Burgle Bros.

2015

In Burgle Bros, 1-4 players unite for an adrenaline-fueled heist! Navigate through a secure building, crack safes and evade guards to win this cooperative game.

90
minutes

1 - 4
player(s)

12+

Medium

About the game

Burgle Bros. is a thrilling cooperative board game that immerses players in the high-stakes world of a daring heist. As players, you and your team are tasked with infiltrating a high-security building to steal precious treasures, all while avoiding relentless guards and overcoming a variety of security measures.

The game is set in a modern, high-tech building represented by a grid of tiles. Each floor of the building presents a unique layout and a different set of challenges. The building’s design is randomly generated each game, creating a fresh and exciting experience every time you play.

Game components Unboxing the fun!

Burgle Bros. is a cooperative board game that tasks players with stealthily navigating a three-floor building to steal a set of valuable items while avoiding the guards. Here are the components included in the game and their respective purposes:

Game Cards:

Room cards (48): These represent the rooms in the building. Each room card is unique with its own set of rules that players must abide by once they enter.
Tool cards (16): These give players special abilities that can help them navigate the building more easily.
Event cards (16): These are drawn at the end of each player’s turn. They represent unexpected occurrences that can either help or hinder the players.
Loot cards (9): These represent the valuable items that players must steal to win the game.

Player Tokens:

Player pawns (4): Each player pawn represents a player’s character on the board.
Stealth tokens (12): These tokens are used to track a player’s stealth level. If a player runs out of stealth tokens, they are caught by the guards and the game ends.
Stair tokens (3): These tokens represent the stairs that players can use to move between floors.
Safe tokens (3): These represent safes that players must crack to obtain the loot.

Guard Components:

Guard pawns (3): These represent the guards that players must avoid. Each floor has one guard.
Guard die (1): This die is rolled to determine the guard’s movement.
Guard cards (9): These cards determine the path that each guard will take.

Other Components:

Alarm tokens (6): These tokens are placed in rooms to indicate that an alarm has been triggered. Alarms attract guards.
Heat tokens (6): These tokens are used to track the overall heat level in the game. If the heat level reaches a certain point, additional guards are added to the game.
Wall tokens (24): These tokens represent walls that block a player’s movement.
Floor tiles (3): These tiles represent the three floors of the building.

By skillfully utilizing these components, players must work together to outsmart the guards, crack the safes, and escape with the loot.

Game setup Lay it out, line it up, let’s go

Burgle Bros. is an exciting and strategic cooperative board game where players take on the roles of a team of burglars. Setting it up requires careful attention to the game’s unique mechanics and components. Follow these steps to set up the game:

Step 1: Decide on Player Roles

Each player will assume the role of a unique burglar, each with their own special abilities. These roles are represented by character cards. To decide roles:

Shuffle the character cards.
Deal out one card to each player.
If players are experienced, they may choose their character instead of drawing them randomly.

Step 2: Set Up the Game Board

Burgle Bros. is played on a board made up of three floors, each represented by a grid of tiles. To set up the board:

Shuffle the 16 tiles for each floor.
Lay out the tiles in a 4×4 grid for each floor, making sure to keep them face-down.
Place the stairs and safe tiles in specific locations according to the rulebook.

Step 3: Place the Guards

Each floor of the building has a guard that patrols the area. To place the guards:

Place a guard figure on each floor’s guard’s starting space.
Draw a card from the patrol deck to determine the guard’s first destination.
Set the guard’s speed to the number indicated for the current player count.

Step 4: Distribute Initial Resources

Each player starts the game with a number of stealth tokens and one tool. To distribute these:

Give each player three stealth tokens.
Shuffle the tool deck and deal one card to each player.

Step 5: Handle the Random Elements

There are several random elements in Burgle Bros., including the layout of the building and the patrol routes of the guards. To handle these:

Shuffle the patrol deck for each floor of the building.
Draw the top card of each patrol deck to determine the guard’s destination.
Shuffle the event deck and place it within easy reach of all players.

With all these steps complete, you are now ready to start your daring heist in Burgle Bros. Enjoy the game!

Game flow Round and round we go

Burgle Bros. is a cooperative board game where players team up to pull off a daring heist. The game is played in turns, with each player performing up to four actions on their turn. The game continues until all players have either successfully escaped or have been caught.

Setup:

Randomly place three floors of a building and populate them with tiles.
Each player chooses a unique character and places their pawn on the entrance tile of the first floor.
Set the alarm dial to zero and shuffle the event deck.

