DIY board game gnomes. “Pest Gnomes” (Saboteur) - review of the board game. It's even more interesting with the addition

Board game

Number of players
From 3 to 10

Party time
From 30 minutes

Game difficulty
Average

Gnome Pests - board card game, dedicated to gold miners, developed by the Belgian Frederic Moyerson. First released in 2004. Designed for family play. The number of players in the basic version is 3-11 people, in the extended version - 2-12 people.

Process and goal in the board game Gnomes and Pests

During the game, one player will have to take on the role of gnome gold miners, seeking to find and cut a path to this precious metal. But it's not that easy! Not all of this industrious and industrious tribe are so eager to share gold. Other players play the role of Pests and try to prevent the Prospectors from making their way to the precious metal.
From this follows the goal of each group - Prospectors strive to dig a tunnel to deposits with minerals, while Pests must prevent the successful completion of this task at all costs, harming and interfering with the former in every possible way.

Board game Gnomes and pests: rules of the game

Peculiarities

In addition to the basic set, the Russian Deluxe edition includes:

New cards of actions and tunnels that make life more difficult or easier for yourself and your potential colleagues;
New roles: Boss, Businessman, Geologist;
Dividing the Prospectors into two opposing teams;
Cards with gold have been replaced with gold tokens with a value of “1”, “2”, “5” nuggets. Increases convenience when making exchanges.

Preparing for the game Gnomes and Pests

First, the roles of “Prospectors” and “Pests” are distributed between the players through a blind choice: the gnome cards from the basic set (with “2” in the lower left corner) are shuffled and dealt face down to the players one at a time. When playing the expanded version, only the gnome cards from the expansion are used (unused ones are placed face down on the table). The role received is not disclosed!

A map of the entrance to the tunnel is laid out on one edge of the playing area. On the other there are three cards with gold veins in a row, turned face down. Between the mine entry cards and the central gold mine card, a distance of seven cards is counted. There is a distance of one card between the central and side maps of gold veins.

The action cards and the remaining tunnel cards are well shuffled and distributed to everyone participating in the calculation:

3-5 participants – six cards each
6-7 participants – five cards each
8-10 participants – four cards each

Deluxe expansion (2-12 participants) – six cards each (before this, put the top ten cards from the deck face down).

The remaining cards are placed face down on the table. This is a gaming deck. Next to it, place a shuffled deck with gold nuggets, also face down.
The youngest player goes first.

Progress of the game

The player can either play one of the cards he has or skip his turn. In the first case, he has the opportunity:

Place on the playing space a map of tunnels to those already on the table, making sure that the cards match each other at the junction.
If, after placing a card, the player finishes the tunnel from the beginning to at least one of the cards with nuggets, then he turns over the gold card.
In the case of a gold image on the card, the round ends; in the case of an ordinary stone, the game continues, and the inverted card remains on the table.

In the extended version, in addition to the usual ones, the following tunnel cards are used:

Bridge. It shows two tunnels that are not connected to each other. Cannot be used as a turning intersection. It is necessary that at least one tunnel be connected, one way or another, to the entrance to the mine.
Map with stairs. All laid out cards with the image of a staircase make up a system of secret passages that allow you to connect this area with the entrance to the mine and other similar cards with a staircase directly. The card must not be placed next to a gold mine.
Two arc-shaped tunnels. There are two separate tunnels on the map. It is important that at least one of them is in contact with the tunnel leading from the descent into the mine.
Door card. Available in green and blue. Only a player from a team of the same color can pass through a tunnel with a door of a certain color.
Precious crystals. The presence of a crystal on a map is important for geologists. For each stone he receives one gold nugget.
Use action cards. Used cards are discarded.
Sabotage cards. They give their all in front of any players. When laid out, the player cannot play a tunnel card until the sabotage card is discarded. But the player retains the ability to use an action card. There is a possibility of damaging the lamp, trolley, or pickaxe. You can place up to three sabotage cards in front of one player, one of each type.
Repair cards with one undamaged item. Surrender to any player. Cards can only be used if there is a valid sabotage card on the table. By interacting with this card, a broken item is repaired. Only the corresponding item can be repaired.
Repair cards with two intact items. They give all their best to any player. Unlike regular repair cards, this one allows you to repair one of the two items indicated on the card.
Collapse. When using a card, the player discards one of the tunnel cards. Pests are used to delay the path to gold, while Prospectors are given the opportunity to remove dead ends. In place of the resulting voids, new tunnels can be built.
Secret card. Playing this card allows the player to find out the contents of one of the gold nugget cards, then returning it to its place. The player must not show the card to other players, but has the right to decide whether to tell the truth about its meaning or not.

