Evil Corp. Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
  • 3 double-sided settlement boards
  • 45 monster tiles
  • 24 starting monster tiles
  • 3 demon tiles
  • Other components
• Game Overview
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • Main Rules
• A. Day Phase
  • 1. Put a Monster into Play
    • Spawn ability
    • Fear track
    • Raid
    • Demon Portal
      • Summoning a Demon
    • Fortress
    • Port
  • 2. Activate a Monster
  • 3. Hire a Monster
  • 4. Pass
• B. Night Phase
  • 1. Check the Settlement Boards
    • Fear Track Effects
    • Receiving a Victory Token
    • Refresh Port Cargo Zones, Loot and Power Stone
    • Discarding Monster Tokens
    • Reset the Fear Track
  • 2. Refresh the Personnel Department Board
    • Refresh the applicant queue
    • Activate the demons
  • 3. Refresh the Player's Supply
    • Discard gold
• Victory Conditions
• Clarifications
  • About the 4-Player Game
  • Balance of Power
• Monster Abilities
  • Blue monsters
  • Red monsters
  • Yellow monsters
• Demon Abilities
• Ability Symbols
  • Spawn and activated abilities
  • Passive abilities

Game Components

3 double-sided settlement boards

Each settlement board has the following areas: fortress space, raid spaces, demon portal space, port spaces, port cargo spaces, power stone space, loot space, the conquest track and the fear track. Side A is "Green Grass"; side B is "Sand".

45 monster tiles

Each monster tile shows: its fear strength (number in the upper left), its hire cost, a passive ability, a spawn ability (grey background) and an activated ability (brown background). Monsters come in three colours (blue, yellow, red).

24 starting monster tiles

Marked with the starting monster sign.

3 demon tiles

Other components

• 1 personnel department board, with "With a raise to the salary" spaces, the queue of applicants, the "We'll call you back" space and 3 demon offices.
• 3 loot tokens
• 3 power stone tokens
• 3 fear markers
• 6 conquest tokens
• 30 gold coin tokens
• 9 magic coin tokens
• 1 "Evil Corp." bag (red)
• 3 player bags (black)
• 4 screens
• 1 first player token
• 6 victory tokens

Game Overview

The first employee who achieves success in frightening 2 human settlements becomes the new champion!

Please note. Evil Corp. is suitable for 2, 3 or 4 participants, giving different experiences and emotions.

The rules for 2 and 3 players are the same and differ only in the arrangement of the settlement boards. In a 2-player game you feel direct interaction with your opponent, while the game for three assumes a more delicate balance of power.

In a 4-player game the players split into 2 teams; each team jointly uses a gold supply, one bag of monsters, and jointly frightens one of the settlements. They coordinate their actions, trying to achieve a common goal.

The booklet describes the rules for 2 players, which explain most of the game mechanics. Where necessary, notes about 3 and 4 players will appear.

Game Setup

1. Place the personnel department board in the center of the table.

2. Put the 45 monster tiles (without the "starting" sign) into the "Evil Corp." bag, then without looking draw 5 tiles from it (1 at a time) and place them in the cells of the applicant queue on the personnel department board, starting from the top cell "With a raise to the salary" and moving down.

3. Place the 3 demon tiles in the demon office cells on the personnel department board (in any order).

4. Place all gold coin tokens so that every player can reach them.

5. In a 2-player game take 2 settlement boards and place them side "A" up on both sides of the personnel department board. Both settlement boards are considered available to each player (see page 6, "Main Rules").

   In a 3-player game the settlement boards, side "A" up, are placed between the players. The settlement boards to the right and to the left of a player are considered available to him.

   In a 4-player game form 2 teams of 2 people (partners sit on the same side of the table). Place 3 settlement boards, side "A" up, in a line between the 2 teams. Only 2 settlement boards are available to each player: the one nearest to him and the central one.

6. On each settlement board place 1 loot token in its cell, 1 power stone token in its cell, 1 fear marker in the center of the fear track, and 2 gold coins in each port cargo zone. Players place a conquest token on the shield nearest to themselves on the conquest track.

7. Each player receives a screen.

8. In a 2- or 3-player game each player receives a bag, into which he puts the next 8 monsters with the "starting" sign: 2 blue, 3 red and 3 yellow, as shown on the setup illustration.

Gameplay

The game continues for several rounds until one of the players (or teams) receives 2 victory tokens.

A round consists of 2 phases:

• A. Day phase
• B. Night phase

Main Rules

You always interact with only the 2 settlement boards available to you. As a rule, these boards are placed next to you at the gaming table. See the description of setup step 5 for details (page 4).

