Kaosball: The Fantasy Sport of Total Domination — Rules of Play

Table of Contents

Components
Section 1: Basic Concepts
Section 2: Playing the Game
Section 3: Pre-Game Draft
Rules Summary

Components

64 Highly detailed MINIATURE Figures
- Four teams with 13 figures each (7 runners, 6 bruisers)
- 1 Coach figure per team
- 8 Ringer player figures
1 RULE BOOK (28 Pages)
1 GAME BOARD — Representing the Kaosball field
1 Score Board
4 MAGNETIC TEAM BOARDS
- Called your "team dugout"
- Containing information about your team's stats and special ability
- Also tracks your team's Cash, Fouls and Active Upgrade points
24 MAGNETIC UPGRADE TOKENS
68 PLAYING CARDS
- 60 Action cards
- 8 Ringer reference cards
45 PLASTIC TOKENS
- 1 Ball token
- 4 Minor Scoring tokens
- 4 Fire tokens
- 4 Wall tokens
- 30 Damage tokens
- 1 Period token
- 1 First Player token
1 TIEBREAKER DIE

Section 1: Basic Concepts

The Crossfield

A Kaosball field is shaped like a cross, as you can see on the board. The board is divided into spaces. Only one figure at a time can stand in a space, but there can be any number of knocked-down figures in a space, plus one standing figure.

"Anybody who won't walk over three or four enemies' bodies ain't cut out for Kaosball."

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

The Crossfield is made up of:

Blue Scrimmage Line
Red Scrimmage Line
The Midfield
Center field
The Backfields
Minor Scoring Mounds
Red Major Scoring Mound

When moving a figure, you cannot move diagonally. Two spaces are considered adjacent if they share an edge; diagonals don't count.

Each team has a scrimmage line of a different color. This is where that team's figures will be at the start of the match, and where new figures will enter each period.

The large area between the scrimmage lines is the midfield.

The areas behind the scrimmage lines are called backfields, and each team has one.

At the exact center of the midfield is center field. That's the space where the ball will be at the start of each period.

Next to center field are four minor scoring mounds. These can be used by any team's runners or ringers to score points.

The major scoring mounds are in the middle of each team's backfield, and they are color-coded. You can only use the major scoring mound that matches the color of your scrimmage line (it will be the mound opposite your team's scrimmage line).

The Teams

Your Team record sheet (called the dugout in play) helps you keep track of your league stats, your cash on hand during the game, your fouls, and your special ability and stats.

Selecting your team is the most important choice you make in Kaosball. It defines your whole approach to the game, in both style and substance.

Example Team: The Fangs

Team Logo
Team Stats (for resolving Contests)
- a. Handling (for stealing and keeping the ball)
- b. Tackling (for tackling and resisting tackles)
- c. Fighting (for launching and resisting attacks)
Team Ability (unique to each team)
Cash (for ringers, upgrades and bribes)
Fouls (tracks cheating cards used)
Active Upgrade Points (tracks total allowed upgrade power per game)
Bruiser health
Runner health
Team Coach
Team Upgrade slots

Exhibition and League Games

"Winning's good, but winning when it really counts is better. Every team in the league has strength and skill and style. Those who lack any of those things don't get to play at this level. So when it comes down to the clutch in the deciding game of a league season, the team who wins it all isn't necessarily the strongest or most skilled; it's the hungriest."

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

An exhibition game is a single match, with either 2, 3 or 4 teams competing at the same time.

Exhibition matches can be played in one of several modes: head-to-head (2 player), free-for-all Maximum Kaos (3 and 4 player), and partnership-based Alliance mode (4 player – 2 versus 2). Details on page 22 ("Three and Four Player Games").

A league is a series of matches involving four to eight teams, culminating in playoffs and a championship match.

Full league rules and schedules are available at www.kaosball.com.

Runners, Bruisers and Ringers

Each team has two kinds of figures:

Runners are able to score points and are skilled at stealing the ball.

OgreS Runner (circle base)

Bruisers can't score points or steal the ball, but they can tackle or attack enemies.

Fangs Bruiser (square base)

Teams can also hire Ringers, who don't belong to any specific team. They sell their talents to the highest bidder. Ringers can do anything that a runner or bruiser can, being able to score points, steal the ball, attack or tackle. Any game effect from cards, abilities or upgrades that applies to runners or bruisers also applies to ringers.

T-BONE, A RINGER (PENTAGON base)

The first time you play, don't use the ringers, just set them aside.

"Nobody risks their life for something they don't believe in, and no Kaosball team comes to the field without something to prove about how the world works, or how the world should work. To be part of a Kaosball team, whether you're a runner or a bruiser, is to dedicate your life and soul (if you've got one) to that team and its way of seeing things. To be a ringer is to dedicate yourself to Kaosball itself."

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

Killzones

"And Panther takes the ball, sliding right through the Fang bruiser's killzones like they were empty rooms! Can anybody put a hand on her? Can anybody stop the major score that will put this game out of reach for the Fangs?"

— "Saint" George Valentine, in-game commentary

Each figure on the board has a killzone. A figure's killzone includes all spaces adjacent to it (not including diagonals). These are the spaces each figure can normally affect with its actions and reactions.

Runners and ringers can try to steal the ball from opponents in their killzone. Bruisers and ringers can try to attack or tackle opponents in their killzone.

Figures can also hand-off the ball to or from a teammate in their killzone.

Your killzone does not extend through walls.

Occupied Spaces

Any space that contains a standing figure is considered to be occupied. That means it cannot be entered by any other figure.

A space containing any other element, such as fire tokens, minor scoring tokens or knocked down figures are considered to be unoccupied (knocked down figures are still considered to be on the field, though).

Damage, Health and Kills

"And a smashing forearm sends T-bone down! T-bone is down! He's down and he's not moving! That man has survived one assault after another this period, but that last hit from the Samarian bruiser may just be too much to walk away from… yes, it looks like… he's dead! He's dead! T-Bone is dead! That is yet another confirmed kill for the Samaria Barbarians, ladies and gentlemen! A confirmed kill and only the second time this season that T-Bone has died in action!"

— "Saint" George Valentine, in-game commentary

When a figure takes damage (usually from an attack), place one damage token on that figure for each point of damage they suffer. If a figure has damage tokens equal to or greater than its health (shown on its dugout or ringer card), it dies.

If you deal the killing blow to an enemy figure, place it next to your dugout, in order to count how many enemies you kill during the match. These "prizes" stay with you through the whole game and cannot be put back into play. If the killing blow comes from no particular team (maybe it came from some kind of neutral hazard on the board), then nobody gets to claim the kill and the figure is just put back in the game box.

The team with the most kills at half-time and at the end of the game will score bonus points.

Benching

Through the course of the game, different circumstances can cause figures to be benched. When your figure is benched it is removed from the board and placed back next to your team's dugout. All damage tokens are removed from that figure, as it receives medical attention. Figures on your bench are in reserve and may come back into play at the start of a new period.

Burning Cards

"Mister Jinx, how do you define the popular term, 'burn it'?" "To 'burn it', Mister Valentine, is quite simply to push your body and soul beyond their design specifications. It means to fight harder than it is physically possible for you to fight." "Would you say that most teams do this in today's Kaosball games?" "Oh, they all do, Mister Valentine." "And what would you say distinguishes a team that burns its way to victory from one that simply burns out?" "A wise man once said that when there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

— "Saint" George Valentine and Mr. Jinx, head coach of the New Purgatory Daemons

When you play a card from your hand (whether it's the tactic card for your turn, a card for a contest or a cheating card at any time) you'll place it face up on the table next to your team dugout. This is called "burning" a card. Place all your burned cards side by side, so that all players can easily tell how many there are and what their content is.

Once you burn an energy card, any further energy cards of the same number you play during this period are considered "dead" and automatically lose a contest against any "live" energy card.

At the end of your turn, if you've burned nine or more cards, this triggers the end of period buzzer; the other players each get one more turn, and then the period is over.

Note: Sometimes you'll be asked to discard a card. This is different from burning a card. Discarded cards go straight into the discard pile.

