Your task is to stop the Dark Lord Sauron from winning back the magic Ring, which Frodo has inherited. As a Hobbit, you must co-operate with the other players to destroy the Ring in the volcanic fires of Mount Doom, before Sauron reaches you.

Set-up

Lay out the Master board, and the Moria Scenario board, as shown above.

Deal out the Character cards face up, one to each player according to the number of players:

2 - player game: Frodo and Sam. 3 - player game: Frodo, Sam, Pippin 4 - player game: Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry 5 - player game: Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry, Fatty

Frodo always begins the game. The player whose turn it is is called the ‘active player’.

Play

The Hobbit cards and many of the Feature cards depict Activity symbols. Stars can stand for any one of the four possible activities:

Cards with stars are Joker cards and can
stand for any of the four possible activities.
The Activity symbols on the cards relate to the Activity lines on the Scenario boards. The cards are used to advance the markers along the Activity lines.

In addition to the Activity lines, each Scenario board contains six Event boxes that present opportunities and challenges to the players. Event boxes also occur on the Master board. When you come across an Event with an EACH PLAYER prompt, all players must follow the instructions and consequences independently. The active player starts with the other players following in clockwise order. If the ‘group’ is instructed to act, it is up to the players to decide between them who contributes to fulfil the instructions.

The game begins with the following activities:

Perform the events as directed on the Master board at Bag End. (Ignore the text in italics at Bag End for your first game, as it is only applicable in later games.)

Move the marker to Rivendell and perform the stated events. (Elrond: Shuffle the 12 Rivendell Feature cards and deal them to the players. With two players, discard four cards face down from the game. With five players the Ring-bearer and the player to their left both receive one card more than the others.)

Move the marker to Moria. The Moria Scenario board now comes into play.

When you encounter the symbol during your play, you must roll the die. This introduces additional dangers. The symbols on the die have the following consequences:

Sauron moves one step towards the Hobbits on the Corruption line.

Place any two of the cards in your hand face up onto the discard pile.

Nothing happens.

The Ring-bearer starts the first Scenario, then play progresses clockwise.

1. Event Tiles

Start your turn by revealing Event tiles and acting on them. There are two different types of Event tiles:

Type 1: The Evil tiles
If you reveal one of the following Event tiles, act as detailed below:

The Ring-bearer’s Hobbit must move one step towards the darkness on the Corruption line. Then reveal the next Event tile.

One player must volunteer to advance their Hobbit by two steps into the darkness on the Corruption line, or else Sauron moves one step towards the Hobbits. Then reveal the next Event tile.

The next Event on the Scenario board now occurs. Progress the Event marker to the next Event box down and perform the stated action. After the Event, reveal the next Event tile.

If you join together with the other players to discard 3 cards of any type between you, then nothing happens. If not, the next Event occurs. Then reveal the next Event tile.

If you join together with the other players to discard 1 card, 1 Life token and 1 shield between you, nothing happens. Otherwise, the next Event occurs. Then reveal the next Event tile.

The symbols have the same effect as described above. The symbol means that you may move your Hobbit by one step towards the light, if possible.

Type 2: The Activity tiles
When you reveal one of the following Event tiles, advance the corresponding Activity marker by one space on the Activity line and carry out the Activity space you landed on.

If there is no such Activity line on the game board (Moria for example does not have a Friendship Activity line), or if the marker already occupies the last Activity space of that line, advance the marker on another Activity line of your choice by one space. You must always advance one of the markers.

After revealing an Activity tile, no further Event tile is revealed.

2. Card Play

The active player now continues their turn by playing cards. Choose one of the two following options:

2a.

Play one or two cards (one white and one grey) from your hand to advance the markers on the Activity lines, or

2b.

Draw two Hobbit cards into your hand or move your Hobbit back one step towards the light on the Corruption line.

For each of the Activity symbols shown on the cards (Friendship, Travelling, Hiding and Fighting), you must advance the appropriate marker onto the next Activity space, and carry it out. If a card played permits a marker to be advanced by more than one space, every space moved over or landed on must be carried out. If this includes an instruction to roll the die, this is done last, but before playing the next card.

The Activity spaces on the Scenario boards have various effects:

 
Receive a shield with a value of 1 and place it face up in front of you.

 
Randomly take one of the shields placed face down at the start of the game, and place it face up in front of you.

Receive a corresponding Life token. Place it in front of you until the end of the Scenario.

 
Receive the depicted Feature card (in Moria, for example, the book). The card is added to your hand and may even be used on the same turn, if applicable.

 
Move your Hobbit one step towards the light on the Corruption line, if possible.

 
Roll the die.

When you play a Joker card with more than one star symbol, you must apply all stars to the same Activity line. Cards with a symbol not shown on the Scenario board have no effect in that particular Scenario. Equally, cards with a symbol for an Activity line whose marker is already on the last space have no effect.

3. End of Turn

Complete your turn by placing the revealed Event tiles and any played cards face up onto the respective discard piles. On both piles only the top tile or card should be visible.

