Daedalus' Maze Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setting Up the Game
  • A. Game Board
  • B. The Pawns - Treasure
  • C. The Cards
• Playing the Game
  • Initial Positioning
  • Basic Procedure for Each Turn
  • Playing the Cards
  • Moving the Pawns (Soldiers)
  • Rotating the Maze's Walls
  • Picking Up the Treasure and Revealing the Beast Card
  • Death of a Soldier
  • Winning the Game
• Appendix 1: Card Examples

Components

The Game is a circular spinning maze, it can be played by 2 up to 4 players and consists of the following components:

• The bottom part of the Game, made from paper, depicting the main, fixed part of the Maze.
• The intermediate circular transparent film, depicting the concentric rotating walls of the Maze.
• The two transparent neighboring parts of the upper fixed cover. The pawns move on the top of this part.
• The 5 plastic connectors which connect and hold together the 3 basic parts of the board.
• A set of game pawns for up to 4 players (24 soldiers in total).
• A set of 68 playing cards classified in 3 different categories.
• One Crown representing the Treasure.
• The explanatory booklet.

Setting Up the Game

A. Game Board

1. Pick the bottom part, unfold it and place it at the center of your table. This is the fixed part of the Maze and depicts the zones, the fields and the radial walls (red lines). Put the 5 connectors into the 5 holes of this part.
2. Place the intermediate circular transparent film through the central connector. As mentioned earlier, this part depicts the curved concentric spinning walls (red lines) of the Game.
3. Place the 2 neighboring pieces of the upper transparent cover on the top and fix them with the connectors.
4. Close the connectors. Press them slightly one by one.

The Game Board is divided into four different regions. These regions are often mentioned in this rulebook and so players need to accustom themselves to them. The regions are created by the 8 concentric circles which are printed on the board.

• The Exit Zone: It is the zone between the 1st and the 2nd circle. No actual game takes place in this zone, but it is useful for rotating the intermediate- spinning part of the maze.
• The Maze Entrance Zone: It is actually the first zone of the maze which is divided into 24 fields. Fields are the distinct quadrilateral positions of the Labyrinth where you can move your pawns. You should position your pawns in this zone at the start of the game.
• The other Maze Zones: It is the 5 next zones of the maze. As well as the Entrance zone, these zones are divided into 24 fields.
• The Treasure Chamber: It is the Treasure Zone of the Maze in the center of the Board. The crown is placed in this zone and guarded by the Minotaur.

The Game is a circular spinning maze. In order to rotate the walls of the maze one needs to put his/her finger in one of the four open spaces of the upper transparent cover that are located in the Exit Zone and slide the underneath circular transparent film.

B. The Pawns - Treasure

The game contains 24 pawns (referred to as soldiers), classified in 4 different colors, and it can be played by 2 up to 4 players.

1. Choose a color and pick up the six pawns (soldiers) of the same color. Four (4) of these pawns will be placed in the Maze and two of them will be kept in reserve. (see PLAYING THE GAME)
2. Place the Crown representing the treasure into the Treasure Chamber.

C. The Cards

The game contains three types of cards which, according to their text, can affect the game in various ways. They are identified by their back side as:

• Gods & Heroes - 12 Cards
• Events – 50 cards
• Beasts - 6 cards

1. Separate the cards by type, shuffle them thoroughly and place them into three piles.
2. Draw one (1) Gods & Heroes card in random and place it before you (face-up) so that the other players are aware of your card. All the players do the same. This card gives you a specific ability which may be used in each turn throughout the game. These cards also bear a number which defines the power and the playing order sequence. The player with the biggest numbered card plays first etc.(see INITIAL POSITIONING) and the card with the smaller number is the most powerful etc. (see PLAYING THE CARDS). Discard the remaining cards of this pile.
3. Draw five (5) Events cards which you keep secret and may use strategically throughout the game. All the players do the same. Place the rest of the Events cards (face-down) on the Event pile next to the Game board.
4. Place the Beasts cards (face-down) in a pile next to the Game board. They are to be used later in the game as each one of them represents a Beast that may change the scenario only after a player enters the Treasure Chamber and takes the Treasure.

