Senshi
Senshi Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 Training Cards
- 72 Attribute Tiles
- 18 Red Strength Tiles
- 18 Green Agility Tiles
- 18 Yellow Honor Tiles
- 18 Blue Wisdom Tiles
Game Setup
Before the contests can begin, the Temple must be prepared.
Each player takes one Training Card and places it on the table in front of them.
Set up the Tiles by first removing a number of Tiles based on the amount of players:
- For 2 players, remove 6 Tiles of each color (24 Tiles total).
- For 3 players, remove 3 Tiles of each color (12 Tiles total).
- For 4 players, do not remove any Tiles.
The removed Tiles are set aside and are not used during the game. The remaining Tiles are mixed up on the table and randomly set into Stacks of 3 Tiles each. These Stacks are placed in the middle of the table for all players to see and reach.
- For 2 players, you will have 16 Stacks.
- For 3 players, you will have 20 Stacks.
- For 4 players, you will have 24 Stacks.
The player who last saw a martial arts movie will be the First Player! Starting with that player, and going clockwise around the table, each player chooses and takes 1 Stack of Tiles into their hand. During the course of the game, the Tiles in your hand are normally kept hidden from the other players.
Now the Temple is ready! Let the contests begin!
How Do I Win?
To be chosen as the next Master, it is not enough to overpower your opponents. You must also protect your weaknesses.
During the game, you will build four Scoring Piles, one for each of the four Attributes—Strength, Agility, Honor, and Wisdom. The winner will be the player with the single tallest Scoring Pile, but only after the player with the shortest Scoring Pile is eliminated!
How Do I Play?
The wise monk must know when to gather strength and when to expend it.
Players take turns; starting with the First Player, and then the player to their left and so on, until the end of the game. On your turn, you must choose and take one of the following actions: STUDY, TRAIN, or TEST.
Study: Take 1 Stack
Speed may allow one to strike before one's foe, but ardent study will decide how effective that strike will be.
Take one entire Stack of Tiles from the middle of the table and place it on your Training Card. You may never have more than three Stacks on your Training Card at a time. You may not choose this action if you already have three Stacks on your Training card.
Yoshihisa takes a Stack of Tiles on his turn, adding it to the two Stacks already on his Training Card. He cannot choose the "Study" action again until at least one of his Stacks is empty.
Train: Take 1 Tile
Train tirelessly, with the energy of a warrior, and you will discover the greatest master - yourself.
Take one of the Tiles on top of any Stack (excluding scoring piles) and add it to your hand. You may choose the top tile from a Stack in the middle of the table, from a Stack on your own Training Card, or from a Stack on another player's Training Card.
Masamune takes a Tile from a Stack in the middle of the table on his turn, adding it to his hand. On Tomoe's turn, she also chooses to take a Tile—but she takes it from one of Masamune's Stacks!
Test: Play 1 Tile
A test is called! Now its time to see who has prepared the best and trained the hardest!
Choose one Tile from your hand and add it to your matching Scoring Pile (place it below the spot on your Training card with the same color as the token).
Then, every player (including you) takes all Tiles of that color from the top of their own Stacks (on their Training Cards) and places them on their own matching Scoring Pile.
NOTE: If you have more than one Tile of the same color on top of the same Stack, you only get to move the top Tile.
Himari chooses to play a blue Wisdom Tile from her hand and places it on her Wisdom Scoring Pile. Since she also has one Stack on her Training Card with a blue Tile on top, she adds that to her Wisdom Scoring Pile, too. Yoshihisa has two Stacks on his Training Card with blue Tiles on top, so he gets to add both of those blue Tiles to his Wisdom Scoring Pile—even though it's not his turn!
The End of the Game
When a player takes the last Stack from the middle of the table, the game is almost over. Each player takes one final turn, ending with the player who took the last Stack.
Tomoe takes the last Stack from the middle of the table, triggering the end of the game. Yoshihisa, then Himari, then Kaito each take one more turn. Finally, Tomoe takes the last turn and ends the game.
Victory
Only the one who has power without weakness can be a true Master Senshi.
The players count the number of Tiles in each of their Scoring Piles. The player (or players) with the single smallest Scoring Pile (of any color) is eliminated from the game and cannot win. If all players are tied for the smallest Scoring Pile, no player is eliminated and all players can win.
The player still in the game who has the single largest Scoring Pile (of any color) wins the game!
If there is a tie for the largest Scoring Pile, the tied player with the most Tiles in their hand is the winner. If they are still tied, the one who played last in turn order wins.
Example 1: Kaito has Scoring Piles of 7, 4, 3, and 3, Himari has 5, 4, 4, and 4, and Yoshihisa has 6, 5, 4, and 4. Since Kaito has the smallest pile (3 Tiles), he is eliminated from the game. Of those left, Yoshihisa has the largest single pile (6 Tiles), so he is the winner!
Example 2: Kaito has Scoring Piles of 7, 4, 3, and 3, Himari has 5, 4, 4, and 3, and Yoshihisa has 6, 5, 4, and 3. Since they are all tied for the smallest Scoring Pile (3 Tiles), no one is eliminated. Since Kaito has the largest pile (7 Tiles), he is declared the winner!
Example 3: Kaito, Himari, and Yoshihisa are all tied for the largest Scoring Pile (they all have the tallest pile and none of them have the shortest one), so they reveal their hands: Kaito has 2 Tiles, Himari also has 2, and Yoshihisa has 0—Kaito and Himari are tied. Since Himari went later in the turn order, she is the winner!
Variant Rules
If you prefer that your starting hand of Tiles are a secret from the very beginning, try this variant. This variant is for games with 3-4 players.
At the beginning of the game, before the Tiles are mixed up and set into Stacks, leave all the Tiles mixed up in the center of the Table. At the same time, each player closes his eyes and randomly draws 3 Tiles into his hand.
No one should see what Tiles each player takes into their hand, including the player taking them! When all players are finished drawing tiles, they open their eyes. Players can now look at the 3 Tiles in their hand, while keeping them hidden from the other players. The remaining Tiles on the table are randomly set into Stacks of 3, and the game continues as normal.
Credits
- Game Design: Dan Manfredini
- Game Development: Bryan Pope
- Art Direction: Chris Henson & Stephen S. Gibson
- Art and Graphic Design: Stephen S. Gibson
- Rules: William Niebling
- Project Management: Matthew Burch
- Production: John Rogers