Archer: The Danger Zone! Board Game
Archer: The Danger Zone! Board Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 8 Sets of 7 Character Tokens
- 8 Character Decks (20 cards each)
- 52 Challenge Deck Cards
- 1 Initiative Token
- 6 Location Tiles
- 1 Rulebook
- 8 Oversized Character Cards
- 25 Event Deck Cards
- 3 Six-Sided Dice
- 1 Mission Leader Token
- 1 Upper Hand Track
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to gain the Upper Hand over your opponents by insulting them, doing well on missions (quite the ego boost), and encountering secondary characters from the show. The first player to score 20 Upper Hand wins the game!
Setup
The action takes place at the ISIS Headquarters, with missions heading off to exotic locales. The board is comprised of various combinations of six important Locations within ISIS: Malory's Office, the Breakroom, the Control Room, the Bullpen, Reception, and the Applied Research Laboratories. Each Location has a different special ability. The number of Locations you will play with during the game depends on the number of players:
| Players | Locations |
|---|---|
| 2-4 | 3 |
| 5-6 | 4 |
| 7-8 | 5 |
Flip each of the Locations face down. Mix them up, and then randomly flip over the number of Locations you are to use based on the number of players in the game. Place the unused Locations back into the box, as they will not be used this game.
The orientation and placement of the Locations on the table does not matter.
Transcriber's note: the rulebook names the six Locations but prints the ability of only one of them (Malory's Office, below). The other Location abilities are printed on the Location tiles themselves, which are not part of the rulebook text, so they are not transcribed here.
If Malory's Office is in play, shuffle the Event deck and place it face down on or next to the Malory's Office tile.
Malory's Office tile, caption: MALORY'S OFFICE: FIRST PLAYER – Draw an Event Card.
Shuffle the Challenge deck and place it nearby.
Each player chooses one of the following characters to play: Archer, Lana, Malory, Cyril, Pam, Cheryl, Krieger, or Ray. When you choose a character, grab that character's Oversized Character Card, deck of 20 cards, and 7 Character Tokens. Place the text-free token on The Upper Hand Track at the 5. Each player starts with 5 Upper Hand. Place each of your Character Tokens that does not match a Location in play back in the box.
Caption (illustration of eight character tokens): Each of the player Upper Hand tracking tokens.
Each player shuffles their own personalized Character Deck. Your Deck features quotes from the show and other actions that you will aid you or cause your opponents to fumble. There is no hand of cards in this game. You will draw and play cards only when game elements instruct you to do so, and you never hold any cards in your hand for later play. Place your deck on or near your character card.
Each player rolls three dice. The high roller grabs the Initiative Token and will go first in the first round of the game. Keep the Mission Leader Token handy, but no player starts the game with it.
Play Sequence Each Round
- Movement Phase
- Mission Phase
- Clean-up Phase
Movement Phase
Each player secretly chooses one of the Office Locations they wish to head to by choosing one and only one of their Character Tokens. Each Character Token has the name of one of the Locations on it and a picture of their character as well. After choosing a token, each player places it face down in front of their Character Card, leaving their other Character Tokens face down on their Character Card or close to their edge of the table. Do not reveal the Locations you did not choose or that will tell your opponents which Location you did choose. Once each player has advanced a token toward the middle of the table, the player with the Initiative Token jumps into action.
Initiative Token (caption): If the Reception Location is not in play, the Initiative Token passes to the left at the end of each round.
One at a time and starting with the player who has the Initiative Token, each player reveals their chosen token and puts their Character Token onto the Location listed on their token. Play proceeds to the left. If you are the first player to enter a Location, you get to read the "FIRST PLAYER" text at your Location and do what it says.
Keep in mind that the later your turn is in the initiative order, the greater the chance that another player will have already gone to the Location you chose. Only the first player to a Location each round gets the benefit listed at that Location. However, you might be able to come up with a good insult or devious plan to use against that person for using that Location's benefit instead of you. More on that later.
Mission Phase
After each player has entered a Location for the round, the whole team goes on a mission. Leave your Character Tokens where they are. The destination of the mission is not named, but players should feel free to invent a name of the episode/destination based on the Challenge Cards you draw. The player with the Mission Leader Token draws a number of Challenge Cards from the Challenge Deck based on the number of players:
| Players | Number of Challenges |
|---|---|
| 2-4 | 3 |
| 5-6 | 4 |
| 7-8 | 5 |
There are 4 types of Challenges: Booze, Guns, Sex, and Smarts. These are the types of Challenges you will face on this round's mission. Each Challenge has a difficulty rating from 6 to 14. The higher the difficulty, the more Upper Hand it is worth when you succeed at completing it. Starting with the Mission Leader and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses to roll skill dice against one of the Challenges. Your Character Card shows how good your character is at each of the different skills. For instance, Archer rolls 3 dice for Booze Challenges, 2 dice for Guns and Sex Challenges, and 1 die for Smarts Challenges.