Each settlement board is divided into 2 sides. One half is available to you, and the other to your opponent. See the section "Put a Monster into Play" for details.

Gold coins you receive are kept in front of your screen. At any moment of the game they must be visible to all participants.

A. Day Phase

At the start of each round, each player must have 5 monster tiles behind his screen (4 tiles in a 4-player game). This is the player's supply. If there are fewer monsters, the player refills the supply by drawing tiles from his bag.

In this phase the players take actions in turn until all of them have passed (see "4. Pass"). During this phase each player can take several turns, each time performing one of the possible actions:

• Put a monster into play
• Activate a monster
• Hire a monster
• Pass

In a 3-player game players perform one action each, passing the turn clockwise.

In a 4-player game each member of a team performs one action, then the turn passes to the second team. Within a team the players perform actions in any order.

1. Put a Monster into Play

At your discretion choose one monster tile lying behind your screen and place it in one of the cells of your half of an available settlement board.

You cannot place a monster tile in a cell where another monster already lies, or in a cell on your opponent's half.

Spawn ability

Immediately after putting a monster into play, apply its ability shown on the grey plate. This ability is applied only once, after the monster is put into play, and cannot be applied again.

Fear track

The fear track shows how strongly the people in the settlement are frightened by your monsters. The position of the fear marker on the track changes depending on players' actions: putting monsters into play, and removing or moving monsters on the settlement board. The closer the marker is to your opponent, the greater your chance of getting a victory token.

The settlement board has the following cells: Raid, Demon Portal, Fortress and Port.

Raid

Immediately after putting a monster into play, if you placed it in any of the raid cells, move the fear marker on the fear track toward your opponent by a number of spaces equal to the fear strength of this monster. If a monster tile is removed from the board for any reason, the marker moves in the opposite direction. Thus the fear track always reflects the balance of strength of the two players on the settlement board.

Loot. On each settlement board during each round you can get loot once. If you were the first player to place a red monster in any of the raid cells, you plunder the settlement. Take from the general supply a number of gold coins equal to the fear strength shown on the tile of the placed monster (not counting modifiers). Remove the loot token from the settlement board until the start of the next round.

Power stone. On each settlement board during each round you can get the power stone once. If you were the first player to place a blue monster in any of the raid cells, take the power stone token and place it next to your conquest token. The power stone will give you an advantage at the end of the round in case of a tie.

Example. Marina puts a red monster into play and sends it on a raid, placing its tile in a raid cell of the board. She moves the marker on the fear track 1 step toward her opponent (the fear strength of the placed monster). The conditions for getting loot are met; she receives 1 coin and removes the loot token from the board.

Demon Portal

Only a blue monster tile can be placed in the demon portal, both when put into play and when moved.

Do not change the position of the fear marker when you place a monster in the demon portal cell.

Immediately after putting a monster into play, if you placed it in the demon portal cell, you may summon a demon from the personnel department board to use its ability. Demons are summoned only at the moment a monster is put into play, not when a monster is moved through some effects.

Summoning a Demon

• Choose any demon tile lying active side up.
• Apply the ability of the chosen demon. Each demon has 3 ability levels. Apply the level that corresponds to the summoning strength. The summoning strength is the sum of the fear strength of the monster placed in the demon portal and the value of its passive ability (if it has one).
• Turn the summoned demon tile inactive side up. It is no longer available for summoning this round.

Note. The ability of some monsters may allow the summoning of a demon lying inactive side up.

Example. Marina put into play a blue monster with fear strength 1 and no passive ability and placed it in the demon portal. She wants to summon the demon lying on the left. The summoning strength equals the monster's fear strength, so Marina can use only the weak ability of the demon. She will additionally have to pay 2 gold coins, according to the condition on the demon tile. Marina summons this demon, pays the coins, applies its ability and turns the demon tile to the inactive side.

Fortress

Immediately after putting a monster into play, if you placed it in the fortress cell, move the fear marker on the fear track toward your opponent by a number of spaces equal to the fear strength of this monster. If a monster tile is removed from the board for any reason, the marker moves in the opposite direction.

The fortress allows a monster in it not to be discarded at the end of the round. The player must pay for this the price in gold coins shown in the fortress cell (see "Discarding Monster Tiles", page 10).

Note. When placing a monster in the fortress, you do not get loot or the power stone. Some monsters cannot be placed in the fortress.

Port

When putting a monster into play, you can place the monster tile in the port to take gold coins from the port cargo zone (if there are any there). The port effect is also applied if a monster tile was earlier put into play and moved into a port cell through some ability.

