TrollFest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Setup and Components
  • Card Types
• Phase 1: Band Formation
  • Drafting Cards
  • Checking and Revealing Artists
  • Action Cards
  • Remaining Cards Set Up
• Phase 2: Tour
  • Tour Set-Up
  • A Player's Turn
    • 1) Movement
    • 2) Stopping in a City
    • 3) Concert
    • 4) Other Actions in Specific Cities
    • 5) Groundhog Day
  • Tour End
• Phase 3: Festival
  • Performance
    • Attribute
    • Light Show
  • Diversity
  • Authenticity
  • Action Card Notes

Game Setup and Components

• Place the board in the center of the table.

• Place 2 Dragon Tokens (when playing with 3 or 4 players) or 3 Dragon Tokens (when playing with 5 or 6 players) of the indicated color on each one of the seven dragon pass spaces.

• Sort the Starting Artist cards into decks by type (guitar, bass guitar, singer, drums), shuffle each deck separately and deal one card from each deck to each player. Each player may look at the cards they have been dealt but should not reveal them.

• Shuffle the Seasoned Artist cards, Action cards and City cards into separate decks. (52 Seasoned Artist cards, 82 Action cards, 25 City cards.)

• Give each player all the player bits of one color: 1 Band Meeple, 1 Hometown Token, 1 Scoring Token, and Tour Tokens.

• Use Tour Tokens based on the player count:

  • 14 with 3 players
  • 12 with 4 players
  • 10 with 5 or 6 players

  Return any unused colors and left over Tour Tokens back to the box, they will not be used this game.

• Place the Scoring Tokens on the 5 space of the scoring track. Adjust this token as appropriate to track your score throughout the game.

Components: Game Board; Starting Artist cards; Seasoned Artist cards (52); Action cards (82); City cards (25); 1 Band Meeple, 1 Hometown Token, 1 Scoring Token and Tour Tokens per player; 21 Dragon Tokens (3 of each color); 1 Groundhog Meeple; 1 Super-Fan; 2 Barrier Tokens.

Card Types

City cards: each shows a Species symbol and a City Name.

Artist cards: each shows a Core Artist mark, Attribute Strength (blue squares with a skill icon), Species, Gender, Instrument, and Artist Name.

Action cards: each shows a Card Effect, an Activation Icon (Tour or Festival), and a Card Name.

Phase 1: Band Formation

Drafting Cards

• Deal 4 Seasoned Artist cards and 4 Action cards to each player.
• Look at and select one card from the eight cards you have just been dealt and add it to a face-down pile in front of you, then pass the remaining seven cards to the player on your left. Then select one more card from the seven you receive from the player on your right, and so on. When you receive only two cards, select one and discard the other one to the bottom of the corresponding deck without revealing it to the other players.
• Make up a name for your band, write it down on a piece of paper, and put it in front of you. Reveal this card at the same time as the other players.
• Vote for the best band name (or ask an impartial judge at a nearby table). The winner scores 5 points. If there is a tie, hold run-off votes until there is a single winner. This player will also go last in turn order.
• All bands stay face up in front of the players for the whole duration of the game.

Checking and Revealing Artists

• Look at the pile of cards in front of you and reveal any artists you would like to keep, discarding the rest (both seasoned artists and starting artists) placing them in a line together to form a band.

  • A band can only have one artist of each instrument (one singer, one guitar player, one drummer, one bagpipe player, etc.). If you have two or more cards of the same instrument, keep only one and discard the others.

  • Exception: If you have the Duo action card, you can play it next to your band and keep two artists of the same instrument. Each Duo card allows for one pair of artists.

    Printed on the Duo card: "Keep this card in your band display after playing it. It allows you to have one pair of artists playing the same instrument (or one pair of singers)."

• Your band must always have the four basic types of instrument: Singer, Guitar player, Bass player, Drummer.

Action Cards

• Keep your other drafted cards in your hand – they are action cards that will be used later in the Tour phase or Festival phase.

Remaining Cards Set Up

• Place the remaining Action cards in a face down deck to one side of the game board.
• Place the remaining Seasoned Artist cards in a face down deck next to the board. Draw seven cards from the deck and place them face-up in a line next to the deck – this forms the Rock Springboard.
• All remaining and discarded Starting Artist cards that are not in front of players are removed from the game – return them to the box.

Phase 2: Tour

Tour Set-Up

• Draw a random City card and place the Groundhog Meeple on that city.
• The player to the left of the one with the best band name takes the first turn, then play proceeds clockwise around the table.
• On your first turn, instead of doing anything else, choose your starting city and place your Hometown Token and Band Meeple on it. You may choose a city that another player chose, but this is not usually a good decision. Do not place a Tour Token on your starting city at this time.

A Player's Turn

1) Movement

• On your turn, move your band meeple along a road onto a neighboring city.
• When moving through a dragon pass, take one Dragon Token of the corresponding color, if there are any still available. You can only have one Dragon Token of each color (this restriction doesn't affect Light Show cards).

