Two Rooms and a Boom Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What's in the Box?
• Basic Game Overview
• Setup
• The 4 Basic Rules
• Leaders & Hostages
• Changing Leaders
• End of a Round
• Game Over
• Advanced Game Rules
• Additional Rules
• Glossary

What's in the Box?

• Rulebook. You're reading this right now.
• Character Guide. The rules for the Advanced Game and descriptions for all the character cards. Read this once you've mastered the Basic Game.
• Leader Cards (x2). 1 oversized card for each room. They keep track of how many hostages get sent each round.
• Basic Character Cards (x17). President, Bomber, Red Team x 7, Blue Team x 7, and the Gambler.
• Advanced Character Cards (x93). Use these cards once you've mastered the Basics to level up the game experience.
• Timer. Needed, but not included. Sorry! (check out www.TwoRoomsandaBoom.com/music for a great stopwatch alternative.)

Basic Game Overview

In Two Rooms and a Boom there are 2 teams and 2 rooms. The 2 teams are the Red Team and the Blue Team. The Blue Team has a President. The Red Team has a Bomber. Players are first equally distributed between 2 separate playing areas (usually 2 separate rooms) and then each player is randomly dealt a facedown character card.

Players play the game by saying what they want in order to select a leader for their room. The leader chooses hostages (players that will be sent to the other room at the end of the round).

The game consists of 3 timed rounds. Each round is shorter than the previous round. At the end of each round, the hostages selected by the leaders will be traded into opposing rooms.

The game ends after the last hostage exchange.

Everyone reveals their card. If Red Team's Bomber is in the same room as the President, then the Red Team wins. Otherwise the Blue Team wins.

But most importantly, have fun!

Setup

1. Set up the character deck. The character deck consists of the Bomber card, the President card, and an equal number of Red Team and Blue Team cards. There will be one character card for each player in the game. If you are playing with an odd number of players, include the Gambler card (see Gambler section). Shuffle the character deck.

2. Separate players into 2 rooms. Players should be separated randomly and as evenly as possible. The "rooms" can be separated by a wall, door, or simply two open areas at a distance from each other. It is not important if players can see one another, but players in the separate rooms shouldn't be able to hear one another.

3. Deal character cards. Every player receives 1 facedown character card. The character cards are secret but can be revealed during the game. Players should not look at their own cards until the game begins.

4. Start the timer. Now the game begins with the first round. The first round of the game lasts 3 minutes. The second round is 2 minutes, and the last round is 1 minute.

Note: Check out www.tworoomsandaboom.com/music for timer alternatives!

The 4 Basic Rules

1. Time is public. Round time can be kept by anyone with a stopwatch. Time is never kept secret. The end of a round should be clear to all players.

2. Stay in your room. You can't just mosey into the other room whenever you feel like it.

3. No communication between rooms. No yelling anything to players in the other room. No eavesdropping. Even if you can see into the other room, there is no sign language permitted.

4. Keep your card. Do what you want with your character card. Show it to someone, everyone, or nobody. However, no swapping character cards with another player, and if you are going to show someone your card, you have to show all of it. You can't just show the color of your card.

5. Leaders and hostages have more rules. I guess there are more than 4 basic rules. While you can't count on us to count too well, you can count on us to explain more rules. See Leaders & Hostages next.

Leaders & Hostages

The leader is the player who holds the leader card and chooses the hostages to leave the room at the end of the round. REMEMBER! Leaders can't be hostages.

The first leader of a room is the player that is appointed by another player. To appoint a player, point to them and say, "I appoint you as leader!" A player can never appoint themselves. The new leader then takes the leader card as a visual identifier. Leadership should never be a secret.

The number of hostages a leader chooses at the end of a round depends on the round and the total number of players. The number of hostages is listed on the leader card and the chart below.

Hostages are the player(s) who are chosen by the leader to leave the room at the end of a round. REMEMBER! Leaders can't be hostages.

