Do I hold my cards, waiting to meld them all at once? (It’s difficult to extend a set once melded.) Or do I lay down cards at the first opportunity, just in case someone steals my cards with a sword or ends the round early? The treasures available in the dragon’s hoard. There’s a certain element of pressing your luck in Hoard that I enjoy. Players can never be quite sure when a round will end, so they have to secure their gains while they can. The dragon’s waking leads to another interesting aspect of Hoard: the variable round length. It is also tremendously fun to yell, “Bones!” (renamed to “Eek!” in the final version) or “Shhh!” Bones! (“Eek!” in the final version) cards wake the dragon “Shh!” cards lull him back to sleep. ![]() The tension of the dragon waking up is interesting, and I like that the community more or less decides when and whether this happens. And some players don’t much care which, so long as they get their three dragon cards out, which score a formidable 5 points. Players who are behind will, similarly, want to lull the dragon back to sleep (again, at the cost of their turn). Players who are in the lead will obviously want the round to end sooner, so they might wake the dragon (but in doing so forfeit their turn). There are several dragon cards in the deck that either wake or soothe the dragon, and some cards offer a choice between the two. I like the dragon that forms the center of Hoard. There are several interesting ideas in Hoard. Swords and shields? This isn’t your mama’s set collection game. Hoard attempts to forge several strands into a single game: set collection, roll and move, press-your-luck, and thematic flavor. ![]() Of course, my theme-loving friends have already checked out by this point and don’t really care who snagged the victory. Set collection games–at least among my theme-loving friends–are often viewed as boring affairs of peacefully gathering cards and laying them down, with someone declared as winner at the end. The game ends when, after any round, a player has five or more victory points. The player with the most points receives two victory points the player with the second most points receives one. Players get points for each treasure card they’ve played, for sword/shield combos, and for sets of three dragon cards. The round ends when either the dragon wakes up, the draw deck is depleted, or a player has no cards at the start of his or her turn. That player must allow the sword player to look at his or her hand and either choose a card, give a card, or both, unless the victim has a shield card in hand, which cancels the sword and grants a point. The dragon is starting to wake up…įinally, a player may play a sword card against any other opponent. Treasure chest cards (which act as wilds in melding/extending sets) also wake the dragon. Playing dragon cards either wakes the dragon up (“Bones!”) or puts him back to sleep (“Shhh!”). To extend a set, a player must place at least two additional objects of that type on the set. Melding a set requires a player to place three objects of a single type on the table. (There is a custom face on the die that, when rolled, allows the player to move up to five spaces or stay where they are.) The player can keep the card, replacing it with a card from hand or from the deck, or the player can put the card back and draw a new card from the deck. The player moves that number of spaces clockwise or counterclockwise and looks at the card. If a player chooses to move, he or she rolls the included custom die. On their turn, players may take one of four possible actions: 1) move/draw a card 2) meld/extend a set 3) play a dragon card or 4) play a sword or shield card. ![]() Players peek at the card their token is on. Each player receives a hand of five cards and places the token of their color on any of the twelve cards. Then place twelve cards from the treasure deck in a circle around the dragon. To begin, place the three dragon cards, sleeping side up, in the center of the table. The setup for a four-player game of Hoard. ![]() The first player to five points is the winner. Players move around the dragon’s hoard collecting sets of treasure before the dragon wakes up. Hoard is a set collection game for two to five players. Well, the odds were a lot more in your favor before flatfooted Don arrived, uncovering bones at every turn and lugging gargantuan treasure chests toward the cave entrance.Ĭan you make it out with the most loot before the dragon awakes? Find out in Hoard! How It Works What are the chances that the dragon will care about the few jewels lining your pocket? What are the chances that the dragon will spend his five minutes awake, expending his remarkable fury, while you’re there? Dragons are usually sleeping, and that’s how you can make your living. You just have to sneak in, grab a few things, and get out.
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