Overview

In The Jelly Monster Lab you are a scientist trying to make the best jelly monsters. To do this, you explore the labs, trying to find the parts you need to make your monsters.

Game Start

At game start: every player starts with two experiment cards. Every experiment card shows a monster that can be constructed with with a colored body (blue, red, pink, or green), a number of eyes (1, 2, or 3), a mouth (happy or sad), and a lab where you must construct it (A, B, C, D, E, or F). The parts are spread out over the six labs, so you must travel to the labs to grab the parts you need to make your monsters.

Hand Limit and UI Note

Your hand is limited to 5 cards. To move cards to and from your hand: click on any number of cards, then click the arrows to the right of the "Lab X" or "Your hand" zone.

Gameplay

Once you have collected the required parts for your experiment card, travel to the lab indicated by the experiment card, and leave the experiment card and the required parts there. When another player visits that lab, they will find your completed experiment. Your monster will now move to your scoring zone.

Trail Tokens and Completing Monsters

As you travel among labs, you will leave a trail token behind to denote which player was the last to visit. Take note, you cannot move to a lab you were the last to visit! Plan your moves to acquire the parts of your experiment card before you arrive at the lab where you must leave the experiment card and its required parts. When a player visits a lab with a trail token, if there is a complete monster (experiment card and all required parts) left by the owner of the trail token, the monster experiment completes, and moves to the scoring zone of the trail owner. You do not score your completed monster until another player visits that lab.

Movement Rules

From any lettered lab, you may go to the center to pick up a new experiment card. Unless, you just came from there (your meeple is laid flat), or if you have the maximum number of cards in hand (5). Each lettered lab is otherwise only connected to the lab clockwise and counterclockwise from it (A connected to B and F; B to A and C, ... F to E and A). If you manage to find yourself unable to move (flanked by your trail tokens, and meeple laid flat) you must move a card in your hand to the lab you are visiting and pass your turn. You may now stand up your meeple, so you may, at least, return to the center next turn.

Game End Condition and Scoring

When a player completes 4 monsters, visiting the center lab will end the game. Any player may visit the center lab and end the game.

Every monster card has a score value determined by the scarcity of their parts. You can see how many parts of each type are in the game and all possible experiments on the guide card in the bottom left corner of the playboard.

The player with the most points win the game.

Advice: If you have experiments you do not want (score too low or parts too scarce) you can abandon the experiment card in any lab. So other players can attempt to complete it, or you might be able to recover it on a later visit.