Gold Nugget
Gold Nugget Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 12 Animal tokens
- 1 Leaf token
- 17 Normal stones
- 3 Trap stones
- 1 Gold Nugget
- 1 White feather
- 11 Black feathers
- 1 Board
- 1 Raven pawn
- 12 Animal cards
- Forest deck: 98 Leaf cards and 7 Wind cards
- 8 Time of day cards (Morning, Afternoon, Noon, Night)
- 6 Victory condition cards for the advanced mode
Setting Up the Game
1. Place the board to the side of the playing area, in full view of all players. The leaf token must be placed in the morning space.
Then place the raven pawn in the remaining days space (leaf) according to the number of players.
| Players | Raven pawn starts at |
|---|---|
| 2 players | Day 2 |
| 3 players | Day 3 |
| 4 or 5 players | Day 4 |
2. Shuffle* the leaf cards and deal 5 to each player. Then, prepare the forest deck by shuffling the remaining leaf cards together with the wind cards and place it next to the board.
* For 2-player games return all copies of the following cards to the box before shuffling:
- Gold Nugget
- Loyal friend
- Tribute
- Beg
- Do I have it?
Set aside an area nearby for the discard pile. In this area you will pile up discarded and/or played cards that have completely resolved their effect (or that have been canceled).
In advanced mode games, randomly deal one victory condition card to each participant. Keep them secretly face down in your lair, and you can use them as instructed on the card itself.
3. Set aside a central area within reach of all participants to prepare the Raven's nest. This area will contain black feathers, stones and trap stones, as well as the Gold Nugget. Take the items indicated in the table according to the number of players.
| Players | Black feathers | Normal stones | Trap stones | Gold Nugget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | 9 | 15 | 3 | 1 |
| 5 | 11 | 17 | 3 | 1 |
Place these elements in the nest so that the three types of stone show the same face (normal stone face) and shuffle them around until no one knows where the Gold Nugget is.
4. Shuffle the animal cards and deal two to each player, who must choose which one they want to play with and leave it face down in their lair (the area between each player and the nest).
From now on we will use the terms "player" and "animal" interchangeably.
Return the discarded animals to the box and reveal the chosen animals. The animals' abilities will not take effect until the game starts.
The paw tracks on an animal card indicate the difficulty level of the animal. For the first few games, we recommend playing with animals that only have 1 paw track.
5. Prepare the time of day cards according to the number of players:
| Players | Morning | Afternoon | Noon | Night |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Shuffle them and give one to each player (return the rest to the box). Leave the card in your lair and place your animal token on the board marking the time of day you have been given.
The back of the time of day cards contains an iconographic aid.
6. Give the white feather to whoever touched gold (including the Gold Nugget) most recently. This will be used to indicate the active player in each turn.
7. Starting with the animal with the white feather, and in clockwise order, each animal takes two stones from the nest and places them in their den in any order and without stacking them.
Each animal can now examine their two stones ignoring the effect of the trap stones.
YOU ARE NOW READY TO PLAY!
Place all the leftover elements in the box.
Basic Concepts
Keywords
- Lair: The area in front of each player that contains their stones, feathers, animal card and time of day card.
- Nest: The area in the center of the table that contains the stones and feathers that do not belong to any animal.
- Sleep: Animals that are sleeping must have their eyes closed and cannot play cards or use abilities (unless otherwise specified).
- Awakening: Animals that wake up must open their eyes and perform the Hello! phase (page 6).
- Examine: Secretly look at the hidden face of an item (stone or card), then leave it in the same position it was in.
- Reveal: Show the hidden face of an item (stone or card) to all animals, then leave it in the same position it was in.
Forest Deck
These cards can only be played during the Meddling phases.
- Basic leaf card: Each animal can play as many of these cards as it wants in their turn.
- Special leaf card: Each animal can only play one of these cards in its turn. They are recognizable by their leaf frame.
- Instant card (lightning icon): Indicates that it can be played even when it is not your turn.
- Recyclable card (icon with a 1): Whenever this card can be played, it can instead be discarded to steal 1 stone from the nest.
- Wind card: When an animal draws one of these cards, they show it to the others and its effect is applied. It is then returned to the box and that animal draws another card from the deck.