Additional action cards from the Deluxe expansion.

Thief. They lay themselves out in front of themselves. Allows you to steal one nugget from any player after the end of the round.
Hands off. Cards can only be used if there is a Thief card on the table. Both cards are discarded.
Change of card. When used, the player chooses someone and trades all cards in their hand with them. After this, the opponent takes 1 card from the game deck.
Investigation. Allows you to view any player’s role. The player himself decides whether to announce this to other players or not.
Role reversal. Gives a chance to choose a player who will be obliged to exchange his role card with one of the remaining ones in the deck.
Trap. Lays out in front of another player. Traps the selected player. If a player does not get out of it before the end of the round, he in any case does not participate in the distribution of gold.
Liberation. Nullifies the effect of the Trap card. Both cards are discarded.

In case of missing a turn, if the player does not want to use one of the cards he has, then he must discard one of the cards of his choice. If a player has no cards, he retains his presence in the game and also misses a turn. Next, the player takes the last card from the playing deck. The turn passes to the next player.

In the expanded version of the game, a player can also discard any two cards from his hand to remove the card in front of him. After this, one new card is taken from the game deck.

The round ends in two cases. If the game deck runs out, and all participants miss the turn. In this case, victory is awarded to the Pest team. If, when playing a tunnel card, a player completes the path from the entrance to the mine to at least one card with gold, which actually shows gold, then victory is awarded to the Prospectors.

All players then reveal their role and the gold is distributed among the winners in the following order:

Prospectors
- As many cards as there are players in total are taken from the deck with gold (in the case of ten players, only 9 cards are taken).
- The player who built the tunnel takes a card from the deck, then passes the deck to the next Prospector.
- Each subsequent prospector also takes a card with a gold mine. This happens until the gold runs out.
Pests
- If there is one Pest, he is given 4 gold cards (with nuggets!). In the case of two or three Pests, each gets 3 cards with nuggets. If there are four - 2 cards of gold veins with nuggets.

In the expanded version, regardless of the winning team, the winners receive gold in the following order:

1 player – 5 nuggets;
2 players – 4 nuggets;
3 players – 3 each, four – 2 each;
5 or more - 1 nugget.

Additional types of victory from the Deluxe expansion.

Geologist. The Geologist's victory is not affected by the construction of tunnels to gold nugget cards. But it depends on the presence of crystals in the maze. The number of crystals on the tunnel map determines how much gold the player receives.
Businessman. Always wins, regardless of the winning side. The businessman always gets two units less than the rest.
Boss. His victory depends on the victory of any of the Prospector teams. In any case, he always receives gold, but one less than the others.
Thieves. When distributing gold, those who have a Thief card can steal a nugget from one of the players. If there are a pair or more thieves, the player who played the last card acts first

When starting a new round, players save the gold they have mined (in cards or tokens, depending on the version of the game). The gnome cards are shuffled and dealt again. The player next to the one who finished the round goes first.

Click on images to enlarge

Cheerful, playful, sociable - these are the epithets I will use to describe the wonderful board game “Pest Dwarves”, or “Saboteur” in the original. We call this game briefly - “Saboteurs”. Today I will review this exciting game.

First, briefly about the general data: The author of the game is Frederic Moyersoen, the artist is Andrea Boekhoff; the age of the players is from 8 years, the number of players is from 3 to 10 (!). It is because of this that I awarded the “Gnomes” epithet “company”. Not all games can bring a dozen people to one table and have fun throughout the game; The duration of the game is 30 minutes, well, it is always and everywhere different.

Game contents

I’ll say right away that at the moment there are 2 parts of this game, respectively, “Saboteur” and “Saboteur 2”. On my gaming shelf there is a small box from the German publisher “Amigo”, which contains only the first part. I will only do a review on her.

