Gamehelphoard

Goal

Hoard is played in rounds until a player reaches or exceeds five victory points. Each round, gather and secure as much treasure as possible from the sleeping dragon's hoard. Defend yourself from the attacks of fellow adventurers and perhaps perpetuate a few of your own! Try to end the round when you think you are ahead by running out of cards or by waking the dragon. Eeek!

2–6 players • Age 6 and up • 10 minute rounds

Components

The cards found in Hoard

• 3 dragon boards (blue side asleep, red side awake)
• 56 regular game cards:
  • 42 Treasure cards: coin bags, diamonds, rings, goblets, emeralds, Treasure Chests (wild cards)
  • 8 Dragon Action cards which affect the dragon: 3 Eeek! + 2 Shhh! + 3 Choice cards
  • 6 Sword and Shield cards (3 of each)
• A set of 6 extra cards, with feather symbol, for use in 6 player games
• 3 purple-bordered cards: add one, two, or all three to add variety to 3-6 player games

Crown: worth three points but you must give one opponent the Jester Cap token, worth two

Sceptre: allows the player to take two actions on one turn, but the they must pass it to another player

Cloak: an attack card that covers an opponent's set, reducing their score

• Player pawns
• 1 custom die with numbers 1–5 and the Esmeralda symbol
• Victory point scoring tokens and Jester Cap token

Set Up

1. In the middle of the table, arrange the 3 dragon boards blue sides up (so the dragon is fully asleep).
2. If there are 3–6 players, decide if you'd like to include one, two, or all three of the purple-bordered cards. Shuffle the game cards and arrange a total of 12 facedown around the sleeping dragon. This layout becomes the game's dynamic board.
3. Place the remaining cards in a facedown draw pile within reach of all players.
4. Deal each player 5 cards as a starting hand; these are kept secret from the other players.
5. Each player peeks at any one of the 12 facedown cards and places their pawn on top of that card.

Gameplay

The first player of the first round is determined randomly. Subsequently, the lowest-scoring player from the prior round goes first. On their turn, players perform one of four possible actions:

• rolling and moving to get a new card,
• securing treasure to score points,
• affecting the dragon, or
• using a Sword, Shield, or Cloak.

Play continues to pass clockwise until the end of the round is triggered. Then players' scores for the round are calculated and compared, victory points are awarded, and a new round begins.

Possible Actions

1) Rolling and Moving

• Roll the die. If the number is between 1 and 5, move your pawn clockwise or anticlockwise that number of spaces. Rolling the Esmeralda symbol allows you to stay where you are or to move any number of spaces between 1 and 5 in either direction.
• Look at the facedown card you've landed on. Decide if it is a card you wish to keep.
• If you wish to keep the card, put it in your hand, and replace it either with another card from your hand or with one drawn from the deck. If you replenish from the draw deck, look at the replacement card before placing it face down in the space. You always know the card you leave behind.
• If you don't want the card, put it back in its spot. Draw and keep the top card from the deck instead.

2) Securing Treasure

Lay down one set of cards, an extension to an existing set, a Shield, the Crown, or the Cloak. Take the card(s) out of your hand and put them on the table in front of you, face up, to count toward your final score.

• Playing a set: Treasure cards with green, red, black, blue, or yellow borders must be laid down initially in a group containing at least three matching treasure items.
• A Treasure Chest is a wild card that can be used in place of any one of the five coloured treasures. Only one can be played at a time. Rummaging through a chest makes noise, so when one is played, one dragon board must be flipped to its red awake side.

Treasure sets are scored one point per item, including chests.

• Extending a set: You may enlarge an initial set by adding cards containing at least two matching items. One of these can be a treasure chest.
• Playing a Shield: You may choose to lay down a Shield to capture/accompany an unmatched Sword from any player, including yourself. Display the pair in your play area to score one point.
• Playing the Crown: This will be worth three points for you, but when you secure it you must award the Jester Cap token to an opponent, who scores two points for it at the round's end.
• Playing the Cloak: In lieu of using it for its attack ability, you may secure the Cloak in your play area to score one point.

