Barker's Row Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Game End
  • Move 1 Barker Card to the Midway
  • Playing Barker Cards
  • Playing Wild Barker Cards
  • Playing Wild + Barker Cards
  • Clearing the Row
  • Reshuffling the Barker Deck
  • Score an Attraction
  • Use an Attraction Power
• Other Rules and Information
• Quick Reference
  • Turn Actions
  • Scoring Attractions

Objective

You are a carnival barker trying to attract "Rube" meeples to your Grandstands by playing the most fantastic Attractions using Barker cards from a shared pool. The first player to fill all of their Grandstand seats wins!

Components

• 36 Barker Cards
• 52 Meeples
• 40 Attraction Cards
• 4 Grandstands
• 4 Tower Markers
• 1 Strongman Tower

Setup

Follow these steps to prepare the game for playing.

1. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding Grandstand.
2. Place the Strongman Tower where everyone can see it and clip each player's Tower Marker to the lowest level of the tower ("4"). Set any extra Tower Markers out of the game.
3. Place all Rubes in a pile within reach of everyone to form the Crowd.
4. Shuffle the Attraction deck and deal each player 5 Attractions face-down. Players will look at them, choose 3 to keep, and put the remaining 2 face-down on the bottom of the deck. Tip: If you are new to the game, consider choosing 3 different suits, if possible.
5. Re-shuffle the Attraction deck after each player has chosen their 3 Attractions.
6. Shuffle the Barker deck and place it face-down in an open area.
7. Take the top 3 cards from the Barker deck and splay them in a face-down row. This 3-card row is known as Barker's Row. Note: The back of each Barker card reveals the suit of the card to all players, but not the value.
8. Leave space in the center of the table for another area, called the Midway.

The player to have most recently performed an astounding act goes first, with play proceeding clockwise.

STEP RIGHT UP, YOU'RE READY TO BEGIN!

The play area is organized into two central zones and each player's personal area:

• The Midway holds the On-Stage Attractions, the Crowd, the Barker Discards, the Barker Deck, and the Attraction Deck.
• Each Grandstand area holds a player's In-Hand Attractions, Retired Attractions, Tower Marker, and the shared Strongman Tower.

Gameplay

On each of your turns, you must take this required action:

• MOVE 1 BARKER CARD TO THE MIDWAY

Before and/or after that required action, you may take these optional actions any number of times:

• SCORE AN ATTRACTION
• USE AN ATTRACTION POWER

When you've indicated that your turn is over, play proceeds clockwise. These actions are covered in detail below.

Game End

The first player to collect enough Rubes to fill their 13 Grandstand seats wins immediately. An exact number is not required.

Move 1 Barker Card to the Midway

Moving Barker cards to the Midway increases the current total of 1 or more of the 4 suits, which you or someone else will use to score an Attraction. Taking this action involves these 2 steps:

1. Choose 1 Barker card from the 3 available on Barker's Row. Move that card into the Midway and place it face-up so everyone can see its value.
2. Immediately replace the vacant Barker's Row slot with a new face-down Barker card from the top of the Barker deck so there are again 3 cards face-down in Barker's Row.

Playing Barker Cards

Your goal is to score Attraction cards to attract Rubes to your Grandstand. Your Tower Marker on the Strongman Tower tells you the value in Barker Cards you currently need to score an Attraction. When the game begins, all Tower Markers are on level "4." Therefore, you are trying to accumulate a value of at least "4" of any suit in the Midway that matches the suit of one of your Attractions.

Whenever you play a suited Barker card into the Midway, you are adding to the total value of that suit only.

EXAMPLE: Player 1 moves a Beasts-suited card from Barker's Row to the Midway and flips it face-up. It is a Beasts card with a value of 3. The Midway suit totals become: Horrors 0, Beasts 3, Freaks 0, Oddities 0.

EXAMPLE: Player 2 moves an Oddities-suited card from Barker's Row to the Midway and flips it face-up. It has a value of 1. The Midway suit totals become: Horrors 0, Beasts 3, Freaks 0, Oddities 1.

When a card is taken from Barker's Row, no matter how it's done, immediately replace it with another card from the top of the deck. For example, Pharaoh's Tomb allows you to play 5 cards from the Barker deck and/or Barker's Row. You could take 1 from Barker's Row, see what replaces it, then take another from Barker's Row and see what replaces it, then take 1 from the Barker deck, etc.

Playing Wild Barker Cards

Wild cards add to the value of every suit.

EXAMPLE: Player 3 moves a Wild-suited card from Barker's Row to the Midway and flips it face-up. It has a value of 1. The Midway suit totals become: Horrors 1, Beasts 4, Freaks 1, Oddities 2.