This game, along with the box and instructions, consists of several decks of cards:

44 tunnel maps;
- 28 cards of gold bars;
- 27 action cards;
- 11 role cards;
- 3 goal cards.

All these cards, one way or another, will be used by us during the game. Let's look at them in more detail below.

Differences between the game “Saboteur” and “Saboteur 2”

The differences between the first and second parts are that “Saboteur 2” has been supplemented with various new characters and some other properties. However, if you are playing for the first time, if you are new to board games, if you play “Saboteurs” no more than several times a week, then the first part will be more than enough for you. It is already oversaturated with emotions and game mechanics to make you immerse yourself in the gameplay. Therefore, don’t bother yourself with unnecessary thoughts, just play. And if you are the owner of both parts, then congratulations!

The big advantage of the “Amiga” version of the game is that it is maximally reduced in size and absolutely transportable to any place and at any time, box dimensions are 95×120×20 mm- this is a little larger than an average smartphone or a little more cards from “”, by the way, I reviewed it here: The first part of “Dwarves” is easier to learn and can easily be used in any company - there is no need to bore beginners and guests with overloaded rules from the second part . We just sat down, listened to the basic principles of the game and went to play. This is why I love my little box of Saboteurs.

Rules and purpose of the game

The goal of the game is extremely simple - to get more gold than your companions in the game, regardless of whether he is a pest or a normal gnome. Pests receive gold if normal gnomes were unable to dig a tunnel to the gold bar by the end of the round. Normal gnomes receive gold for excavating the tunnel to an ingot of despicable metal before the deck of cards runs out. Next comes the sharing. The game usually consists of 3 rounds.

The rules of the game are also extremely simple: each player receives a role, a certain number of cards, depending on the number of players, and begins the game. Normal gnomes, using tunnel cards, dig tunnels to target cards. Some of them contain gold. The pest gnomes are doing their best to stop them. Everyone has the opportunity to use “action cards”, 1 turn - 1 card. If a player cannot or does not want to play a card, he discards it. Try not to show the cards you are discarding so that others don’t see them, otherwise they might guess your role.

Map overview

Let's take a closer look at the meanings of the cards. Cards here are the main tool, especially since there are no other game components here, everything is built purely on the card mechanism.

- role cards;

At the beginning of the round, all players are dealt role cards (hello, “Mafia”!). There are only 2 roles in the game: an ordinary gnome (7 cards), who digs a tunnel to extract gold, and pest gnomes (4 cards), they, in turn, in every possible way prevent normal gnomes from fulfilling their gnome dream - to get all the gold from this light.

Each player, after receiving a role card, looks at it and does not show it to anyone. From this moment until the end of the round, everything is decided for you. You can talk, tell, bluff about your role, but under no circumstances show your card, so that no one knows 100% about your plans.

- maps of tunnels;

The largest number of maps in the game are tunnel maps. These cards are laid out next to each other so that the moves fit together correctly. Thus, we will dig the way to our little gold. You cannot place cards so that the tunnel is interrupted! Tunnel maps are always laid out vertically and can be rotated 180°.

- target maps;

There are only 3 goal cards in the game, and it is to them that we will dig tunnels. Two cards - with empty ore (stones) and one card - with gold, our cherished goal.

- action cards;

The game has cards, so-called. “actions”, they are mixed into one common deck along with the tunnel cards. As the name implies, action cards carry some kind of action, for example, if the card shows a broken lantern or a broken pickaxe, then you can play this card on your opponent and break his lantern or break his pickaxe (I remind you that 1 card is played per turn, then gets from the deck). A player with broken tools will not be able to dig further, but he will be able to use action cards.

Along with breakdowns (red icons), there are also repairs (green icons), with which, on your turn, you can repair broken items for yourself and other players. Of course, you need to break and repair carefully, in case you harm someone like yourself or, conversely, help your opponent.

The deck contains the so-called “cards of cards”, tautology I.e. Using the “map of cards” you can carefully, without showing anyone, spy on one of the target cards and try to determine where the gold is hidden. Further, depending on your role, you can build further tactics: either drive all the gnomes to the discovered gold, or bluff if you are a pest.

