Love Is Dead Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What's in the Box
• Set It Up
• Play
  • On Your Turn
• Boo Cards
• It's a Match
• Win
• The Action Cards
  • Trait Cards
  • Boost Cards
• Dealbreaker Cards
• Wild Cards

What's in the Box

• 22 Boo cards
• 65 Action cards
• 12 Endgame cards
• 5 reference cards
• Sticker sheet

Set It Up

1. Separate the Boo, Action, Endgame, and reference cards.
2. Shuffle the Boo cards and place the deck facedown in the center of play. This is the dating pool.
3. Depending on how many players you have, flip over some Boos and prepare the Action card deck.

If you have...	Flip over...	Remove from the Action deck...
2 players	1 Boo card	All duplicate Dealbreaker, Boost, and Make a Move cards. (I.e., remove 1 "Red Flag," 1 "Ghosted," etc.) Keep all Trait and Wild cards!
3 players	2 Boo cards	1 "Ghosted" card
4-5 players	3 Boo cards	Nothing. You'll use the full deck.

4. Shuffle the Action deck and deal each player three Action cards facedown. This is your hand. You can look at your cards but must keep them hidden from others. Put the remaining Action cards facedown in a draw pile.
5. Shuffle and give each player one Endgame card facedown. Your Endgame card gives you extra Hearts at the end of the game, if you've met its requirement. You can look at this card at any time (use it to strategize!), but don't share it. Keep it facedown during play, not in your hand. Put the remaining Endgame cards away.
6. Make sure everyone has enough space in front of them to put down five cards in a row. This is where you'll build out your Profile.
7. Give each player a reference card for helpful reminders.

Play

The player who last went on a date goes first. (Has it been an eternity? Just pick someone.)

On Your Turn

1. Draw TWO Action cards and add them to your hand.
2. Discard ONE Action card from your hand. It doesn't have to be a card you just drew. Think strategically about what to get rid of.
3. If you have any MAKE A MOVE cards, you can play ONE now. These cards let you do an immediate action, such as draw more cards. Put them in the discard pile after use. (If you have one but don't want to use it this turn, that's okay.)
4. Play ONE of the following card types from your hand.
   • TRAIT: Place this faceup in your Profile to attract Boos with the same Trait.
   • BOOST: Place this faceup in your Profile to help you make a match.
   • DEALBREAKER: Play this on an opponent to sabotage their chances.
   • WILD: Either place this faceup in your Profile to act as a Wild Trait OR play it to remove a Dealbreaker! If the latter, discard both cards.
5. Is it a MATCH? If cards in your Profile let you fulfill all of the Traits on a Boo card, you can match with that Boo! See "It's a Match" for details.
6. At the end of your turn, you must have three to five cards in your hand. If you have more than five, discard down to five. If you have under three, draw up to three.
7. Now the player on your left goes! Keep playing until someone has made three matches. See "Win" for details.

If you run out of Action cards to draw from, shuffle the discard pile.

Your Profile only has five spaces (unless a Boost card allows otherwise). If your Profile is full, you can choose to empty any space (unless it has a Dealbreaker) before you play a card from your hand. Any cards you remove go into the discard pile.

Boo Cards

These are the ghosts everyone is competing to match with.

• Hearts: The points you'll earn for matching with a ghost.
• Traits: What each ghost is looking for in a soulmate. Place Traits in your Profile to attract Boos with that Trait! You can have more than one of the same Trait in your Profile.

It's a Match

To match with a Boo, you must be able to fulfill all of the Traits on that Boo card using Trait and Boost cards in your Profile. Remember to take into account any Dealbreakers! You may only match with one Boo on a turn, so choose carefully based on their Hearts and your Endgame card. And just because you can match doesn't mean you have to. (Have some standards.)

Example: This player has the right Traits in their Profile to match with Chad because that "Overachiever" card doubles their Boo-tiful Trait. Or, they could leverage their "Catfish" card to borrow an Intellectual Trait from a player next to them, allowing a match with Ari!

Example: This player scored 13 Hearts!

When you match:

• Take that Boo card and put it faceup by you.
• Now flip over two more Boos from the dating pool!
• Finally, you must empty two filled spaces of your Profile. Put those cards in the discard pile. If you used a Boost to make the match, its space must be one that you empty. (If you used three Boosts, you only need to discard two.) You don't have to remove the Traits you used to make that match—you can get rid of any Action cards, except Dealbreakers!

Win

Once a player has made three matches (not counting any "Ghosted" matches), the game ends. Players first tally up the Hearts on their matches. Then, starting with the player with three matches, everyone reveals their Endgame cards and adds (or subtracts) those Hearts. The player who captured the most Hearts wins!

The Action Cards

Trait Cards

Place Traits in your Profile to attract Boos with that Trait! You can have more than one of the same Trait in your Profile.

Trait cards in the game: Dead Funny, Soulful, Fearless, Paranormally Active, Intellectual, Boo-tiful, Imaginative, and Wild.

Boost Cards

Boost cards can be placed in your Profile to give you an advantage. You cannot have duplicate Boosts in your Profile. (Ex: If you already have "You Flirt!" in your Profile, you cannot add the other "You Flirt!".) Most Boosts help you to make a match and must be discarded once used to do so. However, "Humblebrag" and "Lots of Hobbies" can be used every turn, as long as they're in your Profile!

Pairing Trait and Boost cards: The "Overachiever" Boost card lets you double a Trait, while "Mysterious Stranger" lets you cover one. Once you pair one of these Boost cards with a Trait card in your Profile, they are locked together in that space—you can't swap in another Trait later. If you discard that Trait, you must also discard that Boost, and vice versa.

Catfish: This card lets you borrow a Trait from a player next to you. You may pick any Trait in their Profile. It stays in their Profile—you just note which one you're using when making a match. If they have a Trait paired with an "Overachiever" card, you can use that doubled Trait!

Dealbreaker Cards

These are negative cards that you can play on an opponent. Some are played directly into their Profile, taking up one space, while others can be played on top of Action cards and matches. Cards cannot be placed on top of Dealbreakers. Players may have more than one Dealbreaker in their Profile as long as they aren't the same. (Ex: you can't have two "Red Flags.") The only way to remove a Dealbreaker from your Profile is by playing a Wild card from your hand.

Ghosted: If one of your matches is "Ghosted," then it no longer counts as a match. But don't give up hope! That Boo could float back into your life: You can use a Wild card to remove the "Ghosted" card and make that match count again. A player cannot be "Ghosted" twice in a game (unlike in reality…).

Wild Cards

A Wild card can act as a Wild Trait in your Profile OR be played directly from your hand to remove a Dealbreaker card.

Wild Traits: A Wild trait can act as whatever Trait you want, and you can change what it represents each turn, depending on your need. If you double a Wild with an "Overachiever" card, both those Wilds must act as the same Trait.

Removing Dealbreakers: When you play a Wild card from your hand to remove a Dealbreaker, put both of those cards into the discard pile. If you have a Wild card in your Profile, you may NOT use it to remove a Dealbreaker.