Full manual text
The Dragon Rancher
Dragons are the hottest steeds in demand—
and you, Dwelma Draketooth, have the market
cornered. As a seventh-generation dragon
rancher, your last name is associated with the
most sought-after serpents in the 5-Realms.
Yet it’s not all glamorous! Young dragons
are a handful to raise: they are fussy eaters,
require lots of room to grow, and leave
behind huge, steaming piles... Do you have
what it takes to maintain the ranch and the
Draketooth Dragons pedigree?
Designed by: Carl Van Ostrand, Jonathan “Jonny Pac” Cantin, & Drake Villareal
Developed by: Jonny Pac & Drake Villareal · Artwork by: Mihajlo Dimitrievski—The Mico
Additional Artwork by: Bojan Drango · Graphic Design by: Bojan Drango · Figure Sculpting by: Silviu Avram
3D Cardboard Component Design by: John Shulters · Rules by: Tarrant Falcke & Stella Jahja—Meeple University
Additional Rules and Rulebook Editing by: Drake Villareal & Jonny Pac · Rulebook Editing and Design by: Melissa Delp & Will
Meadows—Tantrum House · Produced by: Ivana & Vojkan Krstevski, Toni Toshevski, & Maja Denkov
Published by: Final Frontier Games
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COMPONENTS
• This Rulebook
• 1 Dragon Rancher figure
• 1 Dragon Rancher Shop board (Ranch)
• 1 Dragon Rancher Staff board
• 1 cardboard Sale shelf (Pen)
• 4 cardboard Tree tokens
• 4 cardboard Poop tokens
• 1 cloth Feeding bag
• 28 Food discs
▶ 7 red, 7 green, 5 yellow,
5 blue, and 4 white
• 20 Dragon Rancher Goods
▶ 8 small (2 in each of 4 colors)
▶ 8 large (2 in each of 4 colors)
▶ 4 mega (1 in each of 4 colors)
• 20 plastic standees
SETUP
1. Place the Dragon Rancher Shop board,
Staff board, and Dragon Pen on the table in
front of you.
2. Place the matching colored Tree over
each Stump on the Ranch board. Then,
place 1 matching colored Food and 1 white
Food onto each Tree.
3. Place the remaining Food (6 red, 6 green,
4 blue, and 4 yellow) into the Feeding bag.
4. Place the 4 Poop tokens in a pyramid
shape on the Dump space.
5. Keep the Small Dragons (small Goods),
Large Dragons (large Goods), and Mega Drag-
ons (mega Goods) nearby, ready for use.
6. Place the Dragon Rancher figure onto the
Activate Staff action space.
DRAGON RANCHER ACTIONS
Draw & Place 3 Food (1 Hour + 1 Corruption)
Draw and place 3 Food from the Feeding
bag, following the placement rules described on the next
page as part of the Draw & Place 3+ Food action, under
section 2. Place Food.
1.1.
22..
44..
33..
Note: White Food is
special. Set them aside
when drawing; they do
not count towards the
limit of Food drawn.
RanchRanch
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Draw & Place 3+ Food (2 Hours)
This action, like the Draw & Place 3 Food
action, consists of two steps:
1. Draw Food: Draw Food from the Feeding bag until
you either draw 3 matching colored Food, or 3 differently
colored Food.
Note: You will always draw a minimum of 3 Food this way,
so you can start this action by drawing 3 at once before
evaluating if you can draw more.
2. Place Food: Start from any legal Ranch space. Then place
a trail of Food onto adjacent spaces, one at a time—like
pieces in the game, mancala. You must also observe the
following rules:
• Each Food must be placed onto an orthogonally adja-
cent Ranch space from the previous Food you placed.
• You may not reverse and place Food onto the last space
you placed Food—though it is possible to make a loop with 5 or more Food.
• Each Ranch space can hold up to 2 Food, maximum. The
second Food placed is always stacked on top of the first.
• You cannot place Food onto a space full with 2 Food, a
Dragon, Poop, a Tree, or the Dump. Nor can you cross over a Stump (line).
• If you cannot place a Food—because there are no Legal
spaces—return the excess Food to the Feeding bag.