I remind you! You can't show goal cards to anyone., but you can openly recite, let them guess whether you are telling the truth or bluffing. That’s the beauty of “Saboteurs.”

The deck also contains collapse cards. Pests use them to collapse good passages; ordinary gnomes use them to destroy dead ends and other path squiggles that interfere with direct passage.

- cards of gold bars;

Do you hear someone knocking in the tunnel? This gnome wanders through dungeons in search of gold.
The main goal of the game is to get gold nuggets more than other gnomes. The winner is determined at the end of the round when all playing cards are gone.
Players will play the role of gnomes, not only kind and honest, but also harmful. Each gnome has its own goal: the hard workers need to build a tunnel, and the pests, on the contrary, need to destroy it. By completing their task, each gnome is awarded gold nuggets, which decides the outcome of the game.

Who will be interested?

The game Gnomes Pests is an exciting card game for a large company of 3 to 10 players. Thanks to the clear rules, it is quite simple to play. Moreover, it is convenient to take it on the road or on vacation. An exciting storyline and many obstacles make the game dynamic and vibrant. Trying on two roles of a gnome during the game: harmful and honest, you will feel a lot of emotions. This game will be an excellent gift for both children and adults.

Game Gnomes Pests - rules

The game takes place in 3 rounds. Before the start of the game, all gnome cards are shuffled and dealt to the players blindly. Thus, it turns out that every player, at least once during the entire game, will play the role of a harmful gnome. During the game, the gold digger gnome needs to build a tunnel, and the pest needs to do everything to destroy it. For this, the gnomes receive gold nuggets.
Each player performs the following actions: plays a card from his hand (you can play a tunnel card or play an action card). Next, you need to take the card into your hand and pass the move to another player.
The player has the right to skip a move. The intrigue is that you don’t know who the pest is until you experience it in your own skin. At the end of 3 rounds, the total number of nuggets for each gnome is calculated and the one with the most wins.

Also pay attention to the game intended for 1-2 players!

We offer you to buy the board game "Gnomes-Pests" with delivery throughout Moscow in the Game House online store. Detailed rules, description of the game and customer reviews will help you decide on a purchase. Place your order now!

Video review

The game “Gnomes Pests” will allow your company to be in the skins of gnomes, leading tunnels through the thickness of the earth to the place where the treasured gold awaits them. After all, as you know, don’t feed the gnomes bread, but let them dig up some sparkle.

But strange things are happening in the mine: either the tunnel, on which so much effort was spent, suddenly ends in a dead end, then the supports break and a collapse destroys part of the passage, then it turns out that the miner’s tools have been damaged by someone’s treacherous hand...

It’s just that some of the gnomes believe that gold is not divided into such a large crowd and are trying in every way to direct their gullible friends along the wrong route, so that they can then lay that same insidious hand on the gold.

The game was invented by a man named Frederick Moyerson. It was released under the name Saboteur in 2004, and seven years later received an addition called Saboteur 2.

The first part, entitled “The Pest,” was previously published in Russian, but passed me by. I discovered this game on boardgamearena.com, which has an online version.

Now I have at my disposal a publication called “Pest Dwarves” and includes the base game along with an addition. But since we haven’t mastered the add-on yet, in this review I will look at the basic version.

“Gnomes Pests” are in a neat box with a convenient organizer that allows you to compactly store four base and expansion decks without mixing them with each other.

In addition to the cards, the box contains two rule sheets for the base and expansion versions, as well as a small cardboard mold with gold tokens.

Saboteur's main decks contain action cards, player roles and gold nuggets, as well as tunnel cards, which include a mine entrance and three gold veins.

At the beginning of the game, an entry card is laid out on the table, and at some distance from it - three vein cards, which lie face down. Under one of these cards there is gold, under the other two there are pieces of coal. No one yet knows where exactly the precious metal is located.

Players receive role cards, which include both regular gnomes and pests. There is one interesting point here: the number of role cards dealt is one greater than the number of players. The extra card is removed from play until the next round and is not shown.

