Scare Tactix Rules:
The card game where you build a ghost army and frighten humans
For 2-6 Players Ages 8+ 15-30 min
Includes:
24 ghost cards with gray borders, 82 draw cards with orange borders, and 2 rule cards with black borders.
To Start:
Each player is randomly dealt two ghost cards and 4 draw cards. If both ghosts have 1 Fear Power, the player may randomly replace one of them. Place 6 draw cards face up in the center of the play area, with the other draw cards in a pile. Leave room for a discard pile. The first player is determined by who us the biggest pushover, and play goes counter clockwise.
Ghost Cards:
Ghost cards have a gray border and white background. Fear Power ranges from 1 to 5 and are denoted in the lower right hand corner. Each player starts with 2 ghost cards but may purchase more during the game.
Draw Cards:
Draw cards have orange borders. There are 3 types: enhancement cards (white background), purchase cards (gray background), and human cards (orange backgrounds).
Enhancement cards have a white background and state their effect. These are playable once, and then must be discarded. Enhancement cards that effect another player’s turn are played out of turn. Human cards with special effects are played like enhancement cards.
Purchase cards have a gray background and are only good towards purchasing a new ghost card. Purchase cards are worth different amounts. However, any other draw card may be used as part of your purchase cost towards a new ghost. Draw cards are worth 1 each when used in this manner. Purchasing a new ghost costs 5.
Human cards have an orange background and are to be frightened by the ghosts in your hand, with or without the use of enhancements. They can be frightened either in the field of play, or from your hand. There are various types of humans. Certain ghosts and enhancements may be stronger or weaker against certain humans. Some enhancements are playable only against certain types of humans or not usable at all against others.
All humans have a scare level. Your fear points must match or beat this number in order to sufficiently frighten the human. Once frightened, add the human face up to your collection on the table before you to keep score.
Some humans have special abilities which can be used against other players as if the human was an enhancement card. A human used in this manner must be discarded – they cannot be frightened. Neither can you use human abilities from those humans you have already frightened.
Game play:
On your turn you must take one, and only one, of the following 4 actions.
1: Purchase a new ghost for your team. Purchasing a new ghost costs 5. Each draw card in your hand is worth 1, with the exception of purchase cards, which state their amount. Only one ghost may be added to your team per turn.
2: Drawing cards. You may draw two cards from the face down draw pile, two from the 6 cards in the field of play, or one from each. Unless you draw a face up purchase card, in which case you may only take the one card. Immediately place new cards in the field so there are always 6 face up.
3: Scare a human. You may either scare a human that is in the field of play or play a human from your hand to be scared. In either case you may use as many appropriate enhancement cards as needed. You must match or beat the scare level listed on the human card to frighten them.
4: Sabotage. Certain cards allow you to sabotage an opponent’s team of ghosts, i.e. lowering a ghost’s fear points for the remainder of the game. If you play a card in this manner, that consists of your entire turn. There are also draw cards that can affect your opponents turn, i.e sabotaging a ghost purchase or use of enhancement. You may play these when appropriate; they do not affect your own turn. All cards affected by this type of sabotage must be discarded immediately, including the sabotage card.
You must end your turn with 7 or fewer cards in your hand. Anything more must be discarded. Should you run out of draw cards you may shuffle and reuse the discard pile.
Winning:
For two players the winner is the first to reach 60 points, i.e. have human cards whose scare level adds up to 60. For three players, it is 48 points. For four or more players, the first to reach 36 points wins the game.