Welcome to the Lockup Solo Rules
Hey there! I’m here to give you the lowdown on how to play Lockup Solo. It’s a fun game that you can enjoy all by yourself, so let’s dive in!
Contents
Setting Up
First things first, let’s get set up. You’re going to need some game components, including a game board, worker tokens, and character cards. Take a moment to gather everything you need before we get started.
Understanding the Game
Lockup Solo is a strategic game where you take on the role of a gang leader in a fantasy prison. Your goal is to gain as much influence as possible by recruiting and assigning your gang members to different locations in the prison. Each character card has unique abilities that can help you in your quest.
Gameplay
Now that you know the basics, let’s talk about gameplay. The game is played over a series of rounds, and each round consists of three phases: The Morning Roll Call, The Afternoon Worker Assignments, and The Evening Lockup.
During The Morning Roll Call, you will roll a set of dice to determine the available actions for the round. The dice results will determine which locations you can send your workers to.
The Afternoon Worker Assignments is where the real action happens. This is when you will assign your workers to different locations in the prison. Each location has unique benefits and rewards, so choose wisely!
Finally, we have The Evening Lockup. This is when you will collect your rewards, resolve any conflicts that may have arisen, and prepare for the next round. The game continues in this way until the end condition is met.
Scoring
At the end of the game, your score will be based on the amount of influence you have gained. Influence is earned by assigning workers to key locations and completing objectives. The player with the highest score is the winner!
Conclusion
So there you have it – the Lockup Solo Rules! Now that you understand how to play, it’s time to dive into the world of the fantasy prison and see if you have what it takes to come out on top. Have fun and good luck!
I’m here to talk about the guard board. It’s a pretty important piece of equipment that helps the guards keep track of their power cubes, suspicion cubes, and resource cubes. And that’s not all – it also helps organize the item cards and goon cards that the guards earn as they go about their business.
The Guard Deck
When it comes to Kulbak Prison, the “screws” are a big deal. They are the corrupt guards who make life difficult for the prisoners. The guard deck is what represents these troublesome individuals. It consists of 12 cards that represent the guards. In each game, seven cards are always used, while the remaining five cards will change depending on how difficult you want the game to be. You can choose between three levels of difficulty: moderate, challenging, or expert.
The Deck that Represents the Location
In the game, there’s a special deck called the location deck. This deck has eight cards, and six of them show different places in the prison. These places are the exercise yard, the sewers, the infirmary, the smithy, the commissary, and the chow hall. The other two cards are called OFF DUTY cards. They have a different function.
Now I’ll explain how to set up the game for Solitary Mode. There are a few things you need to do differently in this mode. Firstly, you don’t use an instant goal card. Secondly, you remove four specific cards from the tome deck: both “Big Book of Stealth” cards and both “Cutthroat Crafting” cards. These cards won’t be in the game.
In Solitary Mode, you’ll also need to place a reputation marker on the “10” space of the reputation track. This marker represents the guards, so choose a different color for it. You don’t need any other components of that color. Everything else should be put back in the game box.
If you want to make the game more challenging, you can play with the advanced setup in solitary mode. In this setup, you’ll place the guards’ reputation marker on the “20” space of the reputation track instead of the “10” space.
Now let’s talk about the Roll Call Phase in Solitary Mode.
When we begin this phase, we get to do something important—draw and put a special card facedown at seven different places. Those places are the exercise yard, the sewers, the infirmary, the smithy, the commissary, the chow hall, and the cell block. We put the cards in that order, from smallest number to biggest number. Then we take the five remaining special cards and put them back in the deck, face down.
For most of this phase, we take turns—me and the guards. We start with whoever has the special marker for going first.
When the Guards Take Their Turns: On each turn, I get to pick one of the special cards and turn it over so we can see what it is. Then I turn over the top card of the deck for the place that the special card belongs to.
- If the card for the place tells me a specific spot to put a card, I take the top card from the deck for the guards and put it where it says.
- But if the card for the place says “OFF DUTY,” then nothing happens. We just move on.
Player Turns: When it’s my turn, I get to decide where my crew tokens go. I can put them on one location or spread them out across different locations. This is how the game goes for everyone.
After I’ve placed all my crew tokens, my turn is over. The guards don’t get another chance to move or do anything.
Note: If I decide to use the “Atlas of Hideouts” tome card, I can choose to reveal a guard card instead of looking at one of my crew tokens. It’s just a special rule for this situation because guards don’t have crew tokens.
