Mint Cooperative
Mint Cooperative Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 35 White Mint tokens
- 9 Red Mint tokens
- 6 Hero cards
- 5 Villain cards
- 1 Action Die Reference card
- 1 Regional Panic card
- 1 Active Player Meeple
- 7 Town cards
- 11 Stunt cards
- 23 Trouble cards
- 3 Mayhem cards
- 6 Hero Meeples
- 4 Dice
Objective
Protect Mintopia City and the other towns of Mortimer County from the foul schemes of the Dominion of Halitosis!
This is a cooperative game. Players will be collectively trying to defeat the villain by making it through all the Mayhem cards in the Trouble deck before triggering any of the losing end game conditions.
Setup
The play area is made up of the County Map, the Villain Card, the Regional Panic Track, the Action Reference, the Trouble Deck (and, for some villains, an Event Deck), the Freshness Track on each Town card, the Mint Supply, and the Stunt Deck.
- Place the Mintopia City card in the middle of the play area, then arrange the other 6 Town cards into the arrangement shown to create the County Map.
- Place 3 white mints on each town card in the three left-most slots on each town's Freshness Track. Place the rest of the white and red mints in separate piles next to the County Map.
- Choose one of the Villain cards to be the antagonist for this game. We recommend Nick O'Teen for your first game. Place this card next to the County Map. Place one (1) red mint on the Regional Panic track on the number indicated on the selected Villain card. Complete any additional setup as indicated on the Villain card.
- Separate the Mayhem cards from the rest of the Trouble cards. Shuffle the Trouble cards, and then create three (3) piles of four (4) cards each. Add one (1) Mayhem card to each pile of Trouble cards and shuffle the three piles individually. Then place all three stacks on top of each other to form the Trouble Deck.
- Shuffle the Stunt cards and place them facedown to the side of the playing area near the Trouble Deck.
- If playing against a villain that requires Events, shuffle the remaining Trouble cards to create an Event Deck. Set the Event Deck far enough away from the Trouble Deck so you don't get the two confused. Otherwise, you can return the rest of the Trouble cards to the tin. Add red mints to the mint supply for use as Event Tokens.
- Place the Regional Panic card and the Action Die Reference card near the county map.
- Give each player a Hero card (which shows the character's name and Heroic Feat ability) and matching Hero meeple. Each character place their meeple on the town card that matches its color and name. (e.x. Citizen Cinnamight starts in Cinnamon Center).
- The player with the freshest breath is starting player, taking the Active Player meeple.
- Deal 1 Stunt card to the first 3 players, beginning with the starting player and then dealing clockwise.
Winning & Losing
To win, the players must reveal and resolve all three (3) of the Mayhem cards in the Trouble Deck without triggering any of the following losing conditions:
- The Regional Panic Track meets or exceeds 27.
- Any special losing conditions defined on the chosen Villain Card.
Gameplay
- The active player rolls all four (4) action dice and places them near the Action Die Reference card.
- Check for trouble - see Trouble is Afoot (skip this step on the first turn of the game). Process all effects from these cards before players take their turn.
- The active player takes one of the available Action Dice and performs its effect(s) (see Possible Actions.) This removes that Action Die from the Action Dice pool.
- Play proceeds clockwise, with each player taking the Active Player Meeple and one of the remaining Action Dice and performing its effect(s). When only one unused Action Die remains at the start of a player's turn, all players discard their Stunt cards, used and unused.
- New Stunt cards are then dealt to the first 3 players, starting with the new active player.
Possible Actions
- Mint (x): Place X white mints on your current Town's Freshness Track, filling left to right. Once the track is full (five mints) you cannot add any more. (e.x. If Gumdrop Gully on has one empty slot left, Mint 2 will only add one white mint.)
- Run: Move to an adjacent town.
- Fly: Move to any other Town.
- Reduce Panic (x): Move the red mint back on the Regional Panic track X number of spaces.
- Heroic Feat: Perform the Heroic Feat listed on your Hero Card.
- Exploit Weakness: Perform the 'Exploit Weakness' effect on the Villain Card.
If a die or effect allows you to perform more than one action, the actions may be performed in any order.
Stunts
Stunts are special actions that heroes can take. In order to perform a Stunt, the active player must take an Action die matching the die face shown on their Stunt card.
