards
  • The Doctor
  • Amy Pond
  • Rory Williams
  • Clara Oswald
• Quick Reference
  • Setup (page 4)
  • Round Sequence (page 6)
  • Line of Sight (page 10)

Components

• 9 Floor Tiles: The floorplan of the ship. The Doctor and companions must wander through the passages in search of the necessary parts to repair the TARDIS. Each of these tiles is split into multiple rooms. Rooms are separated by solid black lines and have blue illuminated doorways where two rooms connect. Squares containing obstacles must be moved around but do not block line of sight.
• TARDIS Tile: A 2×2-square tile that represents the TARDIS on the game board. This is where the heroes will need to bring the necessary parts to repair the ship and make their escape. This tile represents a single space for the purpose of counting movement. However, any number of Hero Standees can be on this tile at once, and Angel Standees may never be placed on or move through this tile.
• 4 Repair Part Tokens: The necessary parts to fix the TARDIS. The heroes need to have all of the parts in order to perform the necessary repairs. As soon as the TARDIS is repaired, they can use it to go back and rescue any heroes that were captured and make their escape.
• 8 Weeping Angels (with Plastic Bases): Numbered standees that represent both Weeping Angels and statues that appear identical to the angels, making it difficult for characters to distinguish between the two. The angel player is the only one to know which of these represent actual Weeping Angels.
• 1 Doctor and 3 Companions (with Plastic Bases): Each of these Hero Standees has a facing on it, indicating which direction the character is staring. The side with the character's image is considered the front; the side with the silhouette is the back. This becomes critically important because this is how characters keep watch on potential angels and prevent them from acting.
• 5 Reference Cards: Quick reference reminders of the rules for the players to use during the game.
• 4 Character Cards: Cards representing the Doctor and companions. They each provide a reminder of the character's special Don't Blink Card text.

Setup

1. Choose Teams: Decide which player will be taking the role of the Weeping Angels. That player takes all of the standees for the Weeping Angels, the 4 Action Point Tokens, and all of the Angel Identification Cards.

2. Choose Characters: Divide the Doctor and companion Character Cards and standees amongst the other players. These can be split up however the players choose.

3. Blink? Cards: The player controlling the Doctor takes the 20 Blink? Cards. They are allowed to look at the collection of cards at any time and share them with the other hero players. All players select from the same collection of cards, so they do not need to be divided amongst the different heroes.

4. Set Difficulty: Don't Blink is designed to be a very challenging game for the hero players. The recommended difficulty is to use 10 of the Don't Blink Cards for the hero players. If you are finding the game too difficult for the heroes, we recommend adding 2 more Don't Blink Cards (12 total), or only requiring 3 of the 4 Parts to repair the TARDIS. After all, the Doctor can use his sonic screwdriver to replace the missing part in a jam! If the game is still too challenging then apply both these options.

   Alternatively, if you want a more challenging game for the heroes, remove up to 2 of the Don't Blink Cards.

5. Set Up Floor Tiles: Create a 3×3 grid using the floor tiles, flipping and rotating them to randomise their setup. Tiles are mirrored on the front and back. Adjacent tiles need to use opposite sides (A/B) for the doorways to line up, this serves as the gameboard. Each tile is labelled in the corner (for example, 1A).

6. Place Repair Parts: Place one Repair Part on each floor tile in the corner of the 3×3 grid, in the space with the white circular outline.

You are now ready to play!

The Setup Diagram on page 5 of the rulebook is a picture of a completed setup, with its numbered callouts matching the setup steps above (for example, the Don't Blink Cards are shown as ×10).

Gameplay

Objective

The hero players immediately win when all of the Repair Parts have been returned to the TARDIS. At this point, the heroes repair the TARDIS and use it to recover any heroes lost to the Weeping Angels.

The angel player wins immediately if they capture all the heroes and steal their lifetimes.

Rounds

The game is played over several rounds. Each round has the following phases performed in order:

1. Choose Angels Phase
2. Hero Move Phase
3. Hero Card Phase
4. Angel Phase
5. Clean Up Phase

Choose Angels Phase

In this phase, the angel player selects which of the standees will represent Weeping Angels. They pick up all of the Angel Identification Cards and select up to 4 of them. These will be the standees that represent the very dangerous Weeping Angels. The angel player may select fewer than 4 if they choose to do so. They place these cards face-down on the table next to the board. The cards that are not selected can be placed into a pile off to the side. They will not be used this round.