Solo Play – Darkness Descends
Now it’s time to resolve all the locations one by one, just like in a multiplayer game. However, there are special rules for the guards in certain locations.
Canteen
If the guards are the strongest faction in the prison, they get rewarded with an extra resource cube of the type they have the least. But what happens if they have a tie between multiple types? Well, they’ll go for the rarest type among them (gold is the rarest, followed by iron, potions, and scrap). But if the guards are not the strongest, they don’t get any reward.
Mess Hall
If the guards are the dominant force in the prison, they can confiscate two goon cards that have the highest number of suspicion icons, without having to spend any resources.
If there are several baddies with the most suspicion icons, we, the guards, will go after the baddie at the lowest-numbered location (in other words, the one closest to the SEWERS location). But if we, the guards, are there and we don’t have the most strength, we don’t catch a thing.
Remember: When we, the guards, catch a baddie card, we also get to use any special effects or valuable items shown on the card. And if the special effect lets us draw a tome card, we get one reputation star instead.
Inside the Jail
If we, the guards, can make an item, we do it, using the resources we need. We always pick the item with the most reputation, whether it’s from the item display or from our own stash.
If we have to choose between a few items with the same reputation value, we pick the one that’s closest to the deck of items.
Note: If guards can use any resource to craft an item, they’ll choose the least rare resource they have (Gold > Iron > Potions > Scrap).
If guards can’t craft an item, they’ll reserve one without spending a resource. They’ll always choose the item with the highest reputation value. If multiple items have the same reputation value, they’ll choose the one closest to the item deck.
Library
Guard cards aren’t placed directly at the library, but they can be moved there if they don’t earn a reward at another location. If the guards have the highest or second highest strength, they earn one reputation star instead of drawing any tome cards.
Solitary Mode – Patrol Phase
Here are the changes for this phase:
Storage Limits
When I play the game, I need to make sure I don’t exceed my storage limit by discarding any excess resources. But here’s the thing, the guards don’t have any storage limit, lucky them!
Let’s Talk about Raids
If I happen to have the most suspicion cubes, well, that’s not good news. I’ll lose six reputation stars, and all suspicion cubes, both mine and the guards’, go back to the supply. It’s a real setback.
Now, if the guards are the ones with the most suspicion cubes, they will also lose six reputation stars. But here’s the twist: only the guards’ cubes go back to the supply, mine stay put. Phew!
But, if by some chance, the guards and I have the same number of suspicion cubes, well, no one loses any reputation stars. It’s a tie! And all the suspicion cubes go back to the supply. Crisis averted!
Time to Reshuffle the Decks
As we near the end of the game, it’s time to shuffle things up. We return all the location cards to the location deck and give it a thorough shuffle. Same goes for the guard cards – back into the guard deck they go and a good shuffle is in order.
The End of the Game
So, there you have it. By following these rules and strategies, you’ll have a chance to come out on top in this exciting game. Good luck!
Once I complete six rounds, the game comes to an end. But before it’s over, I get to initiate one final raid, no matter how many suspicion cubes are left in the supply. And then, just like in a two-player game, it’s time for the final scoring.
There’s one exception though: The guards don’t earn any reputation stars for the scrap cubes, potion cubes, or iron cubes left over. However, they do score two reputation stars for each gold cube they have left.
Once the final scoring is done, it’s time to see who wins. If I have more reputation stars than the guards, then I’m the winner! But if the guards have more reputation stars than me, well, they win. And if we end up in a tie, the guards still come out on top.
In Solitary Mode, there are some special effects to take into account:
Gain Tome
If the guards would ever draw a tome card due to a special effect, they just gain one reputation star instead.
Increase Storage Limit
Now, this effect doesn’t really benefit the guards since they don’t have a storage limit to begin with.
Exchange Resource
If guards are able to exchange resources, they will always trade the resource they have the most of for the resource they have the least of.
When given a choice, guards will opt to discard the least common resource in exchange for the rarest resource.
Solitary Mode – Difficulty Levels
Local Lockup (Moderate)
To form the guard deck, combine the seven blue guard cards with the five green guard cards and shuffle.
Ye Olde Jail (Challenging)
To form the guard deck, combine the seven blue guard cards with the five yellow guard cards and shuffle.
Supermax Dungeon (Expert)
To form the guard deck, combine the seven blue guard cards with the five red guard cards and shuffle.
On both the challenging and expert difficulty levels, there will be one guard card with a special effect.
When you reveal this card at a location during the Lights Out Phase, you have to draw the top card of the guard deck and put it face down there.
But if the guard deck is empty, nothing happens.