Kingsbridge: The Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Turn Sequence
  • A) Laying Out Hand Cards
  • B) Exchanging Hand Cards
• End of the Game
• Complete Game with Character Cards
• Variants: Solo and Cooperative
  • Solo Game for One Player
  • Kingsbridge Cooperative
• Character Card Explanations
  • Aldred
  • Bishop Wynstan
  • Edgar
  • Gytha
  • King Ethelred
  • Mother Agatha
  • Ragna
  • Sheriff Den
  • Wigelm
  • Wilwulf

Components

• 104 story cards with events from the novel (8 cards each numbered 1 to 13), with blue backs
• 10 character cards showing well-known characters from the novel: Edgar, King Ethelred, Aldred, Sheriff Den, Ragna, Mother Agatha, Wilwulf, Bishop Wynstan, Gytha and Wigelm
• 6 identical row cards

Setup

Kingsbridge is quick to set up using the following steps:

• Lay out the 6 row cards side by side in the middle of the table.
• Shuffle all story cards (blue backs) thoroughly together. Then place one story card on each of the 6 row cards and reveal it. These revealed cards are the start of each row.
• Decide in any way who starts. This player deals all remaining story cards one at a time, clockwise, beginning with themselves. Depending on the number of players, some of you may have one more card than others; this is not a problem.
• Do not take your story cards into your hand. Instead, place them in front of you as a face-down draw pile. Then draw 6 cards from your own draw pile and take them into your hand.

In the complete game, you also receive character cards. They show well-known characters from the novel. Each character card has a special ability that can be used during your own turn. Play your first game without character cards first, and then move on to the complete game with character cards. It is described on page 6.

Now the game can begin!

The illustration in the rulebook shows an example of what the card rows could look like at the start of the game.

Turn Sequence

The player who dealt the cards is the first to take a turn. After that, play continues clockwise. The game ends as soon as someone has laid out all cards of their own draw pile as well as their last hand card, and that player wins!

On your turn, you may either lay out hand cards or exchange hand cards.

A) Laying Out Hand Cards

You may lay out any number of your hand cards onto one or more card rows. It is important that the card rows are always ascending and without gaps: no number may be missing! The order in which you lay out which cards where is entirely up to you.

Example: onto a 3 you could first lay a 4 and then a 5. But you could not lay a 7 onto it, because then the 6 would be missing.

As soon as a row contains all cards from 1 to 13, the row is complete. Remove all cards of this row and place them on a common discard pile. Now there is an empty row card.

On an empty row card, you may start a new row. To do so, lay any one of your hand cards onto it. Correct: you may start a new row with any number; it does not have to be a 1!

While you are laying out cards from your hand, you may rebuild the card rows. Rebuilding means that you take part of a row and lay it onto another row. This gives you new possibilities for laying out your hand cards. You never have to rebuild all cards of a row; you may also rebuild only the lower part of a row.

During your turn you may rebuild as often as you like, but every card row must always remain ascending and without gaps. Therefore, you may never take cards out of the middle of a row or rebuild in such a way that a gap is created.

Your turn ends as soon as you can or want to lay no further hand card. Then you draw as many cards from your draw pile as needed until you again have 6 cards in your hand. Play continues clockwise.

The rulebook then shows a detailed step-by-step example of how to skilfully rebuild card rows. It begins with the following situation: your hand cards and the card rows at the start of your turn are shown in the illustration. Your hand contains 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 13. The six rows start with 3, 8, 9, 5, 1 and 13.

• First you lay your 4 onto the 3 and your 6 onto the 5. Then you can rebuild. You lay the card of the third row onto the second row (the 9 onto the 8); after that you lay the cards of the fourth row onto the first row (the 5–6 onto the 3–4).
• This has left two rows empty, which you may start anew in this same turn. You lay your 11 and 12 into one of these empty rows. Now you can rebuild again, by laying the 13 (from the far right) onto the 11–12.
• Now two rows are empty again: the third and the sixth. You still have a 1 and an 8 in your hand. You lay each of these cards into one of the empty rows.
• You have managed to lay out all of your hand cards in this turn! Now draw 6 cards again. This ends your turn.

Rebuilding can even complete rows, which creates room for new rows. If the rows are placed favourably, you do not even have to lay down a card beforehand in order to complete a row.

