Zapp Zerapp Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Before the First Game...
Game Objective
Starting Setup
The Game
Game End and Winner
The Zapp Zerapp Pro Version: The Carry-Along Fields
- Example for the Pro Version
Credits

Components

1 game board
12 apprentice wizards in four colors
14 rumble-barrels (13 of these are used, one is a spare)
14 stoppers (13 of these are used, one is a spare)
13 stick-on labels (with the secret numbers 1-13)
about 100 magic stones (91 of these are used, the rest are spares)
2 dice
1 breath of invisible magic
this rulebook

Before the First Game...

Before the first game, the rumble-barrels must receive their magic power. To do this, put one magic stone into a barrel, close it with a stopper (press firmly!), and stick on it the label with the number 1. You can probably guess what comes next: two magic stones go into another barrel, whose stopper gets the label with the number 2. Keep going like this up to the last barrel, into which you put 13 magic stones and whose stopper you label with the sticker number 13.

Game Objective

Whoever brings all three of their apprentice wizards into their own guild's city first, wins.

Starting Setup

Shuffle the closed rumble-barrels well and set them down in the middle of the board, on the mountain plateau. Each player takes three apprentice wizards of one color and places them on the starting field of the matching color at the foot of the mountain.

The Game

Every round of play consists of three phases:

Rolling the magic number
Shaking the barrels (the shaking-magic)
Moving (and banishing) the apprentice wizards

Once you have played through all three phases (in the order named here), the next round begins - again with phase 1 - and so on, until one of you has won.

Phase 1: Rolling the Magic Number

Any one player rolls both dice. The sum of the pips is the magic number, which applies to all players and is announced out loud. The dice are left lying (for checking purposes) until the next round.

Example: in this example, the sum of the pips is 9. So "9" is announced as the magic number for the current round. It does not matter who rolls; but so that no one feels left out, a different player should roll the magic number each round (for example, taking turns in order).

Phase 2: Shaking the Barrels (the Shaking-Magic)

As soon as the magic number is known, all players simultaneously shake the mysterious rumble-barrels, without looking at the number on the bottom of the barrel. Whoever believes they have found a suitable barrel for an effective shaking-magic sets it down in front of themselves. Once every player has set a rumble-barrel down in front of themselves, everyone turns their chosen rumble-barrel over and calls out loud the secret number written on the bottom of the barrel. Any barrels whose secret number is higher than the magic number are immediately put back on the mountain plateau. The corresponding players come away empty-handed this round, because they did not manage an effective shaking-magic.

The effective shaking-magic: only a player who has chosen a rumble-barrel whose secret number is equal to or lower than the magic number has performed an effective shaking-magic, and may therefore (in phase 3) move one of their apprentice wizards. To make sure no player cheats when calling out the secret number, you are of course allowed to glance at the secret barrel-number of your fellow players once it is revealed.

The Great Book of Shaking-Magic Law

It is forbidden...

...to look at the bottom of the rumble-barrels while shaking. The secret number may only be looked at once every player has set a barrel down in front of themselves!
...to hold more than two barrels in your hands at the same time.
...to snatch barrels out of a fellow player's hands.
...to set down more than one barrel (per player) in front of yourself.
...to put a barrel that you have already set down in front of yourself back on the mountain plateau.
...to keep shaking or holding further barrels once you have already set a barrel down in front of yourself. Every player must immediately put back onto the mountain plateau any barrel they do not want to set down in front of themselves, so that it is available to the other players too.

Phase 3: Moving and Banishing the Apprentice Wizards

Now all players who achieved an effective shaking-magic (in phase 2) move, one after another, one of their own apprentice wizards forward, clockwise.

Turn order: the player with the highest secret number moves first. Then follows the player with the next-lower secret number, and so on. Reminder: players whose secret number was higher than the magic number have already put their barrel back on the mountain plateau (in phase 2) and do not move an apprentice wizard.

Whoever's turn it is chooses any one of their own apprentice wizards to move - it makes no difference whether it is still on the starting field or already on its way. The secret number on the bottom of the chosen rumble-barrel also determines the move distance:

Move distance: the secret number states how many fields one of your own apprentice wizards is moved forward.

Example: the magic dice show the number 8. Beatrix Blue has chosen the barrel with the number 9, Roswitha Red the 6, Gustav Yellow the 4, Guildo Green the 2.

Beatrix may not move: her secret number is higher than the magic number. She immediately puts her barrel back on the mountain plateau.

Roswitha goes first. She moves any one of her own apprentice wizards 6 fields.

Then follows Gustav. His move distance is 4 fields.

Finally Guildo moves 2 fields.

The Great Book of Movement-Magic Law

It is forbidden...

