Gamehelpsaboteur

For tips on how to play Saboteur, see Tips_saboteur

Goal

Get as many gold nuggets as possible during the three rounds of the game. In order to do so,

1. if you are a gold digger, you must, in association with other gold diggers, build a path from the 'Start' card to the treasure card which can be found among the three 'End' cards
2. if you are a saboteur, you must, in association with other saboteurs, prevent the gold diggers from getting to the treasure.

Your role (gold digger or saboteur) will be randomly selected at the start of each round in secret.

Rules summary

On your turn, you must click on a card from your hand to select it, then play this card or discard it. You can also rotate a 'Path' card before playing it by clicking the 'rotate' arrow that appears above the card.

The cards are of several types:

• 'Path' card: you can play this card to extend the maze, provided it is compatible with the cards already in place. To do this, click the location where you want to put the card.
• 'Sabotage' card: you can break another player's tool of the type indicated. To do this, click the corresponding tool in the target player's panel (under the score). A player with a broken tool cannot play a Path card.
• 'Repair' card: you can repair your, or another player's, broken tool of the type indicated. To do this, click the corresponding tool in the target player's panel (under the score), or click on the 'Sabotage' card in front of you.
• 'Map' card: you can play this card on any 'End' card to discover whether or not the treasure lies there (you alone will get the information, other players will see nothing). Just click on the 'End' card that you want to know. Then click on "I have seen it" button at the top.
• 'Rock fall' card: this card lets you remove any 'Path' card of the maze. Just click on the card you want to remove.

End of a round

• A path is created that connects to the gold goal card and gold is distributed among the gold diggers.
• No more cards are available to draw and every player has passed with no action. Saboteurs split the gold.

Cards in play

Saboteur 1

44 Path cards

(including start card and 3 goal cards)

26 Action cards

9 'Sabotage' cards (three for each tool)

6 'Repair a tool' cards (two for each tool)

3 'Repair a tool among these two' cards (one for each combination of two tools)

5 'Map' cards (one less than in the box set, as requested by the game author)

3 'Rock fall' cards

28 Gold cards

16 with one gold nugget

8 with two gold nuggets

4 with three gold nuggets

Saboteur 2: Gold-Diggers Counter-Attack!

+30 Path cards

3 with green doors - blocking Blue Gold Diggers

3 with blue doors - blocking Green Gold Diggers

4 with ladders - allows additional paths to the gold

2 'Bridge' - two straight paths that are not connected

2 'Double Curve' - two curved paths that are not connected

10 with crystals - scores for the Geologist

6 other new paths

+21 Action cards

1 'Rock fall' card

4 'Theft' cards - played on one's self, allows you to steal a gold from another player at the end of the round (if you are not 'Trapped')

3 'Hands Off' cards - remove 'Theft' from another player

2 'Swap Your Hand' cards - exchanges hands with another player

2 'Inspection' cards - inspect another player's Role card

2 'Swap Your Hats' cards - choose any player (including yourself) to discard their current Role card and draw a replacement from the Role cards leftover at the beginning of the game

3 'Trapped!' cards - Traps another player who cannot play Path cards and if they are still Trapped at the end of the round, they do not get any gold

4 'Free at last!' cards - remove 'Trapped!' card from a player

Roles

Saboteur 1

Roles are randomly selected among a set that depends upon the number of players.

Note that one role card will be left out (if not playing with the Maximum number of Saboteurs).

# Players	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
# Saboteurs	1	1	2	2	3	3	3	4
# Gold-Diggers*	3	4	4	5	5	6	7	7

*With the Maximum number of Saboteurs, one Gold-Digger role card is removed.

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Saboteur 2: Gold-Diggers Counter-Attack!

2-12 Players. Roles are randomly selected (and independent upon the number of players).

3 Saboteurs

Wins if gold is not found.

4 Blue Gold-Diggers

Wins if gold is found by:

• any player that is not a Green Gold-Digger and at least one way there does not have a green door, or;
• a Green Gold-Digger and all ways there have a blue door (and at least one of those ways does not also have a green door in series).

4 Green Gold-Diggers

Wins if gold is found by:

• any player that is not a Blue Gold-Digger and at least one way there does not have a blue door, or;
• a Blue Gold-Digger and all ways there have a green door (and at least one of those ways does not also have a blue door in series).

1 Boss

Wins if gold is found, however, when the treasure is divided, gets one fewer Gold Piece than Gold-Diggers.

1 Profiteer

Always wins, however, when the treasure is divided, gets two fewer Gold Pieces than the winning Gold-Diggers or Saboteurs (or one fewer Gold Piece than the Boss).

2 Geologists

Not considered a 'winner', but receives 1 Gold Piece for each visible crystal.

If both Geologists are in play, they split the Gold Pieces (rounded down).

