Gamehelpmonsterfactory

A monster-building game for 2-6 players aged 5 and up by Donald X. Vaccarino & Nina Paley

The players take turns drawing and placing tiles, either adding to their own monsters or to those of their opponents. The goal is to make a big monster, but not so big that it goes unfinished!

Playing the Game

The players choose a starting player and take turns in clockwise order. On a player’s turn, they draw one facedown tile and adds it to anyone’s monster - their own or another player’s. If there is a monster the player can add it to, they must do so. The player may not choose to discard a playable tile. If the tile does not fit anywhere and all other players agree, the player discards the tile back into the box (it will not be played in this game) and draws a replacement. Once a player has played a tile, their turn ends and the next player takes his turn.

Each edge of a tile shows either a thin bit of monster (colored green), a thick bit of monster (colored purple), or blank (white).

Players must place each tile such that a thin edge or thick edge matches the same thickness on the edge of a tile on someone’s monster. Also no touching edges can mismatch - a player cannot place a tile with thin next to thick, thin next to blank, or thick next to blank. A player can place a tile with blank next to blank, but the tile must connect to another tile on at least one thin or thick side.

If a player’s monster has no thin or thick edges to connect to, the monster is complete. The player immediately draws a random tile to start a new monster, which is called a minion. This happens even if it is not that player's turn - and if their turn is next, this does not count as their turn. When a player completes a minion, they start another. A player may never have more than one monster or minion “in progress” at any time.

When a player has completed his first monster, the player can no longer place tiles on other players’ first monsters. Such a player can play on other players’ minions, however.

Game end

When all players’ first monsters are complete or no face-down tiles are left, the game is over.

Scoring

Each player scores one point per tile in a completed first monster, and one point per tile showing an eye in each completed minion (one point per tile with an eye, not one point per eye). Uncompleted monsters and minions score no points. Remember, any exposed thin or thick bit will cause that monster to be worth 0.

Winner

The player with the highest score wins. If there is a tie for highest score, the tied players rejoice in their shared victory.

© 2012 Rio Grande Games. All rights reserved