Dawn Under Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Content
• Preparation
• Aim of the Game
• Course of Play
• Chapter 1: Help! Vampire Looking for Empty Resting Spot!
  • Successfully Finding a Resting Place
• Keeping Your Row Filled
• Fruitless Resting Place Search
• Chapter 2: Ups! There's a Vampire in There Already!
• Chapter 3: Something Afoul Is in the Air: Garlic in the Grave!
• Chapter 4: That Is All I Needed: A Rat Plague!
  • Example of a Rat Plague
• Chapter 5: Yet Another Rat Plague!!!
• End of the Game
• Dawn Under for 2 Players
• Quick Reference
• Credits

Game Content

• 1 Game Plan with 60 hollow graves
• 66 grave lids (6 of which have a "Rat" on the bottom side)
• 60 Vampires in 6 colours
• 18 Garlic Bundles in 6 colours
• 13 Wooden Stakes
• These Game Rules

BASIC RULE for 3 to 6 players. Extra rules for a 2 person game are found below (see Dawn Under for 2 Players).

Preparation

• Start by placing the game plan on the table.
• Out of the 66 grave lids remove the 6 which have a rat on the bottom side. These "rat lids" are kept on the side for now. Then, mix the remaining 60 grave lids with the coloured side facing down, draw 6 pieces and place them as a stack next to the game plan, without looking at the colour. Now take the 6 "rat lids" and mix them back into the remaining grave lids. Put one grave lid on each one of the graves, with the bat emblem facing up.
• The 13 wooden stakes are placed on the path on the game plan.
• Each one of you gets 3 garlic bundles of the same colour and places them openly in front of you.

Remember the colour of your garlic bundles well!! This colour has nothing to do with the colours of the vampires or the grave lids!

• All vampires are mixed face down and evenly distributed between the players.
• Arrange the vampires you have received, so that they are all facing down and in a row. Then, turn over the 2 outermost vampires at each end of your card row (fig. 1).

Aim of the Game

Whoever puts all his own vampires to sleep in the graves first or is able to hand them over to other players, has won the game.

Course of Play

The player that woke up latest today is entitled to start. Play is clockwise.

Chapter 1: Help! Vampire Looking for Empty Resting Spot!

When you have your turn, pick a grave and turn over the lid covering it. Make sure that all players have a chance to see the colour (or rat) of the bottom side of the lid.

Successfully Finding a Resting Place

If the opened grave happens to be empty (and there is no rat on the underside of the lid), compare the colour of the lid with the colour of two outermost vampires on your card row.

If the colour of one of the vampires matches the colour of the lid, then you can put him to rest in that grave (with the vampire picture facing up). Close the grave by replacing the lid on top of it with the coloured part facing down. This applies throughout the game.

Now, you can immediately turn over the next lid and keep doing so until you find a grave in which you can no longer put a vampire (exception: "Rat plague", see Chapter 4).

It can happen that both outermost vampires have the same colour as the turned over lid. In this case, simply choose one vampire and put him to rest in the grave. The other one has to wait for his next chance…

Fig. 1: At the beginning of the game, each player turns over 2 vampires at each end (left and right) of his card row. Only the outermost vampires (within the white circle) are compared to the grave lid colour. In this example, you have to find either a green or a yellow grave lid in order to put one of your vampires to rest.

Keeping Your Row Filled

Whenever you have put a vampire to rest (either by placing him in a grave or handing him over to another player), immediately turn over the next vampire card (fig. 2), so that you have again, 2 open vampires at each end of the row.

If you only have 4 or less vampires left, these all have to be open in front of you. You can never change the order of your vampires.

Fig. 2: Once Kate has disposed of her green vampire, she immediately turns over the next covered vampire (white arrow), on the same side of the card row.

Fruitless Resting Place Search

It could happen that none of your vampires at the outermost end of each side of the card row are of the same colour as the grave lid you just opened. If so, you can't put any vampire in that grave. Before you replace the lid however, you can put one of your garlic bundles into that grave in order to prevent other vampires from resting here (see Chapter 3). You can leave the grave empty if you wish so. If you have used all your garlic already, you have to leave the grave empty.