Playing the Game

Initial Positioning

1. Make sure each player has got 6 pawns (soldiers) of the same color, 5 Events Cards and one Gods & Heroes card at their disposal (see Setting up the game).
2. Hold your Events Cards (face-down) so that no other player(s) can see them. Think of how you can use them strategically in order to win the game.
3. Place your God & Hero Card in front of you (face-up) so that the other player(s) can see it. The card gives you a specific ability which you can use in each turn throughout the game (see Appendix 1). Remember that the player with the biggest number on his/her God & Hero Card plays first (see The Cards).
4. Put one of your soldiers in a field of your choice into the Entrance Zone. Be sure to place yours soldier wisely.
5. The rest of the players act accordingly.
6. Take turns until four (4) of your soldiers are placed into the Entrance Zone. Note that two soldiers cannot occupy the same field in the Maze (even if they belong to the same player). Keep your remaining two soldiers to possibly use later during the game.
7. Move the walls of the maze once (15°) clockwise and the GAME BEGINS!

Object of the game is to enter the Treasure Chamber before the other player(s), pick up the treasure and make it to the Exit Zone. This is not as easy as it seems! The maze walls (red lines) are impossible to pass and as they are also rotating you can get trapped. Can you face the secret dangers of the maze and be the winner?

Basic Procedure for Each Turn

• Step 1: The first player may wish to use his/her cards (optional). (See PLAYING THE CARDS)
• Step 2: Then he/she moves his/her soldiers (optional). (See MOVING THE PAWNS/SOLDIERS)
• Step 3: The rest of the players do the same as above.
• Step 4: The walls rotate clockwise (by 15°) (obligatory). (See ROTATING THE WALLS OF THE MAZE)

Playing the Cards

Cards are casted at the beginning of each player's turn. During each turn, each player may choose to use his Gods & Heroes ability card and/or play one Event card from hand. Once an Event card is casted, it has an immediate effect on the game. The player reveals the card and places it before him/her (face-up). When the effect of the Event is accomplished, then the card is discarded. Discarded cards are removed from the game.

If a player's card has an effect that can be counteracted by another card, then an opponent player may choose to cast this card (or cards) at the same time, even if he had or hadn't played already. If this card is an Event card then it must be discarded.

When a card states that an additional card should be drawn, the player who uses it takes the upper card from the Event pile in hand.

In a case of conflict between Gods and Heroes Cards then the most powerful card prevails. The card with the smaller number is the most powerful etc.

Moving the Pawns (Soldiers)

Moving your soldiers is one of the most important actions in the game. The game conventionally permits two distinct moves: Radial and Peripheral, ONE FIELD AT A TIME.

a) In a Radial Move, players move their soldiers towards or away from the Center of the Maze, which, in a player's perspective, may be described as moving "up" and "down".

b) Peripheral moves could be described as "right" and "left" as players move their soldiers through peripheral fields.

These two moves are the default moves of the game.

A Diagonal Move, defined as two moves, one peripheral and one radial in any order, is also possible but only as an effect of a card.

The walls (red lines) of the Maze are the natural boundaries in the Maze and cannot be over passed by a player's soldier unless a card specifically allows doing so.

As mentioned, two soldiers cannot occupy the same field in the Maze (even if they belong to the same player).

Your soldier's path may be blocked by walls and/or by another player's soldiers. However, any soldier blocking another soldier's path may be over passed, by using a Diagonal Move if you hold the relevant card(s). A Diagonal Move (defined as two moves, one peripheral and one radial in any order) does not surpass walls though, i.e. if the way is blocked by walls, the move cannot occur.

