Mythical Dice Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Rounds, Turns and Tricks
• Dice and Dice Sides
• Let's Play!
• Roll Your Dice!
  • Who Wins the Trick?
• Special Dice
  • Minotaur
  • Griffin
  • Mermaid
• Scoring
• Bonus Points
• End of a Turn/Trick
• End of Round
• End of the Game
• Simplified Variant
• Credits

Contents

• 36 dice (6 Special dice, 30 Number dice)
• 6 screens
• 1 bag
• 1 scorepad

Setup

• Each player takes a screen and places it in front of them.
• Choose a person to be in charge of the scorepad: they will write your names on a score sheet and record your points. After each round, they will add or subtract your points so that everyone can keep track of their exact scores.
• Place all the dice in the bag and shake it well to mix them up.
• Choose a first player for the first round. This person will keep the dice bag next to them.

Rounds, Turns and Tricks

The game is played over a number of rounds, depending on your player count. In a 3-4 player game, you will play 8 rounds; 5 players: 7 rounds; 6 players: 6 rounds. Each round is divided into turns; the number of turns you will take is the same as the number of the round (in round 3 you will take 3 turns, in round 4, 4 turns).

In each round you will perform the following steps:

1. Draw your dice. The number of dice you will draw changes every round: in round 1, you will each draw 1 die; in round 2, you will each draw 2, and so on.

2. Place your bets for the round and record them on the score sheet (see Let's Play! below).

3. The first player of the round starts the first turn by rolling 1 die. Going clockwise around the table, all of the other players then take it in turns to roll 1 of their dice (see Roll Your Dice! below).

4. The turn ends. The player with the highest die result wins the trick. If there is a tie, the person who got the highest die result last wins the trick. This also applies to 2 identical Symbol faces on Special dice (see Who Wins the Trick? below).

   Symbol sides beat number sides (the highest value wins regardless of colour), and number sides beat white flag sides (the white flag is the weakest side, whatever the colour of the die).

5. End of the turn or end of the round:

   • If you have no more dice to roll, go directly to the End of Round section.
   • If you still have dice to roll, start a new turn. The player who starts the new turn is the winner of the previous trick.

Dice and Dice Sides

There are 7 kinds of dice, each of a different colour. From strongest to weakest: the top 3 dice have special symbols (Minotaur side, Griffin side, Mermaid side) and are stronger than the others (see Special Dice below). These are the Special dice. The rest are Number dice.

The White Flag sides, found on the special dice and on the grey dice, are all worth zero (it's the weakest side), regardless of the colour of the die.

The numbers printed on the dice illustration (1x, 3x...) indicate how many dice of this kind there are in the game.

Let's Play!

Each player draws their dice from the bag and places them behind their screen (1 die in the 1st round, etc.).

"MIN-O-TAUR!"

No other player should be able to see your dice. Once everyone has looked at their own dice, each player tries to guess how many tricks they will take during the round: this is called your "bet". Once you've made your decision, hold out your fist in the centre of the table.

When everyone has their fists outstretched above the table, shout together: "MIN-O-TAUR!" and on the last syllable, indicate with your fingers how many tricks you think you can take (win) during this round. To indicate 0 tricks, keep your fist closed. From the 6th round onwards, use both fists: this will allow you to bet 6+ tricks, if necessary.

Each player's bets are recorded in the small column on the score sheet.

Roll Your Dice!

The first player starts the turn by rolling a die. Then, playing clockwise, all the other players roll one of their dice based on the first die rolled:

1. If the first die rolled is a number die, the other players must follow with a die of the same colour, if possible. However, there are 2 exceptions that allow a die of a different colour to be rolled:

   1. if you don't have a die of the required colour, OR
   2. if you choose to roll a Special die.

   In all cases, the colour of the first die rolled remains in play until the end of the turn.

2. Special dice do not impose a colour. You can always choose to roll a special die, even if you have a die of the requested colour. If the first die rolled is a special die, the colour of the roll will be imposed by the first numbered die played by someone else.

Who Wins the Trick?

Once everyone has rolled a die, the players calculate who won the trick. The player who won the trick takes all the dice played during this turn and places them in front of their folding screen.

• If all the dice rolled in this round are number dice, whoever rolled the highest number wins the trick, regardless of the colour of their die. In the event of a tie, the player who rolled the tied die last wins the trick.
• The Symbol sides (the Minotaur, the Griffin, and the Mermaid) of the special dice are worth more than any number die (see Special Dice below). If two or more identical symbols are rolled in a turn, the person who rolled the last identical symbol wins.
• The White Flag sides (on Special dice and grey dice) are worth 0. This is the weakest result. If all the dice rolled show a White Flag, the player who started the turn wins.

Example: Cindy rolls a red die and gets 6. The other players have to roll a red die. Ben rolls a red die and gets 7. Charlie doesn't have a red die: he rolls a purple die and gets 2. David doesn't have a red die either: he rolls a grey die and gets 7. Emily rolls a red die and gets 5. Ben and David both got the highest roll (7). As David played after Ben, David wins the trick (the fact that David did not play a red die does not matter. Only the value of the die is taken into account). David collects the dice rolled for this turn and places them in front of his screen, where they remain until the end of the round. David starts a new turn by rolling a die of his choice.

