Shadows: Amsterdam Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Credits
• Game Setup
• Game Objective
  • Intelligence Officer
  • Detectives
• The Map Card
• Communicating with Pictures
• Playing a Round
  • 1. Gather Intel
  • 2. Move
  • 3. Resolve
  • Example of a Round
• End of the Round
• 2 and 3 Player Mode

Components

• 84 Intel Cards
• 1 Starting Tile
• 1 Rulebook
• 7 Districts (double-sided)
• 3 Obstacle Tiles
• 2 Detective Figures (1 black & 1 orange)
• 2 Screens (1 black & 1 orange)
• 6 Evidence Tokens (3 black & 3 orange) plus Bases
• 40 Map Cards (20 black & 20 orange)
• 2 Police Tracks
• 5 Police Tokens
• 2 Tracking Markers (1 black & 1 orange)

Credits

Design: Mathieu Aubert Publishing Director: Régis Bonnessée Project Lead: Valentin Gaudicheau Development: Alexandre Garcia, Lucas Forlacroix, Nicolas Sato Art Director and Cover: Jérémy Couturier Artwork: M81 Studio and Libellud Layout: Thomas Dutertre Design Team: Clément Dautremay, Mélanie André Editing: Léa Moinet, Valentin Gaudicheau Marketing: Mathieu Aubert Communication: Léa Moinet, Paul Neveur Production Manager: Alexandra Soporan Administration: Amélie Roullet, Pascale Belot Shadows - Amsterdam App by Libellud Digital Proofreading: Armelle & Nicolas (Epikurieu) Translation: Antoine Prono English Proofreading: Kate Unrau

Shadows - Amsterdam is a trademark of Libellud and the Libellud logo is a registered trademark of Libellud.

© Libellud

Game Setup

Divide players into two teams (both teams should have the same number of players if possible).

1. One player on each team is the Intelligence Officer; the others are Detectives. Intelligence Officers sit next to each other at one end of the table. Detectives from each team sit on the same side of the table together, facing the opposite team.

2. Assemble the Starting Tile and the 3 Obstacle Tiles to form the center of the board. Make sure that 2 of the 3 Obstacle Tiles are facing the Intelligence Officers, as shown in this illustration.

3. Randomly assemble 6 of the Districts around the Obstacle Tiles to form the board. Use the Obstacle Tiles to assemble the board. Place a District directly next to an Obstacle Tile (see step 1). Starting from this District, place the other Districts on the table as shown in this illustration. This is the standard setup.

   Once you are familiar with the game, feel free to use the alternative setup shown in the illustration below.

4. Give each team 3 Evidence Tokens in their color and 1 Police Track. Place the 5 Police Tokens next to the board.

5. Place the Intel Cards:

   • A Place all the Intel Cards face down in a pile between the Intelligence Officers.
   • B Take the first 4 cards from the pile and place them face up on the Starting Tile and the three empty spots around the Obstacle Tiles.
   • C Take the next 10 Intel Cards from the pile and place them face up in front of the Intelligence Officers: these are the available Intel Cards.

6. Each Intelligence Officer takes the Screen in their team's color and place it in front of themself.

7. Each Intelligence Officer takes all Map Cards in their own color and forms a pile. One Intelligence Officer randomly chooses a Map Card from their pile and shows its number to their opponent. The other Intelligence Officer takes the Map Card with the same number from their team's pile.

   Each Intelligence Officer then places the Map Card behind their own Screen. Before playing, Intelligence Officers must make sure that:

   • their Map Card is of the proper color (their team's color);
   • the two Map Cards have the same number;
   • the two Maps Cards are oriented with the same symbol facing the Screen;

   For now, Intelligence Officers are not allowed to look at their Map Cards in detail. They simply place them as instructed above.

   For your first few games, use Map Cards numbered from 1 to 6; they are easier to play with for novice Detectives.

8. Place the trackers and figures:

   • D Each Intelligence Officer places a Tracking Marker of their own color on the central space of their Map Card.

     Hints: The Intelligence Officers can use the Tracking Marker to track their Detectives. However, if you prefer, you can play without the markers.

   • E Detectives place the two Detective Figures on the Starting Tile.

Game Objective

The first team to win two rounds wins the game.

To win a round, a team must find three different pieces of Evidence by moving their Detective Figure on the board, then deliver them to the Client. The first team to do so wins the round. The game plays in real time, so there is no time to waste!

