Mausoleum Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• New Rules for Mausoleum
  • Setup
  • Object
  • Turn Sequence
  • Draw and Play
  • Buy and Bury

New Rules for Mausoleum

There should be 54 cards in the deck, plus one "credits" card. Obviously, you won't be using the credits card in the game, so remove it before you start. This game can be played with 2-5 players, although a 3-4 player game is recommended for beginners, since playing with 2 or 5 players puts some tricky and interesting spins on gameplay.

Setup

Remove the 9 "Grave" cards from the deck (these are the cards numbered from #37-45), and set them aside. Shuffle the rest of the deck, and deal everyone 5 cards if there are 2 or 3 players, 4 cards if there are 4 players, or 3 cards if there are 5 players. Place the deck face-down in the middle of the table, and place the Grave cards face-up next to the deck.

There are three areas in the middle of the table:

• Deck (Face-Down)
• Discard (Face-Up, and empty at the beginning of the game)
• Shop (The Face-Up pile of Graves)

And three areas in front of each player (all three of which are empty at the beginning of the game):

• Party
• Morgue
• Mausoleum

Play begins with the dealer and continues clockwise.

Object

The object of the game is to be the first player to build a Mausoleum with a total value of $10m or more.

Turn Sequence

On your turn, you may either

1. Draw and Play

or

2. Buy and Bury

Draw and Play

Draw the top card from either the Deck or the Discard pile, and then play one card from your hand. Cards function as follows:

Heirs (#1-18, Oval border): Heirs are played, face-up, into either your party or another player's party. This is called "Inviting". If there are already 4 heirs in a party, another heir can not be Invited. Inviting heirs to your party is probably the first thing you want to do.

Accidents (#19-36, Coffin border): Accidents move heirs from your Party to your Morgue, or from another player's Party to their Morgue. This is called "Offing". Heirs in Morgues should be turned sideways to show that they've been offed. If there are more than 4 heirs in a Morgue, the most recently added heir must be discarded. Accidents are discarded as soon as they are played.

Incidents (#46-54, square border with ovals): Incidents generally muck-up gameplay. When you play an Incident, discard it (unless it's a Doozy), and then follow its instructions.

If you can not make a legal play, or simply don't wish to, you may discard one card from your hand instead of playing a card to end your turn.

Buy and Bury

If the total value of one or more heirs in your Morgue is equal to or greater than the value of any Grave in the Shop pile, you may "spend their inheritances" on that Grave. Discard the heirs whose inheritances you are spending (in whatever order you choose), and move the Grave from the Shop pile to your Mausoleum. You may only buy one Grave per turn.

If the Graves in your Mausoleum total $10m or more at the end of your turn, you win the game.

If the deck is empty at the end of your turn, immediately shuffle the discard pile and use it to replace the deck.