A TREASURE HUNTERS GAME

A GRAVEYARD-BUILDING GAME
FOR 2-5 PLAYERS
by Peter C. Hayward and Kelly Jo

Your Mission
You command an army of the undead.
Using your zombie horde, beat your opponents to
be the first to collect valuable treasures!
Components
44 Brains! cards
5 gravestone cards
Rulebook

Setup
Each player takes a gravestone and places it in front
of them. Return any unused gravestones to the box.
Shuffle the cards together to form the deck.
(Do not include any expansions for your first few games.)
Deal 4 cards face-down to each player, then place
the deck in the middle of the table.
Deal one card face-up to the top of each player’s
gravestone card. This is their graveyard.
The player who most recently ate takes the first turn
and play continues clockwise.
1
 Setup Example
FOR A 3-PLAYER GAME

GRAVEYARD
PLAYER 2’S
DECK
PLAYER 1’S HAND

COLLECTION
PLAYER 1’S

PLAYER 3’S HAND

COLLECTION
PLAYER 3’S
THE PIT
GRAVEYARD
PLAYER 2’S

PLAYER 2’S
COLLECTION

PLAYER 2’S
GRAVEYARD

PLAYER 2’S HAND

Gameplay Basics
The first player with 21 or more points (17 or more
points in a 5-player game) at the start of their turn
is the winner!
On their turn, players must do one of the following:
- DRAW 2 cards from the deck
- PLAY a card from their hand, either:
- for its Action, into the pit
- as a Treasure, face-up into their collection
- BURY the top card of the deck, face-up into their
graveyard
2
 Cards

1
2
5

3 4

1 The card’s point value. This adds to your point

total while the card is in your collection.
Cards without a number (King, Queen, Jack,
2
Ace, Joker) have no point value.
The card’s effect. Cards with lightning bolts
3 are action cards. Their effect only applies
when they are played into the pit.
Cards with gear icons have ongoing effects.
4 Their text tells you when they apply. They
must be played as treasures.

5 The card’s suit and art. These have no

in-game significance.

3
 Gameplay
Each turn, you must either
Draw, Play, or Bury

Draw
THE TOP 2 CARDS FROM THE DECK
Add them to your hand. There is no hand
limit. If the deck is empty when a player
needs to draw, everyone moves the bottom
card of their graveyard into the pit. Then,
shuffle the pit to form a new deck.

Play
A CARD FROM YOUR HAND
Cards can be played in one of two different ways:

1. PLAY FOR THEIR ACTION

Cards with lightning bolts can be played into the
pit for their action. When you use a card this way,
ignore its points.
If you can’t complete a card’s entire action, do as
much as you’re able to.
For example, if your hand is empty, ignore any part
of an action that lets you play a card.

4
As soon as you have enough treasure in front of you
to win (whether this happens on your turn or another
player’s turn), you must shout “Brains!”. This tells
everyone that you will win at the start of your next turn.
If you forget to do this, skip your next turn instead of
winning.

2. PLAY AS A TREASURE
Cards which have a point value (indicated by
the number in the corner and the row of brains
down the side) can be played face-up into your
collection as treasures. When you play a card this
way, ignore its action.

Cards with the treasure chest icon have an

ongoing effect as long as they are face-up as
treasures in your collection.

Cards with a gravestone in the gear have an

ongoing effect while they are at the top of
your graveyard.

Cards with a coffin in the gear have a

one-time effect at the time they enter your
graveyard. If a card with this icon is randomly
dealt into your graveyard at the start of the
game, ignore its effect.

Cards with no point value (Ace, King, Queen, Jack,

Joker) may not be played as treasures.
5
 Bury
THE TOP CARD FROM THE DECK
Take the top card of the deck, and place it face-
up into your graveyard. If there is a coffin icon on
the gear, this will trigger the card’s effect.

TIP: If an opponent is going to win next turn and

you don’t have any cards in hand that can stop
them, bury the top card of the deck as your turn!
The right card landing in your graveyard could be
exactly what you need.

Winning the game

As soon as you have enough treasure in your col-
lection to win, you must announce “Brains!” - this
tells everyone that you are going to win on your
next turn. If you drop below the winning number of
points, let everyone know - the next time you have
enough points once more, declare “Brains!” again.
At the start of the turn after you announced
“Brains!”, if you still have enough points, you win!
If you would have won but did not announce
“Brains!” as soon as you hit the winning number,
skip your turn. You cannot win until the start of your
next turn.

6
 More Ways To Play!

Brains! Extended Variant

Instead of needing 21 or more treasure to win,
players need exactly 21 treasure to win! (17 in
a 5-player game). When playing this way, the
plunger requires you to have exactly 13 treasure.

