Monsters and the Things That Destroy Them: The Dark 2021

A memory and bluffing game featuring monster cards from classic literature (plus some modern ones like "hunk vampire" and "teen wolf") and the neutralizer cards that can destroy them. Each monster has an ability such as triggering the top card of your discard pile. You don't play cards from your hand; you take cards from a 4-card pool and trigger the card as you take it. At the end of the game players discard down to their best 2 cards. Neutralizers then destroy their corresponding monsters, and the player with the best surviving combination of cards wins.

GOAL End the game with the highest combined point total between your final 2 cards.

SETUP Shuffle all cards and deal 4 face-up into the center row (the Pool), and one face- down into each player’s personal discard pile. At any time, players may look at (but not rearrange) their discard pile. Choose a random “start player” to begin.

EACH PLAYER’S TURN (proceed clockwise) Draw a card from the Pool, say its name and number aloud, and trigger/resolve its primary ability. (If another card gets triggered, reveal it and resolve it.) Fill the Pool back to 4 from the face-down deck.

At the end of your turn, if you exceed your hand limit (3 cards), discard excess cards face-down to your discard pile. When the draw deck is empty, continue taking turns until everyone has had an equal number. Then Resolution begins.

NEUTRALIZER CARDS These do nothing when drawn/triggered; instead they are used during Resolution. Most Neutralizers negate the points granted by 2 specific Monsters (in any players’ hands). Neutralizers are not Monsters; their points can’t be negated.

RESOLUTION (combine / score your 2 cards) All players discard down to just 2 cards. In turn order, each player dramatically reveals their highest-number card. Then they reveal their other card. Resolve all Neutralizers. The player with the highest total score wins the game. If there is a tie, the tied player with the highest-value surviving Monster is the winner.

—description from publisher