Gamehelpescapefromthehiddencastle

Objective

Bring your guests to the castle's rooms to avoid the banishing of Hugo, so that you will be the one with the least spooky points.

Gameplay

Setup

• Each player starts with a number of "guests" as follows:

2 players = 6 "guests" each

3 players = 5 "guests" each

4 players = 4 "guests" each

5 players = 3 "guests" each

6-8 players = 2 "guests" each

• Each player starts with 10 Spooky Points (you don't want these) which are indicated by the appropriately colored token on the outside edge of the board.
• Hugo's speed (movements per turn) starts at 3 and is indicated by the blue clocks in the upper right of the board. (If he gets faster than 7, the game is over!)
• Hugo's figure is placed on +10 in the cellar (but remember, Spooky Points are bad so +10 of them isn't good).
• Each player, starting with the first player and continuing "clockwise", places one of their guests on any free gallery space until all guests are placed in the gallery.

On Your Turn

• Roll the die, which has faces 1-2-4-5-Ghost-Ghost.
• If Ghost is rolled on the die, Hugo gets to move (see below) INSTEAD of one of your guests.
• If a number is rolled, you MUST move one of your guests clockwise the number of spaces indicated (unless entering a room). You cannot pass your turn so if you have no guests in the gallery then you MUST move a guest out of a room or out of the cellar. You MAY pass or land on the same gallery square as another guest.
• You can safely pass THROUGH Hugo and not be captured. However, if your guest STOPS on the same space as Hugo, they are captured.
• Guests in a room start their steps INSIDE the room (so the first step gets them out of the room).
• The cellar is like a very long room in that it takes only ONE move to get to the arrow at the top of the stairs no matter how far down the stairs the guest started (in other words, a roll of 1 will get you to the "arrow" square in the gallery from anywhere in the cellar).

Rooms

• You can start moving your guests into rooms ONLY when Hugo is in the gallery (otherwise the guests won't have any reason to be afraid).  :-)
• Rooms may be entered only by the doors to the gallery (indicated by an arch on the gallery floor).

Note: It takes a move to step from the gallery into a room!

• Rooms with a RED coat of arms / shield (the Library and Laundry rooms on the top) or no other guest in them may be entered with AT LEAST the required number of moves.
• Rooms with a GREEN coat of arms / shield (the Trophy Room and Playroom on the bottom) or another guest in them may be entered ONLY with an EXACT number of moves.

Note: Rooms with coats of arms (shields) are worth positive or negative Spooky Points as indicated on the coat of arms. Remember, Spooky Points are BAD so negative Spooky Points is a good thing.

• If your guest moves into an occupied room, the guest already in there is expelled to the gallery and can re-enter (expelling you) by rolling a 1 or working their way around the gallery and back to the room.
• If you choose to leave a room, it takes one move to get back into the gallery - so if you're in a room and roll a 1 you can only step back out to the gallery and not progress any further around the board.

Hugo's Movement

• If the Hugo symbol is rolled, Hugo moves a number of steps clockwise according to his speed counter (blue clocks in the upper right), starting with 3.
• If Hugo passes or stops at a space with a guest, that guest is captured and put on the LOWEST (highest Spooky Point) open step in the cellar. If all cellar steps are full, captives go to the BOTTOM (+10) step of the cellar. Ouch!
• If multiple guests are on a square, all of them are captured and placed on the same step in the cellar and the owners of the captured guests receive the appropriate Spooky Points for that cellar step.
• Hugo ALWAYS takes all his moves, so it's possible he may capture multiple guests on multiple gallery squares in a single turn.
• Each time Hugo moves onto the arrow (at the top of the cellar stairs), his speed counter (blue clocks in the upper right) is increased and he starts moving the new number of steps on his NEXT move.

End of Game

• The game ends when either a person reaches at least 46 Spooky Points OR Hugo passes the arrow when his speed is 7.
• The player with the LEAST Spooky Points wins.

Board Game Arena Notes

• The standard "player score" section of Board Game Arena will show a player's Spooky Points as a NEGATIVE number despite most of the values on board showing as a "+". This means the play with the LEAST NEGATIVE score is the winner.
• It is unclear how Board Game Arena handles a tie in Hugo, but it is assumed that all players with the lowest number of Spooky Points get to SHARE the win.

Variants

Midnight Party

• The game consists of three rounds, no matter what.
• Hugo always move 3 steps, unless there are 7-8 players, then he moves 2.
• Guests cannot be expelled from rooms. They also cannot leave the cellar.
• If you have no guests on the gallery, you still roll the dice, but cannot move.
• A round ends when all rooms are occupied or there are no guests on the gallery.
• After a round, guests in rooms move into the doors. Guests in cellars are placed one by one, starting from -10.
• Hugo is placed back onto -10 and the player with the most spooky points becomes the first player.