Ogre Cheerleaders Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Set-up
• Ogre Cards
• Gameplay Overview
• Game Play
  • #1 Play Phase
  • #2 Scoring Phase
  • #3 Draw Phase
  • End Game
• Ogre Card effects
• Ogre Notes
  • Ogre Notes on Playing Cards
  • Ogre Notes on Scoring
  • Miscellaneous Ogre Notes

Set-up

Put the 1st Player Card, the bench card, and the reference cards to the side. Shuffle the rest of cards, and deal each player 4 cards to start their hands. Deal four cards from the top of the deck face-up in a row as shown to start the game. This area of cards will be referred to as the field. Place the remaining cards in the deck in a pile face down to the side. Set the bench card beside the deck, and flip the top card of the deck face up and put it on the bench to start the game. The bench is not part of the field.

The player that performs the best ogre cheerleader pose gets to have the first turn. Give the 1st Player Card to the player that goes first.

Ogre Cards

Cards have three components, the effect, team symbol, and point value, as indicated below.

• Effect: the instruction printed at the top of the card (for example, the 7 card reads "Play the card from the top of the deck as if you are playing it from your hand.").
• Team Symbol: the circular symbol on the card.
• Point Value: the number on the card.

Bench card: The bench card's text reads: "Bench the card next to this one. Bench the card on the opposite end of the field."

Reference cards: The reference cards printed in the set-up layout show the effects of the cards 7, 6, 9 and 1 (as printed on the reference cards: "Play the card from the top of the deck as if you are playing it from your hand"; "Choose a random card from your opponent's hand and play it as if you are playing it from your hand"; "Shuffle all of the cards on the field, including this one, and lay them back down in a random order"; "Choose one card from your hand to join the field in any position").

Gameplay Overview

Each player's turn consists of 3 phases.

1. Play phase: Play one card onto the field and resolve all possible effects.
2. Scoring phase: Score formations you've created on the field.
3. Draw phase: Draw back up to four cards in your hand.

Game Play

#1 Play Phase

Choose one card from your hand, and play it to either end of the field. As soon as the card is played, resolve any possible effects on the played card. Even if the effects of the played card cannot be fully resolved, you may still play the card onto the field.

In this example, the effect of the 5 card says to bench any other card on the field. In this case, the player would choose to play the 5 card on the right hand side of the field and bench the 7 card, meaning it is removed from the field and placed face up on the bench card.

If any gaps were created between cards as a result of the card played, slide the remaining cards on the field together to fill in the gaps.

In the example playing the five card, the field ends up looking like this:

#2 Scoring Phase

After playing a card onto the field, be sure to resolve all effects before proceeding to the scoring phase. Then, check to see if there are any formations of cheerleaders for you to score. There are three different types of formations that will score points in Ogre Cheerleaders. When you score a formation, all the cards in that formation are moved from the field into your face-down score pile.

Scoring Formations:

Same team formation: If 3 or more ogres from the same high school team are next to each other on the field, score those cards.

Numerical sequence formation: If 3 or more ogres are in a numerical sequence, score those cards. The sequence can be in either direction (5-6-7 or 7-6-5).

Same number formation: If 2 or more ogres with the same point value are next to each other, score those cards.

Bonus play: If there are no cards left on the field at the end of the scoring phase, deal four cards from the top of the deck face-up onto the field. Then play an additional card from your hand. If there are fewer than 4 cards left in the deck, deal out as many as possible, and then play your additional card. After playing your additional card, score any possible formations, and fill in any gaps on the field. It is possible to get another bonus play if you clear the field again. Do not draw any cards from the deck before your bonus play.

#3 Draw Phase

If you have fewer than 4 cards in your hand, draw from the deck until you have 4 cards in your hand. If the deck runs out of cards before you get to 4 cards in your hand, just draw as many as possible.

After the draw phase, proceed to the next player's turn. If there are fewer than 4 cards on the field, DO NOT place more cards from the deck onto the field to bring it back up to 4 cards.

End Game

As soon as the deck runs out of cards, finish the rest of the current player's turn. Then, keep playing until the player that played second gets one more turn. If playing with more than 2 players, make sure the player that got their first turn of the game last gets the last turn of the game.

Count the number of points in your score pile. The point value of each card corresponds to the number on the card. The player with the highest score wins. In the result of a tie, the player with the greater amount of cards in their score pile is the winner.

Ogre Card effects

There are three key actions that you will perform when playing cards onto the field. These actions will be in bold in the card effect text.

• Join: When a card effect instructs you to have another card "join" the field, you place that card into position on the field, without resolving its effects.
• Play: When a card effect instructs you to "play" another card, you play it just as if you were playing it from your hand. You may look at the card you are playing and choose to play it on either end of the field. Then, resolve its effects.
• Bench: When a card effect instructs you to "bench" another card, put the chosen card(s) in a face-up pile on top of the bench card. Players may look at the cards on the bench at any time during the game.

Ogre Notes

Ogre Notes on Playing Cards

• You can play a card onto the field, even if the effect(s) won't work. If it is possible to resolve the effect(s), you must do so. If only part of the card's effect(s) will work, resolve all possible parts.
• There is no limit to the number of cards that can be on the field at a time. If you run out of space on the table for a single row, start a second row with the knowledge that it is actually just continuing the first.
• In games with more than 2 players, when you play a 6 card, choose one opponent to use the effects on.
• If you play an 8 and there is only 1 card left in the deck, you may choose to put it into your hand or have it join the field on either end.
• If you play a 10 and there is only 1 other card on the field, that card goes to the bench, and the 10 remains on the field. (If there are no other cards on the field when you play the 10, nothing happens.)

Ogre Notes on Scoring

• After scoring cards in a formation from the field, move the remaining cards on the field inward to fill in the gaps. If a new formation of cards can be scored as a result of this, you score those cards as well and repeat the process.
• When you deal out cards from the deck onto the field at the start of the game, or as a result of clearing the field during the game, and a score-able formation is already in place, no one scores that formation. However, if you move the position of one of the cards in the formation, if you add onto the formation, if you bench a card from the formation, or if you play a 9 and shuffle the field, and it's still score-able, then you score the formation.
• It is not optional to score formations that you've created on the field. If the formation includes more cards than the minimum required for that type of formation, you must score all the cards in the formation.
• If the field contains 2 or more separate formations at once, those formations are scored simultaneously. Then, the remaining cards on the field will fill in the gaps on the field.
• If one card can be part of two different formations, then the player must choose which way to score that card. In the field shown below, the player would choose to score the two 1s, OR the sequence of 1-2-3.

Miscellaneous Ogre Notes

• Infinite loop: It is possible for players to create an infinite loop with the card effects. For example, if there is one card on the field and it is a 4, and each player has a 4 card in their hand, they can continually play one 4 to the field and pick up the other one each turn. If the same type of card is played and the layout of the board remains functionally the same for more than 3 turns in a row, end the game in an automatic tie, without counting points.
• If you have earned a bonus play but there are no cards in your hand, deal out the top 4 cards from the deck (or as many as possible if fewer than 4) onto the field and proceed straight to your draw phase.
• When the deck runs out of cards, do NOT reshuffle the bench pile to replenish the deck. It will remain empty for the rest of the game.
• If you start your turn with no cards in your hand, draw 4 cards before your play phase (or as many as possible if there are fewer than 4 in the deck).