Król Popiel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Placing Tiles
  • Scoring Points
  • Drawing Tiles
  • King Popiel and Reward Tokens
• End of the Game

Contents

• 1 double-sided board
• 36 mouse tiles
• 5 mouse pawns
• 1 King Popiel pawn
• 8 reward tokens
• 5 double-sided markers (they remind players which colour they are playing, and show that a player has passed 30 points)
• 6 plastic stands

Goal of the Game

Your task is to chase the wicked King Popiel all the way to the top of the tower in Kruszwica and cut off his escape route. You command a herd of mice, placing tiles bearing their image so as to score as many points as possible. Forcing the king to flee to the higher floors of the tower earns you extra reward tokens. The player with the most points wins.

Setup

1. Place the board in the middle of the table, with the side of your choice face up. The two sides differ in the arrangement of yellow dots in the tower, which allow points to be scored during the game.

2. Each player chooses the colour of a mouse pawn they want to play as, and places the pawn on the scoring track, in front of the space with value 1.

3. Each player takes the marker matching their pawn's colour and places it in front of them on the table, mouse picture face up. The marker helps you remember which colour you are playing.

4. Each player receives one random mouse tile. Place three tiles on the three marked draw spaces on the board. Place the remaining tiles in a stack next to the board.

5. Place the King Popiel pawn in the tower on the board, on the lowest window space.

6. Place all reward tokens face down on the table and mix them.

Before the first game, insert the mouse pawns and the King Popiel pawn into the plastic stands.

Playing the Game

The player who most recently ate yellow cheese starts the game. On their turn, they place the first of their mouse tiles on the board so that it covers the start space, following the tile placement rules below.

Placing Tiles

• A tile must fit within the tower (no part of it may stick out beyond it), within the marked grid. The edges of the placed tile must line up with the drawn lines. A tile may not be placed crooked, diagonally, or halfway along the grid.
• No tile, or any part of a tile, may be placed on top of an already placed tile, on a space with a drawn obstacle, or on a window space occupied by King Popiel. A tile may also not be placed on an empty window space.
  • Obstacle space (brick)
  • Window space
• The first tile must be placed so that it covers the start space.
• Every subsequent tile must be placed so that it touches at least one side of one or more mouse tiles already on the board.
• Before placing a tile, you may rotate it in any direction and flip it over.

Scoring Points

When a player places a tile, they immediately receive points according to how well the tile fits with the tiles already in the tower. Each tile has half of a yellow dot on its edges. The player gets 1 point for each complete yellow dot they form with their move. Some walls and obstacles on the board also show half of a yellow dot; if the placed tile touches them, the player scores points for them.

The player marks their points by moving their pawn forward the corresponding number of spaces on the scoring track. If a player scores more points than there are spaces on the track, they flip their marker (the one matching their colour) to the other side, showing the picture for passing 30 points. Their mouse pawn then starts again from the beginning of the scoring track.

Example: Kasia's mouse pawn is on space 28 of the scoring track. As a result of her move, Kasia scores 4 points. She flips her colour marker to the side showing that she has passed 30 points, and places her mouse pawn on space 2 of the track. At this point she has 32 points.

Example: Monika is the starting player and places her tile so that it covers the start space. She scores 3 points, because by placing the tile against the wall she formed 3 yellow dots.

Drawing Tiles

After placing a tile, the player immediately draws one of the tiles lying on the three draw spaces. They will place this tile in their next turn. The player then refills the draw spaces (where possible) by adding a tile from the stack next to the board.

The turn passes to the next player, clockwise.

Example: Kasia (the second player) must place a tile so that it touches a tile already on the board. In doing so she forms 3 yellow dots, so she scores 3 points.

King Popiel and Reward Tokens

If, with their move, a player places a tile so that one of its sides touches a window space occupied by King Popiel, the player chooses one of the reward tokens, reveals it, and receives the bonus shown on it:

• 2-point cheese token: the player receives 2 additional points.
• 3-point cheese token: the player receives 3 additional points.
• Extra move token: the player immediately takes one of the tiles lying on the three draw spaces and places it in the tower, following the basic rules of the game. In this way the player scores further points.
• Double points token (x2): the player receives double points for the move in which they obtained this token.

The player keeps the reward tokens they have collected in front of them on the table; they are not returned to the pool.

As soon as a player takes a reward token, King Popiel's pawn escapes to the nearest free window space.

Example: Łucja (the third player) places a tile so that it touches King Popiel's pawn. She forms 4 yellow dots and so scores 4 points. She then chooses a random reward token, and it turns out to be the token with the king's wife. Łucja multiplies the points from this move by 2, so she gets 8 points. King Popiel's pawn escapes to the next window space.

End of the Game

If there are no free window spaces left (the mice have reached the top of the tower), the wicked king is devoured and the game ends immediately.

The player who scored the most points wins. In the event of a tie, the tied players share the victory.