Donkey Kong Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object
• Contents
• How to Set Up the Game
• How to Play the Game
• The Obstacles
• How to Win the Game

Object

Accumulate the most points.

Contents

• 1 gameboard
• 2 rubber bands
• 1 plastic ape (to be assembled)
• 2 dice
• 4 plastic "Mario" pawns
• 4 plastic fireball tokens
• 1 label sheet
• deck of 48 cards
• 12 plastic barrels

How to Set Up the Game

1. Open up the gameboard and place it on a flat surface so it's in easy reach of all players.

2. How to put Donkey Kong together: the ape is made up of 4 plastic parts, 1 rubber band and 2 labels. Here's how you put it together:

   A. Break off the plastic parts first. Carefully remove the 2 arm pieces and the 2 body pieces from the runners. Figure 1, on page 2, shows what each piece looks like.

   B. Now label the front body piece and the top arm piece, as shown in Figures 2 and 3.

   C. Assemble the arm next. Position the side tabs of the top arm piece into the retainers of the bottom arm piece and slide to close until the front tab snaps into place, as shown in Figure 3.

   D. Now attach the assembled arm to the body parts, as shown in Figure 4. Put the axle of the arm into the axle hole of the back body piece, as in Figure 4A. Then snap on the front body piece to lock the arm in place by fitting the front piece's pegs into the holes of the back piece, as in Figure 4B.

   E. To make the ape's arm move up and down, hook one end of the rubber band onto the notch of the back body piece and the other end onto the hinge of the arm.

   F. Place fully assembled ape on the gameboard on the space marked "Place Donkey Kong Here." Clip Donkey Kong's "foot" onto the gameboard to secure it in place.

3. Barrel Preparation: remove the 12 gold barrels from the bag. Place 6 of them on the gameboard...one on each space marked with a black dot. Place the other 6 into Donkey Kong's upright arm, as shown in Figure 5.

   Now it's time to test Donkey Kong... the ape is used as a barrel dispenser during the game. To see if the dispenser works properly now, press down its left arm as seen in Figure 6. A barrel should drop right down onto the top left blue space of the gamepath. If this does not happen, press the arm down again several times. If a barrel still fails to drop down, unclip the ape from the board, empty out all the barrels and reinsert them, as shown in Figure 5.

4. Pawn and Fireball Preparation:

How to Play the Game

1. Who plays first? Each player rolls the white die. Whoever rolls the highest number plays first followed to the left by the other players.

2. On your turn, roll both dice. Then do the following in order:

   A. Move your "Mario" pawn the number of spaces indicated by the white die. Then play your faceup cards, if you can.*

   B. Move all obstacles on the gamepath the number of spaces indicated by the red die. Move all fireballs first. Then all barrels. Play your faceup cards, if you can.*

   PLEASE NOTE: at the beginning of the game, there will be no fireballs on the gamepath.

   C. Press Donkey Kong's left arm and release another barrel.

   *You play a faceup card only when your pawn comes in contact with an obstacle. See Rule 5. on page 8 for more details on how to play your cards.

3. Where to move the pawns, fireballs and barrels: the game spaces are the blue girder spaces and the ladder spaces. Move your pawn and the obstacles one game space per number shown on the die that directs them.

   THE "MARIO" PAWNS

   You usually move your "Mario" pawn upward from the Start space, girder to girder, to the "Fair Maiden" at the Finish Space. Here are the pawn movement rules:

   A. Pawns always move the full count indicated by the white die.

   B. Always move your pawn before moving the fireballs and the barrels.

   C. Pawns may move in any direction on the girder paths. A pawn cannot move in two different directions in the same move.

   D. Pawns can only move from one girder to another girder by .

The Obstacles

After you move your "Mario" pawn, you must move all the obstacles...the fireballs first, then the barrels. The fireballs always move up from the Oil Can space to the top blue space in front of Donkey Kong (their final destination); the barrels always move down the girders towards the Oil Can space (their final destination). Here are the obstacle movement rules:

A. Always move the obstacles the full count indicated by the red die.

B. If "Donkey Kong Rests" is tossed on the red die, no obstacles move.

C. When directed to move the obstacles, move every obstacle on the gamepath the full count shown on the red die.

D. What obstacles move first? Fireballs are moved after your pawn; barrels are moved after the fireballs.

E. Where to move the obstacles! Obstacles move around the board by two means: either by moving off the edge of girders following the broken white lines; or by sliding on the ladders. Here's how they travel...

Moving off the edge: a fireball travels off the edge of a girder, follows the broken white line up and lands on the end blue space of the upper girder (and continues to move up the girder path if the die toss indicates); a barrel travels off the edge of a girder, follows the broken white line down and lands on the end blue space of the lower girder (and continues to move down the girder path if the die toss indicates).

