Fort
Fort Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
2-4 players | 20-40 mins | Ages 10+
Basic Setup
Play this for your first game as you learn the cards and actions.
- Determine the starting player and seating order randomly. Give the first player card to the starting player.
- Collect supplies of all 30 pizza tokens and 30 toys tokens.
- Each player takes a player board, the 2 Best Friend kid cards (marked to left of kid's name) listed on the back of their player board, and the score marker and fort level marker matching their board's color. Return the rest of these pieces to the box.
- Each player places their score marker on the "0" space of the Victory Track and their fort level marker on the "0" space of their Fort Level track on their player board.
- Place the macaroni sculpture card next to the Victory Track.
- Shuffle all 11 made-up rule cards and deal them into a facedown stack equal to the number of players plus one. Return the rest to the box.
- Shuffle all 9 perk cards and deal them into a face-up row equal to the number of players plus one. Return the rest to the box.
- Shuffle all 60 kid cards into a facedown Park deck, placing it near the Victory Track. Deal 3 kid cards from the Park deck into the Park below the Victory Track, making a face-up row.
- Each player draws 8 kid cards from the Park deck. (Players may look at their own cards.)
- Each player shuffles their 8 kid cards with their 2 Best Friend kid cards to form their own facedown deck.
- Each player draws 5 kid cards from their own deck. (From now on, kid cards are simply called "cards.")
Advanced Setup
After your first game, draft your starting cards instead of drawing them.
Replace step 9 of Basic Setup with this: Each player draws 8 kid cards from the Park deck. Simultaneously, each player looks at their cards (not Best Friends) and keeps one card of their choice facedown in front of them. Once every player has chosen a card, each player passes their unchosen cards to the player to their left. Do this eight times in total, keeping one card each pass, until each player has kept eight cards. You cannot pass cards that you kept in an earlier pass.
Card Anatomy
A: Suit Every card has one of six suits or the wild coin suit. Some cards show two of the same suit or mix one suit with the wild coin suit.
The six suits are: Skateboard, Shovel, Glue, Squirtgun, Crown, and Book.
Coin: Can be treated as any suit.
B: Public Action The action in this box can be followed by other players. Basically, following means that they can discard a card matching the suit of this card to copy its public action. You'll learn more about this later.
C: Private Action The action in this box cannot be followed by other players.
D: Best Friend Icon Each player starts with 2 Best Friends. You'll never lose your Best Friends unless you choose to use specific actions, while other cards might get nabbed by the other players.
Cards in Fort have many actions, which you will learn more about gradually. If you want to learn about a specific action immediately, though, you can reference the Actions section.
E: Nickname It's just that.
Player Board Anatomy
A: Yard Cards you do not use are placed here face up at the end of your turn.
B: Lookout Some actions let you add cards here from your hand. It can hold cards up to your Fort Level plus one. They cannot be replaced or removed.
C: Stuff When you gather pizza or toys tokens (collectively called resources), they go in your Stuff. It can hold up to four of each.
D: Pack Some actions let you add resources here from your Stuff. Your Pack can hold resources up to your Fort Level plus one.
E: Fort Level Your Fort starts at Level 0. Its Level will score you victory points at the end of the game and boost your Pack and Lookout capacities.
F: Cost to Increase Fort Level Whenever you increase your Fort Level, you must pay the resources shown here from your Stuff, Pack, or both. Blue is toys, orange is pizza, and white is either.
G: Prompt to Gain Card When you reach Fort Level 1, 2, or 5, you get a made-up rule, perk, or macaroni sculpture (see Fort Level).
How to Play
Fort is played in a series of turns, starting with the first player and going clockwise around the table until the game ends.
The player taking the current turn is called the leader. The leader's turn has five phases in the following order:
- Cleanup
- Play
- Recruit
- Discard
- Draw
The leader completes all of these steps, then ends their turn. In this chapter, "you" refers to the leader except where noted otherwise.
Phase 1: Cleanup
Let's see which friends are sticking around.
Skip this phase during your first turn.
