The Brain
The Brain Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 36 Playing cards
- 4 Reference cards
- 1 Rules
Short Overview
Players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn, you must play a card to the center of the table (the display) and carry out the corresponding action depicted on the played card. Then, you must draw a card from the deck. If there are no cards left in the deck, skip this action.
The players lose if, at the end of a player's turn, after actions have been resolved, there are at least the number of cards determined by the difficulty level in the display.
The players win if there are no cards left in the deck, players' hands, and players' domains AND the amount of evidence left in the display is less than the difficulty level.
Setup
Give each player a reference card.
Then, shuffle the 36 playing cards, and deal 5 cards to each player facedown. Place the remaining cards as a facedown deck in the center of the table. Cards will be played to the right of this deck to form the display.
Decide as a group which difficulty level you want to use.
Choose a starting player randomly. If you just finished a game, the player who played the last card in the previous game should be the starting player.
Difficulty Levels
You are trying to leave as little evidence as possible in the display. The players lose if at least the predetermined amount of evidence is in the display at the end of a player's turn (after carrying out the action of their played card).
- Amateur – 7 cards
- Robber – 6 cards
- Cat Burglar – 5 cards
If a certain level is still too difficult after a couple of attempts, players can decide to start the game with 1 additional card in hand.
Further Difficulty Level Adjustments
Did you manage to defeat the game on the Cat Burglar level? In that case, you can further increase the difficulty by starting with 1 fewer card in hand, to a minimum of 2 cards. Cat Burglar with 2 starting cards in hand is the most difficult level.
Card Anatomy
Type: there are 6 different objects. Each object appears once in each color.
Color: there are 6 different colors.
Action symbols: there are 6 different action symbols. These are independent from the colors and objects. Each action symbol appears 6 times in the game. The "remove" actions each show a different object or color.
How to Play
Play goes in clockwise order from the starting player. On your turn, you must play 1 card from your hand or domain (see "Domains") to the display in the center of the table. Then, you must carry out the action indicated by the action symbol on this card. After you've carried out the action completely, first check whether the players have won or lost the game. If neither has happened, you must draw a card from the deck (if available) and continue playing.
Example: Timmy plays a card to the display. This card has the "Extra Card" action and therefore he must play another card. This card can come from his hand or his domain. The action on that new card is not resolved.
If you don't have any cards in your hand or in front of you at the start of your turn, you can't play a card, but you must still draw a card if there are any in the deck. If the deck is empty, you can't draw a card. It could happen that you have no cards in your hand or in your domain and are unable to do anything on your current turn. The good news is, you're still in the game! Another player may donate a card to your domain, and you will take your turn as usual in the proper order.
Domains
If, at any time during the game, you receive or take back 1 or more cards as a result of an action, you must always place them faceup in front of you in an area called your domain. Each player has their own faceup domain in addition to the cards hidden in their hands.
These cards work just like cards in hand, but they are visible to the other players (which gives them important information). If you have to play a card or give away one, you may choose a card from your domain instead of your hand.
Exception: A card you draw from the deck is always added to your hand, hidden from the other players.
The Actions
You must carry out the actions listed below immediately after playing your card, unless this isn't possible. In that case, you're allowed to play the card without carrying out the corresponding action.
Donate
When you play this card to the display, you must also give a card from your hand or domain to another player of your choice, if possible. The other player places the card they receive in their domain.
Example: Steve plays the blue fingerprint card into the display and must donate a card. He gives the purple key card to Jenny. Jenny must place this card faceup in her domain.
Cover
When you play this card to the display, you must cover another card in the display, if possible. This creates a stack of 2 or more cards, which always counts as a single card (the top card). When playing the card, make sure the action symbol of the covered card(s) remains visible, but not the type. This matters for the "Take Back" action.
Only the top card of a stack counts for removal purposes and if it is removed, the whole stack is removed from play.
Example: A Remove Type or Take Back card will affect this stack, sending all three cards to the discard pile. A "Take Back" cannot be used here due to the "Take Back" card already in this stack. (See "Take Back".)
Take Back
When you play this card to the display, you must take a different card from the display and add it to your domain, if possible. If you take a stack of cards, you must add all the cards in that stack to your domain separately.
Exception: You can never take back a card from the display that has a "Take Back" symbol. If one of the cards in a stack has such a symbol, you're not allowed to take this stack.
Example: Jenny plays the green magnifying glass which has the "Take Back" action. She must now take back a different card or a stack of cards. She cannot choose the stack with the red key, because that stack contains the blue brain card with the "Take Back" action symbol. This means she must choose the stack with the purple fingerprint on top. She separates both cards and places them faceup in her domain.
Extra Card
When you play this card to the display, you must play an additional card from your hand or domain to the display, if possible. Ignore the action symbol of the additional card: don't carry out its action.
Example: Mary plays the purple lock and must play a second card. She chooses the yellow safe. She ignores the action symbol on the yellow safe and therefore doesn't resolve it to cover a card.
Remove Type
(There's 1 "remove" card for each object and color.) When played to the display, you must remove all the cards of this type from the display into the discard pile. When considering stacks, only the top card determines the type for the entire stack. If the top card matches, remove the entire stack, regardless of the other card types that stack contains.
Example: Peter plays the red brain to the display. This allows him to remove all grey cards. Therefore, the grey safe and the stack with the grey brain on top is removed to the discard pile.
Discard Pile
Place all the cards you removed from the center of the table (as a result of a "Remove Type" action) to the discard pile, on the other side of the deck. Only the top card of the discard pile remains visible: players are not allowed to look at the cards in the discard pile.
A Few Other Things
- Throughout the game, players are not allowed to communicate.
- You are not allowed to signal another if you think they should or shouldn't play a certain card from their domain.
- You are not allowed to mention which cards are in your hand or which cards you hope other players have in their hand.
- You are not allowed to advise or correct another player.
- You are not allowed to point at cards in your domain.
- You are not allowed to look through the discard pile.
Good luck!
End of the Game: Winning or Losing
After a player plays a card and carries out its action, check to see if the players have collectively won or lost the game. The players have lost if they left enough evidence in the display to meet or exceed the number of cards determined by their difficulty level (remember that cards in a stack count as only 1 card). The players have won if they've achieved both of the following conditions:
- The deck is empty.
- No player has cards in hand or in their domain.
Note: It doesn't matter how many cards are in the display at this point, as long as there are fewer cards than the limit specified by the difficulty level.
Solo Variant
To play the game by yourself, add the following changes:
- Choose a difficulty level and prepare the game as usual, but place all cards you draw faceup in your domain.
- Reveal the same number of cards from the deck and place them faceup in the domain of a virtual player.
- You're playing for 2 players at once. Start by carrying out your own turn, then a turn for the virtual player, and so on.
- If you draw cards from the deck during the game, make sure you place them in the corresponding player's domain.