Cheating

"Kaosball is life, so you might as well get over it. Yeah, cheating works. You better believe it works a hell of a lot better than playing fair. But in life, which is Kaosball, remember? You get caught? You go down for it. Hard."

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

Red cards are called "cheating" cards. They're very powerful, but they're also illegal. Beware, if you get caught cheating more than anyone else, you'll get a big penalty to your score at the end of the game.

Any player can play a cheating card they have in their hand, and it doesn't have to be necessarily in their turn. Each cheating card tells you when you can play it and what effect it has.

To play a cheating card, just burn it face up, read what it says and do that.

Example Card: Kaos Rule — Kaos Rule is a dastardly cheating card that you play when an opponent plays a tactic card (like Scatter, for example). It cancels the Tactic card's effect and discards it.

At the end of each period, teams who've got burned cheating cards sitting face up next to their dugout might receive fouls, unless they spend cash to bribe the ref. At half-time and at the end of the match, the team with the most fouls will get a big penalty to their score.

Section 2: Playing the Game

Setup

For your first game, set aside the ringers and upgrades. We'll get into those after you've played once or twice.

PLACE BOARDS AND BALL — Put the game board in the middle of the table with the score board next to it, and put the ball in the center field space. Each player sits next to one side of the board; this determines your scrimmage line and major scoring mound. If you're playing with only two players, sit on opposite sides of the board. Otherwise, choose sides randomly.
PICK TEAMS — Each player picks a team (either by consensus or randomly) and takes the dugout, 7 runner figures and 6 bruiser figures for that team.
- a. Each team begins with 12 Cash (exhibition game) or 10 Cash (league game). Turn the dial on your dugout to set your cash to that amount.
- b. Turn your Fouls dial to 0.
- c. Turn your Active Upgrade Points dial to 3 (representing the total cost worth of upgrades your team can have in the full game – ignore this for your first game).
FIELD TEAMS — Put three of your runners and two of your bruisers on your scrimmage line, with runners in the middle of the line and at both ends. Put your remaining figures in your bench next to your dugout.
DRAW OPENING HANDS — Shuffle the action cards and deal 7 to each player. Only the owner of the cards can look at them. Put the rest face down to the side, forming the draw pile.
PREPARE TOKENS — Put the fire tokens, minor scoring tokens, wall tokens, damage tokens and tiebreaker die off to one side.
PLACE SCORING MARKERS — Each player puts their team's coach figure on the start space of the scoring track (the "zero").
MARK THE PERIOD — Place the Period token on the "Period 1" space on the board.
ASSIGN FIRST PLAYER TOKEN — Give the First Player token to the youngest player.
DRAFT AND FIELD CHOSEN RINGERS AND UPGRADES — (Skip this step for your first game) Players auction for upgrades and ringers, then field them. See PRE-GAME DRAFT section (page 24) for details.

"All right, ladies. T-Bone is on the field now. This game is officially underway."

— T-Bone

Periods

Each match is played over 4 periods with a half-time event after period 2. Mark which period it is on the board with the Period token.

Players take turns during a period either playing tactic cards or activating their figures. An activated figure can sprint, tackle or attack another figure, depending on its type. You might focus your efforts on controlling the ball to score quick points, or on spreading out to score big at the end of the period.

Players keep taking turns in clockwise order until a player has 9 or more burned cards at the end of his turn. At that moment the end of period buzzer sounds and all other players get one last turn before that period ends.

Each period has the following steps:

Player Turns (play card or activate a figure)
End of Period Scoring (score end of period points)
Bribing (buy off cheating cards)
Cheating (receive fouls)
Set Up for Next Period (clean up and set up the board)

Except for player turns, each step is resolved simultaneously. Detailed explanations follow:

Player Turns

Whoever has the First Player token takes the first turn, and play proceeds clockwise from there.

On your turn, follow these steps:

SCORE (if able)
Do ONE of the following:
- a. Play a TACTIC CARD
- or
- b. ACTIVATE a standing figure
DRAW to seven cards
Check for END OF PERIOD BUZZER

Remember: You can't activate a figure that has been knocked down; it has to be a standing figure.

Score

At the start of your turn, if one of your runners or ringers has the ball and is standing on a minor scoring mound, you immediately get a "minor score", scoring a number of points equal to the current period (1 point during the 1st period, 2 points during the 2nd, 3 during the 3rd and 4 during the 4th).

If one of your runners or ringers has the ball and is standing on your team's major scoring mound, you immediately get a "major score", scoring 5 points.

Playing a Tactic Card

"In a game as brutal as Kaosball, it may appear that brains don't matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even more so than in older, less violent sports, Kaosball is a game where superior tactics carry the day."

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

Blue cards are called "tactic" cards. When you play one, follow the printed instructions on the card, then burn it (place it face up in front of you). You can only play a single tactic card per turn and, unless the card specifically tells you to, you don't get to activate any of your figures this turn.

Activating a Figure: Actions

Choose one of your standing figures on the field to take an action, which generally involves moving to a new space and then interacting with the ball or another figure.

When you activate a figure, you can do one of three different things with it:

SPRINT — (Any figure) Move up to 5 spaces. Only a Runner or Ringer may then attempt to steal the ball from an enemy in their killzone.
TACKLE — (Bruisers and Ringer only) Move up to 3 spaces; this figure may then attempt to tackle an enemy in their killzone.
ATTACK — (Bruisers and Ringer only) Move up to 3 spaces; this figure may then attempt an attack against an enemy in their killzone.

While any type of figure can perform a sprint action, only runners and ringers can follow it with an attempt to steal the ball from an enemy figure standing inside their killzone.

Only bruisers and ringers can perform the tackle action against an enemy figure standing in their killzone. A successful tackle will knock down the enemy, making it impossible for them to act again until the end of the period.

Only bruisers and ringers can perform the attack action against an enemy figure standing in their killzone. A successful attack will damage and possibly kill an enemy, removing it from the game.

Movement Restrictions

The active figure can change direction during its movement, but cannot move diagonally.

You can't move into an occupied space, where another figure is standing (not even a teammate), and you can't move through a wall token.

You can, however, move into a space that has one or more knocked-down figures in it.

"And that tackle's going to put another New Victoria runner down for a few key moments…" "Big mistake by the Port Royale bruiser there. He could have gone for the kill instead of a tackle." "We'll see about that. With time running out for the period the Pirates are poised to outscore…" "Scoring won't help you when you're outnumbered in the endgame because you didn't rack up the kills early on when you had the chance." "This isn't boxing, Jury. Tackles put enemies down and open up scoring plays." "Kills win games, Baxter." "Points win games." "And points come from kills!"

— Adelaide Baxter and Hardman Jury, in-game commentary

The Ball: Pick-ups and Hand-offs

"And it looks like it's curtains for the Paragons, that bruiser won't take another hit… No! The last Paragon runner is making a break for the mound! He takes the hand-off! Eight seconds left! Only one Warlock between the Paragons and a major score! Four seconds!"

— "Saint" George Valentine, in-game commentary

Whenever the active figure moves into the same space as the ball, it may choose to pick up the ball. Doing so ends its movement and it cannot perform any more actions this turn (like tackling or attacking). From then on, the figure is carrying the ball; when that figure moves, it takes the ball with it.

If the active figure is carrying the ball, at any point during its movement it can do a hand-off, passing the ball to a teammate in its killzone.

If the active figure moves into the killzone of a teammate who has the ball, it can take a hand-off from that teammate.

The active figure can't do a hand-off or take a hand-off after it has performed its full action (either steal the ball, tackle or attack), it must occur during its movement.

Hand-offs don't cost anything; you don't have to stop moving and you can still perform your action afterwards.

Entering a Killzone: Reactions

If the active figure enters an enemy bruiser or ringer's killzone during its movement, the enemy bruiser or ringer can attempt an attack or tackle as a reaction if they wish.

If the active figure is carrying the ball and enters an enemy runner or ringer's killzone during its movement, the enemy runner or ringer can attempt to steal the ball as a reaction if they wish.

The active figure can only suffer one such reaction per turn. Once any enemy has attempted to attack, tackle or steal the ball from the active figure (whether it's successful or not), the active figure may enter the killzones of any enemy without the possibility of any further reactions.

