Frankenstein
Frankenstein Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
60 cards, 40 coins, 5 player screens, 5 player mats.
Object of the Game
Be the first player to collect all 8 different Body Parts.
Set Up
- Shuffle all cards into a deck and place the deck face down in the middle of the table.
- Place the coins in the middle of the table to form a bank.
- Give each player a player screen, a player mat, and 12 coins.
Each player draws a card from the deck. The player who draws the card with the highest face value is the starting player (in case of a tie, the tied players draw again until the tie is resolved). Shuffle all cards drawn this way back into the deck.
Player Screen Set Up
Players hide their coins and the cards they collect on their player mat, behind their player screen. Leave enough space in front of each player's screen for a graveyard. Each player's graveyard will contain the Body Parts and Coffins that they have sold or discarded. Body Parts and Coffins are always placed face up onto the graveyard, with only the top card showing (however, players may look through the graveyards at any time).
(Illustration: 3 players setup, showing each player's screen and graveyard.)
Note: If the deck runs out during the game, take all the discarded cards (except the top card of each graveyard) and shuffle them to create a new deck.
Turn
On your turn, do one of the following:
- Buy, sell, OR auction a new Body Part or Coffin
- Loot a discarded Body Part or Coffin
To Buy, Sell or Auction, turn over the top card of the deck and place it face up on the table*. You may Loot instead if there are cards in any of the graveyards.
* If it's an Angry Villager, you must Defend Your Monster!
After taking your turn, play passes clockwise to the next player to your left.
Each card shows a face value, a sell value and a loot value.
Buy
Pay the card's face value in coins into the bank. Place the card behind your screen.
TIP: Buying may cost you more than auctioning, but you are guaranteed to get the card.
Sell
Sell the card to the bank. You receive the sales value of the card in coins from the bank. Place the card face up on top of your graveyard.
TIP: Selling ensures that other players don't get their hands on the card cheaply, but may earn you fewer coins than auctioning.
Auction
You can choose to auction the card if you have at least 1 coin. Announce the amount that you are willing to pay for the card; the amount can be as little as 1 Coin or as much as all of your coins (but no more).
All other players, starting with the player to your left and proceeding clockwise, has one chance to bid or pass on the card. Each bid must be higher than the previous bid. Players cannot bid more coins than they have.
The last player to bid or pass is the player to your right. After the player to your right has either bid or passed, the auction is over; you do not get to bid again.
If you are the highest bidder, pay your bid to the bank and take the card. If another player is the highest bidder, the highest bidder pays you the amount that they have bid in coins and takes the card.
Example of an auction: You (player 1) say that you are willing to pay 2 coins for the brain card with a face value of 7, thereby starting an auction:
- Player 1 (you): bid 2 coins
- Player 2: passes
- Player 3: bids 4 coins
- Player 4: bids 5 coins
The fourth player is the highest bidder, this player pays you 5 coins and takes the brain card.
TIP: Auctioning may get you a card cheaper than buying it, but another player may get it instead of you. You may earn more money for auctioning than for selling it, but if no one outbids you, you will have to buy for it yourself, even if you do not want it.
Loot
To loot a discarded card, take a card off of the top of any graveyard, including your own. Discard the total of the card's loot value in either coins, or the face values of previously collected cards (you may discard Angry Villagers for this purpose), or a combination of both, as follows:
- Pay the LOOT cost as indicated at the bottom of the card into the bank.
- Discard one or more previously collected cards whose combined face values equal or exceed the LOOT cost (you do not receive change!). Previously collected Angry Villagers discarded this way are removed from the game. Any other cards discarded this way are placed face up on top of your graveyard in the order of your choice.
- You can combine coins and cards when discarding.
TIP: Looting is expensive. It is worthwhile when you need a specific card or to avoid the risk of drawing an Angry Villagers card.
Coffin Cards
The Coffin cards are wild cards. They may be used instead of any Body Part card and you may have more than one Coffin card on your mat. You may move the Coffin cards around at any time.
Defend Your Monster
If you turn over an Angry Villager's card, you must immediately Defend your Monster by discarding the Angry Villagers' value in either coins, or the face value of previously collected cards, or a combination of both (as explained in the Loot section).
After Defending your Monster, take the Angry Villagers card and place it behind your player screen. You then get a bonus turn. If you draw another Angry Villagers card on the same turn, set it aside and draw again. Mix any Angry Villagers that you have set aside this way back into the deck at the end of your turn.
If you don't have enough coins and/or cards with high enough values to Defend your Monster, discard either your highest value card (if there is a tie, choose one of them) or all of your coins (minimum 1). In this case, you don't keep the Angry Villagers card; it is removed from the game. If you have no coins and no cards, the Angry Villagers card is removed from the game with no effect. You still get your bonus turn.
Game End
The game ends immediately when a player yells "It's Alive!" as soon as they have completed their monster by collecting one each of the different Body Parts. That player wins the game!
Notes: Coffins can be used instead of one or more Body Parts. In 4 or 5 players game, you can't win the game if you have two or more of the same body parts at the end (you can discard them to loot or to defend your monster).
Advanced Game
In the advanced game, the object is to have the most valuable collection at the end of the game.
The advanced game is played the same as the basic game, but the scoring is different. Each player calculates their score by adding the face values of all the cards they have collected, excluding duplicates and Angry Villagers, and then adds the number of coins they have. You can only add coins up to half your total card value, rounding down. The player who has successfully completed their monster receives a three-point bonus. The player with the highest score wins.