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by Hans ten Cate
Sunday, 22 September 1996
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Collectible
Card Game (CCG). Design Copyright © 1996 Kenzer & Co. All
rights reserved; Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a trademark of
Python (Monty) Pictures, Limited.
Each player will lead one Round Table through England on a quest
to find the Holy Grail. During the quest, the Round Table will deal
with adversaries through combat, wits or running away. Each player
will try to hinder his opponent's Round Table by playing cards such
as taunts, events and perils so he can complete the quest first. After
a player's Round Table has braved the hazards of England, it may enter
Avalon where the Holy Grail may be found.
 2.1
Each player removes one Arthur and one Patsy card from his deck and
places them aside. These are the starting cast of characters.
2.2 Each player shuffles his deck.
2.3 Each player cuts his opponent's
deck and flips the top-card face up. These "ante" cards
are placed in a pile. The first to find the Grail wins the ante. If
all players agree, you may play for more than one ante card, but in
no case shall anyone be allowed to play without an ante (see also
Optional Rules).
2.4 Next, each player must place
the top 14 cards from their deck, face-down, such that no player knows
the cards' identities. All players then arrange the 14 cards face-down
to form England and Avalon (see Figure 1).
2.5 Each player then draws seven
cards for their hand.
2.6 Whichever player owns the
most MPHG cards goes first.
2.7 Om du befinner dig i Sverige,
mŒste du spela MPHG CCG vid ett runt bord!
3.1 Draw Cards Phase. The player
whose turn it is draws her cards. The number of cards drawn shall
be one unless her knights are in an area that provides for the drawing
of extra cards (such as lands or castles).
3.2 Take Your Turn Phase. Do any
of the following in any order:
- Play one or more cards from your hand,
- Move your knights one space in any direction,
- Resolve disputes with adversaries (this action may be required at
specific times),
- Play face-down cards on your opponent's England,
- Play face-down cards on Avalon,
- Ask one knight or persona to join you in your Round Table, or
- Run away.
3.3 Balance Hand Phase. A player
must always have between three and seven cards at the end of his
turn. If a player has eight or more cards at the end of his turn,
he must discard down to seven cards. On the other hand, if a player
has two or fewer cards at the end of his turn, he must draw enough
cards to have three in his hand after the draw.
 4.1
When to Play. Any player may play a card face-up on/in any opponent,
England, Avalon, or Round Table at any time (subject to restrictions
in section 6.2). A card may be played face-down in any England or
Avalon only during the player's Take Your Turn phase.
4.2 Quotes. All card titles and
quotes must be read aloud or the card does not take effect and is
placed in the dead cart. When reading a quote or singing a song, the
reader should also make a good faith effort to imitate any applicable
movie accent or inflection.
4.3 Two Cards in One. The basic
card types include the following: Adversary, Castle, Event, Item,
Knight, Land, Page, Persona, Questions Three, Song, Taunt and Village.
The majority of cards have a secondary or alternate effect at the
bottom or side of the card. These secondary effects may be used in
lieu of the primary effect. EXCEPTION: The secondary property of page
cards is an adversary. This secondary effect only comes into play
if a player turns the card up in his own England. In that case, the
card is considered an adversary and not a page. Under no circumstances
is a player to play a page or a page's alternate property in any England,
on an opponent, or in Avalon, i.e., a player may only play a page
in her Round Table Area, and the card must be played as a page (not
an adversary).
4.4 Grail Numbers. The numbers
inside the grail icon are called grail numbers. They are used just
like die rolls. If a grail number is required, a card is drawn and
the number inside the grail icon is used. The card is then discarded
with no further effect. Exception: Song cards that are used for the
grail number must then be immediately played on the drawing player's
opponent. (Song cards which you have in your hand may be played at
any time subject to limits set by section 4.1).
4.5 The Dead Cart. Used cards
and discards are placed in a face-up pile next to the player's deck.
This pile is called the dead cart. EXCEPTION: a card which must specifically
be "eliminated from play" is not placed in the dead cart.
It must be removed from the playing surface never again to be used
in the current game.
