Labyrinthos

Labyrinthos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Object of the Game

In Labyrinthos, players are pitted against each other inside the legendary labyrinth of Crete. There they will have to explore the maze, avoid the Minotaur, harness new abilities, and be the first to find the four secret keys that allow them to escape and win the game!

Components

4 Hero Boards
4 Hero Marker Standees
4 Hero Marker Tokens (alt)
4 Player Guides
28 Feet Action Tokens
28 Hand Action Tokens
40 Wound Tokens
16 Key tokens
4 Key Tiles
36 Maze Tiles
8 Center Maze Tiles
1 Door Tile
30 Wall Tokens
60 Desperation Cards
15 Medusa Desperation Cards
15 Cerberus Desperation Cards
1 Minotaur Marker Standee
1 Medusa Marker Standee
1 Cerberus Marker Standee
3 Monster Marker Tokens (alt)
1 Minotaur Die
1 Blood Die

*There may be more of some of the listed components, so yeah, you got free stuff!

Setting Up the Game

With your powers combined, determine a 1st player and then give them the Minotaur die.
Starting with the 1st player and continuing clockwise, each player chooses a Hero board then collects that board's matching Hero marker and a Player Guide.
Place the Door tile in the middle of the play area.
Shuffle all starting Maze tiles and place them face down in a 3x3 Grid (the Door tile in the centre; see the setup diagram on page 5 of the rulebook).
Shuffle all remaining tiles together and then add them to the starting grid, face down, to form a new 7x7 grid.
Group all Key tokens by color and then place them face down next to the play area.
Shuffle all Desperation cards together to form the Desperation deck.
Give each player 4 Desperation cards, 3 Hand tokens, 4 Feet tokens and then place any remaining tokens within reach of all players.
Flip all the starting tiles face up.
Each player places their Hero marker onto the Maze tile that matches the color of their Hero board.
Starting with the 1st player, begin taking turns.

*During the first round of the game, the Minotaur marker will not be on the board and a player's turn will end after they have finished Refreshing their Action Pool. After each player has completed their first turn, place the Minotaur marker onto the Door tile and resume play.

The Race to Freedom Begins with Player Turns

Labyrinthos is played over a series of rounds, a round is comprised of each player taking one turn in clockwise order. During a player's turn, that player may perform actions that will allow them to move around the Labyrinth, play Desperation cards, and even take control of the Minotaur! All available actions are listed on each player's Hero board and each action has a cost. To complete an action, a player must pay its cost, discarding the required Action tokens and then perform that action.

Player Turns

Perform Actions
Pass
Refresh Action Pool
Refresh Desperation Cards
Roll and Resolve the Minotaur Die

A few things to remember when performing actions:

As soon as an Action token is used it must be discarded.
Players can perform the same action multiple times in a single turn.
If an action has no cost, then the player does not need to spend any Action tokens before performing that action.

When a player chooses not to perform any further actions, that player must pass.

After a player passes, that player must refresh their Action Pool by discarding any remaining unused Action tokens, choosing 7 new Action tokens from the supply, and then placing those chosen tokens onto their Hero board.

The player must then refresh their hand. The player draws Desperation cards so that their hand is equal to 4, minus 1 card for every Key token on their player board.

Example: If Luke ends their turn with 2 Desperation cards and has one Key token on their player board, they will draw only one Desperation card when refreshing their hand.

Once a player has finished refreshing their Action Pool and hand, they will roll the Minotaur die, resolve the Minotaur's movement, and then end their turn.

*After rolling the Minotaur die, a Player cannot change the Action tokens they chose at the end of their turn. YOU'VE MADE YOUR CHOICE, AND NOW YOU MUST LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES MUAHAHA!

Handling Your Hero

Escaping from the Labyrinth is going to be a difficult feat that requires smarts, cunning, and luck so understanding how the Hero Boards work is going to be your first step to achieving victory and freedom.

Hero Boards

Hero Boards have all sorts of fancy stuff on them!

Name - While the character names we chose took an insanely long time to research and pick out, feel free to call your character whatever you want.
Actions - Actions represent the different things players can do during the game and can be found on Hero boards and Key tokens. Each action has a cost, name, and description.
Recover and Rearrange Actions - These Actions are always available to players during their turn. Wound and Key tokens can never be placed on these Actions.

*Alyssa the Illustrator has hidden all sorts of cool visual goodies for each hero on the boards for you. Have fun finding them!

