Ghost at Home Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Turns
• Room Cards
• Light Bulb Symbols
• Ghost Cards
• Cat Cards
• End of the Game
• Special Cards (Variant)

Components

• 12 First floor room cards (with 2 illustrations: living room and kitchen): 4 with one light bulb, 4 with two light bulbs, 4 with three light bulbs.
• 10 Second floor room cards (with 2 illustrations: bedroom and bathroom): 3 with one light bulb, 4 with two light bulbs, 3 with three light bulbs.
• 10 Third floor room cards (with 2 illustrations: 2 different attic rooms): 3 with one light bulb, 4 with two light bulbs, 3 with three light bulbs.
• 12 Starting Straight Two-Faced cards - On and Off (3 per player).
• 4 Roof Starting cards (1 per player).
• 8 Ghost cards.
• 6 Cat cards.
• 1 Space-time hole card.
• 1 Light Bulb card.
• 1 Cat Feeder card.
• 1 Elevator card.
• 1 Lightning card.
• 2 House Wild cards.
• 1 Rulebook.

Setup

At the start of the game, each player takes 3 initial stair cards and 1 roof card (thus forming the structure of their house) and places them in front of each other. All the cards are shuffled and three are dealt to each player. The starting player is randomly decided and played clockwise.

Game Turns

In each turn, a player can do ONE of the following:

• Play one or more floor room cards and place them on one of the available sides to the left or right of a central straight card, on its corresponding floor.
• Play a ghost card.
• Play a cat card.
• Turn on the light of a floor, playing the necessary hand cards.
• Play a special card.
• Discard one or more of the cards from your hand face down to the discard pile.

At the end of his turn, the player draws as many cards from the deck as necessary to have three cards in hand again.

If at any point the draw deck is exhausted, the discard pile is shuffled and a new deck is formed again.

Room Cards

Go through the house going up floor by floor up the stairs.

Each room card can only be placed on the corresponding floor (in the lower left side of each floor room card it is indicated on which floor they should be placed). The floor room cards corresponding to the same floor can be used interchangeably, that is, independently of their illustration.

Example: You can place two kitchens on the first floor or a kitchen and a living room, it does not matter if they are to the right or left of the central staircase.

A floor must be filled in before placing room floor cards on the next floor.

Note: You can play several room cards in the same turn even if they are from different floors, but always fulfilling that you must fill a floor before putting cards on the next.

Light Bulb Symbols

Turn on the lights on the stairs as you pass to illuminate your house and make it safer from attack by ghosts.

• To turn on the light of a floor it is necessary to discard in your turn cards for a total value of at least 5 light bulbs (in the lower right side of each room card it is indicated how many light bulbs it contributes).
• When a player turns on the light of a floor, he places the card of that stair showing its lit side.
• You can only turn on the light on a floor if the floor(s) immediately below are complete, that is, if they already have two room cards on both sides of the staircase. Of course, this does not apply to the ground floor, as there are no lower floors.
• Floor room cards can be placed on a floor even if the light on that floor is off, that is, even if the ladder card shows its dark side.
• To turn on the light, it is not necessary for the lights on the lower floors to be on.

Ghost Cards

Make ghosts appear in the house of your rivals to get in their way and make them go back.

A ghost card must always be placed on a floor room card located in another player's house, but two ghosts cannot be placed on the same floor room card.

• Ghosts can only be placed on cards located on the highest floor where the other player has a floor room card.
• If a ghost is placed on a floor with the light off, the affected player will remove all the floor room cards he had on that floor (he will have one or two). The ghost card and the floor room cards are removed to the discard pile.
• If a ghost is placed on a floor with the light on, the floor is not affected although the ghost remains where it was placed. If a second ghost is subsequently placed on another room card on that floor, both the room cards and ghosts are removed to the discard pile. In addition, the light on that floor is turned off and therefore that floor's ladder card is turned to show its dark side.

Cat Cards

Cats scare ghosts away, use them to protect your home from them or keep them in your hand to defend yourself from rival attacks.

• A cat card can be placed on any floor room card in your own house and on any of the floors, that is, it does not have to be placed on the highest floor that has been reached.
• If any player places a ghost card on a floor with a cat, both the ghost card and the cat are discarded, but the room cards on that floor are not affected.
• If any player places a cat card on a floor where there is already a ghost, both the cat card and the ghost card will be discarded, but the room cards on that floor are not affected.
• If a player has a jack in his hand of cards at the time another places a ghost in his house, he can immediately play it from the hand to protect himself. If it does, both cards are discarded and both players draw new cards from the deck to get three cards in their hand again. First, the one who played his turn will steal.

End of the Game

You have now reached the attic and the exit is upstairs in the attic facing the roof. An open window that lets in the light of the moon ... and a few inches a few branches of a large tree through which to escape. But this is not over yet, the ghosts guard the exit with a single objective: to prevent you from escaping and thus being trapped forever in the haunted house.

The winner will be the first player who manages to build his haunted house (regardless of whether he has managed to turn on the lights or not) and manages to escape.

Escape from the house: When a player places the last room card on the third floor, he announces aloud that he is going to escape his haunted house (says: "ATTENTION! I'M GOING TO ESCAPE!"). Now he does not draw cards to have three in his hand again.

Then the rest of the players play one last "special round" starting with the player to their left and going clockwise. If one of them has a ghost, they can play it to prevent the player from escaping. Special cards cannot now be played. In games with three or four players, each opposing player can play at most one ghost; in games with two players, the opponent will be able to play up to a maximum of two ghosts in this last special round. Thus:

• If no player can play a ghost or if the player trying to escape manages to stop the ghost attacks so that they do not destroy their top floor, they will win the game.
• If the player who tries to escape cannot stop the attack of the ghosts, he will lose the room cards on his last floor and the game continues as normal, taking into account that every player who has played a card in this "special round" must draw from the deck to have three cards in your hand again. First, the one who played his turn will draw and then the rest of the players in the clockwise direction.

Special Cards (Variant)

Optionally, players can decide to use the following special cards by adding them to the deck at the beginning of the game:

• Space-Time Hole: You never know where a ghost will appear. Transfer a ghost from a haunted house (it can be your own) to another player's, always on the highest floor where the other player has a room card.
• Cat Feeder: Cats are hungry and food is a good claim. Place a cat located in one of the other players' haunted houses to your own house.
• Elevator: Move a cat from one floor to another in your own home.
• Light Bulb: And there was light! Turn a straight card "free" to show its lit side, that is, without having to contribute 5 light bulbs.
• House Wild Card: Place it as if it were a room card with the difference that you can place it on any floor. They can be played alongside other room cards in the same turn. They do not grant light bulbs and, like any room card, they are vulnerable to ghosts.
• Lightning: Storm is coming. Turn off the light on the staircase on the highest floor where another player has a room card, if it was on. In addition, if there is a ghost on the floor where you turn off the light, the affected player will remove all the room cards that he had on that floor (he will have one or two).

Note: The special cards, with the exception of the House Wild Card, are not placed in any house, simply reveal them, perform their ability and discard them.