Hameln
Hameln Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 game board
- 1 bag
- 5 score markers (red, green, yellow, blue and white)
- 1 'Influence Purchase' marker (money)
- 12 grey Rat-Catcher tokens (4 x no. 1, 4 x no. 2, 4 x no. 3)
- 16 brown Rat Activity counters (5 x no. 1, 9 x no. 2, 2 x no. 3)
- 56 Production cubes: 12 brown = breads, 12 yellow = cheeses, 12 white = beers and 20 red = meats
- 30 small rats (black wooden discs)
- 75 family members (15 of each colour)
- Money: 35 coins of 1 florin (silver) and 10 coins of 5 florins (gold)
- 4 Boy cubes (blue) and 4 Girl cubes (pink)
- 1 rulebook
- A set of figurines: the Rat Emperor, the Pied Piper, the cat, the large rats (6), the family members
The Game Board
The board shows: the market place; the Pied Piper starting space; the road to Transylvania; the influence track; the turn order track; the large rat reserve; the four coloured regions (Black, Yellow, Red, Green); the Rat-Catcher token spaces; the Pied Piper spaces; the parish hall; the cat's starting space; the Influence Purchase track; the score track; the houses (Bakery, Cheese Dairy, Brewery, Butcher's shop, House of Influence), each with a Man space and a Woman space, a cost, what the house produces, and Rat spaces (white circles) around it (see fig. 5 on page 8 of the original).
Setup
(Refer to the board description above for the terms in italics in the original.)
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Each player chooses a colour.
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Determine turn order at random (you can use the bag to draw the colours, one at a time) and place a family member of the corresponding colour, for each player, on the score track (the first drawn on number 1, the second on number 2, ...).
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Place a family member of each player on the bottom space of the influence track (line them up on the space starting from the right for the 1st player). (See Fig. 8 for an example.)
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Place the appropriate number of large rats on the large rat reserve (four for 3 to 4 players, five for 5 players).
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Place the purchase marker (money) on the starting space of the Influence Purchase track.
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Place the Pied Piper and the cat on their starting spaces.
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Place the 4 Boy cubes and the 4 Girl cubes (blue/pink) in the bag.
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Shuffle the Rat-Catcher tokens and place them face down, in three equal piles, on their spaces on the game board.
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Turn the Rat Activity counters face down, shuffle them, then place one on the centre of each house (production and influence), except for the 6 butcher's shops surrounding the market place (they always attract 3 rats). Once all the counters have been placed, turn them face up.
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Each player places the remaining members of his family in front of him and takes one meat cube (red).
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The first player places one of his family members on the man space of one of the starting houses (Fig. 1). This continues in turn order until every player has placed a man. Now the last player places one of his family members on a woman space of a house occupied by another player's man. This continues in turn order until every player has placed a woman. All the starting houses now have a man and a woman. A player cannot, and must not, force another player to: a) place his own man with his own woman, or b) start the game sharing two houses with the same player.
The game is ready to begin.
Note: Players must keep their money and goods visible. The number of Rat-Catcher tokens held by a player is also visible, but their value is hidden.
5-player setup
If you play with 5 players, all the rules remain unchanged except for the 2 additional Rat spaces (Fig. 2). Refer to G. 5-player game - Additional Rat spaces for details. These spaces are not used in the 3 or 4 player game.
Game Play
Sequence of play: play proceeds in turn order. On his turn, a player must perform one of the following actions:
- Use the influence of a man - Production of goods / collection of money (attracts rats)
- Use the influence of a woman - Prepare a child for marriage / collection of money (attracts rats)
- Marry and move into a house
- Sell goods
If the Pied Piper has not been activated (see H. Pied Piper), the player may perform one of the following optional actions:
a) Buy the cat b) Buy influence c) Bribe the Pied Piper
If a player cannot perform a mandatory action (very rare), he is still allowed to perform an optional action.
Mandatory actions
1) Use the influence of a man
The player activates at least one house (or more if he wishes) where he has a man present (infested houses cannot be activated - see G. Infested by rats). A player must declare which house(s) he activates at the start of his turn. The player gains one good (cube - bread, cheese, beer or meat) for each production house he activates and one florin for each influence house he activates.
The player who controls the woman in each activated house (the other occupant) has the choice between preparing one of his children for marriage (see point 2) (production house), or gaining one florin (influence house).
All activated houses attract rats (see G. Placing rats).
