Rolling Deep Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
• The Expedition
• Setup
• Goal
• Round Structure
  • 1. Adventure
  • Example 1
  • Example 2 (more complex)
  • 2. Reward
  • 3. Interest
  • 4. Shop
  • Refreshing the Shop
  • Shop Example
  • 5. Advance & Reset
  • Bosses & Winning the Game
  • What Happens After I Win?
• Clarifications & Commonly Missed Rules
• Glossary

Components

• 3 customizable dice (red, purple, and green)
• 16 reroll potions
  • 9 1-potion tokens
  • 7 3-potion tokens
• 17 coins
  • 10 1-value coins
  • 7 5-value coins
• 23 mushrooms
  • 16 1-value mushrooms
  • 7 5-value mushrooms
• 56 dice sides
  • Red: 1x 0, 2x 1, 2x 2, 1x Sir Pipsqueak face
  • Purple: 1x 0 (with reroll potion), 1x 0, 2x 1, 1x 2, 1x Gary face
  • Green: 2x 0, 2x 1 (with coin), 1x 2, 1x Sadie Snake Eyes face
  • Yellow (die-side upgrade tokens): 4x 0, 5x 1, 3x 2, 2x 3, 2x 4, 2x 5, 2x 0 (with coin), 2x 0 (with coin), 2x 1 (with coin), 2x 1 (with coin), 2x 2 (with coin), 1x 3 (with coin), 2x 0 (with reroll potion), 2x 1 (with reroll potion), 2x 1 (with reroll potion), 2x 2 (with reroll potion), 1x 3 (with reroll potion)
• 10 double-sided time tokens (used, unused)
• 10 double-sided plus tokens (+equipment, +score)
• Starting scroll
• 5 double-sided chapter cards (standard, advanced)
• 4 results cards
• Round tracker
• 20 boss cards

Overview

In Rolling Deep, you and your dice-head pals are journeying to the center of the Earth. Each round, you roll dice representing your team's daring actions as you push deeper underground. Decide when to act (score a roll) and when to try your luck (reroll individual dice in pursuit of a stronger outcome). When you score a roll, its value advances your progress toward a target score — the difficulty required to overcome the current stage of the journey. Each set of 3 rounds is called a chapter. Each chapter raises the challenge, and the final round of every chapter features a boss — a dangerous encounter that alters the rules for that round.

Between rounds, you visit the shop, where you spend coins to acquire upgrades and consumable gear. Some upgrades permanently alter the sides of your dice, changing their values and allowing them to generate coins or reroll potions when scored. Others boost your score, either every roll or when you score specific result ranges, rewarding careful control over how boldly (or cautiously) you push forward.

Your most valuable resources are time and reroll potions. Time determines how many opportunities you have to score your dice and accumulate a total score for the round, while reroll potions allow you to take a chance and — you guessed it — reroll individual dice before committing to a result.

Your goal is to survive 5 chapters and reach the volcano's core. If you can overcome the final boss, you claim the treasure of the deep and escape, winning the game (and possibly discovering more mysteries to pursue in another expedition). If you fail to meet a round's target score, you lose. Better luck next expedition!

The Expedition

The rulebook's character flavour text (Sadie Snake Eyes, Sir Pipsqueak, Gary) is omitted as fiction. The three characters' dice, shop decks, and discard piles are covered under Setup and Shop.

Setup

1. Assemble the volcano tower. For your first play, follow the instructions on the punchboard to assemble the volcano tower. Between plays, simply separate the tower from the tray (and lay the tower in the tray) for easy storage in the box.

2. Prepare dice. Assemble the 3 dice with the sides below (the sides match the colors of the dice for convenient setup), then put them in the tray of the volcano tower.

   • Red: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, Sir Pipsqueak face
   • Purple: 0 (with reroll potion), 0, 1, 1, 2, Gary face
   • Green: 0, 0, 1 (with coin), 1 (with coin), 2, Sadie Snake Eyes face

   Note: When swapping sides, use a spare side to help detach the side on the die.

