Kaiju Crush Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
• Setup
• Play Details
  • Play At-A-Glance
  • Move
  • The Monsters
  • Parks and Movement Restrictions
  • Movement Cards
  • Collect City Tile
  • Moving into Battle
• Battle
  • Adjacent Battles
  • Territory Battles
  • Multiple Battles on the Same Space
• Special Abilities
  • Some Special Ability Clarifications
• Objective Cards
• Ending the Game
• Scoring
• Alternate Rules
  • Arena Mode

Objective

Score the most points by destroying buildings, meeting bonus objectives, and winning monster battles. The game ends when no players can make a move, and the player with the most points wins.

Components

• 4 Monster Figures and plastic stands
• 4 Monster Tiles
• 5 Movement Cards: The different movement options available to players
• 6 Objective Cards: Bonuses that players can compete for during the game
• 13 Special Ability Cards: One-time enhancements players can use to power up their monsters
• 38 City Tiles: Each building is worth 1 to 5 points and belongs to 1 of 4 Groups: Commercial, Community, Power, Transportation. There are also 2 Wild tiles and 4 Parks.
• 80 Territory Markers: Used to show which spaces a player controls and for fighting battles
• 20 Combat Victory Tokens: Awarded for winning Monster battles and range from 1 to 3 points
• 4 Reference Cards
• Rulebook

Number of Players: 2 to 4. Ages: 10 and Up.

Setup

1. Each player chooses a Kaiju Monster Figure, tile, and Territory Markers.
2. Construct a City with the right City Tiles for the number of players. (Some City Tiles are marked for use in 3- and 4-player games only.) Shuffle the Monster Tiles and City Tiles together and lay them out in a grid based on the number of players. This gives each Monster a random starting position on the board.
3. Replace your Monster Tile on the board with one of your Territory Markers, crater side up. Then, place your Monster Figure on your marker and your Monster Tile faceup in front of you.
4. Shuffle and deal the Movement Cards. If playing a 2-player game, remove Charge and Stomp. If playing a 3-player game, remove Charge. In a 4-player game, all Movement Cards are used. Deal the remaining Movement Cards out faceup and place the last card where all players can reach it. This will be the Shared Movement Card.
5. Determine which Objective Cards to use. The double-sided Objective Cards are separated into A, B, C, and D. For younger or newer players, you may wish to play with just the A and B cards before including the C and D cards.
   • Draw the A card, B card, 1 randomly chosen C card, and 1 randomly chosen D card.
   • Randomly determine a side to be faceup for each Objective Card and place them where all players can see them. (See Objective Cards for details.)
6. Shuffle the Special Ability Cards and deal 2 to each player. Each player chooses 1 Special Ability to keep in front of them. (See Special Abilities for details.) If playing with the D Objective card Powerhouse, keep all the unused Special Abilities facedown in a pile available as a deck.
7. Mix the Combat Victory Tokens facedown in a pile near the board.
8. Give each player a Reference Card.

Determine starting player. Collect 1 Territory Marker from each player, mix them up, and randomly draw 1. That player is the starting player. Return all Territory Markers to their owners.

Play Details

Play At-A-Glance

1. Move. On your turn, move by using either

   • the Shared Movement Card OR
   • your own Movement Card (swapping it with the Shared Movement Card)

   to send your Kaiju to either

   • an unclaimed City Tile OR
   • a Territory Marker occupied by another Monster.

2. Collect City Tile and/or Battle.

   • Landing on a City Tile crushes that building. Collect that tile and replace it with your Territory Marker. If you land adjacent to another player, you may battle. (See Moving into Battle.)
   • Landing on a Territory Marker occupied by another player causes a battle. The winner claims that space. (See Battle.)

The game ends when all players cannot move and have passed. Total all points from destroyed City Tiles, completed Objectives, and battle victories. The winner is the player with the most points.

Move

On your turn, you will always have 2 movement options: the Shared Movement Card or your own Movement Card.

• If you use your own Movement Card, you must exchange it with the Shared Movement Card so that your Movement Card becomes the new Shared Movement Card.
• If you use the Shared Movement Card, leave it in play as the shared card.

