GD: Board Game Rules

Digsite Raid!

In this game of digsites and landslides, grab fame and glory for yourself and sabotage your opponents!

A game by Justine Hamer

Up to 4 players, approx. 30 minutes

You are an archaeology student stuck in college hell, weighed down with loans and stuck with menial tasks like dusting down tiny old fragments of who knows what. You know fame and fortune await you if you can get just one big artifact into a museum, but how can you get one? 

There’s a hole in the fence at main archaeological digsite, and sneaking in could be so easy… But you’re not the only one with that idea! Make it to the artifact tent, steal priceless historical items, and get out of there before someone else beats you to it!

Game Components

You will need:

- One board 

- A set of Item Cards

- A set of Event Cards

- Four player tokens

- Four Archaeologist IDs

- Five Artifacts (Cuneiform, Urn, Skull, Votive, Coin)

- One dice

For the board, print out both pieces and glue them together with the tab provided.

Setting up the game

To set up the game, glue the board together, set the IDs in the ID tent, and the Artifacts within the Artifact tent.

They go in this order:

1. Cuneiform

2. Urn

3. Skull

4. Votive

5. Coin

Roll the dice to determine order of play. The highest number goes first, as they made their sneak check. Proceed counter-clockwise from this player. Separate the Item Cards and Events Cards, shuffle their decks, and deal each player eight Item Cards.

How to Play

Player one begins by rolling the dice and then moving forward. You may go around whichever side of the digsite you please, but you cannot go backwards and you must use your entire roll to move forward (i.e., no ‘dividing rolls.’) When you land on a square with an order, do as it says. 

The ladders act as a slide between layers, but they cannot be landed on. If you have a ladder Item Card and you land on a square with notches in it, you may use the ladder Item Card to go down a level onto the adjacent square. It can also be used to create a shortcut from either the Jail or the Hospital to the lower level.

If you land on the same square as an opponent, you may choose to initiate Combat. See the Combat tab for more information about this.

If you land on a darker square, take an Event Card. Event cards can apply to you, to an opponent, or to both, depending on what it says. Follow the instructions on the Event Card and then discard it.

Buildings

There are two main buildings on this map, the Jail and the Hospital. Landing on them normally will not affect you, but being sent to them will. If you are sent to the Hospital, you lose one turn but are allowed to leave after that. If you are sent to Jail, you must roll a 4 or higher or use a Fedora disguise Item Card to escape. If you have a ladder, you may use the ladder shortcut out the backdoor of either building.

Combat

When you land on the same square as your opponent, you have the chance to challenge them to combat. Combat is easy: select whatever number of weapon Item Cards you have in your hand and lay them facedown in front of you. Your opponent should do the same. At the same time as each other, turn over your cards and compare your attack scores. The one with the highest score wins. 

The loser forfeits their cards, whatever Artifacts they have on them, and their Archaeologist IDs if they have them. They also have to pay a visit to the Hospital, and miss a turn. The winner gets to keep whatever Artifacts the loser had on them, but not the Archaeologist ID.

Artifacts and Archaeologist IDs

On the ground level of the digsite, there are two tents. One contains the Artifacts, the other the Archaeologist IDs. Both are needed to win the game. 

Enter these tents by using the marked out entrance area, following the arrows. When you are in these entranceways and tents, you do not pick up an Event Card and you cannot initiate combat.

If you land on one of the numbers adjacent to an artifact, you may make an attempt to steal it. To steal an artifact, you use your burglary Item Cards. You add up the score of all of your burglary Item Cards and add that to your roll as you try to beat the scores of the Artifact. In this effect, each Artifact has a score, as follows:

Cuneiform: 9

Urn: 11

Skull: 13

Votive: 15

Coin: 17

If you beat these scores, you are allowed to take the Artifact and escape via the roped-off exit of the tent. You are allowed to stay by the Artifact as long as you like, but can only make one attempt per turn.

To get an Archaeologist ID, enter the tent via it’s demarked entranceway. As it is with the Artifact tent and entranceway, you are not allowed to fight in these areas. As soon as you are able to enter the main body of the tent, you are allowed to start rolling to get an ID. You must roll a 6 to get an ID, and once you get it you may leave the tent via the roped-off exit.

Winning

To win the game, all you need to do is gather an Artifact and leave via the cave. A particularly unobservant guard guards the cave, but he won’t let you pass unless you show an Archaeologist ID. So, to win, escape past this guard with as many Artifacts as possible. You can either count the first person to cross the exit line as the winner, or the person who escapes with the most Artifacts.