Basic rules and set-up

Rev.10.26.23

Check for highlighted changes and updates
7th Edition 9.29.23

Have ye what it takes to be King of Camelot!

HAVE YE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE KING OF CAMELOT!
5 minute overview video of the history and play of the game

https://youtu.be/PHHjWkSB8LQ

The Quest
Capture all the live opponent’s Kings but you do not have to get a checkmate, just call check, and if he can’t escape on his next turn, you just take him!~
OR
Capture the most points at the end of a pre-determined time limit. We suggest at least 30 minutes but be prepared to play 3 hours in an actual tournament.

Set-up ( 2 decks of playing cards)
Each player chooses an army (suit) and sits in front of that army. Highest Rank gets first choice or draw cards for suit location. If you only have 2-3 players then the other army is neutral and can be controlled by everyone if they have their suit. Your CASTLE (Dungeon for captured prisoners) are to the right of the army they belong to. Set up playing pieces by following the Chess images imprinted on board, the King and Queen have a ROYAL THRONE (extra layer of protection. Deal out 5 playing cards to each player. 

Have Ye what it takes to be King of Camelot
Eldest maiden starts first or youngest squire then clockwise. Pick a card from your hand of 5 and place it face up for all to see. Replace when played. When you play a numbered PLAYING CARD, the army of that suit moves a piece up to as many spaces as the number shown within a legal chess move. (I.E: a KING can only move one space at a time. All pieces move the same as in chess.. Ace is considered one (1) square. If the played card is a KING, QUEEN, or JACK, you must move the corresponding piece: A king makes a KING move, a queen makes a QUEEN move, and a jack makes a KNIGHT move specific to their suit. You must call check to warn of impending takeover of a Kingdom. You will gain their cards and take control of their remaining army. No one can give you the King kill move and if you are setup to kill, you must give victim King one turn to defend. You may also get another extra turn for having the bravery of giving your opponent a move or playing an opponents buried/imprisoned player. You may only get one extra turn per turn. We suggest refreshing your cards on the second turn if you don’t get your own suit. You may refresh any amount of cards you have but that counts as a turn. The large square in the middle (Island) is considered one big square. You may pass thru but keep same path.

Levels of Camelot 101 (Overview)
There are 4 levels of play in the production game to become a Master Player.
We limited the (game time) to make the game more playable. When you play in public or have others waiting we suggest Demo playing time of 30 minutes. If you play someone below your level then you play as FATE until they Master the game. Work your way through all levels at your own pace to Master the game. Masters are encouraged to join the tournaments posted online.

Level 1 (1 hour) squire/damsels
Permanent Prisoners
5 Playing cards only.
Jokers are Rocks weighing you down. Refresh them when you want as a turn.
– No Guarding
– No Island artifacts
– No jousting
– Full chess rules except no castling.
– Not allowed to walk into check or be forced into check (refresh the card or make another move)
– No En Passant on any level
-since a King can not call check, whoever takes your last piece leaving you with just your King, will take your King as prisoner and your cards.
(strategy hint: all other players play that suit for an easy extra turn)
Level 1 only easy counting strategy: Whenever all players have the same points in prisoners, remove them so you can see at a glance who is winning.
If you want a slower progression try these first or go right to Level 2
Level 1.1
Giant only on the Island. Crushes all players it lands on in the Battlefield. Only Jokers move the Giant within the Battlefield. You may move as many squares as you have jokers in any direction at once for a real surprise attack! No one can attack the Giant. Prisoners are permanently gone. In fact you will be competing with the Giant in points if time runs out. If the Giant wins, your table will not have a winner to advance to another level and all of you will have to play again together.
Level 1.2
You may now walk neutral armies into check. You do not have to deal with your check if you choose.
Level 1.3
Castle Guardhouse in effect. You must guard your Castles or opponents can land on your Guardhouse and release/capture all your prisoners.