2) Use the influence of a woman
The player activates at least one house (or more if he wishes) where he has a woman present (infested houses cannot be activated - see G. Infested by rats). A player must declare all the houses he activates at the start of his turn. For each production house activated, the player prepares a child for marriage. The player takes a cube from the bag: a pink cube represents a girl and a blue cube represents a boy. If there are no more cubes available, the player cannot perform this action. The player takes one of the members of his family from his supply and places it on the parish hall on the appropriate side. The cube is placed beside the hall and stays out of the bag for now (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3: The yellow player draws a pink cube from the bag. He places one of his family members from his supply on the Girl part of the parish hall. The pink cube is then placed beside the hall.
For each influence house activated, the player gains 1 florin.
The player who controls the man in each activated house receives either a good (production house) or a florin (influence house).
All activated houses attract rats (see G. Placing rats).
3) Marry and move into a house
A player may marry the children he has in the parish hall. A player may only marry a child to a child of another player and of the opposite sex (it's the 13th century after all!). The player may marry more than one of his children. The player chooses in which order they are married. Immediately after the wedding, the newlyweds are moved from the parish hall to a house (Fig. 4). The choice of house is decided by the player performing the action, but it is paid for by the man (it's the 13th century after all!). The money is paid to the bank. It is not possible to move into a house that the man could not pay for. The boy is placed on the blue space of the house, and the girl on the pink space. The cubes corresponding to the boy and the girl are now put back in the bag.
Fig. 4: A green boy marries a yellow girl.
If an influence house is chosen, both players receive a one-time bonus that increases their influence. The influence increase is shown by the silver circle at the top right of the house (Fig. 5). The player who is ahead on the influence track adds his influence first. (See F. Gaining influence.)
Fig. 5: An influence house.
4) Sell goods
[The French text numbers this action "3" a second time; it is the fourth action listed in the sequence of play.]
A player may sell one or more goods (production cubes). For each production cube sold, he receives:
- Meat = 4 florins
- Beer = 3 florins
- Cheese = 2 florins
- Bread = 1 florin
Any production cube = one Rat-Catcher token (see below).
Instead of earning money for a production cube, the player may choose to take a Rat-Catcher token. He may choose any combination of Rat-Catcher tokens or florins. He decides this combination at the start of his turn (he cannot look at a Rat-Catcher token and then decide to take another one). A player may take the token(s) from any pile.
Example: Marc has 2 meat cubes, 1 cheese cube and 1 bread cube. He decides to sell his 2 meat cubes for eight florins (4 + 4) and takes 2 Rat-Catcher tokens in exchange for his cheese and bread cubes (one token for each cube).
Optional actions
a) Buy the cat
The cat is initially bought from the bank. It costs four florins (paid to the bank). The player takes the cat and places it in front of him. Afterwards, the cat can be bought from its current owner. The cost is always four florins, but one florin is paid to the current owner and three florins to the bank. The cat is placed in front of its new owner. A player cannot buy the cat from himself. He must wait until another player buys the cat from him before he can buy it again.
On buying the cat, the new owner immediately removes one small rat from the game board. If this frees an infested house, the large rat (if there is one) is put back on the large rat reserve and the rat activity counter of that house is turned face up (see G. Infested by rats).
b) Buy influence
The player moves the price marker, clockwise, to the next yellow circle (the first available space shows a cost of 2 florins for a gain of one influence point (Fig. 6)).
Fig. 6: Buying influence (the board shows the influence gained and the cost).
The player pays the amount indicated (yellow circle) and gains the connected amount of influence (silver circle). The player advances his influence marker accordingly (see F. Gaining influence). The player cannot buy influence again until his next turn.
Note: The track is an endless loop.
c) Bribe the Pied Piper
The town is divided into 4 regions, each linked by a colour to a Pied Piper space (Fig. 7). At the end of each phase (see H), the Pied Piper will remove all the rats from the region linked to the Pied Piper space with the biggest bribe.
The player may increase the money available to bribe the Pied Piper in a region. The player places one or more florins on the Pied Piper space of the chosen region. The Pied Piper immediately moves to the Pied Piper space with the biggest bribe. Two regions cannot have the same bribe. A bribe in a region may be increased without thereby becoming the biggest.
Fig. 7: The Pied Piper space in the green region.
Influence and Turn Order
The influence track
The influence track is used to determine players' influence. Influence scores points at the end of the game and resolves all ties. It also determines turn order at the start of a new round.