The angel player gets to choose which of the statues are the real threats every round. They can select the same ones from one round to the next, or change any number of them in order to try and fool the heroes. Any standees not selected each turn are statues, and do not represent a threat to the heroes in this form.

Hero Move Phase

Each of the heroes takes a turn. The heroes may take turns in any order, but each hero must complete a turn before the next hero starts.

Hero Movement

Each hero can move up to 6 spaces on their turn.

All movement is to adjacent squares, players may not move diagonally. When heroes move, they may move through squares containing other heroes or Angel Standees. A hero can not move through an obstacle, and must move around it. Heroes must end in an empty square.

Once a hero stops their movement, they can set their facing in a clear direction to an adjacent square. Facing must be horizontal or vertical and clear to all players.

Heroes do not need to move. They can even remain in the same square if they choose and set their facing to any direction.

Picking up Repair Parts

Only heroes may pick up Repair Parts. They automatically pick up a part when they enter the square containing it. This does not stop their movement and does not take any movement points. The player places the Repair Part next to their Character Card to indicate they are carrying the Repair Part. A hero may carry multiple Repair Parts. Heroes may not voluntarily drop or hand off parts to other heroes.

If a character carrying any Repair Parts is captured, the Repair Parts they carried are placed on the board in the space the character had been standing in when they were captured.

Moving into the TARDIS

Any number of heroes can enter the TARDIS. After all, it's bigger on the inside! The TARDIS counts as a single space when determining how far a hero can move. However, the heroes in the TARDIS cannot see out of the TARDIS. As such, heroes in the TARDIS do not have a Blink? Card assigned to them on the turn they are in the TARDIS. This includes special Blink? Cards.

Furthermore, a hero cannot end two turns in a row on the TARDIS. If a hero starts their turn on the TARDIS tile, they must end their next turn outside of it. In its damaged state, it's dangerous for the heroes to remain on the TARDIS for too long.

The Doctor moves through the TARDIS tile, treating it as a single space.

Dragging Angels

When a hero is adjacent to an Angel Standee and they move, they may drag the angel statue with them. They can pull the angel statue into the space they just left. They can do this every space they move during the Hero Move phase. It is not possible to drag an Angel Standee into a space with another Angel Standee (i.e. it is impossible to drag two statues at once).

Hero players can use this to force Angel Standees to face each other, becoming stuck as described in "Frozen Angels" on page 9.

Hero Movement Examples

Amy moves 6 spaces. She moves freely through space 3 occupied by Rory, and automatically collects the Repair Part from space 5 as she moves, putting it on her Hero Card. Amy sets her facing north after she finishes moving to space 6.

Clara wants to drag three statues into a horizontal line in the hope that some are angels and will be frozen. She moves 6 spaces. As she moves out of space 1, she drags angel 1 into it. She continues dragging angel 1 and leaves it in space 3. As Clara moves out of space 5, she drags angel 2.

The final result is three angels in a row.

(The example diagrams on page 7 of the rulebook show the numbered spaces for these two examples.)

Hero Card Phase

Hero Blink? Cards

After all heroes have taken a turn, hero players assign Blink? Cards to each of their heroes. Players select one card and place it face-down on the table in front of their Character Cards. They are welcome to discuss the strategy of what cards to place with the other hero players, but be aware that the angel player might overhear any conversation. Players are not required to make sure the angel player cannot hear them. The Blink? Card is checked if a Weeping Angel moves into any character's line of sight. See "Angels Entering Line of Sight" on page 11 for more details.

Remember that all heroes share the same deck of Blink? Cards, and that the number of Don't Blink Cards is limited!

Special Blink? Cards

Some Blink? Cards have special abilities attached to them. Each of these has a character's artwork on them meaning that they can only be assigned to that hero. For example, the The Lone Centurion card cannot be assigned to any hero other than Rory.

Each of these cards is treated as a Don't Blink Card and has a special ability. The special ability will describe when the special ability is triggered, usually when the card is revealed. If the condition on the ability is not met, the special ability does not come into effect. Perform as much of the text as possible when the ability is triggered. During the Clean Up phase, any of these cards that have been revealed are given to the angel player. They have alternate powers on the card that the angel player can use on their turn. These special cards are very powerful, but players need to be aware that after they use them, they are making the Weeping Angels more powerful.

Optional Rule: Timed Hero Turns

It's possible for the hero players to take a long time determining the perfect space to move to that's just out of reach of any possible Weeping Angels. While this is not against the rules of the game, we've found that this can detract from the enjoyment of the game and not provide the intended feel of paranoia and panic associated with the Weeping Angels.