4.6 Unique Cards. Only one of
each card may be in play on a player's England, Avalon, or Round Table
Area at a time. Otherwise duplicate cards may be played using their
secondary effect, or on the other player's England or Round Table
Area. Note that if a card is in Avalon, it may not be played in either
player's England or Round Table. If a duplicate card is turned face-up,
it is immediately discarded (and replaced if appropriate - see 6.0
Movement for more details). EXCEPTION: "generic" cards may
always be duplicated.
5.1 Knights. New knights may be
invited to join a player's Round Table. A knight will not join the
Round Table unless there is a page in play that can carry his coconuts.
If there is a page that can be assigned to the knight, the knight
may join the Round Table. Knights played directly from a player's
hand join the Round Table automatically (if there is a page for them,
of course). Knights encountered in England may be asked to join by
a knight who is already a member of the Round Table. When a knight
is asked to join, both players draw a grail number. If the knight's
number is less than the Round Table representative's number, he joins.
If it exceeds the Round Table representative's number, he refuses
to join and becomes an adversary (he must be defeated to enter the
area). If the numbers are equal, the knight will not join, but may
be asked to join again. A knight may be asked to join only once per
turn, unless he is challenged to combat or a battle of wits, in which
case he will never join.
5.2 Personas. Personas may be
invited to join the Round Table just like knights, however the Round
Table representative may not use a Round Table bonus (if any). Personas
do not normally require a page to serve them.
5.3 'Til Death Do Us Part. Knights,
personas and pages may not be voluntarily dismissed or removed from
Round Table service - they are members until death. EXCEPTION: If
a knight's page is killed or eliminated, the knight will leave the
Round Table (place him in the dead cart) unless another page can be
immediately assigned to him. A page cannot be assigned to this knight
at the expense of another knight.
6.1 Movement in General. The knights
may move to one area adjacent to the area they are in per turn (although
some special cards enhance/restrict movement and see also Section
7.6, Running Away). A player's Round Table may not move (except to
run away) without at least one knight. To move, a player announces
the space that she intends her Round Table to move into.
6.2 Face-down Cards. If there
are face-down cards in the space the knights are moving into, they
are turned over, such that the former bottom card is now on top, and
all cards are now face up, i.e., the first card placed face-down is
revealed first. As each card is revealed, the primary ability affects
the knights and personas entering the area. Thus any events, songs,
taunts or trivia that are revealed can adversely affect the knights;
it is as if the player's opponent had played the cards and whether
the card takes effect is totally at the discretion of the opponent.
If, after all events have taken effect, there are no lands, adversaries
(or perils), castles, knights, personas, items or villages, the player
whose turn it is must take the top card from her deck and place it
face-up in the space. This process continues until an appropriate
card fills the space (from any source, including another player's
hand).
This would suggest that a player must encounter at least one of the
following when moving into a new area of England: lands, adversaries
(or perils, which includes pages), castles, knights, personas, items
or villages. So if the player traversing into a new area of England
encounters cards only belonging to the other four "suits"
(i.e. events, questions three, songs, and taunts), the player has
to keep drawing cards until one of the other eight suits comes up.
6.3 One per Space. There may be
no more than one of each of the following cards in a space at any
given time: land, village, castle, peril or adversary, knight (may
or may not be an adversary), persona. Additionally, a peril may not
occupy the same area as a knight. The cards played first remain, the
others are discarded. Thus, if a player plays a castle on a face-down
space and later the original face-down card is revealed to be a castle,
the second card played is discarded. EXCEPTION: Anthrax personas and
adversaries may be played together in contravention of the "one
card type per space" rule. Add their wits together and resolve
the dispute once.
6.4 Occupying the Space. After
the knights have defeated any adversaries in an area, the entire Round
Table is free to enter the area. This is indicated by moving one knight
(usually Arthur) or some other appropriate marker into the space.
For convenience, the rest of the Round Table remains in the Round
Table Area. The knight that is representing the Round Table by moving
as your "piece" in England is not necessarily the lead knight
for disputes - the lead knight is chosen when a dispute occurs.
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