Thieves Den Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Overview
  • Icons
• Location Card Anatomy
• Fence Card Anatomy
• Power Tiles
• Scheme Cards
• Player Board
• Limited Supply
• Game Play
  • Scouting Phase
  • Thieving Phase
  • Cleanup Phase
• Game End
• Actions
  • Steal from a Location
  • Fence Treasures
  • Use a Power Tile
  • Deliver Treasure to the Witch
  • Burgle Treasures
  • Recruit a Thief
• Power Tile Clarifications
• Card Clarifications
• Quick Play Guide

Components

• 1 Game Board
• 1 Direction Tile
• 12 Power Tiles
• 10 Scheme Cards
• 5 Player Boards
• 60 Location Cards
• 42 Fence Cards
• 5 Score Markers
• 30 Thief Tokens
• 55 Treasure Tokens

If you are missing any of the listed components, please email us at: [email protected]

Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the play area.

2. Give each player a player board, Score Marker in their preferred color, and 3 Thief tokens. Each player then places their Score Marker on the "0" space on the score track on the game board and their Thief tokens on the chairs on their player board.

3. Shuffle the Scheme cards and deal one to each player. Return the unused Scheme cards to the box.

4. Shuffle the Location cards and place them face-down, next to the game board, to make the Location card deck. In a 2 player game, only use Location cards with the 2-player icon in the top left corner. In a 3-5 player game, use all Location cards in the box.

5. Shuffle the Fence cards and deal 6 cards face-up into the slots on the right side of the board. Place the rest of the Fence cards face-down above the row to form the Fence cards deck. In a 2 player game, only use Fence cards with the 2-player icon in the bottom right corner. In a 3-5 player game, use all Fence cards in the box.

6. Place 3 Thief tokens per player in the forest area on the game board to make the Thief token supply. Place any unused Thief tokens back in the box; they will not be used this game.

7. Using this table, place the required Treasure tokens in the city area on the game board to make the Treasure token supply. Place any unused Treasure tokens back in the box; they will not be used this game.

   Players	Treasures	Thieves
   2	5 of each type	6
   3	7 of each type	9
   4	9 of each type	12
   5	11 of each type	15

8. Shuffle the Power tiles and make 3 face-down stacks, with 3 Power tiles each, placing them on the available slots on the game board. Flip the top tile of each stack face-up. Place any unused tiles back in the box; they will not be used this game.

9. The last player to play a Thief in any other game goes first. That player takes the Direction tile and places it with the (1,3) side face-up next to their player board. You are now ready to play!

Overview

Icons

There are 5 Treasure types: Tome, Jewel, Artifact, Fossil and Potion. Each Treasure icon represents 1 of that Treasure token.

• Wild: The Wild icon represents all 5 Treasure types. You may use any 1 of the 5 Treasure types when this icon is present.
• Prestige: The value on this icon represents the amount of Prestige points you gain. Move your Score Marker on the score track to gain the Prestige points.
• Thief: You will use Thieves to take actions at Locations and acquire Treasures. Each icon represents 1 Thief token.
• Location (face-up): This represents a face-up Location card that is currently in play.
• Location Deck: This represents the Location deck. You either draw or discard a Location card from/to the Location deck when this icon is present.
• Fence (face up): This represents a face-up Fence card that is currently in play either in front of a player or to the right of the game board.
• Fence Deck: This represents the Fence deck. You either draw or discard a Fence card from/to the Fence deck when this icon is present.
• Action Spot: This is the space where you place a Thief token to activate an Ability on a Location or Fence card.
• Instant: If this icon is present on a Location card, it means that you instantly gain the Ability of the Location card.
• Owner Bonus: This represents the Owner Bonus in the top right of a Location card. See "Owner Bonus" on page 5.
• Opponent: You pick an opponent for the effect to target. You can read this as "an opponent of your choice".
• Pay: The item on the left of this icon is returned to the supply in order to gain the item on the right of this icon. You can read this as "pay to gain".
• Take: The item on the left of this icon is taken from the item to the right of the icon. You can read this as "take X from X".
• Plus: Both items on either side of the icon are included. You can read this as "plus".
• Destroy: Select another players' Treasure on their player board and return it to the supply. You can read this as "Destroy a Treasure."

