Basketball Highlights: Crunch Time Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview of the Game
• Components
• Setup
• Summary of Play
• Offensive Possession
  • The Offensive Coach (plays first)
  • The Defensive Coach (responds)
  • Movement Reminder for Offense and Defense
  • Play Example 1
  • Play Example 2
  • Play Example 3
• Score for the Possession
  • Scoring Example
• Cleanup Between Possessions
• Starting New Rounds
• Winning the Game
• Overtime Rules
• Solo Rules
  • Difficulty Scale
  • Offensive Coach / Defensive AI
  • Offensive AI / Defensive Coach

Overview of the Game

In Crunch Time, each Coach has a team of 5 basketball Players (red or blue). As Coach, you will use your Shot cards to set up your plays in several Zones. The more Players you have undefended in the right Zones, the more points you will score. If one of your Players is in a Zone that matches your Star card, they will be in position to make an astounding shot and score extra points. Score more points than your opposing Coach to win the game!

Components

• Basketball Court (board), with: Start Zone icons, Movement Lines, yellow 2 Point Zones, violet 3 Point Zones, the Basket Hoop, and the Score Track.
• Players: 5 red, 5 blue
• Score marker
• 69 Shot cards
• 22 Star cards

The highlighted Zones on the cards are matched with the Zones on the Court to determine which Zones can score in each offensive possession.

Setup

1. Shuffle the 69 Shot cards and then deal 1 card to each Coach faceup. The Coach with the higher numbered card wins the tip-off and will have the first offensive possession each Round. Return both cards to the bottom of the Shot deck.
2. Coaches choose a color to play (blue or red) and then place the Basketball Court between the two Coaches so their player color is on their side of the Court. This orientation will also provide the orientation for playing Shot and Star cards.
3. Coaches place the 5 Players in their color in the 5 indicated yellow start Zones.
4. Place the Score marker on the 0 in the middle of the Score track.
5. Deal 7 Shot cards to each Coach. Place the Shot card deck aside; no more cards will be drawn from this deck unless the game goes into Overtime Play.
6. Shuffle the 22 Star cards and deal 1 Star card to each Coach. Place the rest of the Star cards facedown next to the Court. Coaches should keep all their cards hidden.

Summary of Play

You select a play from your playbook and signal it in. As the players dart into position, you hope your opponent won't react fast enough to defend against all your players!

The game is played in 5 Rounds. Each Coach will have 1 Offensive Possession each Round with the other Coach on defense. The Coach who won the tip-off begins as the offensive Coach with the first possession each Round. Then Coaches will switch offensive and defensive positions to complete the Round. During each Offensive Possession, Coaches will play 1 Shot card and will have the opportunity in 2 of the 5 Rounds to play a 2nd Shot card. This means both Coaches will have played all 7 of their Shot cards after 5 complete Rounds.

Offensive Possession

The Offensive Coach (plays first)

1. Play Shot Card(s)

Choose 1 or 2 Shot card(s) to play from your hand. A 2nd Shot card must be played once during Rounds 1-4, and 2 Shot cards must also be played in Round 5.

2. Move Players (All movement must be done along the white movement lines.)

The offensive Coach may move 0, 1, or 2 of their Players to a new Zone no more than 2 spaces away from their current Zone. A second Shot card doesn't add any moves. The offensive Coach may draw a Star card for each Shot card played in Step 1 where they have Players in every Zone on the Court matching those highlighted on the Shot card.

3. Play Star Card(s) (Optional)

To play a Star card the offensive Coach must meet these criteria:

• The Star card's highlighted Zone must match a highlighted Zone on a current Shot card.
• You must have a Player in that highlighted Zone.
• You can't use more than 1 Star card for each highlighted Zone on a single Shot card.

The Defensive Coach (responds)

1. Move a Player (All movement must be done along the white movement lines.)

The defensive Coach may move 0 or 1 of their Players to a new Zone no more than 1 space away from their current Zone.

2. Play Star Card(s) (Optional)

To play a Star card the defensive Coach must meet these criteria:

• The Star card's highlighted Zone must match a highlighted Zone on a current Shot card.
• There must be both an offensive and a defensive Player in that highlighted Zone.
• You can't use more than 1 Star card for each highlighted Zone on a single Shot card.