Shovel Poop (1 Hour)
Remove all Poop from Ranch spaces and return them to the
Dump. The Dump is not considered a normal Ranch space, as such, Food
and Dragons cannot be placed or moved into it.
Chop Down a Tree (2 Hours)
At the start of the game, your Ranch is overgrown with Trees. Chopping
them down can yield a range of benefits: more Ranch spaces, Market Phase Sponsorships,
and special white Food.
1. Remove the 2 Food from a Tree on your Ranch and place them into your Feeding bag.
Each Tree contains 1 matching colored Food and 1 white Food. Note: White Food is special;
it can Grow or Hatch any color of Dragon. Also, it does not count against your limits when
you draw Food from the Feeding bag.
2. Remove the Tree from your Ranch board. This will uncover a new Ranch space and
reveal a Stump with a matching colored Market Phase Sponsorship icon.
Eat & Grow (2 Hours)
This is your main Dragon raising action, where Dragons eat the Food on
your Ranch board and grow in size. During an Eat & Grow action, take the following steps
as many times as you wish, as long as it is legal to do so.
(Eat & Grow Continued on next page...)
55..
6.6.
PenPen
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Hatch a Dragon:
• Select a Ranch space that contains at least 1 Food. Remove the Food and return it to the
Feeding bag and place a Dragon into that space.
▶ If there was 1 Food in the space, place a matching colored Small Dragon.
▶ If there was 2 Food, place a Large Dragon matching the color of the topmost Food.
Move & Grow a Dragon:
• Starting from a Ranch space with a Dragon, trace a path around your
Ranch, moving the Dragon as you go.
▶ A Dragon can only enter a space if the Food (or topmost Food)
matches the Dragon’s color.
▶ Dragons only move orthogonally.
▶ Dragons cannot move through Trees, Stumps, other Dragons, or Poop.
• Dragons eat all Food in the spaces they enter, return the Food to the
Feeding bag. Dragons grow exactly one size for each Food eaten. Any
excess Food is returned to the Feeding bag with no further effect.
Designate a Dragons for Sale:
• Move a Dragon from your Ranch to your Pen, where it may be sold
during the Market Phase (your Dragon Pen is equivalent to the Sale Shelf of other Merchants).
• Place 1 Poop from the Dump into the Dragon’s previous Ranch space.
If no Poop remains in the Dump, instead draw 1 Corruption card.
Mega Dragon and Stumps
Mega Dragons are considered mega Goods, and are unique to the Dragon Rancher. They may only be sold at the Black Market (right) Pier. Thus, you must draw 1 Corruption card if you want to sell one or more Mega Dragon.
During the Market Phase the Dragon Rancher gains Gold for each Sponsorship icon revealed
on a Stump.
Shepherd: Hatch and/or Move and Grow 1
Dragon. Then you may Designate a Dragon for Sale
any number of times.
Ranch Hand: Draw and place 2 Food from the
Feeding bag.
Field Hand: Move the Food/Poop/Dragon from
any one Ranch space to any other empty Ranch
space.
Security: Choose and discard 1 Corruption card
from your supply.
Recruit/Replace
Townsfolk (Cost Varies)
Recruit Townsfolk from the Town Square, gaining their ability. Then, slide the card behind your Staff board to assign them to a Staff Ability. Most Townsfolk have Faction icons which give you Gold during Final Scoring.
Activate Staff (2 Hours)
You may activate each Staff Ability
that has a Townsfolk assigned to it—in any order you wish.
Draw 3 Food from the Feeding bag, then place it on your Ranch board.
Draw Food from the Feeding bag until you have drawn 3 of the same color or 3 of
different colors, then place it on your Ranch board.
Hatch, move, and grow any number of Dragons. You may move any number of Dragons
to your Dragon Pen (Sale Shelf).
Remove all Poop from Ranch spaces and place it into the Dump.
Remove 1 Tree and place the 2 Food into the Feeding bag.
This reveals a Market Phase Sponsorship icon.
Note: Only the
Good representing the
Dragon’s final size is
required. You can grow
a Dragon by multiple
steps even if you
lack Dragons of the
intermediate sizes.
Similarly, you may
Hatch a Dragon you
do not have available,
provided you immedi-
ately Move & Grow it
into a Good size that
is available in your
supply.
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