Silver Dagger Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Goal
• Cards
• Gameplay
  • Draw a Card from the Deck
  • Take a Card from the Discard Pile
  • Call for a Vote
  • Exchange Multiple Cards
• Abilities
• Card Spots
• Round End & Scoring
• Subsequent Rounds
• Silver Dagger
• Game End
• Tips & Reminders
• Remembering Cards
• Combining Decks
• Reference Guide
  • 0 — Debt Collector
  • 1 — Spy
  • ÷2 — Halfling
  • 3 — Sentinel
  • 4 — Zombie
  • 5 — Approximator
  • 6 — Flipper
  • 7 — Elusive Seer
  • 8 — Magician
  • 9 — Mystic Seer
  • 10 — Renfield
  • 11 — Reverser
  • 12 — Master Thief
  • 13 — Furry

Contents

• 2 Debt Collectors (0)
• 4 Spies (1)
• 4 Halflings (÷2)
• 4 Sentinels (3)
• 4 Zombies (4)
• 4 Approximators (5)
• 4 Flippers (6)
• 4 Elusive Seers (7)
• 4 Magicians (8)
• 4 Mystic Seers (9)
• 4 Renfields (10)
• 4 Reversers (11)
• 4 Master Thieves (12)
• 2 Furries (13)
• 4 Reference Cards
• 1 Scorepad
• 1 Silver Dagger of Direction
• 4 Private Deck Markers

Setup

1. Shuffle the deck, and deal five cards facedown in a horizontal row (a village) to four players (if there are fewer than four players, remove any extra sets of cards from the game).
2. Place a private deck marker at one end of each player's village.
3. Give each player a reference card.
4. Place the deck facedown in the center of the table, and create a discard pile with one faceup card from the deck.
5. Choose a start player at random, and place the silver dagger to the side of the deck/discard pile nearest to them with the point facing towards that player's left.
6. Each player secretly views two of the five cards in their village.

Goal

Remove werewolves (numbers on cards) from your village (your cards). After four rounds, the player with the fewest werewolves wins.

Cards

Cards in Silver Dagger have two functions:

First, the numbers represent how many werewolves have followed this resident to your village. The more powerful the resident, the more werewolves they attract!

Second, each card displays a person with an ability. If a card is in your village, that person is a resident. Some residents help you when they live publicly in your village (low-numbered faceup cards). Some are in hiding (facedown cards). Other times, people help out as they wander by (when you draw their card from the deck). Use all of your resources to figure out who is in your village and remove residents who attract the most werewolves.

Your Village consists of Public Residents (faceup cards) and Hidden Residents (facedown cards), with the Private Deck Marker at one end. The number on a card is the werewolves attracted by that resident.

Two ability icons appear on cards:

• The draw/discard icon: Ability (activate when drawn from deck).
• The faceup-position icon: Ability (available when faceup in your village).

Gameplay

Beginning with the start player, take turns in the direction the silver dagger is facing (clockwise at the start of each round). On your turn, do 1 of the following 3 actions:

DRAW A CARD FROM THE DECK

or

TAKE A CARD FROM THE DISCARD PILE

or

CALL FOR A VOTE

Draw a Card from the Deck

If you draw the top card from the deck (or your private deck), do one of the following:

1) Place the card into the discard pile. If the card has a draw/discard icon on it, you may use the card's ability.

or

2) Exchange one or more of your cards with the card you drew. Put exchanged cards faceup into the discard pile, and put the new card facedown in front of you, in an exchanged card's place. See "Exchange Multiple Cards" on the following page for more details on how to exchange multiple matching cards.

Take a Card from the Discard Pile

If you take the top card from the discard pile:

Exchange one or more of your cards with the card you drew. Put exchanged cards faceup into the discard pile, and put the new card faceup in front of you, in an exchanged card's place.

Call for a Vote

If you have four or fewer cards, you may call for a vote (say "Call" on your turn instead of drawing a card). At this time your turn ends. Each other player gets one more turn (they may not call on their turn), and then the round ends.

You may not do anything else on your turn (i.e., no faceup abilities or turning the silver dagger) when you call for a vote.

Exchange Multiple Cards

To exchange multiple cards from your village, all exchanged cards must have the same value (e.g., all 6s). Before discarding them, slide them all forward, and turn any that are unrevealed faceup. Place the card drawn in an exchanged card's place—you cannot discard the drawn card as part of a set of matching cards until your next turn.

