Galopp Royal Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Game Board
• Setup
• Course of the Game
• A. Bid for Starting Teams
  • 1. Meaning of the Bearers
  • 2. Bidding for the Starting Teams with 3 or 4 Players
  • Example
  • 3. Bidding for Starting Teams with 5 or 6 Players
• B. The Race
  • 1. How the French three-sided die is handled
  • 2. The bearers in action
  • 3. End of a Race
  • 4. The Shell Pond
  • 5. Bearer Change
  • 6. Replacement Teams
• End of the Game

Components

• 1 game board
• 6 sedan chairs
• 1 triumphal arch
• 9 plastic stands (2 spare)
• 40 bearer cards
• 6 sedan chair tableaus
• 1 French three-sided die
• Gold coins in values 1, 5, 10, 50

The Game Board

• Great fountain: discard area for the supply pile of bearer cards.
• Victory spaces: the first three sedan chairs that place in a race are set up here.
• Start space.
• Finish spaces, races 1 to 6 (one finish space per race).
• Shell pond: a chair moving backwards onto this space drops out of the current race.

Setup

Before the first game, carefully punch the sedan chairs, the triumphal arch and the coins out of the frames. The sedan chairs and the triumphal arch are put into the stands.

• The game board goes in the middle of the table. It shows the race track with the start space and 6 finish spaces.
• The bearer cards are shuffled and placed as a face-down supply pile on the great fountain.
• Each player chooses a colour and receives a sedan chair tableau and a sedan chair in that colour.
• Each player places his sedan chair on the start space.
• The triumphal arch is placed on the first finish space, with the stone tablet "20, 10 and 5".
• The three-sided die is made ready.
• One player declares himself willing to manage the bank with the gold coins.
• Each player receives starting capital of 50 gold coins.

Course of the Game

The game is divided into two phases:

A. Bid for starting teams (each player receives a starting team)

B. Six sedan chair races

1. Race, bearer change, bid for replacement teams
2. Race, bearer change, bid for replacement teams
3. Race, etc.

After the auction of the starting teams (A), six sedan chair races (B) take place.

Between the races there is a bearer change (each player loses one bearer of his team and receives one in return) and two replacement teams are auctioned.

After the 6th race the game ends. The player with the most gold coins wins.

A. Bid for Starting Teams

1. Meaning of the Bearers

(So that you know how the individual bearers affect the race.)

The bearers with the positive numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 move a sedan chair forward that many spaces. The higher the number, the more desirable the bearer!

Beware of a bearer with a negative 2. He is a bumbler. If he comes into play, you must move your sedan chair back two spaces - with great bad luck even onto the shell pond at the end of the race track, which results in your chair immediately dropping out of the current race.

The bearer with the values +2/-2 is a sly fox. When he comes into play, you may move your own sedan chair forward two spaces and any other sedan chair back two spaces - or move two opposing sedan chairs back one space each. A very good card!

EXCEPTION: You may not move an opposing sedan chair back onto the last space (shell pond). Of course, with the sly fox you may also move your own sedan chair back, in order to become Last, which can be an advantage (see bearer change). You must then, however, in return move another sedan chair forward two spaces, or two sedan chairs one space each.

2. Bidding for the Starting Teams with 3 or 4 Players

(With 5 or 6 players the rules described under point 3 apply in addition.)

Before the first race, exactly as many teams are auctioned in several auction rounds as there are participants. An auction round runs as follows:

With four participants, each player draws one bearer card from the supply and holds it secretly in his hand. These four cards together form the team to be auctioned.

With three participants, each player draws one card. The fourth card is placed openly - visible to all - next to the game board. These four cards form the team to be auctioned.

• The youngest player begins. He has the choice of bidding one or more gold coins or passing.
• Whoever passes places his bearer card face down in front of him and takes no further part in the auction of this team.
• The next player in clockwise order follows. He may raise his predecessor's bid or pass.
• Whoever made the last bid after all other players have passed acquires the four bearer cards and pays the bid price into the bank. That player takes no part in the following auctions.
• If no player makes a bid, the four bearers are discarded on the discard pile and the players draw new bearer cards.
• The next auction is begun by the next player in clockwise order.

-> If only three players without a team remain, each player draws one card, and one is placed openly, visible to all, next to the game board.

-> If only two players without a team remain, before the auction each draws two bearer cards.

-> The last player without a team takes the top four cards of the supply pile for his team - no matter how good it is - and pays 10 gold coins for it.

When all teams have been auctioned, each player lays his four bearer cards face up on the four spaces of his sedan chair tableau. The order of laying them out is arbitrary.