To address this, we are providing an optional rule if you find that the heroes are taking too long on their turn to calculate their movement. The optional rule is to impose a time limit on the heroes. Our recommendation is the heroes receive 30 seconds for each hero still in the game. At the beginning of the game, when all four heroes are present, the heroes have two minutes. The timer starts as soon as the angel player lays their Angel Identification Cards on the table. Feel free to adjust this time limit based on the comfort of the players involved.

Angel Phase

This is the phase where the angel player gets to activate the Weeping Angels. They start by flipping over the Angel Identification Cards selected earlier to indicate which of the standees are Weeping Angels and which are just statues.

Frozen Angels

When the angel player reveals their angels, they must check to see if any are frozen. Two angels that are in the same room and in a straight line, horizontally or vertically, as each other are frozen in time as they are stuck looking at each other. These angels cannot do anything. In this case, the angel player will need to select different angel identification cards on a future round to move their angels. A statue does not keep an angel frozen. They are only frozen if they are both angels.

The angel player receives 4 action points (AP) and takes the Angel Action Tokens. They can use action points to do any of the following. Each of these costs one action point and the angel player discards one Angel Action Token after taking an action.

The angel player can activate the same angel multiple times. They do not need to use all of their action points if they choose not to or can't.

Move

Move a Weeping Angel up to 9 spaces. When angels move, their movement is to adjacent squares only. They may move through other Angel Standees, but not heroes. There are special rules that must be applied if the angel enters a hero's line of sight. This is described in "Angels Entering Line of Sight" on page 11. The facing of the standee has no effect.

Catch Attention

In order to use this, the angel must be in the same room as the target and also not in the target's line of sight. See "Line of Sight" on page 10 for more information about how line of sight is determined. The angel catches the attention of a hero and forces the hero to turn so that the angel is in the hero's line of sight. The hero player decides the new facing of the hero. This does not reveal the Blink? Card of the hero.

Capture

A Weeping Angel may capture an adjacent hero character. When a hero is captured, remove the Hero Standee from the board. It will not be used for the rest of the game and no longer needs a Blink? Card assigned to that character each round. This action automatically succeeds unless the angel is seen as described under "Angels Taking Actions Already in Line of Sight" on page 11.

Line of Sight

Line of sight determines whether two standees can see each other on the board. Line of sight is critically important, as it is how the heroes will keep the Weeping Angels at bay.

A standee has line of sight and can see the squares to their immediate left and right. In addition, if there's a line through the standee's square from one end of the room to the other, that hero can see anything in front of this line in the direction they are facing. That line of sight only extends to the edges of the room they are currently in.

Heroes can only see into another room if they are standing adjacent to a doorway. In this case, they can see the single space immediately on the other side of the doorway as long as it is not right behind them.

Other standees and obstacles do not affect line of sight in any way.

Line of Sight Examples 1

The Doctor can see the highlighted squares (page 10, diagram 6A). A Hero Standee's facing is important. The side with the artwork is the front.

Amy faces south and can see all squares with red circles: everything in front of her in the hallway, as well as one square through the doorway because she's adjacent to it. Clara also faces south and can only see the two squares with green circles. One side is blocked by a wall, and she can only see one square through the doorway because she's adjacent to it. She cannot see anything else in Rory's room.

Rory faces west and can see the squares with white circles. Nothing can move through or occupy the square with the obstacle, so it doesn't matter that he can see it.

Angels Entering Line of Sight

If a Weeping Angel ever enters the line of sight of a hero, they must immediately pause their movement and check the hero's Blink? Card. If the Blink? Card says Don't Blink, that angel's movement ends. Furthermore, no angel in that character's line of sight can take any action. A Weeping Angel not in that hero's line of sight may take an action that puts them in that hero's line of sight, but then they must immediately stop moving and can take no further actions.

If the revealed card says Blink, the Weeping Angel may continue its movement as normal. In addition, the angel player can ignore that character's line of sight for the rest of this round.

If the angel player wants to move through a single Angel Standee in line of sight of one of the heroes, they may do so. However, they must check for line of sight before moving through the standee. The angel moves adjacent to the standee it wants to move through and then the players check for line of sight as described above. If the angel cannot move any further, it stops there and can no longer be activated this round. Treat it as if it is still in line of sight. If it can move through the Angel Standee, it passes to the other side of the Angel Standee and may continue its movement as normal.

