Fear of the Dark Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Objective
• The Basics
  • Light and Darkness
  • Mind Hand
  • Matches
  • Actions and Movement Restrictions
• Setup
  • Difficulty
• Game Flow
  • While you are in the Light
  • While you are in the Darkness
• The Cards
• Game Board
• Card Layout
• Mind Cards
• Mind Cards
• Dangers
• Dangers
• Secrets
• Items
• The Maze and Movement
  • Types of fields
  • Special rooms
• Actions
  • Scenario 1 - Your options are
  • Scenario 2 - Your options are
• Resolving Dangers
  • Scenario 1 - Walked into
  • Scenario 2 - Scouted
• Example of Play
• In the Dark
• A Quick Guide to the Maze
  • Icon key

Components

1. 1 Starting tile
2. 15 Room tiles
3. 1 the Lost standee
4. 13 Danger cards
5. 9 Item cards
6. 9 Mind cards
7. 9 Secret cards
8. 1 Game board
9. 6 Match tokens
10. 4 Locks
11. 10 Obstructions
12. 2 Secret doors
13. 1 Leakage

Objective

Reveal all rooms from the maze deck and escape through a door with no room beyond it to win!

You lose if:

• All mind cards are discarded
• You trigger 2 Terror cards*
• You disappear in a Dark Echo*

*Except on easy

The Basics

Light and Darkness

• You begin in Darkness with no mind hand.
• Spend a match to have Light and build your mind hand.
• While you have a mind hand you are in the Light, if not then you are in the Darkness.

Mind Hand

• This represents the planned actions.
• You never draw additional cards - you build the mind hand to a set number of cards (3 or 5).

Matches

Matches are used to build your mind hand:

• Spend a match to build the mind hand with 3 cards.
• Use the Light a match action to build the mind hand with 5 cards.

Actions and Movement Restrictions

• No diagonal movement; you cannot enter spaces with a lock or obstruction token.

Setup

1. Place the starting room in the center of the table and the Lost standee on the center field.
2. Shuffle the room tiles. Remove 3 face-down and set them aside.
3. Keep all tokens within reach.
4. Place the game board on the table.
5. Shuffle the Item deck. Remove 1 card, return it to the box. Distribute the rest (2 per location) right of the board.
6. Shuffle the Secrets deck. Remove 1 card, return it to the box. Distribute the rest (2 per location) left of the board.
7. Shuffle the Danger and Mind decks.
8. Place Obstruction on the red-highlighted starting field and Lock on the magenta-highlighted one.
9. Choose a difficulty.

Difficulty

• Easy - 6 starting matches and no instant death
• Normal - 6 starting matches
• Hard - 5 starting matches
• Very Hard - 4 starting matches

Game Flow

There are no turns in Fear of the Dark, just periods of Darkness and Light.

While you are in the Light

• Play a Mind card to resolve its action and return it to the Mind deck or to move 2 steps and return it to the Mind deck.
• Discard a card from your mind hand as a wildcard to perform any action.

While you are in the Darkness

• Discard a Mind card from your deck as a wildcard to perform any action available in the dark.

The Cards

Mind cards for the Mind deck and are your sanity and action pool. Use them wisely as once you lose a mind card there is no way to recover it!

Item cards are various useful items you can find in the maze. These include scraps of paper, matches and even secret levers or keys that can open locked doors.

Secret cards can be only revealed in the Light and can provide important information like a map or locations of matches.

Danger cards are the hidden threats in the maze. A danger card is revealed every time you enter a dangerous room and are triggered if the conditions are met.

Game Board

The Game board is the player aid and a map of locations for Secrets, and Items.

Items (located on the Right) can be investigated both in light and darkness while Secrets (located on the Left) can be investigated in light only.

The Game Board is divided in 3 sections.

1. Light - actions that can be performed in the Light.
2. Special actions - 3. Use a match to build a mind hand with 3 mind cards; 4. Play any mind card from your mind hand to move two steps;
3. Dark - actions that can be performed in the Dark.

Card Layout

1. Requirement - if it is not met the card cannot be played (Mind or Item) or does not trigger (Danger).
2. Effect / consequences - what does this card do;
3. Instant activation (Items and Secrets only) - Resolve and discard the card immediately (Danger and Secret cards always activate immediately).

Mind Cards

Light a match - Build your mind hand with 5 mind cards.

Move - You can Move both in the light and dark up to 4 spaces.

Tiptoe - Move over holes and over normal fields but only while there is light.

Mind Cards

Scouting can be performed only in the Light to reveal the next room. Scouting (next to a door) reveals the next room without triggering dangers.

Exploring can be played both in light and in darkness but Secrets can be revealed by only in light. You must stand next to a Secret or Item. Exploring reveals a Secret or Item card from the matching location on the Game Board. Each location can be explored two times.

Clearing obstructions allows you to remove one obstruction from a field next to you.

Dangers

The following dangers affect you.

Terror - discard one Mind card. Keep any triggered terror cards, if you have 2 terror cards you lose the game - instant death (except on easy)!