In case the active figure enters a space that's in the killzones of two or more different enemy team's figures, the active player chooses one enemy and offers him the opportunity to react. If that enemy passes, the active player chooses another enemy and offers the opportunity to react, and so on. Once an enemy attempts a reaction, no other reactions can be attempted against the active figure that turn.

If the active figure is still standing after a reaction has been attempted against it, it can continue performing its movement and action normally. However, it cannot change the action it chose to perform at the beginning of its turn. For example, if you decide to perform a Sprint action and somebody steals the ball after you've moved one space, you cannot then decide to change your mind and perform a Tackle action instead.

Important: If a figure enters an enemy's killzone through something other than its normal movement (such as being pushed back, the effect of a card or ability, doing a follow-up to a tackle, etc.) no reactions can be attempted against it.

End of the Player Turn

When you're finished with your turn, you must have 7 cards in your hand. If you have less than that, draw from the draw pile until you have 7. If the pile is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile. If there are no cards left in either the discard pile or the draw pile then you cannot draw any more cards. Don't worry, though. This can only happen in a 4 player game and means the period will soon be over!

At the end of your turn (and only at the end of your turn), check to see if you have 9 or more burned cards by your dugout. If you do, this triggers the End of Period Buzzer. You've had your last turn for this period. Everyone else gets one more turn and then the period is over.

Contests

"When you dig down inside for the strength or the speed to beat that tackle or bring down the ball carrier, you better have something in there to dig for. Energy equals victory."

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

Whenever you go up against another player trying to tackle, attack, or steal the ball from them, whether as an action or as a reaction, the two of you do a contest to see if you succeed. While only runners and ringers can try to steal the ball, and only bruisers and ringers can try to tackle or attack, all figures are able to try to resist any contest attempted against them.

Both contestants must choose one card from their hand and place it face down on the table, then they both reveal and burn their chosen card and we see who wins.

Usually you'll want to play a yellow "energy" card when you're in a contest. Both players add the number on their card to their team's relevant stat and the player with the highest total wins.

Steal the Ball — Handling
Tackle — Tackling
Attack — Fighting

Example: The Daemons runner tries to steal the ball from the Ogres bruiser. The Daemons play a +2 energy card, while the Ogres play a +3 energy card. Adding their card numbers to their Handling stats, both players end up with a total of 3 in the contest: a tie. So the Daemons player rolls the Tiebreaker die, getting a +1 and adding it to his total. Since he now has a total of 4, the Daemons runner wins the contest and steals the ball.

Example (stat math shown on the cards): DEAMONS — +1 (Handling), +2 (Energy Card), =3; TIEBREAKER — +1 (Die result), =4. OGRES — +0 (Handling), +3 (Energy Card), =3.

If it's a tie, the active player rolls the Tiebreaker die and applies the result to their total, either increasing or decreasing it.

Live and Dead Cards

During a contest, as long as you revealed an energy card with a number that you have not already burned that period, the card is live.

Sometimes you won't have any live energy cards to play, and sometimes you'll want to save your energy cards for later. If you can't play an energy card (or if you don't want to), you can play a tactic or cheating card instead, but that usually means you will automatically lose the contest, so we call that a dead card.

In a contest, tactics and cheating cards are always considered dead cards, with the exception of the cheating card "Booster Bru" (which counts as a +6 energy card).

Example: Each of these is a +3 Energy card, but the cheating card STIM PACK would only double the value of the +3 card with a star.

IMPORTANT: If you play an energy card with the same number as a face up energy card you've already burned this period, that also counts as a dead card. For example, if you burned a +4 energy card earlier in the period, and you reveal a +4 card in this contest, your revealed card is dead (whether the card has a star or not is irrelevant to determining whether it is dead, all that matters is its number).

Resolving Dead Cards

If one player plays a dead card and the other plays a live card, the one who played the dead card automatically loses the contest.

If both players play a dead card, resolve the contest as though both players had played a "0" (comparing only their team's Handling, Tackling or Fighting stat as appropriate).

Energy Cards with a Star

Some energy cards have a star on them. The star has no effect on who wins a contest, but the effects of some tactics or cheating cards might depend on whether or not the energy card has a star.

Resolving a Contest

No matter who wins, both cards played are burned face up. Whether the figure initiating the contest is acting on its own turn, or reacting to the active figure entering its killzone, the contests work the same way.

Stealing the Ball

If you try to steal the ball and win the Handling contest, you get the ball.

If you try to steal the ball and lose the Handling contest, nothing happens.

Tackling

If you try to tackle someone and win the Tackling contest, the enemy figure is knocked down. If the knocked down figure was carrying the ball, you then have the option of executing a follow-up:

Follow-up — You automatically move into the knocked down enemy's space and pick up the ball.

If you try to tackle someone and lose the Tackling contest, you may be pushed back. The winner of the contest moves your figure one space in any direction (but not diagonally) as long as you could legally move into that space. If, however, any of the spaces adjacent to your figure (besides the one with the contest winner) is blocked or occupied, you're smashed against it and knocked down in your own space instead.

Attacking

If you attack someone and win the Fighting contest, the loser takes damage. Usually, the amount of damage equals the difference between the contestants' fighting totals. However, if you won because your opponent played a dead card and you didn't, the damage is equal to just the number on your energy card.

If you attack someone and lose the Fighting contest, you take one damage (regardless of energy cards played or teams' skills).

Note: A successful attack does not allow you to perform a follow-up.

End of the Period

"In the heat of the game, with enemies charging at you and the energy of millions of screaming fans pressing in from all sides, time becomes strange for a Kaosball player. Sometimes a single moment can seem to stretch out for ages, or the period can snap to an end before you even know what's happening. Only the very best runners can find the necessary focus to cut through that haze and be on the scoring mound at just the right moment, making sure the buzzer will hit before the enemy bruisers do."

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

Once the End of Period Buzzer has sounded and all other players have finished their turns, the period is over. Before the next period can start, a few things need to be taken care of:

End of Period Scoring

"Three minor scores are better than one major, so control of center field is key.

"Problem is, if you want to control the center, you've got to leave your backfield open. And a couple of major scores early on are worth more than the whole midfield combined at the end of the period."

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

You get a minor score for each of your runners and ringers who stands on a minor scoring mound, and a major score if one of your runners or ringers is standing on your team's major scoring mound. You don't score for standing on another team's major scoring mound. Having the ball is irrelevant for the end of period scoring.

Minor scores are worth 1 point each during the 1st period, 2 points during the 2nd, 3 during the 3rd and 4 during the 4th.

Major scores are always worth 5 points each.

Bribing

If you have any burned cheating cards sitting face up in front of you, this might be a good time to bribe the ref to look the other way.

You can spend as much cash as you like, and for each 1 you spend, you can discard one of your burned cheating cards. The first player decides the total amount of cash he'll spend, discarding the equivalent amount of cheating cards, then the player to his left does the same, and so on.

Cheating

After the players have all finished with their bribes, roll the Tiebreaker die once for each remaining cheating card next to your dugout.

Each time you roll a +1, you gain 1 foul. Increase the Foul dial on your dugout by 1.

Each time you roll a +2, you gain 2 fouls. Increase the Foul dial on your dugout by 2.

Nothing happens when you roll a -1 or -2. You don't get to decrease your fouls.

You cannot have more than 15 fouls (the maximum score on your fouls dial). Once you have gotten 15 fouls, you are automatically going to get the maximum cheating penalty at half-time and at the end of the game!

Be warned: Your fouls earned remain with you until the end of the game, and you will take big penalties for having more than your opponents!

Set Up for Next Period

Step 1 - Clean the Field

Remove all fire, wall, and minor scoring tokens from the board and put the ball back in the center field space. Do not remove damage tokens! Once you get hurt, you stay hurt (though you'll get some medical attention at half-time).

Stand up all knocked down figures. Once this is done, if two or more figures would be on the same space, those figures are benched, healing all damage on them.

Step 2 - Replenish Cards

Discard all your burned cards, and if you have less than seven cards in your hand, draw until you have seven. If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile.

Step 3 - Substitutions

If you have less than five figures on the field, you'll need to bring out some new ones from your bench to replace the missing figures. You must have five figures on the field: three runners and two bruisers. A ringer can be substituted for a runner or a bruiser.

