Very Bad Lands: Brachio
Very Bad Lands: Brachio Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Lose & Win
When your Dinosaur goes extinct, you lose the game. All the other players are declared winners!
Components
- 1 First Player card
- 1 appendix (double-sided)
- 11 Disaster cards (each shows a value, an effect symbol, and the disaster's name)
- 12 Dinosaur cards (each shows number of lives, species, and power)
- 6 player aids (double-sided): a round summary on one side, the disaster effects on the other
Setup
- Give the First Player card to a random player, or to the oldest player (clearly the player who is closest to having lived in the age of the dinosaurs).
- The First Player shuffles and deals two Dinosaur cards to each player. Players choose one and put the other back in the box.
- For your first game, use only the Dinosaur cards with the dinosaur footprint symbol. Deal one to each player.
- In turn, starting with the First Player, reveal your dinosaur and present its species and power out loud.
Two Golden Rules
- When a Dinosaur's power contradicts a basic rule, the power wins!
- You are responsible for your Dinosaur. If you forget to use your power, too bad for you!
Round Summary
A game is played as a succession of rounds. Each round has 4 steps:
- Dealing the Disaster cards
- Exchange turn
- Revelation
- New First Player
1. Dealing the Disaster Cards
- The First Player shuffles the Disaster cards, deals one per player, then places one face up in the centre of the play area: this is the River.
- They put the remaining cards in the centre of the play area to form the Disaster deck. Secretly look at your Disaster card.
2. Exchange Turn
In turn, starting with the First Player and continuing clockwise, players may exchange their Disaster card. Important: you only play one exchange turn!
On your turn, you have three possibilities:
- Keep your Disaster card; OR
- Exchange your Disaster card with the face-up card in the centre, the River; OR
- Exchange your Disaster card with that of the next player clockwise. The next player cannot refuse the exchange. When you are the last player of the round, you may exchange your card with the top card of the Disaster deck (and not with the First Player).
Attention! Cards exchanged with the River are placed face up. The Disaster cards Heat Wave (4) and Flood (5) have an immediate effect as soon as they are placed in the River (see the section "Disaster Card Effects").
When all players have played their Exchange turn, proceed to the Revelation.
3. Revelation
- Revealing the cards: Simultaneously, turn over your Disaster cards.
- Who loses a life? Look at the value of each player's Disaster card. The one with the lowest value loses a life on their Dinosaur. Ignore the values of the cards in the River.
Attention! Some Disaster cards and some dinosaurs change the game! You must apply ALL the effects: those of the revealed Disaster cards, including those in the River, and those of the Dinosaur cards that activate at this moment. (See Disaster Card Effects.)
As long as the Night card is not in play, it is day.
Example
- Glaciation (3) protects the Dinosaur with the lowest value.
- Player 3: "Glaciation (3) protects P1, who has the lowest value. With my 7, I now have the lowest value. I lose a life."
- Player 1: "Since Glaciation is in play in the River, with my 5, which is the lowest value revealed by the Dinosaurs, I am protected!"
- Player 2: "Disease (9) makes the Dinosaur who reveals the highest value lose a life. With my 9, that's me! I lose a life."
Life Points
- A Dinosaur starts with 3 lives* (at the top of the card).
- When your Dinosaur loses a life, turn the card so that the reading of your number of lives is oriented toward you (a 90 degree turn). When your Dinosaur has no lives left, it goes extinct.
- You lose the game, all the other players win!
*Except the Belzebufo, which starts with 4 lives.
4. New First Player
When the effects of the Revelation are finished, the round's First Player passes the First Player card to the player on their left.
Brachio Disaster Card Effects
- 1 METEORITE At night, the Meteorite is worth 12. That is, the Meteorite is worth 12 only if the Night card (11) is one of the face-up cards at the Revelation.
- 2 VOLCANO If the player who played the Volcano does not lose a life during the Revelation, they gain a life.
- 3 GLACIATION The player with the lowest value is protected. Their value is ignored at the Revelation. So it is the person holding the next lowest-value Disaster card who is not protected that loses a life.
- 4 HEAT WAVE As soon as the Heat Wave (4) is placed in the River, players who have a Disaster card with a value of 6 or more in hand must make themselves known. (They may knock on the table or make their Dinosaur's cry.)
- 5 FLOOD As soon as the Flood (5) is placed in the River, an additional card from the Disaster deck is immediately added to it.
- 9 DISEASE The player with the highest value loses a life. (Beware, some players may be protected!)
- 11 NIGHT It is night, the Meteorite is worth 12, and the night power of some Dinosaurs activates.