Donkey Bridge
Donkey Bridge Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 180 Keyword Cards
- 1 First Player Marker
- 1 Rulebook
Overview
There are two phases in Donkey Bridge. In the Narrative Phase, players will receive Word Cards and try to imagine stories, using their cards as a basis. In the Recollection Phase, all cards will be shuffled and dealt anew, and players will need to remember the stories of the Narrative Phase to score points.
Setting up the Game
Shuffle the 180 Keyword Cards. Each player receives 6 cards in their hand. All remaining cards are placed in a face-down draw pile in the middle of the table. Determine the first player at random. The first player takes the First Player Marker.
Playing the Game
The game is played in two phases, which are divided into several rounds.
In each phase, there will be as many rounds as there are players (for instance, 4 players = 4 rounds).
In The Narrative Phase, each player has a chance to start a story, which will be continued by the other players (one story per round).
In The Recollection Phase, the stories are reconstructed by the group (again, one story per round).
The Narrative Phase
Players take turns clockwise, starting from the first player.
1. Play Cards
On their turn, a player chooses any card from their hand and places it face up in front of them.
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If this is the first card of this round, the player starts a short and memorable story including the item that appears on their card. Make it short! One or two sentences are enough.
Example: Marco is the first player. He plays a "Fridge", announcing: "There's a very old fridge in my house. It is about to break down."
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The next player must now play a card from their hand and continue the story started by the first player, and so on.
Example: The second player, Eva lays out a "Cheese", and says: "And in this very old fridge was a much older cheese... that nobody could have eaten." She chose the "Cheese" because it was the most elegant way to continue the story. But she might as well have played a "Dog", for instance, and said: "that dog here likes to doze off next to the fridge. Sometimes, he wakes up because of its loud noise."
Example: Now it is the third player, Jason's turn. After the Fridge and the Cheese, he plays a "Father" and continues the story as follows: "One day my father was so hungry that he couldn't help but bite into the cheese. He just had nothing else to eat."
This story ends when all players have played a certain number of cards, depending on the number of players:
- 3 players: this story ends once all players have played 3 cards each (9 total).
- 4-5 players: this story ends once all players have played 2 cards each (8 or 10 total).
- 6 players: this story ends once all players have played 1 card each (6 total).
In our previous example, each player still has 2 cards to play, so in the end, there will be 9 cards in the story – which means more than just a fridge, a cheese and a father.
Regardless of the number of players, all players will play the same number of cards. This is important for the Recollection Phase.
Once the story has been completed, the first player collects all the played cards, shuffles them and sets them aside, face down. These cards won't be used until the Recollection Phase.
2. Complete Your Hand
Then, each player completes their hand to 6 cards in order to start the new round. To do so, each player draws cards from the face-down draw pile in the middle of the table until they each have 6 cards.
3. Start a New Round
Then, a new round begins. The player that sits to the left of the first player takes the First Player Marker and becomes the new first player. They play a card and start a new story. The other players continue that story (see Play Cards).
The Narrative Phase ends when all players have been the first player (there must be as many stories as there are players).
Once the Narrative Phase is over, all players discard their remaining cards, and the Recollection Phase begins. Return the first player marker to the box. It will not be used in the Recollection Phase.
The Recollection Phase
It is now time to remember all the stories told by the other players.
1. Deal Cards
The first player (which is the same first player who started the Narrative Phase) takes the cards that they set aside, face down, at the end of the first round of the Narrative Phase. They now deal these cards to all players. Each player receives:
- 3 cards in a 3-player game,
- 2 cards in a 4- or 5-player game, and
- 1 card in a 6-player game.
Example: Marco set aside 9 cards at the end of the first round of the Narrative Phase (including the "Fridge", the "Cheese" and the "Father", plus 6 other cards). He randomly deals these cards to the group (3 per player, including himself). Each player starts the Recollection Phase with 3 cards in hand (in a 3-player game).
2. Remember the Stories
The first player now checks their cards. Each card is associated with the story that they started during the narrative phase, which features up to 10 cards (depending on the number of players).
The first player must now name a card that was part of the story. It can be anything, except the cards that they already have in hand. The cards that you have in your hand can only be used as clues or reminders – or, as Eselsbrücke, as we would say in German. Even if this is usually easy at first, it is not always simple to remember all the details of the story!
Once the first player has mentioned a card, all other players check if they have it. If yes, then they reveal it and place it face up in front of the first player. Each card is worth 1 point at the end of the game.
Example 1: Marco checks his 3 cards: a "Sandwich", an "Octopus" and a "Father". He perfectly remembers the fridge from his story, so he announces "Fridge" in order to recover that card. Jason has the "Fridge" in his hand: he reveals it and gives it to Marco. Marco will score 1 point thanks to that card at the end of the game.
Then, the next player (clockwise) names a card. If it is correct, the player that owns the card reveals it and places it in front of that player.
If you fail to name a card, or if you name a card that was already revealed, or does not even exist, then your turn is over and you do not receive any card. The next player (clockwise) takes their turn. Keep playing until all cards have been guessed.
Example 2: Eva has a "Cheese", a "Spider" and a "Tree" in her hand. She perfectly remembers the beginning of the story with the fridge, but not the rest. She cannot name the fridge, because it is already revealed, nor the cheese, since it is in her hand. Was there a dog? Or a rabbit? She's not sure, because in the meantime, other stories have been told. She announces "Dog" but no one has this card: as a result, she loses her turn.
Hint: Do not take too long to play your turn. You shouldn't take more than 10-15 seconds to name a card. After that, you lose your turn.
Notes:
- If you're out of cards when it's your turn to play, you can still try to name a card from the story. You simply don't have clues for that.
- If, on your turn, you're the only remaining player with cards in your hand, then you automatically gain these cards.
- If all players successively fail to name a correct card, then the round ends immediately. All players discard all the remaining cards in their hand.
3. Start a New Round
A new round begins. The player that sits to the left of the first player becomes the new first player. They take the cards that they set aside and deal them equally among all players. Again, starting from the first player, all players must try and name a card that was part of that story, except those they already have in hand.
The Recollection Phase ends when all players have been the first player in this phase.
End of the Game
The game ends after the Recollection Phase, once all stories have been resolved. Each card that you collected during the Recollection Phase is worth 1 point. The player with the most cards wins the game.
Source note: transcribed from the official English rules PDF published by Mandoo Games (English translation by Antoine Prono), file "DonkeyBridge_EN_Rules.pdf" (BGG file 366309). Credits and copyright lines omitted. The printed heading "first player maker" was corrected to "first player marker" in the Return-to-box sentence.