Challenge card diagram labels: Challenge Type; Upper Hand Reward; Difficulty. Example card: CHALLENGE: BOOZE, Difficulty Rating: 8, Upper Hand reward 2.
When you roll dice, add them together to see if the total meets or exceeds the difficulty of the Challenge. If it does, you complete the Challenge, earn the accompanying Upper Hand reward (1-4), and keep the card face up next to your Character Card. The Challenge on the previous page is a difficulty 8 Booze Challenge worth 2 Upper Hand when successfully completed.
Mission Phase Example: The person playing Cheryl went to the Control Room on her turn, and since no one else was already there, she gained the Mission Leader Token. She now leads the mission and gets to roll first during the mission. Since the game has 5 players, she reveals 4 Challenge Cards from the deck, one of which is the Booze Challenge on the previous page, which the Cheryl player decides to attempt. She has only 2 dice in the skill and rolls a 6, failing. Now Archer (sitting to her left) attempts a Challenge and chooses the Booze Challenge, so he rolls 3 dice. The player rolls a 4, 3, and 1 for a total of 8, therefore succeeding. The Archer player increases his Upper Hand by 2 and keeps the card face up next to his Character Card. The next player now can only choose from the three remaining Challenges.
Sterling Archer reference card (printed on the Mission Phase page):
| Sterling Archer | Booze | Guns | Sex | Smarts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skill dice | Roll 3 Dice | Roll 2 Dice | Roll 2 Dice | Roll 1 Die |
- Movement Phase: When you enter a Location, roll 1 die for each foe already at that Location and then draw a card from your deck for each 5 or 6 you roll. Play insults only against foes at your current Location.
- Mission Phase: When you complete a non-BOOZE Challenge, draw a card from your deck. Play insults against any foe.
- Mission Phase: During a Challenge, draw a card from your deck for each 5 or 6 you roll. Play insults against any foe.
Clean-up Phase
When all of the Challenges drawn during a Mission Phase have been completed, or after everyone has had a chance to roll on a Challenge, the round is over. Some players may not get to roll if all of the Challenges have been completed before their turn comes around. Does that make you want to insult anyone? Good! You understand the psychology of this game.
After the last player rolls (the player sitting to the right of the Mission Leader), the Mission Phase ends whether or not all of the Challenges were completed. Place any uncompleted Challenges into a face up discard pile next to the Challenge Deck. The round is now over and each player collects their Character Token from the Locations and places it face down with their other tokens. A new round then begins.
Your Character's Deck
In your personalized deck are insults, ego boosts, and various other underhanded or sexy shenanigans that you play to hurt your fellow players or to help yourself. Your deck has 20 cards. If it runs out of cards, the deck does not get reshuffled. Typically, games end before this can happen. When you play a card, you must read it out loud.
During the Movement Phase: When your Character Token enters a Location, if you are not the first player to enter that Location that round, you get to roll one six-sided dice for each other Character Token already at that Location. For each 5 or 6 that you roll, draw one card from your deck. You then get to choose one of the cards you drew to play immediately. Place the other cards you drew on the bottom of your deck in any order. If you choose to play an Insult card, you may only Insult a character at your current Location as those are the only people in the room with you at the time. This information is listed on your Character Card as well.
For example, if Pam enters Malory's Office to find Archer and Lana already there, Pam would get to roll 2 dice. Say she rolls a 2 and a 5. Because she rolled a 5, she gets to draw one card. (Yay!) Pam has thought of something hurtful to say! She draws an Insult card and immediately plays it, choosing to read it to either Archer or Lana, as they are the only characters present in Malory's Office at the moment. Had she not rolled any 5s or 6s, she wouldn't have thought of anything clever to say to them and the next player would now enter the offices.
During the Mission Phase: When rolling dice on Challenges, a player gets to draw a card from his deck for each 5 or 6 he rolls... whether he succeeds or not. Even if you have no chance at succeeding on a Challenge, you still get to roll to see if you can roll any 5s or 6s.
If you succeed at a Challenge that does not match your 3-die skill, you also get to draw a card. For example, if Cheryl succeeds in a Booze Challenge with difficulty 8 by rolling a 6 and a 4, she would draw two cards: One for rolling a 6 and one for succeeding at a Challenge other than her specialty: Sex. The Cheryl player would then choose one of the two cards, play it, and then place the other card on the bottom of her deck.
Insult cards may be played against ANY player during the Mission Phase, as all the characters are together. This information can also be found on your Character Card.
After playing a card, place it into a face up discard pile next to your deck.
