ESCAPE THE DARK CASTLE

DISCOVER ESCAPE THE DARK CASTLE

Escape the Dark Castle is a game where you and your friends work together to break free from a prison. You’ll face dangerous monsters, tricky traps, and other obstacles as you make your way. But the real challenge is the final boss. If you defeat them, you win the game and escape the dark castle to finally be free.

But be careful! If any of your party members get hurt during the adventure, it’s game over. You’ll have to start again and try your luck one more time.

GETTING STARTED

Setting up the castle is the first step. Start by shuffling all the chapter cards, then deal out 15 of them facedown randomly. Put the starting card on top. Next, shuffle the boss cards and deal one face down to the bottom of the deck. This will be our castle.

Now, we need to shuffle the item cards and put them in the center for everyone to access, along with the chapter dice. Each player then chooses their character and takes the corresponding dice. It’s a good idea to pick characters with a mix of different abilities.

Lastly, make sure each player writes down their character’s health total. The specific amount will depend on the number of players, so check the rule book for that information.

Let’s talk about stats and symbols now.

Alright, let’s get started with playing the game! But first, there are a few symbols that you should familiarize yourself with. Don’t worry, it’s nothing too complicated. There are also three important stats that both characters and monsters have.

These stats are might, cunning, and wisdom. Might is represented by a fist, cunning by an eye, and wisdom by a star. These stats are not only important for character dice but also for the chapter dice. They will come into play when you need to defeat monsters later on. Oh, and don’t forget, there are special symbols on the dice too. They have two symbols surrounded by a shield and will have special effects that I’ll explain later.

GAMEPLAY

The game mechanics are really simple, I promise. Each turn, you’ll flip over a card and read the text on it. Then, just follow the directions on the card to complete the task and continue playing. When you flip a card, a few things can happen. Let me explain them to you, step by step.

Let’s Take Turns

In Escape the Dark Castle, we don’t have to worry about following a strict turn order. Instead, each of us gets to decide if we want to turn over the next chapter card. But remember, the player who actually turns the card over is the one who needs to pay attention because some cards will have special instructions just for them. When a card says “YOU,” it’s talking directly to the player who flipped the card.

Stuff You Can Use

When we play certain cards or take certain actions, we get items. These items are placed in the middle of the table for everyone to see. Then, we can talk and decide who gets which items. We want to be fair and make sure that everyone gets what they need. But there’s a limit – each player can only hold 2 items at a time. So, before we start the next part of the game, we have to use or get rid of any extra items we have. There is a special rule for two-handed items, though. You can only have one of those at a time. You can also trade items between different parts of the game. When you want to use an item, just follow the instructions on it. If it says to discard the item after using it, then you have to do that. You can use items whenever you want, unless a card says you can’t.

Fighting

When you encounter cards during the game, you might find yourself in a battle. Don’t worry, just follow the instructions and symbols to know what to do. Look at the bottom of the card and you’ll see a set of symbols. Place dice with matching symbols below the card. The symbol that looks like a person tells us to roll dice equal to the number of players and add them to the foe’s dice.

Once the symbols are in place, the combat begins. Your goal is to roll the symbols on the dice. When you do, you can remove the matching ones from under the foe. But keep in mind, combat takes place in rounds and has two phases.

When you engage in a battle, there are two main phases to keep in mind. First, you’ll roll your dice and try to match symbols to remove them. Then, it’s time to defend against your foe. If the number in the bottom right of the foe’s card matches the symbol you rolled, you’ll take damage. But fear not! If you roll one of the symbols with double shields, you’ll defend yourself and take no damage. And the great thing about these shield symbols is that they count as two separate symbols that you can remove!

If you find yourself in need of some healing, you can choose to rest. But keep in mind that only one player can rest at a time. When you rest, you won’t roll your dice during that round of combat, and you’ll also avoid any damage.

Once you’ve successfully removed all the symbols from beneath a foe, the battle is won, and the foe is defeated. And guess what? Every time you win a battle, you’ll get to pull an item!

Now, if you’re playing on your own, don’t worry. You can still have a great time! Solo play is an option, and it offers its own unique challenges and rewards. So go ahead, dive into the game and see what adventures await you!

If you want to play solo, there are a few things you need to do differently. First, choose two characters to play as. Instead of flipping a coin, you get to choose which character flips the card, and the outcome only affects that character. Also, any instructions that say “per player” should be read as “per character.” Other than that, the game remains the same.

THE GAME ENDS

The game ends in two ways: when a character dies or when you defeat the final boss. In either case, the game ends right away. If one of your characters dies, you lose the game. But if you manage to defeat the final boss and all your characters survive, you win!