How to Play Broom Service

Game Objective

In Broom Service, players take on the roles of witches navigating a magical landscape. The goal is to collect resources, deliver potions to towers, and manage the weather to accumulate the most VP (Victory Points). The player with the most VP at the end of 7 rounds wins.

Setup

Board Setup:

• Set up the board using the side with castles with red banners for the basic game.
• Shuffle Heavy Clouds (those with white stars) and place them randomly face-up on the cloud spaces.
• Shuffle Event Cards, remove 3 randomly and put them back in the box. Flip the top Event Card and read it aloud.
• If playing with fewer than 5 players, shuffle the Role Cards of an unused color and reveal [5 - # players] cards; these are the Bewitched roles for the first round.

Player Setup:

• Each player receives: 10 Role Cards, 2 Pawns (placed on the 2 regions with castles), 1 VP Marker (placed on 10) of their chosen color, and 1 potion of each color.
• Determine the start player. The start player and the last player clockwise receive 1 wand; all other players receive 2 wands.

Optional Additions:

• Storm clouds: Mixed with Heavy Clouds and placed randomly.
• Mountain tiles & amulets: Used on the back side of the board. Place one tile face-up on each of the 3 mountain areas. Players place 1 of their colored amulets by each mountain tile.
• Hill tiles: Used on the back side. Place 4 random tiles face-up on the 4 hill areas.
• Forest tiles: Used on the back side. Place 4 random tiles face-up on the 4 forest areas.

Game Flow

The game lasts for 7 rounds. Each round follows this structure:

1. Card Selection: Players choose 4 of their 10 Role Cards to keep in hand; the rest are placed face-down.
2. Action Phase:
   • The starting player plays 1 card face-up and declares if the action is brave or cowardly.
   • Cowardly actions happen immediately.
   • Other players follow in clockwise order. If a player does not have the same card, they say “next”. If they do, they must play it and claim brave or cowardly.
   • The last player claiming a brave action is the only one who gets to take that action (others claiming brave take no action). This player then starts the next turn by selecting another card.
   • If all players play cowardly, the start player remains the same (unless they have no Role Cards, in which case the next player clockwise starts).
3. Round End: Once all cards are played, check Event scoring. For the next round, reset Bewitched cards, flip a new Event card, and choose 4 new cards. The new starting player is the last person to have played a brave action (or stays the same if all were cowardly).

Actions and How to Play

Playing a Bewitched role costs -3 VP. Actions do not have to be performed. The following roles are available:

• Gatherers: Claim new resources. Resources must be kept visible to all players.
• Witches: Move Pawns across the board. Brave witches can also deliver potions to towers after moving. Pawns cannot move onto areas where 1 or more cloud tiles are present.
• Druids: Deliver potions to towers in the Druid’s current location.
• Weather Fairy: Clears cloud tiles. The player must have 1 Pawn adjacent to the cloud area and pay the number of wands shown on the star symbol. The player keeps the cleared cloud token for end-game scoring.

Delivery Rules:

• Circular tower: Leave the potion on the tower; that tower can no longer be delivered to.
• Square tower: Deliveries go to the general supply and are always available.
• Restriction: A brave witch may move without delivering a potion, but no witch may deliver a potion without moving first.

Special Tiles and Tokens:

• Storm Clouds: Provide +2 VP when delivering a potion adjacent to the cloud (this can double if adjacent to multiple).
• Amulets: When moving to a mountain area, claim the amulet and optionally use the mountain tile's function. If a brave mountain witch, they may also deliver a potion.
• Forest Tiles: A player moving to a forest area takes the tile. It can be used once then discarded. Max 1 tile per Role Cards and one +1 tile at the start of the round.
• Hill Tiles: Moving to a hill starts a “turbo broom,” moving the Pawn to a stone circle. Some stone circles may cause the player to get stuck.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after 7 rounds. Scoring is calculated as follows:

• Resource Sets: +4 VP for each set of 4 different resources; +2 VP for each set of 3 different resources.
• Collections: Additional VP for Lightning and Amulets collected.

Victory Condition: The player with the most VP wins. In the event of a tie, the player with the most resources wins.

Tips for Winning

• Manage your roles: Be mindful that playing a Bewitched role results in a -3 VP penalty.
• Strategic Movement: Use Forest Tiles to potentially perform brave actions while playing a cowardly role, allowing you to avoid usurping the brave player or becoming the start player.
• Resource Efficiency: Focus on collecting sets of 3 or 4 different resources to maximize your end-game VP.