Note: It is wise for players to discuss and cooperate when deciding who will take which Action Die. Certain players may be closer to a town that needs protecting, or a specific player's Stunt or Heroic Feat may be particularly useful compared to other options.
Trouble Is Afoot!
When there is only one unused Action Die remaining, the new Active Player rerolls all four (4) of the dice and places them next to the Action Die Reference card.
The results of this roll will cause all kinds of problems for the heroes to deal with. Depending on the values of the dice and the number of matching dice, one of the following will occur:
- All dice have a face value of three (3) or less, even if there are doubles or triples. > No trouble, players take their turn as normal.
- At least one die has a face value of four (4) or higher, but none of the dice have matching values. > Trouble
- Two dice have the same face value, or two pairs of dice have the same face value (e.x. 2 ones and 2 fives). > Double Trouble
- Three (3) or more dice have the same face value. > Triple Threat
Consult the Villain card to determine the effect of Trouble, Double Trouble or Triple Threat results.
Trouble Cards
The most common effect when the Action Dice are rerolled is that one or more Trouble cards are drawn from the Trouble deck. Unless otherwise stated by another effect, these cards will remove mints from the Freshness tracks of certain towns when resolved.
Resolving a Trouble card:
For each town on the Trouble card highlighted in red, remove the number of mints shown on the Trouble card from that town's Freshness track, starting with the right-most mint. If there are fewer mints on the track than there are printed on the Trouble card, just remove all of them.
Then increase the red mint on the Regional Panic track by the total number of visible Panic symbols in the targeted town if either:
- There are no mints left in on the town's Freshness track.
- At least one new Panic symbol was revealed on the town's Freshness track.
Example: A Trouble card is drawn. 3 Mints are removed from Mintopia City, from right to left. 3 Total Panic symbols are uncovered. Regional Panic increases by 3.
Mayhem Cards
Shuffled among the Trouble cards are Mayhem Cards. When one of these are revealed, perform the following steps.
- Increase Regional Panic by the total amount of visible Panic symbols across all towns.
- Perform the special Mayhem effects indicated on the Villain card, if any.
If this was the last of the Mayhem cards in the Trouble deck, and its effects did not trigger a losing condition, the heroes have defeated the Villain and win the game!
Event Cards
Some villains use the remaining Trouble cards as an Event Deck. When a game effect instructs you to resolve an event card, draw from this Event Deck and use the 'toxic' icon on the card to determine where the villain's special Event takes place. Use red mints as Event Tokens where required.
Example: After resolving 2 Trouble Cards, an Event Card is drawn for Gorillic. Gorillic's event takes place at Licorice Landing (the town with the 'toxic' symbol on the Event card.) As per Gorillic's Villain card, a red mint is placed on Licorice Landing.
Variant Rules
Mint It Up!
Want Mint Cooperative to be a bit easier? Include the following rule during setup:
Give each player 1 Mint. At any time in the game, they may spend that mint to change any rolled die to any result.
Hard Mode Variant
Looking for a true challenge? The back of each city card has a "Hard Mode" variant that includes more Panic symbols in new Freshness Tracks. The Hard Mode cards are marked with a symbol. When playing with the Hard Mode cards, we recommend also using the Mint It Up! rule listed above.
1 & 2 Player Variant
If you are playing solo, choose and play three of the available heroes.
If playing a two-player game, each player chooses and plays two heroes each.
Report for Duty
Whatever the result, you should be recognized for your efforts! Post a picture of you and your superheroes, defeated or victorious, holding this certificate of achievement with the #hashtag that reports your mission's end.
Credits
- Game Design: Jonathan Gilmour, Brian Lewis
- Game Development: Justin Blaske, Mel Primus
- Graphic Design: Justin Blaske, David Li
- Art: Thomas Tamblyn, Delapouite
- Rulebook Editor: Calli Wright
- Operations: Rachael Blaske, Cherise Wilson, Heather Przystas
- Testers: Jeremy Berven, Justin Dykema, Jason McHargue, Matt Canaday, Matthew Greenleaf, Tony Lawhorne, Davita Dick, Anthony Ball, Melissa Millar, Stephen Miller, Graham Jackson, Preston Williams, Marcel, Cathy Babcock, Lucas Gentry, and all their respective game groups who worked with us to test this game! Thank you!
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