New Rules for Mausoleum

As luck would have it, as soon as Mausoleum was published, a nasty bug in the rules appeared that was completely missed during the months of play-testing that preceeded its release. Basically, the "Grave" cards were much too powerful and, especially in a five-player game, one or two players could horde them and thus make it impossible for any of the other players to win. This new set of rules not only fixes this problem, but makes the game run smoother in general, and will be the rules-set included in all future editions of Mausoleum. Thanks for your continued support, and we appologize for the inconvenience.

New Rules for Mausoleum

There should be 54 cards in the deck, plus one "credits" card. Obviously, you won't be using the credits card in the game, so remove it before you start. This game can be played with 2-5 players, although a 3-4 player game is recommended for beginners, since playing with 2 or 5 players puts some tricky and interesting spins on gameplay.

Setup:
Remove the 9 "Grave" cards from the deck (these are the cards numbered from #37-45), and set them aside. Shuffle the rest of the deck, and deal everyone 5 cards if there are 2 or 3 players, 4 cards if there are 4 players, or 3 cards if there are 5 players. Place the deck face-down in the middle of the table, and place the Grave cards face-up next to the deck.

There are three areas in the middle of the table:

Deck

(Face-Down)

Discard

(Face-Up, and empty at the beginning of the game)

Shop

(The Face-Up pile of Graves)

And three areas in front of each player (all three of which are empty at the beginning of the game):

Party

Morgue

Mausoleum

Play begins with the dealer and continues clockwise.

Object:
The object of the game is to be the first player to build a Mausoleum with a total value of $10m or more.

Turn Sequence:
On your turn, you may either
1. Draw and Play
or
2. Buy and Bury

Draw and Play:
Draw the top card from either the Deck or the Discard pile, and then play one card from your hand. Cards function as follows:

Heirs(#1-18, Oval border): Heirs are played, face-up, into either your party or another player's party. This is called "Inviting". If there are already 4 heirs in a party, another heir can not be Invited. Inviting heirs to your party is probably the first thing you want to do.

Accidents(#19-36, Coffin border): Accidents move heirs from your Party to your Morgue, or from another player's Party to their Morgue. This is called "Offing". Heirs in Morgues should be turned sideways to show that they've been offed. If there are more than 4 heirs in a Morgue, the most recently added heir must be discarded. Accidents are discarded as soon as they are played.

Incidents(#46-54, square border with ovals): Incidents generally muck-up gameplay. When you play an Incident, discard it (unless it's a Doozy), and then follow its instructions.

If you can not make a legal play, or simply don't wish to, you may discard one card from your hand instead of playing a card to end your turn.

Buy and Bury:
If the total value of one or more heirs in your Morgue is equal to or greater than the value of any Grave in the Shop pile, you may "spend their inheritances" on that Grave. Discard the heirs whose inheritances you are spending (in whatever order you choose), and move the Grave from the Shop pile to your Mausoleum. You may only buy one Grave per turn.

If the Graves in your Mausoleum total $10m or more at the end of your turn, you win the game.

If the deck is empty at the end of your turn, immediately shuffle the discard pile and use it to replace the deck.

New Rules for Mausoleum