3. Prepare results rows. Arrange the results cards in a single column in order, with the lowest result (0-1) at the top. Leave space on the sides for tokens and more cards.

4. Starting resources. Put these in front of you:

   • 3 reroll potion tokens
   • 3 1-value coins
   • 3 time tokens (face up)
   • Starting scroll (+5 side face up)
   • Player aid card

5. Chapters. Put the 5 chapter cards in a single stack in order, with the standard side face up. The top card should read "6, 7, 8." Put the round tracker next to the first round ("6").

Goal

Reach or exceed the target score of each round, before you run out of time. At the start of the game, you have 3 time tokens: this means you may score 3 separate rolls of the dice. If your cumulative score reaches or exceeds the target score, move on to the next round! If you don't reach or exceed the target score, it's game over!

Complete all 5 chapters (15 rounds) to win the game!

Round Structure

Each round has 5 phases:

1. Adventure
2. Reward
3. Interest
4. Shop
5. Advance & Reset

1. Adventure

At the start of this phase, activate any torch cards.

The Adventure phase consists of a number of turns represented by your time tokens. At the start of each turn, roll the dice by dropping them into the top of the volcano tower.

You may either score — add their sum to your current round total — or try your luck.

Note: Character faces (Sir Pipsqueak, Gary, Sadie Snake Eyes) contribute no points when you score, but some cards cause them to activate special abilities!

Try Your Luck. Trying your luck allows you to spend 1 reroll potion and reroll any 1 die. If you would like to reroll again, spend 2 reroll potions. All rerolls after that cost 3 reroll potions. You may reroll as much as you would like (and can afford). Use the cost track at the bottom of the board to track the cost of your next reroll. If you score, this resets the cost (move the cost tracker back to 1); if you try your luck again after you score, it will again cost 1 potion, then 2, then 3.

Important: You may only try your luck during the Adventure phase, even if you roll the dice at another time.

When you are happy with your result (or cannot afford to try your luck any further), score your dice. Follow these steps. (For your first round, only perform steps 1 and 2.)

1. Gain coins or reroll potions shown on the dice. (Note: some compasses affect your gains... more on this later.)

2. Add the sum of the dice to your total. This is your RESULT. (Some compasses affect your dice or RESULT... more on this later.)

3. Use mushrooms and tiles (mandatory): Add the total number of mushrooms and +score plus tokens on your scored result row to your total, then destroy 1 mushroom from that result row (return 1 mushroom to the supply).

4. Activate wands and pickaxes: First activate all wands in the result row from left to right. Then activate all pickaxes in every row 1 row at a time (top to bottom), left-to-right within each row.

   Note: Each wand may never activate more than once in a single turn.

   Note: Boss effects only apply during the final round of a chapter. Don't forget to apply boss effects during the Adventure phase of this round when relevant!

   After you defeat a boss (completed the Adventure phase in a boss round), the boss remains on top of the boss deck until the Advance phase, but its effect no longer applies for the rest of the round.

For every thing that adds to your score total (dice result, mushrooms, pickaxe effects, wand effects, +score plus tokens, etc.), advance the score tracker along the score board. For anything that subtracts from your score total (boss effects, pickaxe effects, etc.), move your score tracker backward on the board. Apply all effects (positive and negative) before proceeding:

• If your score marker meets or exceeds the target marker, you complete the Adventure phase! Move on to "Reward." Do not continue taking turns (even if you have remaining time tokens).
• If your score marker does not meet or exceed the target marker, flip a time token face down. If you still have a face-up time token, take another turn: roll all 3 dice, choose to try your luck or not, and score. If you are out of face-up time tokens, it's game over!

Important: You may spend scrolls before or after a roll or anytime during the Shop phase. You start with a red scroll which may be spent to add 5 points to your score — even after scoring your final roll. Discard the scroll after it is spent.

