Tintenherz Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Story
• Object of the Game
• Game Contents
• Game Setup
• Overview of Play
  • The Dice
  • 1. Moving Fenoglio or the Shadow
  • Determining the Dice Result
  • The Marder Gwin
  • 2. Solving a Task
• Ending the Game

Story

In the novel "Tintenherz" (Inkheart), some people have the ability, while reading a book aloud, to "read out" persons and creatures from its story. The characters appear in our world; in return, characters vanish into the world of that story.

Meggie, the 12-year-old heroine of the novel, lives with her father Mortimer, whom she simply calls Mo. Others call him Zauberzunge (Silver Tongue). Mo is a bookbinder and possesses the ability of "reading out". When Meggie was three years old, he read the book "Tintenherz" aloud and thereby brought wicked, murderous figures and their leader Capricorn into our world. At the same time, Meggie's mother Resa vanished into the world of "Tintenherz".

Capricorn and his companions have set up camp in an abandoned village in Upper Italy and want to prevent anyone from ever again "reading them back" into their own world. For this reason they have destroyed almost all copies of the book. Capricorn forces Meggie, who has likewise proved to be a capable "reader", to use the last remaining copy of the book to bring the Shadow, a particularly feared figure, into our world, so that he may wield even more power and terror. Together with Fenoglio, the author of the book, Mo and Meggie develop a plan to rewrite the story so that the Shadow turns against his master Capricorn.

This is where the game begins. The Shadow has already appeared on the scene. Will he turn against Capricorn? To make this happen, the players must together find the right words to help Meggie and Fenoglio in their fight against Capricorn and the Shadow.

Object of the Game

The players must solve tasks by forming words from the letters that lie face up on the game board. If a task is solved, Meggie moves towards the goal. Otherwise, Capricorn advances. If Meggie reaches the goal space first, the dark side is defeated and the players have won together. If Capricorn arrives first, all players have lost.

Game Contents

• 1 game board
• 4 game pieces
• 2 dice (1 number die, 1 direction die)
• 1 hourglass (running time approx. 1 minute)
• 25 letter cards (23 show a letter, 2 show the Marder Gwin)
• 58 book chips (with a book on one side and a heart on the other)
• 55 task cards

Game Setup

Before the first game, carefully punch the letter cards and book chips out of the frame.

• The game board is placed in the middle of the table.

• The letter cards are placed on the spaces of the board as follows:

  • On one of the four corner spaces, the "E" card is placed face up.
  • The card with the letter "N" is placed face up on the space diagonally opposite.
  • All other letter cards are first placed face down on the 23 remaining free spaces of the board.
  • The cards on the spaces adjacent to the "E" and "N" spaces are turned face up.
  • Likewise, the two letter cards on the two other corner spaces are turned face up, as well as the cards adjacent to them. There are thus 12 cards face up (see illustration below).

• Fenoglio (the green figure) is placed on the space where the "E" is face up. The Shadow (the black figure) is placed on the space in the middle of the board.

• Meggie (the yellow figure) and Capricorn (the red figure) are placed on the start space with the arrow.

• The task cards are sorted by their backs. Two stacks result, which are well shuffled and placed face down with their backs up next to the game board.

  • Note: To get to know the game, during the first game only the cards with a green back should be used, as these are somewhat easier.

• The hourglass is placed so that the green side faces up.

• The dice are placed beside the game board.

• Each player receives one book chip, which they place in front of themselves with the book side up.

This is how the game board could be set up:

[Illustration: game board set up for play]

Overview of Play

The youngest player begins. The player whose turn it is rolls both dice and moves, according to the dice result, either Fenoglio (the green figure), if the green side of the hourglass faces up, or the Shadow (the black figure), if the black side faces up. If the move of Fenoglio or the Shadow ends on a task space (the light-coloured spaces), the players must solve a task. Then the next player in clockwise order takes a turn.

The Dice

• The direction die shows the four symbols that appear on the four sides of the letter field. It determines the direction in which the green or black figure must be moved. If the direction cross is rolled, the player may freely choose the direction in which the figure moves.
• The number die determines how many spaces the figure must be moved, i.e. either 1, 2 or 3 spaces. If a figure reaches an edge space and still has movement points left, the figure is moved to the space opposite it in the same row, and from there it is moved on by the remaining number of spaces shown on the number die (see also Example 1).

1. Moving Fenoglio or the Shadow

While the green side of the hourglass faces up, Fenoglio is moved. If the space onto which Fenoglio is moved holds a letter card lying face down, that card is turned face up. Face-down letter cards on spaces over which Fenoglio is moved are not turned up.

While the black side of the hourglass faces up, the Shadow is moved. If the space onto which the Shadow is moved holds a letter card lying face up, that card is turned over onto its back (face down). In addition, all face-up letter cards on the spaces over which the Shadow is moved are turned onto their backs.

• A figure may be moved over the other figure.
• Both figures may also stand on the same space.
• If the move of Fenoglio or the Shadow ends on a dark space, the next player immediately takes their turn. If the move of a figure ends on a light space, a task must first be solved (see "Solving a Task").

