The Princess Bride: As You Wish Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Card Anatomy
• Character Cards
• Preparing Each Round
• Playing a Turn
• Scoring
• Summary of Play

Contents

• 75 Quest cards
• 10 Character cards

Setup

Shuffle the Character cards and deal one to each player. The remaining cards will not be used this game.

Shuffle the Quest cards into one face-down deck placed in the center of the play area within reach of all players.

Each player draws one card from the deck and places it face-up in front of himself or herself. This will be the first card of each player's Quest.

Whenever you add a new Quest card to your Quest place it so that only the spine of the previous card remains showing. Each player should have enough clear space for a row of up to ten overlapping cards.

Card Anatomy

A. Quest cards feature scenes and dialogue from the Princess Bride. The goal of play is to collect Quest cards that will maximize your score, as noted by the icon on the spine of each card. Each player will pursue their own unique combination of icons.

B. Cards with a white spine mean you'll score extra points for matching icons within your own quest.

C. Cards with a dark blue spine mean you'll also score points each time that icon is present in your neighbouring opponents' quests.

D. Lastly, some cards have one, two or three poison icons. Poison should be avoided whenever possible.

The Quest icons are: Fight, Glory, Love, Might, Wits.

Character Cards

Character cards give you long-term goals for your quest. A character card scores points for icons in your quest only when your quest meets the minimum length printed on the card. Face-down cards count towards this minimum length, however they do not count towards scores.

Preparing Each Round

Play is divided into rounds. Each round, the player with the highest visible number in their quest takes the role of Dealer.

To start each round, the Dealer draws one card per player, plus two (or three for a five or six player game) from the deck. The Dealer chooses two of these cards to place face-down in the center of the play area. (In a five or six player game, he chooses and places three face-down cards.) The Dealer places the remaining cards face-up alongside the face-down cards.

Turn order then proceeds from the player with the lowest card taking the first turn, followed by the next highest card, and so on, until the Dealer takes the last turn.

Example: In the example to the right, the highest card visible in a Quest is 66, so its owner will be the Dealer for this round. The player who owns the 7 will take the first turn, followed by the player who owns the 27, the 48 and lastly the Dealer.

Example (four players): This is a four-player game, so the Dealer will draw six cards. (4+2=6). The Dealer chooses two cards to put face-down, then places the remaining cards face-up in the center of the play area.

Playing a Turn

On a turn, the active player takes one of the offered cards and adds it to his or her collection. If taking a face-down card, the active player must then turn it over so it is face-up to add it to the quest. If the active player has taken a poisoned card, any other poisoned cards already in their quest must be turned face-down until there are three or fewer poison icons visible in the quest after adding the new card.

If the active player is the Dealer, they must take two cards from the offer. The Dealer decides the order in which they are placed in his or her quest.

The remaining card (or cards in a game of 5-6) from the offer is discarded. A new round begins with a new turn order and possibly a new Dealer. Play continues until the end of a round in which one player has nine or more cards in their collection. Then proceed to Scoring.

Example: The first player takes the 49, the second player takes the 16, the third player takes a face-down card and turns it over to reveal that it is a 21. Finally, the Dealer takes two cards, one of which is the 14 which gives him a total of two poisons so far. He takes the 55. This forces him to turn a poisoned card face-down (he chooses A) so he only has three poisons visible in his quest.

Scoring

Character Score: Each player scores points as indicated by their character card. Only score points if the quest is of the minimum length noted on the card. Face-down cards count towards this minimum length, however they do not count towards scores.

Example: In the example, this player is Count Rugen. He will earn 2 points per FIGHT icon in his quest, but only if that quest has over six cards in it. He will also score 1 point per MIGHT icon in his quest, but only if his quest has over eight cards in it. His quest has nine cards, thus both conditions are met and he will score for both icons. He has three FIGHT, so he scores 6 points. He has two MIGHT, so he scores an additional 2 points.

Light Card Score: Any cards with a white spine allow you to score a certain number of points from any other identical icons in your quest. Again, these cards must be face-up in order to score.

Example: Count Rugen has a light spined GLORY (A) which would have scored him 1 point for each other GLORY in his quest. Unfortunately, no other GLORY are visible. He also has a light spined MIGHT (B), which scores him 1 point for each other MIGHT in his quest. He has one other, so he scores 1 additional point. His face-down cards would have added to his score even further, but he took too much poison (perhaps he was tricked into taking it by someone seeking revenge for a murdered father).

Dark Card Score: Any cards with a dark blue spine allow you to score a certain number of points from matching icons in your neighboring opponent's quests. In other words, the players to your left and your right (in a two-player game only score these cards once). No other opponent's quests count towards this score. Again, these cards must be face-up in order to score.

Example: Count Rugen had a black spined WITS (C) which scores him 2 points for each WITS in his neighboring opponent's quests. His opponents collectively have three WITS (D) visible, so he earns an additional 6 points.

Winning: The player with the most points wins. In the case of a tie, then the player who has the most images of their character in the movie stills on their quest cards wins.

Summary of Play

Setup

1. One Character card to each player.
2. Shuffle the Quest cards.
3. Each player draws one Quest card to begin their row of Quest cards.

Playing a Round

1. Player with the visible Quest card with the highest number is the Dealer for this round.
2. Dealer draws one Quest card per player, plus two (three in 5-6 player games).
3. Dealer places two of these cards (of their choice) face-down in the middle of the play area and places the remaining cards face up.
4. The player with the lowest numbered Quest chooses any card from the play area and places it in their Quest face-up (see 5). Then the player with the next lowest Quest chooses one, and so on until lastly the Dealer chooses two cards for their Quest and discards any remaining cards.
5. When a player adds a card to his or her Quest with any number of poison icons on it, they must turn face-down any of the poison cards in the Quest until only three or fewer poison icons are showing.
6. Rounds continue until one player has nine or more cards in his or her Quest at round's end.

Scoring

1. Score points based on your character.
2. Score light card points.
3. Score dark card points.