The Mansky Caper
The Mansky Caper Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
Move through the rooms of Al Mansky's mansion, opening Safes to find the valuables inside. Split loot with others in the room, and watch out for twists of fortune and dangerous traps that can ruin your plans with a bang! The winner is the player who accumulates the most loot in their private stash at the getaway car by the time Al's mansion is completely ransacked.
Contents
- 8 Character pawns
- 8 Character cards
- 5 Safes
- 78 Loot tokens
- 144 Coins
- 60 Gems
- 32 Danger-Danger! tokens
- 1 Danger-Danger! die
- 10 Room cards
- 12 stands
- 1 Loot bag
- 32 GASP! tokens
- 1 Supply box
- 1 Getaway Car
- 6 Favor markers
- 6 Stash bags
- 30 GASP! cards
- 1 Rulebook
Setup
Shuffle the Room cards. Place five face-down on the table; these represent Al's mansion. Return the remaining Room cards to the game box.
Place the Getaway Car near the mansion.
Place an empty Safe on each Room card.
Shuffle the GASP! cards and place them near the mansion face down in a draw pile.
Shuffle the Character cards and deal one to each player. Players then take the matching pawn, two plastic stands of the same color, a Stash bag, and a Favor marker. Pawns are inserted into their stand and placed on the Getaway Car.
Each player reads the biography side of their Character card to the other players, then puts it in its stand with the special ability icon (black border) side facing out for reference during the game.
Put the Danger-Danger! die, Loot bag, and removable Supply box (containing coins, gems, GASP! tokens, and Danger-Danger! tokens) where they are easily accessible by all players.
Breaking into the Mansion
The youngest player goes first; chooses any Room card, flips it over to unlock it, and puts their Character pawn in that room.
The oldest player then picks a different room, and does the same.
Starting to the left of the youngest player, each remaining player puts their Character in either of the two unlocked rooms. The other rooms remain face-down and locked... for now.
Unlocking a Room
Flip over the Room card. Load the room's Safe with corresponding tokens as shown on the Room card.
Loot tokens should be pulled blindly from the Loot bag and placed into the safe without peeking.
The Caper Is On
The youngest player goes first. Play passes clockwise.
Each turn, you will do ONE of three actions:
- STAY PUT AND OPEN THE SAFE IN YOUR ROOM
- MOVE TO ANOTHER ROOM AND OPEN THE SAFE
- STASH LOOT AT THE GETAWAY CAR
1. Stay Put and Open the Safe in Your Room
Shake the Safe in the room you are in, open it, and without looking, remove one token.
A. If It's a Loot Token (Gold color)
Lucky you! Take the items shown on the token from the Supply box and split them EVENLY with all characters in the room - first, evenly divide the gems and then, evenly divide the coins. Leftover coins and gems are left loose on the Room card. Everyone puts their share of the loot ON TOP OF the Stash bag in front of them; at this point, it is unstashed loot and it ain't safe until you can get back to the Getaway Car and stash it on a future turn!
Some Loot tokens show a key. Put the token with the key in front of you. Keys may be used on a future turn to unlock a new room and move there. Keys never go into your Stash bag. Unused keys are worth 3 loot at the end of the game. Keys may also be traded for Favor markers and other goodies, if you can negotiate the right deal.
IMPORTANT: Gems are worth 5 loot each at the end of the game (gem = 5 Loot, key = 3 Loot, coin = 1 Loot). You may NEVER make change during the Caper unless the Supply box runs out of coins. Gems are divided equally, and coins are divided equally.
B. If It's a GASP! Token (Blue color)
You have encountered a surprise twist! Turn over the top GASP! card, read it aloud, and perform its effects. First, divide loot shown on the top of the card (if any), then do what the card says at the bottom. After resolving the GASP! card, discard it face down to the bottom of the draw pile.
NOTE: After resolving a Loot or GASP! token, leave the token in the room so that everyone can estimate how many of each token are left in the safe.
C. If It's a Danger-Danger! (White color)
You have tripped one of Al's explosive traps! Put the token on the leftmost empty circle on the Danger track at the top of the Room card.
If that circle shows the Danger-Danger! icon, then roll the Danger-Danger! die for a chance to disarm the trap. If the rolled result is:
SAFE! You disarmed the trap. Nothing is lost.
YOUR LOOT BLEW UP! Return to the supply box all of your unstashed loot and place your character at the Getaway Car, where you will begin your next turn. Everything else in the room is untouched.
ALL THE LOOT BLEW UP! Return to the Supply box the unstashed loot of everyone in the room, plus all the leftover loot in the room. Nobody moves.
BOOM! The Room is destroyed. Return to the Supply box the unstashed loot of everyone in the room, plus all of the leftover loot in the Room. Every character in the room goes to the Getaway Car, and will begin their next turn there. Remove the safe and the Room card from the game.
AL SHOWS UP! Everybody hides in fear, staying in their current room. Return to the Supply box the unstashed loot of ALL players, plus ALL leftover loot in ALL rooms. After tidying up, Al leaves, and the game continues.
IMPORTANT: Keys and stashed loot (any already in Stash bags) are NEVER destroyed in an explosion or taken by Al.
If a Danger-Danger! token is placed on the last circle of the room's Danger track (showing the BOOM! icon) you do NOT get to roll the Danger-Danger! die. Instead, the Room is immediately destroyed. Nothing can stop this, including favors. Return to the Supply box the unstashed loot of everyone in the room, plus all the leftover loot in the room. Everyone in the room goes to the Getaway Car and begins their next turn there. Remove the Safe and Room card from the game.
