Trick or Treat Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Setup
  • Example Three Player Game Setup
• Turn
  • Move
  • Action
  • Tricks
• Scoring a Set
• Other Rules
  • Bully
  • Hand Limit
  • Deck
• Winning
• Variant
• Location Details
  • Alley
  • Carnival
  • Haunted House
  • Home
  • House
  • Mansion

Objective

Collect Treats, then complete sets by turning them in at Home. The game ends once there are fewer than 3 sets available to score. The player with the most points is the winner.

Setup

The players each choose a Kid card and set it in front of themselves. Place the Bully card off to the side.

• Arrange the following Location cards in the center: Home, Haunted House, Alley, Carnival, Mansion, and 1 House per player (set aside any extra Houses).
• Shuffle the Set cards, and place the top 3 cards face-up next to the Home. The remaining form the Set deck. Shuffle the Trick or Treat cards to make a Trick or Treat deck.
• For each House card, flip over a single Trick or Treat card and put it face-up next to the House. Flip over 5 Trick or Treat cards and put them in a row next to the Carnival. Players start with no Trick or Treat cards.
• Find something to use as Fear tokens (Halloween candy, pennies, or poker chips will work). Set these in a pile off to the side.

Example Three Player Game Setup

The example shows Home, Alley, Carnival, Haunted House, Mansion and 3 Houses laid out, with 3 face-up Set cards beside Home, 1 face-up Trick or Treat card beside each House and 5 beside the Carnival. The Location cards read:

• Haunted House: Discard up to 3 Trick cards to give that many Fear tokens to each of the other Kids. OR Discard up to 3 Treat cards to LOSE that many Fear tokens.
• Mansion: Draw 3 cards from the Trick or Treat deck.
• House: Draw 2 face down Trick or Treat cards. Take the face up Trick or Treat card at this Location. Replace the card with a card from the Trick or Treat deck.
• Carnival: Choose 1 of the cards at the Carnival to take. You may discard a Trick or a Treat card from your hand to take an additional card. When done refill the Carnival back to 5 cards with cards from the Trick or Treat deck.
• Home: Turn in a set of Treats to claim 1 of the face up Set cards. The Bully can never be at Home.
• Alley: Move the Bully to another Location. Steal a random Trick or Treat card from each Kid there. On your next turn, move to any Location regardless of if the Bully or other Kids are there. The Bully can never be on the Alley.

The example also shows the Trick or Treat Key (the Treat types: Tricks, Fruity Treats, Gooey Treats, Chocolate Treats, Spicy Treats), and sample cards: Egging Houses ("When turning in a set of Treats, Egging Houses counts as any Treat card that is face up at the Carnival or a House."), a Set card requiring Any 1 Chocolate Treat, Any 2 Spicy Treats, Any 1 Fruity Treat and Any 1 Gooey Treat for 4 Points, a Set card of Any 2 Chocolate Treats for 5 Points, and a Set card of 2 of the same Treats for 3 Points.

Turn

The youngest player goes first. During his or her turn, each player does the following:

Move

The player moves her Kid to another Location but may not move to a space containing another Kid or the Bully (unless she plays a Sneak card). The player cannot remain on her current Location and must move (unless she plays a Change Costume Trick card). If she starts on a Location with another Kid or the Bully and uses the Change Costume Trick to stay, she does not need to play a Sneak Trick.

Action

The player carries out the action indicated by the Location card. The Haunted House lists 2 actions, the player must choose only 1.

Tricks

Each Trick states the part of the turn it modifies. For example, Sneak can be played during move. The player can play as many Move Bully cards as she wants during her turn.

Move Bully: Play this card anytime during your turn. Move the Bully to another Location. Steal a random Trick or Treat card from each Kid there.

Scoring a Set

Near the play area, there are 3 cards called "Set cards" which describe a set of Treats. The players can turn in the Treats described on the card for points by taking an action at Home. The Set card is placed face-up next to the player to show she has claimed the set and the Treats are discarded. After claiming a set, the player must flip over the next Set card and place it next to the others in the middle. If the Set deck is empty and the middle cannot be fully restocked, the game is over. A player can only turn in 1 set per turn.

(Example Set card: Any 1 Chocolate Treat, Any 1 Spicy Treat, Any 1 Gooey Treat – 4 Points.)

Other Rules

Bully

The Bully may move from either use of the Alley Location or Move Bully Trick card. When the Bully enters a Location, all Kids there are chased away. Return the Kid cards to their respective players (they move normally on their next turn). The player who moved the Bully may steal 1 randomly selected Trick or Treat card from each victim!

The Bully cannot enter the Home or Alley Location. A player cannot move the Bully onto the Location their Kid is.

Hand Limit

A player may only carry 12 Trick or Treat cards in her hand at a time. If this number is exceeded at the end of her turn, the player must discard down to 12.

Deck

When the Trick or Treat deck runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile to make a new Trick or Treat deck.

If a player ever needs to draw a card and there are no cards remaining in the draw or discard pile, each player must randomly select 3 cards from his or her hand and discard them. Shuffle these cards to form the new draw pile.

Winning

The game ends when only 2 Set cards remain in the center and the Set deck is empty. Players add up the points they have from their completed sets and then subtract 1 point for each Fear token they have. The winner is the player with the highest score. If there is a tie, all tied players win the game!

Variant

For a shorter game, remove some of the Set cards before play.

For an additional challenge, play with 1 fewer House. When playing with young children, consider playing with an additional House.

Location Details

Alley

The player moves the Bully to any Location (except Home or the Alley), displacing all Kids there (see Bully, above). On the player's next turn, the player may move to any location, even if it contains other Kids or the Bully.

Carnival

The player chooses 1 Trick or Treat card from the Carnival to add to her hand. The player may take a second card from the Carnival by discarding 1 card from her hand. Finally, turn over the top card(s) from the Trick or Treat deck to replenish the Carnival.

Haunted House

The player may choose one of the following:

• She may discard up to 3 Trick cards from her hand and give all of the other players an equal number of Fear tokens from the supply. For example, if she discards 2 Trick cards, then each other player receives 2 Fear tokens.
• She may discard up to 3 Treat cards from her hand to return an equal number of Fear tokens to the pile. (Or discard a Brave Trick card to return 3 fear tokens at once.)

Home

A player may claim 1 of the face up Set cards (see Scoring a Set above). The player may always move Home, even if other Kids are present.

House

The player takes the face-up Trick or Treat card from the House, plus the top 2 Trick or Treat cards from the Trick or Treat deck. The player turns over 1 more card to replenish the House.

Mansion

The player draws the top 3 Trick or Treat cards from the Trick or Treat deck.