NOTE: Each Coach may have a maximum of 1 player per Zone after Movement.

Movement Reminder for Offense and Defense

Both the Shot and Star cards are designed so they can be oriented to suit both Coaches. Orient any cards you place in your display next to the Court the same way. Always orient the cards in your hand so the basket for the Court on the card aligns to match the basket on the Court itself.

Play Example 1

The Red Coach wins the tip-off and takes offensive possession first. Red chooses Shot card 22 and moves 1 of their players 2 Zones and 1 Player 1 Zone to occupy the violet and yellow highlighted Zones so that they completely match the 3 highlighted Zones on their Shot card. For matching all the highlighted Zones, they may now draw 1 Star card, which they can also play if it meets the criteria.

Other advantages to moving players include moving to open Zones so they can score or setting up for offensive and defensive scores later.

Play Example 2

On a later turn, Red Coach chooses to play a 2nd Shot card. They play cards 24 and 7 as they will be able to cover all of the highlighted Zones on both Shot cards after movement. Therefore Red Coach can now draw 2 Star cards and can use them this turn if they meet the criteria for play.

Play Example 3

The Red Coach is ready to score from each of the highlighted Zones shown on their Shot card (2 yellow Zones and 1 violet Zone). The Blue Coach defends by moving 1 of their Players 1 space from an adjacent yellow Zone to defend 1 of the yellow highlighted Zones preventing the offensive player there from scoring. In addition, the Blue Coach already has another Player defending the other yellow highlighted Zone. To complete their defensive play, the Blue Coach plays a Star card that matches 1 of the highlighted yellow Zones to score 2 points for this Star's defensive play!

(Note: Only the top half of the board is being shown in this example.)

Score for the Possession

Basketball Highlights: Crunch Time is not a simulation as it uses each possession to represent the results of several key plays during the game as would be shown in a highlight reel, especially those executed by star players. For that reason, it's possible for both the offensive and defensive star players to score in a single possession as those scores represent different plays captured in the highlight reel.

The Score track shows how far ahead one Coach is over the other rather than showing a running score for both Coaches. When the Score marker is on the 7 space on the red section of the track, it means the Red Coach is ahead by 7 points.

1. Score Shot cards for the Offense: Score each card separately by evaluating each highlighted Zone one-by-one.
   • If an offensive Player is in a Zone highlighted on the Shot card without a defensive Player, they score points equal to the number shown for the highlighted Zone.
   • No Points are scored for a Zone in these cases:
     • If there is no offensive Player in the highlighted Zone
     • If both an offensive Player and a defensive Player are in the highlighted Zone.
2. Score Star cards for both Offense and Defense using the following criteria:
   • Evaluate each Star card for both teams separately.
   • Coaches score points equal to the number shown for the highlighted Zone for each of their played Star cards (as long as the required Player/s are in the Zone).

Scoring Example

Begin by scoring the offensive Coach's Shot and Star cards. The Blue Coach is defending against 2 of the 3 red Players who were in position to score in the yellow highlighted Zones so they do not score. However, the red Player on the highlighted violet Zone is undefended and therefore scores 3 points, which is recorded by moving the Score marker 3 points towards the Red Coach.

The Red Coach also played a Star card that allowed one of their Players to score 2 points for the yellow Zone, which advances the Score marker another 2 spaces towards the Red Coach. However, the Blue Coach also played a Star card that allowed their defender to also score 2 points in the yellow highlighted Zone, which moves the Score marker 2 spaces towards the Blue Coach. This means the Red Coach has a net gain of 3 points for this offensive possession.

(Note: Only a portion of the Court is being shown in this example.)

Cleanup Between Possessions

1. The offensive Coach collects their Shot cards to create a stack (of 1 or 2 cards) and places them in their display area. Each stack should be kept separate to track the number of Offensive possessions the Coach has played.
2. Discard all played Star cards to the bottom of the Star card deck.
3. If only 1 Coach has had an offensive possession this Round, Coaches now switch roles and continue play as above, starting with the Offensive Coach. Otherwise, the Round is over.