Level 2 (2 hours)
– 4 Playing cards + 1 CAMELOT card.
Some cards are not activated and you will have to burn them off by missing a turn.
-Giant only on the Island. Crushes all players it lands on in the Battlefield.
Only Jokers move the Giant within the Battlefield. You may move as many squares as you have jokers in any direction at once for a real surprise attack! Only an empowered knight can attack the Giant (Sir Lancelot, Marhalt or Galahad) releasing your prisoners and capturing the others.
-You may now walk neutral armies into check. You may actually cause a Forced King move into check cancelling his safety move.
You do not have to deal with your check if you choose.
-Castle Guardhouse in effect
You must guard your Castles or opponents can land on your Guardhouse and release/capture all your prisoners. You can not walk out or juggle out of prison.
-No Jousting
-Special Castling technique
You may now Castle in and out of check as many times as you have a Castle card. You may also do it horizontally or vertically as far apart or close as you wish. You always march the King 2 spaces towards the Rook and put it on the others side of the King.
If there are opponents* in between you would capture them!
You can not Castle thru your own armies.
LEVEL 2.1
Prisoners can escape if the Castle is not Guarded
LEVEL 2.2
Blank Cards are the Card of the Month.(listed at the beginning of Alphabetical Directory)

Level 3 (3 hours)
>3 playing cards + 2 CAMELOT cards
>All cards are now active
– No Guard allows prisoners to escape
>Blank Cards are the CARD OF THE MONTH
Level 3.1
JOUST DUEL(KNIGHT FIGHT) : Knight on Knight attacks

Level 4 – Master
All players have cards now.
>KNIGHT FIGHT in effect when Knight attacks another Knight
>Second Blank Card opens PANDORA’S BOX (new Tab on Menu)
Masters of the game must play their card if revealed or announced. This means they can’t change their mind and bury it if it backfires. They must live with their move once they let go of their player (even if they still have the victim in their hand, knowing it will go into their unguarded prison or worse to the attackers prison)
The only exception is if CHECK has been called, you may change your mind.
If you decide to stay, you forfeit your Safety Check~!
All players play Fate if they play an opponent below their level.

RED ARROWS indicate the only directions you can enter the GUARDHOUSE.
(This is the Diamond Guardhouse example)
BLACK ARROW shows the new spot where ATTACKERS stand
WHITE ARROW shows the new spot where GUARDS stand
(see CASTLE GUARDHOUSE)
YELLOW ARROW is pointing at the perimeter wall of the BATTLEFIELD
BLUE ARROW is pointing at the 2 extra HOME spots.
The ISLAND is represented in the center of the board. It is considered ONE BIG SQUARE! Put the 5 artifacts on it according to what level you are playing; GIANT, the EXCALIBUR (KNIGHT with SWORD), the HOLY GRAIL, the DRAGON, and the SWORD IN THE STONE (KING)
GREEN ARROWS (4TH EDITION ONLY) 
New positions for Bishops & Knights for Masters only.

BOARD LAYOUT DRAWBRIDGE 3RD EDITION

4TH EDTION ANOMALY  – Diamond/Spade Knights have switched with bishops)
– Kings are all in check if there is a Black Plague!

5TH EDITION CLASSIC

6th EDTION ICONS

A) Play a Playing card
When you play a numbered PLAYING CARD, the army of that suit moves a piece up to as many spaces as the number shown, a legal chess move. (I.E: a KING can only move one space at a time. All pieces move the same as in chess.. Ace is considered one (1) square. If the played card is a KING, QUEEN, or JACK, you must move the corresponding piece: A king makes a KING move, a queen makes a QUEEN move, and a jack makes a KNIGHT move specific to their suit.
Extra turns may get ONE free extra turn for playing an opponents (incl. neutral)  buried/imprisoned player. You may only get one extra turn per turn.

B) Playing a Camelot Card (101) Level 2+

Border Colours
Green to go-move it baby
Black Attack= Damage your opponents
Blue Plate Special=indicates special instructions to look up
Dead in red = something bad happens just to you
Purple Heart=you and opponent may sustain damage
Gold Artifacts= get goodies
Silver Lining =special characters
Wooden Warriors = gain extra recruits

•Coloured Dot Criteria 
      Note the Green Dot in the upper right hand corner of this Camelot Knight Card
Blue Dot means special instructions to read in the rules.
Black Dot indicates attack on your opponent.
Green Dot indicates you may make other players move or play on NEUTRAL ARMY
(all green cards have Green Dots)
Purple Dot means you and others will be affected
Red Dot means your dead only
White Dot indicates a peaceful move.
Tombstone indicates someone gets buried.
X or mace ball = an attack

Go to Menu for Alphabetical Directory of all Camelot Cards
There are 101 different legends of Camelot, some good and some bad. All the cards have a description of what they do on them, but if you still do not know what a card does, or want a deeper explanation, look it up in the Alphabetical Directory. CAMELOT CARDS can not be buried but you can burn them off if you don’t have the shown player on the Card. You can force move an opponent but they can refuse all other gift cards. You do not get an extra turn for giving opponents a Camelot Card.

