The Smurfs: Hidden Village Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Flow
  • Objectives
  • Difficulty Level
  • Resources
  • Visiting Locations
  • Game Round
• Player Turn
  • Bonus Actions
  • Step 1 - Playing a Smurf Card
  • Step 2 - Placing a Smurf Meeple
  • Step 3 - Performing the Location Action
    • Location Actions
    • Drawing Lost Smurfs
    • Revealing Invention Ideas
    • Relocating Smurfs
  • Step 4 - Discard and Draw
• Bonus Action: Craft an Invention
  • Using Inventions
• Bonus Action: Prepare a Cake
• End of the Round
• End of the Game
  • Achieving the Smurfs' Objectives
• Gargamel and His Henchmen
  • Gargamel
  • Azrael
  • The Cracoucass
• Dice Effects
• Card Clarifications
  • Smurf Cards
  • Invention Cards
  • Gargamel Cards

Components

• 1 village board (with the locations: Dark Forest, Stream, Sawmill, Bushes, River, Workshop, Shelter, Construction Site; the ideas zone; the inventions zone (maximum 4); the cake zone; the Smurf deck space and discard space; the village stock chest near the Construction Site)
• 8 mushroom houses (to assemble)
• 20 Smurfberry tokens
• 20 Log tokens
• 20 Stone tokens
• 9 Smurf meeples
• 1 First Player marker
• 1 danger die (white)
• 1 Azrael die (orange)
• 1 super danger die (red)
• 1 Gargamel figure and its base
• 1 Azrael figure and its base
• 1 Cracoucass' Nest tile
• 35 Smurf cards
• 24 Invention cards
• 10 Cake cards
• 17 Gargamel cards
• 1 quick start guide and this rulebook

Setup

1. Village: Set up the village board in the middle of the table.

2. Tokens and dice: Make a supply within everyone's reach with the Smurfberry, Log and Stone tokens, as well as the danger die (white) and the Azrael die.

3. Mushroom houses: Randomly select 6 roofs and place each of them upside down on a mushroom house (construction resources facing up). Place the 6 houses on any of the circular spaces of the board.

4. Cakes: Shuffle the Cake cards, reveal 2 of them and place them face up on any spaces of the cake zone.

   Remaining components: Like the super danger die, the surplus mushroom houses and Cake cards are only used with higher difficulty levels (see Difficulty Level). When playing the standard mode, put them back in the box at the end of setup.

5. Inventions: Shuffle the Invention deck and place it near the board. Reveal the first 3 cards and place them face up in the ideas zone.

6. Azrael: Assemble the Azrael figure on its base and place it in the Dark Forest.

7. Cracoucass: Place the Cracoucass' Nest tile near the board.

8. Gargamel:

   • Assemble the Gargamel figure on its base and place it near the board.

Game Flow

Objectives

The Smurfs: Hidden Village is a cooperative game in which everyone wins or loses together! To win, you must achieve these 3 objectives:

• rescue all the lost Smurfs in the Dark Forest;
• build all the mushroom houses of the village;
• prepare all the cakes to feed the group.

If you accomplish all of these objectives, the Smurfs win! However, if Gargamel reveals his Too Late card before you have succeeded, you lose. (See End of the Game.)

Difficulty Level

The setup explained above applies to the standard level. If you think you are ready for a bigger challenge, do not hesitate to raise the difficulty of your objectives!

Level	Mushroom houses	Lost Smurfs in the Dark Forest	Cakes	Cards in the Gargamel deck
Standard	6	10	2	10
Complex	7	14	3	11
Terrible*	8	16	4	10
Smurfnightmarish** (Schtroumpfemardesque)	8	18	4	10

*Mandatory use of the Hungry Cracoucass. **Mandatory use of the Hungry Cracoucass and of the super danger die.

Hungry Cracoucass: With this rule, the meeples carried off by the Cracoucass remain in its nest at the end of the round instead of returning to the village esplanade. You may choose to use it with any difficulty level, but it is mandatory in Terrible and Smurfnightmarish modes.

Super danger die: You may choose to use the super danger die (red) instead of the white die to spice things up with any difficulty level, but it is mandatory in Smurfnightmarish mode.

Resources

You and your friends will collect 3 types of resources over the course of the game: Smurfberries, logs and stones. You can then spend them to perform actions, build mushroom houses and craft inventions.

Whenever one of you gains resources, take them from the supply and add them to the village stock (the chest located near the Construction Site on the board). Resources placed in the stock belong to all players, who may spend them during their turn by putting them back in the supply.

Visiting Locations

The village board is made up of 8 locations to which you can send your Smurfs. Each of them offers 2 actions (upper and lower).