Players	3 min round	2 min round	1 min round
6-10 players	1 hostage	1 hostage	1 hostage
11-21 players	2 hostages	1 hostage	1 hostage
22+ players	3 hostages	2 hostages	1 hostage

IMPORTANT: Before beginning the game, pay attention to how many players are in the game as this dictates how many hostages are exchanged at the end of each round.

Changing Leaders

Want a different leader? Here are the 2 ways to do that!

1. Leader abdicates. If you are leader and don't want to be (usually because you want to be a hostage), then simply hand the leader card to a willing player. The player may accept or refuse leadership, but if they do accept leadership, they can't give it back to you until the next round. No givesy-backsies.

2. Leader is usurped. If there is still time in a round and you want a different leader, raise one hand into the air (so your usurping attempt is clearly visible) and point your other hand toward the player you want as the new leader. Note: you can point to yourself. Once a majority of players in the room (more than half) are pointing to a single player, that player becomes the new leader and receives the leader card.

End of a Round

At the end of every round, the room leaders must perform the following 5 steps in order:

1. Leader selects hostages. Indicate your hostage selection to the players in your room. Players in your room need to know who was selected as hostages because you can't change your mind once hostages are selected and you can't choose yourself. (For the number of hostages to send, see your leader card or the chart above.)

2. Leaders parley by meeting between the 2 rooms without hostages. Leaders meet without their hostages so that if one room's leader is slow selecting hostages they aren't influenced by seeing the other room's incoming hostages. Trust us, this is important.

3. Leaders begin timer for the next round. If this is the last round (the 1 minute round), then skip this step.

4. Exchange hostages by calling over your selected hostages. An equal amount of hostages should be traded from both rooms into the other. If this was the last round, the game ends (see Game Over section).

5. Return to your room if everything went smoothly. If not, you may need to reread this section.

Game Over

After the last hostage exchange, the game ends. Everyone reveals their cards (unless playing with the Gambler, see Gambler section below). If the President is in the room with Bomber, then the entire Red Team wins. If the President is not in the room with the Bomber, then the entire Blue Team wins.

Gambler. When playing with an odd number of players, shuffle in the grey Gambler card with the other character cards. If you are the Gambler, pause the game by showing everyone your card at the end of the last round (the 1 minute round). This should be done before all other players reveal their cards. Don't worry, players should wait for you. This isn't a race. You must then verbally announce who you think is about to win the game (Red Team or Blue Team). You win if your prediction is correct, so don't worry about anything else.

Advanced Game. Once you get familiar enough with the Basic Game, try the Advanced Game with more rounds, characters, and 3 additional rules!

Advanced Game Rules

Once you get familiar enough with the Basic Game, try the Advanced Game with more rounds, characters, and 3 additional rules!

1. Showing Colors. If you have more than 10 players, players are no longer limited to just showing all of their card. Instead, players may only show part of their card if they want.

2. More Characters. You can play with advanced character cards that modify the basic rules of the game. If an advanced character card contradicts a basic game rule, then the advanced character's rule should be followed.

3. More Rounds? Try adding a 5 minute round and a 4 minute round, but only if you have more than 10 players. If you don't have enough players, stick with 3 rounds (see your leader card).

Additional Rules

Burying a Card. In this game, it is possible to deal a card to nobody. This is called "burying a card" and the card dealt to nobody is the "buried card." Burying a card is a great idea if you have an odd number of players (instead of using a team neutral card, for instance). However, when you bury a card, you must make sure that the Martyr and President's Daughter are shuffled into the character deck. Otherwise, you might bury the President or Bomber and be without a substitute.

Burying (Non-Buries). In this game, there are some character cards that require that there be a buried card, and there are some characters that are linked, meaning they can't be buried. You can actually play games with linked characters and bury a card. Simply separate the linked character cards from the others. Shuffle the non-linked character cards and then randomly choose a single buried card from that deck. Afterwards, combine the linked cards into the deck, reshuffle, deal, and then play as usual.

Burying (EVENS). Burying a card can be done even if there is an even number of players. This also opens up a bunch of new character roles for Two Rooms and a Boom. Because of this, it is perfectly acceptable (and encouraged) to bury a card with an even number of players. Just be sure that when playing with a buried card, you must play with the President's backup character (the President's Daughter), and the Bomber's backup character (the Martyr).

