Teddies vs Monsters
Teddies vs Monsters Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Welcome to Teddies vs Monsters, a fast-paced real-time card game in which you command one of these two teams. Your goal is to claim the mayority of Bedroom Cards either by playing as Teddies or playing as Monsters.
The team with the most claimed bedrooms at the end of a round wins a Key Card, and whoever wins three Key Cards wins the game!
Components
- 2 Teddies Decks
- 2 Monsters Decks
- 5 Key Cards
- 32 Bedroom Cards: 8 x Lvl 1, 8 x Lvl 2, 16 x Lvl 3
Setup
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Each player picks either a Teddies Deck or a Monsters Deck and places it face down in front of them. In a 2-player game, the decks must be of different teams. In a 4-player game, players of the same team must sit beside each other – Teddies on one side of the table and Monsters on the opposite side.
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Shuffle the Bedroom Cards of the Level of your choosing and reveal three of them in a 2-player game or five, in a 4-player game – between the teams. Arrange the bedroom cards in a line with the white icons facing the Teddies team and the black icons facing the Monsters team. Leave the remaining bedroom cards aside in a place that won't get in anyone's way.
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Each player shuffles their deck and reveals four cards in a 2-player game or three in a 4-player game. They place their revealed cards in front of them with enough space to place cards above them. This area is called Sleeve.
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Each player draws five cards from their deck to build the hand. Without looking at them, place these cards in front of them face down until the game begins.
If it's your first time playing, we recommend looking at your hand for the first few rounds until you get comfortable with the game play. Not looking at your hand adds a bit more complexity to the game.
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Use each side of the table to create discard piles where you can throw cards away. They are gonna get very messy, so try to allow enough space for them so they don't get in the way of your game.
The discard pile can be anywhere easily reached by all players, even two piles on either side of the table. The game box works great as a discard box!
Round Structure
In Teddies vs Monsters, there are no turns. Everyone plays at the same time, so you'll have to be fast! At any moment, you can do one of the following:
- Play a card in a bedroom.
- Play a card for a special effect.
- Discard as many cards as you need from either your hand or your sleeve. You do this to get rid of cards you can't use for cards you can use.
- Replenish your hand or sleeve with up to as many as you had at the start of the round.
Make sure to place 1 card at a time and use only 1 hand to do so. Doing otherwise is not allowed in this game.
Playing a Card in a Bedroom
Place a card from either your hand or sleeve under your team's side of an unclaimed bedroom card – if your team already has one or more cards there, place it over them in a way that the previously placed cards' symbols remain visible.
The symbols on your team's cards under a given bedroom card must always match the symbols on the bedroom card in the exact order – either from left-to-right or from right-to-left. On cards with two symbols, both must fit the sequence, being read in the same direction (left-to-right or right-to-left) as the symbols in the bedroom. Question mark symbols count as any symbol.
If at any moment you notice that your team's cards under a bedroom card have:
- The exact sequence of symbols as in that bedroom card, claim it, take your team's cards there, and place them in a face-down pile over the bedroom card (don't change their order when doing so), then discard all of the opposing team's cards there.
- If there are any cards in the wrong order or type, discard the card with the mistake and all other cards on top of it.
Card Placement
Make sure to place 1 card at a time and use only 1 hand to do so. Doing otherwise is not allowed in this game.
Round End and Winning the Game
The round ends once all the bedrooms have been claimed. Each team reviews their claimed bedrooms to ensure cards were played properly – correct symbols and in the right order. If there was a mistake, the round is a tie so a sudden death round will determine if the winning team gets a Bedroom Key Card or not.
The team with the most claimed bedrooms correctly wins the round and gains a Bedroom Key Card.
Play continues with a new round until a team has won three Bedroom Key Cards.
Tie Breakers
Tie breakers and dispute solving: In the extremely rare event of a tie happening (neither of the teams was able to complete the available rooms) or in the event that there's a disagreement between the teams about a particular event that would settle the game, then the game should proceed to a sudden dead format to settle the winner of the set round:
Players will re-shuffle their decks, clear the current room cards, and place 2 new room cards in a 2-player game and 3 for a 4-player game. They will then play as usual for said rooms although the only difference is, whichever team completes any one room first wins the round.
Discarding
The discard pile can be anywhere easily reached by all players, even two piles on either side of the table. The game box works great as a discard box!
Running Out of Cards
In a 4-player game, there's no way to refill a deck. In the rare case, you run out of cards, you are able to continue playing with whatever cards you have left. Once you are done with them, then the only thing you can do is wait for the round to be over, either by your teammate winning or by your opponents doing so.
For a 2-player game, if this same situation happens you are allowed to take the second deck.
Type of Cards
Symbol Cards are the most common, each with a single symbol. Teddies and Monsters have different symbols. Each deck has six cards of each of their four symbols.
Character Cards are the heart of the game, each with two symbols. They come in five different colors.
You can use your Character Cards to attack your opposing team. Place a Character Card over an opposing team's Character Card of the same color in order to attack. Discard both Character Cards. If the Character Card attacks have more cards on top, discard them too.
Bomb Cards are used to severely slow down the opposing team. Each deck has only two.
Use a Bomb Card over the opposing team's side of an unclaimed Bedroom Card in order to discard all the cards of your opponents stacked under that Bedroom Card and your Bomb Card.
Trap Cards can be placed on the opposing team's side of an unclaimed Bedroom Card in order to block the opposing team from playing more cards there. Trap Cards can be placed on any unclaimed Bedroom Card regardless of if it has cards already stacked, it is empty or has another Trap Card. It can be removed if the opposing team discards any of the following from their hand or sleeve:
- a. A Character Card of the same color.
- b. Any three symbols (Symbol Cards count as one symbol and Character Cards count as two symbols).
- c. Any of your Trap Card.
In case of stacking multiple Trap Cards, you must discard the top Trap Card first to be able to discard the bottom ones.
Tips
- Tip 1: Remember that you can use character cards to destroy other character cards or your opponent's traps – same color cards destroy same colored cards.
- Tip 2: If you are running out of cards frequently, that means that you are discarding way too much. Try to discard less next round and see how it goes.
Strategies
Strategy 1: Divide & Conquer
When playing as a team, communication is key, but sometimes it is overwhelming to focus on all 5 bedroom cards at once. This strategy divides the load on the team with each player focusing on only 3 bedroom cards. The green player focuses on the 3 bedroom cards on the left and the red player focuses on the 3 bedroom cards on the right.
Strategy 2: Offensive & Defensive
This strategy is a way of dividing the multiple tasks that you have to do on each round. One player will focus on only symbols, by just trying to complete the sequence of symbols on the Bedroom Cards. Their only concern is to search the opponents' playing area for the combinations of symbols on their side. Meanwhile the other player will focus on color, this means that they only focus on attacking the opponents' characters, getting rid of trap cards that block their playing area, and bombing the opponents' playing area at the best possible moment.