Players start at the bottom of the influence track. As they gain influence they move up the track. Markers are always placed furthest to the right. If the top of the track is reached, it is not possible to go beyond it. When two or more players are on the same space, the player furthest to the right is higher on the influence track.
Fig. 8: A setup for a game ready to begin. The order on both tracks is identical. Red is first, followed by yellow, blue and finally green.
The turn order track
The turn order track shows the turn order for a round. At the start of each round, the turn order is changed to reflect the order on the influence track (if needed).
Gaining influence / Changing turn order
When a player gains influence (by moving into an influence house or by buying influence) he moves his marker up the influence track by that number of spaces. When two players move into an influence house, the player with the most influence adds his influence first. At the start of each round (when all players have had their turn), the players rearrange the turn order to reflect the influence track.
Fig. 9: Red and yellow have played without gaining influence. Blue buys influence using an optional action. He moves his marker one space. Green then moves his marker to fill the space left free. Green then buys influence in his turn and moves his marker accordingly.
Fig. 10: The round is over because all players have had their turn. The turn order is rearranged to reflect the order on the influence track. The new order is blue, green, red and yellow. The new round begins with blue playing first.
G. Rats!
Placing rats
Each time a house (production or influence) is activated, it attracts rats. Each rat activity counter shows how many rats will appear when the house is activated. All the houses around the market place attract three rats each; all the other houses attract one, two or three rats, depending on their rat activity counter.
The active player decides where the rats go. He places the rats on any white circle surrounding the house (one small rat on each white circle) (Fig. 11). If there are not enough free circles to place all the rats, the player places as many as he can and discards the rest.
Reminder: as long as a house has at least one white circle surrounding it, it can be activated.
Fig. 11: The player activates the house and places three small rats.
5-player game - Additional Rat spaces
When playing with 5 players, the additional Rat spaces are used. When small rats are attracted by an adjacent house, they may be placed on its additional spaces. However, two rats cannot be placed on the same side during the same turn, unless there is no other option (Figs 12, 13 & 14).
Fig. 12: Here, rat "a" is already in place. The player places the attracted rats on positions b, c & d.
Fig. 13: This is not allowed! The player cannot place c & b on the same side, because there are still free spaces.
Fig. 14: Because the other spaces are occupied (a, b & c), the player has no other option than to play e & f on the same side.
Infested by rats
A house is infested with rats when the last white circle surrounding it is covered. This includes non-activated or unoccupied houses. The rat activity counter is placed face down and a large rat (from the large rat reserve) is placed on the house. The house can no longer be activated until one or more of the small rats surrounding it have been removed (this can happen thanks to the Pied Piper or the cat).
If one of the small rats surrounding an infested house is removed, the large rat (if there is one) is removed and the rat activity counter is turned face up again. It is possible to activate the house again. If a large rat is removed because of the cat, it is put back in the large rat reserve.
Infested houses do not score at the end of the game!
Large rats
The number of large rats in the large rat reserve depends on the number of players and the round (Fig. 15). The number of large rats determines when the Pied Piper will appear. His appearance signals the end of the round.
Fig. 15: The number of large rats in each round.
| Players | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/4 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
At the start of each round, the appropriate number of large rats is placed in the large rat reserve (Fig. 15 & 16). When the last large rat of the reserve is placed on a house, the round is over and the Pied Piper will appear (see H. The Pied Piper appears).
Fig. 16: The large rat reserve.
The Rat Emperor
The Rat Emperor is only used in the third round, as a large rat. It is the last large rat of the reserve to be used. It simply helps players remember that they are in the last round.
H. The Pied Piper / End of the Round
The Pied Piper appears
When all the large rats have been placed (on houses) in this round, the Pied Piper appears and the round ends. The player can no longer activate houses or perform an optional action. All the large rats are removed and put to one side.
The Pied Piper cleans all the rats from the region where he is (this is the region with the biggest bribe or the region where he started the round). Some Rat spaces overlap two regions. Rats on these spaces are removed if either region is cleaned. The Pied Piper also cleans all the rats from the market place (Fig. 17). Reminder: any house that is no longer infested has its rat activity counter turned face up.
Fig. 17: The market place.
Time to pay the Pied Piper!
In turn order, each player with children in the parish hall must decide whether to pay the Pied Piper. The Pied Piper asks one, two or three florins for each of his children in the hall. The price, per child, depends on the space the Pied Piper is on (shown by a yellow circle) (Fig. 7).