An Example of Play There are three players, taking the parts of Frodo, Sam and Pippin. At the beginning of the Moria Scenario board, each player has a full hand of cards after visiting Rivendell, and Frodo has the Ring. As Ring-bearer, Frodo goes first and turns over the top Event tile, which shows a Fighting symbol. He advances the marker on the Fighting Activity line onto space 11, and takes 1 shield. He may now play up to two cards (one white and one grey), and chooses to play a white Hiding card. Frodo advances the marker one space on the Hiding Activity line and collects the ‘Book’ card into his hand. He chooses to play this card immediately (which is possible because it is a grey card), and moves the marker one space further on the Hiding Activity line, collecting a Ring token. It is now Sam’s turn to play, and he draws an Event tile. It shows a sundial, therefore the Event marker is moved on and the first Event occurs. The group confer and decide that Sam will discard a Friendship card and Pippin a star card. Then Sam turns over another Event tile; unfortunately it is another sundial, so the next Event occurs. Each Hobbit must discard one Hiding card or roll the die. Sam discards a Hiding card. Frodo takes advantage of his special skill on his Character card to use any white Hobbit card as a star card, and discards a white Friendship card. Pippin, however, has no Hiding card and does not want to waste his double Wild card, so he takes a risk and rolls the die. It shows a single black circle and moves his Hobbit one step into the darkness on the Corruption line. Sam then turns over another Event tile, which luckily shows a Friendship symbol. As there are no Friendship symbols on the Moria board, he may advance any Activity marker. He chooses to advance the Hiding marker and receives a Heart token. He then continues his turn by playing his Gimli card which has two Fighting symbols, allowing him to advance the Fighting marker onto space 13. He receives 1 shield and a Ring token. He decides not to play a second card, and it is Pippin’s turn.

Any Time During the Game

Call a Gandalf card: any one player discards 5 shields. The active player then decides which of the Gandalf cards to use and how to apply it right away. Each Gandalf card can only be used once, and must then be discarded.

Play Yellow Feature cards: they may be played by any player. Yellow cards do not count towards the limit of two playable cards during a turn. The player of the Yellow Feature card decides how the card is applied.

You may discard unwanted cards from your hand onto the discard pile at any time during the game, even though this is only advantageous in special situations, for example, before you are allowed to refresh your hand to a certain number of cards.

Once during each Scenario the Ring-bearer may put on the Ring, either after the active player revealed an Event tile, or after the execution of a tile or a card by the active player. The Ring is then placed over the current Ring-bearer’s Hobbit on the Master board. The Ring-bearer rolls the die and must bear any negative consequences that occur. Thereafter the Ring-bearer advances the marker on any one Activity line by a number of spaces, using the following formula:

For example, if the die showed three circles, advance one space. The number of spaces is not influenced by Character cards or Yellow Feature cards, which limit the damage of the die. Spaces moved over or landed on in this way are not carried out - the Ring makes you invisible. The marker’s advancement may stop prematurely only if you reach the end of the Activity line. Thereafter the active player continues with the turn. The Ring remains around the Hobbit until the end of that particular Scenario, and the Ring-bearer plays any subsequent turns as normal.

End of a Scenario

A Scenario ends when the main Activity line (with the numbered spaces) is completed or the final Event has been concluded. Then do the following:

Each player must have one of each of the three Life tokens. For each token missing from your collection, you must move your Hobbit one step towards the darkness on the Corruption line.

The player with the most Ring tokens becomes the new Ring-bearer. If there is a tie, the Ring goes to the player involved in the tie sitting closest to the current Ring-bearer, in clockwise direction. The new Ring-bearer draws two Hobbit cards from the deck and places the Ring in front of them. Return all Heart, Sun and Ring tokens back next to the boards.

Fatty draws 2 Hobbit cards.

When you have completed a Scenario, move the marker along on the Master board, performing any actions as stated and progressing to the other Scenarios, Helm’s Deep, Shelob’s Lair and Mordor.

At the beginning of each new Scenario place one marker on the first space above the Event boxes and on the first spaces of each Activity line. Display the appropriate Feature cards for the Scenario. Shuffle all the Event tiles and place them as a new face down draw pile next to or onto the new Scenario board. The Ring-bearer starts the Scenario by revealing the top Event tile.

When the Hobbit deck has been played through, remove the used Feature cards and Gandalf cards from the discard pile, and place them into the game box. Reshuffle the remaining Hobbit cards to form a new Hobbit draw deck.

Conclusion

If your Hobbit encounters Sauron (by being on the same space or beyond on the Corruption line), you are eliminated from the game straight away. If you do not possess required cards or shields, and there is no alternative outcome offered (for example, after rolling on the die), you must discard as much as you have and also quit at once.

Discard all your cards, return your Life tokens, but keep your shields for the final score.

The game concludes in one of the two following ways:

The Ring-bearer is eliminated from the game.

The Fellowship reaches the top of Mount Doom as described below.

If the active player remains in the game after the die roll, then the Ring has successfully been destroyed and the active player receives one of the face down shields.

If the active player is eliminated from the game as a consequence of the die roll, then the die is passed on to the next player, who progresses accordingly, until either the Ring is destroyed or all players are eliminated from the game.

If the Ring-bearer is eliminated from the game, each player scores the number of points indicated by the marker on the main Activity line at that time.

If the Fellowship reaches Mount Doom, but all players fail in their attempt to destroy the Ring, you each score 60 points.

If the Ring is destroyed, each player (even those eliminated from the game) scores 60 points plus the total number of shields you have collected between you.

© 2001 Sophisticated Games Ltd.
© 2001 Tolkien Enterprises.
© 2001 Hasbro International Inc./Wizards of the Coast
© Dr. Reiner Knizia. Scripted Game System. All rights reserved.