Thank you to our lovely friend Alex for being a guest this episode! Watch the video on Youtube. Below is an overview of our pumpkin-themed action-selection game, Jack O’ All Trades.
THE ELEVATOR PITCH
Jack O’ All Trades is a curious and chaotic worker-placement/action selection game about the lives of Halloween pumpkins. Set in a strange haunted village, players guide pumpkins on their career path, from the patch to the porch.
THE LOOK
Jack O’ All Trades is illustrated in a dark and spooky but suitably exaggerated/cartoonish style reminiscent of animated Tim Burton films such as Nightmare Before Christmas. Each play board has a slightly different colour scheme which helps signify them as distinct areas.
The components include:
- 4 play boards: the Patch, the House, the Fête, and the Porch.
- 32 basic Pumpkin tokens, eight for each player in distinct player colours
- 4 pumpkin-seed Action Markers, one for each player in their colours
- 4 score markers in the player colours
- The Action Rondel
- 1 “tealight” first player marker
- ~150 stackable “upgrade” tokens with colours indicating their type.
- 16 Sleeper tiles
- 4 six-sided Patch dice
- 3 four-sided Carving dice
- 1 dual-sided Possession coin
- “Tombola” deck
“Upgrade” tokens can be stacked interchangeably on top of Pumpkin tokens, making a self-cohering stack. The different Upgrade types are indicated by colour:
- Bright teal/blue: Possessed pumpkin
- Pale grey, mid grey, black: Scariness level 1, 2, and 3
- Red & white gingham: Pumpkin pie
The Patch is divided into 4 columns, each belonging to a player, with 6 spaces for pumpkins, and ends indicated “sow” (entry arrow) and “harvest” exit arrow. There is also a collective Compost Heap illustrated on this board.
The Porch is divided into 4 rows, each belonging to a player, with 6 spaces for pumpkins and each space indicating a score multiplier, with values increasing left-right (first space is x1, third space is x2, sixth space is x4).
The Fête is divided into 3 sections: The Carving Station, the Pie Stand, and the Tombola Stall (where the Tombola Deck is placed).
The House is divided into 4 rooms: The Kitchen, the Bedroom, the Cellar, and the Attic.
The Action Rondel is divided into 4, with each quarter indicating a different play Board. Within these quarters there is an action space for every distinct area: so the Patch and Porch each have only one space, while the Fête has three and the House four.
THE AIM
Players want to score the most points at the end of the game. During play, they use their pumpkins both as workers – collecting points via actions – and as upgradeable “resources” which can be cashed in by displaying a pumpkin on the Porch at the end of the game. After the final round, the player who has the highest total score wins!
SET UP
To set up, lay out the four Play Boards in a square. The Porch will be below the House, and the Fête below the Patch. This will correctly align the Score Track. Place the Action Rondel alongside the boards and the player action tokens nearby. Each player adds three of their Pumpkin tokens to their column of the Patch.
Stack the Sleeper tiles on the Bed in the Bedroom in ascending order of difficulty (harder tiles at the bottom), place the Carving dice at the Carving Station, the Patch dice near the Patch, the Tombola Deck on the Tombola stall, and the Upgrade tokens within reach of all players.
TURNS
Every round, the first player is the player with the Tealight.
At the beginning of a player’s turn, they may harvest 1 Pumpkin from the Patch for free. They then may take up to three Actions, using their pumpkin-seed Action Markers to move on the Action Rondel. It is free to move to an action space within the current section of the Rondel, and costs 1 Action to move to the next section clockwise. All the Actions taken on one turn must use the same pumpkin token.
The available Actions are as follows.
In the Patch
Sow new Pumpkins: Roll the Patch die and add the resulting number of basic Pumpkin tokens to your column of the Patch board. Alternatively, instead of sowing you may harvest an additional Pumpkin this turn.
At the Fête
Carve your Pumpkin (3 available worker spaces):
Push your luck to make it nice and scary! Each time you roll the Carving Dice, you are aiming for a total under 6. On your first roll, you roll 2d4, and a success means you may take a “level 1 scary” token. Each subsequent roll uses one additional die and can win you the next level of scary token. If any roll fails (totals >=6), your Pumpkin is Sacrificed to the Compost Heap. Each Pumpkin on the Heap is worth 2 points at the end of the game.
Play the Tombola (2 available worker spaces):
Cross your fingers for a good prize! Draw the top card of the Tombola Deck. Each card is a permanent effect that a player can use. Most are beneficial, but some are detrimental. Some examples might be:
– Pumpkin Whiskey: each time you visit the Carving Stall, you may re-roll all your dice once.
– Chef Knives: when you Sacrifice a pumpkin to the Compost Heap, move another pumpkin to the Kitchen for free
– Plant feed: harvest 2 pumpkins at the beginning of your turn, instead of 1
– Rocket composter: when you sacrifice a pumpkin to the Compost Heap, also add 1 pumpkin to your Patch
– Cursed Doorstop: Each turn, 1 Pumpkin on your Porch loses an Upgrade token
Pie Stand (4 available worker spaces):
Get your pies the recognition they deserve! If the Pumpkin you bring to the Stand is a Pie, you may Sacrifice it for an immediate 6 points.
In the House
Kitchen (2 available worker spaces):
Give it the home cook’s touch! A Pumpkin placed here becomes a Pie (gains the Pie upgrade token).
Attic (1 worker space):
Get the edge.
Gain the Tealight, and score 1 point.
Bedroom (2 available worker spaces):
Scare the Sleeper!
Sleeper tiles each have an indicated number of points and one or more requirements. The sleeper will only be frightened if your pumpkin meets those requirements (e.g., it must be at least Level 1 Scary, and/or must be Possessed, and/or a Pie). If your pumpkin does so, take the topmost Sleeper tile and score its associated points. If not, you may still leave your pumpkin here taking up a worker space.
Cellar (3 available worker spaces):
Get in touch with the spirits…
Flip the Possession coin. If it comes up Heads, add a Possession token to your Pumpkin.
Possessed Pumpkins take 1 action automatically each turn. At the end of your turn, for each Pumpkin token (yours or another player’s) currently within the House, move your Action Marker one space around the Rondel. The Pumpkin moves to the corresponding space and takes the Action if possible. If a Possessed Pumpkin becomes Possessed a second time, it explodes and is Sacrificed to the Compost Heap.
On the Porch
Display your prized pumpkins!
When taking this action, a pumpkin is placed in the left-most empty space on your Porch. A pumpkin cannot be moved from the Porch once placed there.
SUMMARY
Players continue taking turns, choosing actions, scoring points and upgrading their pumpkins. They can focus their strategy on short-term points (e.g. for scaring in the Bedroom or selling Pies at the Pie Stand) or try their best to fill out their Porch.
As soon as one player places their sixth pumpkin on their Porch, the round is concluded and the game ends. Final scoring takes place.
Each pumpkin on a player’s Porch scores according to its number of Upgrades multiplied by the multiplier on its assigned place.
Each pumpkin on the Compost Heap scores 2 points for its player.
Collected Sleeper tiles are worth the points indicated on each tile.
These points are added to those gained during the game (e.g. for Pies sold at the Stall or pumpkins sent to the Attic). The player with the most points wins!
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS GAME?
Jack O’ All Trades is a point-salad game for the spooky season. It is a thorough exploration of what it means to be a pumpkin. Its wacky choices, interactions, and scoring make for a complex strategy game that’s nowhere near serious, where you can win just as easily with a horde of zombie pumpkins as with a pie empire.
Big Crow Games 