To perform a location action, all of its Smurf spaces (with a blue or red background) must be occupied by a meeple. However, since players can place only one during their turn, they will have to cooperate to perform actions with 2 spaces. Some of them also require spending resources from the village stock.

Actions that have red spaces and the danger icon are called dangerous. Each time you perform one, you must roll the danger die to find out whether something unexpected happens!

Example: To relocate a Smurf with the upper action of the Shelter, you must place 1 meeple there and spend 1 stone and 1 log from the village stock. The lower action has the same effect, but it costs 2 meeples and 1 Smurfberry instead. The upper action of the Bushes requires 2 Smurfs. The lower action costs only 1 but is dangerous, so you will have to roll the danger die to perform it!

Game Round

The game is made up of several rounds, during which you and your friends play Smurf cards and place meeples in the village locations.

The player who received the First Player marker takes their turn first. When finished, their left neighbor starts theirs, and so on. Keep taking turns clockwise until all the Smurf meeples on the esplanade have been placed in locations.

Gargamel then reveals the first card of his deck and resolves its action (harmful to you). If the game is not over, all the Smurfs are sent back to the esplanade, the First Player marker is passed to the left and a new round begins.

Cooperation is essential! Do not hesitate to talk with your friends and to plan together what you want to do each round. The Smurf meeples and the village stock are used by everybody, so it is better to cooperate to reach your objectives!

Player Turn

On your turn, perform these 4 steps in order.

1. Play a card: Reveal a Smurf card from your hand and resolve it. Some have immediate abilities, while others apply until the end of your turn.
2. Place a meeple: Take a Smurf meeple from the village esplanade and place it on a free Smurf space in any location. If Azrael is there, you must roll his die.
3. Perform the location action: If you placed the meeple on the last free space of the upper or lower action of the chosen location, immediately perform that action (paying its resource cost, if it has one). If it is dangerous, you must roll the danger die.
4. Discard and draw: Put the Smurf card you just played on the discard pile, to the right of the deck. If you have no cards left in hand, draw cards from the Smurf deck until you reach your starting hand size. Your turn is now over and the next player begins theirs.

Bonus Actions

The following bonus actions can be performed at any moment of your turn, one or several times each. (See Bonus Action sections below.)

• Craft an invention: Spend the Smurfberry cost printed on an Invention card in the ideas zone to move it to the inventions zone.
• Use an invention: Resolve the effect of a crafted invention.
• Prepare a cake: Turn over a Cake card whose prerequisite you fulfill.

Example: On her turn, Sophia begins by playing the Beta Smurf (Schtroumpf Bêta) from her hand. His ability says that he cannot perform actions at the Workshop or the Construction Site, nor use crafted inventions. Sophia takes a meeple from the esplanade to represent the Beta Smurf and places it on the upper action of the Sawmill. Since an empty space remains, this action cannot be performed for now, but the next Smurf placed there will collect 3 logs for the village. Sophia then discards the Beta Smurf card without drawing another one, because she still has 3 in hand. Her turn is over.

Beta Smurf (starting Smurf): This Smurf cannot perform any action at the Workshop and the Construction Site. During this turn, you cannot use crafted inventions.

Step 1 - Playing a Smurf Card

Each Smurf card has a unique ability that always triggers after it is played, even if you don't want it to! The icon in its upper left corner indicates the type and duration of the ability. If your hand is empty at the start of your turn, draw and play the first card of the Smurf deck.

• Starting Smurf icon: Identifies a starting Smurf. Its ability is either neutral or negative, and it can be immediate or last until the end of your turn.
• Immediate positive icon: This Smurf has a positive ability that happens immediately when you play the card.
• Lasting positive icon: This Smurf has a positive ability that lasts until the end of your turn.

Clumsy Smurfs (starting Smurfs): The Smurfs do their best to be helpful, but some of them always get themselves into trouble! All the starting Smurfs dealt during setup have an ability that is at best neutral (such as being unable to perform the actions of certain locations) and at worst negative (such as forcing you to roll the danger die). Conversely, the lost Smurfs that you rescue from the Dark Forest all have a positive ability, so you will have to find a balance!

Step 2 - Placing a Smurf Meeple

On each turn, you have the opportunity to send 1 meeple from the esplanade to one of the village locations, where it will stay until the end of the round. The Smurf spaces (blue or red background) of location actions can hold only one meeple at a time.

Beware of Azrael! The Azrael figure shows in which location Gargamel's cat is currently prowling. If you send a Smurf to the same place, you must roll the Azrael die (orange) and resolve its result (see Dice Effects). Unlike the danger die, which only affects the meeple placed on the last space of an action, the Azrael die is rolled for every Smurf that visits this location.