C) Bury a Playing Card (Level 3+)
On your turn, you may bury a playing card. This is when you place a card, face down into the discard pile, but no move is made. The card is replaced. This takes up your turn. When you bury a card, you must move the GIANT, or if the giant is captured, then move the DRAGON. Example: Larry has a 10 of clubs, and he is not the clubs army. He does not want the clubs to move, but he wants to get rid of the card. So he buries it. He then gets to move the GIANT one step or the DRAGON if the GIANT has been captured. You may NOT bury CAMELOT CARDs.

D) Refresh  You may refresh as many cards as you have but may not move The Giant/Dragon if you refresh 2 or more. That’s your turn.

Capturing: If you land on an opponent’s piece (you can’t land on your own piece), you may capture him. You put him in your own CASTLE as a prisoner. Each piece is worth a certain amount of points. Check the POINTS VALUE page to see their worth. See KINGS for Safety Check rules and prisoner release.
See KNIGHT FIGHT (Level 4) if you attack a KNIGHT with a KNIGHT.

3rd EDITION GUARDHOUSE

 

CUSTOMIZING CAMELOT
You may change the course of Camelot by winning our monthly Tournament.
Camelot is a legend too large to be completely discovered in years. There are many more artifacts, characters, and events being added monthly to keep the game alive and everchanging. Win a Tournament and make the Card of the Month which will be added to the legendary Pandora’s Box.

DEMO (30 MIN)
For a quick intro to the game or when teaching in a public place, it is best to rotate thru as many players as you can so you can introduce the game to more players. 

Sudden Death (3-4 PLAYERS)
Stop game and add up the points if one player has been eliminated at one hour intervals. Continue in increments of an hour up to 3 hrs. max if all players are still in. No one waits more than an hour!

Time Out
Set a custom time limit for your game. We suggest at least one hour. Stop immediately at alarm and add up the points.

 TOURNAMENT
Everyone has cards, unless you decide to go for Double score by playing FATE. Capture all the Kings or reach time limit for points. Game stops immediately when timer ends. 
NO DELAYS
You lose a Camelot Card if you take more then a minute to play and lose your turn.
LEVEL 1 – 1 hour
LEVEL 2 – 2 hours
LEVEL 3 – 3 hours

We gratefully acknowledge the talents of SIR JAMES LUPO for the art design and graphic layout of the NEW CAMELOT 101 board. DUKE JOHN LYALL for printing the  production sets of CUSTOM CARDS 101 and squire Chris Bruer for designing and making the original Camelot Cards. PRINCE ANDREW PROSSER who tirelessly created the first Rule book Edition no. 1-7061996 laying the groundwork for the future expansion of the game. My daughter LADY ADRIANNA for redesigning the website into the 21st century. My family and friends who have encouraged and supported me to produce the game. Thank you God for this gift. May you all enjoy the game as much as I have enjoyed making it. Keep the honour of Camelot and the adopted code of the

KNIGHTS OF CAMELOT CREED
Grant me the strength to change the things I can,
The courage to accept the things I can not,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Camelot 1996 All rights reserved
Gov’t registered #78-122-167

CREATE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE SERIES
Keep track of every game by dating it . Use the list below to start from the bottom and work your way up to King every time you win a game.
Start a new series once you reach KING and treat the winner to  dinner!

GAMES RANKING

EMPEROR/EMPRESS
If tied at Prince play fate
14 King/Queen
13 Prince/Princess
12 Duke/Duchess
11 Marquis/Marquess
10 Count/Countess
9 Viscount/Viscountess
8 Viceroy
7 Earl
6 Baron/Baroness
5 Baronet
4 Landlord/Landlady
3 Lord/Lady
2 Knight* of the Round Table
1 Knight (Sir)
MASTER
squire/damsel

LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN……..

Like CAMELOT 101 on FACEBOOK for  updates.

Now bookmark Alphabetical Directory when you reach Level 2 and watch for  REV.UPDATES

Enjoy the adventure