Angels Taking Actions Already in Line of Sight

The angel player can attempt any action in line of sight of heroes. They spend the action point and then check the Blink? Cards of the heroes who can see the Weeping Angel. If any of the checked cards say Don't Blink, the action is cancelled and the action point is lost. If all the cards say Blink, the action continues.

Line of Sight Examples 2

The Doctor and Clara deal with two Weeping Angels during the Angel Phase. The Angel Player moves angel 2 into the room, in line of sight of both Clara and the Doctor. Both of their Blink? Cards are revealed:

Clara: Special Don't Blink Card. During the Angels phase, Clara may reveal this card before or after any angel action. Clara may move another hero in the same room to a space adjacent to Clara. The moved hero's facing doesn't change.

The Doctor: Special Don't Blink Card. When revealed, the Doctor moves up to 3 spaces. The Doctor may not pick up Repair Parts or move Angel Standees with this movement.

Because Clara has a Don't Blink, the angel is seen and its movement ends. Further, the Angel Player could spend an action point on angel 3, but it would be lost because that angel is already seen by Clara.

Clean Up Phase

Any revealed Don't Blink Cards are discarded. Revealed Blink Cards are returned to the heroes. In this way, the heroes' hand of cards gets smaller over the course of the game. Any revealed special character Blink? Cards are given to the angel player at this time. Any unrevealed Blink? Cards are returned to the heroes. This is why the angel player wants to trigger the flipping of Blink? Cards.

The Blink? Card for a captured hero follows the same rules as those for heroes still in play. It is not automatically revealed or lost when the hero is captured.

Special Blink? Cards

When the heroes use their special Blink? Cards that have a special effect, they are handed over to the angel player. The angel player holds onto these cards and may use them on a future round during the angel phase. These provide special effects that enhance the power of the Weeping Angels. Each of these special cards can only be used once. After the angel player uses the Blink? Card, it is placed in the discard pile. The angel player may not use the special Blink? Cards on the round they are revealed. They are not given to the angel player until the Clean Up phase.

Important Terms

Adjacent: Two items are considered adjacent if they occupy squares connected to each other without a wall between them. Diagonal squares are not considered adjacent.

Angel Player: The player controlling all of the angels.

Angel Standees: Standees that represent both the Weeping Angels and the harmless statues that are indistinguishable from the Weeping Angels.

Capture: When a Weeping Angel is next to one of the heroes and able to move, it can capture the character, removing them from play.

Hero Player: One of the players controlling the Doctor and companions trying to recover the Repair Parts to fix the TARDIS.

Standees: Cardboard tokens with plastic bases that represent either Weeping Angels, statues, the Doctor, or the companions. The Weeping Angels are numbered.

Statue: An Angel Standee that is a decoy and indistinguishable from the Weeping Angels.

Weeping Angels: The true threats on the ship. Some of the most fearsome hunters in the known universe, their goal is to capture all the heroes.

Round Example

The second round into the game, the heroes have nearly collected several parts.

Choose Angels Phase: The angel player assigns 4 cards face-down to select which statues are angels. They choose statues 2, 3, 7, and 8.

Hero Move Phase: All four heroes move to the positions shown above. Along the way, the Doctor dragged Angel 2 so that it is aligned with 7.

Hero Card Phase: The Hero player assigns the following cards face-down: The Doctor: Don't Blink, Clara: Blink, Rory: Don't Blink, Amy: Blink. Since the Heroes don't know which statues are angels, they are deliberately cautious with their facings and cards.

Angel Phase: The Angel player reveals their cards.

• Angels 2 and 7 are aligned and become frozen. The Doctor guessed correctly!
• Angel 8 spends 1AP to move into Rory's room, then spends 1AP to use Catch Attention on Rory. Rory turns West to look at angel 8 but does not reveal his card.
• Angel 3 spends 1AP to move into Amy's line of sight, revealing her Blink. Unseen, it then spends 1AP to capture Rory. Zap!

Clean Up Phase: The Doctor player takes the remaining cards to hand: Amy's Blink, and the three unrevealed Blink? Cards assigned to The Doctor, Clara, and Rory.

A new round begins with the Angel player choosing up to 4 new angels.

Appendix: Special Cards

This section provides full instructions for special Blink? Cards and their use in the game.

