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Mindbug: First Contact

2-2 players 15-25 min 7.6 Board Game Geek Rating

Players battle using powerful hybrid creatures, each with unique abilities, attempting to reduce their opponent's life to zero. The twist: when creatures are summoned, opponents can play Mindbug cards to steal control of them. Victory requires careful timing and tactical decision-making, as playing strong cards at the wrong moment can backfire devastatingly.

Published 2022

Mindbug: First Contact

Get Ready

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

1
Deal Mindbugs
Each player receives 2 Mindbug cards and places them face up in front of them
2
Shuffle and deal decks
Shuffle the 48 creature cards and deal each player 10 cards face down as their personal draw pile
3
Draw starting hands
Each player draws 5 cards from their personal draw pile as their starting hand
4
Set starting life points
Each player starts with 3 life points, tracked by taking 3 cards from the remaining unused pile and placing them face down (turned sideways) in front of each player
5
Determine starting player
Each player reveals a random card from the unused pile and compares power values; the player with the higher number goes first (repeat on ties)

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Choose one action
On your turn, you must either play a card OR attack with a single creature
2
Play a card
Pick any card from your hand and place it face up on the table
3
Attack with a creature
Pick one allied creature in your play area to attack
4
Draw cards
Whenever you remove a card from your hand, immediately draw from your draw pile until you have 5 cards (do this before any other effects)
5
Keyword: Frenzy
If this creature survives its first attack during a turn, it can attack a second time
6
Keyword: Hunter
When attacking, you may choose an enemy creature that must block (you cannot attack opponent directly if using this ability)
7
Keyword: Poisonous
This creature always defeats the enemy creature in combat, even with lower power (higher power enemy also defeats this creature)
8
Keyword: Sneaky
This creature can only be blocked by other Sneaky creatures
9
Keyword: Tough
If this creature would be defeated and isn't exhausted, exhaust it (rotate 90 degrees) instead of defeating it
10
Play trigger
Effect happens when the card comes into play
11
Attack trigger
Effect happens when the creature attacks, before opponent decides to block
12
Defeated trigger
Effect happens when the creature is moved from play area to discard pile

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Reduce opponent to zero life
You immediately win the game when your opponent's life total is reduced to zero
2
Losing life
Whenever a player loses a life point, remove one of their life tracking cards from the game
3
Gaining life
Whenever a player gains a life point, take a card from the unused pile and add it to their life tracking pile

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

Mindbug - How To Play (Using Mindbug: Battlefruit Kingdom)

Mindbug - How To Play (Using Mindbug: Battlefruit Kingdom)

Instructional

Mindbug - King of Tokyo - Teaser Video

Mindbug - King of Tokyo - Teaser Video

Other

MORE VIDEOS

FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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