If any slid cards do not match, return all of them to the village, turning them all facedown (even if they were faceup before). Add the new card at either end of the village in the orientation it was when you drew it (facedown from the deck, faceup from the discard pile).

If three or more cards don't match, take an additional card from the deck and place it facedown at either end of the village without looking at it.

Abilities

All cards have abilities. You may activate these abilities when the card is faceup at scoring, when the card is faceup in your village, when the card is placed faceup into your village (Approximator only) or onto the discard pile immediately after drawing it, or at end of round scoring. Most card abilities are optional, but the Debt Collector (0) and Halfling (÷2) have abilities that are always active when those cards are faceup at scoring in a player's village, and the Furry (13) ability is activated at scoring if the sum of the village he is in is equal to 50 (whether he is faceup or facedown).

• 0, ÷2 — Use these abilities when these cards are faceup at scoring.
• 1, 3, 4 — Use these abilities when these cards are faceup in a village.
• 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 — Use these abilities when you draw these cards from the deck, and then place them on the discard pile.
• 13 — Use this ability during end of round scoring.

You may not use the ability on a draw/discard-icon card taken from the discard pile.

For abilities that allow you to view facedown cards, view cards secretly so that no other players can see them. If you swap or otherwise move a card that is faceup, it remains faceup after it is moved.

You may not use any card's ability on the turn that you call for a vote.

Keep the Reference Guide handy for players to look up abilities of their cards, as they won't be able to pick up a facedown card to check how it works unless they use an ability that allows them to view it.

Card Spots

When you view a card, return it to the same spot that you took it from. When a single card replaces another card, the new card must go in the same spot as the old card.

When one card replaces multiple cards, the new card may go in any of the spots that the old cards were in. Then collapse empty spots by sliding cards together.

Round End & Scoring

The round ends when one player has called for a vote and each other player takes one more turn, or the deck is depleted (the latter can happen before all other players get a turn after a player has called for a vote). Slide any faceup cards above your other cards, then flip your remaining cards faceup. This helps show faceup Debt Collectors and Halflings versus those which may have been facedown in your village.

Each player should resolve the effects of the faceup Debt Collectors (0s), then Halflings (÷2s), and finally Furries (13s). Scoring cards are always resolved lowest value to highest, starting with the player with the silver token.

Your score for the round is the sum of your remaining village cards.

However, if you called for a vote and have the lowest sum (or are tied for it), you score 0 points. If you called for a vote and do not have the lowest sum, you score the sum of your cards plus 10 more points.

Write down each player's score for that round, and add it to the sum of the previous rounds.

Place the silver dagger in the middle of the table on the side of the deck nearest to the player who scored the fewest points in the current round, with the point of the dagger facing the left of that player. If that player successfully called for a vote, they take the silver dagger and pull it back toward themselves to their edge of the table (with the ears "up". This indicates that the player may use the silver dagger in the next round. (See "Silver Dagger" below.)

If the call was unsuccessful and there is a tie for the lowest score in the current round, the tied player who had the silver dagger during this round keeps it. If the player with the silver dagger did not score the fewest points in the current round, the tied player who is closest to the start player's left places the silver dagger in front of them near the deck of cards for the next round.

Subsequent Rounds

After the first, second, and third rounds, you'll play one last round.

Shuffle all the cards in the deck and deal four sets of 5 cards. Each player chooses a set. Remove unused sets from the game.

Place the deck in the middle of the table and turn one card faceup next to it to form the discard pile.

Each player secretly views two of the cards in their village.

The player with the silver dagger in front of them goes first.

Silver Dagger

If you have the silver dagger as a result of successfully calling for a vote, you may, as part of your turn, turn the dagger so that it faces in the opposite direction and also flip it over (with the ears of the wolf touching the table). At that time, play proceeds in the opposite direction that it had been going; play starts each round clockwise, and turning the dagger would result in going counterclockwise around the table. The player who possesses the silver dagger as a result of calling for a vote may only use that ability once per round. In a 2 player game, turning the dagger skips your opponent's turn. You may not call for a vote on the same turn that you turn the silver dagger.

The dagger is also used to indicate the direction of play if a player uses the ability of the Reverser (11) to change direction of play. In this case, the player who played the Reverser must turn the dagger around so that it faces the opposite direction.

Game End

The game ends after four rounds.

The player with the fewest points wins.