The Doctor

The Raggedy Doctor

Hero Power: This card is activated when it is revealed by an angel activating within the Doctor's line of sight. Once it is triggered, the Doctor moves up to 3 spaces following the normal rules of movement. During this movement, the Doctor may not pick up Repair Parts or move Angel Standees. At the end of that movement, the Doctor player sets their facing as per normal. The Weeping Angel that triggered this card loses the action that triggered the card. However, that Weeping Angel may be activated again if it is no longer in the Doctor's line of sight after the Doctor moves.

Angel Power: The angel player plays this card during the Angel phase to gain an additional action point. The angel player may use this card at any time during the Angel phase, even after spending all other action points.

Amy Pond

The Girl Who Waited

Hero Power: This card is activated if it is still face-down when the game enters the Clean Up phase. If that's the case, the player reveals it at the start of the phase and gains up to 2 Don't Blink Cards from the discard pile. The heroes must choose regular Don't Blink Cards and may not choose any special Don't Blink Cards.

Angel Power: The angel player uses this card during the Choose Angels phase. The heroes hold up their hand of Blink? Cards. The angel player chooses a random card and places it face-down on the table. The heroes cannot assign this card to one of the heroes. During the Clean Up phase, the chosen card is revealed. Treat it as if it were assigned to a player: if the chosen card is Don't Blink, it goes into the discard pile; if the chosen card is Blink, it is returned to the heroes; if the chosen card is a special Don't Blink Card, it is given to the angel player.

Rory Williams

The Lone Centurion

Hero Power: Rory may choose to reveal this card at any point when a Weeping Angel moves or declares an action in his room. Once this card is revealed, Rory can see all squares in his room regardless of his facing. It does not matter whether Rory revealed this card or if it was revealed as a reaction to an angel action.

Angel Power: The angel player uses this card during the Angel phase. This enables a Weeping Angel to move without checking Blink? Cards. This card must be played before moving the Weeping Angel. Do not check any Blink? Cards as part of this movement. The angel player may use this to move a Weeping Angel that is already in sight of a hero with a Don't Blink Card revealed.

Clara Oswald

An Ordinary Girl

Hero Power: Clara may reveal this card during the Angel phase before or after any individual action. When this card is revealed, it is activated. This is true whether it was revealed voluntarily or in response to a Weeping Angel's action. If Clara is in the same room as another hero, she may immediately move that hero to a space adjacent to her. When the hero is moved, their facing does not change. This card may not be played after the angel player announces an action (e.g. Clara cannot use this power after the angel player announces they are capturing a hero in order to save the hero). Clara must use this ability when this card is revealed; the ability may not be banked to use later in the phase.

Angel Power: The angel player uses this card during the Angel phase when moving a Weeping Angel. This card enables the Weeping Angel to move through the TARDIS tile. The Weeping Angel must be able to move to the square directly on the opposite side of the TARDIS in a straight horizontal or vertical direction. This movement counts as 0 spaces.

Quick Reference

Setup (page 4)

1. Choose Teams
2. Choose Characters: Divided between hero players.
3. Blink? Cards:
   • 4 Blink
   • 10 Don't Blink
   • 4 special Don't Blink
4. Set Difficulty: 10 Don't Blink Cards is recommended. 12 Don't Blink Cards is easier for heroes. 8 Don't Blink Cards is harder for heroes.
5. Set up Floor Tiles: 3×3 grid. Tiles need to alternate front/back.
6. Place Repair Parts: One in the circle space of each corner tile.
7. Place the TARDIS: Anywhere in the middle tile. Can overlap obstacles but cannot block doorways.
8. Place Angels: One on each tile except the middle.

Round Sequence (page 6)

1. Choose Angels Phase (up to 4)
2. Hero Movement Phase (one at a time)
   • Move up to 6 spaces
   • Set facing to any horizontal or vertical direction
3. Hero Card Phase: Assign a Blink? Card face-down to each.
4. Angel Phase: 4 action points (AP). Spend AP, check Blink? Cards if seen (see Line of Sight, below).
   • 1AP: Move up to 9 spaces.
   • 1AP: Catch Attention in same room, but outside target hero's line of sight. Hero must rotate so they can see you.
   • 1AP: Capture adjacent hero.
5. Clean Up Phase: Heroes retrieve Blink and unrevealed Blink? Cards. Discard others.

Line of Sight (page 10)

Each activated angel must check the Blink? Card of each hero that can see them:

• When they attempt an action
• As soon as they can be seen while moving

Heroes can see:

• All squares in front within the same room
• Adjacent squares left and right
• Through adjacent doorways, but only the adjacent square