Bla5t Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Part I - Basic Rules
• How a Game Plays Out
• Playing a Round
• Structure of a Card
• End of a Round
• Penalties
• Monsters Abilities
• Heroes Abilities
• Bosses Abilities
• Stop
• Part II - Advanced Rules
• New Action: The Flip
• Ultimate Boss: Hyperion
• New Bosses and Heroes
• The Abilities of the New Heroes and Bosses
• Clarification on the Rules
• Variations
  • Bla5t-eleration
  • Nuclear Heads-up (2 players rules)

Part I - Basic Rules

How a Game Plays Out

Players sit in a circle. The game is played over several rounds, during which the objective of each player is to avoid accumulating points. At the end of each round, the number of points accumulated is noted down, and added to those collected in previous rounds.

The game comes to an end when one of the players reaches 1000 points. The winner is the player with the fewest points.

For a shorter game you can set the maximum score at 50 points.

Playing a Round

Shuffle the cards and distribute 4 to each player face down. Place the deck face down in the center of the table. Flip over the topmost card and place that next to the deck, facing up, forming the discard pile.

Each player has their 4 cards in front of them organized in a square (as per the image in the rulebook). Their position must not change during the game.

Before the round begins, each player discreetly looks at 2 of their cards - which ones is their choice - and then puts them back in their original position, still facing down.

For the first round, the player to the left of the dealer begins; in the following rounds, the player with the highest score begins.

In case of a draw, the first player is chosen at random.

When it is their turn, players are able to perform only one of the following actions:

• Draw a card (without showing it to the other players) and choose action A or B.
• Exchange one of your cards with the topmost card on the discard pile.
• Discard one of your cards if it is of the same value as the topmost card on the discard pile. The player will then have one less card in front of them.

The actions to choose after drawing a card are:

A - Put it on the discard pile face-up and choose whether to use the card's specific ability (see rules "cards abilities").

B - Replace one of your own cards with the drawn card, playing the drawn card face-down in the position of the replaced card, which is put face-up in the discard pile.

Only a newly drawn card can make use of its ability.

Structure of a Card

The card carries the following elements:

• Character name
• Value of the card
• Ability icon
• Extension icon (upper right corner)
• Drawing
• Ability of the card

As the round progresses and turns are played, players try to reduce the value of the cards in front of them by replacing them with drawn cards, by throwing them into the discard pile or exchanging them with their opponents by using the cards "abilities". Should the draw pile run out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile, whilst leaving the most recently discarded card on the "new" discard pile.

End of a Round

When a player, at the end of their turn, thinks they have a number of points lower than or equal to 5, they call "BLAST". Their game is locked while the other players play a final turn each but can not touch the cards of the player that called "BLAST".

Do not forget to shuffle the cards between each round!

Players can not announce "BLAST" on their first turn.

Penalties

Several scenarios generate penalty points for the concerned player:

• +15 points to the player who has announced "BLAST" when they have more than 5 points in front of them.
• +5 points to the player who has announced a "BLAST" correctly (they have 5 points or less in front of them) if other players have fewer points than them on that round.
• An additional card to the player who, mistakenly discarded a card from their game, revealing a number that does not correspond to the first card of the discard pile. (The player puts the card since revealed back into their game and draws a new card from the deck.)
• An additional card to the player who reveals or looks at a card when they were not supposed to.

If you already had 4 cards, the penalty card is placed next to the others. On the other hand, if you had less than 4, the penalty card will fill one of the free slots.

Monsters Abilities

Monsters 1 to 5 have no abilities.

The monsters from 6 to 12 are described below.

• 6 - There are two different versions of this monster to make your life difficult:
  • Swap a card between two of your opponents.
  • Shuffle two of your cards (or pretend) out of sight and put them back in front of you.
• 7 - Look at one of your cards.
• 8 - Look at an opponent's card.
• 9 - Look at one of your cards then the first of the draw pile.
• 10 - Look at an opponent's card then the first of the draw pile.
• 11 - Swap one of your cards with an opponent's card without looking at them.
• 12 - Look at an opponent's card; if you want to you can exchange it.

Heroes Abilities

Heroes each have their own power. Some apply if you play the card as you draw it, others take effect at the end of the round if the card is in your possession.

A hero played for his power can't be recovered in the discard pile by the next player.

• Jayce - Swap 1 to 4 of your current cards with one or more opponents.
• Apo - Check all your cards and play an extra turn.
• Helmut - If an opponent touches this card you can reveal it, it is locked (it remains face up and can't be exchanged anymore).
• Herman - If you have this card at the end of the round, you can't take more than 10 points (except for penalty points).

