Death Wish Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• In the Box
• Objective
• Game Setup
• Contracting Diseases
• Choose One Action Per Turn
• Share Your Diagnosis
• Hand Limits & Discarding
• Colours & Rarity
• Ending the Game
• Important Extras

In the Box

• Symptom deck (x96)
• Disease deck (x40)
• Afflicter deck (x48)
• Outbreak deck (x35)
• Reference Cards (x6)
• Rulebook

Objective

The objective is morbidly simple: be the first player to die. It's a race to snap up lethal diseases before the other players do!

Create deadly combinations of symptoms and afflicter cards, collect diseases and even suffer special outbreak effects to get you ahead.

Collect enough diseases and you will be pushing up daisies in no time!

Game Setup

1. Ensure that each deck is thoroughly shuffled.
2. Place the disease deck on the table and reveal 4 diseases face up.
3. Deal players 4 symptom cards face down, players may see their cards. Place the deck below the diseases and reveal 4 cards face up.
4. Deal players 2 afflicter cards face up and place the deck within reach of all players.
5. Place the outbreak deck on the table within reach of all players. If playing 2 player, remove the outbreaks containing a 2-player symbol (the group-of-people icon).
6. Allow separate space for discard piles.

Contracting Diseases

Use turns to collect matching symptoms and afflicter cards to contract a disease. Build up to the chosen total (or more) disease skulls to win.

Choose a total: 2-5 players: 10-14 x disease skulls. 6-8 players: 10 x disease skulls.

1. Collect the indicated number of symptoms shown on the corner of a disease that also matches the disease colour.
2. In addition, collect one afflicter that matches the disease colour.
3. Collect the disease, place it in front of you and explain how you caught it to the group (see share your diagnosis). Discard the spent afflicter and symptoms and reveal a new disease to replace it (if no disease is beneath).
4. If the disease has an OUTBREAK!, read it out (unless stated) and use an outbreak card, discarding after use. Most outbreaks assist you, while some alter the dynamic of the game.
5. Finally, take note of the number of disease skulls on the card, you need to reach the agreed amount to win the game. Multiple diseases can be stacked for simpler counting.

Example: This player wanted "Thunder Colon" so they used turns to collect 3 white symptoms and a white afflicter. The player then used a turn to collect the disease and share their diagnosis, discarding the used symptoms and afflicter. Finally, they revealed an outbreak card.

Choose One Action Per Turn

The player whose birthday is next starts and the game is played in a clockwise direction. One action from the below is allowed per turn.

• Gain Symptoms: Collect a symptom from the symptom pool and add it to your hand OR collect two blindly from the deck (max 6 total).
• Become Afflicted: Pick up an afflicter card and place it face up in front of you (max 3 total).
• Add a Disease: Reveal a new disease and place it slightly offset above a chosen disease, blocking it until the new one is contracted (max 1 added per slot).
• Contract a Disease: Collect one disease card (see contracting diseases) and read out your combination to the group (see share your diagnosis).

OPTIONAL ADVANCED TURN

• Incubate Symptoms: Store 1-3 symptoms from your hand face down in front of you (max 3 total) OR collect 1-3 stored symptoms.

Share Your Diagnosis

While contracting your disease, explain what you caught, how you caught it and your symptoms; why not throw in some backstory too?

Example: "I've contracted Thunder Colon because I licked an armpit and I'm suffering from bleeding gums, ingrown toenails and blurred vision!"

Hand Limits & Discarding

You have card limits of 6 symptoms (hand), 3 symptoms (incubated) and 3 afflicters. When you have reached a limit, first add new cards to your collection and then discard any unwanted card(s) afterwards.

Colours & Rarity

Diseases, afflicters and symptoms all have a colour type. The colour is reflective of rarity and number of disease skulls of a disease.

• White (basic)
• Blue (common)
• Orange (rare)
• Red (epic)
• Wild (legendary)

Wild symptoms and afflicters are classed as any colour. Wild diseases require one of each colour symptom with a specified colour afflicter (on the card) to be contracted.

Ending the Game

When you have built up to the agreed total (or more) disease skulls, you have won/died and the game ends. Tell the group how you would like to be buried! Remaining players may optionally continue playing until one player remains, ending the game.

Important Extras

• Once all symptoms, afflicters or outbreak cards have been used from their decks, the corresponding deck is shuffled and reused.
• If the cards in the symptom pool are the same colour (excl. wilds), shuffle them back into the symptom deck and reveal a new set.
• If the only accessible diseases in the disease pool are the same colour (excl. wilds), shuffle the respective cards back into the disease deck. Any empty disease slots should be repopulated with new diseases from the top of the disease deck.
• Outbreaks are ignored if diseases are passed between players as a result of an outbreak effect.
• If you have played down to 2 players, outbreak cards with a 2-player symbol should be ignored and another outbreak drawn.