3) Affecting the Dragon

• Put one Dragon Action card face up on the table in front of you. If it is a Choice card, say whether you wish to wake or quiet the dragon.
• If you wish to rouse him or you are playing an Eeek! card, flip one of the dragon boards to the red side. The first time this happens, the tail board is flipped; the second time, the body board; and once a third card is played to fully rouse the dragon, the head board is flipped, which ends the round immediately.
• Quieting the dragon (by choosing or playing Shhh!) has the opposite effect and allows you to flip a red board to the blue sleeping side.
• You may not play a Shhh! card if all three dragon boards are showing their blue sleeping sides.
• You may only play one Dragon Action card per turn.

In the course of the round, if you can play exactly three Dragon Action cards — no more, no fewer — that set of three cards will be worth five points at the end of the round.

4) Using a Sword, Shield, or Cloak

• Put one Sword card on the table in front of you and name the opponent you wish to attack. If that person has a Shield in hand, they must reveal it and use it to capture your Sword, putting both cards face up on the table in front of them.
• If they don't have a Shield, look at their hand and a) pick any one of their cards to put in your hand, b) give them one of your cards, or c) take one of their cards and give them one of yours in exchange. Secure the Sword in your play area. You may use option b) on a player holding no cards, to delay the round ending when their next turn starts.
• Playing a Shield by itself to capture a Sword is covered in section 2) Securing Treasure.
• Secure the Cloak to score one point (as your action for that turn). Otherwise, it is an attack card that is used to cover and negate either one set of an opponent's treasures, a Crown, or their three Dragon Action card set. Since this is a significant power, give your opponent a token worth one victory point from the supply as compensation.

There is no hand size limit in Hoard, but unsecured treasures will score negative points. Always keep one beady eye on opponent hand sizes so you can guess if they are close to going out, and don't wait too long to secure your treasures.

Ending the Round

Any one of these events ends the round immediately:

• the third dragon board (head) is flipped to its awake side
• the last card is drawn from the deck
• a player begins her turn with no cards in hand

Scoring

Calculate each player's score. Each item of Treasure secured on the table, including a Treasure Chest, counts as one point; double item Treasure cards count as two.

• Each Sword and Shield pair counts as one point.
• A set of exactly three Dragon Action cards counts as five points.
• The Cloak (if not used in an attack) and Sceptre are each worth one point. The Crown is worth three points; the Jester Cap token is worth two points.
• Deductions for certain cards left in a player's hand: one point for each Treasure item (so two points for double item cards), one point for the Cloak and Sceptre, and three for the Crown. Unused Chests, Swords, Shields, and Dragon Action cards cause no deductions.

Scoring the Round and Use of Victory Point Tokens

Players compare their scores. The player with the most points takes a scoring token worth two victory points and the second place player takes a token worth one point. If there is a tie for first place, both players take a 2-point token and the 1-point token is not awarded. If two players tie for second, each takes a 1-point token

If two people are playing, they may wish to play the best of three or five rounds, using the tokens to keep track of wins.

Winning the Game

If at the end of scoring a player has tokens worth five or more victory points, she has won. If two players are tied on five or six points, those two can play a deciding round or share the victory.

Playing with Six People

Shuffle into the deck the six cards with the feather symbol in the upper right and lower left hand corners. Play proceeds as usual.

Playing with the Sceptre

• Unlike every other card in Hoard, when you receive the Sceptre — in your initial hand of five, by discovering or stealing it, or as a gift — secure it immediately. This doesn't take an action. If you forget, it may be stolen from your hand. A secured Sceptre is worth one point at the end of the round.
• If you have previously secured a Sceptre you can, at any time during your turn, gift it to an opponent so you can take two actions (or a second action if you've already taken one). The two actions can be the same or different.