Tips, Suggestions, and Rule Clarifications 

As we have watched many people play the game, we have compiled a list of Tips, Suggestions, and Rule Clarifications.   Some are simply reminders of existing rules, while others clarify the mechanics of movement and game play.  This page will help players of The Tower of Mystery to enjoy the game even more!

  MOVING AROUND THE BOARD

  It's important to remember that a player cannot travel directly from a level onto a staircase in a single turn! [Rules Page 2, last rule on the page]. Remember, in order to use a staircase, you must land by exact count on the Doorway space (the space with a key at the beginning of the staircase).  You cannot "stop short". [Rules Page 3, Bullet #4].  In other words, if you are only one space away from a Doorway space but you roll a 2, you cannot just stop on the Doorway space as you travel by.  If you roll a 2, you must move 2 spaces, which means that you "overshoot" the Doorway space.  You must try again on a subsequent turn to land on the Doorway space by exact count.  This may mean reversing direction on your next turn and hoping you roll the correct number.  Or, you may roll the Double Color associated with the Doorway space you're trying to land on.  You may have a Mystery Card that allows you to go to the Doorway space.

  When you are already on a staircase, you do NOT have to land on the Doorway space by exact count to exit the staircase.  Just remember to indicate before rolling whether you'll be going clockwise or counterclockwise when you reach the next level, and move right out of the staircase into the level in a single turn if the dice roll allows.

  Remember, if you are on a staircase and you roll a Double Color, you MUST go to the color space on the level BELOW the staircase, regardless of which direction you are travelling on the staircase. [Rules Page 2, "Moving Around" Rule 2]  If you are going up the staircase, this will hurt you, but if you are going down the staircase it will help you.

  BOARD SPACE ICONS

  Sometimes there is confusion regarding the "Turret Draw" space.  You will notice that the Icon Key says that "the Turret Card affects ONLY the player drawing it, even if the Turret Card says otherwise."  So, any Turret Card where an opponent gets money or cards, loses money or cards, or must move to another space, is simply discarded.  The only Turret Cards that are active when landing on a "Turret Draw" space are cards that specifically have actions that the drawing player can do on their own.  What this means is that about half of the Turret Cards will simply be discarded when landing on a Turret Draw space.   Here are some examples: 

• "All players who have 100 Tower Bucks or less, get 500 Tower Bucks from the Bank!" - ONLY the person drawing the card can get 500 Tower Bucks IF they have 100 Tower Bucks or less.  It doesn't matter if other players are broke or have only 100 Tower Bucks.  If this card is drawn as the result of landing on a Turret Draw space, it only affects that person.

• "The player drawing this card must swap the location of their playing piece with the playing piece of the player on their right."  - Remember, the rule surrounding landing on a Turret Draw space says that it affects ONLY the person drawing the card even if the Turret Card says otherwise.  If you drew the card as a result of landing on the Turret Draw space, you would simply discard the Turret Card, because if you swapped your playing piece with another player, it would affect them, which violates the instructions associated with the Turret Draw space. 

• "The player drawing this card must give all their Wild Mystery Cards to another player in a turret." - Once again, this Turret Card would just be discarded, because giving Wild Mystery Cards to another player would affect them.  Sure, it would affect them in a good way, but it would affect them nonetheless.  It doesn't matter if the other players are affected in a good way or a bad way - if doing the card would affect them, you do NOT do it - period!

  The Green, Blue and Red Squares are the same as Green, Blue, and Red Doorway spaces whenever a Mystery or Turret Card says to move to that color space, and whenever you roll a Double Color.  There is one Blue, one Green, and one Red space in each of the seven levels - it doesn't matter if the square has a key in it or not!  The only difference between a Green Square and Green Doorway are described in the Icon Key - with a Green Square you have the option of buying a Turret Token and with a Green Doorway you have the option of using the staircase.  This is the ONLY difference between the two Green spaces!   Remember, there is one of each of the three colored squares in EACH LEVEL and depending on the level, you could end up on either a Green Square or Green Doorway space.

  Some players try to use the Secret Passage without landing on the Secret Passage space.  This is wrong.  In order to activate ANY space on the board, you must land on that space.  The Secret Passage space is no different.  A player wouldn't get a free Mystery Card simply by passing over the Four Leaf Clover space.  And you cannot use a Secret Passage just by passing over the Secret Passage space.  You must land on the Secret Passage space in order to use the Secret Passage!

  There is a staircase going up to the Top of the Tower, but the staircase consists of just one space instead of three.  It's the Omniscient Eye.  Note that the Eye space is darker gray, just like all the other staircase spaces on the board.  If you are on the Doorway space, the Top of the Tower is two spaces away, not one. 

  PLAYING MYSTERY CARDS AND TURRET CARDS

  A very common mistake is someone trying to use a Mystery Card to stop the effect of a Turret Card.  There is NO way to counter the effect of a Turret Card if it applies to you!  Everyone that "qualifies" for a Turret Card must do what it says!  Mystery Cards can only counter other Mystery Cards, no exceptions!  You cannot stop the effect of a Turret Card!

  Whenever multiple players must perform an action or draw a card, the "Tiebreaker Rule" in the Rule Book (Page 5) is always followed.  The player whose turn it is always goes first (if they must perform the action or draw the card) and then moving to the next player clockwise (to the left) who must perform the action or draw the card.

  Mystery Cards can be played at ANY time, on ANY player's turn. [Rules Page 2, "The Mystery Cards" section]  The scenario doesn't matter.  Let's say a player played the Mystery Card "Two turret cards are drawn right now, one at a time., and they affect all players in the game except the person playing this Mystery Card".   The first turret card is drawn and acted upon.  But a player wants to play a Mystery Card BETWEEN the first and second Turret Cards.  Can they do that?  YES.  The rule is clear.  Anytime means just that - ANYTIME.  The only potential issue relates to more than one player wanting to play a Mystery Card at a time.  The tiebreaker rule (page 5 of the Rules Booklet) states that "ties are always broken by starting with the person whose turn it is, and then moving clockwise from player to player."  The tiebreaker rule also states that a tie could mean that more than one player wants to play a Mystery Card at the same time.   A player could even roll the dice and then play a Mystery Card before they move. Again, to re-emphasize, ANYTIME means just that!  This adds a level of strategy to the game that doesn't exist in many board games.

  LOSING TURNS

  Players who are losing turns do not move their playing piece, but are still free to do anything else.   They can buy or use Mystery Cards, can lose or get money, are affected by Turret Cards and other players' Mystery Cards, etc..  They just do not roll and move their playing piece when it's their turn (and they do not get to do what's on the space they are already on, since they didn't roll the dice.)  Unfortunately, when the Rule Book was printed, this clarification was inadvertently omitted, so we wanted to be sure that this clarification was included!