601105046 - Board game Zoch - Free user manual and instructions

USER MANUAL 601105046 Zoch

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Illustration of a character playing a game with coin stacks and a central black bomb, surrounded by other coins (no text or symbols)

SPIELZIEL

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SPIELABLAUF

Game board scene with Chinese characters and game icons, including a red arrow labeled '50' and blue figures on a checkered board.

Illustration of a stylized robot head with black wheels and glowing elements (no text or symbols)

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by Tanja and Sara Engel

A DIABOLICAL GAME FOR

2 TO 6 HEAVEN-STORMERS 10 YEARS AND UP

If you try to pull coal out of the fire, you can burn your fingers pretty easily. So would it not be very tempting to make a bet with the devil and, if you win, turn an infernal blaze into cool gold?

MATERIALS

1 gameboard 6 pawns

70 betting chips with the following values:

16 x 16 x 8 x 12 x 8 x 6 x 4 x

48 coal pieces (round black tokens) with the following values:

2 x 3 x 7 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x

100 75 50 25 20 10

Illustration of a character in red costume playing a game with black stones and coin stacks around it (no text or symbols)

OBJECT OF THE GAME

The player who rips off the devil and has betting chips worth the highest total value in the end wins the game! To this end, each player wants to get as much coal as possible out of the oven without running into the devil. You can get even richer if you bet smartly beforehand. In these „devil's bets," you can rake in a profit if you have a good sense of how much coal a single player can draw out of the fire. But if you bet too much, you will forfeit your entire stake...

SET-UP

• Mix all 48 coal pieces well and lay them out face down in the oven (illus. 2).
• Each player chooses a color and puts his pawn on space 200.
• Each player gets betting chips as seed capital worth a total of 200 in the following denominations:

1x

1x

2x

1x

- The remaining betting chips are sorted and put aside at the edge of the gameboard. They form the bank, which is administered by an utterly trustworthy player; here chips can be exchanged throughout the entire game.

Illustration of a traditional Chinese teapot with black circular beads and decorative elements (no text or symbols)

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COURSE OF THE GAME

Each game round consists of four phases that are always played in the same order, one after the other:

1. The devil's bet (page 6)
2. Pulling coal out of the fire (page 6)
3. Determining the winnings (page 7)
4. Placing one's pawn (page 8)

Phase 1: The Devil's Bet

The players bet on how much coal a single player can draw out of the fire without revealing a devil.

This is how the bets are made:

• All players make their own bet at the same time.
• To this end, each player places his own betting chips.
• Each player takes the chips he wants to use for his bet into his closed fist so that the other players can't see the amount he has chosen.
• All players open their fists simultaneously, call out the amount they bet and lay down the wager in front of them, easily visible (and clearly separated from the chips they have not used).

Example (illus. 3): Gordon thinks that at least one player is capable of revealing coal with a total value of 100 without encountering the devil. Therefore, he places 100 worth of chips. Petra bets on a coal amount of 120. Lucy is even more optimistic and places 140. The cautious Saul bets 60.

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This is how you win bets:

- Each player wins his bet only if an amount equal to or higher than his stake can be pulled out of the fire in phase 2 by at least one player.

No betting chips?

If a player does not own any betting chips at present, he does not join the bet in the current game round. But in phase 2, he pulls as much coal out of the fire as all the other players.

Phase 2: Pulling Coal Out of the Fire

In the first game round, the player with the most fiery cheeks opens this phase. In each of the subsequent game rounds, the starting player right is passed to the left. On your turn, you reveal a piece of coal on the game board. If you haven't turned over a devil, you may then decide whether you voluntarily end your turn or turn over another piece of coal and add up the value of the revealed pieces aloud. You continue doing this until you voluntarily end your turn or uncover a devil.

Ending your turn voluntarily

If you voluntarily end your turn, you take all the coal pieces you have just revealed from the gameboard, put them in front of you, well visible, and call out the result. This is your coal amount for the current round.

Revealing a devil

If you turn over a devil, you burn your fingers and must end your turn. This makes the coal you have revealed worthless. You place it (and the devil) face down at the edge of the gameboard.

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illus. 4: Gordon finds a devil. With this, the coal pieces he has revealed are no longer worth 90, but 0.

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illus. 5: Petra has more luck: She reaches the value of 135 with only 3 revealed coal pieces.

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illus. 6: Lucy's attempt fails, since she encounters a devil.

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illus. 7: Saul reveals 4 coal pieces and is content with a coal amount of 50.

After each player has had one turn, phase 2 ends.

• It can occur – very rarely – that a player pulls the last coal piece out of the fire. This ends his turn. All players who haven't had a turn yet make a coal amount of 0.
• Revealing a devil does not affect your own bet: If you reveal a devil, you can win or lose your bet as any other player can.
• Whenever a devil is revealed, all those players who have made a "deal with the devil" are paid off (see page 8: "The Pact with the Devil").

Phase 3: Determining the Winnings

After all players have pulled coal out of the fire, all bets are resolved in turn, one after another, beginning with the starting player. This is done in the following way:

• Determine the highest amount of coal. This is the highest total value of coal pieces that any single player could lay down in front of him during this round.
  (Players who have revealed a devil put no coal pieces down in front of them.)
• Now each player compares his own stake with this highest coal amount of the round.