Example 1

1st turn. On your first turn, you roll the dice. You decide to score this result. You collect a coin and move the score marker to 3. You flip a time token face down.

2nd turn. On your second turn, you roll the dice. You decide to reroll the red die, hoping to get a 1 or 2. You spend 1 reroll potion, advance the cost tracker to the 2 space, and reroll the red die. You did not get your desired result and decide to reroll the red die again. You spend 2 reroll potions, advance the cost tracker to the 3 space, and reroll the red die. You decide to score this result. You reset the cost tracker to the 1 space and flip another time token face down.

3rd turn. On your third turn, you roll the dice. Bad luck! You do not have any reroll potions left. You score the result, move the score marker up to 5, and flip your final time token face down. You did not reach the target score of 6. If you do not wish to lose the game and start over, you must spend your starting scroll, which grants +5 points.

Example 2 (more complex)

You start the final round of Chapter 3, which means it is a boss round! This boss says IGNORE (exactly 2 sides with the same printed number — a doubles icon), so this will apply when scoring dice. First, you activate your torch cards. You gain 2 reroll potions and add 1 mushroom to row "2-3."

1st turn. On your first turn, you roll the dice. You are happy with this roll and decide to score it. You advance 2 spaces on the score track because your result was 2. You also take a potion (for scoring the 2-side) and 2 coins (because your pickaxe in the top row says it gives +coin when you have the stated dice). Next, you use the mushrooms from your result row ("2-3"). There are 4 mushrooms here, so you advance the score marker 4 more spaces, then destroy 1 of these mushrooms (returning it to the mushroom supply). Finally, you activate your wand in the result row ("2-3"), which adds +2 to your score for each face-up time token. You still have 3 face-up time tokens, so you advance your score marker 6 more spaces to 12. Now that this turn is complete, you flip the first time token face down.

2nd turn. On your second turn, you roll the dice. Oh no, 2 of these dice form a pair, meaning the boss renders them useless! Luckily, you are okay with a result of 0 (scored from the character face), so you decide not to spend a reroll potion to reroll. You score the dice. You advance 0 spaces on the score track because your result was 0, and you don't take the coin for the green die because the boss rendered that die useless this turn. Next, you use the mushrooms from your result row ("0-1"). There are 3 mushrooms here, so you advance the score marker 3 more spaces and destroy 1 of these mushrooms (returning it to the mushroom supply). Finally, you activate relevant wands, then pickaxes. Your wand in the result row ("0-1") activates, so you also use mushrooms from the row below ("2-3"). This row has 3 mushrooms, so you advance the score marker 3 more spaces and destroy 1 mushroom from that row. Unfortunately, your bottom pickaxe (+3 to each roll with a doubles icon) cannot be applied this round, because the effect makes you ignore doubles. You flip your second time token face down. Your score marker is now at 18 — you need 5 more points to win the round!

3rd turn. On your third turn, you roll the dice. Oh no, 2 of these dice form a pair, meaning the boss renders them useless. Your result would be 0 (scored from the character face), and you would only score mushrooms (similar to last turn), but now you don't have enough mushrooms to reach the target score! You spend 1 reroll potion to reroll the purple die (in hopes of breaking up the pair) and advance the cost tracker. The result is another pair, oh no! You spend 2 reroll potions to reroll the purple die again and advance the cost tracker. The result is 2, blast! You could spend 3 potions to reroll any 1 of the dice, but you decide to save your potions. Instead, you spend your purple scroll. You return the scroll to the Gary discard pile and change your purple die result to 1.

You score the dice. You advance 3 spaces on the score track because your result was 3. You also take 2 coins (because your pickaxe in the top row gives coins when you have the stated dice). Next, you use the mushrooms from your result row ("2-3"). There are 2 mushrooms here, so you advance the score marker 2 more spaces and destroy 1 of these mushrooms (returning it to the supply). Finally, you activate your wand in your result row ("2-3"), which adds +2 to your score for each face-up time token. You now only have 1 face-up time token, so you advance your score marker 2 spaces to 25. You met the target of 23 — huzzah! You have defeated the boss and completed the Adventure phase of this round. Now you proceed to the Reward phase.