Knockout - add one tile to the Maze deck from the 3 tiles you have removed during setup.

Propuh - return your whole hand to the mind deck - a gust of wind has extinguished your light.

Dangers

These dangers affect rooms.

Collapse - Place an Obstruction token on the field you have just left.

Locking - Place a Lock token on the field you have just left.

Leakage affects the revealed tile. Place a leakage token on the tile. When you are in this room return your mind hand to the mind deck and you cannot use matches.

Secrets

Secret door - place a door token to any empty wall in any room. This token serves as a door until the end of the game.

Secret map - select a unused door, then reveal the next room and place it connected to that door. Any dangers in that room are ignored.

Information - check both Items from the corresponding location on the game board without collecting them.

Items

Match - discard to add a Match token.

Scrap paper - discard while there is light to build your mind hand with 3 cards.

Key - discard to remove a lock from a field next to you.

Lever - immediately remove one lock token from anywhere in the maze then discard. If there are no locks just discard the lever.

The Maze and Movement

You create The Maze as you reveal new rooms by walking, scouting or finding maps. Connect rooms door-to-door. Each room has 9 fields (3x3).

Types of fields

1. Empty - normal movement;
2. Hole - you cannot move to this field except by tiptoeing;
3. Obstruction - place an obstruction token no movement while the obstruction token is on it;
4. Lock - place a lock token when revealed, no movement while the lock token is on it;
5. Secret/Item.

Special rooms

6. Danger - when revealed resolve the top card from the danger deck;
7. Dark echo - when revealed first resolve any dangers, discard the tile, then draw the next tile and reveal it. If you trigger a Locking or Collapse you lose immediately (except on easy)!

Actions

Scenario 1 - Your options are

• Walk one step left (out of 4);
• Walk the full movement left, reveal the next room without scouting.
• Clear the obstruction (down);
• Use a key to remove the lock (down);
• Tiptoe up one step (out of 2);
• Tiptoe 2 steps up and reveal the next room without scouting.

Scenario 2 - Your options are

• Walk the full movement right to the revealed tile;
• Clear the obstruction left;
• Investigate the Item up - take an Item card from its location at the game board 3.

Resolving Dangers

The printed heading in the source reads "Resoving Dangers".

Scenario 1 - Walked into

You have revealed the dangerous room by walking into it. Draw the next Danger card and reveal it.

The revealed danger is Locking. Place a Lock token on the field you have just left.

Scenario 2 - Scouted

You have revealed the dangerous room by scouting it. Draw the next Danger card and reveal it.

The revealed danger is Leakage. Place the Leakage token on the revealed room. The second effect is not triggered since you did not walk into the room.

Example of Play

First move - playing it safe! You are at the middle field of the starting tile. Discard one match to draw 3 mind cards of your choice.

1. Walk
2. Scout
3. Light a match

You Move to the left one step (maximum move is 4) and Scout the next room.

The next tile is a Danger room so you reveal the first danger from the danger deck.

The revealed danger is a Knockout that triggers only if revealed by moving into the tile (Top-left corner icon). Your last action is Lighting a match.

The next tile contains both obstructions and items so you prepare accordingly.

1. Walk
2. Investigate
3. Clear
4. Walk
5. Light a match

You again move one step, clear the obstruction and investigate the item - take the item card from the playing board location and reveal it.

Now you use the last walking card to move to the next tile - this time without checking ahead.

You are lucky and the next room does not hold a danger. Now it is time to light the next match.

In the Dark

You are in the dark! No matches left and only what remains of your mind to drive you forward. You can discard any card from your mind deck to perform any action available while in the dark.

You discard the first card to remove the obstruction and a second card to walk. This is a dark echo that is also a danger tile.

First resolve the danger card and then the dark echo. If the danger is a collapse or locking this will trigger the instant death (except in easy mode).

Once you resolve the danger, discard the dark echo tile and place yourself in front of the door. Then reveal the next tile and place it next to that door as if you have scouted it.

You can continue playing by discarding cards until you win, find a match or lose your mind.

If this was the last tile in the maze deck you could simply discard one more card to move 4 steps and exit the maze.

A Quick Guide to the Maze

• Use matches or paper to keep in the light;

• Plan your actions;

• Discard mind cards sparingly (as Wildcards);

• You cannot move or interact diagonally;

• When revealing a room:

  • Enter the room if moving;
  • Complete your move if there is no danger;
  • Resolve dangers if any;
  • Resolve dark echoes if any;
  • Place tokens as indicated on the room highlights.

• To win:

  • Reveal all the rooms from the maze deck and exit a door without a room connected;

• To lose:

  • Discard all mind cards before winning;
  • Disappear in a dark echo (Instant death);
  • Trigger 2 terror dangers (Instant death).

Icon key

• Action possible only in light;
• Danger triggered if room is revealed by movement;
• Resolves immediately;
• Keep this terror card if triggered;
• Dangerous room;
• Dark echo room.