The Attic Monster Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Objective
• Setup
• Sequence of Play
  • The Search Phase
• A Player Turn
• End of the Round
• Tile Effects
  • The Key
  • The Power
  • Flip
  • Move
  • The Catapult
  • The Trap
  • Portal
• Dice Symbols
• Entering the Mansion and Moving Around
• The Battle Phase
• Increasing the Difficulty

Components

• Box-Mansion
• 4 Ghost Meeples
• 14 Forest Tiles
• 14 Graveyard Tiles
• 4 Stone Tiles
• 4 Mansion Tokens
• 4 Key Tokens
• 2 dice
• 9 Power Crystals
• Frame

Game Objective

Attic Monster is a cooperative game! You will work together as a team to get into the attic and drive away the Monster. To do so, you will first have to find the attic key in one of the rooms of the Mansion's rooms. Alas, the rooms are also locked, and the keys for those are scattered somewhere in the forest and graveyard!

Setup

1. Place the bottom of the box inside the top.
2. Stand the box upright to create the Mansion: It has two floors (upper and lower) with an attic at the top — where the Monster is hiding!
3. Divide the remaining tiles into 3 stacks by type and turn them all face down. Shuffle each stack separately.
4. Place the Frame in front in the box as shown in the picture.
5. Place the tiles face down in front of the box as shown in the picture, forming rows of 3 or 4 tiles each. The Stone Tiles must be adjacent to the Mansion, then the Graveyard Tiles, and finally the Forest Tiles.
6. If this is a 3-player game, flip over 4 random Forest or Graveyard Tiles (not the Stone ones!). In a 2-player game, flip 6 random Forest or Graveyard Tiles (not the Stone ones!).
7. Turn the Mansion Tokens face down, shuffle them, and put 1 randomly in each side room of the lower and upper floors. Do not look at them!
8. Place Ghost Meeples on the start.
9. Choose the first player randomly (e.g., the youngest player or the one who can tell the scariest ghost story). You are ready to begin!

Sequence of Play

The game is divided into 2 parts: the Search Phase and the Battle Phase.

During the Search Phase, the players, working together, look for the keys to the rooms, gather Power Crystals, and try to reach the attic.

During the Battle Phase, the players will spend their Power Crystals and try to defeat the Monster.

You must complete the Search Phase before moving on to the Battle Phase.

The Search Phase

Your goal in this phase is to find the keys to the rooms and enter the Mansion (you can enter the Mansion even if you do not find any keys). This phase can last several game rounds.

The keys are hidden on the backs of some tiles. There are 4 keys, and each can unlock only 1 room in the Mansion.

You can also collect Power Crystals that will help you fight the Monster in the second phase of the game.

NOTE: The longer the Search Phase takes, the stronger the Monster will become, making it more difficult to defeat it in the Battle Phase!

A Player Turn

Players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the first player chosen at setup. On your turn, you will do the following:

1. Roll both dice.
2. Perform the actions rolled on the dice (optional) and apply the effects of any tile you turn face up or that your Ghost lands on (mandatory).
3. Pass the turn to the next player in clockwise order.

All of the tiles and their effects are explained in detail on p. 6–7.

You get to choose whether to use each dice action or not. You may perform both actions, only one of them, or none at all.

You must use the effect of any tile you turn face-up or end your move on (if possible). Tile effects that give you Key tokens or Power crystals can each be used only once per game. It does not matter who used the effect the first time, none of the players will be able to use that effect on that tile again.

End of the Round

The game round ends after every player has taken a turn. Then, follow these steps:

1. The players together choose one of the face up tiles (A) and place it in the attic (B). You can only choose a face up tile (including the Start tile) without any Ghosts on it.

   If there is no such tile because all revealed tiles have Ghosts on them, the Monster does not get any at the end of this round. Well done!

   The Monster gets stronger with every tile they receive. In the Battle Phase, the number of tiles in the attic will determine the Monster's Strength.

2. The same player who took the first turn in the previous round begins a new round.

Tile Effects

Every tile in the game has some special effect.

Some of the effects are triggered On Reveal, while others are triggered when you Stop on them (finish a move on the face up tile).

Ghosts can safely move onto face down tiles without triggering an effect.

• When you reveal a tile without any Ghost on it, apply only its On Reveal effect.
• When you finish your move (as part of a dice action or tile effect) on a face up tile, apply only its Stop effect.
• When you reveal the tile your Ghost is standing on, apply both its effects (On Reveal and Stop).
• When you reveal a tile with another player's Ghost on it, they apply both effects.

The Key

• On Reveal: Place the matching Key Token on this tile.
• Stop: Take the Key Token from this tile (any player can use it later). Both effects are applied only once per game.

The Power

• On Reveal: Place the Power Crystal of the matching color on this tile.
• Stop: Take the Power Crystal from this tile. Power Crystal will help you defeat the Monster in the Battle Phase. Both effects are applied only once per game.