Special Dice

Minotaur

• The Minotaur symbols on the Minotaur die (brown) are stronger than all the numbers on a number die. The Minotaur symbol is also stronger than the Griffin.
• However, the Minotaur is defeated by the Mermaid symbol.
• If a trick won with the Minotaur contains one or more Griffin-sided dice, the player who rolled the Minotaur receives 30 bonus points (see Bonus Points below) for each Griffin defeated.
• There is only one Minotaur die in the game, so there's no risk of getting 2 Minotaur symbols in the same turn.

Griffin

• The Griffin symbols on the Griffin (green) dice are stronger than all the numbers on a number die. The Griffin symbol is also stronger than the Mermaid.
• However, the Griffin is defeated by the Minotaur symbol.
• If 2 or more Griffins are rolled in a turn, the last Griffin rolled wins.

Mermaid

• The Mermaid symbols on the Mermaid (blue) dice are stronger than all the numbers on a number die. The Mermaid symbol is also stronger than the Minotaur.
• However, the Mermaid is defeated by the Griffin symbol (except when all 3 symbols are rolled in the same turn - see below).
• If a Mermaid defeats the Minotaur, the player who rolled the Mermaid wins 50 bonus points (see Bonus Points below).
• If 2 or more Mermaids are rolled in a turn, the last Mermaid rolled wins.

IMPORTANT: If you get all 3 symbols on a turn (Griffin, Minotaur and Mermaid), the Mermaid die wins the trick.

Scoring

If you made a bet of 1 trick or more:

• If you bet correctly and won the number of tricks you planned, you earn 20 points per trick won.

  Example: Cindy planned to win 3 tricks and indeed won 3, earning a total of 60 points (= 3 tricks x 20).

• If you bet incorrectly and won more or fewer tricks than you planned, you lose 10 points for each trick you missed your bet by.

  Example: Ben expected to win 5 tricks, but he only won 1. The difference is 4 tricks, so he loses 40 points (= 4 tricks x 10).

If you made a bet of 0 tricks:

• If you bet to take 0 tricks and your bet is correct, you win 10 points for each round played.

  Example: At the start of the 4th round, Charlie bet that he would take 0 tricks. At the end of the round, he had successfully won 0 tricks. He therefore earns 40 points (4 rounds x 10).

• However, if you bet to take 0 tricks and you took one or more tricks, you lose 10 points per round played.

  Example: At the start of the 6th round, David bet that he would not win any tricks. During this round, however, he won 2 tricks. He therefore loses 60 points (= 6 rounds x 10).

Note: You will find a reminder of the scoring system on the score sheets.

Bonus Points

You can get bonus points with the Minotaur and Mermaid dice. However, these bonus points are only awarded if you make a correct bet.

• If you play the Minotaur and defeat 1 or more Griffins, you earn 30 bonus points per Griffin defeated.
• If you play a Mermaid and defeat the Minotaur, you get 50 bonus points.

In both cases, you do not receive any bonus points if your bet was incorrect OR if the special die you wanted to defeat is on its White Flag side.

Example: Cindy rolls a Griffin die and gets a Griffin symbol. Ben rolls a Minotaur die and gets a Minotaur symbol. Charlie rolls a red die and gets a 5. David has to play the same colour: he rolls a red die and gets a 7. Emily has a red die, but decides to roll a Mermaid die, and gets a Mermaid symbol. Emily wins this turn, as the Mermaid is stronger than the Minotaur. She wins the trick and if at the end of the round her bet was correct, she gets 50 bonus points for defeating the Minotaur. Had Emily not rolled a Mermaid symbol, Ben would have won the trick with his Minotaur. If Ben had won and made a correct bet, he would have received 30 bonus points for taking down a Griffin.

End of a Turn/Trick

Once the trick has been won, if you still have dice to roll, start a new turn. The winner of the previous trick starts the new turn. If you have no more dice to roll, go to the End of a Round section (below).

End of Round

• The person in charge of the score sheet records the points and bet results of all the players for this round.
• After each round, once the points have been scored, all the dice are returned to the bag.
• You then each draw 1 more die than in the previous round.
• The winner of the last trick starts the new round.

End of the Game

With 3 or 4 players, the game ends after 8 rounds. With 5 players, the game ends after 7 rounds. With 6 players, the game ends after 6 rounds.

The player with the highest score wins the game. In the event of a tie, the players share the victory.

Simplified Variant

If you're afraid of getting lost in the Minotaur's labyrinth, you can play this simplified variant:

• Do not lose points if you make an incorrect bet.
• Do not get bonus points for defeating a Griffin with the Minotaur, or the Minotaur with a Mermaid.

The other rules remain unchanged.

Credits

• Designer: Manfred Reindl
• Illustrator: Wanjin Gill
• Project manager: Marie-Laure Faurite
• English translation/revision: Georgina Parsons & Matthew Legault
• Graphic design: Cindy Roth
• Gameology Inc | www.playte.com

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