Moonlight Castle Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Before the First Game
  • Assembling the Tower Walls
• Contents
• Game Setup
• How to Play
  • 1. Hide Again
  • 2. Recovering Jewels
• End of the Game
• Full Moon Variant
• Ritual Fountain Variant

Goal of the Game

The player with the most jewels in front of them at the end wins the game.

Before the First Game

Assemble the tower walls as described below. Once assembled, they fit easily into the box and do not need to be disassembled.

Assembling the Tower Walls

Before getting started for the first time, you need to assemble the tower walls. You can have an adult help you with this. How to create the two stable tower walls of the castle:

1. Lay a tower wall piece flat on the table. Insert one of the small turret roofs into one of the outer slots.
2. Then "roll" the turret inwards. Make sure that the small turret roof "clicks" into the hole each time it is turned.
3. When connecting the last turret roof side, "click" the two side connection tabs into their slots. The first tower is ready! Repeat until you have assembled all four towers on the two tower walls.

Contents

• 1 castle (consisting of 2 tower walls, 2 side walls and 1 roof)
• 1 cloth pouch
• 1 castle garden (game board)
• 60 pebbles
• 27 jewel path tiles and 1 magic path tile
• 1 starting player token
• 4 fountains
• 4 play figures and 1 magician
• 4 screens
• 1 transparent slider. Before the first game, remove the protective film. This film is not required for the game and can be discarded.

Game Setup

Unfold the game board and set up the castle on it:

1. Place the two tower walls of the castle in the cutouts in the game board. Make sure that the main gate is facing the front and each tower faces outwards.
2. Now slide one of the two side walls down into the slots provided until the bottom reaches the lower position of the game board. Check the position of the side wall again at the recess on the side of the castle. Adjust if necessary. There should be no slit visible.
3. Now shuffle the 27 jewel path tiles and place them in a stack. Make sure that the diamonds are always facing up. Place the magic path tile on top of the stack.
4. Slide the path tile stack onto the printed arrow inside the castle. Push the stack in until it sits completely flush with the side wall.
5. Now slide the second side wall down into the slots provided until the bottom also reaches the lower position of the game board. Also check this with the recess on the side of the castle.
6. Place the roof on the castle with the guard post facing the front. The castle is completed!
7. Now place the slider in the recess behind the castle.
8. Finally, place the purple magician figure in the hole on the slider.
9. Now hold the magician figure and move the slider into the castle until it stops. A path tile "floats" out of the front gate. Then pull the magician and slider back out. Make sure that you always only move the slider until it stops, both when pushing in and pulling back. Repeat until the path in front of the castle is completely filled with path tiles.

"Come to me, sparkling jewels, come!"

If the slider cannot be pushed into the castle, it's likely that something has jammed. This is easily solved: Push the path tile on the bridge back towards the castle until you feel resistance. Now you should be able to push forward again normally.

Depending on the number of players, place the following fountains in the recesses provided in the castle garden: 2 players, 3 players, 4 players (the fountain illustrations for each player count are pictorial and not reproduced here). It makes no difference which fountain is placed in which recess. Recesses that are not filled simply remain empty.

The two symbols on the fountains are available in two versions: white (front) and gold (back). If you are still getting to know the game, we recommend the front side with the white symbols. If you already know the game, you can also try the backs with the gold symbols or a combination of both.

Each player takes one of the 4 play figures and the corresponding screen. Place the screen in front of you so that the other players cannot see behind it.

Put all 60 pebbles in the cloth pouch and mix well. Then pass the pouch around and pull out 4 pebbles each. Place these behind your screen.

Return the remaining play figures, screens and fountains back to the box.

The biggest night owl among you becomes the starting player and receives the starting player token. If you can't agree, the youngest player starts.

How to Play

The starting player goes first, then players take turns in a clockwise direction. When it's your turn, take the cloth pouch. On your turn, you may first hide again and then rescue jewels on the path.

1. Hide Again

Quick, keep your head down!

Move to an empty space of your choice. Spaces that other players are standing on are already occupied.

• To move to a colored space, you must place a pebble that is the same color as the space. Place the pebbles next to the game board, near where you moved to, so that everyone can see them. If you don't have a pebble in the matching color, you need to choose a different space.
• You do not need to place a pebble to move to a white space.

Hero's pledge: You're heroes and heroes don't cheat! When you draw pebbles and place them behind your screen, only take the correct number. This naturally applies for the entire game.

There may even be a few pebbles to collect on the way! Then, without looking inside, draw as many pebbles out of the cloth pouch as are shown next to the space you moved to. Place them behind your screen. If there are no pebbles shown next to the space, you may not draw any. Fountains with golden symbols have their own rules that can be found at the end of the rules.

You can also stay where you are, instead of moving to a new space. But this is only possible if you recover the jewels next to you in the same round. It is therefore not possible to stay on a white space. You can also only collect the pebbles of a space when you move to it.

The pouch is empty? Then take all the pebbles that have been placed next to the game board and throw them back into the pouch. Mix them well.

2. Recovering Jewels

Teehee, the pebbles glisten almost as beautifully.

You can only recover the jewels from the path tile directly next to you. This action can therefore never be carried out on a white space.

You now need a matching pebble for each jewel shown on the path tile. Do you have the pebbles you need?

• No? Too bad! So near and yet so far. Unfortunately you don't get anything this round.
• Yes? Perfect! Place the matching pebbles next to the game board so that everyone can see them. Now take the path tile out of the path and turn it over to find out which magic spell has been cast on the jewels. What can you see?
  • Nothing? Boo! No magic spell has been cast on the jewels! Oh well. Nothing happens.
  • Arrows: I feel the magic! Slide as many new path tiles out of the castle as there are arrows.
  • Magician symbol: I think the magician is getting impatient. Slide as many new path tiles out of the castle as you need to completely fill the path again.
  • Special symbol: Oh wow! This jewel has it all! It's your turn again right away. You can hide again and also recover jewels.

Then place the path tile behind your screen. If you have already collected path tiles, place it on top.

Sometimes path tiles may be pushed out of the game board when they are pushed. These now belong to the magician and can no longer be recovered.

If, at the end of your turn, there is no path tile on the path in front of the bridge, Zirroz gets angry. Immediately push 6 new path tiles out of the castle.

If the magic path tile appears in front of the castle when a tile is pushed out, it signals the last round. Finish playing the current round so everyone has had the same number of turns. However, no more path tiles are pushed out during these last turns.

End of the Game

Now count all the jewels that you were able to collect on your path tiles. The player who recovered the most jewels from the clutches of Zirroz the Magician wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most remaining pebbles wins. If there is still a tie, these players win together.

The King is sure to be very grateful to you glorious moonlight heroes!

Full Moon Variant

During the full moon, it's almost as bright as the day! You do not need the screens for this variant. Each player can always see exactly who has collected which pebbles. This makes the game more predictable and also more strategic!

If you have players at the table who still need a little help with their moves, you can also only leave their screens in the box. After all, it's easier to give advice if you can see which pebbles a player has already collected.

Ritual Fountain Variant

As soon as you are familiar with the game, you can play with the fountains that have golden symbols on them. Pebbles can still be collected here. But each fountain has its own small rule, so different fountains can mean a better or worse choice depending on the situation.

• Draw 4 pebbles. Then place 2 of them next to the game board.
• Draw 4 pebbles. Then place 1 of them next to the game board.
• Draw 4 pebbles. Select 1 color then place all the pebbles that do not match this color next to the game board.
• Draw 4 pebbles. Keep 1 of each color drawn then place all the others next to the game board.