Naughty or Nice Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Ready, Set, Go!
  • Key concepts
  • Components
• Setup
  • Table setup
  • Player setup
  • Setup for 2-3 players
• Taking a Turn
  • Craft Presents
  • Summon a Creature
  • Playing a Creature
  • Fulfil Wishes
• Set Collection
• Endgame Scoring
• Ending the Game
  • End of the game with set collection
• Modularity
  • Level 1 (Only essentials)
  • Level 2 (A bit of flavour)
  • Level 3 (Power Dynamics)
  • Level 4 (Lighty Euro)
  • Level 5 The full game (Light-Euro with Set Collection)
• Stories
  • Gift Givers
• Creatures
  • Helpers
  • Neutral
  • Hurtful
• Present Types

Ready, Set, Go!

Naughty or Nice is a light-euro, set collection card game for 2-5 players.

Key concepts

• Harmful creature (devil icon)

• Helpful creature (smiley icon)

• Any creature (two-faces icon)

• Point score / joy (star icon, "1" = 1 point)

• Random / any present card (icon of a mixed present card)

• Same coloured presents (icon of a present card set to one colour)

• Player turn: A game phase when the active player has to take one basic action and may take available free actions.

• Basic action: Takes away your turn. You can still have free actions before and after.

• Free action: You can take as many of them as you're enabled.

• Reaction: Can only be taken reacting to another player's move.

• Fulfilling a wish: Giving presents to a kiddo.

Components

• 8 gift givers
• 1 Rudolf card
• 2 midnight cards
• 40 kiddo cards
• 48 present cards
• 40 creature cards
• 5 wooden tokens
• 5 player aid cards
• 1 scoreboard

Setup

Table setup

1. Presents deck: Shuffle the deck and set up the present offer row: place 3 cards face up in a row. Don't forget to leave place for the discard piles for each deck!
2. Creature deck: Shuffle a midnight card with 5 other cards and place this stack at the bottom of the deck, at a 90 degree angle.
3. a. Kiddo deck: Shuffle a midnight card with 5 other cards and place this stack at the bottom of the deck, at a 90 degree angle. b. Playground: Place 8 kiddos face up in two rows.

Player setup

4. a. Choose player colour: Take the player aid card and token of the same colour. b. Place your token on the scoreboard.
5. Choose a gift giver: You have 8 different characters to choose from. If you can't decide, you can also draw one randomly!
6. Deal starting hands: Each player starts the game with 4 random present cards and 1 random creature card.

Setup for 2-3 players

• Take out cards from the kiddo deck: one 4 present kiddo from each set; all kiddos with 5 presents.
• Take out cards from the presents deck: one of each present.

Taking a Turn

The player whose birthday is the closest to December the 24 will be the first player.

Players on their turns may perform ONE of the following actions: Craft Presents, Summon a Creature, Fulfil Wishes.

Craft Presents

The player draws 2 cards from the present deck and/or the present offer row. Only refill the row at the end of the active player's turn.

Summon a Creature

The player draws two creature cards into his/her hand and then selects one of them to be kept; the other one is then discarded next to the creature deck, on the creature discard pile.

Summon: Creatures need time to travel into your hand. You can't play in the same turn you got them!

Playing a Creature

You can play any number of Creature cards from your hand before or after your basic action as a free action, as long as they started the turn in your hand!

After playing the card, score points if any, and then discard it into the creature discard pile!

Fulfil Wishes

The player plays present cards from his/her hand in order to score a Kiddo from the field. These presents need to match the colour of that Kiddo's list of presents, however their artwork may differ.

Then the player takes the gifted Kiddo in front of him/her and scores points based on the number of presents that were given to that Kiddo. Fill up the Playground immediately.

The point value of each Kiddo equals the number of presents given to them. Do not forget that every Gift Giver has a special present that "if given" scores an extra point for the player per special present.

Example: Odin's special present is the sweater. If he fulfils Benjamin's wish of 3 red presents he scores 3 points, but if 1 of the red gifts is a sweater, then instead of scoring 3 points, the player scores 4 points as he/she is given 3 presents + 1 extra.

After a player has finished taking his/her action the play proceeds to the next player in clockwise order.

Set Collection

When fulfilling a wish of a Kiddo with a shape you already have: summon a creature, by drawing 2 cards, keeping one and discarding the other!

When fulfilling a wish of a Kiddo results of having one of the 5 types of shapes: take the top 2 creatures, do not discard, just keep both!

