Close Encounters of the Third Kind Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object
• Equipment
• Setup
• Playing
• Winning

Object

To be the first to "sound" all five notes of the mystery tune by placing each of your five chips onto the board.

Equipment

1 Game Board, 2 Dice, 4 Marking Cards, 4 Playing Pieces and 20 Chips.

Setup

1. Select a playing piece and place it on DEVIL'S TOWER.

2. Your five chips are those that match the color of your playing piece. Place them on the table in front of you. Each of your chips represents a different note of the mystery tune.

3. Notice that the grid on your marking card is exactly the same as the grid on the board.

4. Circle any two of the numbered squares on your marking card. Each circle shows a trap that you've created on the board. (If only two are playing, each should circle any four of the squares on his or her marking card.)

   Do not allow anyone else to see which numbers you've circled.

5. Roll the dice. The player who rolls the highest moves first; play then proceeds to the left.

Playing

1. Moving. On your turn roll the dice and move your playing piece toward its destination. When you're at DEVIL'S TOWER, your destination is the MOTHER SHIP. After reaching the MOTHER SHIP, you must return to DEVIL'S TOWER. Your destination then becomes the MOTHER SHIP, etc.

   a) You may move horizontally, vertically and/or diagonally.

   b) Your playing piece must touch each square that it enters.

   c) You may jump over any chip or over any number of adjacent chips, but not over an opponent's playing piece. If you jump over a chip, however, that square does not count as part of your move.

   d) Continue moving until: you've moved the number rolled; or you're trapped.

2. Getting Trapped. If your playing piece lands on or passes through a numbered square that an opponent has circled:

   a) the opponent announces immediately that you've been trapped;

   b) you must return to your most recent point of departure — either DEVIL'S TOWER or the MOTHER SHIP; and

   c) the opponent places a chip onto the trap that you entered and circles a new numbered square on his or her marking card.

   If you're trapped on a square that was circled by more than one opponent, each opponent who created that trap places a chip and circles a new numbered square.

3. DEVIL'S TOWER and the MOTHER SHIP.

   a) Each time you land on either destination you may circle a new numbered square on your marking card.

   Exception: If you must return to either spot because you've been trapped, you may not circle a new numbered square.

   b) An exact roll of the dice is not required to land on either destination. For example: Let's say that your current destination is DEVIL'S TOWER and that you're only four squares away from it. If you roll a 10, you may stop moving as soon as you reach DEVIL'S TOWER.

Winning

The winner is the first player to place all five chips onto the board, thus completing the mystery tune.