Example 1: A player rolls the book symbol and a "3". The black side of the hourglass faces up. The player must therefore move the black figure (the Shadow) 3 spaces in the direction of the book. The player moves the Shadow over the left edge of the game board and places it again in the same row on the opposite side. Because the Shadow was moved over the letter cards "Z" and "V", these cards are turned onto their backs.

Example 2: Again a player rolls the book symbol and a "3". This time the green side of the hourglass faces up, so the green figure (Fenoglio) must be moved 3 spaces in the direction of the book. The face-down letter card on which Fenoglio's move ends is turned face up. The letter "W" appears.

Determining the Dice Result

Some dice rolls can be very unfavourable. For example, during the Shadow's move an important letter such as "E" or "N" may be covered. In this case the player whose turn it is may turn one of his book chips to its heart side and turn one of the two dice to any side.

[Illustration: a book chip turned over, with an arrow, to show the heart side]

The Marder Gwin

If a player turns up one of the two letter cards showing the Marder Gwin, he may turn up any one face-down letter card. This also applies if a player moves Fenoglio onto a space on which a face-up "Marder Gwin" card already lies. If turning up a card also brings the other Marder Gwin to light, the player may not turn up any further letter card.

2. Solving a Task

If a figure is moved onto a light space, all players now try to solve a task:

• If Fenoglio was moved, the player whose turn it is turns over the top green task card.
• If the Shadow was moved, the player whose turn it is turns over the top red task card.

The player reads the task aloud and then turns the hourglass over. Until the hourglass runs out (approx. 1 minute), each player has the opportunity to name one word that fits the task. Each player may name only one word.

Rules for naming words:

• All letters from which a word is composed must lie face up on the game board. A face-up letter may, however, occur several times in one word. If, for example, the word "Elle" (ell, a unit of measure) is named, the word is valid if "E" and "L" lie face up.
• The word must fit the given task. If the task is, for example, "Name a drink!", the words "Zitrone" (lemon) or "Brei" (porridge) must not be named. "Zitronensaft" (lemon juice), however, would be allowed.
• Abbreviations such as "BRD", "VW" or "ZDF" are not allowed.
• The umlauts ä, ü and ö must be written as ae, ue and oe. For words containing "ß" (German sharp s), a single "s" is used. (Translator's note: these three rules are specific to the German spelling of the words in the game.)
• No player may name a word that another player has already named before. A word may also not be named a second time in a slightly altered form (for example as a plural or comparative form of a word already named).
• However, a compound word made of two or more words may be named if one of its parts was named before (for example: House, then high-rise building; Bird, then bird of prey or songbird).
• If a player has named an obviously invalid word, for example because not all the necessary letters are present, or because another of the rules above was broken, that player may not name any further word for this task.
• After the hourglass has run out, the players should decide together in disputed cases whether a named word is valid. The word must be common in everyday language, and at least one other person in the play group should also know it.

Consequences:

• If the task was solved by the players, Meggie (the yellow figure) moves one space in the direction of the goal.
• If the task was not solved, Capricorn (the red figure) moves one space in the direction of the goal.

A task counts as solved if:

• in a game with 2 players, at least 1 valid word was found;
• in a game with 3 or 4 players, at least 2 valid words were found; and
• in a game with 5 or 6 players, at least 3 valid words were found.

Regardless of whether the task was solved or not, every player who named a valid word may take one book chip and place it book side up in front of themselves.

If at least 2 valid words were named and there is one player who alone named the word with the most letters, that player receives a second book chip as a reward, which they likewise place book side up in front of themselves.

Note: If there are no longer enough book chips to hand out, each player returns three book chips to the supply. Which chips a player returns (book side or heart side face up) is up to that player. A player with fewer than three chips returns only as many as they have. Only after this do all players who named a valid word receive the book chips they are owed.

The task card that was played is then placed on an open discard pile.

Example of a task: Five players are playing. Kirsten is next in turn. She rolls a 1 and a "flame" and moves Fenoglio onto a light space. She then turns over the top card of the green task stack, reads the task aloud and turns the hourglass over. The task reads: "Name a mammal!"

Claudia calls "Loewe" (lion), Kirsten calls "Pferd" (horse), Wolfgang calls "Erpel" (drake) and Reiner calls "Nilpferd" (hippopotamus). Just before the hourglass runs out, Klaus names "Reh" (deer) in the last second.

Except for "Erpel" and "Reh", all named words fulfil the task. "Reh" is invalid, because there is no face-up "H" on the game board. "Erpel" does not count, because a drake is not a mammal.

Except for Wolfgang and Klaus, all players receive a book chip. Reiner receives a second book chip for his "Nilpferd", because he named the longest word.

Since 3 words were found (with five players at least 3 are needed), Meggie is moved 1 space in the direction of the goal.

Ending the Game

The game ends when either Meggie or Capricorn reaches the goal space.

If Meggie reaches the goal space first, Fenoglio has, thanks to all the players, found the right words to rewrite his story, and with Meggie's help it succeeds in defeating Capricorn. In this case all players have won together. The player or players who have the most book chips lying book side up "have won a little more".

If Capricorn reaches the goal space first, all players have lost. In this case the player or players who have the most chips lying heart side up may feel like "Players of the Hearts". If the players have not won, these players have nevertheless shown a heart for the community.