2) Stopping in a City

• Your band must stop in the first city it reaches. There's no limit to the number of bands that can be in the same city.
• When stopping in a city, the concert will happen first.

3) Concert

Conditions:

• When your band enters a new city, you must place one of your Tour Tokens in it, unless:

  • There is already one of your Tour Tokens placed there from an earlier turn.

    Each band can only play one concert in a single city. If you come back to a city where you have already given a concert, and there is already a Tour Token of your color, you don't perform a second concert there and thus don't score any points. The Hometown Token is not a Tour Token. If a band moves back to their Hometown city later in the game, it can place a Tour Token there if one is not already present.

  • There are already a number of Tour Tokens there equal to the number of players minus one.

    There is a limit to the total number of concerts to be given in any city, and this limit is the number of players minus one (2 tour tokens with 3 players, 3 with 4 players, etc.).

Scoring:

• When placing a tour token, score points as follows:
  • As many points on the scoring track as you have artists of the corresponding species in your band.
  • 2 extra points if this is the very first tour token placed in this city by any player.
  • 5 extra points if the Groundhog Meeple is in this city (see below, Groundhog Day).

4) Other Actions in Specific Cities

You may do these actions in addition to a concert if the corresponding symbol is present on the city.

• Market cities (marked with a shopping cart symbol):
  • Draw four cards from the Action deck, keep one of these cards in your hand and discard the three other ones at the bottom of the deck.
  • You can play a card immediately after taking it.
• Cities with a vivid cultural life (marked with a rock-horns hand symbol):
  • You may take one artist either from the Rock Springboard or from the top of the deck (blind audition) and add it to your band.
    • If you draw from the Rock Springboard, replace the artist in the Rock Springboard with the top card from the deck.
    • If you draw from the top of the deck, you can choose to discard the drawn artist without adding it to your band.
    • If you add an artist to your band but already have an artist playing the same instrument (including singing), you must discard the one that was already in the band.
    • Artists are discarded to the bottom of the deck, except for Starting Artists which are returned to the box instead.
  • If you add an artist to your band that corresponds to the city's species, score one point.

5) Groundhog Day

• If you placed a tour token in the city with the Groundhog Meeple, score 5 points. Then take the Groundhog Meeple from that city and place it in front of you until your next turn.
• If you still have the Groundhog Meeple from your previous turn, draw City cards until you draw one that has not yet reached its total tour limit, then place the Groundhog Meeple in the city indicated by that card.

Tour End

• When you place your last Tour Token, all other players have one more turn and then the Tour phase ends.
• If you ended with your Band Meeple in your Hometown, score 5 points.
• The player who triggered the game end and each other player who played all their Tour Tokens score 5 points.

Phase 3: Festival

Reveal the action cards you still have in hand. Score points on the scoring track as follows:

Performance

Attribute

Each band member can have one or more of the following attributes. The number of squares next to that attribute indicates their strength in it.

Example: a band member with Attribute Strength 3 in Skill, another with 2, and another with 1.

The bands with the highest and second highest total strength in each attribute score points as indicated below:

• Highest total in Energy: 1st 8 points, 2nd 4 points
• Highest total in Charisma: 1st 8 points, 2nd 4 points
• Highest total in Skill: 1st 8 points, 2nd 4 points

(Ties are broken by the single artist with the highest corresponding attribute, then the second highest, etc. If all are tied, points are divided evenly among the tied bands, rounding fractions down).

Light Show

The players with the most and second most differently-colored Dragon Tokens and Light Show cards score points as indicated below:

• 1st: 8 points
• 2nd: 4 points

It does not matter whether the Dragons are tokens or light show cards. Ties are broken by the total number of dragons. If still tied, points are divided evenly, rounding down.

Diversity

The players with the most and second most different species in their band score points as indicated below:

• 1st: 8 points
• 2nd: 4 points

Ties are broken by the number of rare artists such as minotaur, giant, goblin, siren, centaur – artists for which there is no corresponding type of city. If still tied, points are divided evenly, rounding down.

Authenticity

Bands with specific member configurations may score bonus points for Authenticity, as indicated below:

• Classic Rock band (8 points): A band is a Classic Rock band if it contains no artist types other than singer, drums, guitar, bass, and optionally keyboard.
• Male Only Band (8 points)
• Female Only Band (8 points)
• All artists from the same species (12 points)

Highest score wins! Ties are broken by best rock-and-roll scream.

Action Card Notes

• Tour Action cards (marked with the Tour symbol) must be played during the Tour, at the specific time indicated by their effect. There's no limit to the number of action cards a player can play on their turn. After playing a card, it is discarded to the bottom of the Action Card deck unless the card description specifies otherwise.
• Exception: The Thor's Hammer card is played out of turn, to cancel a Tour Action card that has just been played by another player.
• Festival Action cards (marked with the Festival symbol) must be played after the Tour End, during the Festival (scoring).