GAME COMPONENTS

80 Parts cards 20 Midway base cards

(20 each of banners, (4 each of bumper cars,
lights, materials, seats) carousel, ferris wheel,
rollercoaster, swings)

Ticket
side

6 Wild cards
12
3
1
4
Tickets
Dice
Tableau
CARNIVAL
Reference
cards

h Think ferris wheels, rollercoasters,

carousels, flying swings, and bumper
GAME SETUP
cars! Open your Carnival for business
E For a 2- to 3-player game, remove cards with
white-tip ribbons. before the other carnies do by building
E Give each player one Wild card. Shuffle 4 of the 5 available rides along your
remaining Parts and Wild cards to form a deck. Midway. You accomplish this by
Deal each player 5 cards. These 5 cards plus the Wild become the
player’s starting hand. Remove the same number of cards as collecting banners, lights, materials, and
players from the top of the deck and place face up in a single stack seats for each ride. Then cue the Carnival
to start the discard pile.
music and watch the crowd rush in!
E Give each player a set of 5 Midway cards; each card in the set
represents one of the 5 rides. These cards are placed in front of the
player ticket-side down; this is the player’s Midway. Give each
player 3 Tickets.
2 to 4 players 20 to 60 minutes
E Place dice and tableau in center of play area within easy reach
of all players.

h h
TURN SEQUENCE GAME NOTES
1) If no cards are in the discard pile, take top card from deck and E For groups of 4 playing Carnival for the first
place face up in a single stack to create a discard pile. time, the Team Play Variant is recommended.
2) Discard down to 6 cards. E No player may look through the discard pile
3) There are two options: at any time.

a) Discard a Wild card from own hand or Midway along with E The Midway is the space directly in front of
any number of cards from hand; draw from deck the same each player where rides are built.
number of cards as discarded (including Wild)
E Wild cards may be reassigned to other
-OR-
established, incomplete rides in a player’s
b) Roll 3 dice; choose 2 and perform assigned action(s) Midway during their turn.

All dice must be When triples are rolled, the third

assigned to the die is assigned to the “bullseye.”
tableau prior to any
action being taken.

4) Begin building a ride and/or build upon any number of rides in E Players may begin construction of a ride with
own Midway, if desired. less than two parts from their hand if there is
already a single part in that player’s Midway.
To begin construction of a new ride, player must use a minimum
This may occur from cards being stolen from
of two different parts of same ride from hand (one of these
existing sets or being placed into the Midway as
cards may be a Wild).
a result of Dice Roll Actions.
Player may add to an existing incomplete ride.
E Once a card has been played onto a Midway,
Ride is complete upon collecting each of its four parts (this may it can never be placed back into a player’s hand;
include one to three Wilds). it must always remain on a Midway.
If a natural set is built, turn entire stack over to reveal the E A natural set consists of all 4 ride parts
ticket-side of the Midway base card. (banners, lights, materials, seats) with no Wild
If player has less than 3 Tickets at the moment of completing cards used.
a natural set, 1 Ticket may be taken from the Ticket discards E The four parts of a natural set can neither
and put into player’s personal supply. be traded with or against, nor taken. This set is
5) If there are less than 3 cards in hand, draw cards from deck to fill considered locked for the rest of the game.
hand to 3 cards.
 DICE ROLL ACTIONS GAME NOTES (cont.)
E Dice roll actions must be taken, but may be
done so in any order.

Deck Draw Discard Draw Hand Draw E Players must declare target of an action before
Take a card from Take the top card Take a random card taking that action to give opponents the chance to
the top of the deck. of the discard pile. from player’s hand. block the action with a Ticket (see Using Tickets).
E There is no limit to how many dice roll actions
can be taken against one player in a turn.
E A player may never have a duplicate of any
card (except Wilds) in their Midway. Therefore, in
Hand Trade Midway Trade Midway Steal Midway Trade and Midway Steal actions, a
Take a random card Take a card from Take a card from player cannot give or take a card that would result
from player’s hand, player’s Midway and player’s Midway, place in duplicate cards in any Midway.
then choose a card place that card in that card in own
from own hand and own Midway. Then Midway, then choose E Wilds may be taken from other players’
give to that player. give player one card one card from own Midways.
from own Midway to hand and place on top E A receiving player may place Wilds onto any
place in their of discard pile. established, incomplete ride in their Midway.
Midway.
E Wilds may never be left on their own
If a player rolls triples, (unattached to a Parts card) in a player’s Midway.
that player must take all three actions If at any time a Wild is left on its own as a result
of Dice Roll Actions, etc., the Wild card must be

h immediately reassigned to an established,

incomplete ride in that player’s Midway, or else
immediately discarded.
USING TICKETS
On his/her turn, a player may E Each player may never have more than
discard one (and only one) 3 Tickets; this includes any Tickets gained by
Ticket to: completing natural sets.

- + E When adding or subtracting to the value of one

die, a 6 cannot be changed to a 1, nor a 1 to a 6.
-OR-
Add or subtract one pip E Use of a Ticket can never be blocked.
from a die rolled before any Roll all three dice again.
actions are taken.
On another player’s turn, a player may discard
h
one (and only one) ticket to: STRATEGY NOTES

X
Block another player’s dice roll action E Look for opportunities to use Tickets to get
immediately before that particular action is closer to completing a natural set; this may result
taken, even if that action does not directly in getting a Ticket back and bring victory closer.
involve the player discarding the Ticket. E Remember that both Wild cards and the
Hand Trade Dice Roll Action can help cycle
h any useless cards out of hand.
E Players can only use one Ticket per turn. Take
WINNING advantage of this to get a desired card from their
Play immediately ends when one player has achieved victory by Midway by using multiple Actions against them
building 4 (out of 5 possible) carnival rides in their Midway, whether on a single turn; they can only block one of those
they are completed with or without the use of Wilds. actions.

h h
VARIANTS CREDITS
Team In a 4-player game, 2 teams may be formed. Team- Concept: Cherilyn Joy Lee Kirkman
Play mates sit across from each other. All base game rules Development: Cherilyn Joy Lee Kirkman &
remain unchanged, except each team (not player) is Christopher Kirkman
1 given 3 tickets; this is the maximum number of
Art & Graphics: Christopher Kirkman
Tickets that any team may have at any time. Dice
2 2
Roll Actions may be used on any player. The first Alpha Playtesters: Felipe Andrade, Stephen
team to build 4 out of the 5 rides wins; rides from Avery, Darrell Dennis, Lynn Dennis, Tom
1
both team members can be used toward this total. Gurganus, Zachary Gurganus, Michael
Harrison, Joseph Hines, R. Scott Horner, David
Quick A shorter game may be achieved by playing until MacKenzie, Fred MacKenzie, W. Eric Martin,
Play one player has built 3 (out of 5 possible) rides. Jason Maxwell, Charles McKendry, Jennifer
McKendry, John Moller, Ian Noble, Lisa Noble,
Advanced Players are not rewarded with a Ticket when a Chris Norwood, TC Petty III, Shawn Purtell,
Play natural set is built. Alf Seegert, Tasha Seegert, Courtney Smiley,
Marc Specter, Claudia Vásquez, Andrés Vera,
h Seth Wright

For more advanced variants, strategy notes, downloadable rules This game is dedicated to
and a video tutorial, visit dicehateme.com/carnivalgame Clarence Kirkman, Jr.
GAMES™ “Dice Hate Me” and the Carnival logo are ©2011 Dice Hate Me Games. - the Ultimate Carnie.