Example: You have three hand cards: a 2, a 7 and a 10. First you lay your 7 to the left of the 6, your 2 onto the 1, and your 10 onto the far right of the 9. Then you can rebuild: lay the 3–7 onto the 1–2, and then the 8–10 onto that. Finally, lay the 11–13 onto that as well. This completes the row.

In a second illustration you can complete a row directly, without first laying down a card: for this you simply lay the cards 9–13 of the right-hand row onto the 8 of the left-hand row.

B) Exchanging Hand Cards

Alternatively, you may exchange hand cards on your turn. To do so, place any number of your hand cards face down under your draw pile. Then draw as many cards from this pile as needed until you have 6 cards in your hand again. This ends your turn, and play continues clockwise.

If your draw pile is empty (and only then!), you may pass on your turn and do nothing; after all, you have nothing left to exchange.

End of the Game

The player who first lays out all cards of their own draw pile as well as their last hand card immediately ends the game and wins!

In the unlikely event that no one can lay out a card, even after you have exchanged hand cards several times, the game also ends. The player who then has fewer cards (in hand and in their draw pile) wins!

Complete Game with Character Cards

The complete game includes the character cards. Add them as soon as you are familiar with the basic rules. Each of them has a special ability that can be used during your own turn.

The following rules are added with the character cards:

• Setup: Shuffle the character cards. Divide them evenly among the players (and return any surplus cards to the box). Each player places their character cards as an open pile in front of them. Each player thus has a face-down story draw pile and an open character pile.
• Playing a character card: At any time during your turn, you may play your visible character card. You use its described ability in addition to your normal turn. After you have played a card, you pass it to the player on your left. That player places this card under their character pile. As soon as this card becomes visible there again, it can be played again. You may play only one character card per turn.
• End of the game: Character cards that were not played have no significance.

Tip: You do not have to read all of the character card texts at once. First read only those lying on your piles. If a question arises, you can look up all character cards explained from page 8 onwards.

Variants: Solo and Cooperative

Solo Game for One Player

For the solo game, the complete rules with character cards apply, together with the changes and additions described here. Your goal is to lay out as many of the 104 story cards in the rows as possible.

• Setup: Prepare the 6 rows as usual. Shuffle the remaining story cards into your draw pile and draw 6 hand cards. Shuffle the character cards into a face-down pile and then reveal 3 of them. You may use these revealed character cards during your turns.
• Course of play: In each of your turns you must lay out at least 1 hand card. The option to exchange hand cards does not apply in the solo game!

If you cannot manage this (even after playing a character card), you must place one hand card on a minus pile. Each card there is worth −5 points at the end of the game. Therefore, you should avoid this at all costs.

You do not have to lay out all hand cards you could in your turn. You may keep some back if it seems sensible to you. As usual, you draw up to 6 hand cards at the end of each turn.

• Playing a character card: If you cannot lay out a hand card, try to help yourself with one of the revealed character cards. Then place the played character card in the box. Then reveal a new one, so that 3 character cards are revealed again. If you have played all character cards, you must continue the rest of the game without them.

Example: A row consists of the cards 3–4–5. However, you only have a 7 in your hand. Among the revealed character cards is Ragna. Her help comes just in time! Because with Ragna you can skip a number in a row. You lay your 7 onto the 3–5 row and place Ragna in the box.

• End of the game and scoring: The game ends as soon as your draw pile is empty and you have no hand cards left. Then count your points:
  • +1 point for each character card you still have left.
  • +2 points for each empty row card.
  • −5 points for each card in the minus pile.

If you have at least 1 point, you have won! For experienced players, 12 points is the goal. The maximum possible is 22 points.

Kingsbridge Cooperative

Face the challenge together! This works like the solo game, except that you divide the story cards evenly at the start. So each of you has your own draw pile and begins with 6 hand cards.

You take turns in clockwise order and share the display of character cards. Only one character card may be played per turn. You may not talk about your hand cards or make any specific agreements.

Tip: It is advisable to leave at least one row free for the next player. That makes rebuilding easier. However, before you cannot lay anything at all, it is of course better to lay onto a free row.