Discard all the cards in your Yard (above your player board), placing them face up in your discard pile (to the right of your player board).
Phase 2: Play
Playtime! You'll play one card and use one or both of its actions, and the other players might follow your action.
Play one card from your hand. (This is called the played card.) If you cannot or choose not to play a card, you may skip this phase and continue to the Recruit phase.
Use one or both actions. You may use the card's public action, private action, or both in either order. You must finish one action before starting the other action.
You may add suits to improve some actions. If an action on your played card shows an x sign followed by a suit icon, you may improve it by playing more cards showing that suit. (These are called added cards.) You may also add cards showing that suit in your Lookout. You cannot use the action on the added cards. (Treat each coin you add as any one suit for all actions on the played card.)
The leader, Eleanor, plays Bug and uses his public (top) action to get pizza equal to skateboards. To improve Bug's action, she adds The Moles for two skateboards, and she also adds one skateboard from her Lookout. With her total of four skateboards, she gains four pizza tokens and adds them to her Stuff! She could have just added the second skateboard from her Lookout to get three pizza, but if she hadn't played The Moles, then they would have been kicked out to her Yard later in her turn. She doesn't want that! Then, she uses Bug's private (bottom) action, "Score victory points equal to Fort Level," so she scores 1 point because her Fort Level is 1.
You must use at least one action on your card fully. This includes any suits you add to improve your action. If you use one of the actions fully, though, you can use the other action partially or fully, in either order. (No, using a blank action fully doesn't count.)
Later in the game, Eleanor plays Bud, who has a public action of "gain two pizza or two toys" and a private action of "trash one of your cards." However, at this point her Stuff can only hold one more pizza. In this case, she cannot use Bud's public action alone, because she cannot use it fully. However, if she uses the private action fully by trashing one of her cards, she can use the public action partially to gain one pizza—either action first.
You cannot add a card if none of its suits serve a purpose. Whenever you add a card to improve your played card, at least one of its suits must change the effect of at least one action that you use.
Muhammad plays Doodles and uses the private (bottom) action fully. He also wants to use the public (top) action. He wants to add one card with glue and one with glue, using the wild coin as glue. However, he can only hold two more toys in his Stuff, so adding both of those cards doesn't do anything different from adding just one of them. Because of this, he can add either of these cards, but not both.
Following the Leader
After the leader resolves their card, the other players in turn order may follow the public action on the leader's played card. (Doesn't matter whether the leader used the public action or not.) These players are called followers. In this section, "you" refers to followers.
To follow the leader's public action, you must discard one card from your hand with a suit matching their played card.
Limitations:
- You cannot discard more than one card.
- You cannot discard a card in your Lookout.
- You must use the action in full.
Specific Situations:
- If the leader played a coin card, the leader declares its suit, which is the suit you must discard to follow the leader.
- If the leader gathered a choice of toys or pizza, you must gather the chosen resource. (If the leader chose to get two pizza, for example, you must get two pizza.)
- You may follow by discarding a card with multiple suits, as long as at least one suit matches the leader's played card. If it has two matching suits, count both if the action shows an x sign followed by the suit.
Yes, you can follow as many leaders as you wish before it gets back to your turn, as long as you discard a matching card each time.
Phase 3: Recruit
Time to make a new friend! Maybe you'll take someone else's?
You must recruit one card, placing it in your discard pile.
You may recruit in one of three ways:
- Take any card from the Park. Immediately draw a new card from the Park deck to replace it.
- Take any card from any rival player's Yard. They do not draw a new card.
- Draw a card from the Park deck.
Phase 4: Discard
Didn't play with some of your friends? Maybe they'll go hang out with someone else.
Discard all of your played cards, added cards, and any Best Friends cards left in your hand into your own discard pile. (Do not discard from your Lookout.) Discard piles are face up and public information.
Then, place any cards left in your hand into your Yard, face up and facing away from you. (Rivals may recruit them until your next Cleanup phase.)
Phase 5: Draw
Your old friends show up to play again.
Draw five cards from your own deck. If you cannot draw a card because your deck is empty, shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck and continue drawing.