Step 3 - Performing the Location Action

If you placed your meeple on the last (or only) Smurf space of an action, you must perform it. All icons to the left of the black arrow are part of its cost; those to its right represent its effect.

If the cost of the action includes spending resources or rolling the danger die, you must do so before benefiting from its effect. If there are not enough resources in the village stock, you cannot perform that action and must place your Smurf meeple elsewhere.

Filling actions: If your meeple does not fill the last space of an action, you cannot perform it, but you also do not need to pay the rest of its cost (if it has one). Although you can wait for your next turn to place another Smurf there yourself, it is often more efficient to cooperate!

Example: The players have already performed the upper action of the Dark Forest during this round. If they want to benefit again from the effect of this location, they will have to send 2 Smurfs to perform its lower action, whose cost is higher. On his turn, Alex decides to place the Poet Smurf (Schtroumpf Poète) on the first space. Since another space is still free, nothing happens. Sophia then places Willow (Saule) on the second space to fill the action. She spends 1 Smurfberry from the village stock to rescue a lost Smurf, and benefits from Willow's ability to rescue another. As for Alex, he cannot use the Poet Smurf's ability (which has the same trigger condition) because he has already discarded his card.

Cards in the example: Mellow Smurf (Schtroumpf Mollasson, starting Smurf): If this Smurf collects resources, gain 1 fewer. Poet Smurf: If this Smurf rescues another one (from the Dark Forest or from the Cracoucass' nest), collect 2 different resources of your choice. Willow: If this Smurf rescues another one from the Dark Forest, you may draw a second card and add both to your hand.

Location Actions

Except for the Workshop, the upper and lower actions of a location have the same effect. Only their cost and their number of Smurf spaces differ. (In the Workshop, the upper action crafts an invention for free and the lower action renews the ideas.)

Location	Icons	Action
1. Dark Forest	Smurf card; arrow; nest	Rescue a Smurf - Apply one of these effects or both: draw 1 lost Smurf and add it to your hand; send 1 meeple from the Cracoucass' nest back to the esplanade.
Collection locations: 2. Stream, 3. Sawmill, 4. Bushes, 5. River	Resource icons (as printed on the board)	Collect resources - Add the indicated resources to the village stock.
(same locations)	? not-equal ?	Collect 2 different - Add 2 different resources of your choice to the village stock.
6. Workshop	Gear; crossed-out Smurfberry	Craft an invention for free - Move 1 Invention card of your choice from the ideas zone to the inventions zone without paying its Smurfberry cost.
6. Workshop	3 invention cards	Renew the ideas - Reveal 3 new cards from the Invention deck and place them in the ideas zone (without discarding the previous ones).

Not all actions are equal: At the Dark Forest and the Construction Site, the cost of the upper action is clearly more advantageous than that of the lower action. In those locations, it is therefore better to perform the first action first, and to use the second only if you really need it!

Drawing Lost Smurfs

When you must draw a lost Smurf, take the first card of the Dark Forest and add it directly to your hand. If this deck is empty, you may instead take the Smurfs of the additional pile placed outside the board.

You may play a lost Smurf from your hand and discard it in the same way as a starting Smurf. The next time the discard pile is shuffled, it becomes available in the Smurf deck and any player can draw it.

Revealing Invention Ideas

Each time you reveal a card from the Invention deck, place it in the ideas zone. There is no limit to the number of ideas the Smurfs can have at once, but you must craft these inventions before you can use them.

Relocating Smurfs

If you find that a Smurf is really too clumsy, you can relocate him by visiting the Shelter or by building him a mushroom house from the Construction Site. By getting rid of starting Smurfs, you will have a better chance of drawing cards whose abilities will be useful to you.

When you relocate a Smurf, you may choose him from your hand, from another player's hand (with their permission) or from the discard pile. His card is then removed from the game for good: put it back in the box.

Relocating Smurfs has no effect on the number of available meeples, which always stays the same. This action is optional after building a mushroom house.

Step 4 - Discard and Draw

At the end of your turn, place the Smurf card you played on the discard pile, at the top right of the board.

If you have no cards left in hand, draw from the Smurf deck until you reach your starting hand size (see Setup). If it is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck and finish drawing.

Important: Your hand size is only limited for drawing cards at this step of the turn. If you have reached it and an effect tells you to draw Smurf cards, resolve it normally: you may exceed your hand size in those cases.

Your turn is now over, and it is the turn of the player on your left.

Only draw as a last resort: You can only draw cards if you have none left in hand at the end of your turn! As long as you have even a single Smurf left, you do not take another one.

