The Jailbreak
The Jailbreak Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 18 Tool Tiles
- 56 Escape Cards
- 6 Whisper Cards
- 12 tokens
- Escape Logbook
- Rulebook
- Toolbag
Understanding Your Tool Tiles
There are 18 Tool tiles in the Toolbag with 9 different faces. Each Tool side shows two pieces of information:
- A color (orange, yellow, or black)
- An Icon (key, cutters, or rope)
Tool tiles are double sided and, most importantly, the 'back' (public side) of each Tool has a different color and icon from the 'front' (private side) of the Tool.
For example, if you are looking at a yellow rope, the other side (public, which everyone else sees):
- will NOT be yellow (it will be either orange or black)
- will NOT have a rope (it will either be key or cutters)
Each of the nine Tool faces appear four times in the bag, exactly once with each of the four possible combinations on the reverse side.
Setup
- Refer to the Escape Logbook to choose and see which Day and Challenge is next.
- Find and place Escape cards as the logbook instructs, then flip them all face-up.
- Set out the Whisper cards as shown in the Escape Logbook (orange side face-up).
- Shuffle the Tool tiles in the Toolbag and have each player draw two Tool tiles from it (or three Tool tiles with 2 players).
- The players collectively decide who will take the first turn.
Do NOT peek at the back of your Tool tiles, or other tiles in the bag. We recommend drawing Tool tiles from the bag from under the table.
How to Play
On your turn, you must take exactly ONE action, if able. Either use one of the Whisper cards to help reveal information or use one of your Tools to overcome an Escape card.
If you cannot take an action (i.e. you don't have any Tools in your hand and Whispers require you to discard a Tool), play passes to the next player.
Escape Order
Escape cards can be completed in any order, unless specified otherwise.
Playing a Tool Tile
- Nominate an Escape card you are playing to.
- Play a Tool either side up, unless the Escape card specifies otherwise.
If the played Tool tile meets the requirements, congratulations! You are one step closer to finishing this Challenge.
If the played tile does not meet the requirements, discard it and play passes to the next player.
Can't Play?
In very rare circumstances, it is possible that the mix of Tools and Escape cards make it impossible for a Challenge to be completed successfully. Simply count this as a FAILED attempt and restart.
Using a Whisper Card
Choose an available Whisper card and follow its instructions. (See the final page for a summary of each).
Ending a Challenge
Play continues until the current Challenge is finished or failed.
FINISHED: If you have played the correct Tools on all Escape cards, you have completed this Challenge of the Jailbreak successfully. Shuffle the tools back into the Toolbag and move onto the next Challenge. If all Challenges of this Day are finished, mark this Day as finished and move onto the next Day.
FAILED: If you do not have enough Tool tiles left in your combined hands to complete the remaining Escape cards, you have failed this Challenge. Setup this Challenge again (with new cards). Better luck next time!
Note: Logbook may introduce other ways to fail a Challenge.
Gameplay Example
The three Escape cards for this Challenge. Escape card (A) must be completed first, as (B) and (C) need to be completed in a specific order. Escape card (A) requires an orange Tool, played public side-up (side you cannot see).
The three Whisper cards available for this Challenge. When a Whisper card is used the first time, it is flipped over. Using it again will come at a cost.
Sarah's Turn and Perspective
Sarah has an Orange tile (G), but it is facing the wrong way and cannot be played at the moment. She activates the Color Whisper, stating she can see "three orange tools."
Joel now knows that on the private side of Sarah's tiles, and the public side of his tiles combined, there are exactly three orange tools.
Joel's Turn and Perspective
Joel knows that the color on the 'back' of each tool is always different from the 'front', therefore at least one, or possibly both of his tools (Y) and (Z) are orange on the back. And because tool (X) cannot be orange on both sides, he knows Sarah must have at least one orange tool facing her.
Joel decides to take an educated guess and plays a Tool. Tools (Y) and (Z) each have an even chance of being orange, but he chooses (Y) and keeps (Z), because it is black and may be useful later for Escape card (B).
Joel points to the Escape card (A) and plays his Tool to it, public side up. Yes! Joel correctly played orange to the obstacle.
It is now Turn 2. Escape card (C) is the next to be completed and requires a Key Tool of any color. What do you think is Sarah's next play?
Whispers
When you use a whisper card, follow its instructions including any symbols in the order they appear on the card (top-left corner icon first, ability second, bottom-right corner icon last).
- COLOR TALLY: Choose a color (orange, black, or yellow). Announce how many Tools of that color you can see (your private side, other players' public side).
- TOOL TALLY: Choose a Tool type (key, cutters, or rope). Announce how many Tools of that type you can see (your private side, other players' public side).
- FIX THEIR HAND: Flip a Tool tile in another player's hand.
- FIX YOUR HAND: Flip a Tool tile in your hand.
- THEY GO FIRST: Choose a Tool tile in another player's hand. That player must play the Tool to an Escape card of their choice. Then, you may play a Tool from your hand.
- STASH SWAP: Draw a new Tool from the Toolbag into your hand. Then discard a Tool from your hand.
Whisper Icons
- Flip this Whisper to the other side (also setup the game with this side up).
- Discard a Tool tile from your hand.
- Discard this Whisper card for the rest of this Challenge.
For Your Eyes Only
During the game, there will be some information you can talk about freely, and some that you must keep private.
Public knowledge is everything known by all players. This includes:
- Played and Discarded Tool tiles - both sides of the tile are public knowledge
- Tiles in player's hands that have been flipped by a Whisper card
Players can discuss how an Escape card works ("Remember, this Escape card needs to be completed second"), and can remind (or show) each other what a player has said in a past action, or what was on the other side of a tile that has been turned around.
Private knowledge is everything you can see but at least one other player cannot. This includes:
- The Tools in your hand, facing you.
- The back of the Tools in another player's hand.
Do Not Discuss
Some of your private knowledge may overlap with the private knowledge of other players, but until it has been made completely public, it must NOT be discussed.
Players cannot discuss how a player should play their Tools, what you believe is in your hand, or what you believe is in another player's hand, as this may be based on your private knowledge.
Escape Logbook
The Logbook will show you the setup for each Challenge. We highly recommend playing through it in sequence over multiple gaming sessions as the gameplay gets progressively harder. After that, play the hardcore mode, or create your own Challenges.