Roar! Catch the Monster Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1 Game Preparation
• 2 Quick Start
• 3 Mobile Application Setup
  • Choosing a Monster
  • Choosing a Mission
  • Choosing a Map
• 4 Monster Turn
• 5 Scientists Turn
• 6 Gameplay on the Board
• 7 How to Win
• 8 Decoding Sounds
• Tracking Boards
  • Buildings Key
• 9 Troubleshooting
  • Board Scanning
  • Positioning of Pawns
  • System Requirements
• 10 Additional Information
  • Downloading the Application
• Box Contents

1 Game Preparation

Place the board, with the chosen side up, in a well-lit place so that each of the players has space for their additional components. One of the players becomes the Monster and receives the mobile device which is their controller during the game. The remaining players choose among three available Scientists.

The player who controls the Monster takes three monster cards. The players who control the Scientists receive a pawn and their Scientist cards. Moreover, each of the players who control Scientists receives one tracking board and a set of four tracking chips (the same colour as the colour of the Scientist they control).

The Monster card needs to be placed in front of the player who has the mobile device. Each player who controls a Scientist takes a corresponding Scientist card and a tracking board together with the tracking chips.

Scientist pawns need to be placed on the vacant starting fields.

2 Quick Start

In order to give you a quick glimpse at the core rules and the application interface, we prepared a demonstrative part of the game. In order to see this demonstration, open the application, select a game and Monster and open "TUTORIAL". Choose a board and follow the instructions given by the application.

Before starting the first game it is worth taking a look at the board. We recommend examining the board in search of all the buildings which can be found on the tracking board.

In the help panel of the Key section of the application you can listen to all sounds made by the objects included in the game.

Components (numbered in the source illustration): 1 board; 2 mobile device; 3 monster cards; 4 scientist pawns; 5 Scientist card; 6 tracking board; 7 tracking chips.

3 Mobile Application Setup

After opening the application, the player who controls the Monster has three options:

1. Start Game – by selecting this button the player starts the game.
2. Information – by selecting this button the player will be redirected to a digital guide, which provides full instructions on how to use the application and its options.
3. Settings – by selecting this button the player will be redirected to the settings menu, in which they can choose the application language and toggle background music on and off.

Choosing a Monster

At this point, the player can choose one of three monsters available in the game. Each monster has its own special ability, which can be used during the game. Each of the monsters is fully described further in the manual. In order to select a monster you need to click on the button with its name. After choosing the monster in the application, the player should also take the corresponding monster card and place it so that it is visible to the rest of the players.

1. Back – by selecting this button the player goes back to the previous menu.
2. Monster button – each of the monsters has its own button with its name. Press it to select your monster.

Choosing a Mission

At this point, the player can choose a mission which they want to complete. Each mission has a different set of buildings which we will have to pass during the game.

1. Back – by selecting this button the player goes back to the previous menu.
2. Completed Mission – a mission card which is marked with a yellow star denotes a mission that we already completed.
3. Active Mission – a mission card which is marked with a grey star denotes a mission that we have not played yet.
4. Locked mission – a mission card which is marked with a padlock denotes a locked mission.

Choosing a Map

After choosing a monster and a mission, the players collectively decide which board variant they will use during the game. The board has two options: simple, with no images of buildings, and advanced, in which the players have to seek proper buildings and use the colour code. We are ready to start the game!

The player who controls the Monster places a time pawn on the time track according to the number of moves which they have to complete within the mission. This number will be displayed at the beginning of each turn of the Monster.

4 Monster Turn

1. Back – by selecting this button the player goes back to the previous menu.
2. Information – by selecting this button the player will be redirected to a digital guide included in the application, which provides full instructions on how to use the application and its options.
3. Monster panel – this panel displays an avatar of the monster which we play and has a cartridge used to activate its special ability.
4. Mission Panel – this panel displays our current mission in the form of the building icons on which we have to stand in order to complete the mission.
5. Status Bar – Status Bar is a visual aid which lets us know how many turns the Monster has left to complete the task and what the progress of the mission is.
6. Confirmation button – after making a move, the player presses this button in order to play the sounds and end their turn.

After finishing the move, the player confirms its completion with a button in the application. At this point, sounds will be played which are ascribed to a particular point on the map, on which the Monster finished its move. These sounds represent buildings and zones in the city and constitute the main clue for the Scientists.