Place any new figures on your scrimmage line, with runners (or ringers subbing in for runners) on runner spaces and bruisers (or ringers subbing in for bruisers) on bruiser spaces.

If your scrimmage line is occupied and there's no legal spot to place your figure, you can place it on any unoccupied space on the board.

If you don't have enough figures left to complete your team, you'll be eliminated (see Elimination – page 20).

Step 4 - Get Set for Next Period

Pass the first player token to the next player on the left, move the period token to the next period, and you're ready to begin the next period.

Half-Time

At the end of the second period, it's half-time. Before you set up for the next period, you've got a few extra things to do.

Score Kills and Cheats

Bonus points are awarded for kills, and penalties are given for fouls at half-time.

Most Kills Bonus

Each team counts up all the enemy figures next to their dugout to see how many they killed. In a two-team game, the team with the most kills scores 6 bonus points. In a game with 3 or 4 teams, the team with the most kills gets 12 points, second place gets 6 points, and third place gets 3 points.

Reminder: The enemy figures you kill stay next to your dugout until the game is over.

Cheating Penalty

The teams compare the number of fouls indicated on their team's dugout. In a two-team game, the team with the most fouls loses 5 points. In a game with 3 or 4 teams, the team with the most fouls loses 10 points, second most loses 5 points, and third most loses 2 points.

Reminder: The fouls you receive stay on your dugout until the game is over.

Exception: A team with no kills can never earn points for kills, and a team with no fouls can never lose points for cheating.

Ties

In case of ties for most kills or fouls, the tied teams get the full bonus or penalty, and any teams below them take the bonus or penalty for the next place down.

Example: At the end of a 3-player game, The Daemons have killed 3 enemy figures, the Amazons have killed 5 and the Goblins have killed 5.

The Amazons and Goblins, tied with the most kills, score 12 bonus points each. The Daemons take second place and score 6 points.

The shifty Goblins picked up 9 fouls during the game, while the Daemons got 4 and the Amazons none.

The Goblins take a -10 penalty, losing 10 points. The Daemons, with the second most fouls, lose 5 points. The Amazons, although in third, lose no points because they have received no fouls at all. Sometimes it just pays to play fair!

Return to Scrimmage

All figures on the board are benched, healing all damage on them. Each player then sets up their team on their scrimmage line, just as they do at the beginning of the game.

Switch Ringers

If you have more than one ringer on your team, you can switch to a different ringer for the second half of the game if you want. If two or more players have more than one ringer, they all secretly choose a ringer card and reveal them at the same time.

Switch Upgrades

All players take the upgrades from their dugout, as well as any extra upgrades they didn't use during the first half of the game. Then they all secretly choose which of their upgrades they would like to use for the second half of the game and reveal them at the same time, then place them on their dugouts.

Note that the total cost of the chosen upgrades cannot exceed a player's Active Upgrade Points!

End of the Game

At the end of the fourth period, points are scored for kills and cheats, just like at half-time.

Winning the Game

The team with the highest final score is the winner! If the score is tied, the tied teams go into…

Sudden Death Overtime!

The teams tied with the highest score play a period of overtime. The setup for a period of overtime is done exactly the same way as the setup at half-time, with figures being benched and the option of switching upgrades and ringers.

A period of overtime is played normally, with the usual end of period scoring. A minor score at overtime is always worth 4 points. At the end of the overtime period, the participating teams score points for kills and suffer penalties for cheating, just as they would if they'd reached the end of a regular game. If the score is still tied, they play another period of overtime.

Whenever a team finishes a sudden death overtime period with fewer points than any other team, they're eliminated. The last remaining team wins the match.

Losing the Game

There are two special circumstances in which a team can lose the game before it reaches its normal conclusion: blowout and elimination.

Blowout

At any time, if a team's score is 20 or more points below the leading team's score, that team is eliminated. If only one team then remains, that team immediately wins a blowout!

Elimination

After fielding your figures at the beginning of a period, if you have fewer than five figures on the field, your team is eliminated.

In head-to-head or four player Alliance mode, this means immediate victory for the opposing team(s).

In 3 or 4 player Maximum Kaos mode, the eliminated team is removed from the game and play continues as normal. End of game and half-time scoring is adjusted to the remaining number of players (ie. If one team was eliminated from a 3-player game, scoring now happens as though it were a 2-player game).

If all teams are eliminated simultaneously, they all lose the match.

Other Rules

This section covers additional rules governing tokens and different modes of play:

Fire Tokens

Some cards and special abilities can put fire tokens on the board. You can't place fire tokens in an occupied space.

When a figure enters a space with one or more fire tokens in it, it takes 1 damage for each fire token in that space. If a figure is killed by the damage inflicted by a fire token, nobody gets to claim the kill.

Fire tokens are removed from the board at the end of each period.

Wall Tokens

Some cards and special abilities can put walls on the board. A wall token is placed on the line between two spaces, blocking movement and killzones between them.

Figures can't move through walls.

A figure's killzone is also blocked by a wall. It can't attack, tackle or steal from an enemy figure in his killzone if there is a wall between them. It also can't hand-off the ball to or from a teammate through a wall.

Any special ability or card that allows diagonals may be blocked by walls. If the diagonal skims the edge of a wall, it is blocked.

Walls are removed from the board at the end of each period.

Minor Scoring Tokens

Some cards and special abilities can put minor scoring tokens on the board. A minor scoring token may only be placed on an unoccupied space in the midfield.

Minor scoring tokens create a minor scoring mound that can only be used by your runners and ringers. Enemy runners and ringers get no points out of them.

Minor scoring tokens are removed from the board at the end of each period.

Three and Four Player Games

Although Kaosball league matches are played between two teams, exhibition matches can be played with three or four teams.

Maximum Kaos Match

In a Maximum Kaos match, 3 or 4 teams duke it out in a total free-for-all, and only the team with the highest score will emerge victorious.

The rules for Max3 and Max4 games are the same as for a standard league game, but the feel is very different, because you can't fight everyone all at once. You'll have to decide who to go after and who to leave alone, knowing that the team who gets attacked the least will have a huge advantage.

"Anybody who says Maximum Kaos ain't real Kaosball is a crybaby. Oh, did the mean old other teams gang up on you? Did they just sit there and let some other not-as-good team cruise to victory? Cry some more! Cry real loud so I can hear you! I could use a good laugh!"

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

Alliance Match

Alliance matches are played with four teams, two against two. Allies sit next to each other at the table, not opposite each other. Your ally's scrimmage line will be next to yours, not on the opposite side of the field.

You can't give cash, ringers, upgrades, tokens, cards or anything else to your ally, and you can't trade these things either. You can show your cards to your ally, to help you plan your strategy together.

You cannot attack, tackle, or steal the ball from your own ally. However, you can do a ball hand-off to or from an ally, as long as both players agree to it.

There is one important rules change in an alliance match. If your alliance has the First Player token, you must give it to the ally on the left. This way, your alliance will take the first turn, then the other alliance will take two turns in a row.

When you pass the First Player token, don't pass it to the next player on your left. Instead, pass it across the table to your opponent opposite you. This way, every period will start with one alliance taking the first turn, and the other alliance taking the next two turns in a row.

At the end of an Alliance match, each alliance counts only the lowest score from among its two teams. If the lowest scores are tied, the other teams' scores are used as a tiebreaker. If those are tied as well, go to sudden death overtime.

"The results of Max3 and Max4 games don't belong in league standings. Any serious fan can tell you how kingmaking corrupts the purity of the game. But Alliance matches are another matter. Even if you set aside the entertainment value of odd-couple teamups like Paragons-Daemons or Pirates-Ninjas, an alliance match offers an alternative game mode that doesn't put novelty before skill, and challenges even the most well-established teams to step up their game and find new ways to win."

— Adelaide Baxter, "Future Kaos"

In this setup, the Ogres and Amazons are allied against the Daemons and Fang.

Section 3: Pre-Game Draft

Once you've played once or twice, you can play the full game of Kaosball, which includes a pre-game draft for ringers and upgrades, further customizing your team for each game.