Note: Some icons in Example 2 are shown only as pictures in the publisher's preview PDF; where the text refers to an icon that the text layer does not spell out, this transcription describes it in words from the illustration.

2. Reward

Once you meet or beat the current round's target score, gain your reward!

• In the first round of each chapter, the reward is 3 coins.
• In the second round of each chapter, the reward is 5 coins.
• In the third round of each chapter, the reward is a discovery card. Draw 1 from the discovery deck, and gain the reward listed. Many discovery cards offer a choice of reward.

Most discovery cards have an immediate effect — these are discarded immediately after use. Some have an ongoing effect (the infinity icon) or delayed effect (the moon icon) — these stay face-up in your play area for as long as they are relevant (delayed effect cards are discarded after use).

Example: You just gained this discovery card. You may either collect 7 coins or add 3 plus-score tokens to a result row. After you choose your reward, discard the discovery card.

Note: When you gain a discovery card for any reason, you must resolve it. You may not choose to ignore the card's effects.

3. Interest

At the start of this phase, activate any piggy bank cards. After you gain your reward, you may earn interest, either:

• 1 coin for every 3 reroll potions you have, OR
• 1 reroll potion for every 5 coins you have.

Example: At the start of the interest phase, you have 9 coins and 7 reroll potions. You may either earn 1 reroll potion (for having 1 set of 5 coins) or 2 coins (for having 2 sets of 3 reroll potions). You choose to earn 2 coins.

If you had the piggy bank card "During Interest: Double coins earned. You cannot gain reroll potions during interest," you would not have the option to earn reroll potions. You would be forced to earn coins, but the card's effect would give you double the number (4 coins instead of 2).

If the general supply of coins or potions runs out, then you will not be able to gain more until tokens are discarded back to these supplies. You may make change to replenish specific denominations, if possible.

4. Shop

After you resolve the Interest phase, visit the shop. Draw the top card of each shop deck into your hand. You may buy any number of these cards that you can afford (the cost to buy a card is indicated in its top right corner). Spent coins are destroyed (returned to the supply).

Note: You do not have to spend all your coins! Keep your unspent coins.

Cards come in a variety of types:

Consumables. Immediate deliveries of resources. Collect the resources shown on the card, then discard the card to its respective discard pile. Resources can include mushrooms, reroll potions, other types of cards, and more.

Books. Upgrade your dice. On the shown die, replace a side of your choice with the new side on the card, then discard the card to its respective discard pile. If no specific die is shown, you may replace a side on any die. If you need to add a specific die side that is not available in the supply (you have already put all of them on your dice), then you may instead add any die side of your choice.

Important: Character faces are permanent and may never be replaced.

Equipment. Permanent buffs and abilities. When bought, put equipment anywhere in a results row of your choice.

Each results row has a limited number of slots for equipment cards (displayed on the row card), but earning the plus-equipment token in a row or onto a card gives an extra equipment slot for that row! The row cards show 4 slots for the "0-1" row, 3 slots for the "2-3" row, 2 slots for the "4-5" row, and 1 slot for the "6+" row.

During the Shop phase, you may freely destroy equipment cards in your slots (moving them to their deck's discard pile). You may not rearrange the order of your cards, but a newly gained card may be placed beside or between any existing cards. After you place a card, it must stay in the same order relative to the other cards in that row.

After you gain equipment (by any means), you must place it. If all of your slots are filled, you must destroy equipment to make space (if for some reason you can't destroy equipment, simply discard the gained card). If an ability lets you move equipment, you may destroy equipment in a full row to make room for the moving equipment. You may not destroy more equipment than you need space for (except during the Shop phase).