Sliding on the ladders: a fireball slides up a ladder only if it lands by exact count on the blue space directly below a ladder. To slide a fireball, push it up a ladder and place it on the blue space directly above the ladder on the upper girder. PLEASE NOTE: "Mario" pawns are not safe from fireballs sliding up ladders. Players owning such pawns must react to such obstacles hitting them by playing faceup cards. A barrel slides down a ladder only if it lands by exact count on a blue space directly above a ladder and only if there are no "Mario" pawns on the ladder. To slide a barrel, push it down a ladder and place it on the blue space directly below the ladder on the lower girder. PLEASE NOTE: if a "Mario" pawn is on a ladder, the barrel cannot slide down...it remains where it landed on the upper girder.

F. Two or more of the same obstacle cannot be on the same space at the same time. For example, if a barrel lands on a space occupied by another barrel, it advances to the next open space; or if a fireball lands on the same space occupied by another fireball, it advances to the next open space.

G. If a fireball comes in contact with a barrel, the barrel is destroyed, removed from the board and reinserted into Donkey Kong's arm.

H. When moving the obstacles on the gamepath, do it systematically to keep track of which ones you moved and which ones still have to be moved. Always move the fireballs on the highest girder first, then the fireballs on the next highest level and so on. Then move the barrels on the lowest girder first, followed by the barrels on the next lowest level and so on.

I. On your turn or on an opponent's turn, if a moving obstacle hits your pawn, you must react by playing one of your faceup cards. See Rule 5 on page 8 for more details on "How To Use Your Cards."

J. Final Destination of Obstacles: when a fireball reaches the top blue space directly in front of the ape, it is returned to the Oil Can space and waits to be released to make another upward journey on the gamepath; when a barrel reaches the Oil Can space, it turns into a fireball...the barrel is removed from the board and reinserted into the ape's arm.

K. How New Obstacles are Released:

Fireballs... a new fireball is released from the Oil Can space each time a barrel moves into that space. If you move a barrel into the Oil Can space and you still have moves left on the die roll, continue your move by releasing a fireball and moving it up the path the number of spaces left on the die toss.

Barrels... at the end of your turn, after you have moved all the obstacles, press down Donkey Kong's left arm and a new barrel will be released. The barrel remains on the top left blue space where it drops and becomes a moving obstacle on another player's turn.

See Figures 10 and 11 for the directions obstacles may move in.

Figure 10. How fireballs may move

Figure 11. How barrels may move

4. Obtaining Cards: each player starts out the game with 3 faceup cards. Every time your pawn lands by exact count on a blue space with a red dot, draw a card from the facedown deck and place it faceup in front of you. Try to collect these cards so you can use them when you come in contact with an obstacle. If you do, you'll score points.

5. How To Use Your Cards: play a faceup card on your turn or an opponent's turn...any time your pawn comes in contact with an obstacle. Here's when you must play a faceup card:

   A. When an obstacle moves into a space that your pawn occupies (it doesn't have to land on your pawn by exact count).

   B. When you move your pawn into a space occupied by an obstacle (you don't have to land on the obstacle by exact count).

Here's how you play a card: when your pawn comes in contact with an obstacle, turn one of your faceup cards facedown and you'll receive the point value on that card. Notice the cards are either "Jump" or "Hammer" cards. Here's what happens when you play either type of card...

A. When you play a "Jump" card, you get its point value. The obstacle you "jumped" stays on the board and continues to be moved to finish out die count...but if the obstacle landed on you by exact count and you "jumped" it, move the obstacle one gamespace ahead.

B. When you play a "Hammer" card, you gets its point value. The obstacle you "hammered" is destroyed and removed from the board...if it is a barrel, reinsert it into Donkey Kong's arm; if it is a fireball, return it to the Oil Can space.

Running out of cards: play one faceup card per obstacle your pawn comes in contact with. If you move into an obstacle or an obstacle moves into you and you don't have any faceup cards to play, you are penalized and you must give up one of your "already played" facedown cards. Here's how you do it...

On your turn, if your pawn comes in contact with an obstacle and you don't have any faceup cards, randomly pick one of your facedown cards and return it facedown to the main deck of cards...unfortunately, you lose the point value on that card.

On an opponent's turn, if your pawn comes in contact with an obstacle and you don't have any faceup cards, your opponent must "steal" a facedown card from you...he or she randomly picks up one of your facedown cards and places it faceup in his or her playing area.

Important: on your turn, if you have neither faceup or facedown cards, and your pawn comes in contact with an obstacle, your pawn is not affected in any way. On an opponent's turn, if you have neither faceup or facedown cards, and your pawn comes in contact with an obstacle, your pawn is not affected in any way, but your opponent receives a reward...he or she draws a card from the deck and places it faceup in his or her playing area!

6. Continue to play as above, trying to play as many cards as you can to score points. Play stops when one player reaches the Finish space. Whoever reaches the Finish space first finishes out his or her turn moving all the obstacles and then is awarded a 500 point bonus. The game is now over! All players total up the number of points they have on their "played" facedown cards only.

How to Win the Game

The player with the most points wins the game.