Fox on the Run
Fox on the Run Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents of the Box
- 3 character starting tiles
- 22 directional tiles
- 4 main character meeples
- 2 extra character meeples
- 4 main character recap tiles
- 2 extra character recap tiles
Note: the box list as printed gives 3 character starting tiles (22 + 3 = 25 board tiles), although there are four main characters. This is transcribed as printed.
Goal of the Game
Each faction has different winning conditions:
Foxes: The Foxes win the game when Indigo accesses the tile Scarlett occupies (not vice versa), but only when Zev does not occupy a tile adjacent to it: Indigo frees Scarlett and both run away from Mannix forest.
Guardians: The Guardians can win in two ways: when Zev accesses the tile Indigo occupies, catching him; or when all directional tiles have been revealed.
The term "adjacent" in these rules describes any of the eight tiles surrounding the character.
Character Distribution
A player can manage multiple characters as long as they belong to the same faction.
Golden rule: Depending on the number of players, the characters will be distributed as follows:
- 4 players: Each player randomly selects 1 character meeple.
- 3 players: Each player randomly selects 1 character meeple. Whoever finds themselves without a team player gets to manage both characters of their faction.
- 2 players: The youngest player randomly selects 1 character meeple, automatically defining both players' factions. Each player will manage both characters of their faction. Example: Susan selects Zev, so she will play as both Zev and Puffer (Guardians). Mark will play as Indigo and Scarlett (Foxes).
After characters have been assigned to each player, the players will place their character tile near them. The tiles show each character's special ability, playing order and their faction's winning condition.
Board Setup
All 25 tiles are positioned in a 5x5 grid with the character starting tiles as shown in the diagram. The 22 directional tiles are positioned randomly, face down, and in an upwards direction. Allow some space between the tiles to make it easier to flip them later.
Then place all character meeples on their respective starting tiles.
How to Play a Turn
Turns are played alternately, in the order shown in the diagram: Indigo, Puffer, Scarlett, Zev.
- At the beginning of their turn every character has to move their meeple by one tile horizontally or vertically in any direction, regardless of the arrow indicated on the tile they are on at the moment, unless one or more constraints (see section Movement Constraints) force them to stay still.
- After having moved (or during, for Indigo), a character may use their special ability. All abilities are listed in the Character Abilities section and on the character recap tiles.
Tiles and Movement
Directional tiles are represented by one or more arrows on a tree trunk.
- Movement to a face down tile: when a character moves onto a face down tile, they flip it over and end their turn on it. When a tile is revealed, it has to keep its original orientation.
- Movement to a revealed tile: when a character moves onto a revealed tile, they will be forced to continue their movement in one of the directions specified on the tile.
- A character can move by more than one tile per turn, if the arrows form a sequence (i.e. moving from revealed tile to revealed tile, until a face down tile is reached or a constraint stops the movement, as shown in section Movement Constraints).
- Movement to a starting tile: when a character moves onto a starting tile of any character, they end their turn on it.
The first movement a character makes is not determined by the tile they are on.
Movement Constraints
No character can access an occupied tile unless explicitly permitted by their abilities or to end the game (as explained in the Goal of the Game section). If an arrow points outside of the Board boundary or in a way that violates the first constraint, its direction is ignored. Here are a few examples:
- Indigo can access the tile Scarlett occupies to end the game.
- Puffer can access Zev's tile because of their abilities.
- Scarlett cannot access the tile that Puffer occupies.
A character can use this limitation strategically to move in one of the directions shown on a tile and ignore its effect on purpose. The effect of a tile is applied once per turn, even if a character accesses it multiple times.
- Not being able to access the tile that Puffer occupies, Indigo can choose to move up to end his movement on the central tile.
- Not being able to cross the boundaries of the board (Board Boundary), Indigo can choose to move to the right to end his movement.
- Scarlett ends her movement on tile A.
Character Abilities
- Indigo can also move diagonally. He's the only character that can ensure the Foxes' victory, by accessing the tile that Scarlett occupies, but only if Zev does not occupy a tile adjacent to her.
- Puffer can rotate one tile. After having moved, may rotate a revealed, non-occupied tile that is adjacent to him by 90°/180° to alter its direction. Puffer can access and occupy the tile that Zev occupies.
- Scarlett can swap two tiles. After having moved, may swap the position of two revealed, non-occupied tiles that are adjacent to her without changing their rotation (including the starting tiles of any character).
- Zev can reveal one tile. After having moved, may reveal a face down tile that is adjacent to him. Zev can access and occupy the tile that Puffer occupies. He's the only character that can ensure the Guardians' victory by accessing the tile that Indigo occupies.
Expansion: The Giant and the Rascal
With this expansion it's possible to play Fox on the Run with up to six players by including two new characters: Napoleon the bear and Raffles the ermine.
- Raffles (yellow) and Napoleon (brown) are both Neutral characters and therefore are not initially sided with any one faction.
Changes to the Initial Setup
Before the game begins, factions for both Napoleon and Raffles need to be chosen. It is not possible for both characters to play for the same faction. For example, if Raffles is assigned to the Foxes, then automatically Napoleon will be assigned to the Guardians.
Winning condition for both characters will become the same as the faction they were assigned to, as shown in the section Goal of the Game. Depending on the number of players, the characters will be distributed as follows:
- 6 players: Each player randomly selects 1 character meeple.
- 5 players: Each player randomly selects 1 character meeple. The remaining tile will be given to one of the players that selected a character from the same faction and thus manage both characters.
It is possible to use neutral characters to play a game from 2 to 4 players considering the Golden Rule described in the Character Distribution section.
To determine where to place the neutral character's meeple and the order of play, factions need to be selected. The neutral character playing with the Foxes will be placed on the top right tile and will always play 3rd in turn order. The character playing with the Guardians will start from the bottom left tile and will play 4th in turn.
Example (Raffles playing with the Foxes and Napoleon with the Guardians): turn order is 1 Indigo, 2 Puffer, 3 Raffles, 4 Napoleon, 5 Scarlett, 6 Zev.
New Character Abilities
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Raffles after having moved, may swap the tile he occupies with another non-occupied and revealed tile adjacent to him. When switching tiles, Raffles never changes his position. (Source note: the printed text reads "Ruffles" here; corrected to Raffles.) Raffles is a Small character: all the other characters (except for Napoleon) can occupy the tile he occupies and vice versa.
Note: Because of their abilities, Raffles, Zev and Puffer can all occupy the same tile simultaneously.
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Napoleon has the ability to end his movement on tiles that are occupied, pushing the character or characters on a revealed tile adjacent to his new position, then ending his turn. When Napoleon pushes one or more characters to different tiles, these movements need to follow all their individual movement rules. More specifically:
- all characters can be pushed horizontally or vertically, yet Indigo could also be pushed diagonally;
- a character cannot be pushed to a tile they couldn't normally access or occupy;
- Napoleon could end the game by pushing a character into the necessary tile for them to meet their winning condition.
Note: When Napoleon uses his ability to push another character, both their movements end after the push and all tile directions are ignored.