...to move apprentice wizards backward (counterclockwise).
...to move past your own destination city.
...to split the move distance across several apprentice wizards.
...to move apprentice wizards into cities of other colors or onto starting fields.
...to let fields go unused. The only exception: whoever moves a game piece into their destination (their own city) may let any surplus fields go unused (see Example A). Any number of apprentice wizards - regardless of color - may stand on any running field.

Whoever has moved their apprentice wizard puts their rumble-barrel back on the mountain plateau. Before the new round, all 13 barrels are shuffled there again.

Banishing the Apprentice Wizards

Apprentice wizards are banished whenever they are passed or caught up to outside their own protective zone by an opposing apprentice wizard.
Banished apprentice wizards are immediately put back on their starting field.
Apprentice wizards standing on protective fields (fields of their own color) cannot be banished.
Your own apprentice wizards are never banished.
Whoever starts their move from a field on which other apprentice wizards also stand (starting at the same level) may not banish those.
If the moving player overlooks banishing an apprentice wizard during their move, that apprentice wizard is lucky - it does not have to go back to its starting field.

Example A: the magic dice show the number 12. Guildo Green has the rumble-barrel with the secret number 8, so he may move 8 fields. In doing so he passes five apprentice wizards and catches up to one more. He banishes the two yellow ones and the blue one, and also a red apprentice wizard, back to their starting fields, because they are standing outside their protective zones. The other red apprentice is standing on one of its protective fields and cannot be banished from there. The green apprentice he passed is also spared - because Guildo Green does not banish his own apprentice wizard.

The one, but always valid, exception to these rules: apprentice wizards that start directly from the starting field are still too weak for banishing magic - they may under no circumstances banish any apprentice wizards (see Example B).

Example B: if Guildo Green begins his move on the starting field (now with the secret number 11), he lands on the same field as in Example A, but may not banish a single apprentice wizard during his entire move.

Game End and Winner

Whoever first brings their third apprentice wizard into their destination city ends the game and is the winner. The apprentice wizards left behind at the foot of the mountain must now wait quietly for the next 13 years, until the next contest of the magic guild takes place and a new, brilliant ZAPP ZERAPP is determined. Perhaps by then they will already be moved forward by the victorious apprentice wizards of the past contest...

The Zapp Zerapp Pro Version: The Carry-Along Fields

In the pro version there are no neutral fields: all white fields (yes, exactly the ones with the little colored castles!) are now called CARRY-ALONG FIELDS. The colors of the castles at the edge of the field indicate which apprentice wizards can be carried along from these fields, but not banished.

The following rules apply:

On carry-along fields of your own color, apprentice wizards are protected from banishment - just like on your own protective fields.
Apprentice wizards standing on carry-along fields of another color are not carried along, but banished.
Whoever passes apprentice wizards (even their own!) standing on carry-along fields of their own color may carry them along if they wish. They may freely decide whether to carry along one, several, all, or none of them.
Carrying along apprentice wizards always ends on the field which your own apprentice wizard regularly reaches during the current move.
If an apprentice wizard reaches its destination city, it sets down all the carried-along apprentice wizards of its fellow players on the running field in front of its city. However, its own carried-along apprentice wizards may come along into the destination city.
Foreign apprentice wizards may also be carried along past their own destination city, so that they must go around the mountain once more in order to reach their city.
Whoever starts their move on a carry-along field may not carry along any apprentice wizards from that carry-along field.
You may also carry along when coming from the starting field (unlike banishing, see above).

Example for the Pro Version

Magic number: 8. Secret numbers of the players (as shown on their chosen barrels): Guildo Green has the highest, followed by the others in turn order.

Guildo Green begins and moves apprentice Green 1 past the protected apprentice Blue 1. From the red-green carry-along field he may banish the unprotected apprentices Yellow 1 and Blue 2 there back to their starting fields. From the same field he may carry along Red 1 and Green 2. He decides to carry along both. This way he reaches his destination city with both of his own apprentice wizards - passing the protected apprentice Yellow 2. He simply sets down the carried-along apprentice Red 1 in front of the green city. In total, Guildo Green has moved only seven fields, even though (according to his secret number) he was entitled to move 8 fields. Because he reached his destination city, the eighth move point is exceptionally forfeited. Guildo Green's move is now finished.

Beatrix Blue follows; she decides to move her apprentice Blue 3, since she can reach her protective zone with it. Beatrix carries Red 2 along, past its carry-along field at the red destination city.

Now Gustav Yellow is on the move. With his apprentice Yellow 2 he passes the apprentice Red 1, which had just been set down on a yellow field in front of the green city and is unprotected there, and banishes it to its starting field.

Finally Roswitha Red moves, with her 2 move points, from the starting field onto a blue field.

