The Phantom Society Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Equipment
• Object of the Game
• Preparation of a Typical 4-Player Game
  • Making up the teams
  • Set up
  • Placing the rooms on the board
  • Materialization of the ghosts
• Actions by the Ghosts
  • Devastation rules
• Actions by the Hunters
  • Hunting rule
• Damage
• Game Recommendations
• Example of a Game Round
• Victory Conditions
• Game Variations
  • 3-player game
  • 2-player game
  • Master Game
    • Setting up the board
    • Making up the teams
    • Bidding for Victory Conditions
    • Assigning the roles
  • Tournaments

Equipment

• 1 game board (to be assembled from 4 boards)
• 36 room tiles
• 4 ghost tiles
• 16 objective cards (comprising 2 piles)
• 1 rule booklet

Object of the Game

The players divide the roles of ghosts and ghost hunters between them.

For the ghosts, the goal is to inflict at least £45,000 damage (in tribute to Special 45 - Old Faydhutee Single Malt) on the manor, whether it is inflicted by the ghosts or the hunters.

The ghost hunters' mission is to stop the ghosts before they achieve their objective.

Preparation of a Typical 4-Player Game

Making up the teams

Two players represent the ghosts (2 ghosts each) and two players play as the hunters.

The two partners on the same team sit opposite each other around the table.

Set up

Assemble the 4 boards to form a complete floor of the manor, making sure that the room numbers match up in logical order.

Placing the rooms on the board

Each player receives 9 tiles of the same color (blue, red, green, or white).

Each tile represents one room in the manor (bedroom, library, smoking room, and utility room).

The value of the room (in thousands of £) is marked on it (from £1,000 to £6,000).

A hunter places one of their room tiles on a free square on the board, then the player on their left does the same and so on until the board is full.

Once the board is filled, the hunters close their eyes.

Recommendations for placing rooms: It is in the ghosts' interest to place their most expensive tiles in the middle of the board where they are easy to reach. The hunters, on the other hand, should place their tiles in the corners of the board where it will be more difficult for the ghosts to reach them.

Materialization of the ghosts

The 4 ghosts are in different colors (blue, red, white and green). Each master controls 2 ghosts.

Each ghost must be placed beneath a tile of the same color (the red ghost beneath a red tile, the blue ghost beneath a blue tile, etc.).

One interesting strategy is to hide the ghosts beneath the expensive tiles to make the hunters reluctant to take them out. This, however, removes any chance of counting damage done to that room (see Devastation rules).

Make sure to memorize where the ghosts are placed.

When the 4 ghosts have been hidden, the hunters open their eyes, the first ghost begins to devastate a room and the hunt is on!

Actions by the Ghosts

Devastation rules

Each ghost master only controls his own ghosts.

A ghost can devastate any room that is adjacent (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) to the tile where it is hidden, regardless of the color.

When the room has been devastated, the tile is removed from the board.

Once an adjacent tile has been removed, a ghost can devastate a room that is farther away if it is connected to the tile the ghost is hiding under by a straight horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line.

The empty room or rooms then let it move farther away from the initial area of devastation.

The ghosts do not move; they always stay hidden beneath the room where they materialized.

Depending on the value of a room, its destruction causes from £1,000 to £6,000 damage to the manor.

Note: A revealed ghost does not block this line.

Special case: If a ghost master cannot devastate any rooms with his ghosts because all of the rooms are inaccessible, he must pass the turn.

Actions by the Hunters

Hunting rule

To neutralize the ghosts, the hunters remove the tile of their choice, regardless of color or position, from the board.

The ghost hunters are not particularly subtle and purge the rooms with powerful weapons that completely destroy them.

Damage

Whether the tile has been removed by the ghosts or by the hunters, the damage is applied according to the following rule:

• If a ghost is hidden beneath the tile, it is revealed and can no longer devastate other rooms. The tile is put to one side and will not be counted in the damage inflicted on the manor. The revealed ghost remains visible on the board. A revealed ghost means that there are no more ghosts hidden beneath another room of the same color (if the red ghost is revealed, the remaining red rooms on the board can therefore no longer hide a ghost).
• If there is no ghost in the room, the tile is placed with the tiles that have already been devastated by the ghosts. Its value is added to the damage inflicted on the manor. The hunters must therefore pick their hunting ground with care to avoid involuntarily helping the ghosts achieve their objective.