Treasure Hunters series

Brains! can be played with other games in the
Treasure Hunters series, including Scuttle! and
Ninjitsu!. Shuffle them into the Brains! deck, and
play by the rules of Brains!
Whenever a card refers to the “discard pile”, it
means the pit. Whenever a card is discarded
from your hand or from your collection, bury it:
move it to the top of your graveyard. When a
card is protected from being discarded, it is also
protected from being buried.
Cards of any type discarded from your play area
are buried. Any cards discarded from the top of
the deck are moved into the pit.
7
TREASURE HUNTERS EXPANSIONS:
Discarded Weather cards go to their own
separate Weather discard pile. Discarded Event
cards always go to the pit. When an event causes
multiple players to discard cards, go in turn order,
starting with the active player.

SCUTTLE!:
When the term destroyed appears on a card,
it means buried from play. When the term
discarded appears on a card, it means buried
from your hand. In either case, move the buried
card to the top of your graveyard.
When a card is protected, it cannot be stolen,
buried, discarded, moved, or swapped.
Whenever a card refers to cards in front of a
player, treat it to mean in that player’s collection.
Permanents do not count as treasures.
When a disease is discarded from play or hand, it
goes into the pit.

NINJITSU!:
While playing with Ninjitsu!, you do not have to
announce ‘Brains!’ the turn before you are going
to win.
Follow these Ninjitsu! rules: as their turn, players
may play a card as a secret, or steal a secret.
Cards from Brains! cannot affect secrets. 8
 Glossary

Cards with lightning bolts can

be played into the pit for their action,
which triggers immediately.
Cards with a gear icon have an
ongoing effect, and cannot be played
for their action.
PLAYED: Whenever a card is played for its action, move it
face-up to the top of the pit.
K
BURIED: Whenever a card is buried from your hand or your
c
collection, move it face-up to the top of your graveyard.
P
When multiple cards are buried at once, you choose the
order in which they enter your graveyard. R
f
When multiple players would bury cards at once, the t
current player chooses the order in which they are
A
buried.
c
t
When cards are buried from your hand, you choose
h
which cards to bury.
A
Effects which say “any” card can target cards belonging c
to any player, even yourself. t
All cards in a player’s collection are in play. b
G
Cards in graveyards, the deck, the pit, or players’ hands A
are not in play. They do not count towards your points. p
NOTE: Cards moving in or out of your graveyard can have t
an effect even when it’s not your turn! Any time a card T
is added to your graveyard, check to see if it has a card f
c
9
 with a coffin or gravestone in the gear. Cards leaving
your graveyard might uncover a card with a gravestone
icon, reactivating its effect.
Cards with a coffin icon have no effect when they’re
uncovered, only when they enter your graveyard.

d
Sample gameplay

Kelly plays a Guitar. It is worth twice as much as the top

card of her graveyard, which is a 4.
Peter draws 2 cards.
Roxy plays a Trash Can as a treasure. Since he played it
from his hand, it is immediately buried, and moves to the
top of his graveyard.
At the start of Kelly’s second turn, she has 8 points in her
collection. Not enough to win! She decides to bury the
top card of the deck into her graveyard. It’s a 9 - she now
has 18 points!
At the start of Peter’s second turn, he has 0 points in his
collection. He also buries the top card of the deck for his
turn. It’s a Wrench - when it enters his graveyard, he may
bury any 1 treasure from play. He chooses to bury Kelly’s
Guitar. She moves it to the top of her graveyard.
At the start of Roxy’s second turn, he has 0 points. Roxy
plays a Cafeteria Worker as an action. He draws 2 cards,
e then plays the top card of his graveyard as a treasure.
This moves his Trash Can into play - since it was not played
from his hand, it stays in play! He now has 10 points in his
collection.
10
 How To Play
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
SETUP: Shuffle all the cards together to form the deck. Deal
4 cards to each player. Deal one card face-up to the top
of each player’s gravestone card. This is their graveyard.
EACH TURN, EITHER:
- DRAW 2 cards from the deck
- PLAY a card from their hand, either:
- for its Action, into the pit
- as a Treasure, face-up into their collection
- BURY the top card of the deck, face-up into their
graveyard

WINNING: If your collection has 21 or more points (17 or

more when playing with 5 players) worth of treasure at
the start of your turn, you win!

Credits
Created by Peter C. Hayward.
Art and Graphic Design by Kelly Jo.
Developed by Tom Lang.
Special thanks to Roxy Hayward, Tom McLean, Joel
Colombo, Christopher Dennett, all our playtesters, the
entire Jellybean Games team, and everyone who
supported us on Kickstarter.

www.jellybean.games
© 2019 Jellybean Games