Credits

Zapp Zerapp Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Before the First Game...
Game Objective
Starting Setup
The Game
Game End and Winner
The Zapp Zerapp Pro Version: The Carry-Along Fields
- Example for the Pro Version
Credits

Components

1 game board
12 apprentice wizards in four colors
14 rumble-barrels (13 of these are used, one is a spare)
14 stoppers (13 of these are used, one is a spare)
13 stick-on labels (with the secret numbers 1-13)
about 100 magic stones (91 of these are used, the rest are spares)
2 dice
1 breath of invisible magic
this rulebook

Before the First Game...

Game Objective

Whoever brings all three of their apprentice wizards into their own guild's city first, wins.

Starting Setup

The Game

Every round of play consists of three phases:

Rolling the magic number
Shaking the barrels (the shaking-magic)
Moving (and banishing) the apprentice wizards

Once you have played through all three phases (in the order named here), the next round begins - again with phase 1 - and so on, until one of you has won.

Phase 1: Rolling the Magic Number

Any one player rolls both dice. The sum of the pips is the magic number, which applies to all players and is announced out loud. The dice are left lying (for checking purposes) until the next round.

Phase 2: Shaking the Barrels (the Shaking-Magic)

The Great Book of Shaking-Magic Law

It is forbidden...

...to look at the bottom of the rumble-barrels while shaking. The secret number may only be looked at once every player has set a barrel down in front of themselves!
...to hold more than two barrels in your hands at the same time.
...to snatch barrels out of a fellow player's hands.
...to set down more than one barrel (per player) in front of yourself.
...to put a barrel that you have already set down in front of yourself back on the mountain plateau.
...to keep shaking or holding further barrels once you have already set a barrel down in front of yourself. Every player must immediately put back onto the mountain plateau any barrel they do not want to set down in front of themselves, so that it is available to the other players too.

Phase 3: Moving and Banishing the Apprentice Wizards

Now all players who achieved an effective shaking-magic (in phase 2) move, one after another, one of their own apprentice wizards forward, clockwise.

Move distance: the secret number states how many fields one of your own apprentice wizards is moved forward.

Example: the magic dice show the number 8. Beatrix Blue has chosen the barrel with the number 9, Roswitha Red the 6, Gustav Yellow the 4, Guildo Green the 2.

Beatrix may not move: her secret number is higher than the magic number. She immediately puts her barrel back on the mountain plateau.

Roswitha goes first. She moves any one of her own apprentice wizards 6 fields.

Then follows Gustav. His move distance is 4 fields.

Finally Guildo moves 2 fields.

The Great Book of Movement-Magic Law

It is forbidden...

...to move apprentice wizards backward (counterclockwise).
...to move past your own destination city.
...to split the move distance across several apprentice wizards.
...to move apprentice wizards into cities of other colors or onto starting fields.
...to let fields go unused. The only exception: whoever moves a game piece into their destination (their own city) may let any surplus fields go unused (see Example A). Any number of apprentice wizards - regardless of color - may stand on any running field.

Whoever has moved their apprentice wizard puts their rumble-barrel back on the mountain plateau. Before the new round, all 13 barrels are shuffled there again.

Banishing the Apprentice Wizards

Apprentice wizards are banished whenever they are passed or caught up to outside their own protective zone by an opposing apprentice wizard.
Banished apprentice wizards are immediately put back on their starting field.
Apprentice wizards standing on protective fields (fields of their own color) cannot be banished.
Your own apprentice wizards are never banished.
Whoever starts their move from a field on which other apprentice wizards also stand (starting at the same level) may not banish those.
If the moving player overlooks banishing an apprentice wizard during their move, that apprentice wizard is lucky - it does not have to go back to its starting field.

Game End and Winner

The Zapp Zerapp Pro Version: The Carry-Along Fields

The following rules apply:

On carry-along fields of your own color, apprentice wizards are protected from banishment - just like on your own protective fields.
Apprentice wizards standing on carry-along fields of another color are not carried along, but banished.
Whoever passes apprentice wizards (even their own!) standing on carry-along fields of their own color may carry them along if they wish. They may freely decide whether to carry along one, several, all, or none of them.
Carrying along apprentice wizards always ends on the field which your own apprentice wizard regularly reaches during the current move.
If an apprentice wizard reaches its destination city, it sets down all the carried-along apprentice wizards of its fellow players on the running field in front of its city. However, its own carried-along apprentice wizards may come along into the destination city.
Foreign apprentice wizards may also be carried along past their own destination city, so that they must go around the mountain once more in order to reach their city.
Whoever starts their move on a carry-along field may not carry along any apprentice wizards from that carry-along field.
You may also carry along when coming from the starting field (unlike banishing, see above).

Example for the Pro Version

Magic number: 8. Secret numbers of the players (as shown on their chosen barrels): Guildo Green has the highest, followed by the others in turn order.

Beatrix Blue follows; she decides to move her apprentice Blue 3, since she can reach her protective zone with it. Beatrix carries Red 2 along, past its carry-along field at the red destination city.

Finally Roswitha Red moves, with her 2 move points, from the starting field onto a blue field.