Example

Hans, Werner, Pia and Claudia are playing. The first team is auctioned. Each draws a bearer card from the supply pile and holds it secretly in his hand. Hans is the oldest player and as first bids one gold coin. His left neighbour Pia raises to two gold coins. Next in clockwise order: Werner bids 3, Claudia raises to 5, Hans passes and lays his bearer card face down in front of him. Pia raises anyway to 6, after which Werner also passes and lays his card face down in front of him. Now it is Claudia's turn again. She raises to 7, Pia bids 9, Claudia passes. Thus Pia has won the team and pays 9 gold coins into the bank. She takes the three cards laid down by her fellow players and her own and lays them openly on her sedan chair tableau.

In the next auction Pia may no longer bid, since she already has a team. Hans, Werner and Claudia each again draw one bearer card, the fourth is placed openly in the middle. This time Hans wins the team. Now only Werner and Claudia are without a team. Each draws two bearer cards. Claudia wins the team for 8 gold coins. Finally Hans must pay 10 gold coins and takes the four top cards of the pile.

3. Bidding for Starting Teams with 5 or 6 Players

5 players: Each player takes a bearer card. The first player who passes lays his card openly on the discard pile. This bearer thus does not belong to the team.

6 players: Each player takes a bearer card. The first two players who pass lay their cards openly on the discard pile. These bearers do not belong to the team.

B. The Race

The youngest player begins the first race. He rolls the three-sided die.

Invented around 1763 by Comte Charles d'Hareng, this special die came about because of a quarrel during a dice game - a die had stopped on its edge - which led to a duel. Having just come out of it victorious, he decided to invent a die that would always lie unambiguously.

1. How the French three-sided die is handled

• Take the die in your hand and let it fall onto the table from a height of about 20 cm.
• The number that appears at the bottom on all 3 sides is the number rolled.

2. The bearers in action

Each die number on the sedan chair tableau is assigned a bearer card. The player now moves his sedan chair that many spaces forward or backward as indicated on the bearer card (see also A1 "Meaning of the Bearers"). Then the next player in clockwise order follows.

EXAMPLE: The player rolls a two. The number two is a strong bearer: 5 spaces forward are allowed. The player may advance his sedan chair 5 spaces. Had he rolled a three, he could have advanced his sedan chair two spaces and moved a fellow player's sedan chair two spaces back, or two opposing sedan chairs one space each.

Of course, several sedan chairs may stand on one space during the race.

3. End of a Race

The first player who moves his sedan chair onto or beyond the finish space is first, and places his sedan chair on the space with the Roman numeral one (I). As soon as second (II) and third (III) places are also determined, the race ends.

The first three players are paid the victory prizes shown on the finish space from the bank. After the first race these are 20 gold coins for the first, 10 for the second and 5 for the third player.

Whoever became Last in a race has an advantage in the next race (see bearer change). Should two or more sedan chairs occupy the last place after a race, play continues until one sedan chair stands alone in last place.

4. The Shell Pond

A player who moves backwards onto the shell pond during a race drops out of the current race. Whoever lands there first counts as Last. In a three-player game, a player who lands on the shell pond with his sedan chair and becomes Last nevertheless receives the victory prize for 3rd place.

5. Bearer Change

• The player who became Last may remove one bearer card from each player's sedan chair tableau. Naturally he removes the worst bearer from his own and the best bearers from his fellow players. The cards go openly onto the discard pile.
• Afterwards each player, beginning with the last, draws a new card from the supply pile and lays it on the free space of his sedan chair tableau.

6. Replacement Teams

• Two new teams are auctioned one after the other. Whoever is dissatisfied with his team now has the opportunity to acquire another.
• The rules of the auction are the same as described under rule point "A. Bid for Starting Teams", except for the following exceptions:

EXCEPTIONS:

• The first bid is always made by the player who was Last in the preceding race.
• Whoever has acquired a new team must lay his old one on the discard pile, even if it is better than the newly auctioned one.
• It is permitted for the same player to win the auction twice in a row.
• If no player makes a bid, the bearers go onto the discard pile. No new team is auctioned for this team.

ATTENTION: If the supply pile is used up, the discard pile is shuffled and laid out as the new supply pile.

The next race begins with the player who was Last in the preceding race. The triumphal arch is placed on the next finish space. In the second race the prize money is 25, 12 and 6. All players place their sedan chairs on the start space again.

End of the Game

After the 6th race the game ends. All players count their gold coins. The player with the highest sum has won. In case of a tie there are several winners.