How to Play Fort | Rules & Setup Guide

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Determine starting player

Randomly select the first player and seating order, then give the first player card to the starting player

Gather resources

Collect all 30 pizza tokens and 30 toy tokens into a common supply

Distribute player components

Each player receives a player board, 2 best friend kid cards (marked with B on the back of their player board), and score/fort level markers matching their board color

Place score markers

Each player places their score marker on the "0" space of the victory track

Place fort level markers

Each player places their fort level marker on the "0" space of their player board's fort level track

Position macaroni sculpture

Place the macaroni sculpture card next to the victory track

Prepare made-up rule cards

Shuffle all 11 made-up rule cards and place a number equal to players plus one face-down in a pile, returning extras to the box

Prepare perk cards

Shuffle all 9 perk cards and deal a number equal to players plus one face-up in a row, returning extras to the box

Create the park deck

Shuffle all 60 kid cards face-down to form the park deck, placed next to the victory track

Set up the park

Deal 3 kid cards from the park deck face-up in a row below the victory track

Draw starting cards

Each player draws 8 kid cards from the park deck (players may look at their own cards)

Build starting deck

Each player shuffles their 8 kid cards with their 2 best friend cards to form their own face-down deck

Draw opening hand

Each player draws 5 kid cards from their own deck

Draft starting cards

Instead of keeping all 8 drawn cards, each player simultaneously selects one card to keep face-down, then passes remaining cards to the player on their left

Complete the draft

Repeat the selection and passing process eight times until each player has 8 cards, never passing cards previously kept

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Skip first turn

Skip this phase during your first turn of the game

Discard your yard

Discard all cards from your yard (above your player board) face-up into your discard pile (right of player board)

Play a card

Play one card from your hand as your played card, or skip this phase if you cannot or choose not to play

Use card actions

Use one or both actions on your played card (public and/or private) in any order, completing one action before starting another

Add suits to boost actions

If an action shows an × followed by a suit icon, play additional cards of matching suit from your hand or lookout to multiply the effect

Fully complete one action

You must fully complete at least one action, including any suits added to boost it

Partially use second action

After fully completing one action, you may partially or fully use the other action in any order

Follow public actions

After the leader completes their card, other players in turn order may follow the leader's public action by discarding one matching suit card from their hand

Match the suit

Discard a card with at least one suit matching the leader's played card to follow

Complete the full action

When following, you must fully complete the public action

Follow coin cards

If the leader played a coin card, the leader chooses its suit and followers must discard that specific suit

Match leader's choice

If the leader chose between pizza or toys, followers must collect the same resource type the leader chose

Use multi-suit cards

When following with a dual-suit card where both suits match, count both suits if the action includes a × multiplier

Recruit one card

You must recruit exactly one card into your discard pile using one of three methods

Take from park

Take any card from the park and immediately draw a replacement from the park deck

Take from any yard

Take any card from any player's yard without drawing a replacement

Draw from park deck

Draw one card from the top of the park deck

Discard played cards

Discard all played and added cards plus any best friend cards remaining in hand to your discard pile

Place hand in yard

Place all remaining cards from your hand into your yard face-up, turned away from you

Draw five cards

Draw 5 cards from your own deck

Reshuffle when empty

If your deck is empty, shuffle your discard pile to form a new draw deck and continue drawing

Upgrade your fort

Use the fort upgrade action to pay resources shown between your current and next level from your stuff and/or pack

Gain lookout capacity

Each fort level allows one additional card in your lookout and one additional resource in your pack

Reach level 1

When reaching level 1, secretly choose a made-up rule card from the center pile and place it face-down in front of you

Reach level 2

When reaching level 2, choose a face-up perk card from the center row and place it in front of you

Reach level 5

When reaching level 5, take the macaroni sculpture card if available, triggering end game and scoring 4 points at game end

Winning

How to claim victory.

Trigger end game conditions

The game ends when any of these occur: a player reaches 25+ victory points on the track, a player's fort reaches level 5, or the park deck runs out

Complete the round

After triggering end game, the current leader finishes their turn, then all remaining players complete their turns so everyone plays the same number of turns

Reveal made-up rules

Each player reveals their made-up rule card if they have one

Calculate final score

Add points from: victory track position, fort level points, made-up rule points (if any), and macaroni sculpture (4 points if owned)

Determine the winner

The player with the most victory points wins the game

Break ties with fort level

In case of a tie, the player with the higher fort level wins

Share victory if still tied

If still tied after comparing fort levels, the tied players share the victory