This is the only time you draw cards in Fort! You do not draw cards if you discard a card to follow, for example.
Fort Level
Each player has a Fort, which starts at Level 0. You can increase your Fort Level by one with the Advance Fort action, spending the resources listed between your current Level and the next Level.
At Level 0, your Lookout can hold up to one card, and your Pack can hold up to one resource. Each Level lets you hold one more card in your Lookout and one more resource in your Pack.
When you reach Level 1, privately choose a made-up rule card from the central stack and put it in front of you facedown. Your made-up rule will score you points at the end of the game.
When you reach Level 2, choose a face-up perk card from the central row and put it in front of you. Some perks have persistent effects that you will have for the entire game, while other perks can only be used once per game.
When you reach Level 5, take the macaroni sculpture card, unless another player already has it. This triggers the end of the game, and it scores you 4 victory points at the end.
End of Game
The end of the game triggers in any one of these three ways:
- Any player has 25 or more victory points on the Victory Track
- Any player reaches Fort Level 5
- The Park deck is empty (even if the Park still has cards)
When the end of the game triggers, the leader finishes their turn, then the players finish the current round of turns (so that all the players have taken the same number of turns).
At the end of that round, each player reveals their made-up rule (if any) and adds up their victory points from their:
- Victory Track
- Fort Level
- Made-Up Rule (if any)
- Macaroni Sculpture (if any)
The player with the most victory points is the winner. If there is a tie, the tied player with the highest Fort Level wins. If still tied, share the victory.
End of Game Example
Shawna reaches Fort Level 5 first and takes the macaroni sculpture, triggering the end of the game. Since she was the first player, all the other players take a turn, then everyone counts up their final scores. First, she checks the Victory Track. She's scored 17 points throughout the game. She adds 23 points for her Fort Level of 5. She adds 4 points because she has the macaroni sculpture. Finally, she adds points for her made-up rule: Popularity. This card scores 1 point for each card she has in her Lookout. She has 4 cards in her Lookout, so she scores 4 points. In total, her score is 48 points. She ends up tied at 48 points with Muhammad, but she has the higher Fort Level, so she wins!
Actions
Gather Resource Gain the resource (pizza or toys) shown from the shared supply and place it in your Stuff. If this action lets you choose to gain either pizza or toys, you may only gain all pizza or all toys, not a mixture.
Pack Resource Take one resource from your Stuff and place it in your Pack.
Why would I want to pack resources? Some actions and made-up rules let you score points based on the resources in your Pack, and you can copy everything in your Pack by using the Copy Pack action.
Add Card to Lookout Tuck one card from your hand into your Lookout (under the left side of your player board), showing only its suit.
Trash Card Choose one card in your hand or discard pile (but not deck) and return it to the box. You cannot trash your played card or added cards, but you can trash a Best Friend. (Rude.)
Trash This Card Once you finish this action and any followers have finished their actions, return this card to the box.
Recruit Card Recruit one card exactly as described in the Recruit phase.
Advance Fort Pay the resources shown between your current and next Fort Level, returning them to the shared supply. You may pay from your Stuff, Pack, or both. Then, move your fort level marker to the next Level. Your new Level may prompt you to gain a card, as described in Fort Level.
Score Point Advance your score marker once on the Victory Track.
Spend Resource Remove the resource shown from your Stuff or Pack, returning it to the shared supply.
Trash Rival Card Return one card from any rival player's Yard to the box.
Copy Pack Gain the same resources currently in your Pack and add them to your Stuff.
Copy Rival Pack Gain the same resources currently in any rival player's Pack and add them to your Stuff. (You don't steal them!)
Convert Resource Replace one pizza or toy in your Stuff or Pack with the other resource. If you use this action multiple times, you can only convert toys into pizza or pizza into toys, not both.
Other Action Symbols
Resources in Your Pack To clarify, when you score points from resources in your Pack, only the number of resources matters, not the types.
Your Fort Level To clarify, this symbol is not the Advance Fort action.