A player may pay for all, several or none of his children. A player cannot pay for other players' children. Each child that is paid for stays in the parish hall. Each child that is not paid for is moved to the first free space on the road to Transylvania (Fig. 18). The Boy / Girl cubes are put back in the bag.
At the end of the game, the children on the road will lose points. Each child placed after all the filled spaces loses 6 points (-6) at the end of the game. Children can never be removed from the road to Transylvania.
Fig. 18: Yellow pays 2 for his girl. Red decides to pay for only one of his two boys; the other is moved to the road to Transylvania.
The successful bribe and the money paid for children are returned to the bank. Money on the other Pied Piper spaces stays (if any). If there is no money left on any Pied Piper space, the Pied Piper moves clockwise to the next Pied Piper space. Otherwise, he moves to the space with the biggest bribe.
The new round can begin. The appropriate number of large rats is placed on the large rat reserve (see G. Large rats). The game continues normally (with the next player in turn order).
I. End of the Game / Scoring
The game ends at the end of the third round. As usual, the Pied Piper cleans his region and asks to be paid for the children. When that is done, scoring takes place.
Scoring
Each player uses his score marker to count his points on the score track (Fig. 19).
Points are awarded as follows (influence order breaks ties):
| Item scored / Number of players | 3/4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Player who ended the game | 1 | 1 |
| Owner of the cat | 1 | 1 |
| Highest value of Rat-Catcher tokens (1st, 2nd); at least 1 token required | 3, 1 | 3, 1 |
| Influence (highest to lowest) | 3, 2, 1, (0, 0) | 3, 2, 1, (0, 0) |
| Money (highest to lowest); having no money also scores | 5, 3, 1, (0) | 5, 3, 2, 1, 0 |
| Houses with a family member (not infested houses) | Points = cost of each occupied house | same |
| Deduction of points for each child on the road to Transylvania (the points lost are shown on the child's space) |
Houses infested with rats do not score points.
The player with the most points has the most successful family. He is declared the winner and receives the warm congratulations of the other players. Influence order breaks ties.
J. Summary / Player Aid
Game flow
On his turn, a player must perform one of the following actions:
- Use the influence of a man - Production of goods / collection of money (attracts rats)
- Use the influence of a woman - Prepare a child for marriage / collection of money (attracts rats)
- Marry and move into a house
- Sell goods
If the Pied Piper has not been activated (see H. The Pied Piper / end of the round), the player may perform one of the following optional actions:
a) Buy the cat b) Buy influence c) Bribe the Pied Piper
The round ends when all players have played their turn. The turn order is changed (if needed) to reflect the influence track.
Gains from houses
The board shows what each house gains (see the board).
Pied Piper (end of round / game)
The round ends when the last large rat [the French text says "grand roi"] is placed.
- The Pied Piper cleans the region where he is
- All the large rats are removed from the game board
- Pay for each child in the parish hall?
- Fill the large rat reserve
- The Pied Piper moves to the region with the biggest bribe (or the next one clockwise)
- The game continues with the next player (end of the 3rd round - the game ends - scoring)
| Large rats / Players | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/4 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Scoring
| Item scored / Number of players | 3/4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Player who ended the game | 1 | 1 |
| Owner of the cat | 1 | 1 |
| Highest value of Rat-Catcher tokens (1st, 2nd); at least 1 token required | 3, 1 | 3, 1 |
| Influence (highest to lowest) | 3, 2, 1, (0, 0) | 3, 2, 1, (0, 0) |
| Money (highest to lowest); having no money also scores | 5, 3, 1, (0) | 5, 3, 2, 1, 0 |
| Houses with a family member (not infested houses) | Points = cost of each occupied house | same |
Deduction of points for each child on the road to Transylvania (the points lost are shown on the child's space).
The order on the influence track breaks ties (even for the final score).
Tips
- Be careful whom you marry! Remember that you are going to give them points.
- Choose your house carefully. Too many women in a production house can lead you to have unwanted children in the parish hall. Too few can make it hard to progress.
- Cheaper houses can attract rats near other players' more profitable houses.
- Alone in the parish hall? Can you force someone to activate their women?
- An eligible man is more attractive with money in his pocket!
- Influence is not only important for points but also for turn order, and it also decides ties.
- Bribing the Pied Piper can discourage other players from ending the game.