The pre-game draft consists of two rounds of bidding, first for upgrades, then for ringers.

The highest bidders get the best or most stuff, but the low bidders have more cash left over for bribes during the match.

Each player can win multiple upgrades and ringers in the draft, but can only field one ringer at a time and can only have a limited number of active upgrades (see below).

Upgrades

"Only an idiot goes in without an edge, and there are no idiots in this game. Except some of the commentators. I ain't naming names."

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

An upgrade is a special advantage your team can use in the game. It has a cost and an effect.

Example Upgrade: Speed Training — This powerful upgrade allows all of your figures to move an extra space when activated. It has a cost of 1, which is also its minimum bid.

Example: The Fangs player has purchased Relay Training, Speed Training, and Hardy. He only has 3 Active Upgrade Points, which means he must choose which to keep active. He chooses both Relay Training and Speed Training, leaving Hardy out of this half of the game.

Your team has four "upgrade slots" where you can place upgrades. Each upgrade has to go in a different slot, unless you've got two or more with the same name. You can put as many as you want in the same slot if they have the same name, in which case their effects stack.

Your team also has an Active Upgrade Points score. It starts at 3 in an exhibition game, and you can raise it between games if you're in a league. The total value of all your active upgrades can't be higher than this number.

Ringers

"Never trust a ringer! They ain't in this for your team, they ain't in it for your cause. They're in it for themselves and that's it! Problem is, they're the best of the best, and they don't need to be in it for anything else. Never trust a ringer… but never hit the crossfield without one."

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

Ringers are mercenary Kaosball players who play for the highest bidder. They can score points and steal the ball like runners, but they can also tackle and attack like bruisers.

You'll want at least one ringer on your team. Simple as that.

Each ringer has its own health stat as well as a unique special ability. The ringer also gains your Team's ability (for example, T-Bone on the Amazon team heals all damage at the start of his turn and also has the Amazon ability making his killzones include diagonals).

Example Ringer: T-Bone — T-Bone is a powerful ringer who heals back to his full 4 health at the beginning of each of your turns!

Drafts and Bidding

Players engage in two drafts: the first one is for upgrades and the second is for ringers. You begin the game with 12 cash for an exhibition game (or 10 for a league game), and that money has to last you through both drafts and the whole game, so be careful not to spend it all in one place.

Customizing your team with upgrades, choosing the right ringers and strategically bidding to make opponents pay the maximum they dare is a big part of Kaosball.

The Upgrade Draft

To start the upgrade draft, shuffle the upgrade tokens and draw 4 plus 1 per player (for example, draw 6 tokens in a two-player game, 7 for three players, 8 for four). Place them face up in the middle of the table to be bid on, and put the remaining upgrade tokens back in the box.

Example: In this two-player example, these six Upgrade tokens are up for bidding.

Whoever has the first player token chooses one upgrade and makes a bid, announcing how much cash they're willing to pay for that upgrade. Each upgrade has a minimum bid printed on it; the first bid has to be for at least that much cash.

Example: Player one chooses Hate, and bids 3 cash.

Afterwards, the next player on the left can raise or drop out. Continue until all except one player has dropped out. That player takes the upgrade and pays the cash they bid (turn the dial on his dugout to show how much he's got left). The players who dropped out don't have to pay anything.

You can't bid more cash than you have, and you can't bid less than the upgrade's cost.

Example: Player two raises the bid to 5, then player one drops out. Player two gets Hate for 5 cash, leaving him with 7 cash.

The player who won the last upgrade then has a choice. They can either pick another upgrade to put up for bids and then bid on it, or they can pass. If they pass, the player to their left can pick a new upgrade to bid on or choose to pass. Whenever a new upgrade is chosen to be bid on, all players can bid on it or drop out on their turn. When eventually all players consecutively pass on the chance to pick a new upgrade to bid on, the draft for upgrades is over. Put any unclaimed upgrades back in the box.

Example: Player two, who just won Hate, chooses Relay Training and bids 0. Player one raises the bid to 1, then player two raises again to 2. Player one raises the bid to 3, then player two drops out. Player one wins Relay Training for 3 cash, leaving him with 9 cash.

Then player one chooses Celerity with an opening bid of 2. Player two drops out, leaving player one with Celerity for 2 cash (bringing his total to 7 cash).

Player one then passes instead of picking another upgrade. Player two also passes – the Upgrade draft is now over and the remaining upgrades are put away.

The Ringer Draft

To start the ringer draft, shuffle the ringer cards and draw 3 ringer cards plus 1 per player (for example, draw 5 ringers in a 2-player game, 6 in a 3-player game and 7 in a 4-player game). Place them in the middle of the table to be bid on, and put the remaining ringer cards in the box.

In this two-player example, these five ringers are up for bidding.

The bidding for Ringers then works exactly like the bidding for Upgrade tokens. Players do not receive any more cash; they must use their leftover cash from the upgrade draft on the ringer draft.

When all players have passed instead of choosing a new ringer to bid on, the Ringer draft is over. Put all unclaimed ringer cards back in the box.

Players then take the card and figure for each of the Ringers they won and add them to their team's bench, by their dugout.

Choosing Upgrades and Ringers

After both drafts are finished, all players simultaneously choose their upgrades and ringers to use for the first half of the game (at half-time, they can pick different ones).

Active Upgrades

Each player simultaneously chooses which of the upgrades they bought will be active, and puts those upgrades into the upgrade slots on their dugout.

The total cost of your active upgrades cannot exceed your Active Upgrade Points value. Remember, it doesn't matter how much you paid for the upgrade; all that counts is the number printed on it.

Fielding Ringers

In turn order, all players reveal whether or not they will be fielding a ringer in the first half of the game, then all players simultaneously choose one ringer that they won in the draft to place on the field.

Once the players have picked their ringers, each player (starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise) replaces a runner or bruiser on their scrimmage line with their ringer (the replaced figure is returned to their dugout).

If your ringer is killed during the game, it is claimed as a kill by the slaying team, just like any other figure.

Credits

Game Design and Development: Eric M. Lang

World Development: Eric M. Lang and David Preti

Executive Producer: David Preti

Cover and Conceptual Art: Andrea Cofrancesco

Graphic Design: Mathieu Harlaut

Sculpting: Benjamin Maillet

Rules: Jonathan Moriarity and Thiago Aranha

Team Logo Design: Mathieu Harlaut

Playtesters: Erwan Hascoët, Calum Ferall, Chris Harris, Mathew Tee, Mark Schell, Robert Flick, Matt Keeley, Renato Sasdelli, Fred Perret, Thiago Aranha, Guilherme Goulart, Tjerk Van Der Molen, Paul Low, Colin Lim, Alexander Shvarts, Jonathan Moriarity, Colin Young

Thanks: David Doust and Chern Ann Ng at Cool Mini or Not, for believing in us and taking a chance on this very ambitious project.

Rules Summary

Setup

Choose teams and positions, give first player token
Draw and draft upgrades and ringers
Set figures, ball, and coaches on board
Each player draws 7 cards

Pregame Draft:

Shuffle and deal 6, 7 or 8 upgrade tokens (depending on number of players) to bid on
Players start a bid on an upgrade token or pass – when all players pass, upgrade draft is over
Shuffle and deal 5, 6, or 7 ringers (depending on number of players) to bid on
Players start a bid on a ringer or pass – when all players pass, ringer draft is over
Players then simultaneously choose active upgrades and field up to one ringer

On Your Turn:

Score if your runner or ringer has the ball and stands in a scoring mound
Either play a tactic card or activate a standing figure
Draw back to 7 cards in hand

Activating A Figure:

Sprint – Move up to 5 spaces (any figure), then may steal the ball (runners and ringers only)
Attack – Move up to 3 spaces, then may attack (bruisers and ringers only)
Tackle – Move up to 3 spaces, then may tackle (bruisers and ringers only)

Entering An Enemy Killzone:

Entering an enemy bruiser or ringer's killzone: they can attack or tackle
Entering an enemy runner or ringer's killzone: they can steal the ball

Resolving A Contest:

Each player chooses a card and places it face down
Reveal and burn chosen cards
Add number on card to appropriate team stat
Highest total wins; if tied, add tiebreaker die roll to active player's total
If one card is live and the other is dead, the live card automatically wins
If both cards are dead, compare only the team stats

Contest Results:

Try to steal the ball – Win, you get the ball. Lose, nothing happens.
Try to tackle – Win, enemy figure is knocked down (if it has the ball, you may follow-up by moving into its space and picking up the ball). Lose, you may be pushed back (if there's an adjacent blocked space, you are knocked down instead).
Try to attack – Win, enemy takes damage equal to the difference in your totals (unless you play a live card and they play a dead card; then the damage equals the number on your card). Lose, you take 1 damage.