Avoid moving your figure onto the Police spaces: if you do so three times, you lose the round to the other team.

To communicate with their team, each Intelligence Officer has geographic intel (Map Cards) and tries to guide their own Detectives with Intel Cards.

Intelligence Officer

Your role is to use the Intel Cards at your disposal to guide your teammates to different spaces on the board (see "Communicating with Pictures" on p. 8). Avoid giving your team any extra clues. You must not speak, gesture, or adopt any postures! Because you can see the Map Card, you are the only one on your team who knows where to find the Evidence, the Police, and the Client.

Detectives

Your role is to move your team's Detective Figure to different spaces of the board. Communicate with the other Detectives on your team to analyze and interpret the Intel Cards you get from your Intelligence Officer.

The Map Card

The Map Cards represent the board. Each team has an identical set of Map Cards. Map Cards work in pairs and must be played together (same number, one card of each color). Some elements are unique to each card; others are common to both cards.

Before playing, the Intelligence Officers make sure that they select a pair of matching Map Cards (same number, different colors) and that they have the same orientation (matching symbols facing their Screens).

Evidence: Teams must collect Evidence by moving to these spaces. Each team must find three different pieces of Evidence, regardless of their type:

• Unique Evidence: This type of Evidence appears on one of the two Map Cards. As a result, only one of the two teams can collect it.
• Common Evidence: This type of Evidence appears on both Map Cards and can be collected by either team. However, once a team has found it, the other can no longer collect it!

The Client: Once a team has collected three different pieces of Evidence, they must go to one of these spaces to win the round. There are two Client spaces on each Map Card: only one of them is common to both cards.

The Police: Detectives should avoid these spaces as much as possible. Each Map Card features eleven Police spaces, and six of them are common to both Map Cards.

Neutral Space: No effect.

Use Numbers to pair Map Cards. Use Symbols to match Map Cards in one of three different orientations.

Communicating with Pictures

In Shadows - Amsterdam, Intelligence Officers must communicate with their team only through pictures (Intel Cards). The Intelligence Officer gives 1 or 2 Intel Cards to their own team; these cards are a clue to the location the team should move to. Each picture can be read in different ways. The Intelligence Officer should try to use these possibilities to direct their team in where to move.

Example: As an Intelligence Officer, Charlie wants his team to move to space A. He chooses Intel Card B because it features two clues: the camera and love. The characters on space A are taking a picture and could be a couple. He also chooses Intel Card C because it features strong clues: the color red, letters, and the man and woman on the toilet symbol. These clues are represented on space A. Also, the coat-of-arms symbol is Amsterdam's coat of arms and possibly a clue to the red letters on space A, which form the city name. Will his Detectives understand? That remains to be seen...

Hints:

• Watch out for other spaces your team might go! An Intel Card may also be a perfect match for another space that you did not notice.
• You may think that your message is crystal clear, but be careful: always listen to your team and try to understand how they think.
• You have only the Intel Cards for communication. If necessary, try to think outside the box and find creative ways to use the Intel Cards. You might also think about concepts or situations.

Playing a Round

When everyone is ready, the Intelligence Officers count to three and begin the round. From this moment, they may look at their Map Card in detail. The round begins, and play is simultaneous. Each team follows these steps in order, repeating them until the round is complete:

1. Gather Intel — The Intelligence Officer gives 1 or 2 Intel Cards to their team.
2. Move — The Detectives discuss the Intel Cards and move to a new space on the board.
3. Resolve — The Intelligence Officer resolves the effects of that space.

These three steps must be repeated until the round is completed.

The game plays in real time! Both teams play at the same time. Actions are taken simultaneously, and teams do not need to wait for their opponents to play.

1. Gather Intel

Each Intelligence Officer uses the Map Card to choose a target space for their team one or two spaces away from their current location. If the team receives 1 Intel Card, they move their Detective Figure to any adjacent space. If they receive 2 Intel Cards, they move exactly two spaces.

• Adjacent space: the Intelligence Officer chooses 1 Intel Card from the available 10 and gives it to their team.
• Two spaces away: the Intelligence Officer chooses 2 Intel Cards from the available 10. Both cards must be taken at the same time and immediately given to the team. The Intelligence Officer must not take one card, then another card: both cards must be selected simultaneously.

Intel Cards are used to guide the Detectives only to the target space.

