Night of the Ill-Tempered Squirrel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• Game Play Summary
• Game Play Details
  • Movie Filming
  • Movie Release
  • Game End
  • Sample Cards

Game Components

To play Night of the Ill-Tempered Squirrel, you will need:

• This game manual
• 100 play cards (included): 86 Filming cards and 14 Release cards

Game Setup

Preparing to make horrible horror movies takes only a few minutes:

1. Shuffle all cards together to form the play deck.
2. Deal out 6 cards to each player.
3. Argue and bicker to determine who will take the first turn.

Game Play Summary

The game is played in two phases: movie Filming and movie Release.

During Filming, players film their movies by playing (or having played on them) one each of the 7 major Movie Elements: Title, Actor, Monster, Special Effects, Set Location, Plot, and Finale. Each Movie Element is rated from 1 to 5 stars in the "standard" Oscar quality system; 5 stars is superb, 1 star is awful. The object is to get the worst Movie Elements, and thus the least number of stars, on your movie that you can.

Also during Filming, Movie Event cards are played that may cause a variety of effects and hijinx.

After all players have completed their movies (meaning each player has all 7 Movie Elements), play shifts to the movie Release phase.

During the Release phase, each player obtains one Movie Review card in the same manner as Movie Elements. After all players have one and only one Movie Review, the game ends.

At the end of the game, players take turns reading their movies and counting up their stars. The player with the least total number of stars is the winner!

Game Play Details

Movie Filming

During this phase, players attempt to build their movies. Players alternate turns performing the following:

1. Play one card
2. Draw one card

Players must play one card on their turn if able, even if this means having to give an opponent a Movie Element that you don't want to.

Only Movie Elements and Movie Event cards may be played during the Filming phase. Movie Reviews and Release Events can be drawn and held but may not be played until the Release phase.

Movie Element cards are the cards that make up the movie (imagine that!). They may be played on any player's movie (including your own), and are placed FACEDOWN on the table in front of the player they affect. No player may view any of these cards after they are played. You may not even view cards on your own movie--including ones you played on yourself!

Once a Movie Element of a given type is played on a movie, another Movie Element of the same type may not be played on that same movie. Thus, each movie will only have one of each type of Movie Element (Plot, Actor, Title, etc.).

Movie Event cards are self-explanatory. They take effect immediately, and are generally discarded after playing.

After each player's turn, play proceeds clockwise around the table. The Movie Filming phase continues in this fashion until every movie is complete (meaning it has one each of the 7 Movie Elements). As soon as all movies are complete, the Movie Release phase begins.

Movie Release

The Movie Release phase is very similar to a short Movie Filming phase. During Release, only Movie Reviews and Release Events may be played.

Movie Reviews and Release Events are played facedown on movies in the same manner as Movie Elements. Only one Movie Review may be played on any movie, but any number of Release Events may be played on it.

The Release phase ends as soon as all players have one Movie Review.

Game End

At the end of the game, all players arrange their movies (still without viewing their cards!) in the following order:

TITLE--ACTOR--MONSTER--PLOT--SET LOCATION--SPECIAL EFFECTS--FINALE RELEASE EVENTS--MOVIE REVIEW

Players take turns revealing their movies and reading them aloud (naturally with as much embellishment as possible). Then, all players count up their total number of stars.

The player with the least number of stars wins!

Sample Cards

The manual prints these example cards in boxes beside the rules text (no heading in the original; the card text is reproduced here).

• Special Effects (Movie Element, rated 2 stars): "Sparklers and plastic models."
• Press Leak! (Movie Event): "Choose any one card in play that all players may view."
• Critics Applaud! (Movie Review, rated 5 stars).
• Reviewer Hung-over (Release Event): "Choose an opponent who currently has a movie review on his movie. Discard that review."