Fantasy Tavern Brawl Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Objective
• Setup
• Player Turns
  • Sliding, Flinging, Dropping, and Placing
  • When a Card Stops
• Floors and Towers
• Race Card Rules
  • Notes
• Scoring
• Disputes and House Rules

Components

• 60 Race cards (10 Halflings, 10 Orcs, 10 Dwarves, 10 Goblins, 10 Elves, 5 Demons, 5 Minotaurs)
• 4 Player Helper cards
• 10 further Race cards (the source line reads "10 種族卡" with no further breakdown; transcribed as printed)
• 4 Scenario cards
• 1 Tavern starting card
• 75 meeples (米寶) representing tavern customers (5 colours, 15 each)
• 1 Rulebook (the one you are reading)

Game Objective

Score the highest points. You score through the customers you leave inside the tavern. Each customer's score equals the floor number on which they are located.

Setup

• Each player chooses a colour and takes all the customer meeples of that colour.
• If playing multiple games, the starting player is the player with the lowest score from the previous game. Otherwise, choose the starting player at random.
• Place the Tavern starting card in the centre of the table. Each player places one of their customer meeples on that card.
• Choose a scenario. Deal each player the number of each type of card specified on the Scenario card.
• The recommended first game is Scenario 1.
• Players' hands are hidden information.
• The illustration and symbols on each card represent a race. The icons at the bottom of each card explain how to use that card. The Player Helper cards also give a summary.
• Suggestion: If playing on a game mat, do not choose any scenario that includes cards that require sliding.

Player Turns

• Play proceeds clockwise. The game ends when all players have played all of their cards.
• On their turn, a player chooses one of their cards and slides, flings, drops, or places it as follows. Over the game, players gradually expand the tavern this way.

Sliding, Flinging, Dropping, and Placing

• Slide: The player lays the card flat on the table, then flicks it toward the tavern.
• Fling: The player throws the card toward the tavern.
• Drop: The player drops the card from a position directly above the tavern.
• Place: The player places the card next to one or more cards already in the tavern, so that it touches one or more existing cards.
• Dwarf cards: The player first places four customer meeples anywhere inside the tavern, then places the Dwarf card on top of those meeples. Any non-Dwarf card must be placed on the ground level of the tavern, not on the higher floors created by Dwarf cards.
• Any other abilities on a card are resolved according to the Player Helper card.
• When sliding or flinging a card, the player may try to knock other players' customer meeples out of the tavern, but must not remove any of their own customer meeples.

When a Card Stops

1. Any customer meeple not touching any card in the tavern is returned to its owner.
2. If a slid, flung, or dropped card touches another card in the tavern, that card remains on the table and expands the tavern. The player may then carry out any other instructions on the card (for example, placing or moving customer meeples). Sometimes a card may stop at an angle. When customer meeples are placed on such a card, they may slide down it and eventually slide out of the tavern and be eliminated.
3. Any customer meeple that is placed or moved must be placed upright, even if it later falls over.
4. Players have a total limit on customer meeples. If at any point a player should place or knock out a customer meeple but has none available, no meeple is placed or knocked out.
5. If a slid, flung, or dropped card does not touch any other card, it is removed from the game. (In this case the player may not carry out any other instructions on the card.)

Optional rule: The starting position of any card or customer meeple should be at least one forearm's length away from the tavern area (this clearly favours younger players and may disadvantage taller players), or at the edge of the table.

Optional rule: Players may stand up from their seats and fling cards from any position on the table.

Floors and Towers

Dwarf race cards allow a player to place customer meeples inside the tavern and then place a card on top of those meeples. This represents adding an extra floor to the tavern. In this way, more floors can be added to the tavern (for example, adding a second, third, or higher floor on top of an earlier floor).

A "tower" is any area of the tavern that has at least one second-level card (that is, a card resting on some customer meeples as its base, with at least one card above it). Customer meeples may be placed on towers at these higher floors.

Race Card Rules

Some cards allow a player to remove other players' customer meeples from the tavern and return them to their owners' supply. Other cards allow customer meeples to swap positions (two customer meeples already in the tavern may swap places). Still other cards allow customer meeples to be moved: a player may choose to move their own customer meeples to a safe position or a higher floor, or move other players' customer meeples to any location they want.

Notes

• A player may never swap or move any customer meeple that lies beneath another card (it is considered "protected").
• A player may never play a Dwarf card as their final card.
• If, while moving customer meeples by hand (through a card's ability), a player accidentally knocks another player's customer meeple out of the tavern, those customer meeples are returned to their owner. The owner may freely place those meeples back on any position on the card they originally came from. In addition, the careless player (the one who knocked out the meeples) must remove the same number of their own customer meeples from the tavern. They may choose these from any location in the tavern.
• If, while placing or removing any customer meeple in the tavern by hand (through a card's ability), a player accidentally knocks over an upper floor, the customer meeples on that upper floor are automatically eliminated. However, the state of the tavern stays the same: the towers remain fallen.
• When sliding, flinging, or dropping a card, knocking customer meeples out of the tavern or knocking over upper floors carries no penalty.

Optional rule: When placing or moving customer meeples, the player whose turn it is must not touch or move any customers that are not directly affected. If they do, they must remove one of their own customer meeples from anywhere in the tavern. This greatly increases the difficulty, so it is only recommended for experienced players.

Scoring

All customer meeples in the tavern are counted.

• Any customer meeple on the tavern's first floor is worth 1 point.
• Any customer meeple on a higher floor scores points equal to that floor's number (for example, a customer meeple on the third floor is worth 3 points).
• A customer meeple on a tilted card is treated as being one floor above that card.

The player with the highest score wins.

• Tiebreaker 1: If there is a tie, the player with the most customer meeples remaining in the tavern wins.
• Tiebreaker 2: If still tied, the player with the most customer meeples on the highest floor wins.
• Tiebreaker 3: If still tied, both players win.

Disputes and House Rules

If players think any rule is unclear, they may vote to create a new rule. If the votes are tied, the opinion of the game's owner prevails. This new house rule becomes the official rule within that group.