Malta!
Malta! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
a deck of 108 cards, 54 board spaces, 6 pawns
Overview
The goal of the game is to be the only player to not lose.
How to Lose
You can lose in either of two ways:
- Having no cards at any point during your turn (after the Draw Phase)
- Being unable to move during your Move Phase
When you lose, remove your piece from the board and watch the rest of the excitement unfold. If you have cards in your hand when you lose, hold on to them just in case you get Reinvited.
Setup
Find the seven starting spaces (purple background, yellow foreground) and line them up horizontally with the number "1" face up. These form the bottom row of the board. Deal six more rows of seven above these making sure the 0 circle side is face down. Keep the remaining tiles out of the game.
In any order, each player chooses a piece and places it on any of the starting spaces. Players can share starting spaces. Shuffle the deck and deal each player four cards from it.
The youngest player starts. From there, play proceeds clockwise.
How to Play
During a turn, you draw, play, and move.
- Draw: Draw cards from the deck equal to the number on the space your piece is on.
- Play: Count the number of cards in your hand after drawing. Play exactly half of these, rounded up. After resolving the ability on a card, put it on top of the discard pile. If your plays cause you to have zero cards in hand (by playing, discarding, donating, or otherwise losing them after the resolution of a card play), you lose the game.
- Move: Move your piece one space in any direction allowed by the arrows on the space. You can never move off of the board, either by a space's arrows or by a card. If you cannot move during a Move Phase (because you begin your Move Phase on a circle or on a space with arrows only pointing off of the board), you lose the game.
Taxation: If your Move Phase brings you to a space occupied by another piece or pieces, you must give the owners of the pieces cards from your hand equal to the number on the space. If you have no cards left after paying taxes, you lose the game. In case you don't have enough cards to fully pay taxes to multiple opponents, you choose the order in which the cards are given.
Sample Turn
Franklin takes his first turn. He starts with 4 cards and draws 1 from the space his piece is on. He has 5 cards, so he has to play 3 of them (half of 5 rounded up). He first plays Remove a Space to make the space to his opponent's left a 0-circle. He then plays Everyone Moves, and chooses that everyone moves to the left (putting his opponent in a tough situation). He then plays Blind Faith so that the next player cannot choose his plays next turn. He moves up one space (as the space he is on has an up arrow) and ends his turn.
Optional: For two players, the board can be too large. In this case, you should just use a 5x5 board, rather than 7x7.
Q&A for Specific Cards and Situations
Q: If another player makes me run out of cards during his turn, do I lose? A: No. You only lose during your own turn, unless a card says otherwise.
Q: If I play a card that changes my hand size in the middle of my Play Phase, do I change the number of cards I play? A: No. You count your hand right after your Draw Phase. Cards like Swap Hands, Draw 2, or Discard Two of Yours don't change how many cards you have to play in a turn.
Q: What if I can't draw as many cards as I'm supposed to? A: Just draw as many as you can. Do not shuffle the discard pile unless directed to by a card.
Q: If I play End Turn and it's the last card in my hand, do I lose? A: Yes. After resolving a card on your turn, you have zero cards. You can't "end your turn before you can lose." However, if you do have cards in your hand and you are on a space with no arrows, playing End Turn saves you, since you do not have a Move Phase.
Q: How do Negate and Boomerang work if played as regular cards in a turn? A: Their effects do nothing, since no opponent is currently playing a card, but they still count as a play. You cannot play them "out of turn" on your own turn to negate your own cards.
Q: What if I play Going Home on a piece whose start space has been swapped or removed? A: If the space has been moved somewhere else, move the piece to the space's new location. If it has been removed, move the piece to the location where the space originally was.