The Cemetery

The Cemetery Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Overview

In The Cemetery Game, you play as an Undertaker. Your job is to Bury valuable Corpses in your Cemetery, but, watch out, other players may Dig Up the ones you buried, and if a dug-up Corpse is worth more than its Tomb, a Zombie will come to life.

Stay away from these Zombies! They will eat your Victory Points and lower your final score.

Tombs and Developments have unique bonuses. Use them to support your strategy and sabotage your opponents.

Dig Down on your Tombs until they are Sealed and Dig Up on your opponents' Tombs to Exhume Corpses. Undermine their chances to win by raising Zombies in their Cemetery!

Don't let Zombies stroll your graveyard, kill or move them away!

All you need to do is to Seal five Tombs to End the Game and become the Natural Bone Killer!

The Grimoire

45x Corpse Cards

Corpses value are the Victory Points:

3 Cards of Value 1
12 Cards of Value 2
14 Cards of Value 3
12 Cards of Value 4
2 Cards of Value 5
2 Cards of Value 6

45x Tomb Cards

Tombs have values from 1 to 5 and can hold Corpses of any value.

15x Tomb of Value 1
12x Tomb of Value 2
9x Tomb of Value 3
6x Tomb of Value 4
3x Tomb of Value 5

8x Development Cards

Developments can be GOOD (Green) or BAD (Red).

9x Zombie Cards

Zombies hold negative values from -1 to -9.

Card Anatomy

Card Value: shown in the top corner of each card. Corpses and Zombies show a value; Tombs show a value from 1 to 5.
Card Ability: the text printed at the bottom of a card describing the action it allows (for example, "Stop an Opponent from digging in your Cemetery", or "Draw 2 cards").
Card Bonus: a passive effect printed on some cards (for example, a Tomb's "Beginning of your turn" bonus, or a Development's effect while it is in play).
Burial Levels: Tombs have three Burial Levels (1, 2 and 3), shown as a strip along the side of the card. A Tomb's Corpse is moved between these levels when Dug Down or Dug Up.

Game Setup

Shuffle Zombie cards. Each player draws one Zombie card. The player with the highest negative Zombie value is the first player.
Reshuffle all Zombie cards into a single deck and place it face down on the table. The Zombie Discard Pile will form next to it.
Shuffle the remaining cards into a second deck. That's the Main Deck. Place it face down on the table. The Main Discard Pile will form next to it.
Deal 5 cards to each player from the Main Deck. NOTE: Shuffle the Discard Piles to form new Decks if there are no more cards to draw.
Play in clockwise order.

The manual includes a 4 Players setup example illustrating the Zombie Discard Pile, the Main Discard Pile and the dealt hands.

Game Play

Your turn is divided in 3 phases:

1. Resolution Phase

First, resolve BAD Developments (Red). You must fulfill their demands.
Next handle GOOD Developments (Green). You may choose to skip Good Developments.
Finally, resolve any active Tombs (those at Burial Level 2) that state "Beginning of your turn" in any order you choose. You may choose to skip active Tombs.

These are non actions, you cannot play cards from your hand.

2. Action Phase

During your turn, you can perform up to 3 actions and you can perform the same action multiple times. The actions are:

Bury a Corpse
Play a Card's ability
Play a Development

3. Adjustment Phase

Check if any cards in your Cemetery state "End of your turn" and follow the instructions if you choose to.

If you have fewer than 5 cards, draw up to 5.
If you have more than 10 cards, discard down to 10.

You may only discard cards if allowed by a card's Bonus, Ability, or if your hand exceeds 10 cards.

Skip Instead

You may skip Action and Adjustment phases to draw 3 cards, your turn then ends.

The Actions

Bury Corpses

To Bury a Corpse, place a Tomb face up in your Cemetery and a Corpse face down on top of it. This is a single action. This Tomb is at Burial Level 1.

You can't have more than one unsealed Tomb of the same value in your Cemetery.

