Dracula vs Van Helsing
Dracula vs Van Helsing Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Each player plays the role of a different character, either Van Helsing or Dracula.
Van Helsing wins the game if he manages to kill Dracula by removing all his Health Points (HP). Dracula wins the game by either turning all four inhabitants of the same District into vampires or surviving until the end of the game.
Components
- 32 Color cards — 4 colors, each with values 1 to 8 (each card has a Human side and a Vampire side)
- 2 cardholders
- 20 Human/Vampire tokens
- 1 Color Ranking board
- 1 City board
- 12 Health Point tokens
- 1 Ship marker
- 4 Color tokens
Setting Up the Game
- Place the City board between the two players and place the Color Ranking board beside the City board.
- Each player chooses a character to play. It does not change during the game. Each player takes a cardholder and places it in front of them. Leave some space between your cardholder and the City board, as you'll reveal some cards there.
- Place four Human tokens in each District (Human side up).
- Dracula starts with 12 Health Points (HP). That player takes the matching tokens.
- Place the Ship marker on the first spot of the Round track of the City board to keep track of the rounds.
- Randomly place the four Color tokens on the four spots of the Color Ranking board.
- Shuffle all the cards and place the cards as a draw deck within reach of both players. Leave some room next to the draw deck for the discard pile.
- Each player draws five cards, one at a time, and places them in their cardholder in the order they were drawn. The first card drawn faces the first District (the District with a single dot).
Dracula always goes first.
IMPORTANT
Each card must face a District. You cannot swap or rearrange cards unless a game effect allows you to do so. This is very important, as each card will affect the District it faces at the end of the round.
The order of each District is indicated by a dot on the City board (1st District through 5th District).
Gameplay
The game is played in a maximum of five rounds. Each round, players alternate taking turns, drawing a card and discarding a card to trigger its effect.
On your turn, draw a card from the deck. Then discard this card to the discard pile or swap it with any of your five cards and discard the chosen card to the discard pile instead. The effect of the discarded card is then triggered, and must be enacted if possible. Your turn is now over and your opponent takes their turn.
- You always have five cards during a round and each of the five cards faces one of the five Districts, indicated by the card's position in the cardholder.
- Cards in your cardholder must be visible only to you. If a card is revealed by a discarded card's effect, place it on the table in front of the position it would have occupied in the cardholder. The revealed card is still considered to face the District corresponding to that position. The cardholder space for that card must remain empty.
- The revealed card remains visible until it is discarded. If a card is swapped with another card, both cards keep their status (that is, if a card is already revealed, it remains revealed when swapped, otherwise it is placed in the cardholder).
Instead of drawing (and discarding) a card, a player can call the end of the round. You can only choose this action if there are at least six cards in the discard pile. Your opponent takes their final turn, then the round ends.
End of the Round
A round ends when a player uses their turn to call it or when the deck is empty.
All Districts are resolved one by one, from left to right in the direction the weathervane is pointing. For each District, compare your card with the opponent's card.
- If one of the two cards is a Trump card, it wins.
- Otherwise, if both cards are Trump cards, the highest value wins.
- Otherwise, if neither of the two cards is a Trump card, the highest value wins. If both values are tied, the higher color (on the Color Ranking board) wins.
The Color Ranking board ranks the four colors from Highest Color to Lowest Color, with the Trump Color also marked on it.
Whenever Dracula wins a District, he turns one Human token into a Vampire in that District by flipping it to the Vampire side.
Whenever Van Helsing wins a District, he removes one of Dracula's Health Points.
If one of the end game conditions (four Vampires in the same District or 0 HP for Dracula) is met during the resolution of a District, the game ends immediately. You do not resolve the remaining Districts.
Otherwise, players resolve the next District. When all five Districts have been resolved, players move the Ship marker and start a new round. The game ends after five rounds (if none of the end game conditions are met before then).
New Round
Discard and shuffle all the cards and place the cards as a draw deck within reach of both players. Each player draws five cards, one at a time, and places them in their cardholder in the order they were drawn. The first card drawn faces the District with a single dot.
End of the Game
If Dracula loses his final HP, Van Helsing wins the game.
If Dracula turns all four inhabitants of the same District into Vampires, or if the game reaches the end of the fifth round, Dracula wins the game.
Card Effects
When a card is discarded, its effect must be enacted if possible.
- 1 — Reveal one of your cards.
- 2 — Reveal the top card of the deck.
- 3 — Reveal one of your opponent's cards.
- 4 — Swap two of your cards.
- 5 — Play another turn. This effect applies even if your opponent has called the end of the round on their turn.
- 6 — Swap one of your cards with your opponent. Both cards must face the same District.
- 7 — Swap the Trump Color token with another Color token.
- 8 — You can't discard an 8 card unless there are at least six cards in the discard pile. Immediately end the round. Your opponent does not play their turn.
Example: Resolving Card Effects
It's Dracula's turn. He draws Purple 2 from the deck. He discards it to reveal the top card of the deck. Purple 5 is revealed.
It's now Van Helsing's turn. He draws the Purple 5 from the top of the deck. He could discard it to play another turn, but he decides to swap it with his Yellow 6.
Purple 5 must remain visible, which means that Van Helsing must place it in front of the spot where Yellow 6 was.
By the effect of the discarded Yellow 6, Van Helsing swaps his Red 4 with the opponent's Green 4 facing the same District.
Both cards need to keep their status. So the Red 4 moves to Dracula's cardholder and the Green 4 is placed in front of Van Helsing's cardholder.
It's Dracula's turn. He draws Red 3 from the deck. He swaps it with his Purple 7 then discards Purple 7 to swap the Trump Color token with another.
He swaps the Green Color token with the Red one.
Example: Resolving Districts
The round ends. Yellow is the Trump Color.
Yellow 2 (Van Helsing), as a Trump card, wins in the first District: Dracula loses 1 HP.
In the second District, there is no Trump card. The card with the highest value wins. Purple 5 (Van Helsing) wins in this District: Dracula loses 1 HP.
In the third District, there is no Trump card either. Both cards have the same value. Because Red is higher ranked than Green, the Red 4 (Dracula) wins in this District.
The final Human token in this District is flipped into a Vampire. The game immediately ends, and Dracula wins the game. The two remaining Districts are not resolved.
Credits
- Game Design: Maxime Rambourg & Théo Rivière
- Illustration: Weberson Santiago
- Graphic Design: Eva Dream
- Editing: Tylor Kim
- Additional editing and proofreading: Antoine Prono (Transludis)
- Producer: Marco Jung
© 2023 Mandoo Games Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
This edition published by 25th Century Games under license. Editing: Joel Finch. www.25thCenturyGames.com