ESCAPE: THE CURSE OF THE TEMPLE



OBJECT OF ESCAPE: THE CURSE OF THE TEMPLE: The object of Escape: The Curse of the Temple is to activate all the gems and get out of the temple before the game is up.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1 to 5 players

MATERIALS: A rulebook, 6 main chamber tiles, 25 dice, 13 basic tiles, 5 character models, 5 character tokens, 1 gem holder, 1 CD, 25 gems, 2 booklets for curses and treasures, 1 booklet for The Sands of Fortune.

TYPE OF GAME: Cooperative Board Game

AUDIENCE: 8+


OVERVIEW OF ESCAPE: THE CURSE OF THE TEMPLE

Escape: The Curse of the Temple is a cooperative board game for 1 to 5 players. The goal of the game is to activate all the gems and escape the temple.

The game is played in real-time. There are no turns or rounds. Players have a total of 10 minutes to roll dice as quickly as possible and complete objectives as they go. The players can only win, however, if everyone makes it out of the temple.   

SETUP

Take the starting and exit tiles and place them to the side. Shuffle the remaining tiles to create a draw pile. Place the starting token centrally and draw and add 2 additional tiles to the sides of the starting tile.  Take the top 4 tiles and shuffle the exit tile into them and place them on the bottom of the draw pile. If only one player is playing place the exit tile randomly into the center of the draw pile.

Next place a number of gems into the gem holder for the number of players playing. For 1 to 2 players put 7 gems in the holder, for 3 players 11 gems, for 4 players 14 gems, and for 5 players 16 gems.

Each player will choose a character color. They will place their character model in the starting room, and the same colored token in front of themselves. They will also take 5 dice and the escape token of the same color. If only one player is playing, they will take 7 dice instead of the usual 5.

Next players should play the CD, which will both give them an introduction to the game and a 10-minute timer of music.

Tile Types and Dice Faces

There is a section in the rule book that tells you all the different meanings of various symbols and tokens that show up in rooms and on dice.

GAMEPLAY

Players all perform their actions simultaneously and as fast as possible. Depending on the dice rolled players may do any of the following actions. They may enter a room, find a new room, activate a gem, escape, or provoke fate.

Players will use the dice they rolled for the action associated with it and reroll it. dice may also be set aside for later use. These dice that are purposely set aside may also be rerolled at any time.

When entering a room, you can only enter and exit through an unblocked door.

When finding a new room, you will exit an unblocked door leading to nothing, a new room is drawn and added.

To activate gems, you must reach the needed number of specified dice faces. Other adventures in this room may help in this. If completed take out the number of gems specified and place them in the room.

If a player reaches the exit, they can room a specified number of keys to leave. If they succeed, they may give a remaining adventure one of their dice which they may use immediately.

If provoking fate you may take a gem from a room and place it back in the holder. All players must agree to allow this. This allows that player to reroll all their black-masked dice. This can only be done twice a game.

END OF GAME

The game ends after 10 minutes. If all gems are activated and all players have escaped the players win, but if anyone remains in the temple, you all lose.   

Amber Crook
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