After playing these audio-clues, the Monster's turn is over; at this point, the player who controls it moves the time pawn on the time track by one field down. The Scientists' turn begins.

The Monster cannot stand or move through the fields on which Scientist pawns are located.

Additionally, the Monster may use its special ability instead of a normal move:

• Coco – after activating its special ability, Coco can jump over Scientist pawns. If it makes such a move, instead of regular audio-clues, the Scientists will receive a unique sound to inform them that the Monster had to jump over one of them in its turn.
• Blub – Blub's special ability can be activated if the player who controls it starts their turn on one of the Sewer fields. Instead of making their move, the player can go to a selected Sewer field on the map, provided it is not currently occupied by a Scientist pawn.
• Zzap – Zzap's special ability can be used every other turn starting with the first one. After its activation the player makes their normal move. After ending the move, the moment the sound is made, Zzap adds another sound in the form of unidentified noise.

5 Scientists Turn

1. Back – by selecting this button the player goes back to the previous menu.
2. Information – by selecting this button the player will be redirected to a digital guide included in the application, which provides full instructions on how to use the application and its options.
3. Scientist's Panel – this panel displays avatars of the Scientists and allows you to trace pawn scanning with the progress bar. Additionally, the panel offers an alternative to scanning pawns in the form of the confirmation button.
4. Ability Cartridge – this cartridge allows us to activate a Scientist's special ability. It appears whenever a Scientist can use their power. In order to activate a special power, the player needs to move the cartridge to the right so that it connects to the Scientist's panel.
5. Status Bar – a status bar is a visual aid to let us know the status of all Scientist pawns, whether they are waiting for a move, they have made a move that was against the rules or they are already scanned and confirmed.

Scientists move by 1 to 2 fields on the board with their pawns. There is no arranged order in which the Scientists must make their turn. Each Scientist can move only once in a turn. Each Scientist can resign from their standard move in order to activate their special ability.

The player who controls the Monster with the use of a tablet / mobile phone scans Scientist pawns after their move in order to confirm its completion and update positioning in the application.

If a Scientist wants to use their special ability, they turn their Scientist card cartridge up and announce their will to use a special ability. The player who controls the Monster scans the Scientist's pawn and activates their special ability through moving a corresponding cartridge in the application.

Only one Scientist pawn can be placed on one field.

Additionally, a Scientist may use their special ability instead of a normal move:

• Doctor – if they are situated on a field which borders with an Ambulance, they can move to any field on the board which also has an adjoined Ambulance, provided no other Scientist stays on this field.
• Chemist – can activate their monster-repelling mixture. Until the next turn of the Scientists, the Monster cannot stand on fields which radiate from the current position of the Chemist in a straight line in all directions.
• Technician – can activate a monster-localiser. Thanks to the activation of this special ability, the Scientist checks if the Monster currently stands on fields which radiate from their current position in a straight line in all directions.

6 Gameplay on the Board

Both the Scientists and the Monster move on one of two boards. They do not differ from one another when it comes to the arrangement of buildings and zones, except for a visual difference. Simple Board does not have a graphic portrayal of buildings and instead it displays a transparent arrangement of zones and buildings with the use of colours and icons. On the other hand, Advanced Board represents the whole city in which the game takes place, and the buildings and zones are distinguishable thanks to colours and the buildings themselves.

The Scientists move around the board with the use of their pawns. Each Scientist can move by 1 to 2 fields on the board in all directions. The board is divided into 100 fields and each of the fields has 1 to 4 audio-clues, depending on the objects that surround them.

7 How to Win

The Scientists win when one of Scientist pawns stands on the field on which the Monster is currently standing. The player who controls the Monster is required to scan each Scientist in order to start their turn. If they scan a pawn which is located on their field, the application informs them of the Scientist's victory.

Scientists also win when the Monster is not able to complete its mission within a designated number of moves. Each mission has its own threshold of turns within which the Monster has to complete it. This number is visible in the application on the status bar and it appears in a window at each turn of the Monster.

The Monster wins the game when it completes its mission in the designated time frame. Each mission has a set of objects in the area of which the player who controls the Monster has to stand. In order for a building or a zone to be counted, the Monster must stand in a field which borders with a given object.

8 Decoding Sounds

Each object on the board has a characteristic sound ascribed to it. Each of the fields on which the players move is directly bordered by one to four objects. The sounds made by these objects are audio-clues, thanks to which the Scientists track the Monster.

