GrumbleStone
GrumbleStone Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Upgrade your golem and destroy your rivals… Last golem standing wins!
Rules at a glance:
- TUMBLE
- RUMBLE
- GRUMBLE
And whatever you do… try not to CRUMBLE.
Setup (2-4 players)
- Place the upgrade board in the center of the table and pile the grumbles beside it.
- Place all 40 polyominoes in the bag and mix them up. Draw five random polyominoes one at a time, placing each on the next cheapest slot of the upgrade board until all five slots have a polyomino.
- Place the 6 perpetual cards (or white tokens on BGA) above the upgrade board.
Each player should:
- Choose a golem and take the corresponding player mat. (Arm wrestle if there is an argument over who gets what golem. Or roll a die if you are a stick in the mud.)
- Take the dice corresponding to your golem's color.
- Place a heart token on the highlighted spot of your golem's heart tracker. This is your starting health.
- Take as many grumbles as are shown on your player mat (beside your golem's name).
- Take your golem's ability card and tuck it under your player mat so that only the word "power" shows, not "superpower".
First player:
Grumbliest player (whoever lost a game most recently) goes first…
Gameplay
Take turns, and continue clockwise.
On your turn:
TUMBLE. First, roll both dice and assign them to your grid based on their number. One die must be assigned to a vertical column (placed above the column), and the other die to a horizontal row (placed to the left of the row).
Note: The icon where the row and column meet is activated twice.
Spend hearts to mitigate:
- -1 heart: Reroll a die
- -2 hearts: Move a die to an adjacent row/column
RUMBLE. Next, activate all the icons shown in that column and row.
- ATTACK - Deal one damage to a rival of your choice per active attack icon minus their active shields (rival must slide their heart token to the left per damage taken).
- HEART - Heal one per active heart icon (slide your heart token to the right).
- SHIELD - Anytime a rival attacks you, block one damage per active shield icon.
- GRUMBLE - Collect grumbles (currency of the game) per active grumble icon.
GRUMBLE. Finally, spend your grumbles to purchase one or more available polyominoes from the upgrade board and place them in your grid. The cost of each polyomino is shown on the upgrade board (3, 4, 4, 5, and 5).
At the end of your turn, slide any unpurchased polyominoes to the cheapest empty slot and refill with new polyominoes.
Note: Polyominoes may cover tokens printed on the golem mat, but may not overlap with previously placed polyominoes.
Banish to heal: During the GRUMBLE phase, you may purchase polyominoes as normal, but instead of placing them on your grid, you may banish them from the game to heal a heart +1. Repeatable.
Perpetuals
During your turn, you may spend grumbles to purchase one or more perpetuals (shield or attack). Activate your perpetuals every turn during the RUMBLE phase. Each card's cost is shown on the card. There are only three perpetual shields and three perpetual attacks, with increasing costs.
After the GRUMBLE phase, play passes to the golem on your left.
Golem Powers
Fill either a row OR a column with polyominoes to unlock your power. Revealing your ability card. When you fill both a row AND a column with polyominoes, you unlock your superpower. Flip your ability card over to reveal your superpower.
Note: Starting icons do not count toward completing a column or row.
Amber
Power: Any rival that attacks and damages you must lose 1 heart (regardless of active shields).
Superpower: Any rival that attacks and damages you must lose 2 hearts (regardless of active shields).
Sir Frostbite IV
Power: FREEZE: During the TUMBLE phase, roll the light blue die in addition to your normal two dice. Until your next turn, rivals may not assign any dice to either the row or column of this number.
Superpower: In addition to FREEZE, gain 1 heart every time a rival rolls the number shown on your freeze die.
Crumbleclad Petrox
Power: You may spend 1 heart to add 1 attack.
Superpower: You may spend 2 hearts to add 3 damages to attacks.
Cyclonia (or Hurricules)
Power: During the TUMBLE phase, optionally reroll one die for free (without spending 1 heart).
Superpower: During the TUMBLE phase, optionally increase or decrease one die's value by 1 for free (without spending 2 hearts).
Rockbottom
Power: CURE: Gain 1 heart at the beginning of each turn.
Superpower: In addition to CURE, you may place both dice in a row or column instead of one of each. This even works for doubles!
Winning the Game
The last golem standing (with at least 1 heart remaining) wins the game and becomes "King of the Mountains".
Note: If any player completely fills up their board with polyominoes, they instantly win the game!
Expansions Coming Soon
We are working hard on:
- New asymmetric golems (Rockbottom)
- More polyominoes with a new symbol (and mechanism)
- Refining and finalizing the solo rules
- A stand-alone, cooperative, boss-battle game using a similar mechanism!
Credits
- Max Robbins from Dragon Egg Games for helping me bring this to Kickstarter.
- The amazing crew at Portland Gamecraft for hosting me on Playtest This
- My precious Meghan, for being patient through the brainstorms of life.
- Nessuno, for developing Grumblestone for Board Game Arena.
- My many new friends from Midwinter Gaming Convention and everyone elsewhere who encouraged me, challenged me, and made this journey unforgettable.
About BlueFoxGames
We design family-friendly games that are full of whimsical art, strategic choices, and memorable moments. Learn more at BlueFoxGames.com or send an email at [email protected].
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Here's to a smashing time!
Josh, the Blue Fox