End Of Period: At the end of your turn, if you have nine burned cards, the other players each get one more turn, then the period ends.

Major score (5 points) for a runner or ringer standing on your team's major scoring mound
Minor score (equal to the current period) for each runner and ringer standing on a minor scoring mound
Bribing – Pay 1 cash for each face up cheating card you want to discard
Fouls – Roll the tiebreaker die once for each face up cheating card you still have. For each "+1" result, gain 1 foul. For each "+2" result, take two fouls. Ignore results of "-1" and "-2"
Remove tokens, discard burned cards
Place figures and ball, draw back up to seven cards
Pass first player token and move period token

Kaosball: The Fantasy Sport of Total Domination — Rules of Play

Table of Contents

Components
Section 1: Basic Concepts
Section 2: Playing the Game
Section 3: Pre-Game Draft
Rules Summary

Components

64 Highly detailed MINIATURE Figures
- Four teams with 13 figures each (7 runners, 6 bruisers)
- 1 Coach figure per team
- 8 Ringer player figures
1 RULE BOOK (28 Pages)
1 GAME BOARD — Representing the Kaosball field
1 Score Board
4 MAGNETIC TEAM BOARDS
- Called your "team dugout"
- Containing information about your team's stats and special ability
- Also tracks your team's Cash, Fouls and Active Upgrade points
24 MAGNETIC UPGRADE TOKENS
68 PLAYING CARDS
- 60 Action cards
- 8 Ringer reference cards
45 PLASTIC TOKENS
- 1 Ball token
- 4 Minor Scoring tokens
- 4 Fire tokens
- 4 Wall tokens
- 30 Damage tokens
- 1 Period token
- 1 First Player token
1 TIEBREAKER DIE

Section 1: Basic Concepts

The Crossfield

"Anybody who won't walk over three or four enemies' bodies ain't cut out for Kaosball."

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

The Crossfield is made up of:

Blue Scrimmage Line
Red Scrimmage Line
The Midfield
Center field
The Backfields
Minor Scoring Mounds
Red Major Scoring Mound

When moving a figure, you cannot move diagonally. Two spaces are considered adjacent if they share an edge; diagonals don't count.

Each team has a scrimmage line of a different color. This is where that team's figures will be at the start of the match, and where new figures will enter each period.

The large area between the scrimmage lines is the midfield.

The areas behind the scrimmage lines are called backfields, and each team has one.

At the exact center of the midfield is center field. That's the space where the ball will be at the start of each period.

Next to center field are four minor scoring mounds. These can be used by any team's runners or ringers to score points.

The Teams

Your Team record sheet (called the dugout in play) helps you keep track of your league stats, your cash on hand during the game, your fouls, and your special ability and stats.

Selecting your team is the most important choice you make in Kaosball. It defines your whole approach to the game, in both style and substance.

Example Team: The Fangs

Team Logo
Team Stats (for resolving Contests)
- a. Handling (for stealing and keeping the ball)
- b. Tackling (for tackling and resisting tackles)
- c. Fighting (for launching and resisting attacks)
Team Ability (unique to each team)
Cash (for ringers, upgrades and bribes)
Fouls (tracks cheating cards used)
Active Upgrade Points (tracks total allowed upgrade power per game)
Bruiser health
Runner health
Team Coach
Team Upgrade slots

Exhibition and League Games

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

An exhibition game is a single match, with either 2, 3 or 4 teams competing at the same time.

A league is a series of matches involving four to eight teams, culminating in playoffs and a championship match.

Full league rules and schedules are available at www.kaosball.com.

Runners, Bruisers and Ringers

Each team has two kinds of figures:

Runners are able to score points and are skilled at stealing the ball.

OgreS Runner (circle base)

Bruisers can't score points or steal the ball, but they can tackle or attack enemies.

Fangs Bruiser (square base)

T-BONE, A RINGER (PENTAGON base)

The first time you play, don't use the ringers, just set them aside.

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

Killzones

— "Saint" George Valentine, in-game commentary

Runners and ringers can try to steal the ball from opponents in their killzone. Bruisers and ringers can try to attack or tackle opponents in their killzone.

Figures can also hand-off the ball to or from a teammate in their killzone.

Your killzone does not extend through walls.

Occupied Spaces

Any space that contains a standing figure is considered to be occupied. That means it cannot be entered by any other figure.

Damage, Health and Kills

— "Saint" George Valentine, in-game commentary

The team with the most kills at half-time and at the end of the game will score bonus points.

Benching

Burning Cards

— "Saint" George Valentine and Mr. Jinx, head coach of the New Purgatory Daemons

Once you burn an energy card, any further energy cards of the same number you play during this period are considered "dead" and automatically lose a contest against any "live" energy card.

At the end of your turn, if you've burned nine or more cards, this triggers the end of period buzzer; the other players each get one more turn, and then the period is over.

Note: Sometimes you'll be asked to discard a card. This is different from burning a card. Discarded cards go straight into the discard pile.

Cheating

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

Any player can play a cheating card they have in their hand, and it doesn't have to be necessarily in their turn. Each cheating card tells you when you can play it and what effect it has.

To play a cheating card, just burn it face up, read what it says and do that.

Example Card: Kaos Rule — Kaos Rule is a dastardly cheating card that you play when an opponent plays a tactic card (like Scatter, for example). It cancels the Tactic card's effect and discards it.

Section 2: Playing the Game

Setup

For your first game, set aside the ringers and upgrades. We'll get into those after you've played once or twice.

PLACE BOARDS AND BALL — Put the game board in the middle of the table with the score board next to it, and put the ball in the center field space. Each player sits next to one side of the board; this determines your scrimmage line and major scoring mound. If you're playing with only two players, sit on opposite sides of the board. Otherwise, choose sides randomly.
PICK TEAMS — Each player picks a team (either by consensus or randomly) and takes the dugout, 7 runner figures and 6 bruiser figures for that team.
- a. Each team begins with 12 Cash (exhibition game) or 10 Cash (league game). Turn the dial on your dugout to set your cash to that amount.
- b. Turn your Fouls dial to 0.
- c. Turn your Active Upgrade Points dial to 3 (representing the total cost worth of upgrades your team can have in the full game – ignore this for your first game).
FIELD TEAMS — Put three of your runners and two of your bruisers on your scrimmage line, with runners in the middle of the line and at both ends. Put your remaining figures in your bench next to your dugout.
DRAW OPENING HANDS — Shuffle the action cards and deal 7 to each player. Only the owner of the cards can look at them. Put the rest face down to the side, forming the draw pile.
PREPARE TOKENS — Put the fire tokens, minor scoring tokens, wall tokens, damage tokens and tiebreaker die off to one side.
PLACE SCORING MARKERS — Each player puts their team's coach figure on the start space of the scoring track (the "zero").
MARK THE PERIOD — Place the Period token on the "Period 1" space on the board.
ASSIGN FIRST PLAYER TOKEN — Give the First Player token to the youngest player.
DRAFT AND FIELD CHOSEN RINGERS AND UPGRADES — (Skip this step for your first game) Players auction for upgrades and ringers, then field them. See PRE-GAME DRAFT section (page 24) for details.

"All right, ladies. T-Bone is on the field now. This game is officially underway."

— T-Bone

Periods

Each match is played over 4 periods with a half-time event after period 2. Mark which period it is on the board with the Period token.

Each period has the following steps:

Player Turns (play card or activate a figure)
End of Period Scoring (score end of period points)
Bribing (buy off cheating cards)
Cheating (receive fouls)
Set Up for Next Period (clean up and set up the board)

Except for player turns, each step is resolved simultaneously. Detailed explanations follow:

Player Turns

Whoever has the First Player token takes the first turn, and play proceeds clockwise from there.