As soon as Intel Cards are given to a team, they are replaced with new Intel Cards from the pile. Intelligence Officers always have 10 cards available to choose from.

If both Intelligence Officers agree, they may replace all 10 Intel Cards with 10 new cards. Then, together, they resume gameplay from step 1, Gather Intel.

Hints:

• Moving two spaces may allow you to avoid the Police… but with it comes a greater risk of making a mistake.
• Don't forget that Intelligence Officers play at the same time. Intel Cards are first come, first served!

2. Move

Detectives look at the Intel Card(s) they received and study the possible target spaces. When they agree, they move their figure directly onto the target space they have chosen. Keep in mind two rules when moving:

• If you receive 1 Intel Card, you must move to an adjacent space; if you receive 2 Intel Cards, you must move exactly two spaces;
• You cannot move through Obstacle Tiles (see diagram below).

All spaces are always accessible, even if they contain an Evidence Token or your opponent's Detective Figure.

Move to an adjacent space / Move two spaces.

3. Resolve

Once the Detective Figure has been moved, the Intelligence Officer may move their Tracking Marker to the matching space on the Map Card.

Example of a Round

• A Charlie wants his team to move to the Evidence Space. He needs to give 2 Intel Cards, as the Evidence is two spaces away. This also allows him to avoid the Police.
• B His Detectives study the possible target spaces (marked in green) and then they move their figure onto the chosen space and find the Evidence!
• C They place one Evidence Token on that space, but they keep playing because they still need to find the two other pieces of evidence.

Then the Intelligence Officer checks the Map Card and announces what's in the target space, unless nothing happens. Here are the effects of landing on each type of space:

• Evidence: "Congratulations, you found one piece of Evidence!" Place one Evidence Token of the team's color on the target space. If a team moves to a space where Evidence has already been found, then nothing happens. If the team already has three different pieces of Evidence and is out of Evidence Tokens, then nothing happens.

• Client: If a team has collected three different pieces of Evidence when they arrive on the Client space, then that team wins the round. Otherwise, nothing happens.

• Police: "You've been spotted!" Place one Police Token on the team's Police Track. If this is the team's third token, then they immediately lose the round to the opposing team.

  Note about Police spaces:

  • If a team ends their move on a Police space that they resolved previously, that Police space is resolved again!
  • Moving through a Police space does not trigger it. Police spaces are resolved only if they are the target space (i.e., the space the team's Detective figure is moved to).

• Neutral Space: Nothing happens.

When nothing happens, the Intelligence Officer says nothing and keeps a poker face. Immediately go back to step 1, Gather Intel.

Intelligence Officers are not allowed to let their teams know whether they moved according to plan or not.

When everything is resolved, the Intel Cards are set aside and the team goes back to step 1, repeating the three steps in order until the round is complete.

If you run out of Intel Cards, shuffle the Intel Cards that were set aside to form a new pile.

If both teams arrive on the same space at almost the same time, step 3 is resolved first by the team that arrived first on that space.

End of the Round

The round immediately ends when:

• one of the teams moves to the Client space after having collected three pieces of Evidence. That team wins the round.
• one of the teams receives their third Police Token. The opposing team wins the round.

When a team has won two rounds, they win the game. Otherwise, a new round begins.

When starting a new round:

• teams may switch roles (i.e., a Detective may become the Intelligence Officer, and vice versa)
• Intelligence Officers choose new matching Map Cards for the round.
• all Intel Cards are shuffled and placed on the table (see step 5 of the Setup on p. 4).
• Evidence and Police Tokens are returned to their reserve.

2 and 3 Player Mode

The Shadows - Amsterdam mode for 2 or 3 players is a cooperative race against time. To play, set up the game as explained and use the same rules with following adjustments:

• all players are on the same team (so you play with only one color);
• all evidence spaces on the Map Card are accessible;
• Intelligence Officer may replace the 10 Intel Cards whenever they want.

You play in a race against time. Before starting the game, download the official app or set a timer. Choose a difficulty level, and use the following settings:

Recruit	Novice	Agent	Master
15 min	8 min	5 min	3 min

The team wins a round if they collect three different pieces of Evidence and deliver the Evidence to the Client. The team loses if they receive three Police tokens or if they run out of time.

To win the game, the team must win two rounds before they lose two rounds.

The official Shadows - Amsterdam App offers a timer and a soundtrack. Download it from www.libellud-digital.com/shadows.html or scan the QR Code in the rulebook with your phone.