Changing Round Times (VARIANT). Some players may find the original game format unsuitable for their taste. Consider trying a game structure where each round lasts 3 minutes. It is still recommended that the hostage exchange numbers in each round remain the same even if the time limit does not.

Don't Ask Don't Share. A player should never ask to share if they don't intend to do so. If a player asks to share (e.g. "Do you want to color share?") they are then obligated to share if the player they ask agrees.

New Card = CLEAN CARD. When a player gains a new character card, that card is cleansed. It is the same as if that character was dealt that card at the very beginning of the game. This means that if a player acquires a new character card during the game (usually due to card swapping), that player would lose all previously acquired conditions.

No Timer (VARIANT). It is possible to have rounds without time limits, therefore requiring no timer at all. To do this, after a leader has publicly announced their hostage(s), they may wait in the "hallway" between the 2 rooms for the opposing leader. At this point, they may audibly signal the other room that they are ready.

Privacy Promise (VARIANT). Some players prefer to have guaranteed privacy whenever doing any card sharing or color sharing. The Privacy Promise rule variant forces all players to do any card sharing or color sharing in a secluded private area away from the prying eyes of other players (like a bathroom). This works really well when playing with any characters that might give away their identity when others witness the sharing process (e.g. Hot Potato).

Premature Loss (VARIANT). There are advanced characters that can lose during the first round (e.g. Agoraphobe). The Premature Loss variant allows grey characters that lose the game prior to the last round to treat their card as a Gambler card. This is an alternative win objective, allowing these players to remain involved in the game to gain some type of redeeming win.

Glossary

• Allegiance - the team a card is on. Red Team cards share a common win objective, as do all Blue Team cards. Any other teams have specified win objectives defined by the details of their character card.
• Backup Character - a character that assumes the powers of the specified character if that specified character is not in play.
• Buried - a card that is out of play. When playing with an odd number of players, or when spicing the game up, one character card is "buried."
• Cleanse - to lose all acquired conditions (see Condition below). A cleansed character is as it was at the very beginning of the game. Note: whenever a player gains a new character card, that character card is automatically cleansed.
• Condition - a type of affliction that may affect the way in which a character plays the game. For ease of reference, conditions are placed within quotes.
• Hostage - the player(s) the leader of a room chooses to leave the room at the end of a round.
• Leader - the nominated player that chooses the hostages to leave the room at the end of a round.
• Linked - characters that can require another character to be in the game in order to function.
• Power - a special ability that can't be deactivated. Players must use their power when indicated, even if it isn't in their best interest. For ease of reference in the Character Guide, powers are in all caps.
• Reveal - a player exposes their character card without expecting other players to do the same. There are 4 types of revealing:
  • Private Reveal - exposing your card to just one player.
  • Public Reveal - exposing your card to multiple players. A permanent public reveal indicates a player must do nothing with their card but keep it in plain sight.
  • Card Reveal - exposing your entire character card.
  • Color Reveal - exposing just the color portion of your character card. This is only allowed in a game with more than 10 players.
• Share - 2 players consenting to showing one another the same information about their own character cards. There are 2 types of sharing:
  • Card Share - 2 players temporarily exchange character cards to completely share card information.
  • Color Share - 2 players only expose the color portion of their character cards to one another. This is only allowed in a game with more than 10 players.
• Swap - trading cards with another player. Note: whenever a player gains a new character card, that character card is automatically cleansed.
• Win Objective - the goal a player must accomplish to win the game. Besides original win objectives, there are 3 different types of win objectives:
  • Additional Win Objective - having more than 1 win objective. Failing to complete any and all additional win objectives means the player loses.
  • Alternate Win Objective - having more than 1 possible win objective. Successfully completing any single alternate win objective means the player wins.
  • Replacement Win Objective - having a new win objective instead of your original win objective. Failure to complete the replacement win objective means the player loses.

Copyright 2014 Tuesday Knight Games