Player turn:

Each player, on their turn, can perform up to four actions. The possible actions include: Move, Peek, Hack, Add a Tool, Use a Tool, or Recover.
After a player has completed their actions, the top card of the event deck is drawn and resolved.

Guard turn:

After the event card is resolved, the guard on the current player’s floor moves. The number of spaces they move is determined by their current speed.
If a guard enters a space with a player and that player does not have a stealth token, they are caught and the game ends.

Escaping:

To escape, players need to locate the safe on each floor, crack it, and then make their way to the stairs.
Once all players have reached the stairs on the third floor, they must all spend an action to escape together.
If all players escape before any player is caught, they win the game. Otherwise, the game is lost.

The game of Burgle Bros. is an exciting balance of risk and reward, requiring careful coordination and strategy among players to succeed.

Players'turn One turn to rule them all

Burgle Bros. is an engaging cooperative board game where players are part of a team attempting to pull off a daring heist. A player’s turn is crucial and can influence the entire game. There are various possible actions and strategic choices a player can make during their turn.

On each turn, a player has four actions. They can use these actions to:

Move: Players can move their character to an adjacent room. If the room is unexplored, the player reveals a new tile to discover what the room contains.
Peek: Instead of moving into a room blindly, a player can use an action to peek into an adjacent room to see what it contains before entering.
Add a Stealth Token: If a player has fewer than three stealth tokens, they can use an action to add a stealth token to their character.
Crack a Safe: If a player is in a room with a safe, they can use an action to try and crack the safe.
Use a Tool: If a player has a tool, they can use an action to use that tool. Tools can provide various benefits, such as allowing a player to move more efficiently or crack safes more easily.

After a player has completed their actions, they draw an event card. Event cards can help or hinder the players, adding an extra element of unpredictability to the game.

Strategically, it’s important to balance risk and reward. Moving into an unknown room can be risky – if it contains a guard or alarm, the player could be caught and lose a stealth token. However, it can also be rewarding if the room contains a safe or helpful tool. Peeking into rooms can mitigate this risk, but uses up valuable actions that could be used elsewhere.

Adding a stealth token can help protect a player against being caught by a guard, but again uses up valuable actions. Cracking safes and using tools are typically high-reward actions, but can also be risky if a player does not have enough stealth tokens to protect themselves.

Overall, a player’s turn in Burgle Bros. is a balancing act of managing actions, mitigating risks, and maximizing rewards.

End of the game All good games must come to an end

The game of ‘Burgle Bros.’ ends when either the players have successfully achieved their objectives or when the conditions for defeat are met. Let’s discuss the victory and defeat conditions of the game in detail.

Victory Conditions:

The players win the game when they meet the following conditions:

Discover the Safe on each Floor: The players must locate the safe on each floor of the building. They do this by exploring tiles and revealing the location of each safe.
Crack the Safe on each Floor: After discovering the safe, players must crack it. This is done by collecting the numbers needed to unlock it, which are found on the tiles of the corresponding floor.
Collect the Loot: Once the safe is cracked, it reveals a loot. A player must pick up this loot.
Escape: After all the loot has been collected, all players must reach the stairs that lead to the roof and then escape from the roof. When all players have escaped, they win the game.

Defeat Conditions:

The players lose the game under the following conditions:

Caught by the Guards: If a player’s stealth tokens are all used up, and they are caught by a guard, they are out of the game. If all players are caught, the game ends in defeat.
Unable to Draw Event Cards: The game also ends in defeat if the players need to draw an event card, but there are none left in the deck.

Before final scoring, players must make sure that the above conditions are met. They should ensure that all loot has been collected, all players have escaped, and validate that they have not been caught by the guards or run out of event cards.

Scoring Did you outsmart your rivals?

Burgle Bros. is a cooperative board game where players are tasked with stealing valuable items from a well-guarded building without getting caught. The scoring in ‘Burgle Bros.’ is not usually focused on individual points but rather on accomplishing the team’s objectives. However, for those who want to add a competitive edge or require a tie-breaking system, here’s how it can work:

Scoring Points:

Stolen Loot: Each piece of loot that a player successfully steals from the building and gets to the rooftop is worth a certain number of points. The points value is usually directly proportional to the difficulty of obtaining the loot. For example, a painting might be worth 5 points, while a diamond might be worth 10.
Unused Tools: Each tool card a player has left unused by the end of the game can be converted into points. Generally, each tool card is worth 2 points.
Escaping: If a player manages to escape the building once the alarm has been triggered, they will receive a bonus of 5 points.