Location Card Anatomy

The Location cards represent the different areas a Thief will go to steal Treasures.

1. Name. The name of the Location.
2. Ability. All Location cards have an Ability. If the Instant icon is present, you instantly gain the Ability of the Location card - it will not become an available location for Thief token placement. If the Action Spot icon is present, it means that a player must place a Thief on that space in order to activate the Ability.
3. Owner Bonus. Most Location cards have an Owner Bonus in the top right of the card. These are Treasures or Thief tokens a player will receive if an opponent places a Thief token in the Action Spot of a Location card they have placed face-up above their player board.
4. Location Types. Each Location card has a specific Location Type located in the top left of the card. There are 5 Location Types: Village, Shadow, Ruins, Holy, and City.
5. Set Icon. Each Location card is duplicated within the Location deck and the deck is divided into 2 sets. The set with a 2-player icon is for a 2 player game. The set without the icon is added in for a 3-5 player game.

Fence Card Anatomy

The Fence cards represent people looking to buy a specific group of Treasures.

1. Desires. Each Fence wants specific Treasure types as noted on the left side of the card.
2. Ability. Each Fence has an Action Spot icon where a player must place a Thief token in order to pay the Treasures desired by the Fence, and then gain the Prestige noted on the card.
3. Fence Type. Each Fence card has a specific Fence type located in the top right of the card. There are 7 Fence Types: Noble, Agent, Collector, Warlock, Mercenary, Peddler, and Tinkerer.
4. Set Icon. Each Fence card is duplicated within the Fence deck and the deck is divided into 2 sets. The set with a 2-player icon is for a 2 player game. The set without the icon is added in for a 3-5 player game.

Power Tiles

Power tiles represent one-time incantations the Wizard performs for you for bringing him Treasures. A full list of all Power tiles and a full description of each Ability can be found in the "Power Tile Clarifications" section on page 14.

Scheme Cards

A Scheme card is your hidden agenda as a Master Thief! Each Scheme card has 2 different Location Type icons. You will gain the noted Prestige at the end of the game for each set of those Location icons you have collected.

Player Board

Each player has a player board where they store their Treasures, Thief tokens, Scheme card, Location cards, and Fence cards.

1. Treasure Chests. The number of Treasure tokens you are able to store on your player board is 8. If at any time on any player's turn you have exceeded that limit, you must return any extra Treasure to the supply.

   Example: David places a Thief token on one of Alice's Location cards. Alice would get the Owner Bonus of one Artifact, but she already has 8 Treasure tokens on her player board. She can either swap the Artifact with a Treasure she already has and place the extra Treasure back in the supply, or not take it at all.

2. Seats. The number of Thief tokens you are able to store on your player board is 6. If at any time on any player's turn or at the end of a round you have exceeded that limit, you must return any extra Thief tokens to the supply.

3. Table. This is where you keep your Scheme card throughout the game. You may look at this card at any time. You do not have to show this card to other players until the end of the game.

4. Left Side. At the end of each round, any Location cards that are above your player board are moved to the left side of your player board, face-down. You may look at these cards at any time. You do not have to show these cards to other players until the end of the game.

5. Right Side. At the end of each round, any Fence cards that are above your player board are moved to the right side of your player board, face-down. You may look at these cards at any time. You do not have to show these cards to other players until the end of the game.

Limited Supply

The quantity of Treasure and Thief tokens throughout the game is meant to be limited. If at any time during your turn or another player's turn you go to take a Treasure or a Thief token from the supply and there aren't any tokens, you do not gain the Treasure or Thief token. You may take as much as you are able though.

Example: Alice places a Thief token on the Potion Shop which gives her the Ability to take 3 Potions. There are only 2 Potions available in the supply, so she only gets to take 2 Potions onto her player board.

