Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Goal of the Game
Danse Macabre board game is designed for two players, one of which has a role of God and the other - role of Devil. Roles are assigned by toss-up. Each player needs to get as many souls of the Death Dancers as possible. More important character has more points.
To win the soul God and Devil place bets in turns, peep into each other's bets or Hidden dancers cards and try to make each other pay as much as possible.
In the end of the game souls of the Dancers are looked at, points are summarised and winner is announced. Dance of the Death can be won by God or by Devil - whoever's in luck!
Game Pack
Danse Macabre game includes:
- Game board
- Hidden dancers (6 cards)
- God's deck (16 cards)
- Devil's deck (16 cards)
- Good Luck Coin
- Rules of the Game
Preparation
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Who's God, who's Devil? On one side of the coin there's a picture of Angel, on other - picture of Demon. Youngest player tosses the coin and according to the picture takes his deck: God's or Devil's cards. He gives the second deck to his opponent.
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Set the board! Put the playing board on the table between the players. Devil sits under Dancers' feet (coming from below) and God sits over their heads (coming from heaven).
There's 5 Dancers on the board with different status points:
- Pope - 6 points
- Emperor - 5 points
- Empress - 4 points
- Cardinal - 3 points
- King - 2 points
- Hidden dancers, take your places! Mix the Hidden dancers cards and put them on top of the dancing skeletons on the board, faces down. Don't cover the skeleton with the bagpipe!
Hidden dancers bring more points than open Dancers on the board:
- Pope - 8 points
- Emperor - 7 points
- Empress - 6 points
- Cardinal - 5 points
- King - 4 points
And there's one completely worthless card:
- Skeleton - 0 points
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Grab the cards! Players take their cards and put them in order according to their own taste. Keep your cards hidden from your opponent!
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Who is starting? Player with God's deck tosses the coin to decide who's starting the game.
The Course of the Game
Every round consists of two actions:
a) betting and b) peeking.
Except for the first round when player is allowed to bet only, but not to peek.
a) Betting
First player places one of his cards, face down, next to one of the Dancers on the board. God puts the card above Dancer's head, Devil - under his feet. You can place the card next to any visible Dancer or Hidden dancer.
You can bet on Dancers without any placed bets or on Dancers, that your opponent has already betted on.
You can also raise your own bet, i.e. add the card on top of the one you've placed before.
b) Peeking
After placing the bet (except during the first round) player can peek at one of his opponent's bets or at one of the Hidden Dancers' cards. Peek carefully, so your opponent won't see that card. Try to remember the card you saw!
If your opponent has betted more than one card on some Dancer, you can only peek at the last one.
You can more than once peek at the same Hidden dancers' card or your opponent's bets during the game.
Card Values
God's and Devil's decks are equal. Deck contains cards of Forces of air, Forces of fire and Events.
God's Forces of air are Angels and Forces of fire - Lightnings. Devil's Forces of Air are Demons and Forces of fire - Hells kettles.
God's deck (16 cards)
Forces of air:
- Angel (3)
- Two angels (2)
- Three angels (1)
Forces of fire:
- Lightning (3)
- Two lightnings (2)
- Three lightnings (1)
Events:
- Twister (1) - cancels Force of air
- Flood (1) - cancels Force of fire
- Sign of tripod (2) - cancels a Dancer
Devil's deck (16 cards)
Forces of air:
- Demon (3)
- Two Demons (2)
- Three Demons (1)
Forces of fire:
- Hells kettle (3)
- Two hells kettles (2)
- Three hells kettles (1)
Events:
- Twister (1) - cancels Force of air
- Flood (1) - cancels Force of fire
- Sign of tripod (2) - cancels a Dancer
Forces of air and Forces of fire are equal, but can be cancelled with different Event's cards. If you put Twister next to the Dancer, it cancels all Forces of air placed next to the same Dancer - both yours and your opponent's. Flood does the same to Forces of fire.
Tripod card makes the Dancer turn away from the faith. Dancer with the Tripod next to him won't believe in God or in Devil. None of the players will get any points for this soul. If two Tripods are placed next to the same Dancer, they cancel each other. Dancer is a believer again and can be influenced by other cards, placed next to him by God and Devil.
The End of the Game
Game is over when players placed all their cards. Then all the Hidden dancers' cards on the board are turned faces up and players start to count the points.
Counting the Points
Point count starts from the side of the board with the Pope. God and Devil open bets placed next to the first dancer (Pope) and compare them. Biggest bet gets Dancer's soul and points. If bets are equal, Devil tosses the coin to decide, who'll get the soul and points.
If Twister or Flood cancels all the bets of the same Dancer, nobody gets his soul. It doesn't matter whose Event it was.
Winning
When destiny of all the dancers is decided and all points are counted, winner is announced. If God wins, trumpets of Jericho will sing and there will be a thousand years of peace on Earth. If Devil wins, earth will open, and hell's fire will come out of the cracks and kingdom of darkness will rule the Earth for thousand years.
Additional Rule: The Tournament
"Danse Macabre" can also be played as a tournament, where every player takes turns to play God and Devil. Tournament games are played until one of the players has won three games in total, as God or as Devil.
Suggestions
Peek at your opponent's cards but don't forget to peek at Hidden Dancers, too - or you can bet too much of higher value cards on low value souls!
Try to hurt your opponent as much as you can with your bets. Attack the places, where you think the most of his Forces of fire etc. are gathered.
Remember - you won't be able to peek at all the cards. Sometimes you have to risk it - blindly!
You can't place high bets on all the Dancers. Even low value souls can be pretty useful if you get them with small bets and without any trouble.
Bluff! Even though your opponent is God or Devil, he can't read your mind and can't peek at all your bets, either. Or remember them all.