Wilde Horde
Wilde Horde Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Build the best team of "athletes" to win the game of "Rockball"! Players recruit athletes by bribing them to win a card trick. That player with the best team will score the most points and win the game.
Contents
- 24 athlete cards
- 4 information cards
- 48 bribe cards (with values 1 to 12 with four suits: bones, rocks, sticks, and meat)
Game Flow
There as many rounds as there are players in the game. In every round 12 tricks with one, two or three athlete cards are distributed, and the winner of the trick plays a card to start the next trick, etc.
Game Setup
Sort both decks by their backs and shuffle the two decks separately. Lay the athlete cards in four columns in the center of the table as shown in the photo below: first lay a single row of four cards, under these place two rows of cards and under these place three rows. For example:
Afterwards the bribe cards are distributed evenly to the players. The players hold the cards concealed.
What is a Trick?
A player begins by playing a bribe card from his hand. The other players must play a card in turn, playing a card with the same suit if possible. If a player does not have a matching-suit card, he can play any other card. All players that can match the suit must do so, however. Meat is the trump suit. If a player cannot match the suit led and plays a trump card, he is said to "trick". The trump card (Meat) with the highest value wins the trick and takes all of the cards. If no trump card is played, the highest value card of the led suit wins the trick and takes all the cards. By playing a card that does not match the led suit and is not trump, the trick cannot be won. The player who wins the trick leads a card to start the next trick.
End of a Round
The winner of a trick takes athlete cards from the center table display, initially one card and later two and then three. Cards are taken starting from the top left of the display: The winners of the first four tricks receive in each case one card from the top row. The winners of the next four tricks receive in each case two cards (the two in the column, not the first two in the row) and the winners of the last four tricks receive in each case three cards (again, in each case three from one column starting with the first column). Players who win the athletes place the cards face up in front of themselves. The bribe cards played in the trick are removed from the game.
There is a number on the athlete cards in the corner. As a rule the cards with a high numerical value at the end of the round bring many points. Nevertheless, there are some types of athlete cards that cannot be bribed so easily:
Hermit
The hermit is used to getting by with little. When he is played in the trick, the lowest value card of the lead suit wins the trick. Meat does not count here as a trump.
Cave Painter
The cave painter cannot be bribed with such a crude thing as meat. When he is played in the trick, meat does not count as trump. The player with the highest value card of the lead suit wins the trick.
Scoring
Once all of the athlete cards are distributed, players sum the values of the cards they have collected. These sums are adjusted by the following special cards:
Temptress
Athletes are distracted by the Temptress. Whoever holds this card must remove the highest value held athlete from their score.
Holy Goat
The Holy Goat doubles the power of all the cards, both positive and negative.
Fat Boy
The Fat Boy eats the Holy Goat if they are together, and thus the doubling effect of the Holy Goat is cancelled. On his own, the Fat Boy has no special effect.
Cheerleader
Athletes like to be cheered. If a player wins the Cheerleader, each of their "1" value athletes is doubled to "2".
Winning no Tricks
If a player takes no tricks, they are awarded 20 points.
The Next Rounds
Note the score of the players. Reshuffle both decks. The left neighbor of the first player lays out the athlete grid, distributes the bribe cards, and begins the play.
Game End
The play ends after as many rounds as there are players in the game. The player with most points wins. If tied, the player who has wins more points in the last round wins.