Available variants

The game author, Frederic Moyersoen, told us about some game variants, and we implemented all four of them. Please tell us which one is your favourite in the forum!

Two variants are about gold sharing:

• Old Mine: the old mine was not as packed with gold... sometimes all you got for your digging was worthless stones. In this variant, some 'Gold' cards do not yield any gold nuggets (among the 28 'Gold' cards, 4 are worth three nuggets, 8 are worth two nuggets, 10 are worth one nugget and 6 are worthless). So it is definitely best to get first to the treasure in order to be sure not to leave empty-handed!
• New mine: the new mine is more even to each gold digger. Instead of distributing as many 'Gold' cards as the number of players - which benefits most to the gold digger that gets first to the treasure as he often gets two 'Gold' cards - it distributes as many 'Gold' cards as the number of gold diggers in play. Therefore, each gold digger will get only one 'Gold' card (however, it is still best to be first go get to the treasure in order to get a card of higher value!)

Two variants are about gameplay:

• Competitive: the gold diggers who have a 'Sabotage' card (broken pickaxe, lamp or trolley) laid in front of them at the end of a round, do not receive a 'Gold' card when their team wins the round. The 'Gold' cards are distributed between the gold diggers who have no broken tool (saboteurs are not affected by this rule). Therefore, with this variant it can be interesting to sabotage some of your fellow gold diggers... but not too often, so as not to make your team lose!
• Selfish dwarf: one of the gold diggers will get a red jacket. This dwarf is a selfish dwarf: he can only win if he manages to complete the connection to the treasure himself. In this case, he gets four gold nuggets while the other players get nothing at all. If another gold digger completes the connection, the selfish dwarf takes no part in the treasure sharing (which is done with as many 'Gold' cards as the number of players, selfish dwarf excluded)

Tournament Variant:

• There is always a fixed amount of cards, which has a maximum number of saboteurs.
• If only a Saboteur wins, he or she gets 4 Gold Pieces, else 3 Gold Pieces.
• If the Gold-Diggers win, the first Gold-Digger gets 3 Gold Pieces and the others get 2 Gold Pieces.
  • If the Selfish Dwarf wins, he or she gets 4 Gold Pieces and the other Gold-Diggers get no Gold Pieces.

Splitting the treasure - Saboteur 2

Depending on the number of winners, each winner gets the following amount of GP from the pile:

1 Dwarf: 5 GP

2 Dwarves: 4 GP

3 Dwarves: 3 GP

4 Dwarves: 2 GP

5 or more Dwarves: 1 GP

Example 1

Playing: 1 Blue and 2 Green Gold-Diggers, 1 Boss, 1 Profiteer and 2 Saboteurs.

Gold-Digger win

The Boss completes the path to the goal card with the treasure. The path is blocked by a Blue Door. Both Saboteurs have a “Theft” card in front of themselves. One Saboteur has been trapped (having the “Trapped!” card in front of him).

The treasure is split like this: The Blue Gold-Diggers have won (including the Boss and the Profiteer).

Number of winners: 3 (1 Blue Dwarf, 1 Boss, 1 Profiteer). The Blue Dwarf receives 3 GP; the Boss gets 3-1=2 GP, the Profiteer gets 3-2=1 GP. The Saboteur who has played the “Theft” card takes 1 GP from any one of the other players. The other Saboteur, who has played the same card, gets nothing, as he‘s trapped.

(If a Green Gold-Digger had connected the treasure to the start card, the Blue team would have won anyway, as the path to the treasure is closed to the Green team by a Blue Door.)

Saboteur win

Number of winners: 3 (2 Saboteurs, 1 Profiteer). The Saboteurs receive 3 GP, the Profiteer gets 3-2=1 GP

Example 2

Player1 digs a new path

Player1 finds gold!

A green digger found the treasure: the green team wins this round!

There is 4 winner(s) this round, including 0 boss and 1 profiteer. There is also 1 geologist(s) who will get gold for gems.

Player1 is a green gold digger and earns 2 gold nuggets

Player2 is a blue gold digger and earns 0 gold nuggets

Player3 is the profiteer and earns 0 gold nuggets

Player4 is a green gold digger and earns 2 gold nuggets

Player5 is a green gold digger and earns 2 gold nuggets

Player6 is a Geologist and earns 3 gold nuggets

Player7 is a Saboteur and earns 0 gold nuggets

Player7 steals 1 gold nugget from Player6

Note Geologists do not count as 'winners'

In this example there are 4 winners: (3 green gold diggers and the profiteer)

From the rules: 4 Dwarves = 2 GP for each green gold digger

The profiteer gets 2 - 2 = 0 GP

standings at the end of the round

Player1 = 2 GP

Player2 = 0 GP

Player3 = 0 GP

Player4 = 2 GP

Player5 = 2 GP

Player6 = 2 GP

Player7 = 1 GP (stolen from Player6)