Escape The Night: The Board Game
Escape The Night: The Board Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Win Condition
Players win the moment they gather the nine artifacts, and all living characters are standing in the ritual circle.
Additional Victories: the player whose character defeated the most monsters is named the MONSTER SLAYER of the night, and the player whose character solved the most clues is named the CLUE MASTER of the night. If this is the same player, they are named the MASTER OF THE HOUSE.
Components
- 50 – Clue cards
- 40 – Relic Cards
- 30 – Monster Cards
- 25 – S.A.E. Tiles
- 20 – Death Challenge Cards
- 11 – Character Cards
- 11 – Character Stand-Ups with Base
- 11 – Voting Tokens
- 9 – Artifacts
- 4 – Turn Sequence Cards
- 2 – Dice
- 1 – Mysterious Man Card
- 1 – Voting Tray
- 1 – Hourglass
- 1 – Round Tracker
- 1 – Starting Player Token
- 1 – Game Board
Game Set Up
Place the board in the center of the table and the Mysterious Man card above it. Shuffle the clue, relic, monster, and death challenge cards and place the four decks on the left side of the board.
If you have the premium edition, shuffle the three secret room tiles face down. Draw one and place it over the dining room on the board.
Next, take all of the S.A.E. tiles and turn them face down with the S.A.E. Symbol on top. Shuffle, then place them on the circles, as shown on the set-up diagram. Place the artifacts on the triangles.
Shuffle the character cards and pass them out, one to each player, going in a circle until they are all gone. One player may then end up with more characters than another.
Note: Any player with fewer characters than the player with the most is given a relic card to start the game.
Players set the character cards in front of them side by side and place a voting token on each one. Take the character stand-ups and put them outside the front door – one will start on the steps.
Set the round tracker to the first hour and hand the starting player token to the oldest player.
You are now ready to play Escape the Night!
Taking a Turn
On your turn, starting with the available character farthest to the right, roll the two dice. You may then move your character that number, or less, adjacent spaces (no diagonal movement). If you land on an S.A.E. tile, it's immediately activated, and your movement ends.
Characters cannot end their movement on a space occupied by another player. The only exception is inside the ritual circle during the tenth round of play.
Once a character has completed their movement and resolved any S.A.E. tiles, turn their card ninety degrees to show they've exhausted their action.
The player to your left then takes an action with their next available character. Play continues in this order until all characters are exhausted.
Resolving a Clue or Monster
Note: Whenever the text of a card disagrees with the rules, follow the card.
When a character lands on a Society Against Evil (S.A.E.) tile, their movement ends. Immediately flip over the tile and place it under the character stand-up. The red bottom with the monster skull indicates to draw from the monster deck. The green bottom with the magnifying glass indicates to draw from the clue deck. Read the card text before attempting to solve the clue or defeat the monster.
Clue cards have a difficulty number in the top left corner. With the two dice, you get one chance to roll that number or higher to solve it. Relics can be used. If solved, discard the Clue Card and remove the tile from the room. If you are unsuccessful, place the card at the bottom of the Clue Deck. On the next turn, you may attempt to solve the clue again by drawing a new card, or you can choose to move, leaving the S.A.E. tile in the room unresolved.
Note: Some Clue Cards give special benefits if solved and harmful effects if not.
When a monster card is drawn, place it face-up on top of the active character card. Monster Cards also have a difficulty number in the top left corner. With the two dice you get one chance to roll that number or higher to defeat it. Relics can be used. If defeated, discard the Monster Card and remove the tile from the room. If you are unsuccessful, the Monster Card remains on character card and you must attempt to defeat it next turn and cannot take a move action.
Note: Some Monster Cards give special benefits if defeated and harmful effects if not.
If a character either defeats a monster or solves a clue, draw one card from the Relic Deck. Relic Cards give characters advantages and can be used anytime during a player's turn to assist any of their characters.
Card examples shown in the rulebook: the Cursed Sea Captain (monster, difficulty 8), Rebirth (relic, text partly illegible in the scan), and Haste Potion (relic: "Move an additional 2 spaces").