Any One Suit You can choose any one of the suits, including the coin suit. To clarify, if you choose the same suit as the card with this action, its suit counts, but otherwise it does not.
Cards in Your Lookout To clarify, this is the number of cards, not suits.
Modified Cost to Advance Fort This Advance Fort action costs one less or one more resource, as shown, of either type.
Per Do the action on the left side of this sign the number of times shown by the symbol on the right side of this sign. Actions without this sign happen once—they cannot be improved by adding suits. (Examples: Gather toys equal to glue. Score victory points equal to number of resources in your Pack.)
Then Do the action on the left side of this sign, then do the action on the right side of this sign. You must do the action on the left in order to do the action on the right, and you must do the action on the right if able. (Examples: Trash one card from a rival player's Yard, then gather one resource. Advance your Fort Level, paying its cost, then score 2 victory points.)
Parentheses Parentheses contain a group of actions and symbols. When a group is multiplied by an x sign, do everything inside the parentheses the number of times shown by the symbol on the right side of the x sign. (Examples: Recruit one card, then gather one toy, equal to squirtguns. Each time, you must recruit in order to gather the toy. Score victory points equal to books, then trash this card.)
Glossary: Made-Up Rules
If a made-up rule scores points based on cards or suits you have, count all your cards in your deck, discard, hand, Yard, and Lookout.
Big Plans: At the end of the game, score 1 point per Advance Fort action you have. This includes when it is only part of an action, like on Lefty and Dot. It does not include the DIY perk card.
Friendship Bracelet: At the end of the game, score 1 point for each different suit you have, except the coin suit. If you have all six suits, score an extra 1 point.
Piggy Bank: At the end of the game, score 1 point per toys token on your player board.
Pizza Party: At the end of the game, score 1 point per pizza token on your player board.
Loner: At the end of the game, score 5 points if you have no Best Friends cards.
Minimalism: At the end of the game, score 8 points if your Fort Level is exactly 2.
Popularity: At the end of the game, score 1 point per card in your Lookout.
Play Palace: At the end of the game, score 1 point per crown suit you have, not counting coins.
Secret Stash: At the end of the game, score 1 point per resource in your Pack.
Sleepover: At the end of the game, score 8 points if you have more cards than each other rival player has. If you are tied for the most cards, score 4 points.
Slime Lab: At the end of the game, score 1 point per book suit you have, not counting coins.
Glossary: Perks
Birthday Party: At the end of your Recruit phase, you may recruit another card from the Park or Park deck, but not a rival player's Yard.
Bribe: On your turn, whenever you use the Add Card to Lookout action, you may add a card from the Park, the Park deck, or any Yard (instead of your hand). You may still choose to add from your hand.
Copy Cat: Whenever you follow, you may discard up to 2 cards (instead of 1 card), using the matching suits of both cards.
DIY: On your turn, instead of playing a card, you may trash the DIY card to use the Advance Fort action, spending one more resource (either pizza or toys) than normal. This action cannot be followed.
Do-Over: On your turn, after you finish playing a card and every rival player has followed or chosen not to, you may trash the Do-Over card to play a second card. (You may improve it by adding suits, and rival players may follow its public action, as normal.)
Recycling: Anytime on your turn, you may trash the Recycling card to take a card from your discard pile and add it to your hand.
Rough Housing: Instead of following a rival player's public action, and after each other rival player has followed or chosen not to, you may trash the Rough Housing card to trash the leader's played card.
Sticky Fingers: On your turn, whenever you use the Pack Resource action, you may take the resource from the shared supply (instead of your Stuff), in any combination if you use the action multiple times.
XXL Backpack: Your Pack can hold 2 extra resources.
Credits
Game Design: Grant Rodiek Development Lead: Nick Brachmann Illustration: Kyle Ferrin Rules and Usability: Joshua Yearsley Graphic Design: Nick Brachmann and Pati Hyun Development: Leder Games' Saint Paul staff—Marshall Britt, Clayton Capra, Ted Caya, Gates Dowd, Pati Hyun, Patrick Leder, Cole Wehrle