Barbarossa

Overview

Barbarossa is a deduction and sculpting game where players mold objects out of clay and try to guess what other players’ objects represent. The key challenge is making your sculptures neither too easy nor too hard to identify – objects guessed too quickly or too slowly cost you points. Players move around a board, landing on spaces that let them ask questions, request letters, or attempt guesses. The game was inspired by Patricia A. McKillip’s fantasy trilogy “The Riddle-Master” and won the 1988 Spiel des Jahres.

Components

Game board
Jewel tile
6 Event tiles
4 Magicians (large pawns)
4 Magic Hats (medium cylinders – scoring markers)
4 Elfstones (small cubes – jewel markers)
4 Blocks of clay (plasticine)
12 Curse Tokens (black)
13 Arrows
Pad of paper
1 Die
Rule book and example sheet

Setup

Give each player the clay of one color, a pad of paper, a pencil, and 3 Curse Tokens.
Place the 6 event tiles around the jewel in numerical order.
Place all Magicians on the Event Tile with the “?” symbol.
Place all Magic Hats on the “S” space of the Scoring Track.
Place all Elfstones on space “12” of the Jewel Scale.
Each player sculpts objects from their clay:
- 4 players: each player makes 2 objects
- 3 players: each player makes 3 objects
Each object is a 3D riddle for other players to solve. It must represent a single word.
Place all objects in the middle of the board.
Each player writes down what their objects are on paper and places these under the board.
The last player to finish sculpting begins the game.

Turn Structure

Roll the die; highest roll goes first. Play proceeds clockwise.
On your turn, choose one of two movement options:
- Roll the die and move your Magician that many spaces clockwise.
- Spend Jewels to move a specific number of spaces clockwise (move your Elfstone down the Jewel Scale accordingly). You cannot spend more Jewels than you have; if you have none, you must roll the die.
Resolve the space you land on.

Actions

Board Spaces

There are five types of spaces:

Space	Effect
Jewel	Gain 1 Elfstone (move token up the Jewel Scale; max 13)
Dragon	Every other player moves their Magic Hat forward 1 space on the Scoring Track
Dwarf	Ask one opponent for a specific letter of one of their objects (e.g., first, third, or last letter). The opponent writes it down and shows it to you secretly. You may keep notes.
? (Question Mark)	Ask two rounds of questions about opponents’ objects (see below)

Question Mark Space (Detailed)

When you land on the “?” space, you may ask questions in two rounds:

Round 1: Ask any player any yes/no question about one of their objects. The opponent must answer truthfully with: “YES”, “NO”, “POSSIBLY”, or “I DON’T KNOW”. Continue asking questions about the same or different objects until you receive a “NO” answer.

Round 2: After receiving a “NO”, the second round begins. You may continue asking questions about any object AND you may also make one written guess by writing it down and showing it to the opponent privately. The opponent says “YES” or “NO”. Round 2 ends after you receive another “NO” to a question, or after you make your written guess.

Curse Tokens

Each player starts with 3 Curse Tokens. Spend one at any time to:

Ask a player for a letter (as if on a Dwarf space), OR
Guess an object

Curse Tokens can be used at any time except when another player is in the second round of questions on the “?” space. Only one player may use a Curse Token at a time (roll off with the die if simultaneous). You may use more than one Curse Token at a time. Used tokens go to the middle of the board. Once 5 Curse Tokens total have been used, each player who has run out may take 3 back (once per game), for a maximum of 6 Curse Tokens used per player over the game.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Guessing Correctly

When you correctly guess an object, stick an arrow in it.

First correct guess on an object: guesser scores 5 points (move Magic Hat forward 5 spaces).
Second correct guess on an object: guesser scores 3 points.
An object may not receive more than 2 arrows.
Wrong guesses incur no penalty.
You may never guess your own objects.

Sculptor Scoring

When an object is guessed, the sculptor also scores (or loses) points based on the total number of arrows on ALL objects currently on the board:

Total Arrows on Board	Sculptor’s Magic Hat Move
1-2	2 backwards
3-4	1 backwards
5-6	No move
7-8	1 forward
9-10	2 forwards
11	1 forward
12	No move
13	1 backwards

This encourages making sculptures of moderate difficulty – too easy and they are guessed when few arrows are on the board (penalty), too hard and they remain unguessed at game end (penalty).

Game End

The game ends when either:

A player’s Magic Hat reaches the end space (star) – that player wins.
The 13th arrow is placed – the player closest to the end space wins.

Optional Rule (Recommended)

Regardless of how the game ends, apply the following end-game scoring:

-5 points for each of your objects with no arrows in it.
-2 points for each of your objects with only one arrow in it.

After final scoring, the player closest to the end space wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

The pieces of paper under the board are revealed at game end to verify all answers were truthful.
If any player gave false letters or wrong answers, the rules state: “don’t play with him again.”
You cannot exceed 13 Elfstones on the Jewel Scale.
Objects must represent a single word (optional house rule: allow two-word riddles or phrases).
Dragon spaces benefit all other players, not you.

Player Reference

Turn Checklist

Choose: Roll die OR spend Jewels to move
Move Magician clockwise
Resolve space (Jewel/Dragon/Dwarf/?)
Other players may use Curse Tokens (outside of ? round 2)

Key Scoring

Guess 1st: +5 points
Guess 2nd: +3 points
Max 2 arrows per object
Sculptor scores based on total arrows on all objects
End-game: -5 per unguessed object, -2 per single-arrow object (optional but recommended)

Resource Limits

Max 13 Elfstones
3 Curse Tokens initially, up to 6 total per game