The actions on a Hero board:

MOVE - Move your Hero to an adjacent Discovered tile.
EXPLORE - Flip over an adjacent face down tile and move onto it.
DISCOVER KEY - Gain a Key token that matches the Key tile you occupy.
DESPERATE ACTION - Play a Desperation card.
ROTATE WALL - Rotate a Wall to any side of the tile.
ROTATE TILE - Rotate a tile 90 degrees.
HEAL - Remove a Wound token from your Hero board.
Special action (unique to each Hero; examples shown on the boards: SHIELD MAIDEN - When you are attacked by the Minotaur, you are not displaced to another tile. WILD INTUITION - Whenever you land on a tile with the Minotaur symbol, you may immediately roll and resolve the Minotaur die instead of that tile's normal effect.)
EMPTY KEY SLOT
RECOVER - Pay 5 Action tokens of any type to remove all Wounds from your Hero board.
REARRANGE - Pay 3 Action tokens of any type to move one Key token on your Hero board to a new slot.

Player Actions

Players spend their Action tokens to perform different types of actions within the Labyrinth. Each action has its own cost and unique effect.

Move

The Move action lets a player move between two Explored tiles that share a connecting Pathway. When performing a Move action there are certain rules players must follow:

A player can never move through a Wall or a Dead End.
A player can never move through or share a tile with the Minotaur (unless a Hide symbol, Special action, Key token, or Desperation card allows it).
A player can never use a Move action to move onto a face down tile.
Whenever a player Moves onto a tile with a symbol, they must immediately resolve that symbol's effect.

Explore

The Explore action allows players to move to Unexplored tiles, revealing new parts of the Labyrinth. When performing an Explore action there are certain rules player must follow:

A player can only explore an Unexplored tile if the tile they Occupy has a pathway leading to it.
After revealing the face down tile, the player may then place it face up in any orientation of their choosing.
When Exploring the player must always move onto the newly Explored tile.
When a player reveals a tile with a symbol, they must immediately resolve that symbol's effect.

Discover Key

The Discover Key action lets players gain Key tokens. When performing the Discover Key action there are certain rules that must be followed:

A player must be on a Key tile to use this action.
A player can only gain a Key token that matches the Key tile they are on.

Desperate Action

Desperate action allows players to play a Desperation card from their hand. The Desperate action can only be used during your turn unless the card's reaction text says otherwise. When performing a Desperate action there are certain rules that must be followed:

When using a Desperate action on another player's turn, you must still pay that action's cost.
If a Desperation card does not have a reaction text it may only be played during your turn.
After resolving the effect of a Desperation card, discard that card.
When a card effect contradicts the rulebook, the card effect takes precedence.

Rotate Wall

The Rotate Wall action lets a player rotate a Wall token. When performing the Rotate Wall action certain rules must be followed:

A player may only Rotate the Wall token to a different side of the tile they are on.
A player may never Rotate a Wall token in a way that would cause it to exceed that tile's wall limit. (see Maze Tiles, Wall)

Rotate Tile

The Rotate Tile action lets a player rotate any Explored tile 90 degrees. When performing the Rotate Tile action there are certain rules that must be followed:

A player may only rotate a tile 90 degrees.
A player may rotate any Explored tile in the maze, even if it is occupied.

Heal

The Heal action allows players to remove a Wound token from their Player board.

Special Action

Each player has a Special action that is unique to their character.

A Special action can be covered by a Key or Wound token.
If a Special action contradicts the rules of the game, the special action takes precedent.

Empty Key Slot

Every Hero Board has an empty Key slot, this is a free space to store one of your Key tokens. For a more challenging game, do not use this space.

*Wounds can only be put on Actions so a Wound cannot be put on the empty key slot until a Key token has been placed there.

The Recover and Rearrange Actions

There are two additional Actions that can be found on every Hero Board; Recover and Rearrange. These actions are unique because Wound and Key tokens can never be placed on them and they are always available to players during their turn.

Recover - Pay 5 Action tokens of any type to remove all Wounds from your Hero board.
Rearrange - Pay 3 Action tokens of any type to move one Key token on your Hero board to a new slot.

Delving into The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth is an ever-changing game board made up of Maze tiles. As new Maze tiles are Explored, more of the Labyrinth is revealed.

Maze Tiles

Each Maze tile is made up of various parts that have been listed below.

Pathways - Pathways show the paths that players can move along on a tile. Whenever a tile's pathway connects with another tile's pathway a player may perform the Move action to follow the path onto the new tile.

Unexplored and Explored tiles - A Maze tile that is face down, is considered Unexplored and one that is face up is Explored.