Bonus Action: Craft an Invention

At any moment of your turn, you may craft one or several inventions from the ideas zone. To do so, pay the Smurfberry cost indicated in the upper left corner of the card and move it to the inventions zone.

The Smurfs may be bursting with ideas, but they can only own a maximum of 4 crafted inventions at once. If you have already reached this limit and craft another invention, you must discard 1 of your choice by placing it face up near the deck.

Do not reveal a new Invention card after crafting one. Only the lower action of the Workshop lets you renew the available ideas (see above), along with a handful of other effects.

Using Inventions

As soon as an invention has been crafted, anyone can use it. Some cards can only be used at a specific moment (when Gargamel performs an action, when you roll the danger die...), as their effect specifies. If nothing is indicated, you may use the invention at any time during your turn.

There are 3 types of inventions:

• New action: At step 2 of your turn, you may place the Smurf meeple on this card (rather than in a location) to use its action. It stays there until all meeples return to the esplanade. If an Invention card is discarded while it contains a Smurf, leave that meeple in the inventions zone until the end of the round.
• Single use: This invention can only be used once, as a bonus action. Discard it after resolving its effect.
• Durable (no icon): Once crafted, this invention has an effect that can be used any number of times. It stops if the card is discarded.

Bonus Action: Prepare a Cake

Each Cake card has a preparation prerequisite that you and your friends must fulfill. If you succeed at any moment of your turn, you may immediately turn the card face down. A cake prepared this way stays prepared until the end of the game.

Example: The players collect a 10th resource, which allows them to immediately prepare the first cake ("Have 10 resources in the village stock") by turning its card face down. They can now freely spend the resources of the stock without losing that cake. To prepare the second ("Perform 4 dangerous actions in a row"), the Smurfs must perform 4 dangerous actions in a row and have already done 2. If they perform any non-dangerous action before finishing this cake, their progress will be lost and they will have to start again from zero.

Another Cake card reads: "Build 2 houses during the same round."

End of the Round

If no Smurf meeple remains on the esplanade at the end of a player's turn, perform these 4 steps in order.

1. Return to the esplanade: Put all the Smurf meeples from the locations, the inventions and the Cracoucass' nest back on the village esplanade.
2. Gargamel card: Reveal the first card of the Gargamel deck and apply its effect (see Gargamel and His Henchmen). Then place it face up near the deck, on top of the previous round's card (if there is one).
3. Azrael's movement: The Gargamel card revealed in step 2 shows a value that represents the distance Azrael travels on the board. The cat moves to the next location in ascending order, as many times as necessary (see Azrael).
4. Change of leader: The current Head Smurf passes the First Player marker to their left neighbor. The next round can then begin.

How many turns in a round? At the start of the game, the village esplanade holds 8 meeples; the players will therefore collectively take 8 turns each round. This number can nevertheless change in several ways. If the Cracoucass attacks and kidnaps a Smurf from the esplanade (see below), you will play 1 turn fewer during that round. Conversely, the Robot Assistant (Assistant robotisé) invention lets you put the 9th meeple into play, which gives you 1 more turn.

Example: The last meeple has been placed: it is time to end the round by sending all the Smurfs back to the esplanade. Gargamel then reveals his card, which makes the players lose half of the Smurfberries in the village stock (Spoiled Berries)! Azrael moves 1 location, going from the Shelter to the Construction Site. Finally, the First Player marker is passed to the left to the next leader.

End of the Game

A game of The Smurfs: Hidden Village can end in two ways:

• if you achieve the 3 objectives, the Smurfs win!
• if Gargamel reveals his Too Late card, the Smurfs lose!

Achieving the Smurfs' Objectives

The game ends immediately in victory if you achieve the 3 objectives; you do not need to finish the turn or the round. The order in which you accomplish them does not matter, but they must all be valid at the same time to count.

• Rescue the lost Smurfs: This objective is achieved if the Dark Forest deck is empty. The lost Smurfs of the additional pile do not count for it to be valid.
• Build the mushroom houses: This objective is achieved if all the mushroom houses are built. If Gargamel destroys one (by turning its roof back upside down), it is no longer valid.
• Prepare the cakes: This objective is achieved if all the Cake cards are turned face down.

Gargamel and His Henchmen

Gargamel

The wizard carries out his malicious plans at the end of each round by revealing a Gargamel card. Each one has a negative effect and a value that represents Azrael's movement.

When Gargamel turns over a card from his deck, it covers the previous round's card (if there was one), which is then no longer active.