Bosses Abilities

For your first run, we recommend that you do not use the bosses so as to make learning the rules easier. Add them into the second round by explaining how they work to other players.

Bosses have special abilities called "combo", which only trigger if you have cards 2, 3 and 4 in addition to one of them, and if you have exactly 4 cards. If you meet these conditions, then you can declare "BLAST". You will not take any points (as if your cards were worth 0) and your

[Source note: the English printed sentence ends at "and your" and is cut off in the source. The French edition of the same rulebook completes it as "and your opponents will start the next round with a penalty:", followed by the boss effects below.]

• Gordon - Combo 2/3/4: Your opponents start the next round without looking at their cards.
• Futura - Combo 2/3/4: Your opponents start the next round with one extra card.

Stop

You now know enough to get started the basic game.

Don't forget, only use cards that do not have the extension symbol in the upper right corner.

Part II - Advanced Rules

It's time to get down to business!

Now that you have the basic rules in hand, you can integrate the monsters numbered 13, and the ultimate boss, number 15. These bring new mechanics to Bla5t that we explain below.

New Action: The Flip

At your turn, instead of doing one of the actions described on page 3, you can now choose to flip one of your cards. A flip involves flipping a card, whether to reveal it or to hide it again.

A face-up card is considered locked and can't be exchanged or replaced by a drawn card. The only possible actions with a locked card are to discard it if, in turn, a card of the same value is on the discard pile; or flip it again.

The ability of the new monster 13 allows you to flip your cards as well as those of other players.

Ultimate Boss: Hyperion

Undisputed master of the old powerhouse and all the creatures that are there, Hyperion is a boss whose ability differs slightly from the others. The condition to get his combo (see page 6) is to have 3 cards of the same value in addition to this boss. If you succeed, your game will be worth 0 points and you will benefit from his ability during the next round.

New Bosses and Heroes

New heroes and bosses are appearing in this extension. They are interchangeable with those of origin, so that the game always contains four heroes (0) and two bosses (14).

In a new game, it is up to the owner of the game to decide which will be used, while presenting them to other players. At the midpoint of a game (when a player counts half of the maximum points fixed), the one with the highest score can, if they wish, change heroes (0) and bosses (14) without showing them to their opponents.

The Abilities of the New Heroes and Bosses

• Daisy - Discard one of the face up cards in play. This card can't be recovered by the next player.
• Carol - Flip all the cards in play. The ones that were face down become visible, and vice versa.
• Stephania - Swap the seats of all players. You decide who goes where. The one taking your seat is the next to play.
• Jimbo - You can, if you wish, start the next round with the same number of cards you had at the end of this one, but without looking at them.
• Enzo - If it is face down at the end of the round, look at 3 cards at the beginning of the next. If it is face up, look only at one.
• Lola et Leo - They have values of -1. In addition, if you are in possession of the duo at the end of a round, you can start the next with 3 cards.
• Fawkes - Combo 2/3/4: In the next round, after the players have looked at their cards, you can flip up to 2 cards for each of them (including yourself).
• Maga - Combo 2/3/4: At the beginning of the next round, look at as many cards as you want in each player's game.
• Hyperion - Combo XXX (3 cards of the same value): Whenever you choose to draw, take 2 cards, play one and discard the other.

Clarification on the Rules

When there are conflicts between cards abilities, use the following rules:

• When several heroes abilities contradict each other, choose the one you prefer.
• The ability of a boss always takes precedence over those of heroes.

If you have a doubt about the rules, encounter an ambiguous situation during a game or disagree with another player, rather than kill it (because it's messy), visit our website bla5t.ch. You will find answers to all of your questions.

Variations

Bla5t-eleration

Are you experienzed players and Bla5t no longer hulds any secrets for you? Take it to the next level with this strategic variant that will warm your brains. In this game mode, the abilities of all cards that go into the discard pile can be played. You can therefore use the ability of a card in your game that you get rid of, either because you replace it with a card you have just drawn, or because a card of the same value is on the discard pile in turn.

Nuclear Heads-up (2 players rules)

Playing Bla5t with as few as two poeple is possible by placing 4 cards aside as if there were a third player, but it's really less funny ... We recommend you ring at your neighbors until you find a third player.

You will find other crazy game variations on our website bla5t.ch. If you invent new ones, do not hesitate to let us know.