How to Play

Vaultbreakers is a casual, semi-cooperative board game in which you play as jewel thieves.  Gather resources, form alliances, and betray your rivals to score the most loot!

Clarifications

Vaultbreakers is a game of small nuances and interactions.  The following will hopefully compensate for the brevity on the cards, but remember this is a game of lawbreaking and persuasion: you don't have to consult these clarifications if you'd rather adjudicate as a play group.  If I've missed anything, contact me and let me know so I can add my thoughts!  Thanks for playing!

 

1) Unaffected: If a card such as "Shield of the Sentinel" says a player is unaffected by an effect, this includes their Loot, their Skill Tokens, and their Training Cards.  

 

2) Number of Skill Tokens: If an action mentions having more or fewer skill tokens than another player, calculate after paying the cost for the action.

 

3) Always Revealed Loot: You cannot conceal Loot that says "Keep this Loot revealed," so ironically you never actually "reveal" cards such as "Chalice of Tomorrow."  When you acquire such loot, perhaps by breaking the vault, they are flipped up before they officially enter your stash and are acquired.  This means a player who wants to steal just acquired Loot will know if it has to be kept revealed before attempting to steal it.

 

4) Skill Loot (Javelin of the Empress, Boots of the Avenge, Shroud of the Unseen, Pendant of Tongues): These loot pay the full cost for an action of the associated skill.  If an action only requires Brawn, Javelin of the Empress will pay the entire cost.  If an action requires multiple skills (Embezzle), these loot will only cover their specific skill cost, and skill tokens are required for the rest of the cost.

 

5) Bartering Loot: You cannot trade loot that is currently revealed.  This prevents infinite use of loot that activates upon reveal (Codex of the Ancients), and prevents avoiding the penalty of face-up loot by passing them back and forth (Chalice of Tomorrow).

 

6) Orb of Pleasures // Barbed Amulet: If you steal Orb of Pleasures from an opponent who has Barbed Amulet, Orb of Pleasures it NOT negated because its effect triggers when it enters your stash.  If you control Barbed Amulet and you steal Orb of Pleasures, Orb of Pleasures is negated because once it enters your stash, Barbed Amulet negates it.

 

7) Circlet of Shame // Barbed Amulet: If both loot are in your stash, Circlet of Shame is only negated until final scoring, at which Circlet of Shame will discard all revealed loot from your stash, including Barbed Amulet.  In short, Barbed Amulet does not protect a player from Circlet of Shame.