Recovering an Artifact
Once all S.A.E. tiles are removed from a room, a character may land on the artifact token and claim it, but not before. It is then placed on the artifact tracker or "mantle" at the top of the board, and the player rolls one die to determine the effects of the Mysterious Man.
Note: Character movement does NOT have to end on the artifact space as it does with an S.A.E. tile.
Each time an artifact is recovered roll one dice to determine the consequences. On the tenth game turn flip this card over.
The card lists five effects, each keyed to a die-face icon. The icons were not reliably legible at the scan resolution, so the effects are listed in the card's printed order, top to bottom:
- Two-dice icon: Each player discards a relic.
- Die icon: The character who recovered the artifact is forced back to the start of the board outside the front door.
- Die icon: Roll the dice again on an even number, nothing happens; on an odd number shuffle all the living character cards and draw two. They go into an immediate death challenge.
- Die icon: Recover the strongest monster card from the discard and place it on top of the monster deck.
- Die icon: The next player picks one of their characters and exhausts them. They skip their next turn.
The Vote & Death Challenge
Once all characters in play have been exhausted, it's time to vote for the two who must undertake the Death Challenge. Players should deliberate on which characters are expendable or in critical positions.
Beginning with the current starting player, each player privately places all the voting tokens they control, one per character, in the slot of the characters they want going into the Death Challenge, dividing their tokens however they choose. However, players must vote for at least two characters (unless they only have one voting token).
Once all players have voted, the starting player opens the voting box and counts the votes. The two with the highest are placed into the Death Challenge. Ties are resolved by rolling the dice, one per character. The lowest number goes into the challenge.
Place the two voted-in character cards on the front steps and draw a Death Challenge Card. Read the card out loud to the group. Follow the instructions on how to execute the challenge.
Tie Rule: During a death challenge, unless otherwise stated on the card, if the characters roll a tie when determining the winner, gather all of the character cards outside of the Death Challenge and shuffle them face down. Draw the top card and flip it over. That character dies instead of one in the Death Challenge.
After a loser is determined, place the dead character card face down on the side of the board in the graveyard.
Restore all the character cards in play by rotating them back to their original position, move the round tracker forward one hour, hand the starting player token to the player on the left and start the next turn.
Round Sequence
- A player rolls the dice for a single character and moves the appropriate spaces
- Resolve any S.A.E. tiles immediately.
- (If) an artifact is recovered roll for the Mysterious Man
- Exhaust the character by turning their card 90 degrees
- The player to the left follows the same four steps. This pattern continues until all characters are exhausted.
- The vote is called and tallied
- Draw and resolve the death challenge card
- Move the round tracker forward one hour
- Restore all living characters
- Move the starting player token to the player on the left
There are ten rounds before sunrise! The last round plays differently than all the others.
The Last Round
During the tenth round, all Hell breaks loose as morning is fast approaching, and the guests have become desperate.
The rules have changed, and the chase is on!
First, flip over the Mysterious Man to reveal his true identity as Arthur, the once helpful head of staff. He is actually the evil man trying to stop them. When an artifact is recovered now roll against the new set of consequences.
Second, turn over the hourglass. Players take turns in the same fashion, but once all characters are exhausted, immediately restore them, skipping the vote and death challenge, and continue to take turns as fast as possible. However, the next character cannot take any action until the current character resolves all of their movement and S.A.E. tile conflicts.
Players win the moment they gather the nine artifacts, and all living characters are standing in the ritual circle. However, once the hourglass is empty, unless the win condition has been met, the players lose to the Evil of the House and become part of its hideous creations.
Single Player Rules
When playing the game solo, follow all the rules as stated above except for the starting player token. That is not needed in solo play. You do not get an additional relic card to start the game.
For the vote, instead of using the voting tokens, turn all living character cards face down and shuffle them. Draw the top two, and they are the ones going into the Death Challenge. Resolve the Death Challenge normally after that. Ties in the Death Challenge are resolved by, once again, shuffling all living character cards outside the challenge and drawing the top card.