2. Move to Another Room and Open the Safe
You may only move to a room only if it is unlocked, unless you have a key. If you have a key, unlock the room as described under Unlocking a Room, then open the Safe. Afterwards leave the Key token in the room; it is not worth loot at the end of the game.
Remember that any unstashed loot you might have is still at risk, even though you entered a different room.
NOTE: Any time a character leaves a room, those characters remaining in the room should check to see if the leftover loot can now be evenly divided and claimed. If a character enters a room where leftover loot was accidentally left behind, that character can immediately claim it.
3. Stash Loot at the Getaway Car
Move your character to the Getaway Car and put all your unstashed loot into your Stash bag. That loot is now SAFE for the rest of the game. Of course, while you're at the Getaway Car, nobody in the mansion has to divide any loot with you!
On your next turn, you must move back to one of the rooms and open a Safe, or use the HEY BUDDY! Rule (see below).
WHAT IF NOBODY HAS A KEY? In the unlikely event that all unlocked rooms are destroyed and nobody has a key, the player whose turn it is picks a room, unlocks it, moves there, and opens the Safe.
Calling in Favors
Each character has a unique special ability that can help in tricky situations; however, there is a rub: special abilities can be activated only by other players! Once per turn, any player may use the special ability of another player's character by paying them one Favor marker; this is known as Calling in a Favor.
Only ONE favor may be called in during a turn. A favor MUST be granted to the first player that pays a Favor marker; that is, no Favor marker can be refused. Once you Call In a Favor from another player, they will have an extra Favor marker to use in a future turn.
Favors are valuable. Encourage others to let you help them to gain favors to use later. The timing of Calling In A Favor is crucial to winning the game.
Favor markers may be bought and sold using a player's UNSTASHED loot. Loot inside a Stash bag may not be used to buy Favor markers. Players may negotiate such transactions freely, or not at all. You know what your Family will let you get away with!
EXAMPLE: Nicky, Joey, Georgie, Frankie, and Dolly are in the middle of a game. Nicky doesn't have a Favor marker but wants to use Joey's special ability to draw twice. Nicky offers to trade two keys for a Favor marker, and Frankie (who has two favors) agrees.
Nicky gives his Favor marker to Joey, then uses Joey's character's special ability to draw two tokens from the Safe. The first shows 3 gems - very nice! The second, however is a Danger-Danger! token. Nicky can't use his own character's ability to put it back and draw again, and even if he had another favor, he couldn't give it to Georgie to roll the Danger-Danger! die twice or to Dolly to turn it into a GASP! card (since only one Favor can be played in a single turn). Shaking, Nicky picks up the Danger-Danger! die, and rolls....
The HEY, BUDDY! Rule
You and your Family go back a long way, and they still owe you big time for that thing with the guy in the place with the cannoli.
During your turn, while at the Getaway Car with another character, you may spend a Favor marker to Call in the Favor of all Favors and force a 50-50 split of your combined stashes. Both players empty their Stash bags, split the gems, and then split the coins.
When splitting loot do NOT make change. Any odd gem or coin goes to the player who was forced to split their stash. Then the favor marker used to invoke the HEY, BUDDY! rule is REMOVED FROM THE GAME. Remember, HEY, BUDDY! counts as a favor being used, so no other players may Call in a Favor until the next turn.
After divvying up the loot according to the HEY, BUDDY! rule, your turn is over.
Ending the Game
The game ends when: (1) All the Rooms are destroyed, or (2) All players are at the Getaway Car and they UNANIMOUSLY agree to leave Al a shred of dignity, and end the game.
Everyone counts the Loot in their stash bags. Gems are worth 5 loot, coins are worth 1 loot, and remaining keys are worth 3 loot. The Character with the most loot wins! (In case of a tie, the Character that stashed the most gems wins; if still tied, the Character with the FEWEST Favor markers left wins.)
Character Special Abilities
Whenever character special abilities would conflict with these rules, the Character ability takes precedence.
Special Rules for 2 Players
When taking on The Mansky Caper with two players, the game introduces a Driver, but maintains most standard rules of the game. Each player alternates turns as the Driver with the following rules.
During Setup, deal three Character cards: one to each player plus one next to the Getaway Car that counts as the driver. Place the corresponding pawn on the Getaway Car as the Driver. The Driver receives its own Stash bag, begins the game without a Favour marker and always goes last in every round.
If the Driver is at the car, and anyone is in the mansion, the Driver moves to the same room as the player with the highest value of unstashed loot on their Stash bag and opens the Safe. If the players are tied for most unstashed loot, move the driver to the room with the player who has the most unused keys. If the Driver is at the Getaway Car with both players, then the Driver skips its turn.
Whenever the Driver starts its turn with unstashed loot worth 10 or more, the Driver must go to the Getaway Car and stash its loot. Otherwise the Driver stays in the current room and opens the Safe.
The Driver never Calls in a Favor, or uses a key, but may be given a Favor marker to use its special ability. The Driver never draws GASP! cards; instead, discard any GASP! tokens it draws. Its turn then ends.
The HEY BUDDY! rule is not used in a 2-player game. Everyone's even Steven!
A player with no Favor markers may use 1 gem from their unstashed loot to buy a Favor marker from the Driver. Players may NOT take a gem from their Stash bag to buy a favor. Be careful: it is possible for the Driver to win the game!