Hexenflug Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Turn Summary
• Flying
  • Your Layout
  • After Drawing a Card
• Crash
• Landing
• Examination
  • Using Jokers
• Black Cat Cards
• Draw Pile Depletion
• End of the Game
• Scoring
• Turn Overview (Quick Summary)

Overview

You are a witch flight instructor guiding witches through their flying tests on Walpurgis Night. During your turn, you decide how long to let your witches fly, when to land safely, and when to examine them to earn Spellbooks. The aim is to collect the most Spellbooks by the end of the game.

Components

• 75 Witch cards in five colours (numbered 1 to 15)

• 45 Spellbook cards in five colours

• Players: 2–5

• Playing time: about 30 minutes

• Recommended age: 8+

Setup

1. Remove Spellbooks according to player count:
   • 2 players: remove two Spellbooks of each colour
   • 3 players: remove one Spellbook of each colour
   • 4–5 players: use all Spellbooks
2. Shuffle all Witch cards into a face-down draw pile.
3. Leave space on one side of the pile for a general display (face-up cards available to all).
4. Leave space on the other side for a discard pile.
5. Sort the Spellbooks by colour and place the five stacks in a row below the draw pile.
6. The youngest player starts. Play continues clockwise.

Goal of the Game

During the game, players collect Spellbooks by examining witches after a successful landing. Each Spellbook is worth 1 point, and complete sets of five different-coloured Spellbooks give a bonus point. The player with the highest score wins.

Turn Summary

A turn consists of two parts: Flying and Landing. If you crash during the flight, your turn ends immediately. If you land safely, you may then conduct an Examination to earn Spellbooks.

Flying

On your turn, you draw one Witch card at a time from the draw pile and decide what to do with it before drawing the next.

You may also take cards from the general display and place them into your own layout, following the placement rules. You may take any number of cards this way, but not any that you yourself added to the display earlier in the same turn.

Your Layout

• You may have up to five rows, one per colour.
• In each row, cards must be placed in ascending order by value.
• You can never place a lower number on top of a higher one.

After Drawing a Card

When you draw a card, you must immediately choose one of these options:

1. Place it into your layout (if legal).
2. Add it to the general display (only once per turn).
3. Crash (if you already added a card to the general display this turn and the newly drawn card cannot be placed).

Crash

When you crash:

• The newly drawn card and all Witch cards of the same colour from your layout are discarded.
• Your turn ends immediately.
• Beginner rule: If you do not yet have any Spellbook of that colour, you may keep the drawn card in your hand instead of discarding it. You still lose all layout cards of that colour and your turn ends.

Landing

Instead of continuing to draw, you may choose to land.

• Soft landing: You have not added a card to the general display this turn. You may choose one colour from your layout and take all those cards into your hand.
• Hard landing: You have added a card to the general display this turn. You must take into your hand the colour from your layout that has the fewest cards. If several colours tie, choose one.

After landing, your turn moves to the Examination phase.

Examination

If your turn ended by landing (not crashing), you may examine one witch to earn Spellbooks.

• Choose a colour.
• Discard 3, 4, or 5 cards of that colour from your hand to the discard pile.
• Take Spellbooks of that colour (if available).

The number of Spellbooks you receive is based on how many cards of that colour you discard:

• If you discard 3 cards of that colour, you take 1 Spellbook of that colour
• If you discard 4 cards of that colour, you take 2 Spellbooks of that colour
• If you discard 5 cards of that colour, you take 3 Spellbooks of that colour

Using Jokers

You can use cards of other colours as Jokers to reach 3, 4, or 5 cards, but:

• You can only use colours for which you already have at least one Spellbook.
• Each Joker's value must be higher than the highest value card of the colour being examined.
• Each colour can only be used as a Joker once per examination.

You cannot perform an examination after a crash.

Black Cat Cards

All cards with the value 15 show a black cat. When anyone draws one:

• Every player who currently has six or more cards in their hand must discard until they have only five cards left.
• After that, the drawn card is resolved normally (place, add to display, or crash).

Draw Pile Depletion

If the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile.

End of the Game

• With 2–3 players: the game ends when Spellbooks remain in only three colours (two colours are exhausted).
• With 4–5 players: the game ends when Spellbooks remain in only two colours (three colours are exhausted).
• If both the draw and discard piles run out, the game ends immediately.

Scoring

• Each Spellbook = 1 point
• Each complete set of all five colours = +1 bonus point

If there is a tie, the tied player with the most cards in hand wins.

Turn Overview (Quick Summary)

1. Optionally take cards from the general display into your layout.
2. Draw one card, then either:
   • Place it into your layout, or
   • Add it to the general display (once per turn), or
   • Crash (if you already added to the display and can't place it).
3. You may choose to land instead of drawing again:
   • Soft landing: take all cards of one colour into your hand.
   • Hard landing: take the smallest colour set from your layout.
4. If you landed (not crashed), you may examine a witch to earn Spellbooks.

Fly boldly, land wisely, and gather the mightiest collection of Spellbooks to become the supreme witch instructor!