In the simple variant of the board, the sounds made by a given field are determined by objects marked with a single colour and symbol.

In the example on the left, a given field is made up of a Theatre, a Theme Park, a Police Station and a Parking Lot.

In the advanced variant each field on the board is marked with colours of the neighbouring zones and buildings. The colours make it easier to identify which buildings and zones make up a given field, and in turn, which audio-clues will be ascribed to it.

In the example on the right, a given field is made up of a Playground, a School, a Police Station and a Park.

The sounds are played one after another after the Monster move. The Scientists will hear all sounds ascribed to a given field. Repeating sounds mean that a given field neighbours with a given object on more than one side.

Tracking Boards

The Scientists have a tracking board which is to help them find the Monster and come to an agreement on the sounds they hear after the Monster finishes its move. Having heard the audio-clues, they can now spot the buildings and zones they heard and point to them with the use of suitable tracking chips. Thanks to this aid the players can quickly decide if they heard the same sounds and if not, they can identify discrepancies.

Tracking boards are not required in the game, but they greatly facilitate the process of remembering sounds.

Buildings Key

Illustrated key from the source; each building has a colour and a symbol, and a matching empty ring for tracking.

Park, Zoo, Ambulance, Shop, Theatre, School, Playground, Fountain, Police Station, Theme Park, Parking Lot, Road Works, Stadium, Train Station.

Listen to the sounds of objects in the application in the info button.

9 Troubleshooting

Board Scanning

Proper scanning is the key to a fluent game. The board should be evenly spread in a well-lit place and the person who handles the mobile device should hold it steadily. It sometimes happens that the application loses the board and asks for another scanning. When you see the icon presented on the left, you need to re-scan the board.

In order to scan the board, you need to capture most of the board with the camera of your device and wait until there are dots on the fields of the board and the lack of board icon disappears.

Positioning of Pawns

To make the game more fluent, it is worth taking care in positioning pawns on the board. If your device has problems scanning the position of a pawn, it probably means that the pawn is not situated in the middle of a given field on which it needs to stand, or it is turned at an angle which makes it hard for the camera to properly read it. In order to improve the quality of pawns scanning, the pawns should be placed in the centre of the fields on which they stand and laid flat on the board.

System Requirements

Your experience with the application may vary depending on the used device. Meeting minimum system requirements guarantees proper functioning of the application. However, it is recommended to use devices which meet the recommended system requirements in order to achieve more fluent gameplay, faster response time and better quality of the scanned objects.

• Minimum requirements for iOS: iPhone 4S or newer or third generation iPad or newer.
• Recommended requirements for iOS: iPhone 6 or iPad Air.
• Minimum requirements for Android: at least 1 GB of RAM, dual-core processor, 1 GHz or more.
• Recommended requirements for Android: 2 GB of RAM, quad-core processor, 1.2 GHz.

10 Additional Information

We count on your feedback. If you noticed any problems or have suggestions on how we can further improve our game, you can contact us at:

[email protected]

Feel free to follow our information channels on the Internet:

• http://facebook.com/RoarTheGame
• http://twitter.com/RoarTheGame
• http://roarthegame.com

Downloading the Application

Unnumbered page in the source; heading added editorially.

Roar! Catch the Monster is a hybrid board game which requires a mobile device such as a phone or a tablet.

To download a free app, choose one of three methods.

1. Open an app store on your mobile device (Apple Store / Google Play). Type "Roar! Boardgame" in the search box and locate the application icon among the results. Select Install / Download.
2. On your mobile device, open the page linked below in the Internet browser. After opening the page we will automatically detect your device and redirect you to the store. After opening the app store select Install / Download just like in the first point. roarthegame.com/app
3. If you have an application that allows you to scan QR codes, open it and scan the code visible above. Our system will automatically redirect you to a store from which you'll need to download the application by selecting Install / Download just like in earlier points.

Box Contents

Double-sided board, 3 Scientist pawns, 3 Scientist cards, 3 Monster cards, 3 tracking boards, 12 tracking chips, 3 colours with 4 in each colour, Time Tracker, Manual.

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Transcription notes: the source PDF's text layer contains a stray glyph ("ZBoth") at the start of Section 6, rendered here as "Both". The source's "cans the Scientist's pawn" is printed as a typo and is transcribed here as "scans". The source's section headings for the Tracking Boards, Buildings Key and Board Scanning sub-headings are printed in the manual; the "Downloading the Application" heading is editorial, as noted above.