Saboteur Rules

Saboteur is a card game designed for 3 to 10 players, offering an exciting blend of strategy and deception. The goal of the game is to collect gold nuggets by either being a gold miner working towards the treasure or a saboteur trying to hinder the miners' progress. You can purchase the game here.

Game Overview

Saboteur originated from UltraBoardGames and has been a popular choice among card game enthusiasts since its creation. The game requires 44 Path Cards, 27 Action Cards, 28 Gold Nugget Cards, 7 Gold Miners, and 4 Saboteurs.

Objective

The main objective of the game is to collect as many gold nuggets as possible. Gold miners aim to reach the treasure, while saboteurs work to prevent them from doing so. At the end of three rounds, the dwarf with the most nuggets wins the game.

Setup

Begin by separating the cards into path, action, nugget, and dwarf cards. The number of gold miner and saboteur cards used depends on the number of players:

• 3 players: 1 saboteur and 3 gold miners
• 4 players: 1 saboteur and 4 gold miners
• 5 players: 2 saboteurs and 4 gold miners
• 6 players: 2 saboteurs and 5 gold miners
• 7 players: 3 saboteurs and 5 gold miners
• 8 players: 3 saboteurs and 6 gold miners
• 9 players: 3 saboteurs and 7 gold miners
• 10 players: all dwarf cards

Shuffle the required numbers of gold miners and saboteurs together. Deal one card to each player, who looks at it and puts it face down in front of him without revealing his role to the other players. The last card is set aside (also face down) until the end of the round.

Find the one start card (showing a ladder) and three goal cards (one with the gold treasure and two with mere stones) from among the 44 path cards. Shuffle the goal cards and place them face down on the table, together with the start card (face up), as shown in the illustration below. Over the course of the game, a maze of pathways will be created between the start card and the finish cards.

Add all the action cards to the remaining 40 path cards and shuffle to create one draw pile. Deal out a number of cards to each player, again depending on the number of players in the game:

• 3 to 5 players: Each player is dealt 6 cards.
• 6 to 7 players: Each player is dealt 5 cards.
• 8 to 10 players: Each player is dealt 4 cards.

Put the rest of the deck next to the goal cards. Shuffle the gold nugget cards and place them face down next to the leftover dwarf card. The youngest player takes the first turn, with play passing to the left.

How to Play

On his turn, a player must first play 1 card. This means either:

• Add 1 path card to the maze; or
• Place 1 action card in front of any player; or
• Pass, by putting 1 card face down on the discard pile.

Then, the player must draw the top card off the path deck and add it to his hand. This ends his turn, and play passes to the next player. Note: When the draw deck is used up, the players do not draw cards anymore—a turn then consists only of playing a card.

Playing a Path Card

Path cards are used to build a path from the start card to the goal cards. They can only ever be played by connecting to a path card that's already on the table (including the start card). All paths on the sides of the new card must fit with the other cards already in play, and they can never be played crosswise.

Important: Newly placed path cards must always have an uninterrupted connection to the start card!

Playing an Action Card

Action cards are always played face up in front of a player (yourself or another player). Action cards can be used to hinder or help the players, remove a card from the pathway maze, or gain information about the goal cards.

• Broken Tools: If one of these cards is in front of a player, he may not play any path cards—of course, he may still play other cards! At any time, only one card of each type can be in front of a given player. A player can only add a path card to the maze if there is no such card in front of him at the beginning of his turn.
• Fix Tools: These cards are used to repair broken tools—in other words, to remove one of the broken tool cards from in front of a player. They can be played on oneself or on another player. Either way, both the repair card and the broken tool card are placed in the discard pile. Of course, the repair card must match the type of broken tool. For example, if there is a broken mine cart in front of a player, it can only be repaired by an unbroken cart, not by a lantern or pick card.
• Some repair cards show 2 tools. If one of these cards is played, it can be used to repair either one of the tools shown, not both. Important: All repair cards can only be played if the matching broken tool card already lies in front of the player.
• Rockfall: This card is always played in front of a player and allows him to remove any path card adjacent to his current position.
• Goal Card: If a player plays a goal card, the round ends immediately, and the goal cards are revealed. If it is the treasure card, the round is over! If it is a stone, the round continues. The face up goal card is placed next to the last path card played so that the paths fit. Note: In rare cases, it is possible that the goal card cannot be played in such a way that all the paths fit the adjacent path cards. As an exception to the general rule, this is legal—but only for the goal card.

Scoring and End of Game

The game consists of three rounds. At the end of each round, gold nuggets are handed out based on who won that round. Gold miners win the round if there is an uninterrupted path from the start card to the goal card that shows the treasure. Saboteurs win the round if the goal card with the treasure wasn't reached.

The handing out of gold nuggets follows these rules:

• If the gold miners win, the player who played the last path card (that connected to the treasure) draws a number of gold nugget cards equal to the number of gold miners and chooses one to keep. The rest are passed counter-clockwise to the next gold miner, who also chooses one and passes the rest—and so on until each gold miner gets one card.
• If the saboteurs win, they receive gold nugget cards worth a total of four nuggets if there was only 1 saboteur. If there were 2 or 3 saboteurs, they each get 3 nuggets. If there were 4 saboteurs, each gets 2 nuggets.

All players keep their gold nugget cards secret until the end of the game!

Common Variants

There are several common variants to the base rules of Saboteur:

• Team Play: Players can form teams of gold miners and saboteurs, with each team competing against the other.
• Custom Goal Cards: Players can create their own goal cards with unique objectives or rewards.
• Scoring Changes: Some players may adjust the scoring system to give more weight to certain rounds or to make the game last longer.

Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

1. Rushing: New players often make hasty moves, which can lead to broken tools and missed opportunities. Take your time and plan ahead.
2. Revealing Role Too Early: Players should avoid revealing their role (miner or saboteur) too early in the game, as it may give away valuable information to opponents.
3. Ignoring Action Cards: Action cards are crucial for both miners and saboteurs. Failing to utilize them effectively can greatly hinder a player's chances of winning.