Game Play

The game consists of 3 rounds each divided into the following 3 phases:

1. Scouting Phase - Acquire 3 Location cards.
2. Thieving Phase - Use your Thieves or Treasures to take actions.
3. Cleanup Phase - Reset the game board for a new round.

Scouting Phase

1. Deal 4 Location cards face-down to each player.

2. Each player chooses 1 Location card from their hand and passes the remaining cards, face-down, to the next player in the direction indicated by the Direction tile.

3. Once all players have chosen 1 Location card, all players simultaneously reveal the Location card they have chosen by placing it face-up above their player board. Note: We recommend facing the Location cards towards the game board so they can easily be read by all players.

   Important: If you reveal a Location card with an Instant icon, you activate the Ability of that Location immediately, then place it face-down on the left side of your player board.

4. Continue to repeat steps 2 and 3 until all players have chosen 3 Location cards. The final Location card in each hand is returned to the bottom of the Location Deck. In a 2-player game, the cards not chosen are placed face-up to the left of the game board. If either of the unchosen cards have the 2-player icon, discard that card to the bottom of the Location Deck.

Thieving Phase

This is the main phase of the game in which players send their Thieves out and sell their Treasures to take actions.

Starting with the player who has possession of the Direction tile and continuing in the direction on the Direction tile, each player performs one action at a time. The player can take any available action or pass. All actions are described in detail in "Actions" on page 10.

• Steal from a Location
• Fence Treasures
• Use a Power Tile
• Deliver Treasure to the Witch
• Burgle Treasures
• Recruit a Thief

Once you have passed, you may not perform any additional actions this round. Additionally, no one may target you by the actions of other players. For example, no one may take a Treasure from you when using a Location card.

There is no limit to the number or order of actions you may take during the Thieving phase so long as you take one action at a time.

The Thieving phase continues until all players have passed.

Cleanup Phase

1. Each Player takes any Thief tokens on Location cards that are above their player board and places them on the Seats on their player board, not to exceed 6. Then, each player takes the Location cards above their player board and places them face-down to the left of their player board. In a 2-player game, the Thief tokens on Location cards to the left of the game board are returned to the supply. Then, the Location cards are returned to the bottom of the Location Deck.
2. Return any Treasure and Thief tokens on Fence cards above your player board back to the supply. Then, each player takes any Fence cards above their player board and places them face-down to the right of their player board.
3. Return Treasure tokens used to obtain Power tiles to the supply. Remove the top Power tile from each of the 3 Stacks on the game board and return them to the box. Then, flip over each of the 3 top Power tiles so that they are face-up.
4. Return Treasure tokens delivered to the Witch back to the supply.
5. Return Thief tokens used to Burgle Treasures back to the supply.
6. Return Treasure tokens used to Recruit a Thief back to the supply.
7. The player with the fewest Prestige points on the score track at the end of the round gets the Direction tile. That player flips the Direction tile over and a new round begins. In the case of a tie, the player with the fewest Treasure and Thief tokens takes the Direction tile. If still a tie, the player who has the Direction tile gives the Direction tile to a tied player of their choice.

Game End

After the 3rd round is completed, the game is over. Each player now calculates their final score in the following steps:

1. All players reveal their Fence cards and count their total amount of each Fence type. The player with the most of a given Fence Type gains bonus Prestige as follows:

   Fence Type	Bonus
   Most Noble	3
   Most Agent	3
   Most Collector	4
   Most Warlock	4
   Most Mercenary	4
   Most Peddler	5
   Most Tinkerer	5

   In the case of a tie, then no player receives the Prestige for that Fence type.

2. All players reveal their Scheme card. Players gain Prestige for each set of the icons listed on their Scheme card in the Location cards they collected throughout the game.

After all Prestige has been tallied, the player with the most Prestige wins the game! In the case of a tie, the player with most Treasure and Thief tokens wins the game. If it is still a tie, then all tied players share the victory.