The gold coins are in two cells and can be taken by placing a monster of the corresponding colour:

• Take coins from the yellow port cargo cell if you placed a yellow monster in the port.
• Take coins from the red/blue port cargo cell if you placed a red or blue monster in the port.

Do not change the position of the fear marker when you place monsters in the port.

Example. Dima put a yellow monster in the port. The monster has a spawn ability, so first Dima applies it and takes 1 coin from the general supply. Next he checks whether there are gold coins in the yellow port cargo cell and takes them from the board. Since there are now no gold coins in the yellow port cargo cell, in the current round the players cannot get them by placing yellow monsters in the port. Dima does not move the marker on the fear track, since the fear strength of a monster placed in the port is not counted.

2. Activate a Monster

Choose a monster tile previously placed on your half of a settlement board that has an activated ability (brown background).

Apply this ability, then turn the monster tile inactive side up.

The inactive side of a monster tile keeps its fear strength if the tile is located in a raid cell or the fortress, so the fear strength on the track remains unchanged.

You can activate the ability of a monster placed in any cell of your half of the settlement board.

Note. The inactive side of a monster has no abilities. For example, monsters may lose additional points of fear strength. If necessary, change the position of the fear marker on the fear track.

3. Hire a Monster

Choose a monster tile from among those lying in the applicant queue on the personnel department board.

Discard from your supply as many gold coins as the hire of this monster costs. Add 1 or 2 gold coins if you chose a tile in the upper part of the queue, where the raise to the salary is indicated.

Put this tile into your bag. You will be able to use it as soon as you draw it from the bag.

Shift the remaining tiles in the queue down, toward the "We'll call you back" cell. Add into the freed cell with the raise symbol a new tile from the "Evil Corp." bag.

Example. Dima hires a red monster from the applicant queue. He pays the hire cost, 2 gold coins, and puts the received tile into his player bag. After this he shifts all the tiles down, and in the very top cell places a new monster drawn from the "Evil Corp." bag.

4. Pass

When you do not want to or cannot take actions, you must pass.

Tilt your screen to show the other players that you have finished acting in the day phase. As soon as you have announced that you are passing, you can no longer take any actions in the day phase of the current round. The other players may continue to take their actions.

As soon as all players have passed, the night phase begins.

In a 4-player game, if one member of a team has passed, the other may continue to take actions.

Note. At any moment of the game you may ask any participant how many monster tiles remain in his supply behind the screen. Participants must honestly report the number of tiles without revealing which tiles they are.

B. Night Phase

In the night phase all players act simultaneously.

1. Check the Settlement Boards

In any order, check each settlement board on the table, performing the following actions.

Fear Track Effects

If the fear marker on the track is on the side of one of the players, then his opponent wins the round and receives the effects of all the cells the marker has passed, starting from the middle of the track and including the cell where it stopped.

• Conquest symbol (shield): For each such symbol move your conquest token 1 step toward the center. If your conquest token occupies the central cell, you receive a victory token.
• Victory token symbol: If you have reached this symbol on your opponent's side, you receive a victory token.
• Magic coin symbol (2): Receive 2 magic coins. Magic coins are used in the same way as gold coins, but they do not have to be discarded at the end of the round if they were not spent (see "Refresh the Player's Supply", page 10).

Tie. If the fear marker on the fear track remained in the middle, check whether one of the players has a power stone. The owner of the power stone wins and moves his conquest token 1 step toward the center. If neither player has a power stone, a tie is declared and neither of them wins.

Example. The fear marker is on the right, on the side of Marina's opponent. The marker passed 4 cells. For each conquest symbol Marina moves her conquest token 1 step toward the center and then receives 2 magic coins from the supply.

Receiving a Victory Token

There are two ways to receive a victory token:

1. Bring the fear marker on the fear track to any of the last 3 cells on the opponent's side.
2. Bring your conquest token to the central cell of the conquest track.

After receiving a victory token, flip the settlement board to side "B" (sand). If the board is already on side "B", do not flip it. Then perform the setup of the settlement board as described on page 4. If you flipped the board, you cannot use the fortress property and keep the monster token on the board. All monster tokens are removed from the board and placed in the monster discard pile next to the screen of the owning player.

Note. Side "B" of a settlement board differs from side "A". Be careful when placing gold coins in the port cargo zones.

Refresh Port Cargo Zones, Loot and Power Stone

Place as many gold coin tokens in the port cargo zone as indicated on the board. If gold coins remained in a port cargo cell, new ones are not added there.

Return the loot token and the power stone token to their respective cells.

Discarding Monster Tokens

Move all monster tiles from the raid, port and demon portal cells to the pile next to your screen; this is your monster discard pile.