Unoccupied and Occupied Tiles - A tile is considered Unoccupied if it has been Explored but there are no Hero or Minotaur markers on it. When a Hero or Minotaur marker is moved onto a tile, that tile immediately becomes Occupied. If two or more players are on the same tile, they are sharing that tile.

Dead Ends - A Dead End occurs when a Maze tile has a pathway that does not connect with another pathway. If a pathway connects to the edge of the maze it is also considered a dead end.

Symbols

Different symbols can be found on Maze Tiles, and each symbol has its own unique effect.

WALL - Place a Wall token anywhere in the Labyrinth between two Maze tiles. When placing Wall tokens remember to follow the Wall limit rule: No more than two Wall tokens can ever be adjacent to the same Maze tile.
MINOTAUR - You gain two Minotaur Movement Points and must immediately use them.
HIDE - When Occupying this tile, you cannot be Attacked by the Minotaur. **When the Minotaur is Charging and comes to a Maze tile with the Hide symbol Occupied by a Hero, the Minotaur continues to Charge as if no Hero was there.
TRAP - Anytime a Player is moved onto a tile with the Trap symbol, they must take a Wound. This may happen during Exploring, Moving, or due to being Attacked.
SECRET PASSAGE - Tiles with the Secret Passage symbol have connecting pathways to every other tile with a Secret Passage symbol. Moving between two Secret Passage tiles still requires the Move Action or uses up 1 of the Minotaur's Movement Points.

The Monster in the Dark

The Minotaur has been eating Athenian teenage sacrifices for years and has gotten pretty good at it. While hunting through the maze, he will attack anyone he comes across.

The Minotaur Die

HOOF SYMBOL - The Minotaur gains Movement Points equal to the number of hooves rolled. Each Movement Point can be used to do one of the following actions:
- Move to adjacent tiles following all the same rules as the player's Move action.
- Rotate the tile that the Minotaur Occupies, or a tile that is adjacent to the tile that the Minotaur occupies 90 degrees.
- Remove a Wall token that is adjacent to the tile that the Minotaur Occupies.
SECRET PASSAGE - Move the Minotaur marker to any tile with a Secret Passage symbol.
CHARGE SYMBOL - Move the Minotaur marker in a straight line until it hits a Dead End or Hero marker. If the Minotaur hits a Wall token, remove that token and continue the charge.

The Minotaur can never end its movement on the same tile that it started on. If the Minotaur is ever in a situation where it cannot move off the tile it started on, it is placed on the Door tile instead.

Minotaur Attacks and Wounds

The Minotaur isn't following you just because it wants a hug. Whenever it finds an unlucky sacrifice in its maze, it will immediately Attack!

Attacks

Whenever the Minotaur marker moves on to an Occupied tile, it immediately Attacks all Heroes on that tile. When the Minotaur Attacks, the controlling player rolls the Blood die and the Attacked players must take that many Wounds. Then the player controlling the Minotaur must move each Attacked Hero marker to an adjacent tile with a connecting pathway. When a Hero is moved onto a tile with a symbol, as the result of an Attack, they still must resolve the effects of that symbol as if they had Moved there. When the Minotaur Attacks, it immediately loses any remaining Movement Points.

*Since the Minotaur only Attacks when he moves on to an Occupied tile, starting your turn on the same tile as him won't trigger an Attack.

Wounds

Whenever a Player gets a Wound, they must place a Wound token onto one of their Actions. If an Action has a Wound token on it, that Action cannot be used until the Wound token has been removed.

You may place a Wound token onto a Heroes' Special action or one of their Key actions.

You may never place two Wound tokens on the same Action.

Wait! I have so many Wounds I feel like I can't do anything! Don't panic! Use the Recover action (see Recover and Rearrange) to remove all Wounds from your Hero board.

If you gain a Wound and all of your actions already have a Wound token on them, discard the new Wound token instead.

Things Are Going to Get a Little Desperate

Desperation cards are a great way to literally turn the game in your favor. But while cards are a powerful way to surprise your opponent, they will become scarcer the more keys you discover!

Desperation Cards

Here are the different parts of a Desperation card:

Flavor Text - This is a bit of thematic story tied to the Labyrinth. While you don't have to read this part out loud, doing so will make the game feel more like an adventure you and your friends are on!
Reaction - Sometimes a card can be played in reaction to something happening in the game, even if it's not your turn. This will let you know what conditions are required before you can play this card. (Example, "Hermes' Mischief": Play when another Player plays a Desperation Card. Cancel the effects of that card.)
Card Effect - This will say what effect the card has on the game. These effects can vary widely, from letting a player heal all their Wounds to swapping player's key tokens around.

