Infernal Wagon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Overview and Goal
• Setup
• Card Overview
• Gameplay Overview
  • Play a Card
  • Apply Effects
  • Draw a Card
• End of the Game
• Special Cards
  • Intersection
  • Danger
• Junctions
  • Easy
  • Silence
  • U-Turn
  • Curse
• Achievements

Contents

• 96 Mine cards, which include 1 deck of cards for the base game:
  • 1 Exit card
  • 3 Starting cards
  • 47 Track cards
  • 18 Danger cards
  • 8 Easy cards
  • 5 Curse cards
  • 8 Silence cards
  • 6 U-Turn cards
• 1 wooden Wagon pawn

Overview and Goal

Play your cards together and as fast as possible. Go through the entire deck and play the Exit card before the Wagon is lost in the explosion or time runs out.

Setup

1. For a standard game, take all cards with a Starting, Track, Danger, or Exit icon (shown in the bottom right). These cards are part of the base game. Leave the other cards in the box. They will be used in other modules, explained in the Junctions section of this rulebook.
2. In the middle of the table, line up the 3 Starting cards in order, to visually recreate the explosion. Cards placed on this line form the railroad. Then place the Wagon on the last card (with the Start symbol).
3. Set aside the Exit card and shuffle the remaining cards. Make a face-down deck and set it in the middle of the table, within reach of all players.
4. Then every player draws as many cards as shown in the table below:

Number of players	2	3–4	5
Number of cards	x4	x3	x2

5. Place the Exit card facedown on the bottom of the deck. It will be the final card revealed, after players have drawn all the other cards.
6. Go to this site: bit.ly/InfernalWagon-soundtrack to pull up the timer for the game. This 7 minute timer will guide you through the whole game with many different sounds.
   • If you don't have internet access, you can use a phone, watch, or timer set to 7 minutes.
   • For calmer games, you can play without a time limit.

Card Overview

Each card shows:

• A Connection effect (in the top-left, triggered when stop and start symbols do not match)
• A Stop symbol (on the edge where the previous card connects)
• A Start symbol (on the edge you connect to the previous card)
• A Direction arrow (only on Danger cards)
• A Danger reminder (only on Danger cards)
• A Module icon (bottom right, showing which module/base game the card belongs to)

Gameplay Overview

A game of Infernal Wagon plays in 7 minutes at most, until one of the end game conditions is met. In this cooperative game, all players win or lose together. There is no turn order: when the time is right, the player with the best card plays.

Important! The wild symbol is wild. It always counts as any other symbol.

When everyone is ready, start the countdown. From now on, all players must be prepared to play at any moment, without a structured turn order. Keep calm and communicate to decide who should play next.

The third Starting card has the Start symbol. Any player can play any card from their hand to move the Wagon forward. When you choose to play, take these steps in order: Play a card, Apply effects, Draw a card.

With 2 players: A player can only play up to 2 consecutive cards.

With 3 to 5 players: A player can only play 1 card at a time.

Play a Card

Play a card from your hand face up in the middle of the table in any orientation to continue the railroad. You must connect the stop symbol (the symbol shown on one of the open edges of the previous card) and start symbol (the symbol shown on the edge you are connecting to the previous card). The tracks must continue the railroad away from the explosion. The railroad can never be blocked by overlapping cards. If this happens, reorient the previously played cards and continue the game.

This symbol shows which direction this card must face: The arrow on the card must point in the same direction that the Wagon is moving.

Then, move the Wagon onto the new card. The pawn must always be placed on the most recently played card of the railroad.

Apply Effects

If the stop and start symbols are identical, continue directly to the Draw a Card phase.

If the stop and start symbols are different, immediately apply the effect shown in the top-left of the newly placed card as follows:

• Discard icon (number): Discard as many cards behind the Wagon as the number shown, starting with the oldest card. Then continue to the Draw a Card phase.

  Important! If you must discard the card with the Wagon, you immediately lose the game (see End of the Game below).

  Example: The Wagon is on a card with a stop symbol. Adrien plays a card with a different start symbol, then moves the Wagon to this new card. These symbols do not match, and according to the card he played, he must discard 2 cards from the railroad that are behind the Wagon.

  Note: Discarded cards are put back in the box and will not be used for the rest of the game.

• End-turn icon: Your turn immediately ends. Ignore the Draw a Card phase. The number of cards in your hand is reduced by 1 for the rest of the game.

  Important! If a player ends up with 0 cards in hand, they must wait for the other players to find the card. If no one has cards in their hand, you immediately lose the game (see End of the Game below).

