Trailhead Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Winning and Losing
• Game Pieces
  • Map Tiles
  • Dice
  • Survival Cards
  • Explore Cards
  • Counter Cards
• Setup
• Rules of the Game
  • Sequence of a Turn
  • 1. Rolling the Dice
  • 2. Taking Actions
    • Moving Between Map Tiles
    • Rules About Map Tiles
    • Buying Survival Cards
    • Using Survival Cards
  • 3. Paying Water
• Taking a Turn: Example
• Game Variations
  • Two Trails Are Better Than One
  • The Lost Dutchman's Gold
• Rules Cheatsheet
  • A Turn Has 3 Steps
  • Actions Reference

Objective

Lost in the wilderness and running low on water, your goal is to be the first player to reach the trailhead. Collect trail markers to move forward, but watch out: you lose water at the end of every turn!

As you venture through the wilderness, you can buy survival cards that give you a boost, hinder other players, or alter the trail itself.

Happy trails!

Winning and Losing

You win when: you reach the trailhead first, or you're the last person left alive.

You lose when: you don't have enough water to pay at the end of your turn, or another player reaches the trailhead before you.

Game Pieces

Map Tiles

13 map tiles and 1 trailhead tile.

Each map tile is marked with 1 to 3 water drops. This is the cost of staying on that tile for one turn. 3-water tiles are the hardest terrain!

Dice

3 trailhead dice. Each has 3 symbols that represent different items you can collect:

• Trail markers advance you 1 space toward the trailhead.
• Compasses can be traded for survival cards.
• Water keeps you alive... Don't run out!

Survival Cards

27 green and 9 gold cards.

Trade in your compasses for survival cards that give you special abilities. Green cards are cheaper and only last for a single turn. Gold cards cost more, but help you on every turn.

Explore Cards

18 cards. These cards periodically impose new rules on all players.

Counter Cards

5 counter cards and 15 sliders. Use the sliders to keep track of trail markers, compasses, and water as you collect and spend them.

Setup

1. Each player needs to find a game piece to represent themself in the game. Go outside! Pick up a pebble or an acorn!
2. Find the trailhead tile and put it on one end of the table.
3. Shuffle the deck of map tiles. Then, build a trail by placing them face-down in a row ending at the trailhead.
   • Trail length: 6 to 8 map tiles. For a longer game, use 8 map tiles. For a shorter game, use 6.
   • For fun variations on how to set up the board, see the Game Variations section.
4. Turn the map tile farthest from the trailhead face-up. This is the starting tile for all players.
5. Place each player's game piece on the starting map tile.
6. Deal out counter cards with 3 sliders each to every player. Set the sliders to 0 trail markers, 0 compasses, and 8 waters.
7. Shuffle the green and gold decks of survival cards separately and place them on the table.
8. Draw two cards from the green deck and place them face-up on the table. Draw one card from the gold deck and place it face-up on the table.
9. Shuffle the red deck of explore cards and place it face-down on the table.
10. Pick the first player by rolling the dice. Whoever rolls the most trail markers goes first.

Rules of the Game

Sequence of a Turn

Every turn has 3 steps that must be done in the following order: roll the dice, take any number of actions, then pay water from your supply.

1. Rolling the Dice

Rolling the dice is how you collect items to move forward in the game. Each side of the dice represents 1 item: compass, trail marker, or water.

You can roll up to 3 times. After each roll, you can keep the dice you like and re-roll the dice you want to change. When you're either happy with your dice or you've rolled 3 times, your roll is finished. Add the items indicated on the dice to your supply by moving the sliders on your counter card.

At the end of your turn you can have no more than 12 waters, 5 trail markers, and 6 compasses.

Roll 3 of a kind? Time to explore! If you roll all the dice at once and get 3 of a kind, draw an explore card and place it face-up on the table. The rules on the card impact all players and remain in effect until the next card is drawn.

You can override an explore card by paying 3 compasses and drawing the next card. The cost for an override can be split with other players.