Important things to remember about Desperation cards

Desperation cards can only be played on your turn unless they have the Reaction text.
When a card effect contradicts the rulebook, the card effect takes precedence.
When refreshing your hand, you may choose to discard any unwanted Desperation cards before drawing.
If you have more Desperation cards then your hand limit allows, you must discard the extra when refreshing your hand.
The hand limit on Desperation cards is equal to 4 minus the number of Key tokens on your Hero board.
If the Desperation deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to make a new deck.

The Keys to Freedom

The hidden keys you need to escape are found deep within the Labyrinth, and each one will grant you a unique action to give you an advantage over your opponents.

Finding a Key

There are 4 different types of keys that can be found in the Labyrinth. Players will need to find one of each key type before they can win the game.

To find a key, a player needs to Occupy a Key tile and use the Discover Key action (spend a Hand token on the "DISCOVER KEY" action). They then look at the face down Key tokens that match that tile, choose one, and return the rest to the table face down. Then they must place that Key token over one of their action slots.

Key actions:

SECRET LEVER - Rotate up to 4 tiles of your choice 90 degrees.
BUILD - Place or remove up to 2 Wall tokens.
VISIONS - Rotate up to 4 Wall tokens.
BANDAGES - Heal a Wound.

(Each key token's action is shown on the token; the four examples here are as shown in the rulebook's illustration.)

Occupy a key tile.
Choose a key that matches the key tile.
Place the selected key on a slot. Pro tip, use the "EMPTY KEY SLOT" first.

*It's important to note that keys are not a type of Symbol, so Desperation cards that target a tile symbol couldn't be used on Key tiles.

When an action is covered up with a Key token, that action can no longer be used, and the action listed on the Key token replaces it. If a Key token is moved to a new slot, then that action can be used again.

You can never find two keys of the same type! For example, if you have the Bronze Key token, you cannot gain an additional Bronze Key token by using the Discover Key action on the Bronze Key tile.

Moving a Key

Sometimes a player may find that they've covered up an action and wish they had chosen differently, or a situation might occur where they need to move their Key token to a different action. A player may always use the Rearrange action to move a Key token to a new slot.

Winning the Game and Escaping to Freedom

Only one of you can escape the Labyrinth with your life. The first player to collect all four Labyrinth Keys and move onto the Door tile wins the game. The rest of the players are locked within the Labyrinth forever. Of course, maybe in the future some famous hero will arrive to slay the Minotaur and save you... or at least avenge you!

Monstrous Myths

The Minotaur isn't the only horror to come from Greek legend. Included are a few of the other famous monsters to try out in your game. When using a different monster follow all the same rules as the Minotaur in addition to the rule listed below.

The Gorgon Medusa - Paralyzing Stare

Anytime a player receives Wounds because of an Attack by Medusa they must place their Wounds by starting on the topmost open action on their Hero Board and then proceeding to place Wounds on each action in descending order.

The Guardian Cerberus - Hunts by Scent

Whenever Cerberus moves into a tile that has line of sight with a Hero, Cerberus must use all remaining Movement Points to get as close to that Hero as possible. Line of sight occurs when there is no Wall or Dead end, in a direct line between Cerberus and a Hero.

*Don't forget to shuffle the Desperation cards designed specifically for each of them into your Desperation deck!

I've Still Got Some Questions...

Frequently asked questions from the rulebook:

Q. Can the Minotaur use Secret Passages? A. Yes, but it still uses up a Minotaur Movement Point.

Q. If I rotate a tile does the Wall rotate with it? A. No, the wall would stay where it is.

Q. Can you place a Key token on an action that has a Wound on it? A. Yes, the Wound would then go on top of the key.

Q. Can you cover a Key token with another Key token? A. No, Key tokens can only be placed on non-key actions.

Q. Can you place a Key token on top of the Rearrange or Recover action? A. No, those Actions are always available and can't be covered up.

Q. Can you place a wall in between an Explored and Unexplored tile? A. Yes, as long as you are not breaking the Wall limit rule.

Q. When the Minotaur displaces a player onto a trap tile, does that player receive a Wound from the trap on top of the Wound(s) the Minotaur would deal them? A. Yes, that player would receive both the Wounds from rolling the Blood die and 1 from the Trap tile.

Q. If a key token has a Wound on it, and you use the Rearrange action, does the Wound move with the key? A. No, the Wound always stays in the same place even if the actions under it change.

Q. Does the Minotaur trigger tile symbols if he moves onto them? A. No, but the Minotaur can use Secret Passages.