Starting New Rounds

Begin a new Round using the rules above (starting Coach does not change) unless both Coaches have had their 5 offensive possessions (both Coaches have now played all 7 of their Shot Cards). If so, proceed to Winning the Game.

Mercy Rule: If a Coach is winning with a score of 15 or more points at the beginning of their offensive possession, the game is a blowout and the game ends immediately with that Coach as the Winner.

Winning the Game

1. After both Coaches have had 5 possessions, regulation play is over. Each Coach now scores 1 point for each unplayed Star card they have. The Coach whose team has the most points wins.
2. If there is a tie (with the Score marker on the 0), the game goes into Overtime.

Overtime Rules

Incredible! That buzzer-beater tied the game! We're going into overtime!

Reminder: At this point, both players have played all their Shot cards and have discarded any unplayed Star cards for 1 point and the game is tied.

Each Coach now turns over the top card of the Shot card deck to determine who wins the tip-off as was done at the start of the game. The Coach drawing the highest numbered card wins the tip-off and has the first offensive possession during each Round of overtime play.

All regular rules are followed in Overtime with the following exceptions:

1. Deal 3 Shot cards and 1 Star card to each Coach.
2. Starting with the Coach who won the tip-off, each Coach will play 1 offensive possession using 1 Shot card this Round, switching roles as in normal play. You may not play 2 Shot cards in 1 possession during Overtime.
3. Any unplayed Star cards at the end of the Round now score 1 point.
4. If the score is still tied, repeat beginning with Step 2 above until a Coach wins or all 3 Shot cards have been played.
5. If still tied after 3 Rounds, each Coach draws back to 3 Shot Cards and 1 Star card and play then continues as above with Step 2 above, until there is a winner.

Solo Rules

Setup is the same as the 2-player game, but the Score marker is placed on your side of the Score Track based on the difficulty level you want to play. See chart.

Difficulty Scale

Level	Score marker starts at
Rookie	10
Veteran	8
Starter	6
All-Star	4
Hall of Fame	2
GOAT	0

Draw 5 Shot cards and 1 Star card for yourself. (There are no 2-Shot card Possessions in Solo game.)

Deal 1 Star card to the AI and no Shot cards. Keep the Shot deck nearby for the AI to draw from. AI Star cards are placed faceup in a convenient area as the AI Display. You have the first offensive possession each Round (no tip-off).

Offensive Coach / Defensive AI

You will always play 1 Shot card plus any Star Cards and move your Players per the usual rules. After your play, the AI coach moves 1 of their Players 1 space using the following priorities:

1. Defend any highlighted Zone on your Shot card and if the AI has a Star card in its display that can be played defensively, score as defense with an AI Star card. If there is a choice, preference goes to a 3-point shot over a 2-point shot.
2. Defend any 3-point shot that is not already covered.
3. Defend any 2-point shot that is not already covered.
4. Does not move otherwise.

If there are multiple plays that could be chosen for 1 to 3 above, don't choose a move that leaves your Player undefended, if possible. The Shot card is scored in the normal way, being sure to include any applicable Star cards for both you and the AI. Star cards are then discarded as usual.

Offensive AI / Defensive Coach

The AI Coach draws a Shot card and places it in their display area. The AI Coach now removes their players from the Court and replaces them as follows:

1. The AI Coach places its Players in all the highlighted Zones on the drawn Shot card.
2. If the Shot card has less than 5 Zones, the AI Coach draws Star cards one at a time to place the rest of their Players based on the Zone highlighted on that card. If a Star card highlighted Zone matches any Zone where the AI already has a Player, discard and draw another. Continue until all AI Players have been placed. Then discard all those Star cards.
3. The AI Coach now draws a Star card and adds it to the AI display.
4. You, as defender, may now move 1 Player 1 space and may play Star cards as usual.
5. Score as normal for both the AI and yourself, including any AI Star cards in their display that meet the scoring criteria.
6. Discard all Star cards that were part of the play. Then place the AI Shot card facedown to track the number of offensive possessions as usual.
7. Regulation play ends after each Coach has had 5 possessions. Score any unplayed Star cards for you and the AI. Win conditions are the same.
8. Tied games go into Overtime using the same Overtime rules and the Solo rules for Offensive Possession, with you always playing first each Round.