In Noble Escape, you are members of a French aristocratic household in 1789 trying to flee an angry Revolutionary mob. The estate has been breached and you need to load all of the fleeing residents into four waiting carriages to escape. However, you know that the rebels will catch up to the heaviest carriage and pull it aside looking for nobles, weighed down by their riches, to take away for “questioning.” Can you balance the carriages so that the most nobles are in lighter carriages and off to safety?
All you need to play is a standard deck of playing cards and one playsheet & writing utensil per player. You will play the game over 13 rounds where 4 estate residents, represented by 4 cards drawn from the deck, will be assigned to the 4 waiting carriages by writing them in the next open “seat” on each of 4 rows. Number cards (2-10) represent the servants and their families, and their weight is equal to the value on the card. Face cards (Jack, Queen, & King) represent the nobility, and they have higher weights due to their heavy jewelry and other items. Your goal is to have the fewest nobles in your heaviest carriage. Using variable special abilities or placing them in the carriage of that card’s suit may help you manipulate the weights of the servants, but the nobility never change their weight. Aces are drivers; each row needs exactly 1 Ace by the end or that carriage will be ransacked by the mob!
You will check your progress halfway through the game, and when all 13 rounds are complete, total the weight of each row and determine which one is your heaviest. Then, add up the weight of any face cards in that carriage to see the value of any nobles taken by the mob for your score. The player with the lowest score wins!
Players can learn to play the game from the included 12-page rulebook or with this video from the designer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKzCC29bnN0
DETAILS
- Players: 1-8
- Ages: 10+
- Length: 15–30 Min
CREDITS
- Publisher: Grazing Bear Games
- Designer: Zach Sullivan
- Art: Christina Wright & Diego Sanchez
PNP DETAILS
- Page count: 15
- Components: 1 Play Sheet/Player, (Color/Low Ink, A4/Letter)
- Additional components needed: 1 Writing Utensil/Player, 1 Playing Card Deck