Your movement must end with your Monster Figure on either

• an unclaimed City Tile OR
• a Territory Marker that is currently occupied by the opponent who owns that space, beginning a Battle. (See Moving into Battle.)

The Monsters

Draximus: This two-headed beast demonstrates high-intelligence and appeared after a recent toxic waste spill. After drawing Territory Markers but before the 1st round of a battle, Draximus can discard as many markers as he wishes and then draw back up one time.

Galithor: This ancient creature is very aggressive and emerged from inside a dormant volcano. Galithor wins on ties of Firebreath or Spikes.

Mecha Kaizer: This robotic creature is highly adaptable and constructed of unknown materials. Mecha Kaizer draws 6 Territory Markers at the start of [the source text is cut off here; elsewhere the rulebook states: "Mecha Kaizer draws 6 Territory Markers but will still fight only 5 rounds."]

Steganox: This extremely powerful dinosaur-insect hybrid is of possible alien origins, appearing after a recent UFO sighting. Steganox wins on ties of Claw, Kick, or Tail.

Parks and Movement Restrictions

If you land on a Park, you must immediately make a second movement.

• You cannot end your movement on a Park tile.
• You can use either Movement Card available to you on your second movement.
• Park tiles are not claimed, so they are always on the board. (The Gigasmash Special Ability breaks this rule.)

Note that you

• MUST move on your turn if you are able.
• must be able to complete the entire movement to use the Movement Card.
• can move through other Monsters with no effect.
• cannot move off the edge of the board.
• cannot move to a space that has an unoccupied Territory Marker, even if it is one of your own.
• must move BEFORE starting a Battle.
• must Pass if you cannot move to a valid space, but you can try to move again on your next turn.
• may choose to Pass if the only valid movement option is to move to an occupied Territory Marker and start a Battle.

Note: Special Abilities and Objective Cards will break these rules!

Movement Cards

• Each Movement Card shows the movement it allows, starting from your current space.
• Movement ends on the tile indicated by the arrow and circle.
• Movement bypasses all spaces in between, even if those spaces have already been claimed.

Stomp: Move 1 space in a straight line. Dash: Move 2 spaces in a straight line. Charge: Move 3 spaces in a straight line. Trample: Move 1 space diagonally. Leap: Move 2 spaces in a straight line and then 1 space left or right (like a Knight in Chess).

Collect City Tile

City Tiles come in 4 different Groups, Commercial, Community, Power, and Transportation, with point values ranging from 1 to 5. There are also 2 Wild tiles that can be claimed as any 1 of the 4 Groups.

• If you land on a City Tile, you crush that building and claim that tile. Remove it from the board and place it faceup in front of you. (Note: Keeping your tiles arranged by Group will make scoring at the end easier.)
• If you claim a Wild tile, you must immediately declare which Group it will count as. A Wild tile can be your first tile of a Group.
• Replace the City Tile you claimed with the top Territory Marker from your stack, crater side up. You can look at the underside to see what Battle icon is there, but you cannot change which marker is played.
• Place your Monster Token on top of your Territory Marker.

Moving into Battle

There are 2 ways to fight your opponents: Adjacent Battles and Territory Battles, each of which produces different results.

Adjacent Battle. If you end your movement on a City Tile that is adjacent to an opponent, you can choose to have a battle after you claim that City Tile and swap it with your top Territory Marker.

• If you are adjacent to more than 1 opponent, you choose which one to battle.
• The winner of this battle will get 1 Combat Victory Token.
• Adjacent Battles are always optional when it is your turn.

Territory Battle. If you end your movement on another player's Territory Marker while their Monster Token is still present, you must attack that player.

• The winner of this battle will take control of that board space, leaving their Territory Marker behind, AND get 1 Combat Victory Token.
• Battles for Territory are NOT optional. Two players on the same space must fight.

Battle

Battles are fought after completing your movement and they make use of the back of your Territory Markers. Each Territory Marker has 1 of 5 different icons on the back that are used to resolve battles. Each battle will be the best of 5 rounds.

When a Battle is declared, each player draws the top 5 cards from their stack of Territory Markers and looks at the bottom of them like a hand of cards, keeping them hidden from their opponent. (Mecha Kaizer draws 6 Territory Markers but will still fight only 5 rounds.)

