Hoard
Hoard Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
Hoard is played in rounds until a player reaches or exceeds five victory points. Each round, gather and secure as much treasure as possible from the dragon's hoard. Defend yourself from the attacks of fellow adventurers and perhaps perpetuate a few of your own. Try to end each round when you think you are ahead by running out of cards or by waking the dragon. Eeek!
Components
- 3 dragon boards (blue side asleep, red: awake)
- 56 regular game cards:
- 42 Treasure cards: coin bags, diamonds, rings, goblets, emeralds, Treasure Chests (wild cards)
- 8 Dragon Action cards which affect the dragon: 3 Eeek! + 2 Shhh! + 3 Choice
- 3 Sword cards + 3 Shield cards
- 3 purple-bordered cards: Crown, Scepter, Cloak (for optional use in 3-6 player games)
- Set of 6 cards, with feather mark, for 6 player games
- Player aid cards
- 6 player pawns
- 1 custom die with numbers 1-5 and a symbol: running figure (the Esmeralda symbol)
- Victory point scoring tokens and Jester Cap token
Card notes:
- A Treasure Chest can replace any one item of treasure to allow you to make a set, but watch out, it's clunky!
- The Choice Dragon Action card: wake the dragon with Eeek! or quiet him with Shhh!
- A Shield can capture the Sword of a player who is trying to attack you.
Set Up
- In the middle of the table, arrange the 3 dragon boards blue sides up (so dragon is fully asleep).
- Shuffle the game cards and arrange a total of 12 facedown around the sleeping dragon as shown. This layout becomes the game's dynamic board.
- Place the remaining cards in a facedown draw pile within reach of all players.
- Deal each player 5 cards as a starting hand; these are kept secret from the other players.
- Each player selects a pawn, peeks at any one of the 12 facedown cards, and places their pawn on top of that card.
Gameplay
The youngest player takes the first turn of the first round; subsequently, the player with the lowest score from the prior round goes first. On their turn, players take one of four actions: rolling and moving to get a new card, securing treasure to get points, affecting the dragon, or playing a Sword, Shield, or Cloak. Play continues to pass clockwise until the end of the round is triggered. Then players' scores for the round are calculated and compared, victory points are awarded, and a new round can begin.
Playing with Six People
Shuffle into the deck the six cards with the feather symbol in the upper right and lower left hand corners. Play proceeds as usual.
Cards with Purple Borders: Crown, Scepter, and Ermine Cloak
Any one, two, or all three may be shuffled into the deck as desired when three or more people are playing. These cards add variety to Hoard's gameplay. The Cloak is explained inside under Actions, Section 4) Playing a Sword, Shield, or Cloak.
Playing with the Crown (Also see Actions, section 2)
To play the Crown, as your turn's action, secure it as you would a set of treasure and give the Jester Cap token to an opponent. At the end of the round, you score three points for the Crown and the player with the jester's cap gets two. A Crown left over in your hand at the end of the round is a three-point deduction. The Crown may be stolen from a player's hand with a Sword or, if secured, covered by the Cloak.
Playing with the Scepter
Unlike every other card in Hoard, when you receive the Scepter (through the deal, by discovering it, or as a gift), immediately display it in front of you--this doesn't take an action. If you forget, it may be stolen from your hand. The Scepter is worth one point at the end of the round. However, if you have previously secured a Scepter you can, at any time during your turn, gift it to an opponent to take two actions (or a second action if you've already taken one). The actions can be the same or different.
Scoring the Round and Use of Victory Point Tokens
Players compare their scores. The player with the most points takes a scoring token worth two victory points and the second place player takes a token worth one point. If there is a tie for first place, both players take a 2-point token and the 1-point token is not awarded. If two players tie for second, each takes a 1-point token.
If two people are playing, they may wish to play the best of three or five rounds, using the tokens to keep track of each player's wins.
Note on the card: "Don't get caught with me in your hand: I'll cost you -2 points!"
Winning the Game
If at the end of scoring, a player has tokens worth five or more victory points, she has won. If two players are tied on five or six points, they can play a deciding round.
Actions
1) Rolling and Moving
- Roll the die. If the number is between 1 and 5, move your pawn left or right that number of spaces. Rolling the Esmeralda symbol allows you to stay where you are or to announce and move any number of spaces between 1 and 5 in either direction (all but one space is available.)
