Purim Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Summary
• Components
• Standard Game Setup
• How to Win
• Game Play
  • Action Selection
  • Action Resolution
    • Loyal Action
    • Evil Action
    • End Effect
  • End of Round
• Game End
• 2-Player Game
• Advanced Game
• Solo Mode

Summary

The Book of Esther describes the harrowing tale of a young girl and the fate of the Jewish people. The villainous Haman has been put to death, but his murderous plan lives on through his ten sons. You are loyal messengers of the King and Queen, tasked with putting a stop to the hatred infecting the empire and securing peace for the children of Israel.

Purim is a cooperative card-management and area-control game. You and your fellow messengers must work together to spread the King's proclamation to all the far-flung provinces of the empire before Haman's ten sons can orchestrate the destruction of the Jewish people.

Components

1. Board (with Calendar Track)
2. 10 Sons of Haman tiles
3. Calendar Token
4. 5 Messengers
5. 27 Action Cards
6. 10 Sons of Haman Cards
7. 5 Messenger Cards
8. 20 Province Cards
9. 45 Gold Cubes
10. 40 Black Cubes

Standard Game Setup

(The rulebook shows an example of a 4-player game setup on pages 2-3.)

1. Shuffle the Action, Messenger, and Province Decks separately and place them beside the board. The Action and Messenger Decks should be face down but the Province Deck will be face up.
2. Set aside the Sons of Haman Cards, they will not be used in the Standard Game.
3. Set the Gold and Black Cubes to the side.
4. Place the Calendar Token on the first space of the Calendar Track (Sivan).
5. Reveal the first 5 Province Cards and place a Son of Haman Tile in each indicated location on the board. Add a Black Cube to each of these Provinces.
6. Reveal the next 5 Province Cards and place a Messenger and a Gold Cube on each.
7. Shuffle all the Province Cards together again. Reveal the top 5 Province Cards and place a remaining Son of Haman Tile in each, also placing a Black Cube there (even if it already has a Black Cube). The Province Deck should be placed, face up, next to the board along with the Province Discard Pile.
8. Reveal the top Messenger Card, the matching colored Messenger will be able to use the card's special ability in this game.
9. Deal out Action Cards so each player has:
   • 4 Players = 4 cards each
   • 3 Players = 5 cards each
   • 2 Players = 8 cards divided into two piles of 4 cards (See special 2-Player rules)

Place the remaining Action Cards to the side of the board.

You are now ready to begin!

How to Win

In Purim, Gold Cubes represent the good news spread by the Messengers while the Black Cubes represent false news spread by the Sons of Haman.

The game immediately ends when either:

• Players run out of Gold Cubes
• Players run out of Black Cubes
• The Calendar Token reaches the end of the Calendar Track (Adar)

The team then looks at each Province on the board and sees if the Gold Cubes there equal or outnumber the Black Cubes. If the Gold Cubes equal or outnumber Black Cubes, or if the Province is without any cubes in it, the Jewish people are safe in that land.

But if there is even just one Province on the board that has more Black Cubes in it than Gold Cubes then the team loses!

Example: The Team loses because Gandhara has more Black Cubes than Gold Cubes.

Game Play

A game of Purim consists of a series of Rounds. Each Round lasts until all Turns have been taken and the players are without any Action Cards. Each Turn consists of two steps: Action Selection and Action Resolution.

Action Selection

Every turn players will simultaneously select a card from their hand and place it face-down in front of them. This must be done without any discussion. Once all players have selected a card, reveal the chosen cards and put the Action Cards in order from the lowest Card Number to highest Card Number.

Action Resolution

Each card features a Card Number, Card Title, Loyal Action, Evil Action, and End Effect. If the Action Card played is not the player's last card, process the Loyal Action on the card first, then the Evil Action. Carry out as much of the directions on each side of the card as possible, if part of the card does not apply then skip that section. The End Effect on each card only occurs if it is the last card played, in which case it is the ONLY SECTION processed on the card.

Once the first card has been resolved, the next-highest card is resolved. Players may discuss how best to carry out the instructions, but the player who selected the card has the final say on how the card is resolved. Each resolved card should then be placed on top of the Action Card deck.

Loyal Actions, like Evil Actions and End Effects, must be completed as much as possible, but if something on the card could not be done then that part is skipped. For example, when playing the Action Card 'Proclaim' if the board did not have any Messengers who were adjacent to each other then this part of the Action Card would be ignored.