Each player chooses 1 Territory Marker to play and holds it facedown in front of them to show they are ready to fight. When both players are ready, they flip over their markers simultaneously and compare icons.

• If you win that round, set aside your Territory Marker with its combat side faceup. If you lose, set aside your marker with its crater side faceup. This makes it easy to track wins and losses.
• Ties for rounds are treated as a loss for both players. (Galithor wins on ties of Firebreath or Spikes, and Steganox wins on ties of Claw, Kick, or Tail.)

Each player then chooses another marker from their hand to play and the battle continues until all 5 rounds are complete OR one player has won 3 rounds. The player who won the most rounds wins that battle. If both players win an equal number of rounds, the battle is won by the defender.

• The winner receives 1 Combat Victory Token and secretly looks at the points. Players keep their tokens facedown so their values are hidden until final scoring.
• Turn all Territory Markers used in the battle so they are crater side up and place them on the bottom of their stacks.

(After drawing markers but before the 1st round of a battle, the Draximus player can choose to discard as many Territory Markers as they wish to the bottom of their stack and then draw back up to a full hand. This can only be done once, before the battle.)

Adjacent Battles

Adjacent Battles only result in the winner drawing a Combat Victory Token.

Territory Battles

Battles for Territory earn the winner a Combat Victory Token, but they can also change the board.

• If the attacker wins the battle, they replace the defender's Territory Marker with the top Territory Marker from their own stack, crater side up, in the space they just fought for.
• The attacker does NOT get the City Tile that was previously taken by the defender. Once a player has claimed a City Tile, it is permanently theirs.
• The defender puts their removed Territory Marker crater side up on the bottom of their stack.
• If the defender wins the battle, they keep their Territory Marker where it is.
• Both players remain on the tile they just battled over.

After moving, collecting your City Tile, and/or resolving any battles, your turn ends and the next player clockwise starts their turn.

Multiple Battles on the Same Space

More than one player can fight for the same space, but each player can only fight each Monster for a space one time. For example:

1. Draximus crushes the Water Tower, replacing it with his Territory Marker.
2. On his turn, Steganox moves to that space and fights Draximus but loses the battle, meaning Draximus keeps his Territory Marker in place.
3. On Galithor's turn, he moves to that space and fights Draximus (who is the current owner of that space), winning the battle and replacing Draximus' Territory Marker with his own.
4. Draximus has already fought Galithor (the new current owner) for that space, so on his turn he must move to a new space. He can only fight for the contested space again if his movement allows him to return to that space and it is owned by Mecha Kaizer, who Draximus has not fought for that space.

Special Abilities

Each Special Ability gives you a unique power that lets you flex your Monster muscles!

• Special Abilities are usable 1 time only. Once you have used your Ability, discard the card.
• You may use your Special Ability any time on your turn. (The exception is Quantum Evasion, which is played as a reaction to another player attacking you on their turn.)
• Special Abilities that affect "adjacent spaces" include both orthogonal AND diagonal spaces.

Some Special Ability Clarifications

• Geo-Leap allows you to move off one side of the board and continue your movement after reappearing on the opposite side of the board. Keep your movement aligned as if the edges of the board were connected. Very much like a retro video game about giant space rocks . . .
• Spatial Manipulation lets you swap two faceup adjacent City Tiles. This can be done before or after your movement phase and CAN include Park tiles.
• Super Agility lets you reduce your movement by 1 on any of the straight movements. This does mean you could reduce a Stomp movement to 0 spaces, essentially skipping your movement phase but still playing a Movement Card.

Objective Cards

These cards provide optional challenges that are worth points if you can complete them and are divided into A, B, C, and D Objectives.

A Objectives are based on where your Territory Markers are located on the board at the end of the game.

• Concentrated: Score 1 point for each space in your largest connected area of Territory Markers. (Diagonal markers are unconnected.)
• Spread: Score 1 point for each distinct area of unconnected Territory Markers. (Again, diagonal markers are unconnected.)

B Objectives are based on the number of City Tiles of a single Group you have claimed at the end of the game. When scoring this card, you will resolve the objective for each Group one at a time, so it is possible for a player to score this card multiple times. If players tie, they each score 2 points.