Example card, Ray (caption text): "The next time you lose Upper Hand this round, gain that much instead." (Keep this card in front of you as a reminder.)
Event Deck
The Event deck features all of the crazy secondary characters and guest stars from the show. Woodhouse, Katya, Conway Stern, Trinette, Len Trexler, and many more. Event cards give a player a chance to earn some extra Upper Hand through various means, or cause their opponents to lose some. The first player to enter Malory's Office each round will get to draw an Event card. If no one enters her office, no Event card is drawn that round.
Several of the Event cards reference the different Challenge colors and Challenge types (Booze, Guns, Sex, or Smarts). Collecting one of each Challenge color and one of each Challenge type will make your trips to Malory's Office very profitable... if you are the first player to enter her Office each round, of course. Other than for the purpose of resolving certain Events, the color of a Challenge has no game effect.
Example Event card, Embarrassing Pictures (card text): "Pass this card to yourself, then to the left. When it reaches the player with the most Upper Hand (or tied for most), that player loses 1 Upper Hand for each player this card was passed to." Flavour quote on the card: "Um, is that...?"
Specific Card Clarifications
Embarrassing Pictures (Event Card): If the player who draws this card has the most Upper Hand (or is tied for the most), then he does not pass it. Since no foes saw the card, the player loses no Upper Hand. However, if the drawing player does not have the most Upper Hand, he sees it, then passes it in the direction indicated. For example, if the card says to pass it to the left, and the player with the most Upper Hand is to the immediate left of the drawing player, then only one foe will have seen the card (the drawing player). The player with the most Upper Hand will then lose only 1 Upper Hand.
Have Some Sex, Cards that mention other characters by name, etc.: If you play a card that has no effect or target to hit, it is discarded anyway. You're not allowed to place it on the bottom of your deck because it won't do anything. Hopefully, you have another card to choose from, and you can save a card that would currently have no effect for later in the game when it might have an effect.
Rona Thorne: If multiple players are tied for lowest Upper Hand, they each gain 2. If the drawing player has the lowest Upper Hand, he gains 4 Upper Hand!
Uta: Only the player drawing this card gets to add 1 to his roll. If there is a tie for lowest roll, each tied player loses Upper Hand equal to the amount rolled.
Woodhouse: "Alone at their Location" means that theirs is the only Character Token at that Location.
Personal Challenges: These are wild cards. Choose one of the four skills. This Challenge temporarily becomes that type of Challenge for you. You then roll the appropriate number of skill dice. If you choose your 3-die skill, you won't automatically draw a card if you succeed. While it is in your completed Challenge pile, it does not count as any type of Challenge, but it still has a color. If you fail, the next player to attempt it may choose any of the four skills to roll. They don't have to roll the skill you chose.
The Golden Rule: If a card contradicts a rule in the rulebook, go with what the card says!
Quick Reference
PLAY SEQUENCE EACH ROUND
- Movement Phase
Each player secretly chooses a Location token. After each player has chosen one, place them onto the Locations in Initiative order and proceeding clockwise. Only the first player to enter a Location each round gets to use the Location ability.
If other characters are in the Location you chose, roll one die for each character there. For each 5 or 6 that you roll, draw one card from your deck. You then get to choose one of the cards you drew to play immediately. Insults drawn during the Movement Phase must be played against a foe at your Location.
- Mission Phase
Draw Challenge Cards based on the number of players. Starting with the Mission Leader and proceeding clockwise, each player gets to roll their skill dice to try and complete a Challenge. If your roll meets or exceed the difficulty of the Challenge, place the card face up next to your Character Card and you gain the Upper Hand award listed on the card.
| Players | Number of Challenges |
|---|---|
| 2-4 | 3 |
| 5-6 | 4 |
| 7-8 | 5 |
While making skill rolls during a Mission, for each 5 or 6 that you roll, draw one card from your deck. You then get to choose one of the cards you drew to play immediately. Insults drawn during the Mission Phase may be played against any foe.
- Clean-up Phase
Each player collects their Character Token from the Locations and places it face down with their other tokens. Now start a new round!
Initiative Token: If the Reception Location is in play and no one goes to that Location, the player who started the round with the Initiative Token retains it during the next round. If the Reception Location is not in play, the Initiative Token will pass to the player on the left at the end of each round, unless a card says otherwise.
Mission Leader Token: If the Control Room is in play and no one goes to that Location, the player who started the round with the Mission Leader Token is still the Mission Leader. If the Control Room is not in play, at the start of the Mission Phase the player with the least amount of Upper Hand is the Mission Leader for the round. Roll off in case of a tie, with the high roller breaking the tie.
Object of the Game (Quick Reference)
The first player to score 20 Upper Hand wins the game!