Gamehelpsummercampgamescapturetheflag

Overview

It's the last week of summer, and Blue cabin and Red cabin settle it the old way: Capture the Flag. Each camp hides its flag on its own half of the meadow, under one of three camp markers. Sneak across the midline, find the real flag and carry it home before the other camp does the same to you.

The twist: you never quite know what you're looking at. Your campers start as blinds, hidden blocks the other player sees only as "?". Some are real campers; some are decoys, camp hoodies propped on broomsticks.

How to win

• Bring home the flag: a camper carrying the enemy flag steps onto your half.
• Jail them all: every enemy camper is in your jail (or being escorted there) at the end of a turn.

Key words

• Camper: a real member of your team. Decoy: a fake block.
• Blind: a hidden block. The other camp can't tell a camper from a decoy.
• Revealed: a camper out in the open. Everyone sees that it's a real camper, but not who.
• Identified: a revealed camper whose identity is known. It becomes identified when an enemy spots it, or when it tags, flips a camp marker, picks up a flag or uses its ability.
• Raider: a camper on the enemy half. Defender: a camper on its own half.
• Home line: the row of hexes along the far edge of your half.

Setup

1. Pick your team: your Captain plus any 4 of the other 7 campers.
2. Choose your decoys: start 1 or 2 decoys on the board; the rest wait in your supply.
3. Adjust your camp: your jail, your 3 camp markers (1 flag, 2 empty tents) and your blocks are placed for you. Click a piece, then a highlighted hex, to move it, or re-roll the placement. Neither player can see the other's half.
   • The jail must be at least 4 hexes from the midline.
   • Camp markers: at least 2 hexes from the midline, not next to each other.
   • Blocks: at least 3 hexes from the midline.
4. Each player draws 3 Scramble cards.
5. Red's head start: Red activates one block, then Blue takes the first full turn.

Your turn

1. Refresh: draw Scramble cards until you hold 3.
2. Activate each of your blocks once, in any order (blocks you can still activate glow white). You may skip any of them.
3. Spotting is checked automatically after every activation.
4. Click End turn when you're done.

While your opponent takes their turn you see nothing. When your turn starts, a replay shows everything you could see moving from where it was to where it went.

Moving

Blinds

• A blind moves 1 or 2 hexes, whatever the terrain. Campers and decoys move exactly the same way, so movement gives nothing away.
• A blind can't spot, tag, flip camp markers, carry a flag or rescue prisoners, and campers can't use abilities while blind.

Breaking cover

• At the start of its activation, a camper blind may break cover and become revealed. It then gets its full Movement Points (MP): 3, 4 or 5.
• Decoys can't break cover, so any block that moves 3 or more hexes is a real camper.

Revealed campers

• Each hex costs 1 plus its orange badge (Field and Brush +1; Forest, Boulders and Stream +2). Ponds can't be entered.
• A camper with full MP can always move at least 1 hex.
• You must stop when you step onto a camp marker, a flag or a jail.
• Running: moving 3 or more hexes in one activation (the Shadow: 4 or more). A camper that ran can't go dark while any enemy block is within 3 hexes with a clear line.
• On Watch: a revealed camper that doesn't move during its activation gets Eyes +1 until it moves again.

Going dark

At the end of a revealed camper's activation, if no revealed enemy can see it (and it didn't just run near an enemy), it may go dark and become a blind again. Its identity is secret again. A flag carrier or an escort can never go dark.

Seeing

Only revealed campers can spot.

• Eyes = Vision (2, 3 or 4), +1 standing on Boulders, +1 On Watch.
• Exposure = Stealth (+1, 0 or −1; decoys 0) + the green cover badge of the target's hex (Field and Brush −1, Forest and Boulders −2, Stream +1).
• Range = Eyes + Exposure − the number of Brush hexes in between.
• An enemy block is spotted if it's adjacent, or if the line between the hex centers is clear and the distance is no more than the Range. Forest and Boulders block the line.

When a block is spotted:

• A decoy is removed and goes back to its owner's supply.
• A camper is revealed and identified.

Before you move a blind, any hex where it would be seen is marked with an eye: solid red if it will be seen, dashed orange if it might be (an unidentified enemy with sharp eyes could see it). Moving a decoy onto a red-eye hex asks you to confirm first.