If monster tiles remain behind your screen, also put them in your monster discard pile.

If during the round you placed a monster in the fortress cell, you can pay 2 or 3 gold coins (depending on the side of the settlement board) to leave this monster on the settlement board for the next round.

If you leave a monster in the fortress cell, turn it inactive side up. The monster's abilities can be used only in the round in which it was put into play. If you do not want to or cannot pay the price, move the monster tile from the fortress to your monster discard pile.

Reset the Fear Track

Place the marker in the center of the fear track. If there are monsters in the fortresses, change the position of the fear marker depending on their fear strength.

Example. (Illustration only: a settlement board with the fear marker returned to the center of the track and monsters remaining in a fortress and a raid cell circled.)

2. Refresh the Personnel Department Board

Refresh the applicant queue

Discard the monster from the "We'll call you back" cell. Shift all remaining tiles down and add to the very top cell, with the raise symbol, a new monster from the "Evil Corp." bag.

Activate the demons

Turn all demon tiles active side up.

3. Refresh the Player's Supply

Discard gold

Return your gold coin tokens to the general supply. Keep only the magic coin tokens.

Draw new monsters

Each player draws 5 new monster tiles from his bag (or 4 in a 4-player game) and places them behind his screen.

If there are not enough tiles in your bag, first draw all that are there, then put all the monsters from your discard pile into the bag and draw the missing number.

In a 4-player game partners on a team draw monster tiles from one common bag. Each player must draw 4 tiles. Members of one team decide for themselves in what order to draw tiles from the common bag, and in what way (draw 4 at once; draw one at a time in turn, 1 and 1, etc.).

Note. It is forbidden to show each other the drawn monster tiles or to peek behind a partner's screen. Any information you share with your partner must also be communicated to the opponents.

Pass the first player token

Pass the first player token to the next player on the left, or to the opposing team. Begin a new round of the game.

Victory Conditions

The game ends during the night phase, when a player/players or a team becomes the owner of 2 victory tokens.

If several players/teams claim victory, gather all the monster tiles of these players/teams (from the settlement board, from the discard pile and from the bag). Each claimant sums the hire cost of his monsters and adds to the result the number of his magic coins. The player/team whose sum is greater becomes the winner.

In case of a tie on this criterion as well, the player/team with the greater sum of fear strength of all its monsters wins.

Clarifications

About the 4-Player Game

• The members of one team use one player bag between the two of them.
• The central settlement board is available to both members of one team. On his turn each team member can perform on it any desired actions, including activating any monsters placed on their half.
• Players on one team can create unique combinations and chains of actions.

Examples.

• Player 1 receives a gold coin, then his partner spends this coin to hire a new monster.
• Player 1 hires a monster and puts its tile into the bag. The partner draws this monster from the bag through the ability of a demon or another monster.
• Player 1 puts a monster into play, placing its tile on the settlement board, and the partner activates it.

These are only some examples; there are many more possibilities in the team game.

Balance of Power

If the difference in the level of the players is too great, give the weaker participant 4 gold coins at the start of the game.

Monster Abilities

Abilities are listed in the order they appear in the rulebook's illustrations, grouped by the colour of the monster tile.

Blue monsters

• Passive. Add +1 to the summoning strength of the demon.
• Spawn. Flip 1 of your opponent's monster tiles.
• Passive. Add +2 to the summoning strength of the demon.
• Passive. Add +1 to the summoning strength of the demon. Spawn. Flip 1 demon tile.
• Passive. Add +1 to the summoning strength of the demon. Activated. Add 2 monster tiles from your discard pile to your bag.
• Spawn. Flip 1 of your opponent's monster tiles.
• Passive. Add +2 to the summoning strength of the demon. Spawn. Flip 1 demon tile.
• Passive. Add +1 to the summoning strength of the demon. Activated. Draw 1 monster tile from your bag and put it behind your screen. Any number of monster tiles may be behind the screen.
• Activated. Draw 2 monster tiles from your bag and put them behind your screen, then discard 2 monster tiles from your supply.
• Passive. Add +1 to the summoning strength of the demon. Activated. Flip 1 of your opponent's monster tiles.