To summarize, regardless of which player removes a tile from the board (ghost or hunter), the value of the tile is added to the damage to the manor UNLESS there is a ghost hidden beneath that tile. In this case, the total damage inflicted is not increased.

When a ghost is revealed, it is neutralized and can no longer be used to devastate other rooms. The value of the tile that the ghost was hidden under does not increase the total amount of damage.

When a master's 2 ghosts have been revealed, the player can no longer remove tiles but their partner will play the ghost master every ghost turn.

Game Recommendations

The hunters or ghost masters can talk to each other before removing a tile from the board. But be careful not to reveal your strategy or give clues to the opposing team. Unless it's a bluff, of course!

When a ghost is revealed, it is a good idea for the ghost masters not to say who controls it, because if a ghost master loses both ghosts, he can no longer devastate rooms.

A ghost master who no longer controls a ghost can still give advice to his partner.

Try to remember who removed a tile from the board: the ghosts or the hunters.

Example of a Game Round

The round is started by a ghost master. The ghosts and the hunters take turns playing.

• A ghost master removes a room from the board in accordance with the devastation rule. The total amount of damage inflicted is increased by the value of this tile.
• The hunter sitting to his left removes a room from the board in accordance with the hunting rule. The total amount of damage inflicted is increased by the value of this tile.
• The ghost master to their left removes a room from the board in accordance with the devastation rule. The total amount of damage inflicted is increased by the value of this tile.
• The hunter sitting to his left removes a room from the board in accordance with the hunting rule. The total amount of damage inflicted is increased by the value of this tile.

The rounds continue in the same way, with one tile removed by a ghost and then one removed by a hunter. The value of each removed tile increases the damage inflicted on the manor.

Victory Conditions

As soon as the total amount of damage inflicted on the manor reaches £45,000, the game stops and the ghosts win.

If the hunters reveal the 4 ghosts before £45,000 of damage is inflicted, the game is over and the hunters win.

Game Variations

3-player game

One player plays the hunters; the two others, the ghost masters with two ghosts each.

The hunter plays every hunter turn, in order to maintain the ghost/hunter alternation.

All the other rules apply.

2-player game

One player plays the hunters; the other, the master of the 4 ghosts.

The victory objective for the ghosts becomes £50,000 of damage.

All the other rules apply.

Master Game

When you have mastered the game, the victory objective for the ghosts is put up for bidding to add more suspense to the game.

The other game rules remain the same.

The objective cards (representing the ghost hunters) are used when this special rule is applied.

Setting up the board

Set up the board in the usual way.

Making up the teams

Decide on two teams who, at this stage, are neither hunters nor ghost masters.

The objective cards are separated into 2 piles containing, respectively:

• Pile A: 3 tens of thousands cards (30,000, 40,000, and 50,000), 5 even-thousands cards (0,000, 2,000, 4,000, 6,000, 8,000).
• Pile B: 3 tens of thousands cards (30,000, 40,000, and 50,000), 5 odd-thousands cards (1,000, 3,000, 5,000, 7,000, 9,000).

Each team receives (at random) one of the 2 piles of objective cards.

Bidding for Victory Conditions

By using 2 objective cards, one for tens of thousands and one for thousands, the players on each team secretly decide on the damage objective that they feel capable of achieving if they play as the ghosts.

When decided upon, each team places their 2 objective cards face-down as their bid.

Assigning the roles

Simultaneously reveal the objective cards each team bid:

• The team that proposes the higher objective plays as the ghosts.
• The victory condition for the ghosts is the bid of the other team, meaning the lower one.

Note: It is not possible to have a tie: One team can only propose even objectives, and the other odd.

Example: Team 1 has set an objective of £48,000. Team 2 has set an objective of £37,000. Because Team 1 has proposed the higher objective, they will play as the ghosts. Their damage objective will be the objective proposed by Team 2, i.e. £37,000.

Tournaments

You can organize a tournament of several games, keeping the same teams and adding up victory points.

Victory points are calculated by using the difference between the two bids.