In case of a tie, the tied player who has the silver dagger wins. If the player with the silver dagger is not tied to win, the tied player closest in the direction the dagger is point to the dagger player wins.

Tips & Reminders

Abilities on cards are activated when the card is faceup:

• 0 & ÷2 (at scoring) in your village at scoring (it must be faceup before the round ends).
• 1, 3 & 4 (faceup in village) in your village,
• 5 (draw/discard) in your village immediately after drawing it from the deck.
• 6–12 (draw/discard) on the discard pile immediately after drawing it from the deck.

However, the 13 (at scoring) ability is activated at scoring whether the card is faceup or facedown, after the 0 & ÷2 abilities are resolved.

Play continues in the direction the silver dagger is facing until it is turned. At the beginning of each round, the silver dagger faces left.

Remembering Cards

There is a bit of a memory element to Silver Dagger, in that you'll need to remember the facedown cards you've seen. One of the best ways to remember your cards is to silently repeat the ones you know from left to right. So if you have seen the first three cards, and they are 1, 8, and 1, repeat "one eight one" to yourself a few times.

It's easy to temporarily forget cards you've seen if you or other players are talking about different things while playing. It is considered bad form to try to distract other players who are focusing on remembering cards they have viewed by saying random numbers out loud.

Combining Decks

You can combine Silver decks to customize your games. Replace all cards of one number from one deck with all cards of that same number from another deck. You can combine any combination of numbers, and any number of decks this way!

Just make sure you always have two 0s, two 13s, and four each of cards 1–12.

A fun way to combine decks is to let the losers of the last game each replace a number of their choice before the next game.

Reference Guide

0 — Debt Collector

For each Debt Collector faceup in your village at the end of the round, score 1 negative point for each card in all other players' villages combined.

Example: your village scores 0 + 6 + 9 = 15; opponents have 7 cards; 15 − 7 = 8, so Score = 8 points.

You may receive a negative score by using the Debt Collector. Write that negative score on the scorepad, and subtract it when determining your total score.

If you call for a vote with a faceup Debt Collector and you have a negative sum, and your sum is lower than any other player's sum (which may also be negative), you make your call and receive 0 points. If you do not make your call, your sum is 10 points plus your negative sum.

Cards in players' private decks are not counted.

1 — Spy

For each faceup Spy in your village, you may view a facedown card in another player's village (not your village) at any time during your turn.

÷2 — Halfling

If you have a faceup Halfling at the end of the round, your score is 1/2 the points you have, rounded up, not including the Halfling. The 2 points from the Halfling are only included in your score if the card is facedown at the time of scoring.

Example: 5 + 1 + 7 = 13; 13 ÷ 2 = 6.5; 6.5 rounded up is 7, so Score = 7 points.

If you have a faceup Halfling and the sum of your cards is negative, round toward zero.

Example: 1 + 0 = 1; opponents have 10 cards; 1 − 10 = −9; −9 ÷ 2 = −4.5; −4.5 rounded up is −4, so Score = −4 points.

If you have more than one faceup Halfling, divide by 2 and round up, then divide by 2 and round up again, etc.

3 — Sentinel

If you have a faceup Sentinel, other players may not switch, remove, or add cards in your village. They may still turn, flip, shuffle or view cards in your village. The Sentinel does not prevent you from modifying any cards in your village.

If a player turns a facedown Sentinel in your village faceup, it begins protecting your village immediately, even during another player's turn, possibly canceling further use of an ability.

A faceup Sentinel protects your village from the following Silver Dagger card effects:

• Zombie: Other players cannot give you a Zombie card.
• Magician: Other players may turn one of your cards faceup and use its draw/discard ability, but may not switch it.
• Master Thief: Other players may view a card in your village, but may not switch it.

The Sentinel does not protect you from the abilities of the following cards when played by other players: Spy, Flipper, Elusive Seer, Mystic Seer, Furry (at end of game).

4 — Zombie

If the Zombie is faceup in your village, you may flip it facedown and add it to one end of the village of the player who played immediately before you instead of drawing a card. Because of the Reverser, that player may be to your left or to your right.

You may never place the Zombie so that it is the top faceup card on the discard pile. If you attempt to exchange a Zombie in your village for another card drawn from the deck or the discard pile (where normally that Zombie would go on top of the discard pile), you must instead discard the card you drew/took (keeping the Zombie card as it was: faceup or facedown). If you draw a Zombie and attempt to exchange it with another Zombie, you keep both Zombies (again, keeping the one originally from your village as it was: faceup or facedown).