Endgame Scoring

• Player who has the most pink circles scores 3 points.
• Player who has the most green diamonds scores 3 points.
• Player who has the most orange squares scores 3 points.
• Player who has the most purple stars scores 3 points.
• Player who has the most blue triangles scores 3 points.
• Players who have all 5 symbols score 5 points.

The five shape symbols are illustrated with artwork labelled Extroversion, Agreeableness, Openness, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism.

Ending the Game

The game ends when you draw one of the two Midnight cards from either the Kiddo deck or from the Creature deck. When one of them is revealed all players may take one more action and then the game ends. If possible, then the player who made the draw then draws the next possible card from the respective deck.

The winner will be the one with the most points at the very end.

At a tie: If more than one player have the same score at the end of the game, the winner will be the one who fulfilled more wishes (gifted more Kiddos).

End of the game with set collection

After a Midnight card has been drawn you may not summon any new creatures. Instead you gain 1 point for each creature that you would summon. If you would summon 2 creatures as a full set bonus, then you would score 2 points.

Modularity

Naughty or Nice is completely modular, but what does this really mean? You can customise the difficulty level not only based on the age of the players but also the experience of them. We recommend that you use the module according to the age of the youngest player for your first game.

Level 1 (Only essentials)

Recommended minimum age: 4+

Here you only use the Kiddo cards and the present cards. The craft presents action lets you draw 3 presents instead of the normal 2. Also players receive 6 presents as their starting hand. This can allow a player to teach a more lightly skilled player the basics of Naughty or Nice, streamlining the experience.

Level 2 (A bit of flavour)

Recommended minimum age: 6+

Now you introduce the gift givers, with only using their preferred gifts. This makes targeted decision making available for players, but still no need for them to be able to read. This allows for more complex decision making and deeper focus on present selection.

Level 3 (Power Dynamics)

Recommended minimum age: 8+

Introduce the creature deck into the game. From here you can only craft 2 presents with one action. With this, players now are able to utilise power-moves on their turns and force others to lose resources.

Level 4 (Lighty Euro)

Recommended minimum age: 9+

As all the components are introduced, you can now use the written abilities of the gift givers. This allows players to streamline their actions and focus their efforts towards variable player powers, that give a much more diverse experience while retaining the essentials of the game.

Level 5 The full game (Light-Euro with Set Collection)

Recommended minimum age: 10+

As the last step you can introduce set collection and with it, you can enjoy the full gaming experience, that Naughty or Nice carries.

With this method you can easily teach the game step by step and it will give a full experience every time, with differing rules, however it will guarantee that the full table is having fun and that all the players are able to participate with their individual skills and abilities.

Stories

Gift Givers

In this game you will take on the role of famous Gift Givers from all over the world who are trying to prove that they are the most fit to deliver all the presents to each kid this year around the globe. Each card has a name, a picture, a written ability and a "preferred present".

Santa Claus

• Ability: He begins the game with Rudolf. When you gain a reindeer you may put the reindeer underneath Rudolf, where it cannot be touched by any other player.
• Start of Turn: At the beginning of his turn Santa may discard 2 present cards with matching images (for example 2 Teddy Bears or 2 Pullovers) to search the Discard pile / Creature deck / Bottom Creature deck for a reindeer card and place it underneath Rudolf. If he searched the deck, then he must shuffle the deck afterwards.
• Preferred present: Sleigh (1 point)

Rudolf (card)

• Ability: Whenever Santa receives a new reindeer card he may place the creature underneath Rudolf. Cards under Rudolf are not to be touched by other players. At the end of the game Santa scores extra points based on the number of reindeers underneath Rudolf:
  • 1 reindeer = 3 points
  • 2 reindeers = 6 points
  • 3 reindeers = 9 points
  • 4 reindeers = 12 points
  • 5 reindeers = 15 points
  • 6 reindeers = 19 points
  • 7 reindeers = 23 points

Father Christmas

• Ability: His Stockings are worth 2 extra points.
• Preferred present: Stockings (2 points)

Odin

• Ability: When Odin plays a Harmful Creature he gains an extra point whether the creature was worth a point or not.
• Preferred present: Sweater (1 point)

Saint Nicholas

• Ability: Whenever he fulfils the wishes of a Kiddo he may ignore the first Black Present icon on the Kiddo, while still gaining a point for the present.
• Preferred present: Birch (1 point)

Christkindl

• Ability: Whenever a creature targets her, she may draw a present card from the present deck or from the present offer row. A creature targets her when it affects every player (Jólakötturinn, Elves) or if it targets her cards (Cringe, Papa Wolverine) afterwards.
• Preferred present: Bejgli (1 point)