Draw a Card

After playing a card and applying the effect, draw a new card. Then any other player can take a turn—or in a 2-player game, you can play again if you haven't already played 2 cards back-to-back.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as one of these conditions is met:

• You must discard the card the Wagon is on. You immediately lose the game — the mine collapses on top of you…
• No player has cards in their hand. You immediately lose the game — the mine collapses on top of you…
• Time runs out (7 min). You immediately lose the game — the mine collapses on top of you…
• A player draws the Exit card and plays it on their turn, continuing the railroad. Congrats! You escaped the mine unharmed!

Special Cards

Intersection

The card played after an Intersection card can be placed next to any one of the three stop symbols. The railroad can never loop or branch and must always have a single line.

Example: The previous player played an Intersection card. Adrien can now choose to play a card that matches either of two available stop symbols. He chooses one as the stop. From now on, players cannot use the other stop symbol on this card until the end of the game.

Danger

Certain Danger cards have extra effects that trigger when they are played:

• Tunnel: Immediately draw a card and add it face up to continue the railroad (following any direction requirements). The player who played the Tunnel card applies the normal effect of the added card if the stop symbol (on the tunnel) and the start symbol (on the new card) do not match.
• Explosion: Immediately discard all cards except the three most recent cards.

Junctions

Infernal Wagon is a scalable game that includes several modules, called Junctions. Before starting a new game, you can decide to add one or more Junctions to the deck. During step 3 of setup, deal cards to the players as normal, then shuffle the chosen Junction cards into the deck of remaining cards.

During the game, follow these extra rules depending on the chosen module(s).

If you have lost one or more of your previous games, you can simplify your games with this Junction:

Easy

"Give yourself a break!"

Add 1 card with the Easy icon to the deck for each game you lost before this one.

Special rule: Each Easy card has the same symbol as both the stop and start symbol, which greatly decreases the difficulty of the game.

If you repeatedly win, you can spice up your games with these Junctions:

Silence

"In this mine, no one can hear you scream…"

Add all 8 cards with the Silence symbol to the deck.

Special rule: During the game, if a player draws a Silence card, they immediately reveal it and play it face up in the middle of the table where everyone can see it. Then they draw a new card to fill their hand. Finally, apply these effects:

• As long as a single Silence card is revealed in the middle of the table, players are not allowed to talk. Charades are allowed.
• When the next Silence card is revealed, discard it and the card in the middle of the table. Players can now talk again.
• Continue in this way for each Silence card you draw.

U-Turn

"Just because we're going backwards, doesn't mean we're safe."

Add all 6 cards with the U-Turn symbol to the deck.

Special rule: During the game, if a player draws a U-Turn card, they immediately reveal it and play it face up in the middle of the table where everyone can see it. Then they draw a new card to fill their hand.

• As long as a single U-Turn card is revealed in the middle of the table, everyone lays the cards in their hands face up in front of them, so everyone can see. To play a card, you must take it from another player's hand. That player will draw back up as normal or suffer the effect of a failed connection, as if they had played the card.
• When the next U-Turn card is revealed, discard it and the card in the middle of the table. Then pick your cards back up as normal, so only you can see them.
• Continue in this way for each U-Turn card you draw.

Curse

"Now we're in a haunted mine!"

During setup, after dealing cards (step 3), give each player 1 random Curse card. They keep it secret in their hand. Put the remaining Curse cards back in the box.

Special rule:

• At any time during the game, if two adjacent stop and start symbols match the symbols on your Curse card (in the same order as shown on the card), discard your Curse card face up in front of you.
• At the end of the game, all players must have discarded their Curse card before reaching the Exit. If the Exit card is played while one or more players still has their Curse card in hand, you lose the game.

Achievements

At the end of each game, you can choose 1 of the achievements you completed and check it off this list.

• "Welcome" — Find the Exit.
• "Dynamic Duo" — Find the Exit with 2 players.
• "Ocean's 5" — Find the Exit with 5 players.
• "6-shot" — Find the Exit in less than 6 minutes.
• "5 Minutes to Survive" — Find the Exit in less than 5 minutes.
• "Ghost Rider in the Sky" — Play with the audio track.
• "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" — Find the Exit with at least one player who has no cards left in their hand.
• "Dead Man" — Lose with less than 5 cards in the deck.
• "Unforgiving" — Find the Exit with no player having lost any cards.
• "7 Minutes in Hell" — Play with all junctions and find the Exit.
• "The 7 Mercenaries" — Play with 7 new players.