Instructions:

Welcome to The Gauntlet! During the game, players will work together and against each other to reach the end of the game before the other players. Players will travel through different rooms, completing challenges and defeating enemies. The first player to reach the end wins the game!

Created by Cameron Zaniker, Graham Mather, and Ryan Norris

3-5 Players recommended

Cards:

Cards are earned by beating rooms. Each time you beat a room, you receive a random card. Players begin the game with no cards.

Green cards (Board cards): These cards are played at the beginning of each round. They can be used to aid or sabotage an opponent or help the player advance. If no counter cards are played (Blue cards), the green cards are revealed and are in play for the remainder of the round. The wall card is a special green card that can prevent a player from going into a room for one turn.

Blue cards (Counter cards): There are only two counter cards and they are played immediately following the green cards to counter them. Wait until all green cards are played and then declare which one will be countered. This card is now yours for this turn.

Red cards (Active cards): These cards can be played at any time and by any player during a round to aid them. They do things like adding to player health or adding to the spin count.

Room cards. These cards are placed by the rooms at the beginning of the game to show the encounters for each room. They determine what enemies players will fight in each room. To save time you can also use these cards as the rooms themselves.

Standard Gameplay (in each round):

1. All players play any green cards they want face-down.

2. All players play any countering blue cards on top of the face-down green cards and remove those green cards from play.

3. All remaining green cards will activate at this point.

4. Red cards can now be played by any player at any point during the round.

5. Players in the same room decide if they want to approach the encounter together or separately.

6. If they choose separately, the oldest player will roll for the encounter for both of them and they will face the same enemies.

7. Players will roll for an encounter at the room they are in using the room cards. The number they roll corresponds to the enemy(ies) they will face in that room.

8. Each room will go through combat.

9. Combat ends.

10. Players who have completed the challenge roll for a card and move to the next room. If a player rolls a 7 or above, they get a card. Players who did not complete the challenge stay in the same room and have to try again on their next turn.

11. Players at the bridge or the path may roll to attempt to pass.

12. Red cards can no longer be played. All red card effects are removed.

13. Turn ends.

Combat:

1. Player rolls and picks an enemy to deal damage to.

2. Enemy receives damage.

3. Enemy(ies) will roll and deal damage to the player. If there is more than one enemy, the highest value of the combined roll will deal damage to the player.

4. Repeat until the player is out of hp or no enemies remain.

Players working together can take the highest value among their rolls. They are treated as one player and have 10 total health between them. All red cards used apply to all of them. As many players can work together or separately in each room as desired. For example, if 3 players work together and two go by themselves, if the 3-player team wins, the other two stay behind.

Players working separately will race to pass the room and only the first player/team to do so will advance. If there is a tie, they will roll to see who passes. Additionally, if the player that rolls for the encounter receives a card or a pass, all players roll to see who gets the card or who gets to pass.

Players start with 10hp at the beginning of each room.

Normal Enemies have 5hp and can do up to 6 damage (divide the roll by 2 to find the damage dealt to the player)

Elite Enemies have 10hp and can do up to 8 damage (if the roll is above 8, the elite enemy deals 4 damage to the player)

If players find it difficult to keep track of health of the player and enemy, use a piece of paper and pen to keep track in each room. Remember that health resets at the beginning of each round!

Post Combat:

If lost: Wait until the next turn to try again. Hp resets to 10.

If won: Hp resets to 10. Draw a Card.

The Drawbridge:

The Drawbridge stretches from room 9 to room 10. When players complete room 9, they can roll at the end of their turn to attempt to cross the Drawbridge. If any player rolls a 10 or above, the Drawbridge is raised, and all players may cross it to room 10. If a 10 or above is not rolled, players may wait until their next turn to attempt to roll again. On each turn that players are attempting to raise the Drawbridge, the roll requirement to cross it lowers by 1 (on the second turn, the roll requirement is 9, third turn 8, fourth turn 7, etc.). The roll requirement to lower the Drawbridge is the same for all players (if one player is on their third attempt to lower the Drawbridge when another player is making their first attempt, both players have a roll requirement of 8).

If a player crosses the Drawbridge and wishes to lower the Drawbridge to block players that have not yet completed the challenge in room 9, they may use their next turn after they cross the Drawbridge to attempt to do so. That player must roll an 8 or above in order to raise the bridge again. The attempt to roll a 10 or above in this case constitutes the entirety of their turn (a player may not attempt to raise the Drawbridge and attempt to complete room 10 on the same turn).

The Forbidden Path:

The Forbidden Path stretches from room 6 to room 9. After players successfully pass through room 6, they have to roll again at the end of that turn to see if they can pass through the Forbidden Path. If players roll an odd number, they get to travel through the Forbidden Path to room 9. Otherwise, they must remain in room 6 until their next turn, at which point they must try to roll an odd number again. Players only need to complete the challenge in room 6 once; after that, they may take as many turns as needed to pass through the Forbidden Path.

Room 13:

The final room of the game consists of 2 Elite Enemies and must be beaten by yourself with no help. Multiple people can’t win this game so you may not work together on the final room.