• Hoarder: The player with the highest number of tiles in a Group gains 2 points.
• Avoider: The player with the lowest number of tiles in a Group, including 0, gains 2 points.

C Objectives are based on arranging your Territory Markers on the board to form specific shapes at the end of the game. Each City Tile can be scored more than once, so overlapping shapes CAN be scored.

• Square: 3 points for having 4 Territory Markers arranged in a square.
• Line: 3 points for having 4 Territory Markers arranged in a line. The line can be vertical or horizontal.
• Ortho: 3 points for having 4 Territory Markers arranged orthogonally from a center space.
• Diagonal: 3 points for having 4 Territory Markers arranged diagonally from a center space.

Note: Ortho and Diagonal are scored as long as you have all the Territory Markers that match the required spaces. Having Territory Markers in the spaces that are not required does NOT count against these cards.

D Objectives do not provide end-game bonuses. Instead these cards are claimed by the player who has the most tiles of a Group and provide a bonus on the owner's turn.

• These cards are taken away as soon as another player claims more tiles of that Group.
• If the owner is tied with the same number of tiles as another player, they do NOT receive the bonus.
• IMPORTANT! When the last tile of a Group is claimed and removed from the board, the D card that was connected to that group is immediately removed from the game and its bonus is no longer in effect.
• Civil Servant: The player with the most tiles in the Community Group takes this card and their Territory Markers can be used as Parks by ALL players.
• Commerce King: The player with the most tiles in the Commercial Group takes this card and, at the start of their turn, draws 1 Combat Victory Token.
• Movement Mimic: The player with the most tiles in the Transportation Group takes this card and when moving can choose to use their Movement Card, the Shared Movement Card, OR the Movement Card of the player to their left. If you use the Movement Card of the player to your left, do NOT swap that card with the Shared Movement Card.
• Powerhouse: The player with the most tiles in the Power Group takes this card and can draw the top Special Ability Card from the deck after using the one they have.
  • You can still use only 1 Special Ability on your turn.
  • If you get control of the Powerhouse card and you do not currently have a Special Ability, draw the top Special Ability Card and keep it.

Ending the Game

The game ends when all players have passed on their movement in a single round.

Scoring

Players total up all their points:

• Each City Tile claimed is worth the number of points printed on it.
• A Park removed by a Special Ability scores no points.
• Wild cards must be assigned to a Group when claimed.
• Wild cards are only scored once.
• Each Objective Card completed is worth its indicated number of points.
• Each Combat Victory Token is worth 1, 2, or 3 points.

The player with the most points is the winner. If there is a tie, the tying players draw 5 of their Territory Markers at random and resolve a final Battle!

Scoring sheet categories: City Tile Points, Objective A Points, Objective B Points, Objective C Points, Objective D Points, Combat Points, TOTAL.

Alternate Rules

Instead of removing Charge and Stomp, randomly remove 1 card for a 3-player game, and 2 cards for a 2-player game. This will provide extra challenges in movement.

Arena Mode

Want more giant monster combat? Try this variation in which there are no points, just Monster battles until only 1 monster remains!

Goal: Reduce the health of all your opponents to 0.

Setup: Lay out a 6x6 grid of City Tiles, including all 8 Power Group tiles, the 2 Wild tiles, and other random tiles as needed. Monsters will start in the corners.

• Deal Movement Cards as usual, but you will not use Special Abilities or Objective Cards.
• Each player takes 5 Combat Victory Tokens and keeps them facedown. The point value of those tokens doesn't matter, they are only used as health points for this variant.

On Your Turn: Move as normal to battle another Monster.

• NO City Tiles are claimed except for those of the Power Group. When you claim a Power Group tile, replace it with your Territory Marker and gain health points (Combat Victory Tokens) equal to the point value of that tile, NOT to exceed 5.
• You may land on a City Tile occupied by an opponent and Battle, but no Territory Cards are placed there.

Battle: The loser of each round must discard a health point and after 5 rounds, the winner of the battle gains 1 health point (not to exceed 5).

Game End: When a player discards their last health point, they are defeated and out of the game. The last Monster standing wins!