Minecraft Explorers
Minecraft Explorers Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 Game Over card
- 30 Mob cards (6x zombie, skeleton, spider; 4x creeper, witch, enderman)
- 60 Landscape cards
- 12 Chest cards
- 1 Night card
- 6 Hunger cards
Set Up
-
Shuffle the Landscape cards with the landscape side face up. Then, lay out the top 5 cards in the middle of the table. Make sure that no one sees the hidden objects on the backs of the cards.
-
Shuffle the Mob cards face down. Put the following number of cards back into the box without looking, depending on the number of players:
| Players | Mob cards returned to the box |
|---|---|
| 1 Player | 8 cards |
| 2 Players | 7 cards |
| 3 Players | 6 cards |
| 4 Players | 5 cards |
Stack what's left and shuffle the Game Over card into the bottom 4 cards of the stack, so you don't know exactly where it is. Now, reveal the top card and place it next to the mob pile.
-
The person who last played Minecraft goes first. That person gets the Night card and 6 Hunger cards.
-
Finally, determine which chests need to be filled to win the game. To do this, shuffle the Chest cards and draw a number of chests according to your preferred difficulty. If you're playing for the first time, lay out chests 01 – 05 instead of shuffling.
| Difficulty | Chests |
|---|---|
| Easy | 5 chests |
| Normal | 6 chests |
| Hard | 7 chests |
| Hardcore | 8 chests |
Lay out the drawn chests with the open chest face up. Put the remaining chests back in the box.
Winning and Losing
You'll explore the world of Minecraft together to find the items shown on the Chest cards. You win the game immediately if you fill all but one chest with the requested items. For example, if you play with 5 chests, you must fill 4 of them to win. You decide which chests to fill, and you can change your mind during the game.
But hurry up! You lose the game immediately when the Game Over card is revealed. The faster the mob pile empties, the closer you are to losing.
Your Move
Turns move clockwise around the table. When it's your turn, you make all the decisions, but you can take advice from the others. Since you win or lose together, it makes sense to plan together and share ideas.
1. Perform actions and pay with Hunger cards
On your turn, you can perform various actions. Each action costs a certain number of Hunger. To pay, discard that number of Hunger cards from your hand. You can perform any action in any order and as many times as you'd like as long as you pay for it. As soon as you no longer want to or can't perform any actions (e.g. because you no longer have any Hunger cards in your hand), your turn ends.
2. Play the Night card and reveal mobs
At the end of your turn, you must discard the Night card from your hand. This will cause a mob to appear immediately. Reveal the top card from the mob deck and place it in a row next to the other Mob cards.
Watch out: If you reveal a mob type that is already on display, you will be overrun! Immediately reveal one additional Mob card. If this type is already on display, you reveal another and so on until you reveal a mob type that is not yet on display.
Example: Alex uncovers a zombie at the end of her turn. Because there is already a zombie on the table, she must reveal another Mob card: a spider! There is also a spider on the table. Alex turns over a third Mob card: Darn it, another zombie! The fourth card shows a creeper, which is not yet on the table. Now she doesn't have to turn over another card.
After you have laid out at least one Mob card, the next player in clockwise order takes the 6 Hunger cards and the Night card into their hand and begins their turn. Play in this way until you win or lose. If you're playing alone, you simply take one turn after the next.
Action 1: Explore landscape and get item
To explore a laid out landscape, you must pay the number of Hunger shown on the Landscape card. Then, flip over the Landscape card. On the back of the Landscape card, you can see what item you found. Take the item and place it in front of you. It is now in your inventory.
Important:
- You can have as many items as you want in your inventory.
- You can use items with special abilities in the same turn or save them for later turns.
- No new Landscape card is laid out. This only happens via Action 2.
If a landscape shows a pickaxe or a sword, then you can use that tool from your inventory (pickaxe or sword) to explore. If you do this, you pay less Hunger. The cost decreases according to the number on the tool. For example, with diamond tool -4, with gold tool -3, etc.
If a landscape shows a mob icon, then dangers lie there. When you explore it, mobs may appear. However, you won't know if there are any mobs until you turn the card face up. If the Mob icon is on the back of the card you must immediately draw the specified number of Mob cards from the deck and place them on the table.
Note: Again, you can be overrun by mobs if you uncover at least one mob type that is already on display.
Villages are special landscapes. There you can trade with villagers. To reveal a Village card, you must pay 1 Hunger and trade in 1 item that the villager asks for. Each villager wants either an emerald or another item, which you can see to the left of the arrow on the card. To the right of the arrow, you can see what you will receive in return and find on the back of the Village card. If you make a trade, place the requested item from your inventory into a discard pile.
