Ghostbusters: Blackout Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Goal
• Game Setup
• Setup Example
• Gameplay
  • Phase 1: Spawn Ghosts
  • Phase 2: Roll Dice
  • Phase 3: Activate Ghostbusters
  • Phase 4: Clean Up
• Dice
• Other Dice Actions
  • Pass a Die
  • Re-Roll Your Dice Pool
  • Move Boroughs
  • Unused Dice
• Ghostbuster Abilities
• Capturing Ghosts
  • Captured Track
• Chaos
• Equipment
• Possession
• Conflicting Rules
• Easy / Hard Mode
• Quick Reference
  • Objective
  • Round Order
  • Possession

Game Components

• 20 Dice (5 red, 5 blue, 5 green, 5 yellow)
• 4 Colored standee clips
• 8 Character standees
• 8 Character cards
• 24 Ghost cards
• 23 Equipment cards
• 1 Game Board
• 4 Free Re-Roll tokens
• 4 Possession tokens
• 12 Mass Hysteria tiles
• 1 Captured Tracker token
• 1 Chaos Tracker token

Goal

Ghostbusters: Blackout is a fully cooperative experience. Players must collectively catch Ghosts to save the city before the Chaos track reaches 20. Once 15 Ghosts have been caught, the Ghostbusters have won!

Game Setup

1. Choose 4 Ghostbuster character cards and their corresponding standees, regardless of the number of players. In games with less than 4 players, some players will play as multiple Ghostbusters.
2. Each player chooses a color and collects all 5 dice and 1 standee clip of that color for each Ghostbuster. Color choice has no impact beyond personal preference, so pick the one that makes you feel good.
3. Place the board in the middle of the table, and put all 4 chosen Ghostbuster standees in Manhattan (the teal Borough in the upper left hand corner).
4. Place the Chaos tracker token at the #1 space on the Chaos track and the Caught tracker token next to the board near the Caught Ghosts track.
5. Make sure the Possession and Free Re-Roll tokens are in easy reach of all players.
6. Shuffle the Mass Hysteria tiles, then deal one face-down over the 5 and 10 spaces on the Capture Track.
7. Shuffle the Equipment cards deck and reveal the top 4 cards, face-up, in a line near the board where it is accessible to all players.
8. Shuffle the Ghost cards deck and place 1 card face-up in each of the five Boroughs, clockwise, starting with Manhattan.

Who You Gonna Call? Since the standee clip matches the color of your dice, you can quickly tell whose dice are whose by matching their color to the standee color.

Setup Example

The rulebook illustrates the setup with a diagram of the board showing the placement of the Ghostbusters, Ghosts, Equipment and Mass Hysteria tiles. The diagram is not reproduced here; the numbered setup steps above are the written rule.

Gameplay

Ghostbusters: Blackout is played over a series of rounds. Each round is comprised of the 4 phases described below.

Phase 1: Spawn Ghosts

Check to see if there are any empty Boroughs, and place Ghosts on them accordingly in a clockwise fashion, starting with Manhattan (the teal Borough in the upper left hand corner). Ghosts in Boroughs are considered active. Look at the revealed Ghost cards to see if any of them have abilities that specifically activate at the beginning of a round or state "When this ghost is in play." Otherwise, wait to resolve all Ghost text until Phase 4.

Phase 2: Roll Dice

Players roll all of the Ghostbusters' dice simultaneously.

Phase 3: Activate Ghostbusters

Players may activate each Ghostbuster in any order. Once a Ghostbuster is activated, it must complete its entire action for the turn before the next Ghostbuster can perform their action.

Phase 4: Clean Up

Remove all Captured Ghosts from the board and advance the Captured tracker token up as needed. Refer back to the active Ghost cards and resolve any actions they can perform now. Increase the Chaos tracker token as needed. Then, return all dice not currently on an active Ghost's card back to each player's dice pool.

Dice

There are 5 different icons on each die:

• Stream: Used to attack enemy Ghosts. DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS! There are 2 Streams on each die, while all other icons are only featured once per die.
• Trap: Used to Capture enemy Ghosts.
• PKE: Primarily used to buy and activate Equipment, but may be required to catch some Ghosts.
• ECTO-1: Used to move a Ghostbuster to an adjacent Borough.
• Ghost: Used to reduce Chaos in the city by 1, and may be required to Capture some Ghosts.

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost! Each Ghostbuster may only use this die to reduce Chaos by 1 each round.

Other Dice Actions

Pass a Die

In addition to placing dice, players may choose to pass one die of their choice per round to another Ghostbuster in the same Borough. The chosen Ghostbuster receives the die as-is and may not re-roll it. Players may choose to pass this die at any point during their Ghostbuster's activation.

Re-Roll Your Dice Pool

If a player does not like their roll, they may discard one die in their dice pool and re-roll all of the remaining dice in their pool. They may only do this at the beginning of that Ghostbuster's activation, before they have spent any dice. Players may perform this action multiple times per round as long as they have available dice to discard.

Move Boroughs

A player may also discard any two of their dice to move to an adjacent Borough.

Unused Dice

Any dice left unspent at the end of a Ghostbuster's activation are not used that round. Unused dice may not be held between rounds.

Ghostbuster Abilities

Each Ghostbuster has a unique ability. This ability may be used once per round and only during their activation (except Janine).

