Dragon Valley
Dragon Valley Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
By using the two magic wands, the players try to perform magic tricks in order to take the dragon younglings back to their dragon valley. If they want to succeed, two players have to cooperate skillfully when bringing a dragon youngling back to the valley. Their magic will succeed only if the young dragon does not tumble down but lands safely in the dragon valley.
All of you will share victory if you manage to return all dragon younglings to the dragon valley before that crabby magician Razandar arrives at his tower. If he gets to his tower while there are still some dragon younglings there, you have jointly lost the game.
Game Components and Setup
- 1 Dragon valley = box bottom with cardboard inlay, dragon valley game board, dragon rock, bush ruin, and dragon tree.
- Take all game components out of the box. Place the box bottom with the inserted inlay in the center of the playing area. Then, put the dragon valley game board inside the box. Next, assemble the dragon tree, the dragon rock and the bush ruin. Stick these three elements into the corresponding slots of the game board. The dragon valley is complete!
- 1 Razandar board: Place the Razandar board on the playing area, about 40 cm away from the dragon valley (= twice the length of a magic wand).
- 1 Mage tower (five pieces): Assemble the five pieces of the mage tower and place it at the end of the path of the Razandar board.
- 1 bag
- 6 dragon younglings: Put the six dragon younglings into the bag.
- 1 magician Razandar: Place the magician on the magician village of the Razandar board.
- 1 lava-rock: Place the lava-rock next to the mage tower.
- 1 white and 1 black die
- 2 magic wands
- 12 dragon cards: Deal the dragon cards evenly to the players (see below "Distribution of Dragon Cards").
- 6 sorcerer tiles: You do not need these tiles when playing the basic game. You will need them only when using the variant for experienced sorcerers!
Before your first game: Fix the matching stickers to both sides of the six dragon younglings, the magician Razandar and the lava-rock. Then, paste the die stickers up to the dice, matching their colors.
Distribution of Dragon Cards
During each game round, the dragon cards indicate which players will perform the dragonflight jointly. At the start of the game and depending on the number of players, deal the dragon cards as follows. Players place their cards in front of themselves. The card colors are yellow, red, green, blue, orange and purple; there are two cards of each color.
- 2 players: each player receives one dragon card of each color.
- Player A: yellow, red, green, blue, orange, purple
- Player B: yellow, red, green, blue, orange, purple
- 3 players:
- Player A: yellow, red, green, blue
- Player B: yellow, red, orange, purple
- Player C: green, blue, orange, purple
- 4 players:
- Player A: yellow, red, green
- Player B: yellow, orange, blue
- Player C: red, orange, purple
- Player D: green, blue, purple
The Magic Dragonflight
Before their first game, all players should try once to perform the magic dragonflight.
Two players always combine their dragonflight magic. Both players take a magic wand into their hand. For your first try, place any one dragon youngling on top of the mage tower. Then try to let the dragon youngling fly from the tower to the dragon valley. Your magic is successful if the little dragon did not tumble down and lands safely in the dragon valley.
This is how it works: Touch the dragon younglings with your wands on opposing sides. If you press lightly on the proper spots and lift your wands simultaneously, you will see that the little dragon hovers magically between your wands. Then you transport the dragon youngling cautiously from the mage tower to the dragon valley and carefully land it there.
Important instructions for the dragonflight:
- You may touch the dragon youngling with your wands only, never with your hands.
- In order to make the magic dragonflight a success you should agree with each other well before and during your magic trick.
- The magic dragonflight is successful if the dragon youngling lands in the dragon valley (standing upright or lying down).
Playing the Game
The game proceeds clockwise around the table. The youngest player will start the game and be the first to roll the white die.
The Die Icons
The dragon youngling. Let's do magic! Draw a dragon youngling from the bag and place it on top of the tower. Both players with the corresponding color cards take a wand in their hand. Together they try to bring the youngling back into the dragon valley by magic dragonflight.
Was the magic dragonflight successful?
- Yes: You did a great magic trick! The dragon youngling will remain in the dragon valley. Remove the two matching color cards of this little dragon from the game.
- No: Don't worry! Put the dragon youngling back into the bag. Both players pass the matching color card to their left neighbor. Now you must roll the black die and advance the magician that many spaces along the path towards the tower. If you roll the magician's hat icon, Razandar moves to the next space showing the magician's hat.
The dragon youngling and the lava-rock. Draw a dragon youngling from the bag and place it on top of the tower. Place the lava-rock on top of the tower as well. Make sure that the youngling and the rock touch each other side by side. Now both players with the corresponding color cards take a wand in their hand and try to bring the youngling and the rock together back into the dragon valley by magic dragonflight.
Note:
- This magic trick is a true masterstroke and very difficult to perform. Be especially careful and take your time when performing this magic trick!
- After you are done with your trick, you place the lava-rock back, next to the mage tower.
(Success or failure is resolved as for the dragon youngling icon above.)
The magician Razandar. Advance the crabby magician one space along his path on the Razandar board towards his tower. Then, you may repeat rolling the white die at once.
Important: If you roll the magician icon and the magician has reached the last space of his path already, he remains on that space. The game cannot be finished by rolling the magician icon!
The sun. Move Razandar one space back towards the magicians' village. Then, you may repeat rolling the white die at once.
Important: If you roll the sun icon and the magician is in the magicians' village, he remains there!
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as ...
- ... you have brought back all six dragon younglings to the dragon valley with your magic tricks successfully. You have won the game together with the dragon younglings against that crabby old magician Razandar.
- ... Razandar arrives at his tower and there are still some dragon younglings (or even only one) inside the bag. All of you have lost the game together because the dragon younglings were caught in the act.
Variant for Young Sorcerer's Apprentices
For (very) young sorcerer's apprentices we recommend this variant: Reduce the distance between the Razandar board and the dragon valley, like the length of one wand only, for example.
Variant for Very Accurate Sorcerer's Apprentices
With this variant the sorcerer's apprentices try to perform the magic dragonflight very accurately. The dragon younglings must land right in the center of the dragon valley. Will you succeed to make them land in the area surrounded by the dragon tree, the dragon rock and the bush ruin?
Variant for Experienced Sorcerer's Apprentices
For this variant you need the six sorcerer tiles. Mix them well and keep them within reach as a face down stack. The icons on the tiles tell you how to perform your magic trick when bringing the dragon younglings to the dragon valley. If your die roll shows the "dragon youngling" icon, you draw the top tile from the stack and perform your magic trick according to the following rules:
- The players take the wand with their "wrong" hand! (Right-handed players take the wand with their left hand, and left-handed players take the wand with their right hand.)
- The players must hold the wand with both hands!
- The players keep one eye closed with their free hand!
- Blind flight: One of the players touches the dragon youngling with their wand. Then, this player must close both their eyes and follow the instructions of their fellow player well!
- The players hold the wand with any two fingers only! (For instance, with their thumb and forefinger.)
- The players are not allowed to touch their wand with their forefinger!
If the stack of sorcerer tiles is exhausted, mix the discarded tiles well and use them as your new draw stack.
The Magic Wands
Two different kinds of magic wands are included in the game to ensure that even (very) young sorcerer's apprentices may perform their magic tricks successfully.
- Apprentices' magic wands: The natural-colored magic wands make it easy for young sorcerer's apprentices to bring the dragon kids back to the Valley of Drakes.
- Masters' magic wands: The black magic wands are best suited for experienced sorcerer's apprentices.
Choice of Magic Wands
Before starting the game, players should reach an agreement which wands to use for this game (apprentices' or masters' magic wands).