Knobelschatz
Knobelschatz Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 24 treasure chest cards
- 3 dice
- 1 wooden watchdog
- 1 rulebook
Goal of the Game
The goal is to collect the most treasure chest cards, always in the hope that they are also especially valuable.
Setup
The treasure chest cards are shuffled thoroughly. Each player receives one treasure chest card and places it face down in front of themselves, i.e. with the treasure chest side facing up. (Translator's note: the German manual says "verdeckt" (face down) and then "die Schatztruhenseite zeigt nach oben" (treasure chest side facing up); both are kept as printed.)
The remaining treasure chest cards are also placed face down in a pile in the middle.
At the start of the game the watchdog stands beside the treasure chest pile in the middle.
Playing the Game
The youngest player begins. Play passes clockwise. On each turn the player rolls all three dice at the same time.
The faces of the dice show where the player may take further treasure chest cards from. The player takes the cards and places them face down in front of themselves. Then the next player is up.
It is important that the treasure chest cards are never turned face up during the game. The secret of the value of the treasure chest cards is revealed only at the end of the game.
Dice Faces
- One pip: take one treasure chest card from the left neighbour.
- Two pips: take one treasure chest card from the right neighbour.
- Three pips: take one treasure chest card from the pile in the middle.
- Four pips: take one treasure chest card from any one fellow player.
- Dog: take the watchdog. As long as a player has this dog, they are protected from the raids of the other players. No treasure chests may be taken from them.
If the watchdog appears in a dice combination, the player may take the watchdog first and then take the treasure chest cards.
Example
A player rolls the combination of two dice showing two pips and one die showing three pips.
The pips mean that the player may take two treasure chest cards from their right neighbour and one treasure chest card from the pile in the middle.
If the player's right neighbour has only one treasure chest card or none at all, the player has bad luck. In this case the player receives only one or no treasure chest card from their right neighbour, and in addition receives one treasure chest card from the middle.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as the last treasure chest card has been taken from the middle.
Now all players turn their treasure chest cards face up, and each player adds up the points on their cards. The winner is the player with the highest point total.
In the next round of play, the player with the lowest point total begins.
Note
Before the game begins, the players may agree that the loser of the round must perform a task. Such a task could be: sing a song, do a somersault (einen Purzelbaum schlagen) ...