Equipment comes in 5 different types. Each activates at different times:

• Torches: At the start of the Adventure phase.
• Compasses: Passive effects, or at specific times noted on each card (e.g., when you are determining your dice RESULT).
• Wands: Each time its result row is scored.
• Pickaxes: Each time a roll is scored.
• Piggy banks: At the start of the Interest phase.

Scrolls. Single-use items, kept to the side (near your other resources) and usable before or after a roll or anytime during the Shop phase. You start with a red scroll, which may be spent to add to your score during an adventure. Scrolls are destroyed after being used (returned to their deck's discard pile). After using the starting scroll, discard it to the box.

Note: You may only hold 1 scroll of each color at a time. You must destroy a scroll if you gain another of the same color. (Your starting scroll is a red scroll.)

Refreshing the Shop

At any time, you may spend 1 coin to discard all unpurchased cards from the shop (the cards still in your hand) and draw another card from each shop deck. If you wish to refresh again, spend 2 coins the second time, 3 coins the third time, and so on up to a max of 5 coins. You may refresh the shop for 5 coins as many times as you like (or can afford). You may purchase any number of displayed cards between each refresh. Use the cost track at the bottom of the board to track the cost of your next shop refresh. The cost to refresh the shop resets each round.

Note: If a deck runs out, do not shuffle the discard pile. You will simply have fewer cards in the market going forward.

When you are finished at the shop, discard all unpurchased cards (the cards still in your hand), reset the cost track back to 1, and proceed to "Advance."

Shop Example

At the start of the Shop phase, you draw 1 card from each deck. You have 9 coins in your supply.

You decide to buy the middle card for 1 coin and add the card to your "2-3" row. You then decide to refresh the shop — you spend 1 coin and advance the cost tracker to the 2, then discard the remaining cards and draw 3 new cards (1 from each deck).

You wish to buy the torch and the book. Normally this would not be possible (because you don't have enough coins), but the compass you just purchased makes all cards cost 1 instead of their printed cost! Huzzah!

You pay 1 coin for the book. You find the 2-side with a reroll potion in the supply — this will replace any side on your red die (except the character face). You decide to remove a 0 side from your red die and put the new side there (the 0 side is discarded to the box). The book is then discarded to the Sir Pipsqueak discard pile.

You then pay 5 coins for the torch card — except you have no open slots to place it! You must destroy another card from 1 of your rows to make room. You decide to destroy a wand from the top row — the wand is discarded to the Gary discard pile. You can place the torch anywhere in the row — you decide to place it in the rightmost slot, so the piggy bank slides left to fill the vacant slot and the torch is placed to the right of it.

You only have 1 coin left, which is not enough to purchase the last card (3 coins) or refresh the shop (currently 2 coins). You end the shop phase by discarding the last card (to the Gary discard pile) and resetting the cost tracker, keeping your last coin for the next shop.

5. Advance & Reset

Move the round tracker to the next round on the chapter card.

If this was the final round of a chapter, discard the chapter card and put the round tracker on the first space of the next card in the stack. Then, discard the face-up boss and reveal a new boss, face-up on top of the boss deck with its miffed side up (this will give you a couple of rounds to prepare for the next boss). If the round tracker advances onto the final chapter card (Chapter 5), rotate the new boss so its enraged side is up.

On the scoreboard, put the score tracker on space 0 and put the target marker on the space for the target score of the new round (e.g., in the second round, the target marker is placed on 7).

Turn all of your time tokens face up.

Bosses & Winning the Game

The third round of each chapter pits you against a boss. Each boss has a unique effect. In the first 4 chapters, you will face the miffed (easier) side of each boss. In the third round of the final chapter, you will face the enraged (harder) side of the boss. If you defeat the final boss, you win!

What Happens After I Win?

After you win for the first time, open the treasure chest and inspect its contents! Eureka!

Clarifications & Commonly Missed Rules

+score vs. +result. If a card says "+1 score," "+2 score," "+3 score," etc., this adds points to your score (i.e., moves the score tracker).