Vanishing tricks

• Split: when a camper goes dark on Field, Brush, Forest or Boulders (the Trickster: anywhere), you may take a decoy from your supply. One block stays in the camper's hex and the other goes to an adjacent hex, and only you know which is which.
• Shell Game: once per turn, between activations, pick two of your blinds within 2 hexes of each other that no revealed enemy can see, and swap them, or pretend to. Your opponent sees them whirl around each other either way.
• Camp Runner (optional game option): at the start of your turn you may place a decoy from your supply on an empty hex of your home line.

Tagging: the Scramble

• Only defenders tag. A revealed camper on its own half tags an enemy on that half by moving into its hex. The Anchor's Long Arms can tag from an adjacent hex.
• Tagging a decoy removes it, and the tagger's activation ends.
• Tagging a camper starts a Scramble: both players secretly pick a card.
  • Tagger = card + Agility, +1 if it has 2 or more MP left, +1 for each earlier try on this raider this turn.
  • Raider = card + Agility.
  • Tagger equal or higher: caught! Raider higher: it slips away but is Winded (−1 MP on its next turn).
• Each camp's Scramble deck holds 8 cards: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4.

Jail

• Escort: from its next turn, the tagger walks the prisoner to its jail, 2 hexes per activation. A prisoner being escorted can't be rescued and counts as jailed.
• Jailbreak: a revealed camper that ends its move on the enemy jail frees everyone inside. The prisoners and the rescuer return to their home line as blinds.
• A flag carrier can't enter the enemy jail.

Flags

• Only a revealed camper can enter an enemy camp marker. An empty tent is removed; the flag stays.
• Picking up the flag costs 1 MP. The carrier moves at most 2 hexes per activation and can't go dark.
• If the carrier is tagged, the flag drops in that hex. Any raider can pick it up again for 1 MP.
• A defender that picks up its own dropped flag walks it home (2 hexes per activation) to where it started. The defender that made the tag must wait until its next turn.

The campers

Every camper has four stats rated 1 to 3, adding up to 8. Agility adds +1/+2/+3 in a Scramble; Movement gives 3/4/5 MP; Stealth gives Exposure +1/0/−1; Vision gives Eyes 2/3/4.

Role	Blue	Red	Agility	Move	Stealth	Vision	Ability
Captain (always plays)	Priya	Sunny	2	2	2	2	Whistle: once per turn, one revealed teammate within 3 hexes gets +1 MP this turn.
Sprinter	Juniper	Marisol	2	3	1	2	Breakaway: once per turn, enter one Field or Brush hex without paying the +1.
Shadow	Wren	Kit	2	1	3	2	Quiet Feet: moving 3 hexes doesn't count as running; only 4 or more does.
Lookout	Ezra	Hollis	1	2	2	3	Eagle Eye: Brush between you and a target doesn't shorten your sight.
Anchor	Bo	Ray	3	2	1	2	Long Arms: spend 1 MP to start a Scramble with an adjacent enemy without entering its hex.
Trickster	Pip	Moxie	2	2	3	1	Hoodie on a Stick: you may Split anywhere, not only in cover.
Tracker	Dakota	Arlo	2	2	1	3	Sniff Out: once per turn, point at an enemy blind within 3 hexes with a clear line and learn whether it's a decoy.
Ranger	Theo	Nell	2	3	2	1	Trailblazer: Forest, Boulders and Stream cost you +1 instead of +2.

Terrain

Terrain	Move cost	Cover	Notes
Meadow, Trail, Bridge	+0	0
Field	+1	−1
Brush	+1	−1	−1 Range for sight lines that cross it
Forest	+2	−2	Blocks sight
Boulders	+2	−2	Blocks sight; a spotter standing here gets Eyes +1
Stream	+2	+1	Splashing makes you easier to see
Pond	—	—	Can't be entered

Tips

• Move your decoys like campers. A decoy that never goes anywhere fools no one.
• Breaking cover is loud. Do it when you need speed, and plan where you'll go dark.
• Keep a defender or two at home: only defenders can tag.
• Hover a camper's stats in the side panel for a quick reminder of how they work.