Tie-Breaking Rules:

In the event of a tie, the following rules can be used in order to determine a winner:

Least Damage: The player who has taken the least amount of damage throughout the course of the game is the winner.
First to Escape: If there is still a tie, the player who was the first to escape the building is the winner.
Most Loot: If a winner cannot be determined by the first two tie-breakers, the player who has stolen the most valuable loot is the winner.

Again, it’s important to note that ‘Burgle Bros.’ is primarily a cooperative game, and these rules are optional additions for those who wish to inject a bit of competition into the game.

Particular Cases and Exceptions Wait… is that legal?

Burgle Bros. is a cooperative board game that requires a good deal of strategy. There are some special rules, rare scenarios, and rule clarifications that players should be aware of to fully enjoy the game.

1. Alarm and Patrol Deck Exception:

While players would usually draw a new Patrol card when an alarm goes off, there’s an exception when an alarm sounds on the same floor where a guard is currently located. In this case, the guard does not move to the alarmed location immediately. Instead, they finish their current movement and increase their speed, then move to the alarm’s location on their next turn.

2. Staircase Rule:

Players can’t use the stairs to move from one floor to another if there is a guard on the staircase tile. If a guard moves onto a staircase tile, any players on that tile must stop using the stairs and return to the floor they were on.

3. Safe Cracking:

If a player is on a tile with a safe and they have all the necessary dice, they can attempt to crack the safe. If they roll the required numbers in any order, they crack the safe and reveal the treasure inside. If they fail, they must try again on their next turn.

4. Crow and Crystal Ball:

The Crow and Crystal Ball tools have unique rules. The Crow can be used to move a guard to a different floor, while the Crystal Ball allows a player to check the top three cards of the Patrol deck.

5. Deadbolt and Thermite:

Deadbolt and Thermite are two tools that interact with the walls of the game. The Deadbolt can be used to permanently lock a door, preventing guards from passing through it. On the other hand, Thermite can be used to create a new door in a wall.

6. Event Cards:

When an event card is drawn, it must be resolved immediately. The effects of the event card can vary greatly, from moving guards to adding new alarms to the board. The player who drew the event card decides how to resolve any decisions that the card requires.

7. Stealth Tokens:

Each player starts the game with three Stealth tokens. When a player is on the same tile as a guard and they do not have any Stealth tokens, they are caught and the game ends. However, if a player has at least one Stealth token, they can give up a token instead of being caught.

8. Guard Movement:

Guards always move towards their destination, taking the shortest path. If there are multiple shortest paths, the players choose which path the guard takes. If a guard’s destination is a room that is adjacent to the room they are currently in, they do not move into that room until their next turn.

Remember, understanding these special rules and exceptions can greatly enhance your gameplay and increase your chances of winning in Burgle Bros.

Tips and tricks Play smarter, not harder!

The board game ‘Burgle Bros.’ is a cooperative strategy game where players are part of a team trying to pull off a daring heist. Being successful in this game requires a mix of tactical decision-making, careful planning, and a bit of luck. Here are some advanced strategies, tips for beginners, common mistakes to avoid, and ways to optimize gameplay.

Advanced Strategies:

Planning Ahead: Always plan your actions in advance. Try to predict the guards’ movement and act accordingly.
Using Your Special Abilities: Each character has unique abilities. Use them effectively to gain an edge over the guards.
Effective Communication: As a cooperative game, communication between team members is key. Discuss your strategies with your teammates and make decisions together.

Beginner Tips:

Understand the Guard’s Movement: The guards move predictably. Understanding their pattern can help you avoid them.
Utilize Your Actions Wisely: Each turn, you have four actions. Make sure you use them wisely, balancing between exploring the building, evading guards, and accomplishing objectives.
Work Together: Remember, ‘Burgle Bros.’ is a team game. You must work together with your teammates to win.

Common Mistakes to Avoid:

Not Planning Ahead: Rushing into rooms without a plan is a surefire way to get caught by the guards. Always think ahead.
Not Using Special Abilities: Each character’s special abilities are designed to help you beat the game. Not using them effectively is a common mistake.
Not Communicating: Not discussing your strategy with your teammates can lead to uncoordinated moves and failure.

Ways to Optimize Gameplay:

Master the Rules: Thoroughly understanding the rules will help you make the best decisions during gameplay.
Practice: Like any game, practice makes perfect. The more you play, the better you will understand the game mechanics and strategies.
Good Coordination: Good team coordination can help you win the game. Make sure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.