Well, once upon a time, in 1995, I went up to visit my grandparents in Chico, California. Well, my grandma is super-nice, so when I asked her if we could go to the mall, she said, "Um, okay, yeah." Wow! You must remember, I was young and foolish. I meen, I coodnt even spel rite. Anyway, we went to a Kaybee's toy store, or a Toys R Us, or a comic book store (I can't remember which). I was looking for Tick toys and stuff, and I stumbled upon the game.
Yep, I saw it plain and simple: The Tick: Hip Deep in Evil. I saw the Big Blue Guy, Arthur, American Maid, and Die Fledermaus. But then there were the villians. Oh the villains. There was Dinosaur Niel, El Seed, Chairface Chippendale, and the Breadmaster. So I saw them heroes, and I says, they need help, I says. So then I says, I says, "Gran'ma, can we get this?" and she said, "Um, okay, yeah." Wow!
So that's how I got it. Okay, now you know where to get it. Now, you ask, what's so cool about this game? Well, the cover is cool... but you wanna know how to play it, right? Well, here's the manual thingy!
Object: Collect as many Good Guy and Bad Guy tokens (haven't used good guy since age 7, heh heh) as possible so you can have the highest score.
Two player play 18 rounds, the the Final Battle (dumm dumm!)
Three and four players play 12 rounds, then the Final Battle (dumm dumm!)
Conetents: Gameboard, Good Guy Tokens, Bad Guy Tokens (hee hee!), Tick Talk Cards (when are people gonna stop saying Tick Talk? It's being used all over the place! You never see 'Beatle Talk' or 'Van Halen Talk,' do ya?), Time Card, Scoring Cards, Final Edition cards, Final Battle (dumm dumm) cards, Chairface Chippendale Moon Disks, Breadmaster cards, El Seed Battle Disk, Tick Movers, Arthur Mover, Mover stands, Dice, Label Sheet
Set up:
Seperate:
Place the El Seed battle disk by his side of the board.
Each player chooses a different color Tick mover and places him at Arthur's Apartment. Each player also takes a scoring card. Place Arthur in the center of the gameboard.
Each player rolls the moving die; the player with the highest roll goes first, then play moves to the left. The starting player takes the time card. After each round when it's the first player's turn again, he moves the marker to the next marker. If he forgets to advance the time, other players can remind him/her to do so during that round. But if everyone forgets, wait until his next turn to advance it.
On your turn, roll the die and move the many spaces clockwise around the board. Follow the instructions for the space you land on.
The Spaces:
"Ouch!," "Move over," "Double Take," and "Carpool:"
Follow the directions written on each of these spaces. When a space lets you take a token from another player, remember: if it was a single point token on that player's card, it remains that way on your card. Same with double point tokens.
"Tick Talk"
Read the top card out loud and follow the instructions.
"Get Arthur!/Arthur's Apartment:"
When you land on any of the Get Arthur! spaces (including Arthur's Apartment), Take Arthur from the board or from the player that has him. As the space tells you, you also get to take one Good Guy token from the Comet Club and place it on the single point side of your scoring card.
At the end of the game, the player who has Arthur gets two extra tokens- one from another player and one from the Comet Club.
"Bad Guys (hee hee!) and Good Guys:"
Take a Bad Guy (hee hee!) token from the Evil Eye and a Good Guy from the Comet Club. All good guys and bad guys (hee hee!) acquired from the Comet Club or the Evil Eye are single points.
Battle Spaces:
On each of the four corners of the gameboard are three battle spaces. When you land on one of these three, you fight the Bad Buy (hee hee!) named on that space, as described below. If you win, take on of the tokens from that side of the board and place it on the double points side of your scoring card. That Bad Guy (hee hee!) is worth double points for the rest of the game- even if another player takes it.
If you loose a battle, well, you're stupid! HA HA! (sorry, but 'better luck next time' didn't sound like something a vigilante would say... I'm trying to work on my image, y'know?) But you don't loose anything... except your pride, LOOSER! Ha ha!
If you run out of Bad Guy (hee hee!) tokens from any corner spaces, get that bad guy from the Evil Eye.
"Dinosaur Neil:"
Roll the Asprin die three times. If each time your roll, an asprin comes up, you win the battle! Take a Dinosaur Neil token and place it on the double points side of your scoring card.
"El Seed:"
Give the El Seed battle disk to the player on your left. That player places the open window on any one of the sayings, either 'Flower Power Rules' or 'I Planted El Seed.' The disk now goes back to you and you roll the die. Rotate the wheel that many spaces clockwise, counting the next space you reveal as 1, and so on. If the open window ends up on Flower Power Rules, you loose. Which will probably happen because you're a looser! Ha Ha! (no offense or anything, just that 'image' thing...) If you get You Plant El Seed (which will never happen! Ha ha!), you win and get an El Seed token.
"Chairface Chippendale:"
Give the three moon cards (c, ch, and cha) to the player on your left. (S)he secretly chooses one and places the other two moon side up in front of them.
(S)He then says, "Ok, Tick, you managed to stop me from writing my name on the moon, but I did write (letter(s) (s)he chose, or a different letter)." Then, you would say if you thought (s)he was telling the truth or if (s)he was bluffing. If you were right, you get a chairface icon.
"Breadmaster:"
The player to your left takes six bread cards, mixes them and fans them face down for you. You choose any two cards. If you selevt two bread peices that make a complete slice, you get a breadmaster token.
Ending the Game:
For two players, the final battle (dumm dumm!) begins after everyone has gone from 6:30 to 5:30 then back to 11:30. For three or four player, the final battle begins when everyone has gone from 6:30 to 5:30.
Final Battle (dumm dumm!):
Each player decides how many good guy tokens he will put at stake for the final battle (dumm dumm!). You can place all your tokens, none, or any amount! If you win the battle, these will become double point tokens. If you loose (which will happen! Ha ha!), you loose the tokens.
The player who went first will battle first. He takes the six final battle cards and places them 1 through 6 in front of him. He rolls the moving die three times. After each roll, he turns over cards that add up to the number he rolled. For instance, if he rolls a 6, he can turn over the number 6, 5 and 1, and 4 and 2. Once a card is turned over, it cannot be used by that person again. If at the end of three rolls and if he has turned over at least 4 cards, he wins the battle.
Arthur:
The player who has Arthur at the end of the game gets to take one token from the Comet Club and one from another player (single or double point).
Scoring:
After all the players have done the final battle (dumm dumm!), the youngest player randomly chooses one of the Final Edition cards. These are two sided, so (s)he should flip to the side they want. One by one, players add up their score, using the point values on the card. Be sure you give yourself double points for all double point tokens you have.
Winning the game:
The player with the highest score wins.
