Havok & Hijinks
Havok & Hijinks Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Getting Started
How To Win
The first dragon to amass a hoard of treasures valued at 15 wins!
Setup
Locate the double-sided dragon cards and place them for all players to see. Starting with the youngest player, select the dragon you want to play.
Locate the Bronze Talon treasure cards. Give one to each player and return any remaining cards to the Havok deck. Shuffle the Havok deck and place it in the center of the table.
Shuffle the Hijinks deck, deal each player 3 cards, and place it in the center of the table to the right of the Havok deck.
On Your Turn
Flip a Havok card so that all players can see it
- Add treasure to your hoard
- Resolve an event exactly as the card reads
Play Hijinks
- You may play a single card during your turn
- You may choose NOT to play a Hijinks card. If you do so you may discard one Hijinks card and draw a new one
- You may also choose to use your dragon's innate ability
- If you ever have less than 3 Hijinks cards in your hand draw until you have 3
Pass
Card Explanation
There are several different card types in Havok & Hijinks, and each one has its own effect and proper time to be played.
The Dragon Cards
Players will be able to select a dragon before each game. These dragons all play slightly differently, even though they all possess the same basic skills. Each dragon card has two sides: ready and tired. When your dragon is ready, you are able to use its innate play or crash abilities. These abilities function exactly like Hijinks cards with two small exceptions:
- You may use your innate ability once per turn (if possible) in addition to playing a Hijinks card from your hand.
- Once you have resolved either innate ability, you must flip your dragon over to the tired side of the card.
A tired dragon may not use its innate abilities. After all, young dragons need their sleep!
It isn't easy to flip your dragon back to ready, but each has a special "ready condition" on the tired side. By engaging in the type of Hijinks that your dragon prefers you can immediately flip your dragon card back to its ready side!
The Havok Deck
In the Havok deck, you'll find two different kinds of cards: events and treasures.
Events occur when your dragon is unsuccessful at terrorizing the peasants and heroes of Vallhyn. These can be beneficial, detrimental, or silly. Resolve an event card by following the text exactly as it is written on the card. Once all the effects of an event card have been completed, the event has been resolved. Place it face up on the past events pile.
Treasure is what every dragon longs for! Add any treasure cards you flip to your dragon's hoard by placing it on the table next to your dragon, face up so that all your treasures are visible to your opponents.
Some Havok cards have affinities. If you flip a Havok card that matches your dragon's affinity, you receive extra benefits. Some treasures may be worth more in the hoard of a dragon who matches the affinity. Special affinity events will allow you to play the bonus effect listed on the card.
The Hijinks Deck
The cards in the Hijinks deck are all about pulling little pranks on your competition or protecting yourself from the same. There are two kinds of cards in the Hijinks deck: plays and crashes. Regardless of the type of Hijinks card you use you may only play one in any given turn!
A play can be used only during your turn. A play lets you engage in a few different types of Hijinks or gives you a temporary advantage (such as drawing an extra Havok card). These types include steal, trade, and break.
A crash allows you to interrupt Havok or Hijinks effects during either your or an opponent's turn. You may use crashes to defend treasure, avoid events, and other similar situations.
If you and another player attempt to crash the same Hijinks, event, or outcome, you must have a contest to decide who resolves his or her crash. Flip a coin, roll a die, or throw axes (don't throw axes). The player who wins this contest gets to resolve his or her crash, and the losing player simply does not. Any crash cards that are not resolved are canceled and will return to their player's hand at the end of the current turn.
All Hijinks cards have an affinity. You can tell what that affinity is by looking at the symbol in the text box. If that symbol matches your dragon's symbol, that means they share an affinity! You will get a small bonus effect in addition to or as a replacement for the primary effect when playing this card. Even if the card doesn't match your dragon's affinity, you can always play the primary effect.
Once you've completed all of the applicable text on a Hijinks card, it has been resolved. Place it face up on the discard pile.
The Table
There are five important places in the center of the table when you play Havok & Hijinks: the Havok deck, the Hijinks deck, the discard pile, the past events pile, and the trash heap pile.
With the exception of the Havok deck and Hijinks deck, all piles are face up and may be browsed at any time by any player.
Once you've laid out the center of the table place your dragon card in front of you with the ready side up. All treasure you earn during the game will be placed next to your dragon, face up so that each one is visible.
Turn Order
A turn follows a standard order of steps:
-
Havok: Flip the top card of the Havok deck. If that card is an event, it must be resolved immediately before anything else can be done. At this point, only a nullify crash can stop it! Once all the effects have been completed or nullified, place the event card on the past events pile face up. If you flip a treasure, add it to your hoard by placing it face up next to your dragon. Don't stack your treasure cards—that's cheating.
-
Hijinks: Once the Havok card has been flipped and resolved, you can engage in Hijinks. Remember, you can only play one Hijinks card in a given turn, including any Hijinks that you may have used during your Havok step. There are some cards that allow you to play additional cards and the dragon's innate abilities don't count toward the one Hijinks-card-per-turn limit. Your dragon is limited in that you can use its innate ability only once per turn even if you manage to flip it back to ready after using it in the same turn.
You don't always have to use Hijinks on your turn. If you're not happy with the cards in your hand, you have an option:
Discard: If you don't use a Hijinks card during your turn, you may discard one card from your hand into the discard pile. Draw a Hijinks card to replace it if you have fewer than three cards in hand.
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Pass: That completes your turn. Any Hijinks cards that may have been canceled are returned to their player's hand at this time. It is now time for the player on your left (clockwise) to begin his or her turn.
Drawing
Any time you play a Hijinks card and are left with fewer than three cards in your hand, you immediately draw a new one after that card is resolved. If two or more players need to draw at the same time, the player whose turn it is draws first. Other dragons may then draw in turn order.
Ending the Game
When a dragon's hoard reaches a value of 15 he or she has almost won! Each player has an opportunity to crash the action that helped the leading player reach 15. If no one is able to do so, the game ends with a win for the dragon with the hoard value of 15.
Rarely, the game may end when there are no more cards available in the Havok deck. If a player must flip a Havok card but cannot do so, the game ends and the dragon with the highest value hoard wins.
Terminology
If you're going to get by in the world of Vallhyn, you're going to need to know the lingo! These terms will appear on various cards. Many of the terms have been covered already.
- Affinity: A connection with an aspect of the world of Vallhyn (such as darkness, fire, moonlight, sunlight, etc.).
- Bonus Effect: Special effects that occur when a dragon plays or flips a card that matches its affinity.
- Break: Moving a treasure from a hoard to the trash heap.
- Canceled: Results when a Hijinks card cannot be resolved (e.g., due to another player's crash being resolved).
- Crash: A type of Hijinks that can be played only in reaction to Hijinks, events, or an outcome from either.
- Defend: A reaction to a specific type of event or Hijinks (such as steal, trade, break, etc.).
- Discard: Moving a Hijinks card from your hand to the discard pile (face up).
- Discard Pile: A face up pile of Hijinks cards that have been resolved or discarded.
- Event: A result of Havok that occurs when a dragon goes looking for treasure and fails to find it.
- Flip: Taking a card from the top of the Havok deck and turning it face up so that all players can see it.
- Nullify: A reaction to event cards that stops the effect(s) of them in part or in whole.
- Pass: Taking a treasure from one hoard and adding it to another via a "pass" effect.