Each player may choose the soldier(s) who he/she wishes to move in each turn but if a player's soldier is blocked by the maze's walls and/or opponents' soldiers and cannot move during the player's turn then he immediately dies. (See DEATH OF A SOLDIER)

Rotating the Maze's Walls

When all players have moved their soldiers (and before the first player's turn starts again), it is time for the Maze's Walls to be rotated one step clockwise (by 15°). As mentioned earlier, in order to rotate the walls of the maze one needs to put his/her finger in one of the four open spaces of the upper transparent cover that are located in the Exit Zone and slide the underneath circular transparent film. This is repeated continuously throughout the game.

Picking Up the Treasure and Revealing the Beast Card

The player whose soldier reaches first the Treasure Chamber in the Center of the Maze picks up the Treasure and places the crown on top of the soldier.

This soldier must now find his way out to the Exit Zone while still carrying the Treasure intact (See WINNING THE GAME). The other players try to kill that soldier (See DEATH OF A SOLDIER), take the treasure and exit the Maze. If the soldier carrying the treasure is killed in any way, the treasure is immediately dropped in the field where the soldier is at this time. Players need to move their soldiers towards that field to recapture the treasure.

When the Treasure is picked from the Treasure Chamber, the Beast card is triggered. The player flips the upper card from the Beast pile (face-down to face-up) and its game text is revealed. The rest of the Bests cards are discarded.

The effect of the Beast card lasts until the end of the game. It does not only affect the player that initially picked up the Treasure, but all the players. The various Beast cards of the game offer more diversity and challenge to the game. (See APPENDIX 1)

As mentioned earlier, two soldiers cannot occupy the same position in the Maze (even if they belong to the same player). This is a general rule that applies for the Entrance Zone and the rest of Zones but not for the Treasure Chamber, where more than one soldiers can be placed.

The game is not just a race to the Center of the Maze and back, though! There are many dangers in the Maze as well. Any player's soldiers may die on the way as follows:

Death of a Soldier

A soldier is killed:

• When a player cannot move him because he is blocked either by the maze's walls and/or by opponent(s)' soldiers (not by soldiers of his own).
• When a casted card specifies the death.

When a soldier is killed, the pawn is removed from the game. However, the game includes cards which prevent the death of a soldier. In such a case the player(s) may reveal such a card and prevent that death.

Winning the Game

• The player who manages to get hold of the treasure and makes it back to the Exit Zone with one of his soldiers carrying the treasure wins the game.
• A player may also win at any point of the game if all of the opponents' soldiers are dead.
• In the event that two or more players lose their last soldier at the same time (by the Labyrinth Walls, for instance), then the winner is the player whose soldier carries the Treasure. If no soldier carries the Treasure at that time, the player whose soldier is closer to the Exit of the Labyrinth is the winner. If the soldiers are at the same distance, then the winner is the player who last moved its soldier.
• In the event of failure to exit the Labyrinth with the Treasure, the winner is the player whose soldier carries the Treasure.

Congratulations!!!

TIP: An easier version of the game would be to play without using the cards. In this case only the Board, the Pawns and the Treasure is used.

Appendix 1: Card Examples

• Haste is an Event card that allows all your soldiers to move twice (during the turn it is played). Once the card's effect is finished, the card is discarded.
• Armored is an Event card that prevents the death of a soldier by another soldier (or by a card). This card's effect will continue until the next turn. This card will be discarded when this turn finishes.
• Hera like all other Gods/Heroes cards has a lasting effect. Its game text prohibits the death of your soldiers by an opponent's card. This effect is permanent and will last throughout the Game.
• Poseidon is also a God card and you can use it once in each turn during the game. In this case, you may move one of the opponent's soldiers (except the soldier that currently carries the Treasure or an opponents' last standing soldier).
• Medusa is a Beast Card. When a player's soldier reaches the center of the Maze and picks up the treasure, the first card of the Beast Pile is flipped and its game text is revealed. Medusa's game text specifies that the Maze's Walls will stay still for the rest of the game. This means that the moving of the Maze will cease to occur for the rest of the game.