How to Play

Ghost Stories

1-4 players 60-60 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control Taoist monks cooperatively defending their village from ghost hordes serving Wu-Feng, the demonic lord seeking resurrection. Each turn spawns new ghosts with unique harmful abilities. Monks move between village tiles to gain special powers and exorcise adjacent ghosts by rolling colored dice matching ghost requirements. Victory requires defeating Wu-Feng's incarnation, while defeat occurs through excessive hauntings, monk deaths, or time running out.

Published 2008

Ghost Stories

Get Ready

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

1
Arrange the village
Arrange the 9 Village tiles with their active side up in a 3x3 square
2
Place player boards
Place the player boards around the village
3
Distribute player components
Each player takes:
4
Position Taoist figurines
Place Taoist figurines on the central tile
5
Place Buddha figurines
Place the 2 Buddha figurines on the "Buddhist Temple" tile
6
Prepare ghost deck
Shuffle the ghost deck and put one random Wu-Feng in the deck so that there are 10 cards below it

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Determine active player
Next player clockwise becomes the active player (don't skip dead taoist players)
2
Process each ghost
For every ghost in active player's board, resolve based on ghost type:
3
Check for Qi loss
If active player's board is full, active player loses 1 Qi
4
Reveal new ghost
If board is not full and not a neutral board, reveal a new ghost card
5
Handle taoist death
If active player loses all Qi, the taoist dies: loses all belongings, figurine placed lying on Cemetery tile, Buddha figurines return to Buddhist Temple, board becomes haunted (neutral board)
6
Check board capacity
If all boards are full, you lose 1 Qi instead of placing
7
Draw ghost card
Pick card from top of deck
8
Place black ghosts
Place on active player's board if space available, or any other board otherwise
9
Place colored ghosts
Place on board of the same color as ghost if space available, or any other board otherwise
10
Add haunter figurine
If center stone is haunter, place a haunter figurine on card
11
Check for Buddha
If Buddha is in that space, return Buddha to Buddhist Temple
12
Apply Wu-Feng ability
If ghost is Wu-Feng, apply left stone command
13
Move another taoist (optional)
You may move another taoist to an adjacent tile (diagonals included)
14
Move your taoist
Move your taoist to an adjacent tile (diagonals included)
15
Choose your action
Either request help from an active village tile OR exorcise ghosts facing your taoist
16
Place Buddha figurines (optional)
If you have Buddha figurines, you can leave one in each empty ghost space the taoist is facing (up to two if in a corner)
17
Use Yin-Yang token
Before or after marked blocks, spend your Yin-Yang to either activate a haunted tile or request help from ANY active village tile
18
Roll dice
Roll 3 white dice; you may add the grey die to this roll
19
Reroll option
Reroll once any dice you wish
20
Convert white results
Replace white results with any color
21
Spend Tao tokens
Spend any Tao tokens of any taoist on the tile to add matching colors
22
Add Circle of Praying bonus
Add one token the same color as the one in Circle of Praying (if any)
23
Apply enfeeblement
Ghost has -1 resistance if it has the enfeeblement mantra token on it
24
Check for defeat
If number of non-already-used colors equals or exceeds ghost resistance, execute power in right stone of ghost (if any), then discard ghost card and figurine
25
Circle of Praying
Place a token in the tile, removing any previous token
26
Taoist Altar
Remove haunting from any tile, then reveal new ghost
27
Herbalist's Shop
Roll 2 tao dice and gain the corresponding tao tokens; if white, take any token
28
Sorcerer's Hut
Discard any non-incarnation ghost ignoring its right stone, then lose 1 Qi
29
Night Watchman's Beat
All figurines in a chosen board retreat one step back if possible
30
Cemetery
A dead taoist is placed in this tile upright and receives 2 Qi tokens; active player rolls curse die and if haunting face, cemetery becomes haunted
31
Buddhist Temple
Take a Buddha figurine (if any)
32
Pavilion of the Heavenly Winds
Move any ghost to any space not occupied by another ghost but in the same relative position; if it lands on a Buddha, discard ghost and return Buddha; then move another taoist to an adjacent space
33
Tea House
Gain a token of any color and 1 Qi from the supply (if any), then bring ghost into play
34
No effect
Nothing happens
35
Haunting
The first active village tile in front of ghost is haunted
36
New ghost
Reveal new ghost
37
Discard tokens
The player discards all their Tao tokens
38
Lose Qi
The taoist loses one Qi

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Victory condition
You win if you exorcise all Wu-Feng incarnations in the deck and its final curse doesn't kill all the taoists
2
Defeat by haunting
You lose if 3 village tiles are haunted at any moment
3
Defeat by death
You lose if all the taoists die
4
Defeat by deck depletion
You lose if the last ghost in the deck is revealed and not all Wu-Feng incarnations in the deck have been exorcised

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

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FULL rules

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