Capturing Ghosts

In order to Capture a Ghost, players must place the indicated dice on each Ghost card. Players may only place dice on a Ghost if they are in the same Borough as that ghost.

A white icon in a die space signifies that any colored die may be placed there. However, a colored icon means only a specific colored die may be placed in that space.

During Phase 4, any Ghosts that have all of their dice slots filled are considered Captured and removed from play. Do not place a new Ghost on the board until the beginning of the next round. Any dice removed from the Ghost do not go back to their respective Ghostbuster until the end of the round. Dice remain on a Ghost until it is Captured, even between rounds.

Bustin' Makes Me Feel Good Occasionally, the requirements to Capture a Ghost will have been met, but the Ghost will not yet have been removed from the Burough. Since that ghost is considered captured at that point, it cannot generate Chaos, even if there isn't a Ghostbuster in that Burough at the end of the round.

Captured Track

When the Captured tracker token reaches the 5 and 10 positions along the Captured Track, reveal the Mass Hysteria tiles placed on those respective squares. These tiles will create a new rule that must be followed immediately, or for up to 1 round depending on the tile's text.

Chaos

There are two ways to increase Chaos. The first is from Ghosts whose actions create Chaos. The other is by having a Ghost in a Borough at the end of the round that does not have a Ghostbuster in that Borough. The +1 Chaos icons in each Borough act as reminders for this recurring Chaos source. The first Ghostbuster to move into an empty Borough should be placed on top of the +1 Chaos icon to indicate that they are preventing that +1 Chaos while there.

Ghosts Captured during the round cannot generate any Chaos. If the Chaos level of the city reaches 20, the game is immediately over and the Ghostbusters have lost.

The first time the Chaos tracker token reaches the 15 space, pass out 1 Free Re-Roll token to each Ghostbuster. A player may discard this token to get a free, full re-roll of that Ghostbuster's active dice pool at any time during their activation, even if they have already discarded dice that turn. Dice already discarded during a round do not return to a player's dice pool at this time.

Equipment

Each Equipment card has a purchase cost. If an Equipment card requires 2 dice to be purchased, only the last player to place a die on that card receives the Equipment. Dice placed on an Equipment that is not purchased during a round are returned to their respective Ghostbusters at the end of the round. When a piece of Equipment is purchased, immediately replace it in the row with a new Equipment card from the top of the deck.

There are 3 types of Equipment:

• Passive: This Equipment may be activated for free on a player's turn, and may only be used once per a Ghostbuster's activation unless stated otherwise.
• Discard: The player must discard the card in order to activate this Equipment.
• Terrain: These cards are placed directly onto the Borough a Ghostbuster occupies, and affect all Ghostbusters in that Borough for the remainder of the game.

A Ghostbuster may hold up to 3 pieces of Equipment at a time. If a player wants to get rid of an Equipment card, they may either discard it or give it to another Ghostbuster in the same Borough during their activation.

Possession

Some Ghosts can Possess Ghostbusters. A Possessed Ghostbuster cannot place any dice on Ghosts until they discard a Ghost Logo die. The Possessed Ghostbuster may use a Ghost Logo die that was passed to them by another Ghostbuster earlier in the round to remove the Possession. If a Ghostbuster is able to shake off their Possession during their activation, they are free to spend the rest of their dice as they like. Place a Possession token on a Ghostbuster's character card to indicate they are Possessed.

A Possessed Ghostbuster may still re-roll, move, purchase Equipment, reduce Chaos, and share a die with another Ghostbuster.

Conflicting Rules

Sometimes there will be rules on cards that contradict other cards or rules. Unless otherwise stated, the priority for resolving conflicting rules is as follows, from highest to lowest:

1. Equipment
2. Ghosts
3. Character abilities
4. Rulebook

Easy / Hard Mode

If you want to make the game easier, do not place any Mass Hysteria tiles during setup. If you want the game to be even easier, end the game when the Ghostbusters have Captured 12 Ghosts instead of 15.

If you want to make the game more challenging, start the game with 2 Mass Hysteria tiles on the 5 and 10 spaces of the Captured Track instead just 1. For VERY hard mode, start the game at 5 Chaos.

Quick Reference

Objective

• Players all win if the Captured Ghosts tracker reaches 15.
• Players all lose if the Chaos tracker reaches 20.

Round Order

• Phase 1 - Spawn Ghosts: Place a Ghost in each empty Borough.
• Phase 2 - Roll Dice: Roll all of the Ghostbusters' dice.
• Phase 3 - Activate Ghostbusters: Activate each Ghostbuster, using all of one Ghostbuster's dice before moving onto the next.
• Phase 4 - Clean Up: Remove all Captured Ghosts from the board and advance the Captured marker one space for each. Increase the Chaos marker by 1 for each Borough with a Ghost that doesn't have a Ghostbuster AND from any Ghost ability text. Return all dice not currently on a card to the players' dice pools.

Possession

When a Ghostbuster becomes possessed, place a Possession token on their character card. A Possessed Ghostbuster cannot place any dice on Ghosts until they roll and discard a Ghost Logo die. A Possessed Ghostbuster may still re-roll, move, purchase Equipment, reduce Chaos, and share a die with another Ghostbuster.