Your turn is over and your left hand neighbour gets his turn.

A little hint: before placing one of your garlic bundles into a grave, first look at your own and at the open vampires of the other players.

Chapter 2: Ups! There's a Vampire in There Already!

If you open a grave that has already been taken by another vampire, leave him in there and take a wooden stake from the game plan. Your turn is over. Close the grave and your left hand neighbour gets to play.

As soon as you collect 3 wooden stakes, each of the other players immediately gives you one of their outermost vampires as a "gift", which you can't refuse! (see box below)

Then, put the 3 wooden stakes back on the path on the game plan.

Chapter 3: Something Afoul Is in the Air: Garlic in the Grave!

If you open a grave in which there is a garlic bundle you are "rewarded" with a vampire from the player whom the garlic belongs to - he gives you one of his outermost vampires.

If you open a grave where you have placed one of your own garlic bundles, you get a side-switching vampire from each of the other players. Afterwards, the owner of the garlic bundle takes it out of the grave. You can use it anytime later.

Even though the grave is now empty you cannot place a vampire or a garlic bundle at this moment. Replace the lid on the grave. Your left hand neighbour gets his turn.

Place the side-switching vampires openly in your card row. (You can only turn the next covered vampire in your row, once you have less than 2 open ones on that side).

Chapter 4: That Is All I Needed: A Rat Plague!

If you turn over a lid with a rat on the underside, place the lid face up in front of you. This will trigger a rat plague. Leave the rat open in front of you for the duration of the rat plague.

Whenever there is a rat plague, you can (so it is optional) turn over all lids of the graves neighbouring the one from which the rat plague originated (see fig. 3a and 3b). As usual, try only to open empty graves!

Fig. 3a: RAT PLAGUE! The players can turn over the lids of the neighbouring graves (white arrows), if they want. Lids of graves which are not neighbouring must not be turned over (X).

Fig. 3b: Graves separated by the road don't count as neighbouring. Here you can only turn over up to 4 lids.

The player who triggered the rat plague (thus has the rat lid in front of him) chooses which of the surrounding grave lids he wants to turn, in any order he wants.

In every empty grave he uncovers, with a lid colour matching one of his outermost vampires, he can place a vampire. He can continue his turn, if he wants to.

In every empty grave he uncovers, but has no matching vampire, he can place one of his garlic bundles. The player still continues his turn, if he wants to.

For every grave he opens which is not empty, either he takes a wooden stake or a vampire - just as described in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 - and continues his turn, if he wants to.

Only when the player no longer wants to turn more lids (if you don't want to, you don't have to turn any lid), his left hand neighbour can continue the rat plague. He can now turn the remaining lids of the surrounding graves or end his turn whenever he wishes, as described above. If he decides to stop, then the next player to his left can continue the rat plague and so on.

REMEMBER: all grave lids remain open for the duration of the rat plague. You can only place a garlic bundle or a matching vampire in the just opened grave. If at a later point in the rat plague a matching vampire (same colour as the grave lid) "moves" to an outermost position of your row, you cannot place him in a grave opened before.

The rat plague ends:

• as soon as all surrounding graves have been opened, or
• as soon as all players have had a chance to play the rat plague (and no longer want to turn any more lids), or
• as soon as another rat is opened (see Chapter 5).

At the end of the rat plague remove the lid with the rat from play. Then, take the uppermost card of the covered deck and place it on the now uncovered grave (with the bat emblem facing up). Finally, replace all turned over lids back on the corresponding graves, face down.

After the rat plague is over, the left hand neighbour of the player that started the plague gets his turn.

Example of a Rat Plague

(Fig. 4a): Tom finds a rat lid. He takes the lid and places it openly in front of him and can now turn the lids of all surrounding graves - in this case 7 - in any order he wishes.

(Fig. 4b): First, he opens an empty grave with a green lid (1). But none of his outermost vampires is green. Since he doesn't want to put one of his garlic bundles in this grave, it remains empty. The next lid Tom uncovers is yellow (2). He can put his outermost yellow vampire in this grave. With this move the new outermost vampire in his row is a green one. However, Tom is not allowed to now take his green vampire and place it in the green grave - because when he opened the green grave, the vampire was not at an outermost position. Tom now decides to stop his turn as he believes all other neighbouring graves are already full. His left hand neighbour Diana agrees with him, and also decides to pass and gives Mike a chance to play.

