Save Doctor Lucky
Save Doctor Lucky Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Facts
None of the trivia in this game is exactly true. But it's not far from the truth, either. The logic puzzle on the F-2's is hard, but solvable. We promise.
What You Get
The Save Doctor Lucky game board, 90 cards, and this rulebook.
What You Need
A Pawn for each player, and one more Master Pawn to represent Doctor Lucky.
How to Begin
Assemble the board as shown in the snapshot on the back of this rulebook. The eight sections form the four decks of the Ship, with A Deck at the top. Start every player in a random room, as follows:
Starting the Players: Shuffle the deck and deal one card to each player, starting with whomever you choose and proceeding to the left. When a player gets a Move card, stop. That player will go first, and his Pawn will begin in that room. Now deal as many cards as it takes to the next player, until another Move card comes up. This is the room where that player starts. Continue this process until each player's Pawn is placed. Finally, deal off one more Move card to place Doctor Lucky.
Retrieve all the cards and shuffle the deck again. Deal a starting hand of six cards to each player, face down. If there are 2 or 3 players, deal a starting hand of eight cards instead.
Then divide the remainder of the deck into four roughly equal sections, and place one section beside each of the four decks in the ship. When players draw cards, they must draw from the lowest deck which still has cards. For example, in the beginning all players will draw from the cards on D Deck. When a deck empties, that deck is "flooded," and players start drawing from the next deck. There's more detail about flooded decks later.
On Your Turn
You have two types of turn to choose from: "Snooping Turns," in which you draw cards, and "Active Turns," in which you can play cards and/or attempt to Save Doctor Lucky, but can't draw.
Snooping: On a Snooping turn, move your Pawn one room in any direction, or stay where you are. Then, if you like, draw one card.
Active Turn: You don't get to draw a card in an Active turn, but you can do one or more of the following:
1: Move one step in any direction.
2: Play one or more Move Cards, either before or after taking your free move (or both). Most Move Cards have two functions: they can be used either to move yourself or Doctor Lucky to a specific room, or they can be used to move yourself or Doctor Lucky one or more steps in any direction. Each card states its two functions, but as a general rule, cards from D-Deck are usable as Move-3's, C-Deck are Move-2's, B-Deck are Move-1's, and A-Deck have no additional move.
3: Make one attempt to Save Doctor Lucky. This will be the last action of your turn. When you try to Save Doctor Lucky, you are offering him your life preserver, or something even more useful, in an attempt to save his life. However, since he is so confident in his own luck, Doctor Lucky is quite likely to ignore your Save Attempt and continue roaming casually about the Ship.
To make a Save Attempt, you must be in the same room with Doctor Lucky. In addition, at least one other player must be able to see you, either because they are in the same room or because they have a direct line of sight into the room from another room on the Ship. Lines of Sight run perpendicular through doorways, and some rooms can even see into others one or two decks away.
Aid Cards: You may play exactly one Aid Card to make your Save Attempt better. All Aid Cards tell you what they are worth, and many of them are much more powerful in particular rooms. If you do not play an Aid card, your save attempt is worth one point.
Failure: Your attempt to Save Doctor Lucky will probably fail. But if you succeed you win the game, so keep trying.
Stopping a Save Attempt
After you have made your Save Attempt, each player has one chance to stop you. Starting with the player on your left, each player can play one or more Failure cards, or pass, until the value of your Save Attempt is met or exceeded. For example, if your Save attempt is worth 4 points, it will take 4 points of Failures to stop you. If your opponents don't play enough Failure cards, you save Doctor Lucky and win the game.
Note: If you are in an early position and you believe that players after you will play Failure cards, it is advisable to pass to them. The point of making a Save Attempt or passing on Failures is the same: to get Failures out of other players' hands. However, if you are the last player in line, you are not allowed to hold back your Failure cards just to throw the game. (Puny Earth Creatures forced us to make this rule.)
An Example: Player One plays the Whiskey in the Captain's Lounge for a Save attempt of 6 points. There are six players in the game. Players Two and Three pass, assuming that the players after them will have enough Failure cards. Player Four is not so sure, and plays two F-1's, reducing the value of the save attempt to 4. Player Five is nearly out of Failures, and plays what he can: a single F-3, leaving 1 point for Player Six. Player Six plays the remaining 1. Player One's save attempt fails, and the game continues.
The End of Your Turn
After each player's turn, Doctor Lucky moves. He walks along a prescribed path through the ship, following the numbers. If he is in a numbered room, he jumps into the next highest room (or from 22 into 0). If he is in an unnumbered room, he steps into the highest numbered adjoining room. Once layers of the Ship have been sunk, Doctor Lucky skips the submerged rooms, moving from the highest numbered room on the lowest deck into the lowest numbered room on the same deck, skipping the intervening numbers in the submerged deck.
Turn Progress: Normally, the turn passes to the left around the table. But if Doctor Lucky moves into an occupied room, the turn passes to the player in that room. This is true even if that player just took a turn.
For example, if after Player Four's turn Doctor Lucky steps into a room with only Player One, Player One goes next, and normal play resumes to Player One's left.
Doctor Lucky only changes the turn order when he takes his automatic move between turns, not when he is moved by something else. In the course of play, some players may be skipped, and some players may take several turns in a row. In fact, stringing the Doctor along for several turns is a very good strategy.
Multiple Players in the Room: If the Doctor moves into a room with multiple players, the turn passes to the next player in that room, starting at the left of the player who just took a turn. For example, if it's the end of Player Six's turn, and Doctor Lucky steps into a room containing Players Three, Five, and Six, then Player Three goes next.
Submerged Decks: When the last card from a particular Deck is drawn, that Deck sinks at the end of the turn. At this point, any Pawns still on that deck move into the lowest numbered room on the deck above, the sunken board sections are removed from the table, and that Deck no longer exists. This all happens before Doctor Lucky takes his automatic move.
If the A Deck sinks, the game ends and no one wins.
Winning: To win, you must Save Doctor Lucky. It's just that easy.
Losing: You can give a "Loser" prize to the last player who could have played a Failure Card, but didn't. Or check out the Nonspecific Penalty rules, below.
Strategy: You must use your board position wisely: don't give someone a free shot at saving Doctor Lucky by standing where you can see him, unless you have a good reason for him to see you.
Ride the "Doctor Lucky Train." Take several "snooping" turns in a row to get plenty of cards, by moving one step ahead of the Doctor and letting him re-activate you. If you can't manage to do this, you can punish those people who did by forcing them to play more than their fair share of Failure cards.
Nonspecific Penalty Rules
If you are in a group that enjoys playing with nonspecific penalties, such as being forced to make a loud and embarrassing noise or take a drink of harmless fruit juice, and you have already played several games of Kill Doctor Lucky, these rules are for you. (And the people with you.)
A penalty is exacted from any individual who:
1: in the course of normal play, uses words like "Kill" and "Murder" to describe an attempt to save Doctor Lucky's life. (one penalty)
2: describes any Aid card as if it were a Weapon, or says something like "take that" or "Die, Die, Die!" (one penalty)
3: performs either action (1) or (2) in the middle of a Save Attempt. (two penalties)
4: was the last person who could have played Failure Cards but didn't, thereby throwing away the game. (one penalty for each point remaining in hand.)
We hope you will enjoy playing with these extra rules, especially if the penalties are of the type which slowly erode your capacity to avoid them.