There are 3 types of Gargamel card effects:

• Immediate: This effect triggers immediately when the card is revealed.
• Lasting: This effect lasts until the end of the next round. If it affects one or more locations, use Gargamel's figure as a reminder.
• Too Late: Gargamel has discovered the village! The Smurfs lose the game.

Azrael

Gargamel's sneaky cat prowls in the forest, trying by all means to torment the Smurfs and sabotage their inventions.

As long as he is in a location, each Smurf sent there must roll the Azrael die (orange) and apply its result. Azrael moves to a new location when Gargamel reveals a card at the end of the round and if his icon is rolled on the danger die (see Dice Effects). He always advances to the next location in ascending order (from 1 to 8); when he leaves the Construction Site (8), he goes back to the Dark Forest (1). If Azrael enters a location that already contains Smurfs, nothing happens.

If you perform a dangerous action in the location where Azrael is, you may roll the 2 dice at the same time and resolve each of their results.

The Cracoucass

This voracious bird is a constant threat to the Smurfs. As soon as its icon is rolled on the danger die or the Azrael die, the Cracoucass carries off a meeple from the esplanade (if there is one) and drops it in its nest.

Moreover, the player who rolled this result chooses someone who must discard 1 card from their hand. The Cracoucass prefers useful Smurfs, so a card with a positive ability (immediate or lasting) must be chosen first; if nobody has one, discard a starting Smurf instead.

Smurfnapping! While it is in the Cracoucass' nest, a meeple cannot visit a location or perform an action. The players can rescue it with the actions of the Dark Forest, which put it back on the esplanade so that it can be used again.

If the Cracoucass' nest still contains meeples at the end of the round, send them all back to the esplanade with the others (unless you are using the Hungry Cracoucass rule).

Dice Effects

The danger die and the Azrael die produce all kinds of negative results... and two effects that will benefit you!

• Azrael's movement: Advance the Azrael figure 1 location per icon. The double icon appears only on the super danger die.
• Cracoucass attack: Take 1 meeple from the esplanade and put it on the Nest tile. The player who rolled this result chooses someone who must discard 1 useful Smurf (immediate or lasting positive) from their hand, if possible. If there are no more meeples on the esplanade, the Cracoucass carries off none, but you must still discard a card.
• Shortage: Discard 1 resource of your choice from the village stock per "?" icon. If there are not enough resources, lose as many as possible.
• Invention destruction: Choose 1 crafted invention and discard it. If the inventions zone is empty, nothing happens.
• Smurf hunt: The player who rolled this result must discard 1 useful Smurf (immediate or lasting positive) from their hand. If they only have starting Smurfs, nothing happens.
• Find: Add 1 resource of your choice to the village stock.
• Bright idea: Reveal 1 new card from the Invention deck and place it in the ideas zone.

Card Clarifications

Smurf Cards

• Saxophonist Smurf (Schtroumpf Saxophoniste): The 2 resources collected must be identical.
• Fleur de Lys: You may choose to gain the indicated number of resources, but of a different type than the one indicated in this location. If you use this Smurf at the Stream, you may collect identical resources.
• Storm (Tempête): The extra resource must be of the type indicated in this location. If you use this Smurf at the Stream, it must be different from the 2 other resources collected.
• Lazy Smurf (Schtroumpf Paresseux): Neither of the two actions of the chosen location may contain another meeple. If all locations are occupied, you may place this Smurf anywhere.
• Baby Smurf (Bébé Schtroumpf): This Smurf may be placed on the first space of an action that has 2, but never on the last.
• Vain Smurf (Schtroumpf Coquet): You may place this Smurf on either of the two actions of the chosen location, even if it contains no meeple.
• Buttercup (Bouton d'Or): The 2 resources collected may be identical or different.

Invention Cards

• Disguise (Déguisement): This effect only works for the danger die (or super danger die).
• Recruitment Plan (Plan de recrutement): This effect does not count as a Smurf rescue (for triggering other effects).
• Rescue Cart (Charrette de secours): This effect does not count as a Smurf rescue (for triggering other effects).
• Robot Assistant (Assistant robotisé): If this card is discarded while the esplanade is empty, take 1 meeple from any action instead and remove it from the game.
• Shovel (Pelle): The extra resource must be of the type indicated in the location. If you use this invention at the Stream, it must be different from the 2 other resources collected.
• Rewind Spell (Sortilège de rembobinage): You must apply the effect of the new Gargamel card.
• Wardrobe (Penderie): You must keep the second lost Smurf. This effect does not count as a rescue of 2 Smurfs.

Gargamel Cards

• Fit of Rage (Accès de colère): If you do not have enough resources and no house is built, lose as many resources as possible.