Overview

Burg Appenzell (also known as Chateau Roquefort) is a family game in which players control mice exploring a castle in search of cheese. The castle is built as a multi-level structure: a grid board on the bottom holds sliding tiles showing different kinds of cheese, while the upper level has rooms with removable roof tiles. Players spend action points to move mice, reveal rooms, and slide tiles to change the cheese layout underneath. The first player to collect 4 different kinds of cheese wins.

Components

• 1 grid board (with 5x5 slots for sliding tiles)
• 34 sliding tiles:
  • 21 with cheese (3 of each of 7 kinds)
  • 10 without cheese
  • 3 with a mousetrap and a hole
• 4 foldable tower battlements
• 25 collecting tiles (showing the 7 kinds of cheese, including 5 “roof” tiles)
• 16 mice in 4 colors (4 per player)
• 16 roof tiles (for covering rooms)
• Chateau walls and dungeon (bottom section of the box)

Setup

1. Lay the grid board (with 5x5 holes) on top of the sliding tiles. If using the other side of the game board, you can play with an additional room layout.
2. Distribute the 34 sliding tiles in any way you like so that one tile is placed on each collar hole. Put the remaining sliding tile next to the chateau.
3. Fold the 4 tower battlements and insert them into the slots at the 4 corner towers.
4. Inside the chateau you see separate rooms. The rooms consist of either 2, 3, or 4 squares. Lay all roofs properly onto the rooms.
5. Put the 25 collecting tiles next to the chateau as the stock (these are the “cheese tiles” players collect). There are 7 different kinds of cheese.
6. Each player takes all 4 mice of one color and places them in front of them.

Turn Structure

On your turn, you may take up to 4 actions from the following three possible actions: “Uncover,” “Run,” and “Slide.” You may combine actions in any way and in any number. A player may choose to take fewer than 4 actions. The “Slide” action may only be used once per turn.

After completing your actions, re-cover all empty rooms (rooms without a mouse) with the appropriate roof tile. This does not count as an action.

Actions

“Uncover” Action (costs 1 action per roof):

• Mice can uncover neighboring rooms by removing a roof tile.
• A space is “neighboring” if it shares a side (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent) with a space your mouse is sitting on.
• Put the removed roof near the chateau.
• Each uncovered room, regardless of size, counts as one action.

“Run” Action (costs 1 action per step):

• The mice get into the chateau and run along its rooms. A player can run with any of their mice.
• A player may move their mouse from one space (a tower counts as a space) to a neighboring space in any cardinal direction. Running diagonally is not allowed.
• The mice may not run on or over roofs.
• Entering into a tower or leaving is not allowed (towers are entry/exit points only at the start).
• Only one mouse may stand in a space (excluding towers). A mouse may not enter an occupied space.
• Mice may jump over other mice. Each space passed through counts as one “Run” action.
• Mice may not jump moves for free — each step from one space to another in the chateau counts as one action.
• Each of the following counts as 1 step: a step from outside one space (a neighboring space), each step from one space to another, and each step per space while running.

“Slide” Action (costs 1 action, once per turn only):

• On each side of the chateau above the rod barriers, there are three slots into which you can slide the sliding tiles.
• Take the remaining sliding tile and slide it into one of the 12 slots. As a result, a tile drops out on the other side of the row.
• “Slide” is the only action that may be taken only once per turn per player.
• Sliding changes which cheese types are visible underneath the rooms.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Collecting Pieces of Cheese:

• There are three sliding tiles of each kind of cheese.
• If two of your mice are standing on spaces with the same kind of cheese, you take the collecting tile with that kind of cheese from the supply and put it in front of you, visible to all players at any time. This may also happen if it is not your turn.
• You may collect each kind of cheese only once. You may not take a second tile of the same kind of cheese.

Winning:

• The game ends as soon as a player has collected 4 different kinds of cheese. This player has won the game.
• The game also ends when a player’s third (next to last) mouse plops into the cellar dungeon (via mousetrap). In this case, the winner among the other players is the one who owns the most kinds of cheese. If several players have the same number of cheese kinds, the player among the tied cheese collectors who has been waiting longest since their last turn wins (excluding a player who has only one mouse left).

Variant for longer play: You may determine before you start to play until someone collects 5 or even 6 kinds of cheese. This is recommended for the two or three player games.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Mousetrap: If somebody slides a mousetrap underneath a mouse, it plops into the chateau dungeon and remains there until the end of the game. Mice in the dungeon are out of play.
• Higher Elevated Spaces: On higher elevated spaces, mice are safe from traps, but there is no cheese there.
• Towers: Always slide the tiles into the chateau in such a way that the outside edge of the tile is flush with the grid so that it doesn’t get stuck while sliding.
• Rooms with mice in the cellar dungeon: Rooms with a mouse in the cellar dungeon are also considered empty and are covered.
• Strategic tip: Keep an eye on mice near mousetrap tiles. If you slide a mousetrap under an opponent’s mouse, you eliminate that mouse. Consider carefully before dropping a player’s third mouse into the cellar — by ending the game without winning, you might end the game with fewer cheese than another player.

Player Reference

Action	Cost	Limit
Uncover a room	1 action per roof	No limit per turn
Run (move 1 space)	1 action per space	No limit per turn
Slide a tile	1 action	Once per turn only

• Total actions per turn: Up to 4
• Cheese to win: 4 different kinds (standard), 5-6 for longer games
• Mousetrap: Immediately removes a mouse to the dungeon for the rest of the game