On your turn, follow these steps:

SCORE (if able)
Do ONE of the following:
- a. Play a TACTIC CARD
- or
- b. ACTIVATE a standing figure
DRAW to seven cards
Check for END OF PERIOD BUZZER

Remember: You can't activate a figure that has been knocked down; it has to be a standing figure.

Score

If one of your runners or ringers has the ball and is standing on your team's major scoring mound, you immediately get a "major score", scoring 5 points.

Playing a Tactic Card

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

Activating a Figure: Actions

Choose one of your standing figures on the field to take an action, which generally involves moving to a new space and then interacting with the ball or another figure.

When you activate a figure, you can do one of three different things with it:

SPRINT — (Any figure) Move up to 5 spaces. Only a Runner or Ringer may then attempt to steal the ball from an enemy in their killzone.
TACKLE — (Bruisers and Ringer only) Move up to 3 spaces; this figure may then attempt to tackle an enemy in their killzone.
ATTACK — (Bruisers and Ringer only) Move up to 3 spaces; this figure may then attempt an attack against an enemy in their killzone.

While any type of figure can perform a sprint action, only runners and ringers can follow it with an attempt to steal the ball from an enemy figure standing inside their killzone.

Only bruisers and ringers can perform the attack action against an enemy figure standing in their killzone. A successful attack will damage and possibly kill an enemy, removing it from the game.

Movement Restrictions

The active figure can change direction during its movement, but cannot move diagonally.

You can't move into an occupied space, where another figure is standing (not even a teammate), and you can't move through a wall token.

You can, however, move into a space that has one or more knocked-down figures in it.

— Adelaide Baxter and Hardman Jury, in-game commentary

The Ball: Pick-ups and Hand-offs

— "Saint" George Valentine, in-game commentary

If the active figure is carrying the ball, at any point during its movement it can do a hand-off, passing the ball to a teammate in its killzone.

If the active figure moves into the killzone of a teammate who has the ball, it can take a hand-off from that teammate.

The active figure can't do a hand-off or take a hand-off after it has performed its full action (either steal the ball, tackle or attack), it must occur during its movement.

Hand-offs don't cost anything; you don't have to stop moving and you can still perform your action afterwards.

Entering a Killzone: Reactions

If the active figure enters an enemy bruiser or ringer's killzone during its movement, the enemy bruiser or ringer can attempt an attack or tackle as a reaction if they wish.

If the active figure is carrying the ball and enters an enemy runner or ringer's killzone during its movement, the enemy runner or ringer can attempt to steal the ball as a reaction if they wish.

End of the Player Turn

Contests

"When you dig down inside for the strength or the speed to beat that tackle or bring down the ball carrier, you better have something in there to dig for. Energy equals victory."

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

Both contestants must choose one card from their hand and place it face down on the table, then they both reveal and burn their chosen card and we see who wins.

Usually you'll want to play a yellow "energy" card when you're in a contest. Both players add the number on their card to their team's relevant stat and the player with the highest total wins.

Steal the Ball — Handling
Tackle — Tackling
Attack — Fighting

Example (stat math shown on the cards): DEAMONS — +1 (Handling), +2 (Energy Card), =3; TIEBREAKER — +1 (Die result), =4. OGRES — +0 (Handling), +3 (Energy Card), =3.

If it's a tie, the active player rolls the Tiebreaker die and applies the result to their total, either increasing or decreasing it.

Live and Dead Cards

During a contest, as long as you revealed an energy card with a number that you have not already burned that period, the card is live.

In a contest, tactics and cheating cards are always considered dead cards, with the exception of the cheating card "Booster Bru" (which counts as a +6 energy card).

Example: Each of these is a +3 Energy card, but the cheating card STIM PACK would only double the value of the +3 card with a star.

Resolving Dead Cards

If one player plays a dead card and the other plays a live card, the one who played the dead card automatically loses the contest.

If both players play a dead card, resolve the contest as though both players had played a "0" (comparing only their team's Handling, Tackling or Fighting stat as appropriate).

Energy Cards with a Star

Some energy cards have a star on them. The star has no effect on who wins a contest, but the effects of some tactics or cheating cards might depend on whether or not the energy card has a star.

Resolving a Contest

Stealing the Ball

If you try to steal the ball and win the Handling contest, you get the ball.

If you try to steal the ball and lose the Handling contest, nothing happens.

Tackling

If you try to tackle someone and win the Tackling contest, the enemy figure is knocked down. If the knocked down figure was carrying the ball, you then have the option of executing a follow-up:

Follow-up — You automatically move into the knocked down enemy's space and pick up the ball.

Attacking

If you attack someone and lose the Fighting contest, you take one damage (regardless of energy cards played or teams' skills).

Note: A successful attack does not allow you to perform a follow-up.

End of the Period

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

Once the End of Period Buzzer has sounded and all other players have finished their turns, the period is over. Before the next period can start, a few things need to be taken care of:

End of Period Scoring

"Three minor scores are better than one major, so control of center field is key.

— Adelaide Baxter, "The Game: How Kaosball Defined the New World"

Minor scores are worth 1 point each during the 1st period, 2 points during the 2nd, 3 during the 3rd and 4 during the 4th.

Major scores are always worth 5 points each.

Bribing

If you have any burned cheating cards sitting face up in front of you, this might be a good time to bribe the ref to look the other way.

Cheating

After the players have all finished with their bribes, roll the Tiebreaker die once for each remaining cheating card next to your dugout.

Each time you roll a +1, you gain 1 foul. Increase the Foul dial on your dugout by 1.

Each time you roll a +2, you gain 2 fouls. Increase the Foul dial on your dugout by 2.

Nothing happens when you roll a -1 or -2. You don't get to decrease your fouls.

Be warned: Your fouls earned remain with you until the end of the game, and you will take big penalties for having more than your opponents!

Set Up for Next Period

Step 1 - Clean the Field

Stand up all knocked down figures. Once this is done, if two or more figures would be on the same space, those figures are benched, healing all damage on them.

Step 2 - Replenish Cards

Discard all your burned cards, and if you have less than seven cards in your hand, draw until you have seven. If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile.

Step 3 - Substitutions

Place any new figures on your scrimmage line, with runners (or ringers subbing in for runners) on runner spaces and bruisers (or ringers subbing in for bruisers) on bruiser spaces.

If your scrimmage line is occupied and there's no legal spot to place your figure, you can place it on any unoccupied space on the board.

If you don't have enough figures left to complete your team, you'll be eliminated (see Elimination – page 20).

Step 4 - Get Set for Next Period

Pass the first player token to the next player on the left, move the period token to the next period, and you're ready to begin the next period.

Half-Time

At the end of the second period, it's half-time. Before you set up for the next period, you've got a few extra things to do.

Score Kills and Cheats

Bonus points are awarded for kills, and penalties are given for fouls at half-time.

Most Kills Bonus

Reminder: The enemy figures you kill stay next to your dugout until the game is over.

Cheating Penalty

Reminder: The fouls you receive stay on your dugout until the game is over.

Exception: A team with no kills can never earn points for kills, and a team with no fouls can never lose points for cheating.

Ties

In case of ties for most kills or fouls, the tied teams get the full bonus or penalty, and any teams below them take the bonus or penalty for the next place down.

Example: At the end of a 3-player game, The Daemons have killed 3 enemy figures, the Amazons have killed 5 and the Goblins have killed 5.

The Amazons and Goblins, tied with the most kills, score 12 bonus points each. The Daemons take second place and score 6 points.

The shifty Goblins picked up 9 fouls during the game, while the Daemons got 4 and the Amazons none.

Return to Scrimmage

All figures on the board are benched, healing all damage on them. Each player then sets up their team on their scrimmage line, just as they do at the beginning of the game.

Switch Ringers

Switch Upgrades

Note that the total cost of the chosen upgrades cannot exceed a player's Active Upgrade Points!

End of the Game

At the end of the fourth period, points are scored for kills and cheats, just like at half-time.

Winning the Game

The team with the highest final score is the winner! If the score is tied, the tied teams go into…

Sudden Death Overtime!