If a card says "+ result" (a plus-dice token), this adds to your dice result, which influences the result row you activate. (Your result itself also increases your score.) That is, cards with +dice-result affect your score only (not your result).

Vs. and Vs. Face-Up. "Turn" refers to one turn of the Adventure phase. "Time token" refers to a time token (which represents a turn). "Face-up time token" refers to a face-up time token in your supply.

Component limit. The component limit is intentional. If the general supply of coins, potions, or mushrooms runs out, you will not be able to gain more until tokens are discarded back to these supplies. You may make change to replenish specific denominations, if possible. For mushrooms: If a specific row is supposed to gain mushrooms that are not available in the supply, then you may move those mushrooms from other rows if you wish. For dice sides: If you need to add a specific die side that is not available in the supply (you have already put all of them on your dice), then you may instead add any die side of your choice. For all decks (shop cards, bosses, discoveries): If a deck runs out of cards, do not shuffle the discard pile (you simply don't draw those cards for the rest of the game).

Mandatory resolution. Unless a card says "may," it must be resolved (even if it's not to your benefit). This is true for all card types (equipment, discoveries, etc.). Card effects must be applied all at once, if possible. When you gain an equipment card, you must add it to a results row. During the Adventure phase, if your score tracker meets or exceeds the target marker, you must still complete the remaining steps of this turn before moving on to the next phase (you must use mushrooms, activate equipment and boss effects, etc.).

Destroying equipment. During the Shop phase, you may freely destroy equipment cards in your results rows (this is a great way to make room for new equipment cards). If all of your results rows are filled when you gain equipment, you must destroy equipment to make space (if for some reason you can't destroy equipment, simply discard the gained card). If an ability lets you move equipment, you may destroy equipment in a full row to make room for the moving equipment. You may not destroy more equipment than you need space for (except during the Shop phase).

One vs. all. A single icon on a card corresponds to a single item of that resource; 2 icons correspond to 2 items, etc. If a card affects all of a given type of item, it will specify "All." The one exception to this rule is Use (see below).

Use (mushrooms). "Use mushrooms" means that you add the total quantity of mushrooms in a specific row to your score. Any time you use mushrooms in a row, you must destroy 1 mushroom from that row. If a card says "use twice" or use mushrooms from multiple rows, destroy 1 mushroom from each row for each use.

Top boss card. The top boss card is whatever boss card is currently face-up on top of the boss deck. It can even be the boss you just defeated (before you reach the Advance & Reset phase). During the third round of a chapter, certain cards may have unusual effects or no useful effect on the defeated boss.

For example, reordering the top 3 boss cards would let you seed the defeated boss back into the boss deck (to possibly face them again in a future chapter) and discard a different boss during the Advance & Reset phase as if it were just defeated.

Glossary

• Token that allows you to hold 1 extra equipment card in its result row (plus-equipment token).

• Token that adds 1 extra point to your score when you score its result row (plus-score token).

• Trying your luck (clover icon; see page 8). The standard try your luck ability is to reroll any 1 die (for an escalating potion cost). If a card grants a clover ability, you'll have more than 1 option for how to use reroll potions. Regardless of whether you reroll 1 die or use a clover ability, the potion cost increases like normal.

  Remember: You may only try your luck during the Adventure phase, even if you roll the dice at another time.

• Shop phase (tent icon). This refers to the Shop phase, specifically the cards you draw into your hand that you can purchase. For the cost track, it refers to the escalating cost of refreshing the shop more than once in a round.

  When equipped, this card lets you draw 1 more shop card throughout the Shop phase. So if the deck is in play, you'll have 2 card options to purchase (including when you refresh the shop). If the deck is not in play, bring it into play to be able to shop from.

• Reroll (circular arrow icon).

• Any shop deck (generic shop card icon). This refers to a card from any shop deck in play.

• Matching shop deck (the three character backs). This refers to a card from the matching shop deck (indicated by the card back).