Red monsters

• Spawn. Choose an opponent; he must, at his choice, reveal 5 monster tiles from his supply and place them in front of his screen (until the end of the round).
• Activated. Choose an opponent; he must discard 1 of his monster tiles (his choice).
• Activated. Discard this monster, then choose on any available settlement board 1 monster tile with fear strength 3 or less and send it to its owner's discard pile.
• Activated. Choose on any available settlement board 1 monster tile with fear strength 2 or less and send it to its owner's discard pile.
• Activated. Choose an opponent; he must reveal 3 monster tiles from his supply and place them in front of his screen (until the end of the round).
• Passive. The fear strength of this monster tile is 3 if it is the only tile in the raid cells on the player's half.
• Passive. Add +1 to the fear strength of all yellow monsters placed in raid cells.
• Passive. This tile cannot be placed in the fortress. Spawn. Pay 2 gold coins. If you cannot pay, the tile cannot be put into play.
• Activated. Choose on any available settlement board 1 monster tile with fear strength 3 or less and send it to its owner's discard pile.
• Passive. This tile cannot be placed in the fortress. Spawn. Choose an opponent; he must draw 1 monster tile from his bag and place it behind his screen.

Yellow monsters

• Spawn. Receive 1 gold coin from the general supply.
• Spawn. Receive 1 gold coin from the general supply. Activated. Move this tile to any free cell of any available settlement board (except the demon portal).
• Spawn. Receive 1 coin from the general supply. Activated. Choose 1 of your monster tiles (behind the screen, in the discard pile or on the board) and remove it from the game, returning it to the box.
• Activated. In turn, move 2 of your monster tiles to any cells of any available settlement board. Exception: only blue monsters may be moved to the demon portal.
• Spawn. Receive 2 gold coins from the general supply. Activated. Move 1 of your monster tiles to any free cell of any available settlement board. Exception: only blue monsters may be moved to the demon portal.
• Spawn. Receive 3 gold coins from the general supply.
• Passive. At the end of the round you may leave up to 2 of your monster tiles in the fortress for free. Spawn. Receive 2 coins from the general supply.
• Activated. Choose 1 of your monster tiles (behind the screen, in the discard pile or on the board) and remove it from the game, returning it to the box.
• Passive. At the end of the round you may leave 1 of your monster tiles in the fortress for free.

Demon Abilities

Each demon has three ability levels, applied according to the summoning strength.

• Activated. Choose on any available settlement board 1 monster tile with fear strength 1 or 2 and send it to its owner's discard pile. Pay 2 gold coins if your demon summoning strength is 1.
• Activated. Depending on the strength of the effect, choose 1, 2 or 3 of your monster tiles (behind the screen, in the discard pile and/or on the board) and remove them from the game, returning them to the box.
• Activated. Depending on the strength of the effect, draw 1, 2 or 3 monster tiles from your bag and put them behind your screen, then discard the same number of monster tiles from your supply.

Ability Symbols

Spawn and activated abilities

The number on the tile next to a symbol is a multiplier (a 2 next to the gold coin symbol means "Receive 2 gold coins").

• Receive 1 gold coin from the general supply.
• Pay 1 gold coin.
• Move 1 of your monster tiles to any free cell of any available settlement board.
• Draw 1 monster tile from your bag and put it behind your screen. Any number of tiles may be behind the screen.
• Discard 1 monster tile from your supply.
• Draw 1 monster tile from your bag and put it behind your screen, then discard any 1 of your tiles from your supply.
• Return 1 monster tile from your discard pile to your bag.
• Choose 1 of your monster tiles (behind the screen, in the discard pile or on the board) and remove it from the game, returning it to the box.
• Move this tile to any free cell of any available settlement board.
• Discard this tile.
• Choose on any available settlement board 1 monster tile with fear strength X or less and place it in its owner's discard pile.
• Choose an opponent; he must reveal the indicated number of his monster tiles, placing them in front of his screen. The player may still use them, but they remain visible to all other players until the end of the round.
• Flip 1 demon tile of your choice.
• Flip 1 of the opponent's monster tiles of your choice.
• Choose an opponent; he must draw 1 tile from his bag and put it behind his screen.
• Choose an opponent; he must discard 1 monster tile from his supply.
• Hire 1 monster from the applicant queue, paying its hire cost. Put the tile into your bag.
• Hire 1 monster from the applicant queue, paying its hire cost. Put the tile behind your screen (not into your bag).
• Apply, at your choice, the activated ability of 1 of the monsters in the applicant queue.

Passive abilities

• Add +X to the summoning strength of the demon of your monster.
• Add +1 to the fear strength of each of your blue monsters placed in raid cells. The effect applies to this monster too if the conditions are met. A similar effect exists for red and yellow monsters.
• The fear strength of this tile is 3 if it is the only one in the raid cells on your half.
• This tile cannot be placed in the fortress.
• Your monsters in raid cells cannot be the target of opponents' abilities on the settlement board where this monster is located.
• At the end of the round you may leave 1 of your monster tiles in the fortress for free.
• At the end of the round you may leave up to 2 of your monster tiles in the fortress for free.