Monster 12 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Go Monster Hunting
    • Miss!
    • Which Dice Can You Choose?
  • 2. Collect Monster Cards
  • Example
• End of the Game
• Monster-Sized Achievements

Game Components

• 56 Monster cards
• 4 Monster Master cards
• 18 dice

Goal of the Game

The first player to catch 12 monsters in 6 different colors wins the game.

Setup

Shuffle the 56 Monster cards and place them as a face-down stack in the middle of the table. Reveal 3 Monster cards from the stack and lay them face up next to the stack. This is the hunting ground. Place the opened game box next to the hunting ground and put all 18 dice on the corresponding spaces of the dice tray. The 4 Monster Master cards stay in the box.

Gameplay

The player who went to bed latest last night begins the game. After that you take turns in clockwise order.

On your turn you can always choose between the following two options:

1. Go monster hunting, or
2. Collect Monster cards

1. Go Monster Hunting

On your turn you want to catch as many monsters as possible. You catch monsters with dice. And that is quite easy: first you choose up to 3 dice from the supply. Which dice are best to choose depends heavily on your tactics. You will learn more about that later.

Once you have decided, you roll all the chosen dice and compare the pip counts of the dice with the pip counts of the monsters. You must pay attention to the colors. The color of the die must match the color of the monster you want to catch. For example, you can only catch a green monster with a green die. Does at least one die show more pips than the corresponding monster? Then you have caught it and you place the die on the monster.

You can also catch several monsters at the same time in your turn. For each monster, however, you need exactly one die. It is not allowed to use several dice for one monster and add up their pips. If a die already lies on a monster, you of course cannot catch it again.

You managed to catch one or more monsters? Great! Place all dice with which you rolled higher than the pip count of a monster of the same color on the respective monsters. All dice that did not catch a monster you put back on the dice tray. You are still on turn and can again choose between "Go monster hunting" and "Collect Monster cards". You can repeat this as often as you like, until you choose "Collect Monster cards" or you make a miss.

Miss!

Does none of your dice show a higher pip count than a not-yet-caught monster in the hunting ground? Then you are out of luck! Your turn is over and your left neighbor is next. Put the dice you just rolled back on the dice tray. Dice that already lie on monsters in the hunting ground stay there.

Which Dice Can You Choose?

In general, you must observe the following rules when choosing your dice:

• Matching colors: You may only choose dice whose color matches a monster in the hunting ground. Example: If there is at least one red monster in the hunting ground, you may choose a red die.
• Matching number: If there are several monsters of the same color in the hunting ground, you may also choose a corresponding number of dice of that color. Example: If there are two pink monsters in the hunting ground, you may take one or two pink dice, but not three.
• Only free monsters count: Monsters that are already caught do not count for the dice choice. Example: If all yellow monsters in the hunting ground are already caught, i.e. covered with a die, you may not choose a yellow die.

Note: If there are only 1 or 2 not-yet-caught monsters in the hunting ground, you may exceptionally choose only 1 or 2 dice respectively. And of course you can no longer choose a certain die color if no die of that color remains on the dice tray.

Tip: Think carefully about which dice you choose for your hunting attempt. Monsters with many eyes are harder to catch than monsters with fewer eyes. Of course you do not want to risk a miss carelessly. But to win, you need at least one monster of every color. So now and then the risk may be worth it.

2. Collect Monster Cards

As soon as all monsters on at least one Monster card in the hunting ground are caught, you can forgo monster hunting and instead perform "Collect Monster cards". This can already be the case at the start of your turn. But of course you can also keep going monster hunting, in the hope of perhaps clearing several Monster cards in one go. Only when all Monster cards in the hunting ground are completely covered must you choose this option.

Do you want to collect Monster cards? Then you take all completely covered Monster cards. Lay them face up next to each other in front of you. They belong to you until the end of the game.

All dice that lay on these Monster cards you put back on the corresponding spaces of the dice tray. Then you reveal Monster cards from the Monster card stack until there are 3 in the hunting ground again. This ends your turn. Your left neighbor is next.

Example

The hunting ground contains three cards (Card 1, Card 2, Card 3; shown as pictures in the original).

Jule is on turn. She can decide whether she wants to go monster hunting or collect Monster cards. If she chose "Collect Monster cards", she could take Card 1 and lay it in front of her. That would end her turn and the next player would be on turn. Instead she decides to "Go monster hunting". Now she can choose three dice. She cannot take a purple die, because no purple monster is visible on the cards. She also cannot take a green die, because the green monster is already covered with a die and thus already caught. Jule thinks it over and chooses a pink, a red and a yellow die and rolls all three:

Not a bad roll! Jule can place the pink die on the pink monster. It is caught! She can place the red die on one of the red monsters. She can choose on which of the 2 red monsters she places it. Unfortunately the yellow die cannot catch any of the yellow monsters; she would have had to roll a 6 with it. Jule puts the yellow die back on the dice tray. Since she managed to catch monsters, she is still on turn and can again choose between "Go monster hunting" and "Collect Monster cards".

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when, after the "Collect Monster cards" step, a player has several cards in front of them that show at least 12 monsters in total and on which all 6 monster colors are represented at least once. This player has won the game!

Monster-Sized Achievements

Do you want even more fun? Then dare these hair-raising challenges and collect monster-sized achievements. Here you can immortalize yourselves. Each player can write their name in a field of the top row. From now on, after each game you can check whether someone achieved one or more of the 12 achievements in that game. If a player achieves an achievement, they may tick the corresponding field in their column. The first 4 players who have ticked all 12 achievements are crowned Monster Master and receive a Monster Master card!

• Speed of Light: Win the game in the first 2 rounds.
• Monster-Sized Show-Off: Win the game with 16 or more monsters.
• Triple: Win the game with exactly 3 cards, each showing 4 monsters.
• There Can Be Only One!: Win 3 games in a row.
• Catch Them All: Own at least 2 monsters of each color at the end of the game.
• The Yellow of the Egg: Own at least 3 yellow monsters at the end of the game.
• Pink Wave: Own at least 4 pink monsters at the end of the game.
• Every Little Bit Helps (Kleinvieh macht auch Mist): Own at least 3 cards at the end of the game that show only 1 monster.
• Big Straight: Own at the end of the game a card with 1 monster, 2 monsters, 3 monsters and 4 monsters.
• At One Blow: Receive in one turn cards showing 10 or more monsters in total.
• Seriously?: Roll three 1s in one roll.
• Pact with the Devil: Roll three 6s in one roll.