Example: You can only have one unsealed Tomb of the same value at the time. First, Seal the Tomb 5 that is unsealed or choose a Tomb of different value to Bury your Corpse.

Image 1: a Tomb 5 that is Sealed (at Burial Level 3) does not prevent you from Burying a new Tomb 5 at Burial Level 1.
Image 2: a Tomb 5 that is unsealed (at Burial Level 2) does prevent you from Burying a new Tomb 5 at Burial Level 1.

Dig Corpses

To perform a Dig action, play a card that allows it or takes advantage of a Bonus.

You can only Dig unsealed Tombs in any Cemetery.

After performing a Dig Down, slide the Corpse down.
After performing a Dig Up, slide the Corpse up.
Once a Tomb is Sealed no further Dig actions can be performed on it.

"Stop an opponent from digging ..." cards prevent Dig actions.

Only "The King" can Exhume a sealed Tomb.

Exhumation

Digging Up a Corpse at Burial Level 1, exhumes it. When exhumed, check the Corpse and Tomb value:

If the Corpse's value is higher than the Tomb's value, draw a Zombie, place it face up in the Cemetery and discard both cards.
If the Corpse's value is equal to or lower than the Tomb's value, discard both cards: no Zombie is raised in this case.

Play Developments

Place Development cards face up in any Cemetery. The Development is now active.

You can only have one GOOD (Green) and one BAD (Red) Development active at the same time in your Cemetery.
BAD Developments can only be destroyed.
GOOD Developments can be destroyed, stolen or replaced by playing a new Good Development from your hand and discarding the one already in play.

Ignore unsatisfiable Developments during Resolution Phase.

Play Card's Ability

All cards except Zombies have an ability. You can only activate abilities from cards in your hand; perform the action as described, then discard the card.

NOTE:

"The Runner" and "The Electrician" are the only cards that can be played outside of your turn to stop an opponent from digging.
"Stop an opponent from digging ..." cannot be stopped by playing another "Stop an opponent from digging ..."
"The King" exhumes a sealed Corpse and it cannot be stopped by any card Ability or Bonus.

How to Dig

Dig Down

Image 1: Dig Down the Corpse to Burial Level 2.
Image 2: At Burial Level 2 the Tomb effect activates.
Image 3: Once Sealed, the Tomb's effect is no longer active.

Dig Up

Image 4: You can only Dig Up on Tombs at Burial Level 1 or 2.
Image 5: Digging up a Tomb at Burial Level 1 exhumes the Corpse.
Image 6: When exhumed, discard Corpse and Tomb. If the Corpse's value is higher than the Tomb's value, a Zombie arises in your Cemetery. (The manual shows "The Electrician" being played to stop an opponent from digging in your Cemetery.)

End of the Game

The Game ends when, at the end of any round any player has Five Sealed Tombs in their Cemetery.

Discard unsealed Tombs and Corpses.
Reveal all the Corpses in your Cemetery and sum their values.
Subtract the value of all Zombies in your Cemetery.

The player with the highest score is declared the Natural Bone Killer!

If two or more players have the same score, it is a tie: compare players' lowest Zombie's value. The tying player whose total Zombie value is closest to zero, wins.

If there is still a tie, share the victory!

Alternative Setup: Simplified Ruleset

The printed heading reads "Semplified Ruleset"; it is transcribed here with the spelling corrected.

Setup

Remove the Developments from the Main Deck.
Shuffle the Main Deck and place it face down on the center of the table.
Shuffle the Zombie Deck and place it face down on the center of the table. The respective Discard Piles will form next to them.
Deal 6 cards to each player from the Main Deck. Six is your maximum hand size.
The youngest player starts.
Play in clockwise order.

Rules

You can perform a maximum of 5 actions.
Your actions are: Bury and Play card's Ability.
At the end of your turn, draw or discard cards to ensure you have a total of 6 cards in your hand.
The game ends immediately when a player seals 5 Tombs.
Winning conditions same as End of the Game section.

All the other rules remain the same.