- Look at the facedown card you land on. Decide if it is a card you wish to keep.
- If you wish to keep the card, put it in your hand, and replace it either with another card from your hand or one drawn from the deck. If you replenish from the draw deck, look at the replacement card before placing it face down in the space. You always know the card you leave behind.
Collect riches beyond your wildest dreams from the dragon's hoard!
2) Securing Treasure
Lay down one set of cards, an extension to an existing set, a Shield, or a Crown. Take the card(s) out of your hand and display on the table in front of you, face up, to count toward your final score.
- Playing a set: Treasure cards with green, red, black, blue, or yellow borders must be laid down initially in a group containing at least three matching treasure items.
- A Treasure Chest is a wild card that can be used in place of any one of the five coloured treasures. Only one can be played at a time, and since chests are large and clunky, when one is secured, one dragon card must be flipped to its red awake side.
- Treasure sets are scored one point per item, including chests.
- Extending a set: You may enlarge an initial set by adding cards containing two or more matching items.
A large set which began with three single items and was expanded with one more single plus a Treasure Chest (5 points).
- Playing a Shield: You may choose to lay down a Shield to capture/accompany an unmatched Sword from any player, including yourself. Display the pair in your play area to score one point.
- Playing a Crown: This will be worth three points for you but when you secure it, you must award the Jester Cap token to an opponent, who will score two points for it at the end of the round.
3) Affecting the Dragon
Put one Dragon Action card on the table in front of you. If it is a Choice card, say whether you wish to wake or quiet the dragon. If you wish to rouse him or you are playing an Eeek! card, flip one of the dragon boards to its red side. The first time this happens, the tail board is flipped, the second time the body board, and once a third card is played to fully rouse the dragon, the head board is flipped and the round ends immediately. Quieting the dragon (by choosing or playing Shhh!) has the opposite effect and allows you to flip a red board to its blue sleeping side. You may not play a Shhh! card if all three dragon boards are showing their blue sleeping sides.
You may only play one Dragon Action card per turn.
In the course of the round, if you play exactly three Dragon Action cards, no more, no fewer, that set of three cards will be worth five points.
4) Playing a Sword, Shield, or Cloak
Put one Sword card on the table in front of you and name the opponent you wish to attack. If that person has a Shield in hand, they must reveal it and use it to capture your Sword, putting both cards face up on the table in front of them.
If they don't have a Shield, look at their hand and a) pick any one of their cards to put in your hand, b) give them one of your cards, or c) take one of their cards and give them one of yours in exchange. Secure the Sword in your play area. You may use option b) on a player holding no cards, to delay the round's end. (See below.)
Playing a Shield by itself to capture a Sword: covered in section 2) Securing Treasure.
The Cloak can be secured to score one point (as your action for that turn). Otherwise, it is an attack card that is used to cover and negate either one set of an opponent's treasures or their three Dragon Action card set. Since this is a significant power, in compensation, give your opponent a token worth one victory point from the supply.
Ending The Round
The round ends immediately if:
- the third dragon board is flipped to its awake side,
- the last card is drawn from the deck, OR
- a player begins her turn with no cards in hand.
If a player finishes her turn with no cards in hand:
- each of her opponents takes one final turn. They may use this turn to secure treasure, to try to get rid of a card that would cause a deduction, or to attack her with a Sword and give her a card, in order to delay the round's end.
- a subsequent player may fully wake the dragon (either via a Dragon Action card or by securing a Treasure Chest) to prevent remaining opponents having a final turn.
Run for your life!
Scoring
Calculate each player's score:
- Each item of Treasure secured on the table counts as one point; double item Treasure cards count as two. Any Treasure Chest secured as part of a set counts as one point.
- Each Sword and Shield pair counts as one point.
- A set of any three Dragon Action cards (no more, no fewer) counts as five points.
- The Cloak (if not used in an attack) and Scepter are each worth one point.
- The Crown is worth three points; the Jester Cap token is worth two points.
Reduce the score for certain cards left in the player's hand:
- Deduct one point for each Treasure item (so two points for double item cards), one point for the Cloak, and three points for the Crown.
- Unused Swords, Shields, Treasure Chests, and Dragon Action cards do not cause deductions.
There is no hand size limit in Hoard, but you can score negative total points: always keep one beady eye on opponent hand sizes so you can guess if they are close to going out.