Losing your stake:

If your own bet has exceeded the highest coal amount of the current round, you have lost the bet and your entire stake goes to the bank.

Winning the bet:

If the highest coal amount is equally high or higher than your own stake, you have won the bet.

Winners of the bet may keep their stake and get the same amount from the bank in addition.

Winning double:

Players who are able to win the highest bet in the current game round even get twice the amount (of his stake) paid by the bank. If the highest bet of the round is lost, no player gets the amount paid double. If several players have bet the same highest amount, each of them gets twice the amount from the bank if the bet was successful.

Example: Petra has pulled coal with a total value of 135 out of the fire without revealing a devil. Since no other player exceeds her result, this is the highest coal amount for the round. Saul, Gordon and Petra have won their bet, since their stakes (60, 100, 120) are not higher than the highest coal amount of the round. They take their stake back and each gets the amount bet from the bank (Petra: 120, Gordon: 100, Saul: 60). Lucy loses her bet, since her stake was too high (140 instead of 135).

If her bet had been successful, Lucy would have obtained twice the amount (280) from the bank, since it would have been the highest bet of the round. Petra's successful bet was lower than Lucy's bet. Therefore, Angela receives only the basic winning amount.

In addition, two BONUSES are granted in each game round:

Bonus for the highest coal amount:

The player who was able to lay down the highest coal amount in front of him receives betting chips worth 50 from the bank. This can apply also to several players.

Bonus for the most coal pieces:

The player who was able to lay down the most coal pieces in front of him receives betting chips worth 50 from the bank. This can apply also to several players. The value of the coal pieces doesn't play any role in this bonus.

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It is possible for a player to get both bonuses (50 + 50 = 100).

Example: Petra obtains 50 for the highest devil-free revealed coal amount (135). And Saul also gets an additional 50 for the most devil-free revealed coal pieces (4).

Note: Losers of the bet might still have revealed the highest amount and/or the most coal pieces of the round without revealing a devil; in this case, they get paid chips.

Phase 4: Placing One's Pawn

Each player adds up all his own betting chips. However, he doesn't make the result known. Instead, he moves his pawn on the gameboard to the space that lies between the two number spaces that are on both sides of his result. If his assets exactly match a value shown there, he places his pawn directly on the respective number space.

Example: The total of Petra's betting chips is worth 370. Consequently, she puts her pawn between the spaces 300 and 500. Saul places his pawn there, too, since his assets are 310. Since Gordon has chips of an exact total value of 300, he puts his pawn on space 300. Lucy's assets are 60; she places her pawn between spaces 0-50 and 200.

The Pact with the Devil

You must be a "poor soul" to make a pact with the devil. The devil makes a deal only if players meet at least one of these two conditions:

A Their pawn is alone on the last position: No other pawn is standing on the same space or further back (illus. 10).
B Their pawn is on space 0-50 (illus. 11).

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Example A:

Lucy enters into a pact with the devil since her pawn is alone in last place. If Petra's pawn were on the same position, no player would be able to make a deal with the devil.

Illustration of a chess game with blue and orange pawns, a map, and coins (no text or symbols)

Example B:
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Since their pawns are on space 0-50, Petra, Saul and Lucy enter into a pact with the devil.

For the duration of the pact with the devil, the players involved have to lay open their assets for all others to see.

A player who makes a deal with the devil receives betting chips worth 50 from each other player who reveals a devil.

The amount is always paid immediately when a devil is revealed.

Attention! For paying, you may never use the stakes of the current round!

A player who cannot pay the others completely (since the value of the chips he hasn't used for betting is below 50) pays nothing. In this case, the bank pays the amount instead.

Example: Gordon has chips worth 90 that he has not used for betting. Since Gordon now reveals a devil, he has to pay Lucy, Petra and Saul, who all have a pact with the devil. Gordon gives 50 to Petra; now he has only chips worth 40 left – not enough to pay Saul and Lucy as well. Gordon may keep his 40. Saul and Lucy get their 50 from the bank.

PREPARING THE NEXT GAME ROUND

Now, the coal pieces lying in front of the players are put aside face down at the edge of the gameboard. The coal pieces left on the gameboard are pushed together in the middle of the oven. Then players check whether the pieces

all fit into the blaze (mouth of the oven, illus. 12 and 13).

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illus.12 illus.13

If the coal pieces on the gameboard go beyond the inner rim of the oven mouth, the next round is played only with these coal pieces.

If the coal pieces completely fit into the oven mouth, all 48 coal pieces are mixed again face down and laid out as in the beginning of the game.

Now you begin a new game round with phase 1.

Illustration of a bowl of black dumplings with decorative elements (no text or symbols)

ENDING AND WINNING THE GAME

If at the end of a round a player has betting chips worth 1,600 or more, the game ends. The player who has chips of the highest total value is the winner.

Authors: Tanja & Sara Engel

Illustration: Benedikt Beck

Translation: Sybille and

Bruce Whitehill, "Word for Wort"

Distribution Switzerland:

Carletto AG

Moosacherstraße 14,

Postfach

CH-8820 Wädenswil

www.carletto.ch

© 2013 Zoch GmbH

Brienner Str. 54a

80333 München

www.zoch-verlag.com