Stones
All stones look alike from the top face, but some of them hide something else on their hidden face, such as the trap stones and the Gold Nugget.
- Normal stone: It is just a stone, it has no effect.
- Trap stone: Each time it is examined by a player, they must show its hidden side to the others and add a feather from the nest to their lair. However, when revealed by a card effect or ability, the trap stone has no effect.
- Gold Nugget: The most coveted stone by all, there is only one in each game. It can be distinguished by its golden glow and you need it to win the game.
- Acquire stones: Every time an animal gets one or more stones in any way, they can examine them (if they want to) and must then place them anywhere in their lair, being able to move a few stones to make room for the new ones (if they want to). The stones may not be stacked or hidden from other players.
Once placed, a player may not move, examine, alter the order or reveal their stones, except if instructed to do so by the effect of a card or ability.
Feathers
- White feather: Indicates who can play leaf cards with and without the instant (lightning) icon in the current Meddling phase.
- Black feather: Whenever an animal gets one or more black feathers in any way, they must take them from the nest and place them one at a time in their lair.
When an animal accumulates 3 black feathers, they are caught by the Raven. They must then reveal all the stones in their lair and return them to the nest along with the 3 black feathers. This effect must be fulfilled immediately, even if it momentarily interrupts any other effect.
Example: Quim has two feathers in his den and Jiko plays the card Suspicion: Another animal of your choice chooses 1 option: Reveal all the stones in their lair or Take 2 feathers from the nest.
Quim chooses to take two feathers from the nest. By taking the first one he accumulates three in his lair and is caught by the Raven. He has to reveal the stones in his lair and return them along with his 3 feathers to the nest, thus momentarily interrupting the resolution of the card. He will then take another feather from the nest to complete the effect of the Suspicion card.
What Happens If...
... the forest deck is empty? Shuffle the discard pile to generate a new forest deck, this time without the wind cards.
... two or more players must take an element at the same time? The order of play is respected to determine who does it first.
... two or more abilities are activated at the same time? The order of play is respected to determine who activates it first.
... a special leaf card has been canceled, can I play another one this turn? No, the card is considered played even if its effect has been canceled.
... a card or ability contradicts the rules? No. The card or ability takes precedence and trumps the rule that would apply to that specific situation.
... a card or ability makes us interact with a specific number of unavailable elements? You must interact with as many of these elements as possible.
Example 1: Victor forces Ricard to return three of his stones to the nest, but Ricard only has two stones, so he returns two.
Example 2: Miquel has to steal three stones from the nest, but there are none left, so he does not steal any and the effect of the card or ability is over.
How to Play
Each game lasts a certain number of days, depending on the number of players. Each day consists of 4 turns, corresponding to the 4 moments of the day. Each turn consists of 4 phases, which are explained below.
A. Hello!
The sleeping animals wake up (open their eyes). They can then discard as many cards from their hand as they want and draw from the forest deck until they have five.
Cards discarded in this way do not apply the recycling effect.
B. Go to Sleep!
If the leaf token is at the same time of the day as the token of an animal, that animal must sleep unless they have the white feather. In that case, they can choose to either Meddle (i.e. not sleep) or sleep.
If they choose to sleep, they must pass the white feather to the player to their left.
If the next animal also has to sleep in this turn, they can choose to sleep or to meddle.
Animals that sleep this turn must now close their eyes and cannot open them until they wake up. They also cannot use their abilities or play their cards unless specified otherwise. The effects of the other animals' cards or abilities still affect them, but they must resolve those effects with their eyes closed.
Animals are not allowed to play cards during the phases Hello!, Go to sleep! and The Raven is coming!, they can only use them in the Meddling phase. Use them cleverly to find the Gold Nugget and try to mislead your opponents.
C. Meddling
The animal with the white feather can use their abilities and play as many basic cards as they wish, but only one special card per turn. The rest of the animals can only play cards with the instant (lightning) icon and/or use abilities that so indicate.
Whenever a player plays a card or uses an ability they must read it out loud so that the sleeping animals can follow the course of the game.
The full effect of a card or ability must be applied before being able to play or discard another card or perform another ability, unless otherwise indicated.
