RULEBOOK English

O verview
S ANZEN-SEKAI NO KARASU WO KOROSHI, NUSHI TO
ASANE GA SHITEMITAI (I'd kill all the crows in the world to
sleep with you in the morning)" is an old song sung at a red-light district
approximately 160 years ago by one guest. It means "When a crow cries,
I must leave this place. Even if I must kill crows all over the world, I want
to stay with you a little while longer." The guest's name is TAKASUGI
SHINSAKU. He was a central figure of the early Meiji Restoration and
lived a turbulent life. The song expresses his longing to prolong this
amorous time even for a short while.

C omponents
43 Bird Cards 4 Time Cards

30 Shamisen Cards 4 Reference Cards

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Gam e Elem ents
Bird Card Time Card
Number Name Time

Icon

Kind &
Number
of Bird

Effect

Shamisen Card Reference Card (Double-sided)

There are 3 languages on the When players stay in the game,
card: Japanese, Chinese, and place it with the "Occupied"
English. side up. When players drop
Name
out of the game, flip it with the
"Return home" side up.

Effect

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 S etup
1 Take the 4 Time Cards, stack them according to the order of 2:00
a.m., 4:00 a.m., 6:00 a.m and 8:00 a.m., from top to bottom,
forming a "Time pile".

2 Shuffle the 30 Shamisen Cards facedown and deal 2 cards to each

player, forming their starting hand. Players should keep their hands
hidden from other players. Place the remaing cards in the center of
the table to form the "Shamisen draw pile".

3 Take the 2 "Bell card" and place them aside, shuffle the remaining 41
Bird Cards facedown and deal 3 cards in front of each player with
the side faceup. Place the cards with a same type on a same column.
Cards should be placed so that players can see the "bird type and
number" of the other cards in the column.

4 Separate the remaining Bird cards into 2 piles of roughly equal size.
Shuffle 1 "Bell card" into a pile and another one into another pile.
Place a pile on top of another to form the "Bird draw pile".
5 The player who slept at the latest hour last night starts the game.

1 Time pile 2 Shamisen

draw pile
Bird
draw pile

Shamisen Bird
Starting discard discard
2 hand 3 pile pile

Player's
birds

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G oal of the game
In this game, players play as guests at a red-light district. Many birds
gather in front of each player. The player must kill or move birds to
prevent them from crying. If bird(s) cry, that player must go home
(out of the game). The player who manages to stay for the longest
time will be the winner.

G ameplay
Beginning with the starting player, players take turns in clockwise order.

During a player's turn, he must perform the following actions in order:

 Draw Cards
Draw 2 Shamisen cards and deal 3 Bird cards in front of him.
 

 Play Cards
Play any number of Shamisen cards to reduce Bird cards in front

of him.

 Declare End of the Turn

Check the Time to determine whether he is out of the game.

The game continues until all players but one are out of the game.

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 Dr aw C a r d s
Draw 2 Shamisen cards from the Shamisen draw pile.
Draw 3 Bird cards from the Bird draw pile and deal them in front of
th player faceup. Place the cards with a same type on a same column.
Cards should be placed so that players can see the "bird type and
number" of the other cards in the column.
Note 1: Whenever a player draws "Bell card", immediately remove the
top card from the Time pile and place it back to the box, and then
discard the Bell card onto the "Bird discard pile" faceup.
Note 2: Continued. If there is only one card in the Time pile, skip
the remove action.
Note 3: Whenever a player draws "Bell card", place only two or less
Bird cards in front of him.
If a Draw pile runs out, shuffle the corresponding Discard pile to
form a new Draw pile.

Pl ay C a r d s
P
 lay any number of Shamisen cards, simply follow the instructions
on the card, to reduce Bird cards in front of the player.
Note: Player may choose NOT to perform the instructuions on the
card, but to kill 1 Bird.
Discard the used Shamisen cards onto the "Shamisen discard pile"
faceup and discard the killed Bird cards onto the "Bird discard pile"
faceup.

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De cl a r e End o f the Tur n
Check the Time card on the top of the Time pile.
If ALL of the Birds in front of the player are fewer than the
conditions of Birds crying: The Birds do not cry. The player on his
left takes his turn now.
Note: When the turn is over, players can only keep up to 5 Shamisen
cards. Discard the extra cards onto the Shamisen discard pile.
If ONE of the Birds in front of the player are greater than or equal
to the conditions of Birds crying: The Birds cries. He must go home.
Discard all of the Shamisen and Bird cards onto the corresponding
discard piles and drop out of the game.