Thus, the number of “sent Cossacks” with the same composition of players may change. For example, if seven dwarfs are gathered at the table, then among them are two or three saboteurs. Even they themselves cannot say for sure, since unlike “Mafia” and “Gnomes-Pests” the traitors do not get to know each other and, just like hardworking miners, they must figure out “their own” as the game progresses.

The gnomes' task is to build a tunnel from the entrance to the correct vein. As already mentioned, which vein contains the gold is still unknown, but occasionally the dwarves come across secret cards. Having played one of them, the player can look at any of the veins and tell others what he saw there. Naturally, the pest can lie and immediately direct the tunnel as far as possible from the correct location.

The key to successful work is proper tools. Each gnome has three of them: a pickaxe, a lamp and a trolley. If at least one of them is disabled, the miner will not be able to continue digging the tunnel. With the help of special action cards, players can break each other's tools. The pests do this to prevent the miners from continuing their work. Ordinary gnomes spoil the belongings of exposed pests so that they do not twist the painstakingly built tunnel into an intricate fig that will go to the workers instead of gold nuggets.

That's all for now. I’ll write about the features of the add-on when I’ve played it properly.

More characters, features, treasures in the competitive and tricky game about gnomes, which is loved all over the world. In a beautiful metal box (it’s ready to become a gift) there is a basic version of the game Pest Gnomes, which is familiar to many, and a great cool addition. Velvet organizer, cards are thick and pleasant to the touch, and even cardboard chips appeared! Okay, then you can touch it yourself, let’s compete for gold - now you can even distribute it for 12 people.

Dwarves are known to be miners

And they chase the jewels, digging a tunnel into the mountain. But bad luck, real pests have crept into your group of hard workers! They use every possible means to prevent the team from getting to the gold mine: either they blow up a piece of the tunnel, or they break a lamp, or they make some other setup. The winner, of course, is the dwarf who collects the most gold by the end of the game.

And you don’t know exactly where the gold is stored, so sometimes you build passages at random. Perhaps there are some ways that allow you to see where the jewels are and where they are just stones.

You have cards in your hands, and every turn you can

Continue the tunnel,
Play an action card on the tunnel or another player,
Discard an unnecessary card.

It's even more interesting with the addition

When you get tired of playing the main version, put the gold nugget cards and all the gnomes in the box. Take out the rest and distribute (don’t give away your roles, then you’ll end up with a real dwarven mafia):

Now the game takes place between two teams, which, even without being pests, can interfere with each other,
The dwarf boss generally plays for everyone, it is beneficial for him that at least someone collects gold,
The businessman doesn’t care who wins, the gold diggers or the saboteurs, so he can help both, further confusing the situation on the table,
The geologist, of course, doesn’t care about the winning side, he needs to build a tunnel and find precious stones in order to then get gold for them,
Anyone can become a Thief if the corresponding card comes across, and can squeeze a piece of gold from another dwarf at the end of the round. Often this makes a big difference!

The gnomes' caves are full of treasures

In the basic deck:

44 tunnel maps,
27 action cards,
28 gold nugget cards,
7 cards of honest gold miners,
4 cards of gnome pests.

In the supplement, the cards are marked with the number 2:

30 tunnel maps,
21 action cards,
15 gnome cards (4 blue, 4 green, 2 geologists, 3 pests, boss and businessman),
Rules of the game.

It seems like the description is a children's mafia, with cards for doing interesting things with your hands. Uh-huh, now. Fluffy dreams, before the first game. And then suddenly - this is really a game about the senseless and merciless sabotage of everyone by everyone! How else can we explain that, in theory, there are two pest gnomes among the players, but in fact, I’m the only one digging for gold, like an honest worker... But the other five are looking sideways at each other, smashing lanterns and breaking carts?! And after all, they are adults, twenty years old, no less. Verdict: whoever hasn’t broken a pickaxe on a neighbor hasn’t experienced real fun. Particularly harsh gnome elders can even make mafiosi, identifying criminals by the trembling of their lips. And those for whom psychology is difficult (me, for example) can ruin the entire strategy with wild moves and nasty giggles. Oh, yes. The reward for victory is a piece of gold.
Ilya, salesman in St. Petersburg