Loyal Action

Loyal Actions are usually helpful and are used to accomplish the Messengers' goals. The Loyal Action of 'Proclaim' adds two Gold Cubes to Provinces of two adjacent Messengers. In this example, the player who played 'Proclaim' chooses the Messengers at Dascylium and Anatolia and adds two Gold Cubes to each location.

Evil Action

Evil Actions usually cause trouble for the Messengers. The Evil Action of the 'Proclaim' card tells the player to select a Province and move all Sons of Haman in that Province to the top Province card, adding a Black Cube to each Province traveled per Son. The Son(s) that are moved must not already be in the destination location. A Black Cube is then added to each space traveled by each Son of Haman including the destination Province (but NOT including the starting Province). The card is then discarded.

End Effect

When each player has only one card remaining (after all other Action Cards have been resolved), everyone reveals their final card and then carries out ONLY the End Effect at the bottom of each card (in card order from low to high). Ignore the Loyal and Evil Action sections of the card.

To resolve just the End Effects of the 'Proclaim' card, the team adds three Black Cubes to Vaizatha's location. If Vaizatha has been destroyed then no cubes are added.

End of Round

After all the Action Cards have been played by the team then the Round ends. Players will then add the discarded Action Cards to the Action Card deck and shuffle them together. Then deal out Action cards to each player just like the start of the game:

• 4 Players = 4 cards each
• 3 Players = 5 cards each
• 2 Players = 8 cards divided into two piles of 4 cards

Begin the next Round as before, with players choosing and selecting an Action Card to play each Turn.

Game End

On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness...

Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. - Esther 9:17,19 (KJV)

The game ends immediately when either:

• Players run out of Gold Cubes
• Players run out of Black Cubes
• The Calendar Token reaches the end of the Calendar Track (Adar)

The team will then look at each Province on the board and see if the Gold Cubes equal or outnumber Black Cubes there. If Gold Cubes equal or outnumber Black Cubes, or if the Province is without any cubes in it, the Jewish people are safe in that land.

If there is even just one Province on the board that has more Black Cubes in it than Gold Cubes then the team loses!

2-Player Game

The 2-player game of Purim is the same as other player counts with one exception. At the beginning of the game, and each Round after, each player receives two hands of Action Cards, each containing 4 cards. Each player will take a hand of cards and play that entire hand before using their second hand of cards. In each hand the first 3 cards will be played normally, processing the Loyal and Evil Actions, while the last card of each hand will only process the End Effect.

Advanced Game

When the Standard Game has gotten too easy, it is time to try the Advanced Game! The Advanced Game has the same rules as the Standard Game except the Sons of Haman deck will be used. This deck adds new abilities to the various Sons of Haman in the game and adds a new layer of difficulty.

The one new step added in the Advanced Game is:

At the beginning of each Round, including the first Round of the game, flip over the top Sons of Haman Card. The Son with that symbol has that new ability and the ability will be in effect as long as the Son is in the game.

If you draw a Son of Haman that has already been destroyed, draw new Sons until you get one that has not been destroyed (if possible).

There can be more than one Sons of Haman Card out at a time, so be careful!

In addition, if you would like to tweak the game difficulty a little more, there are two different options:

1. Players may make the game easier by starting with additional Messenger Cards.
2. Players may make the game more difficult by starting with additional Sons of Haman Cards out at the start of the game.

Solo Mode

The 1-Player game of Purim is similar to a multiplayer game of Purim with a few changes. Setup remains the same except deal yourself 8 Action Cards each Round.

When it is your Turn:

1. Reveal the top card of the Action Card Deck.
2. Select an Action Card to play from your hand.
3. Unless your hand is now empty, resolve both Action Cards in normal numerical order. Set all resolved cards aside until the end of the round and begin a new Turn.

Otherwise, if your hand is now empty reveal an additional Action Card from the top of the deck leaving you with three Action Cards out. Pick two of the three Action Cards and process their End Effects in numerical order. Discard the remaining Action Card and begin a new Round by adding the discarded Action Cards into the Action Card Deck and shuffling it.

Note: the printed rulebook directs players to www.funhill-games.com for the Purim FAQ page. The text of the individual Action, Messenger, Province and Sons of Haman cards is not printed in the rulebook and is not included here.