Whenever a team finishes a sudden death overtime period with fewer points than any other team, they're eliminated. The last remaining team wins the match.

Losing the Game

There are two special circumstances in which a team can lose the game before it reaches its normal conclusion: blowout and elimination.

Blowout

At any time, if a team's score is 20 or more points below the leading team's score, that team is eliminated. If only one team then remains, that team immediately wins a blowout!

Elimination

After fielding your figures at the beginning of a period, if you have fewer than five figures on the field, your team is eliminated.

In head-to-head or four player Alliance mode, this means immediate victory for the opposing team(s).

If all teams are eliminated simultaneously, they all lose the match.

Other Rules

This section covers additional rules governing tokens and different modes of play:

Fire Tokens

Some cards and special abilities can put fire tokens on the board. You can't place fire tokens in an occupied space.

Fire tokens are removed from the board at the end of each period.

Wall Tokens

Some cards and special abilities can put walls on the board. A wall token is placed on the line between two spaces, blocking movement and killzones between them.

Figures can't move through walls.

Any special ability or card that allows diagonals may be blocked by walls. If the diagonal skims the edge of a wall, it is blocked.

Walls are removed from the board at the end of each period.

Minor Scoring Tokens

Some cards and special abilities can put minor scoring tokens on the board. A minor scoring token may only be placed on an unoccupied space in the midfield.

Minor scoring tokens create a minor scoring mound that can only be used by your runners and ringers. Enemy runners and ringers get no points out of them.

Minor scoring tokens are removed from the board at the end of each period.

Three and Four Player Games

Although Kaosball league matches are played between two teams, exhibition matches can be played with three or four teams.

Maximum Kaos Match

In a Maximum Kaos match, 3 or 4 teams duke it out in a total free-for-all, and only the team with the highest score will emerge victorious.

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

Alliance Match

You cannot attack, tackle, or steal the ball from your own ally. However, you can do a ball hand-off to or from an ally, as long as both players agree to it.

— Adelaide Baxter, "Future Kaos"

In this setup, the Ogres and Amazons are allied against the Daemons and Fang.

Section 3: Pre-Game Draft

Once you've played once or twice, you can play the full game of Kaosball, which includes a pre-game draft for ringers and upgrades, further customizing your team for each game.

The pre-game draft consists of two rounds of bidding, first for upgrades, then for ringers.

The highest bidders get the best or most stuff, but the low bidders have more cash left over for bribes during the match.

Each player can win multiple upgrades and ringers in the draft, but can only field one ringer at a time and can only have a limited number of active upgrades (see below).

Upgrades

"Only an idiot goes in without an edge, and there are no idiots in this game. Except some of the commentators. I ain't naming names."

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

An upgrade is a special advantage your team can use in the game. It has a cost and an effect.

Example Upgrade: Speed Training — This powerful upgrade allows all of your figures to move an extra space when activated. It has a cost of 1, which is also its minimum bid.

Ringers

— Hardman Jury, "Monday Night Kaosball"

Ringers are mercenary Kaosball players who play for the highest bidder. They can score points and steal the ball like runners, but they can also tackle and attack like bruisers.

You'll want at least one ringer on your team. Simple as that.

Example Ringer: T-Bone — T-Bone is a powerful ringer who heals back to his full 4 health at the beginning of each of your turns!

Drafts and Bidding

Customizing your team with upgrades, choosing the right ringers and strategically bidding to make opponents pay the maximum they dare is a big part of Kaosball.

The Upgrade Draft

Example: In this two-player example, these six Upgrade tokens are up for bidding.

Example: Player one chooses Hate, and bids 3 cash.

You can't bid more cash than you have, and you can't bid less than the upgrade's cost.

Example: Player two raises the bid to 5, then player one drops out. Player two gets Hate for 5 cash, leaving him with 7 cash.

Then player one chooses Celerity with an opening bid of 2. Player two drops out, leaving player one with Celerity for 2 cash (bringing his total to 7 cash).

Player one then passes instead of picking another upgrade. Player two also passes – the Upgrade draft is now over and the remaining upgrades are put away.

The Ringer Draft

In this two-player example, these five ringers are up for bidding.

The bidding for Ringers then works exactly like the bidding for Upgrade tokens. Players do not receive any more cash; they must use their leftover cash from the upgrade draft on the ringer draft.

When all players have passed instead of choosing a new ringer to bid on, the Ringer draft is over. Put all unclaimed ringer cards back in the box.

Players then take the card and figure for each of the Ringers they won and add them to their team's bench, by their dugout.

Choosing Upgrades and Ringers

After both drafts are finished, all players simultaneously choose their upgrades and ringers to use for the first half of the game (at half-time, they can pick different ones).

Active Upgrades

Each player simultaneously chooses which of the upgrades they bought will be active, and puts those upgrades into the upgrade slots on their dugout.

The total cost of your active upgrades cannot exceed your Active Upgrade Points value. Remember, it doesn't matter how much you paid for the upgrade; all that counts is the number printed on it.

Fielding Ringers

If your ringer is killed during the game, it is claimed as a kill by the slaying team, just like any other figure.

Credits

Game Design and Development: Eric M. Lang

World Development: Eric M. Lang and David Preti

Executive Producer: David Preti

Cover and Conceptual Art: Andrea Cofrancesco

Graphic Design: Mathieu Harlaut

Sculpting: Benjamin Maillet

Rules: Jonathan Moriarity and Thiago Aranha

Team Logo Design: Mathieu Harlaut

Thanks: David Doust and Chern Ann Ng at Cool Mini or Not, for believing in us and taking a chance on this very ambitious project.

Rules Summary

Setup

Choose teams and positions, give first player token
Draw and draft upgrades and ringers
Set figures, ball, and coaches on board
Each player draws 7 cards

Pregame Draft:

Shuffle and deal 6, 7 or 8 upgrade tokens (depending on number of players) to bid on
Players start a bid on an upgrade token or pass – when all players pass, upgrade draft is over
Shuffle and deal 5, 6, or 7 ringers (depending on number of players) to bid on
Players start a bid on a ringer or pass – when all players pass, ringer draft is over
Players then simultaneously choose active upgrades and field up to one ringer

On Your Turn:

Score if your runner or ringer has the ball and stands in a scoring mound
Either play a tactic card or activate a standing figure
Draw back to 7 cards in hand

Activating A Figure:

Sprint – Move up to 5 spaces (any figure), then may steal the ball (runners and ringers only)
Attack – Move up to 3 spaces, then may attack (bruisers and ringers only)
Tackle – Move up to 3 spaces, then may tackle (bruisers and ringers only)

Entering An Enemy Killzone:

Entering an enemy bruiser or ringer's killzone: they can attack or tackle
Entering an enemy runner or ringer's killzone: they can steal the ball

Resolving A Contest:

Each player chooses a card and places it face down
Reveal and burn chosen cards
Add number on card to appropriate team stat
Highest total wins; if tied, add tiebreaker die roll to active player's total
If one card is live and the other is dead, the live card automatically wins
If both cards are dead, compare only the team stats

Contest Results:

Try to steal the ball – Win, you get the ball. Lose, nothing happens.
Try to tackle – Win, enemy figure is knocked down (if it has the ball, you may follow-up by moving into its space and picking up the ball). Lose, you may be pushed back (if there's an adjacent blocked space, you are knocked down instead).
Try to attack – Win, enemy takes damage equal to the difference in your totals (unless you play a live card and they play a dead card; then the damage equals the number on your card). Lose, you take 1 damage.

End Of Period: At the end of your turn, if you have nine burned cards, the other players each get one more turn, then the period ends.

Major score (5 points) for a runner or ringer standing on your team's major scoring mound
Minor score (equal to the current period) for each runner and ringer standing on a minor scoring mound
Bribing – Pay 1 cash for each face up cheating card you want to discard
Fouls – Roll the tiebreaker die once for each face up cheating card you still have. For each "+1" result, gain 1 foul. For each "+2" result, take two fouls. Ignore results of "-1" and "-2"
Remove tokens, discard burned cards
Place figures and ball, draw back up to seven cards
Pass first player token and move period token