Dark Horse Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Special Cards
• End of the Game
• Dilly Dally Variant

Components

• 34 Move cards
• 7 Track cards
• 14 Goal cards
• 7 Bugs and 8 bases (7 translucent and 1 black base)
• 3 Ant tokens

Goal of the Game

You must use your Move cards in order to get the best ranking for your Bugs.

The player with the best score wins the game.

Setup

1. Deal each player two Goal cards. They look at them, and then they place the Goal cards in front of them face-down. The Goals will remain secret until the end of the game. In two-player games, each player is dealt three Goal cards.

2. Then build the track, placing the seven Track cards in the right order. Every card represents a space, numbered 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 from the start to the finish.

3. Randomly choose the starting player. They will then choose one of the Bugs and place it in the center of the table. The next clockwise player chooses another Bug and places it just before or just after the Bug which has already been placed. You can't place a Bug between the Bugs already placed. This goes on until all the Bugs have been placed. This will determine their starting position.

   Finally put a Bug on each of the spaces according to the order chosen by the players: the first Bug on the first space, then the second Bug on the second space, and so on.

4. Shuffle all the Move cards and deal them face-down. The number of cards dealt depends on the number of players. The remaining cards are put aside.

   • 2-player game: 8 cards
   • 3-player game: 7 cards
   • 4- and 5-player game: 6 cards
   • 6-player game: 5 cards

Gameplay

Starting with the first player, each player chooses a Move card and places it face-up in front of them.

Then the Bugs are moved according to what is described on the card.

Move cards show either a pictured Bug or a board position:

• The pictured Bug will move the number of spaces shown. A card may show a plain number (for example, a card showing "1" moves the pictured Bug one space forward, or a card showing "-1" moves it one space backward).
• A card showing two board positions with a "±1" symbol on each: the Bugs on the indicated positions must be moved forward OR backward one space. However, each Bug must move in the same direction.
• A card showing a pictured Bug with a "±1" symbol: the pictured Bug must be moved forward or backward one space.

Example: The player plays a -3 Move card for the Bug which is on the walnut space. He moves it three spaces backward, and moves one space forward of the Bugs which were on the acorn, cherry, and stone spaces. At the end of the player's turn, the Caterpillar is on the acorn space, in fourth place behind the Ladybug, the Snail, and the Fly, which are now ahead of it.

The next clockwise player does the same, and so on, until all the players have played the cards they have in hand.

Special Cards

During their turn, a player can choose to play a special card instead of a Move card. He puts it in front of him and applies its effect.

• Run for your life! When a player puts down this card, he moves the Bug which is on the cherry space directly to the stone space (the last space of the track). Move all the Bugs that were behind that space one space forward.
• Bad encounter! When a player puts down this card he can either:
  • Exchange one of their Goal cards with the first Goal card of the deck, OR
  • Choose another player who must exchange one of their Goal cards with the first Goal card of the deck.

End of the Game

When all the players have played all their Move cards and the last one has been resolved, the game ends. Each Bug has ended its race and the ranking has been established. The Bug which is on the stone space is first, the next Bug is second, and so on.

Players reveal their Goal cards now.

Each player adds up their points for their two Bugs (three Bugs in two-player games), referring to the final scoring chart on the back of the Goal cards in order to get their final score.

The player with the highest score wins the game!

Example: Steve has a Goal card with a Ladybug and another with a Fly. The Ladybug is in the first position, so the player gets 10 points. The Fly is in the third position, so the player gets 6 points. His final score is 16 points!

Dilly Dally Variant

If you want to have a tougher game, it is recommended to use this variant.

1. Put the Ant tokens on the table according to the number of players:

   • 2-player games: 1 token
   • 3- and 4-player games: 2 tokens
   • 5- and 6-player games: 3 tokens

   The remaining tokens are returned to the box.

2. Do the setup as usual. However, after having placed the Bugs on their corresponding space, put a black base on the last Bug instead of its translucent base.

3. After dealing the Move cards, and starting with the first player, each player, on their turn, can choose either to take a token or to pass. If they choose to take an Ant token, they place it in front of them, fully visible. Proceed this way until all the tokens have been taken or all the players have decided to pass. Put the remaining tokens (if any) back in the box.

4. Play the game as usual.

5. At the end of the game, the players who took an Ant token score 5 more points if the Bug with the black base finishes the race within the first three positions. Otherwise, if it is not within the three first positions, these players lose 3 points!