The conditions of Birds crying are listed below:

丑（2:00 a.m.） 8 Crows

寅（4:00 a.m.） 5 Crows

卯（6:00 a.m.） 3 Crows or 2 Cocks

辰（8:00 a.m.） 3 Crows, 1 Cock or 1 Warbler

E nd of the game
The game continues until all
players but one are out of the
game. The remaining player
will be the winner.

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 D escription of the bird cards
Kind & Number Effect Pcs

Bat never cry (never cause a player

to drop out). When a player plays a
1 Bat Shamisen card, he must target Bat 5
at first, unless otherwise stated by
Shamisen cards.

1 Crow
When players declare end of the 15
2 Crows turn, Crow may cry according to 7
the number and the time.
3 Crows 3

1 Cock When players declare end of the 5

turn, Cock may cry according to
2 Cocks the number and the time. 2

When players declare end of the

1 Warbler turn, Warbler may cry according to 2
the number and the time.

When players declare end of the

1 Owl turn, Owl must cry (cause a player 2
to drop out of the game).

Bell Advance the time. 2

Note: To kill or move 2 Crows, 3 Crows, or 2 Cocks Cards, players

must kill or move the matching number of birds at once. It means
that players can not kill or move only 1 crow in the 2 Crows card.
Players can use several cards at once to kill or move birds.

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D escription of the shamisen cards
Stones ｜ 2 pcs

Kill up to 2 Birds.
Note: You may choose 2 different types of Birds. For
example, kill one Crow and one Cock.

Dart ｜ 2 pcs

Kill 1 Bird and may ignore the effect of Bat(s).

Note: You may still use this card to kill a Bat.

Watergun ｜ 3 pcs

Move up to 2 Birds to another player.

Note: You may choose 2 different types of Birds, but
you must move them to only 1 player.

Scarecrow ｜ 3 pcs

Move 1 Bird Card to another player.

Note: You may move "3 Crows" Card by using this
card, because it represents a Bird Card.

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 Cast Net ｜ 2 pcs

Kill all Birds of 1 type.

Note: When there are Bat(s) in front of you, you must
kill Bat(s) at first.

Trap Net ｜ 3 pcs

Flip the top card of the Bird draw pile and kill all
Birds of that type.
Note: When you flip "Bell card", nothing happens.

Fusuma Door ｜ 3 pcs

When you are targeted by another player: cancel the

effect of that card.
Note: You may cancel Watergun, Scarecrow, Scissors,
Pick, Room Change, and Whistle.

Mirror ｜ 2 pcs

Copy the effect of the top card of the Shamisen

discard pile OR
When you are targeted by another player: reflect the
effect of that card to another player.
Note 1: You can choose the player who target you.
Note 2: The effect which is reflected may not be
reflected again or be canceled.

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Singing ｜ 2 pcs

Draw 2 Shamisen cards from the Shamisen draw pile.

Scissors ｜ 2 pcs

Draw 1 Shamisen card from a player.

Pick ｜ 2 pcs

Choose a player and 1 type of Birds. Swap all Birds of

the chosen type with those of him.
Note: You can choose the player with no Birds of the
chosen type.

Room Change ｜ 1 pcs

Choose a player. Exchange ALL of your Birds with

those of him.
Note: You can choose the player with no Birds.

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 Whistle ｜ 1 pcs

Choose a player. Draw 2 Bird cards from the Bird

draw pile and deal them in front of him faceup.
Note: If the effect is canceled by Fusuma Door, deal
those Bird cards in front of you.

Night Bird ｜ 2 pcs

Shuffle ALL of your Bird cards facedown, starting

from you in clockwise order, deal 1 card in front of
each player faceup until finished.
Note: The effect may not be canceled or reflected.

C redits
Designer: Roy Nambu Project Manager: Eros Lin
Illustrations: Amayagi-Do Graphic Design: EmperorS4
Producer: Pen and Dice English Revisions: Wei-Min Ling

© 2017 EmperorS4 Technology Co. Ltd.

All Rights Reserved.
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Taipei City 106, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
+886-2-2732-6972
[email protected]

Original & Japan Distributor: Pen and Dice

Website: penanddice.webcrow.jp
Twitter: @pen_n_dice
Hong Kong Distributor: Board Game Walker
Website: www.bgwalker.com Tel: +852-94813019

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