Character Card Explanations

This section describes all character cards in detail and explains them with examples. If questions arise during play, you can quickly look them up here.

Aldred

During this turn you may lay matching cards in all rows not only at the end but also at the start of the rows.

Example: Here you may lay your 1–2 in front of the 3–4. As usual, you may of course also lay matching cards at the end, for example your 5–6 onto the 3–4.

Bishop Wynstan

You may remove 1 or 2 cards from the end of any row and place them on the discard pile.

Example: You are on turn and have a 6 and a 7 in your hand. First you play Bishop Wynstan to remove the displayed 6 and 7 from the row. Now you may lay your 6 and 7 onto the row.

Edgar

This card is a joker. You may lay it onto a row as any card. If Edgar lies in a row, he can be exchanged for a matching card. When you exchange him for a matching hand card, you take him out of the row and place him under your character pile.

Example: In the illustration you can "get" Edgar with a 10 from your hand. To do so, you exchange your 10 for him and place Edgar under your character pile.

If you complete a row in which Edgar lies, you also receive him. Place Edgar under your character pile before you remove the row and place it on the discard pile.

Special case: If you remove Edgar from a row using Bishop Wynstan or Sheriff Den, give him to the player on your left. That player places Edgar under their character pile.

Gytha

You may search 1 or 2 cards out of the discard pile and immediately lay them onto a row.

Example: You are on turn and find this row in front of you. You have a 7, 8 and 9 in your hand. First you play Gytha and search out a 5 and a 6 from the discard pile. You lay both onto this row. Now you may lay your 7, 8 and 9 from your hand onto it.

King Ethelred

You may open one additional row by laying out one or more cards as a new row. This row exists for as long as all of its cards are removed.

Example: Here you play King Ethelred to lay your 10 and 11 as an additional row, to the right of the other rows. This row remains in place as long as there are cards in it, that is, either until it is completed or until all of its cards have been moved to other rows (through rebuilding or by playing a character card).

Mother Agatha

During this turn you may lay identical cards onto each other in all rows: for example, 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5.

Example: In this example you have two 4s, an 8 and a 9 in your hand. The first two rows are shown on the right. Here Mother Agatha can help you well. First you lay your two 4s on top of each other onto row 1, then your 8 onto the 8 in row 2. There you can then also lay your 9. Note that you may still lay cards only at the end of a row, not at the start or in the middle.

Ragna

During this turn you may skip one number in a row: for example, 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10. With Ragna you can skip a number from 2 to 12. A 1 or a 13 cannot be skipped. You may use Ragna either when laying cards or when rebuilding.

Laying example: With Ragna you can lay your 5 and 6 directly onto the 3.

Rebuilding example: With Ragna you skip the 6 and build the row 7–9 directly onto the row 3–5.

Important: Such a gap can later be "filled". Whoever in one of these examples would have a 4 or a 6 could insert it into the row during their own turn.

Sheriff Den

You may remove all cards of one row and place them on the discard pile. Then you may immediately start that row anew.

Example: You choose any row and remove all of its cards. This works just like completing a row. Afterwards you may immediately start the row again with one or more cards.

Wigelm

You may give each other player 1 card. To do so, remove the card at the start of a row from each of them and place it face down on their draw pile.

You may freely choose which rows you take the cards from, as long as it is always the card right at the start of the row.

Example: Kati is on turn. She gives Uschi the 13 from row 4, Wolfgang receives the 5 from row 2, and Kirsten the 6 from row 2 (which now lies at the very start of that row). Everyone places the card they received face down on their own draw pile. This leaves Kati with two empty rows.

In the solo game, you take the card at the start of any row and place it face down on your draw pile.

Wilwulf

You may lay 1 or 2 cards from your hand face up in front of you. In later turns you may lay them onto any rows where they match.

Example: If you play Wilwulf and lay 1 or 2 cards in front of you, you have a larger choice of cards you can lay in later turns. In this example you are on turn and have a 6 and an 8 in your hand. In your previous turn you laid a 7 in front of you with Wilwulf. Now you can lay all three cards (6, 7, 8) onto the row on the right.

Important: Cards you have laid in front of you with Wilwulf may only be used to lay at the end of rows. You may therefore not use them to exchange Edgar in the middle of a row or to fill gaps (created by Ragna).