Draw each new explore card and place it on top of the last active card so that only one new rule is in effect at a time.

2. Taking Actions

There are 3 kinds of actions: moving between map tiles, buying survival cards, and using survival cards. You can take as many actions as you want, in any order that you want.

Moving Between Map Tiles

It costs 3 trail markers to move 1 space. Subtract 3 trail markers from your supply when you move a space.

You don't have to move every turn, but you'll be forced to move if you have 6 or more trail markers.

Source note: the main rules above say you are forced to move at 6 or more trail markers, while the Rules Cheatsheet says "more than 5." The two printed statements conflict; both are transcribed as printed and no fix has been applied.

Rules About Map Tiles

There are four map tiles of each difficulty in the deck. Keep the deck of unused map tiles face-down on the table.

TIP: You can increase the odds of a harder game by removing 1 or more easy map tiles from the deck before setting up the trail.

There is one wildcard (the Lost Dutchman's Mine tile). The first player to reach it gets to set the difficulty from 1 to 3 waters.

Buying Survival Cards

Survival cards help you by boosting your abilities, modifying the trail to your advantage, or hindering other players.

3 survival cards (2 green and 1 gold) are available for you to buy using compasses as currency. The number of compasses needed to buy a survival card is shown on the top left.

If you don't like any of the cards available to buy, you can spend 1 compass to replace both the available green cards or the single gold card with cards from the deck.

You can have a max of 2 green cards and 1 gold card at the end of your turn.

Using Survival Cards

To use a survival card, follow the instructions on the card. Green cards can stay in your supplies as long as you want, but they can only be used once. Discard a green card after you use it.

Gold cards work on every turn. Only discard a gold card if you want to replace it with another.

When either deck of survival cards is empty, shuffle the discard pile and start the deck again.

3. Paying Water

Pay the number of water drops shown on the map tile where you end your turn.

Example: If you end your turn on a Moderate tile (La Barge Canyon), you pay 2 water drops from your supply.

Taking a Turn: Example

Sue starts on hard terrain (Battleship Mountain) that costs her 3 waters each turn. She begins her turn with 2 trail markers, 2 waters, and 1 compass.

Step one: roll the dice. Sue rolls three dice to start her turn and gets 1 trail marker, 1 compass, and 1 water.

• Roll 1: But Sue needs water badly, so she keeps the water and rolls the other 2 dice again.
• Roll 2: Dang, no luck! Sue has one more chance to get water. She rolls two dice again.
• Roll 3: Nice, another water! She then moves the sliders on her counter card to increase her supplies by 1 trail marker and 2 waters.

Step two: take actions. Sue takes another look at her supplies: 3 trail markers, 1 compass, 4 waters. She has enough trail markers to move, so she decides to venture to the next map tile. Sue moves to an unexplored map tile and flips the tile to reveal its difficulty. Yes! Easy terrain (Wave Cave).

It costs 3 trail markers to move forward one space, so Sue moves the slider on her counter card back to 0 trail markers.

Step three: pay water. Sue ends her turn on easy terrain, so she subtracts only 1 water from her supply.

Game Variations

There's no one right way to play Trailhead! Try one of the variations below or make up your own.

Two Trails Are Better Than One

Create a forking trail in which players must choose their path to take back to the trailhead.

The Lost Dutchman's Gold

Treasure is hidden deep within the mountains and you're determined to find it! All players start at the trailhead and spend one turn there with no water fee, but must move on their next turn. Moving off the trailhead tile costs 0 trail markers. The first player to make it to the mine tile and back wins.

Rules Cheatsheet

A Turn Has 3 Steps

1. Roll the dice
2. Take actions
3. Pay water

Actions Reference

Moving between map tiles: It costs 3 trail markers to move between map tiles. If you have more than 5 trail markers, you're forced to move.

Buying and using survival cards: The number of compasses needed to buy a card is shown on the top left of each card. Use a card by following the instructions on it, then place it in the discard pile.