Actions

Steal from a Location

This action allows you to place a Thief token on a Location card to gain the Location's Ability. To perform this action follow these steps, in this order:

1. Select any face-up Location card in play that has an empty Action Spot icon. In a 2-player game, you may select one of the face-up cards to the left of the game board.
2. Place a Thief token from your player board onto the Action Spot icon on the Location card. Thief tokens remain on the Location card until the end of the round.
3. Activate the Location Ability of that card.
4. If you placed a Thief token on an opponents Location card, the opponent gains the Owner Bonus.

Example: Kira wants more Jewels. David has the Market Location card, which provides 2 Jewels. She takes a Thief token from her player board and places it on David's Market card. First, Kira takes 2 Jewels from the supply. Then, since Kira activated David's Market card, David gets the Owner Bonus. He takes 2 Thief tokens from the supply, and adds them to his player board. At the end of the round, the Thief that Kira placed will become David's.

Fence Treasures

This action allows you to sell your Treasures to a Fence card.

1. Select any 1 of the 6 face-up Fence cards to the right of the game board.
2. Take the Fence card, place it above your player board, and place a Thief token from your player board onto the Action Spot icon on the Fence card. Place all of the Treasures listed in the Fence's Desires from your player board onto the Fence card. Treasure and Thief tokens remain on the Fence card until the end of the round.
3. Immediately gain the Prestige listed on the Fence card, and move your Score Marker accordingly.
4. Draw and place a new Fence card from the Fence Deck into the empty slot. If there are no Fence cards left in the Fence Deck, then you do not have to perform this step.

Example: Kira wants a Noble Fence card to the right of the game board that Desires 2 Jewels, and gives her 7 Prestige. She takes the Fence card and places it in front of her. She then places a Thief token from her player board on the Action Spot and 2 Jewels from her player board onto the Fence card. She receives 7 Prestige, and adjusts her Score Marker accordingly.

Use a Power Tile

This action allows you to perform the Ability listed on a Power tile.

1. Select any 1 of the 3 face-up Power tiles that does not already have a Treasure token to the left of it.
2. Place any 1 Treasure in the space to the left of the Power tile. The Treasure token remains in the space until the end of the round.
3. Perform the Ability of the Power tile. A full list of all Power tiles and a full description of each Ability can be found in the "Power Tile Clarifications" section on page 14.

Example: David wants to use the Power tile that gives him 3 Prestige. There is no Treasure to the left of the Power Tile. He takes a Potion Treasure from his player board and places it to the left of the Power Tile. He immediately gains 3 Prestige, and adjusts his Score Marker accordingly.

Deliver Treasure to the Witch

This action allows you to sell a Treasure to the Witch to gain Prestige.

1. Select any 1 of the 5 Treasure spots at the bottom right corner of the game board that does not have a Treasure on it.
2. Place a matching Treasure token on the space to the left of the noted Prestige. The Treasure token remains in the space until the end of the round.
3. Immediately gain the Prestige noted and move your Score Marker accordingly.

Example: Kira wants to deliver a Treasure to the Witch. She sees that the Tome space is empty so she takes a Tome Treasure token from her player board and places it on the space with the Tome icon. She gains 4 Prestige and adjusts her Score Marker accordingly.

Burgle Treasures

This action allows you to exchange 2 Thief tokens for any 1 Treasure of your choice. To perform this action, follow these steps:

1. Take 2 Thief tokens from your player board and place them above the Burgle Treasures space on the game board. The Thief tokens remain in the space until the end of the round.
2. Take any 1 Treasure from the supply.

Example: David takes 2 Thief tokens from his player board and places them above the Burgle Treasures space on the game board, and then takes 1 Treasure from the supply.

Recruit a Thief

This action allows you to exchange any 2 Treasures of your choice for 1 Thief.

1. Take any 2 Treasures tokens from your player board and place them onto the space above the Recruit a Thief space on the game board. The Treasure tokens remain in the space until the end of the round.
2. Take 1 Thief token from the supply.

Example: Kira takes 1 Potion and 1 Artifact from her player board and places onto the space above the Recruit a Thief space, then takes 1 Thief token from the supply.