Aunt Arie (La Tante Arie)

• Ability: When Madame Arie plays a Helpful Creature she gains an extra point whether the creature was worth a point or not.
• Preferred present: Fondant (1 point)

La Befana

• Ability: At the start of her turn she may discard a Kiddo card from the field and place it in a discard pile next to the Kiddo deck.
• Preferred present: Crayons + Coal (1 point each)

Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz)

• Ability: Whenever someone plays a Snow Maiden card or discards one, Ded Moroz can automatically perform a basic action after Snow Maiden's ability was resolved or after she got discarded. If Ded Moroz plays Snow Maiden then he gets to resolve her ability twice.
• Preferred present: Cap (1 point)

Creatures

In this game you will take on the role of famous Gift Givers from all over the world who are trying to prove that they are the most fit to carry out all the presents to each kid this year around the globe. Each card has a name, a picture, a written ability and a "preferred present".

Helpers

Snow Maiden (Snegurochka) - Helper (helpful creature)

• Ability: She lets the active player repeat the basic action they chose for the round.

Elves - Helper (helpful creature)

• Ability: They give presents to every player. Reveal a number of presents equal to the number of players plus 1 from the top of the present deck. Active player chooses 1, other players choose 1-1 in turn order, last 1 goes to active player.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Mrs. Claus - Helper (helpful creature)

• Ability: After she is played take 1 Kiddo without giving any presents. This does not count as fulfilling wishes, so you do not get to summon a creature for free if you are playing with full rules! However at the end of the game the Kiddo may be worth extra points if you manage to secure the most of a set or a full set.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Tomte - Helper (helpful creature)

• Ability: Played reacting to another player's move, it cancels the written effect of the played creature. Points are still taken after the cancelled creature. Tomte can cancel another Tomte.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Caga Tió - Helper (helpful creature)

• Ability: When fulfilling a wish of a Kiddo, Caga Tió can substitute as any 1 present from their list, this way making gifting cheaper while not taking away the player's basic action either.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Neutral

Reindeer - Neutral (any creature)

• Ability: Reindeers are meant to be collected and played together.
  • If a player plays 1 reindeer it scores 2 points immediately.
  • If a player plays 2 reindeers they score 5 points immediately.
  • If a player plays 3 reindeers they score 8 points immediately.
  • If a player plays 4 reindeers they score 12 points immediately.
• There are only 7 reindeers in the creature deck. They can be played in any combination, consisting of a maximum of 4 reindeers, at any times.

Hurtful

Papa Wolverine - Hurtful (harmful creature)

• Ability: Played reacting to another player's move. When the other player is fulfilling a wish, the player playing this creature can go through the present cards discarded during that action and take 2 of them into their hand.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Mr Scrooge - Hurtful (harmful creature)

• Ability: The card is placed before another player who will need to skip their next turn, placing this card to the respective discard pile.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Jólakötturinn (Yule Cat) - Hurtful (harmful creature)

• Ability: All players compare the present cards in their hand. The one player with the least RED presents in their hand loses 3 points. If there is a tie for the least, all players with the least amount of red presents lose 2 points immediately.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Mari Lwyd - Hurtful (harmful creature)

• Ability: It steals one creature card from another player at random. Taken creature can not be used in the same turn as it was taken.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Cringe - Hurtful (harmful creature)

• Ability: Active player can steal 2 random present cards from another player's hand at random. If there are not enough present cards at the targeted player, it will steal less or nothing.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Krampus - Hurtful (harmful creature)

• Ability: After calling out a specific present (fe. Hat, Coal, Crayons) all other players MUST give the active player ONE of this present if they hold it in their hand. If no one can give the specific present to the active player, they get to draw two random cards from the top of the present deck instead.
• Immediately after playing: 1 point

Present Types

RED - Clothes

• Stockings: a pair to keep your feet warm
• Cap: protects against snowballs to the head
• Sweater: it may be the ugliest, but granny made it

BLUE - Consumables

• Bejgli: traditional Hungarian rolled cake filled with walnut or poppy seeds
• Hot Chocolate: warms your heart on a cold night
• Fondant: chocolate covered sweet bites of jelly, caramel or coconut

BLACK - Naughty gifts

• Old Potatoes: the smell is alarming, the texture is revolting
• Coal: at least it's packaged nicely
• Birch: a grim reminder on what happens to naughty kids

GREEN - Toys

• Teddy Bear: protecting dreams since 1903
• Sleigh: for travel, and for fun
• Crayons: they're perfect to write letters for Santa