(Fig. 4c): Mike decides to open 2 more graves (3 and 4). In the first blue one (3) he places one of his garlic bundles. In the second one (4), he finds a garlic bundle from Diana, who gives him one of her own vampires (and she then takes her garlic bundle back). The risk has become too high for Mike so he ends his turn and passes the rat plague to Kate.

(Fig. 4d): Kate turns one of the lids and finds an empty grave (5). However, there is a rat on that lid and a new rat plague is triggered. Immediately, close all graves opened in the previous rat plague - the old rat lid is removed from play and substituted by a new lid from the deck. Kate takes the new rat lid and puts it in front of her and starts the new rat plague.

Chapter 5: Yet Another Rat Plague!!!

If during a rat plague a new lid with a rat is turned, the current rat plague immediately ends - and a new one begins. The new rat lid is placed open in front of the player who triggered it.

If the same player that has started the first rat plague finds another rat, he hands over the new rat to his left hand neighbour.

The "old" rat is removed from play and the according grave covered with a new lid from the card deck (as always, face down). Now, all graves already open, due to the previous rat plague, are covered again with the appropriate lids - with the exception of the rat lid.

The player who has the open rat lid in front of him starts the action for the new rat plague, as described in Chapter 4…

End of the Game

The first player to have no vampires left, either by putting them to rest in the graves or by "giving" them to other players (or a combination of both), ends and wins the game.

Dawn Under for 2 Players

If you are only 2 players, remove 2 grave lid colours and 2 vampire colours from the game. Each one gets their 3 garlic bundles and 20 vampires. Instead of 6, take only 4 rat grave lids.

Therefore, you will have a card deck of 4 cards. The remaining 40 lids are placed as desired on the graves of the game plan - thus the graves that will stay open are chosen by you.

The BASIC RULES apply, with some exceptions:

• If you find a garlic bundle of your opponent, you get 2 of his vampires.
• If you find one of your own garlic bundles or you collect your third wooden stake, you get 4 vampires from your opponent.
• A rat lid will remain open on the grave up until the end of the rat plague. If you triggered the rat plague, you start the turning of the neighbouring grave lids. If you find a second rat, your opponent will take over this new rat plague.
• If your opponent opens the same grave you have before, you cannot in your next turn open that same grave again. If you still do this, you have to take one of the wooden stakes from the game plan.

Quick Reference

The resting place search in short:

• The grave is empty and the colour of the turned lid matches the colour of an outermost vampire: place the matching vampire in the grave and keep playing.
• The grave is empty but the colour of the turned lid doesn't match the colour of one of your outermost vampires: you can place a garlic bundle in the grave. Your turn is over.
• There is a vampire in the grave already: you have to take a wooden stake from the road on the game plan. Your turn is over.
• When you collect the third wooden stake, every player "offers" you one of their vampires.
• There is garlic in the grave:
  • a) From another player: you get a vampire from the owner of the garlic bundle. The owner of the garlic takes the bundle back. Your turn is over.
  • b) Your own garlic: you get a vampire from each of the other players. Take back your garlic bundle. Your turn is over.
• Rat plague (you turn over a rat lid): you can turn over as many neighbouring grave lids as you want. If you don't want to turn over more lids, your left hand neighbour continues the rat plague.
• Another rat plague (a second rat is found during an ongoing rat plague): the current rat plague immediately ends (close all open graves and substitute the rat lid with a new grave lid from the deck). If you also find the second rat, you pass the rat plague to your left hand neighbour.

This is always true:

• When you finish your turn close all graves so that the emblem on the lid is facing up.
• On each side of the vampire card row, you can have 2 vampires open (plus all those you were "offered").
• Only for the rat plague: You can only place a garlic bundle or a matching vampire in a grave you have just opened. Graves that have been opened before are taboo.

Credits

• Zoch Verlag
• Copyright: 2004
• Author: Norbert Proena
• Illustration and Layout: Victor Boden
• Translation: Philip Vargas