Sometimes the Zombie will end up on top of the discard pile. This can happen (and he can stay there) in the following circumstances:

1. If the Zombie is revealed as the discard at the beginning of a round.
2. If the Zombie is the second card from the top of the discard pile and the top discard is removed.

The Zombie has special interactions with the following cards from other Silver games in various circumstances:

• Witch: If the Witch attempts to exchange a Zombie with a card, that card is discarded instead of the Zombie. If the card drawn by the Witch is a Zombie, the player receiving the new Zombie keeps both of them.
• Count: If the last (normally 10th unless the deck runs out) card you turn over is a Zombie, the player who used the Count ability adds the faceup Zombie to their village. If this reveals any more Zombie cards, the player adds those faceup Zombies as well.
• Curator: The Curator cannot discard a 90° Zombie, even if another card is discarded during your turn. The Curator's discard does not happen simultaneously with any other discard ability, so it would leave a Zombie on top of the discard pile.

5 — Approximator

When you draw this card from the deck, you may discard any other two of your cards (faceup and/or facedown) only if you place the Approximator in your village faceup. If you do that, you don't discard this card as normal. Otherwise, discard Approximator and don't use its ability. Any other circumstance where this card is turned faceup, exchanged, taken from the discard pile, or otherwise arrives faceup in your village, you do not get to use the ability.

This is one way to discard a Zombie (if you discard it along with a card lower than 4, so the Zombie is under the lower-value card on the discard pile). If the discarded card is higher than 4, the Zombie returns to the player's village.

6 — Flipper

Flip over all the cards in any village. All faceup cards are flipped down, and all facedown cards are flipped up.

7 — Elusive Seer

View facedown cards in any village until you see one with a value of 4 or lower. Then stop viewing and turn that card faceup. You may view cards in any village, and in any order. You may not stop viewing facedown cards until you see one that is 4 or lower. If you have viewed all facedown cards in all players' villages and none are 4 or lower, stop viewing cards and turn none of them faceup.

8 — Magician

Turn one card faceup in another village, and then you must either use its draw/discard ability or switch it for one of your cards. If the card does not have a draw/discard ability, you must switch it for one of your cards.

9 — Mystic Seer

View up to two facedown cards in any village or villages.

10 — Renfield

Add the top card of the deck to the top of your private deck. If no cards are in your private deck, begin one in the area indicated by your private deck marker.

On a future turn, if you choose the action to draw a card from the deck, you may draw from your private deck instead of the regular deck. Only you may draw from your private deck.

If the regular deck is empty immediately before your turn, you must take another turn if you have at least one card in your private deck. This continues until it is a player's turn who does not have a card in their private deck.

You may view the cards in your private deck at any time, but you may not change their order. Cards in your private deck are not scored.

11 — Reverser

Reverser's ability changes player order from clockwise to counterclockwise or vice versa. Turn the dagger 180 degrees. The player who played immediately before your turn plays next.

In a 2-player game, skip the other player's turn when you use a Reverser's ability.

If the Reverser is played after someone calls, turns continue until it would be the caller's turn, at which point the game ends. This may result in not all players getting a turn after the caller calls.

12 — Master Thief

View a facedown card in any village, and switch it for a card in any other village. You may view a facedown card in your own village, and switch it for a card in another village. The facedown card you view stays facedown when the switch is made. If you switch it with another facedown card, you may not view that card.

If you look at a facedown card in your own village, and you can't switch it with a card from any other player (for instance, maybe they all have Sentinels), end the ability there, without exchanging it.

13 — Furry

If the Furry is in your village at scoring, and the sum of your cards is exactly 50 (after you account for Debt Collectors and Halflings), you hit the jackpot! Instead of 50, score the sum of your cards as 0. Then each other player adds 50 to their sum.

Example: 10+8+13+7+12 = 50 — Furry activated: your score is 0, and other players get +50.

Example: 12+11+12+13 = 48; 48 ÷ 2 = 24 — Furry not activated; Score = 24 points.

When resolving card abilities that activate at scoring, Furry goes last. Other cards (from this or other Silver games) may give you more or fewer than 50 points before you resolve this Furry card. If that happens, you get the sum of your cards, and the other players do not get 50 points.