Action 2: Reveal new landscapes
Spend 1 Hunger to perform this action. If there are any Landscape cards left face up, you may decide for each one whether to leave it or put it back under the pile. Then place new landscapes from the pile until there are 5 Landscape cards in the center of the table.
Action 3: Fight mobs and get trophy
Fight a mob on display by paying the number of Hunger indicated on the Mob card.
You can always use a sword from your inventory for this action. When you do this, the Hunger cost to defeat the mob is reduced according to the number on the sword.
Add the mob you fought as a trophy to your inventory. You can use any collected pair of 2 trophies of the same mob type like a Hunger card in your hand. Put the trophy pair into a discard pile to use as 1 Hunger for any action. Just like items, you can save trophy pairs for later or use them immediately.
Example: Steve discards 3 Hunger cards from his hand to fight a creeper. He takes the creeper card as a trophy in his inventory. In a previous turn he also fought a creeper, so Steve now has 2 creeper trophies. He decides to spend them immediately, giving him +1 Hunger to spend this turn.
Action 4: Fill chests
Spend 1 Hunger to perform this action. Then place any number of items from your inventory under Chest cards that request those items. Once all the requested items are under a chest, turn the Chest card over.
As a reward for filling a chest, you may immediately fight and defeat a mob on display without paying Hunger for it. Take it as a trophy in your inventory as usual. If there is no mob on display, you are out of luck.
As a reminder: You win immediately when you fill the second to last chest.
Special Items
Tools (pickaxes and swords)
If you find a tool, put the card in your inventory with the undamaged side facing you. When you use the tool for the first time, it will be damaged. To indicate this, turn the card 180° so that the damaged side is facing you. If you use the tool again, it will break and you will have to put the card on the discard pile.
You can use tools to perform matching actions (with a pickaxe or a sword) more cheaply. You can use tools more than once in the same turn and even for the same action. You can also use several tools for one action. If you overspend on an action, the excess is forfeited.
If a chest asks for a tool (sword or pickaxe), then its material (iron, gold, diamond) does not matter. You may even put a damaged tool into a chest.
Food
Use food to get extra Hunger on your turn, according to the number on the Food card. You can spend this on one or more actions, along with the Hunger in your hand. Put the food on the discard pile to use it.
Unused Hunger expires at the end of your turn.
If a chest asks for food, then you can fill it with any type. Of course, you can then no longer use that food.
Crossbow
Use a crossbow to fight any 2 mobs without paying Hunger for it. Put the crossbow on the discard pile to use it, then take up to 2 mobs on display as trophies in your inventory.
Wood & Iron
You will need oak logs and iron ingots for trading with villagers and for several chests. To find them, look in the areas you would in the video game: Wood is usually found in forests, iron in caves and mines.
Armor
Armor protects you from mobs once. Put the armor on the discard pile before you would have to reveal one or more Mob cards (at the end of your turn or after revealing a dangerous location). Then do not reveal any mobs in that situation.
Spyglass
Discard this item to reveal all the landscapes on display. Take note of what you can find in these places and then turn the cards back over again.
Explorer map, totem of undying & wet sponge
Use the Explorer map to search for either the Woodland Mansion or the Ocean Monument. Both locations only exist 1x in the Landscape card stack. Look through the pile and place the card you found on the table as an additional landscape. From now on you can explore these as you would other landscapes on display, if someone can pay the very high Hunger cost. There is also great danger lurking in both places, so be careful!
- In the ocean monument you will find the wet sponge required by Chest 05.
- Hidden in the woodland mansion is the totem of undying, which you need for Chest 06.
The 2 unique items have no use in this game apart from the chests. If you don't need the items, then avoid the locations.
Furnishings & lighting
If a chest or a villager asks for furnishing or lighting, you must find the appropriate decorative items. There are 5 items hidden under the landscapes that are suitable for furnishing or lighting your future home. The item cards show which category the item belongs to.
Quick Reference Rules
- Win: Fill all but one chest
- Lose: Game Over card is turned face up
On your turn:
- Use Hunger cards for actions:
- X Hunger: Explore landscape and get item
- X Hunger: Fight mob and get trophy
- 1 Hunger: Fill landscapes to 5
- 1 Hunger: Put items in chests
- Play Night card and reveal 1 mob. Is this type already out? Continue to uncover!
Special items:
- Pickaxes: Use 2x for -Hunger in pickaxe actions
- Swords: Use 2x for -Hunger in sword actions
- Food: Use for +Hunger
- Armor: Ward off mobs (on exploration or at the end of the turn)
- Explorer map: Search for ocean monument or woodland mansion Landscape card
- Spyglass: Reveal landscapes on display
- Crossbow: Fight 2 mobs without paying Hunger