Creepy Cauldron Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Contents
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Moving
  • Cauldron Spaces
  • Footprint Spaces
  • Being Turned into a Frog
  • The Witch Kalmorda
  • Stealing the Key
  • Kalmorda and the Key
• Winning the Game
• Packing Up the Game

Goal of the Game

Find three enchanted objects, gain possession of the key, and be the first to escape from the castle.

Contents

1 cauldron (to be assembled), 1 game board, 4 pawns, 4 bases, 1 frog head, 1 witch, 16 rubber creatures, 1 foil sticker, and 1 die.

Setup

1. Assemble the game according to the instructions on the lid of the box.
2. Attach the cauldron by carefully pulling back its handle (away from the cauldron's face) until it clicks into position.
3. Throw the rubber creatures into the cauldron.
4. Each player chooses a coloured pawn and places it on the matching key space in their cell.
5. Place the frog head on one of the four frog figures on the steps around the cauldron.
6. The witch goes on her starting space.

Playing the Game

The youngest player begins, and play then passes clockwise. On your turn, roll the die.

Moving

If you roll a number, move your pawn forward by the number rolled.

• Movement is always clockwise around the board.
• Only one player or the witch may stand on a space at a time. If a space is occupied, the player moves on to the next free space.

Cauldron Spaces

During the game, each player must collect the three enchanted objects pictured in the book in their cell.

• If you land on a cauldron space, you try to fish one of the enchanted objects out of the cauldron with your fingers. No player may take more than one piece out of the cauldron per attempt.
• If your attempt touches the handle of the cauldron, you must return one of the objects you have already fished out back into the cauldron. Your pawn is immediately turned into a frog (see below).
• The number on a cauldron space shows how many attempts a player may make to pull out objects. If you land on a cauldron space showing a "2," you may fish out a second enchanted object from the cauldron, but you do not have to. If you fail on the first attempt and are turned into a frog, you have no second attempt.
• If you fish out an enchanted object without touching the handle of the cauldron, place it on your spell book. No one may ever have more than four objects. If you draw a fifth, you must return one of them to the cauldron.

Footprint Spaces

If you land on a footprint space, you may make yourself invisible. Take your pawn off its base and continue to play with the base alone. You are now no longer visible, not even to the wicked witch Kalmorda, and you move across the board invisibly. You remain invisible until you next land on a footprint space, or until the witch flies over you (see below). When you become visible again, put your pawn back on its base.

• While you are invisible, you may not draw an enchanted object from the cauldron; you must wait until you become visible again.
• If you move through the cell of another player on a board corner, or land there, you may take one of that player's enchanted objects.

Being Turned into a Frog

If you are snapped up by the cauldron, you are turned into a frog. Place the frog head over your pawn.

• As a frog you may not move on your turn. You must wait until you are "un-frogged" and have your normal pawn again. This can happen in either of these ways:
  • You or another player rolls the frog. Then place the frog head on one of the four frog spaces at the foot of the cauldron.
  • Another player is snapped up by the cauldron. You take the frog head from your pawn and place it over that player's pawn.
• In either case, you may move again on your next turn if you roll a number.

The Witch Kalmorda

If you roll the witch symbol, you bring Kalmorda into play.

• Kalmorda may only occupy the cauldron spaces of the main path of the board. She may not enter any other spaces or the cells in the four corners of the board.
• Whoever rolls the witch symbol moves the witch instead of their own pawn, to the next free cauldron space.
• All players who are standing between their starting space and their landing space are immediately sent to the Cave of Eternal Darkness and must skip one turn. (The printed text reads "muß ein aussetzen" with the word after "ein" missing; "one turn" is the translator's reading of the sentence.) Players on a key space in a board corner are not affected.

Stealing the Key

Once a player has released the key, the other players may try to take it from them. This succeeds if they overtake that player. The first player who moves past the player holding the key takes the key from them and hangs it over their own pawn. That player must then try to reach their own space with the padlock, without being overtaken by another player themselves.

• A player who has not yet collected three enchanted objects from their spell book may also take the key.

Kalmorda and the Key

If Kalmorda flies past the player holding the key, that player is sent to the Cave of Eternal Darkness and must skip a turn. In this case, the player places the key on the space where the witch flew over them. The next player who lands on this space with the key, or moves past it, may take the key.

Winning the Game

The first player who reaches their padlock space with the key is the winner of the game.

• This is true even if that player has not yet collected their three enchanted objects.

Packing Up the Game

To return the game to its box, carefully pull the front half of the cauldron backwards and take out the green collar. Lift up the game board and remove the lower part of the cauldron. Place these four separate parts in the box, and assemble them again in reverse order for a new game.