Playing Wild + Barker Cards

Some Wild Barker cards have a "+" symbol beside their value. When you move one of these cards into the Midway, replace the open spot on Barker's Row with the top card from the Barker deck, as usual. You must then immediately move another Barker card into the Midway, as well. There is no limit to the number of "+" cards that can be played into the Midway in a single turn.

EXAMPLE: Player 1 moves a Wild-suited Barker card from Barker's Row to the Midway and flips it face-up. It has a value of 1+. The Midway suit totals become: Horrors 2, Beasts 5, Freaks 2, Oddities 3. They immediately replenish Barker's Row so it has 3 cards again and they choose another card to move from Barker's Row to the Midway. They move a Horrors-suited card and flip it face-up. The Midway suit totals become: Horrors 4, Beasts 5, Freaks 2, Oddities 3.

Clearing the Row

If 3 Barker cards of the same suit appear in Barker's Row before you are moving a card from Barker's Row to the Midway, you may choose to discard all 3 and replace them all with new face-down Barker cards from the top of the Barker deck before moving 1 of those new cards to the Midway.

Reshuffling the Barker Deck

If you ever need to draw from the Barker deck, but there are no cards left in it, shuffle the discarded Barker cards to form a new Barker deck and draw from it. The player who took the previous turn cuts the deck before a card is drawn.

Score an Attraction

Your Attractions can be in one of 3 places: In Your Hand, On Stage, or Retired. On your turn, if a suit value equals or exceeds the value of your Tower Marker on the Strongman Tower, you may score an Attraction of that matching suit as one of your optional actions.

If you choose to score an Attraction on your turn, lay it face-up in front of your Grandstands. In your best carnival barker voice, shout out the Barker cards that you are using and the Attraction you are scoring, such as "STEP RIGHT UP AND SEE THE SPINE-TINGLING, TERRIFYING, BONE-CHILLING RE-ANIMATED MAN!" Then read your new Attraction's Power out loud so other players know what it can do.

When you score an Attraction, take these steps:

1. One at a time, discard Barker cards from the Midway of the same suit as the Attraction you're playing (and/or Wild) until the total value of the cards you have discarded equals or exceeds your current level on the Strongman Tower. Place these cards face-up in the Barker Discard pile.
2. Move your Tower Marker up 1 level on the Strongman Tower. If you are at level 10, stay at level 10.
3. Add 2 Rubes to your Grandstands by taking them from the Crowd.
4. Draw a new Attraction from the Attraction deck.

EXAMPLE: Player 4 moves an Oddities-suited card from Barker's Row to the Midway and flips it face-up. It has a value of 2. The Midway suit totals become: Horrors 4, Beasts 5, Freaks 2, Oddities 5. Player 4 decides to score an Oddities Attraction called Shrunken Heads.

Player 4 is at level 4 on the Strongman Tower and chooses to discard the Baffling (Oddities value 2) and the two 1-value Wild cards (the other option would be to discard the other Oddities 1-value card instead of a Wild card). The Midway suit totals become: Horrors 2, Beasts 3, Freaks 0, Oddities 1.

Player 4 moves their Tower Marker up to level 5 and adds 2 Rubes from the Crowd to their Grandstand. Finally, Player 4 draws a new Attraction so that they once again have 3 Attractions in their hand.

Use an Attraction Power

One of your optional actions on your turn is to use your Attraction's Power. You can either use it immediately after you score it or save it for another turn. If you save it for a later turn, it may be used before or after your required action of moving a card from Barker's Row to the Midway. Powers may only be used by Attractions that are currently On-Stage. When you use an Attraction's Power, place it face-up in your Retired Attractions pile behind your Grandstand.

If a card is affected by an Attraction Power, that ability only affects it during that player's turn. For example, Blockhead Billy changes the suit of all "2" Barker cards in the Midway, but once your turn is over, those cards change back to their original suit.

Other Rules and Information

If at any time you have 3 Attractions of the same suit in your hand, you may choose to reveal your hand, shuffle those Attractions back into the Attraction deck, and draw 3 new Attractions.

Retired Attractions and discarded Barker cards are public information which you may view at any time.

There is no limit to the number of On-Stage Attractions you may have at any time.

The four Barker card suits are Horrors, Beasts, Freaks, and Oddities. There are also Wild Barker cards which add to the value of all suits.

Quick Reference

Turn Actions

On each of your turns, you must take this required action:

• MOVE 1 BARKER CARD TO THE MIDWAY

Before and/or after that required action, you may take these optional actions any number of times:

• SCORE AN ATTRACTION
• USE AN ATTRACTION POWER

Scoring Attractions

When you score an Attraction, take these steps:

1. MOVE BARKER CARDS FROM THE MIDWAY TO THE BARKER DISCARD PILE.
2. MOVE YOUR TOWER MARKER UP 1 LEVEL ON THE STRONGMAN TOWER.
3. ADD 2 RUBES TO YOUR GRANDSTAND.
4. DRAW AN ATTRACTION.