Deadlines
Deadlines Rulebook
Official English FoxMind / Débâcle Jeux rulebook (2024 edition).
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Specifications
- 14+
- 1-10 players
- 20mins
Contents
- 207 Character Cards
- 3 Tombstone Cards
- 1 Rulebook
Game Objective
It is a matter of life or…Death! Players place in the right order 36 cards of famous characters based on their date of birth, date of death or life span. The player who has made the least mistakes wins the game!
Setting Up the Game
Place the 3 Tombstone cards one beside the other on the table in the following order: Date of Birth, Life Span and Date of Death.
Mix up the Character cards and divide them equally (68 cards each). Place them above the Tombstone cards. They must be placed with the Name of the character side up.
(Illustration labels: Character Cards front: Name Side; back: Date Side. Character Decks; Tombstone Cards; Character Cards In Play.)
Pick the top card from each pile and place them on their date side up under each Tombstone card. Players will initiate the games with these cards in play. The oldest player starts the game.
How to Play
Players play in turns clockwise.
The Date of Birth and Date of Death columns are placed in chronological order, from top to bottom.
The Life Span column is placed from the shortest life span to the longest from top to bottom.
On their turn, the player chooses one of the top cards from the Character decks without looking on the back side. They must place this card under one of the Tombstones cards by integrating it in the right order: before, after or in between the played cards (including the first 3 cards from the set up). Once the cards are placed, they flip the card and look ONLY at the information matching the Tombstone card they played under.
If the card is placed correctly: The card stays in play.
If the card is not placed correctly: The player takes back the card as a penalty and places it in front of them. Their turn ends.
When 12 Character cards have been placed under a Tombstone Card, this column is completed. Remove the 12 cards from the table and flip the tombstone face down to show that it is unavailable.
Special Cards
Special cards have a black background.
On the back of these cards, the cause of death at the bottom has one or multiple words in orange. When a player picks one of these cards, they can try to guess the cause of death. The player to their right acts as the judge and checks if the player used one of the orange words. They succeed the challenge if they use one of the orange words in their explanation.
Note: if the player is very close to the right answer, the judge can ask them to be more precise to find the correct word.
Once the answer is given:
The player gets a penalty: The card is not placed correctly. The player keeps the card in front of them.
The player gets no penalty: They place the card correctly BUT the cause of death is wrong: the card stays in the column.
The player gets a reward: They place the card correctly and the cause of death is correct. The card stays in place and the player can:
- Discard one of their own Penalty cards.
- Choose one card on top of the Character decks and give it to a player as a Penalty card!
End of the Game
The game ends when the 3 columns are closed (when 36 cards have been correctly played). The player with the least amount of Penalty cards wins the game.
In case of a tie, players make an ultimate death match. One after the other, they must guess the life span of the Character on the top center deck. They can not bet the same duration. The player who has given the closest answer wins.
Game Variants
A Short Life!
Columns can only have 8 cards each.
Dead End
Players can only place the Character cards in the column under the corresponding deck. Example: The Character cards from deck above the Date of Birth Tombstone can only be played in that column.
Death Match!
A player is eliminated when they get 3 Penalty cards. Last player standing wins. (Note: you might need a long table to play!)
Til Death do us part! Coop & Solo
Penalty cards are common to all players, they must complete all 3 columns (36 cards) before getting 3 penalties. Solo mode can be played the same way.