When the animal with the white feather does not want to continue playing, they must hand over the feather to the player to their left, marking the end of this phase. From this moment on, no more cards can be played. If they have more than five cards in hand, the player who has just handed over the white feather must discard down to five cards.
D. The Raven Is Coming!
The day progresses: Move the leaf token to the space of the next moment of the day and a new turn begins.
When the leaf token moves between night and morning, the raven pawn must move one space (leaf) to the right.
This will be repeated until the end of the night of the last day, at which point the raven pawn must move to the rightmost space of the track (which has the raven icon). This triggers the end of the game.
End of the Game
THE RAVEN HAS ARRIVED! The watchful eye of the Raven only allows you to make one last move. A special turn begins, in which no one can talk:
- If an animal is caught by the Raven during this special round, they are eliminated from the game.
- The animal's abilities have no effect.
- Perform the Hello! phase in the usual way.
- Starting with the animal with the white feather, each animal can play a card face down or pass. Once all the animals have played a card or pass, resolve these cards in order.
- Next, all animals must cover their eyes with both hands keeping their eyes open. Whoever has the white feather counts to 3 and all animals must simultaneously take a stone from the nest or any den. The remaining stones are returned to the nest and then all the stones taken in this way are revealed.
Whoever has the Gold Nugget wins the game; but if it is in the nest, the Raven wins.
Advanced Mode: Victory Condition Cards
We recommend not to use this game mode in your first game.
During setup, deal 1 victory condition card face down to each animal. Each animal can look at their card at any time and keep it face down in front of their den. These cards can neither be discarded nor stolen.
During the game an animal can play their card as if it were a normal leaf card, except during THE RAVEN HAS ARRIVED!
Example of a Turn
A noon turn begins.
A. Hello!: Pedro, who was sleeping in the morning turn, wakes up with two cards in his hand, and decides to discard one. Therefore he draws four cards from the forest deck; among them is the wind card Stalking!, so its effect is applied immediately and all the animals receive a feather from the nest. Then he leaves the Stalking! card in the box and takes another card to have five in his hand.
B. Go to sleep!: It is Jiko's turn to sleep, but since she has the white feather, she decides not to sleep and perform the next phase.
C. Meddling: Jiko plays the basic card Beg, so all the animals give her a card, stone or feather. Litus gives her a feather and Pedro a card.
Pedro interrupts by playing the instant card Chance, which allows him to steal a stone from anywhere. He decides to steal it from Jiko's lair, examines it and sees that it is a trap stone, so he reveals it and takes a feather from the nest.
Jiko plays the special card No hard feelings, stealing two stones from Litus and examines them in her lair. As Pedro is the Raccoon, who can examine any examined stone, he decides to use his ability and also examines those two stones. This turn Jiko cannot play any more special cards (only 1 per turn!). Jiko ends up passing the white feather to Litus, who is the next animal to her left.
D. The Raven is coming!: The leaf token is moved from noon to afternoon, and a new turn begins. The raven pawn is not moved since that is done only after a night turn.
Gameplay Reminder
A. Hello!
- If you are sleeping... wake up!
- Discard and draw until you have 5 cards.
- If you draw any wind cards, resolve them and draw another card.
B. Go to sleep!
- If your animal token is in the same space as the leaf token, it's your turn to sleep (close your eyes).
- If you have the white feather, you can choose to sleep or to meddle.
- If you choose to sleep, pass the white feather to the next animal.
- If you choose to meddle, move on to the next phase.
C. Meddling!
- If you have the white feather play as many basic cards as you want but only 1 special card.
- If you do NOT have it, you can only play the cards with the instant (lightning) icon.
- When you are done, pass the white feather to your left.
- Read aloud the cards and abilities you use.
D. The Raven is coming!
- Advance the leaf token to the next time of day and start a new turn.
- After each night a new day begins: move the leaf to the morning and advance the raven pawn.
- At the end of the night of the last day... The Raven has arrived!
- Everyone can play one card face down, then resolve them.
- On the count of 3 everyone steal 1 stone from anywhere.
If you have the Gold Nugget... You have won! But if it's in the nest, the Raven has won.
Remember! If a card or ability contradicts this rule, the card or ability takes precedence.