No Good Gremlins
No Good Gremlins Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 84 card materials deck
- 21 card gremlin deck
- 1 Wandering Gremlin card
Object of the Game
Earn the most valuable collection of medals by building and launching rockets.
Setup
Shuffle the materials deck and the gremlin deck separately. Set aside the Wandering Gremlin card. Leave space near the gremlin deck for the threat area and gremlin discard pile. Deal six cards from the materials deck to each player. Leave a space next to the materials deck for the scrapheap. The player left of the dealer goes first.
How to Play
Begin your turn by doing one of the following:
- Draw two cards from the materials deck, then put one card from your hand face-up into the scrapheap.
- (or) Take the top card, and all cards below that match it, from the scrapheap.
Note: players may inspect the scrapheap at any time.
You may then perform one of the following main actions:
- Build - Play up to two material cards from your hand to your launch pad.
- (or) Launch - Launch one completed rocket.
Free Actions - You may perform any of the following free actions as often as you like during your turn:
- Scrap a rocket - Clear one of the rockets from your launch pad by moving all of its material cards to the scrapheap. You earn no medals for scrapping a rocket.
- Bribe the Wandering Gremlin - Choose a material card in your hand and remove it from the game to activate a Wandering Gremlin ability. Perform this action only if the Wandering Gremlin is in front of you.
After you are finished taking your main action and any free actions, your turn ends and play passes to the left.
There is no limit to the number of cards you may hold in your hand. If you ever have zero cards in your hand, draw a new hand of six cards at the end of your turn. If the materials deck runs out and an effect allows you to draw, skip that draw instead.
About the Material Cards
Each material card shows four things: material type, Wandering Gremlin ability, launch cost, and medal value. There are six material types: rust, wood, iron, copper, steel, or chrome. The Wandering Gremlin ability shows what happens when you use the material card to bribe the Wandering Gremlin. The launch cost is the number of cards necessary to launch the rocket. The medal value is how many points each medal is worth after launching the rocket.
Some materials are rarer than others and appear less often in the deck. The small number in the upper right corner of the card indicates the number of cards of that type in the materials deck.
Building Rockets
To build a rocket, place up to two material cards from your hand face-up on the table. This area is your launch pad. Material cards of the same type should be played in a single stack to represent a rocket. On subsequent turns, you may increase the size of your rocket(s) by playing more material cards onto them.
Your launch pad can hold three different rockets at a time. When your launch pad is full, you cannot build a new rocket until you free up some space by either launching a completed rocket or scrapping an incomplete rocket.
Launching Rockets
A rocket is complete once the number of material cards in the stack equals or exceeds the rocket's launch cost. You may not launch incomplete rockets. When you launch a rocket, you earn one medal plus an additional medal for each material card in excess of the rocket's launch cost. After launching a rocket, keep one material card from the stack for each medal earned and add them to your medal collection, face-down. Remove the rest of the material cards in the stack from the game.
Launch Example: You just launched an iron rocket. Iron rockets have a launch cost of 6. Your rocket stack had eight iron cards in it. Keep one card for launching the rocket, and then two more cards (those in excess of the launch cost). These three cards become medals and go into your medal collection. The other five cards are removed from the game.
End of Round
The round ends after each player has taken a turn. At the end of each round, the dealer reveals the top card from the gremlin deck. This card will be either a gremlin card or a thunderstorm card.
- Gremlin - When a gremlin card is revealed, place it face-up in the threat area in front of the gremlin deck. If it is the only face-up gremlin card of its type, nothing happens. This is a warning that the gremlins are hungry for that type of material. But if the card matches one already in the threat area, the gremlins attack! Players remove from the game all material cards of that type from their launch pads. Put the matching gremlin cards in the gremlin discard pile.
- Thunderstorm - When a thunderstorm card is revealed, set it aside and reveal the next two cards from the top of the gremlin deck. Resolve any gremlin attacks or additional thunderstorms, then shuffle the gremlin discard pile back into the gremlin deck. Lastly, place the set aside thunderstorm cards in the gremlin discard pile.
If the gremlin deck is ever exhausted, leave the face-up cards in play and shuffle the discards to form a new deck.
The Wandering Gremlin
The first player to launch a rocket places the Wandering Gremlin card in front of him. For the remainder of the game, whenever you launch a rocket take the Wandering Gremlin from the player who has it and place it in front of you. If your turn ends with the Wandering Gremlin card in front of you, the Wandering Gremlin eats the material card from your launch pad that shows the highest medal value. Remove the eaten material card from the game.
If the Wandering Gremlin ever eats the last material card on your launch pad, or if you have no material cards in play, the Wandering Gremlin moves clockwise to the next player at the end of your turn.
Bribing the Wandering Gremlin
As long as it is your turn and the Wandering Gremlin is in front of you, you may bribe it with material cards from your hand. Each material card affects the Wandering Gremlin in a different way. Cards used to bribe the Wandering Gremlin are removed from the game.
- Rust - Move the Wandering Gremlin clockwise to the next player.
- Wood - The Wandering Gremlin does not eat a material card from your launch pad this turn.
- Iron - Draw one card from the materials deck, then move the Wandering Gremlin clockwise to the next player.
- Copper - You may take an extra build action this turn.
- Steel - Draw two cards from the materials deck, then take an extra main action (launch or build).
- Chrome - You may launch any one rocket, even if it is incomplete. Earn only 1 medal for this launch.
The Finale
In a two or three player game, The Finale begins as soon as the materials deck is exhausted. Do not reveal cards from the gremlin deck during The Finale. Each player gets one final turn (including the player who exhausted the materials deck). During your final turn, take from the scrapheap as normal and then perform up to two build actions. After everyone has finished his or her final turn, remove the Wandering Gremlin from the game. Then each player launches all of his or her completed rockets (if any) and the game ends. Add up the value of your medals. The player with the most valuable medal collection wins! In case of a tie, the player who has the greatest variety of medals wins.
In a four or five player game, the first time the materials deck is exhausted, shuffle together the discard pile and the scrapheap to form a new deck. The Finale begins the second time the materials deck is exhausted.