Power Tile Clarifications

• Take a Thief token from any Location card and place it on your player board. Then, place that Location card back on top of the Location Deck.
• Draw a Location card from the Location Deck and place it face-up above your player board. Then, you may take a "Steal from a Location" or "Fence Treasures" action.
• Take 1 Thief token from the supply. Then, place a Thief token on an Action Spot icon currently occupied by another Thief token to take a "Steal from a Location", or "Fence Treasures" action. If you place this Thief on a Fence card in front of an opponent, you do not take the Fence card from that opponent.
• Return 2 Thief tokens from your player board to the supply, then take any 2 Treasures from the supply.
• Take a "Steal from a Location" or a "Fence Treasures" action. Then, take another "Steal from a Location" or "Fence Treasures" action.
• Move 1 Thief token that is currently on a Location card and place it on a different Location card to activate it's Ability. Then, take the Thief token you placed on that Location card and place it on your player board.
• Return 3 Fence cards from the right of the game board to the bottom of the Fence Deck. Draw 3 new Fence cards and place them in the empty slots to the right of the game board. You may then take a "Steal from a Location" or a "Fence Treasures" action.
• Swap a Location card with another player. If any Location card has a Thief token on it, the Thief token stays with the Location card.
• Gain 3 Prestige.
• Take a "Steal from a Location". If the Location card is in front of another player, you gain the Owner Bonus instead of the other player. If the Location card is in front of you, you gain the Owner Bonus.
• Take any 1 Treasure from the supply.
• Take 3 Thief tokens from the supply.

Card Clarifications

Witch Hut — Take any Treasure on an opponents' player board and return it to the supply.

Laborium — Place a Treasure from your player board back to the supply, then take up to 2 Treasures from the supply.

Guild — Take a Thief on an opponents' player board and place it on your player board.

Custom House — Take any Treasure on an opponents' player board and place it on your player board.

Quick Play Guide

Setup Place the game board in the center of the table. Place 3 Thief tokens per player in the forest area. Place the required Treasure tokens in the city area (see page 3). Shuffle the Power tiles. Make 3 face-down stacks, with 3 Power tiles each. Place them on the available slots on the game board. Flip the top tile of each stack face-up.

Give each player a player board, Score Marker (which they place on the "0" space of the score track), and 3 Thief tokens (which they place on the chairs). Shuffle the Scheme cards and deal one to each player (which they place on their table).

Shuffle the Location cards to make the Location deck. Shuffle the Fence cards to make the Fence deck and deal 6 cards face-up into the slots. In a 2 player game, only use cards with the 2-player icon. In a 3-5 player game, use all the cards.

Choose a first player. They take the Direction tile and place it with the (1,3) side face-up.

Game Play The game consists of 3 rounds each divided into the following 3 phases:

1. Scouting Phase - Deal each player 4 cards. They choose 1 and pass the rest in the direction noted by the Direction tile. All players reveal their chosen Location card. If it has an Instant icon, the Ability is activated immediately. Continue to choose and pass cards until all players have acquired 3 Location cards.

2. Thieving Phase - Starting with the player who has possession of the Direction tile and continuing in the direction on the Direction tile, each player performs one action at a time from the following list or passes:

   • Steal from a Location
   • Fence Treasures
   • Use a Power Tile
   • Deliver Treasure to the Witch
   • Burgle Treasures
   • Recruit a Thief

   Once you've passed, you can't perform more actions (and no one may target you) this round.

3. Cleanup Phase - Thief token on Location cards go to your player board, then the card goes to the left of your player board. Thief and Treasure tokens on Fence cards go back to the supply, then place the card to the right of your player board. Return Treasure and Thief tokens used on the game board back to the supply. Pass the Direction tile to the player who has the fewest Prestige points.

Game End and Scoring After the 3rd round, the game is over. Each player now calculates their final score in the following steps:

1. All players reveal their Fence cards and count their total amount of each Fence type. The player with the most of a given Fence Type gains bonus Prestige shown on the game board. If there is a tie, no player gets the bonus Prestige.
2. All players reveal their Scheme card and gain Prestige for each set of the icons listed on their Scheme card in the Location cards they collected throughout the game.

After all Prestige has been tallied, the player with the most Prestige wins the game!