Flip

• On Reveal: No effect.
• Stop: Flip any tile of your choice regardless of how far it is from your Ghost.

Move

• On Reveal: No effect.
• Stop: Move 1 or 2 tiles in any direction.

The Catapult

• On Reveal: Point the arrow of the Catapult in any direction of your choice.
• Stop: Move your Ghost to the last tile of the board in the direction of the Catapult arrow.

The Trap

• On Reveal: No effect.
• Stop: If you finish your move on this tile or this tile is revealed while your Ghost is on it, your Ghost is stuck in a Trap! You can not move your Ghost until you or any other player deactivates the Trap by flipping the Trap Tile face down.

Portal

• On Reveal: No effect.
• Stop: Move your Ghost to any other face-up Portal of your choice. You can use a Portal only when there are at least 2 face up Portals on the board. You cannot use a Portal if you begin your turn on one.

Dice Symbols

• No action: You cannot use this die to perform an action this turn.
• Flip (red arrow): Flip either the tile your Ghost is standing on or one adjacent to it.
  • NOTE: An adjacent tile is any tile that touches at least 1 edge of the tile where your Ghost is standing.
• Flip or Move (teal arrow): You can either flip an adjacent tile (either face up or face down) OR move your Ghost to an adjacent tile (see above).
• Flip any tile (orange arrow and star): Flip any tile you choose regardless of how far it is from your Ghost.
  • NOTE: You can flip tiles both face up and face-down. Flipping tiles face down can be useful for deactivating Trap tiles or keeping the Monster from getting them at the end of the round!
• Move (footprint): Move your Ghost to any adjacent tile (face up or face down).
  • NOTE: You can move your Ghost onto a tile with another Ghost.
  • NOTE: An adjacent tile is any tile that touches at least 1 edge of the tile where your Ghost is standing.

NOTE: You can only take the first step from the Start to two tiles adjacent to the Start in the middle row.

Entering the Mansion and Moving Around

The key to the attic where the Monster stays is hidden in one of 4 rooms on the first 2 floors. You will need to enter the Mansion and search those rooms to find it!

If your Ghost is standing on any of the Stone Tiles, you may move into the Mansion. If you do, move your Ghost to the hall — the middle room on the lower floor of the Mansion.

Any player can do this on their turn using a Move (footprint) or a Flip or Move (teal) dice action from their dice roll. You can use each result to either move around the board or enter the Mansion (not both!).

You may exit the Mansion by the same rules.

NOTE: There can be any number of Ghosts inside the Mansion! All the keys that you have gathered can be used by any player. The same player can open any number of rooms if you have enough keys.

Example from the rulebook: At the beginning of their turn, the player rolled the dice and got the Move and Flip or Move results. They make 2 moves but cannot enter the Mansion on the same turn because they have already spent all of their move actions. If, on their next turn, this player rolls at least 1 Move or Flip or Move, they will be able to enter the Mansion and place their Ghost in the hall on the lower floor.

To move from the hall on the lower floor to a room on the upper floor, the player has to spend an action to move up. Then they can move into the room for free if the player has the key to unlock that room.

From the hall on the lower floor you can move:

• Up to the hall on the upper floor (on your turn). To do so, you have to spend a Move or Flip or Move die result. You can go down from the upper floor to the lower floor in the same way.
• To any room on the same floor if you (as a team) have the key to it. You do not have to spend an action to unlock the room and move into it and out of it, but you can do so only on your turn and only if your Ghost is already inside the Mansion and on the same floor.
• To a room on another floor: If the room you want to enter is on another floor, you have to spend a Move or Flip or Move die action to go up or down, but you do not have to spend another action to unlock the room and move into it.

NOTE: The design of the room matches the key that unlocks it.

When you enter a room, you can search for the key to the attic in it. To do so, flip the Mansion Token on the floor of that room. If there is a key symbol on it — you have found it! If there is no key symbol, the attic key is in another room.

As soon as any of the players find the key to the attic, the Search Phase ends immediately and the Battle Phase begins.

NOTE: The Search Phase ends immediately when a player finds the attic key! Players who did not take their turns this round "lose" them!

NOTE: If you have found the key, do not place a tile in the attic at the end of the phase!

The Battle Phase

Now all the players have to fight the Monster to kick it out of the attic and their Mansion!

To fight the Monster and get the attic back:

1. Count the tiles in the attic — the Monster's Strength equals that number.
2. Remove as many tiles from the attic as the number of Power Crystals your team collected.
3. Starting with the first player, take turns in clockwise order. On your turn, roll 2 dice. An X (No action) result is a "miss." Any other result removes 1 tile from the attic.
4. If, after every player has taken a turn, there are no more tiles left — you kick the Monster out of the attic!
5. If there is still at least 1 tile left, the Monster stays in the attic and you lose. Try again!

Increasing the Difficulty

If you find the Battle Phase too easy, try this mode to increase the difficulty: In this case, every tile in the attic with a Trap adds 2 to Monster's Strength (instead of 1)!