Battle Dentale

Lucius Molara (a tooth fairy) walks into a bar and orders a glass of absinthe. With his sparkly blue wings and fine attire, he’s easy to spot. But he's not the only tooth collector here tonight.

From a dimly lit corner comes the flash of yellow eyes, staring at Lucius from beneath a scruffy green unibrow. Zuby de Kaye (a gum goblin) has met his gaze. She’s holding up a tiny pouch, jingling it as if to say, "Hey, fairy, wanna play?"

Lucius smirks as he reaches into his velvet bag, revealing his own tiny pouch, which—like Zuby’s—is filled with human teeth. They meet at the table, where Zuby lays the jawbone game board. The arena is ready for their tiny battle. And as always, they’ll play for keeps...

COMING SOON!

Battle Dentale was just named a Semi-Finalist in the BGDL Solo Duo Challenge. Thank you for your votes! We are currently talking with 2 different publishers about potentially signing this game, and we are also awaiting the results of the 2021 Cardboard Edison Awards.

This game is not for sale yet on The Game Crafter (we still need to finish the art on some of the cards). But if you want to stay up-to-date and help us bring this game across the finish line, you can:

• Join the Small Furry Games email list
• Support us with $1 or more on PayPal to help us finish the card art!

Thanks so much for "rooting" for us!

Battle Dentale is a thinky, take-that board game about collecting rare and valuable teeth from a game board fashioned after a human jawbone. Winning requires strategy, efficient decision-making, and sometimes evil moves to sabotage your opponent. To win, gather a more highly valued collection of teeth than the other player.

Easy to pick up. Hard to put down.

We wanted to create a game that was simple enough for anyone to learn, but that also offered enough complexity and strategy to satisfy a serious gamer. So Battle Dentale offers multiple modes of play:

The quick-start version of the game features all skill and no randomness. It only takes 5 minutes to learn, and is great for younger players, beginners, or those who want a more polite game.

Once you’ve mastered the base game, add new challenges or try a more aggressive mode:

• Add a layer of complexity with Tooth Order (objective) cards
• Embrace risk and add new moves by randomizing the movement chits

(See the rulebook for more information about Game Modes)

Setting up the game is easy. Use these steps:

1. Set the game board on the table.

2. Fill the jaw with teeth.

3. Take the pawn and gem of your color.

4. Roll and place the 4 Wisdom Teeth dice.

5. Choose your game mode and set up accordingly.

• For a basic game, take 1 "button" movement chit of each type (1, 2, 3, and 4 button holes) and place each one 1 of the positions in the center of the jaw.

• For advanced mode, take all 24 movement chits and shuffle them together. Divide them into 4 piles (6 chits each) and place 1 pile on each position in the center of the jaw.

• If playing with Tooth Orders, deal 5 Tooth Order cards next to the board. Return any unused cards to the game box. (If not playing with Tooth Orders, leave them in the game box.)

6. Place both pawns on their starting spaces, along the midline.

Player Turns

The Fairy (being the more well-mannered of the two) always lets the Goblin go first. Then players alternate turns.

Each player's turn has up to 3 steps: Move, Meddle, and Maraud!

1) Move.

In this game, players use movement chits to choose which action or move to take. They claim a chit by placing their gem on top of one of these chits.

To move, place your gem on 1 of the movement chits. You must move it to a new position, and it may share the same position as your opponent's gem. (Note: if playing Advanced Mode, see the rulebook for how to claim, collect, and replace chits).

Once you have chosen a movement chit, move your pawn accordingly:

icon	action	description
	Move 1	Move your pawn 1 space, in either direction
	Move 2	Move your pawn 2 spaces, in either direction
	Move 3	Move your pawn 3 spaces, in either direction
	Move 4	Move your pawn 4 spaces, in either direction
	Switch	Swap the positions of the 2 player pawns
	Re-Roll	Re-roll each Wisdom Tooth die still on the board
	Jump	Move to any empty bicuspid (octagonal) socket.

No matter which chit you choose, you may also discard 1 tooth from your collection to move 1 extra space.

You will always end your turn with your pawn next to a tooth socket.

2) Meddle.

You may choose 1 meddling action to use on the socket nearest to your pawn:

• Extract. Remove a tooth and add it to your collection.
• Fill. If the socket is empty, you may place a tooth from your collection into the socket.
• Transplant. Exchange the tooth in the socket with a tooth in an adjacent socket, OR a tooth from your collection.
• Take a Bridge. If you land along a row of 3 or more teeth of the same color (Wisdom Teeth don't count), extract all 3 teeth.
• Use Magic. If the socket has a Wisdom Tooth die, rotate the die to "clean" the tooth or "summon decay" by one degree.

(You may also choose to pass your turn, without meddling at all.)

3) Maraud!

You may "maraud" your opponent once per turn. There are 2 ways to maraud:

• If you end your turn with your pawn on the same space as your opponent's pawn, either move their pawn back to the start, OR steal 1 tooth from their collection.
• (Advanced version only) If you have collected 3 buttons of the same type, you may return them to the discard pile, then steal 1 tooth from your opponent.

Claiming a Tooth Order

(Only for games that use Tooth Order cards)

Anytime during your turn, if you have the teeth required to fill the requirements of a Tooth Order, you may take that card and place it in front of you. Place the required tooth pieces on top of the card. This reserves them for that order, and protects them from being stolen by the other player. You may claim only 1 Tooth Order per turn.

When all teeth of 1 color (excluding Wisdom Tooth dice), have been removed from the board, the game ends immediately. Then players score their collections.

Scoring

Use the key on your side of the game board to appraise your tooth collection:

• Score Tooth Order cards first. Then, if your order(s) contain teeth of your color, return those teeth to your collection. If your order(s) contained teeth of your opponet's color, discard them.
• Score 1-3 points for each tooth of your color, based on type.
• Score -1 to -3 for each tooth of your opponent’s color, based on type.
• Score -6 to +6 for each Wisdom Tooth, based on cleanliness.
• Score 4 points for the Gold Tooth.
• If you have the Crown, pick 1 tooth in your collection and double its value.

Winning

The player with the highest score wins the game. If they tie, the player with the Crown wins.

The movement mechanism in this game was significantly inspired by the Movement Track in the game Venari. Check it out here on The Game Crafter!

Special thanks to all those who have play-tested and given feedback on this game. Without you, Battle Dentale might still just be scraps of construction paper: Ben Downton • Joseph Fredrick • Holt Gray, DMD • Mitch & Paige Heyland • Galen Kaup • Luke T. Kyle • Brian Anthony LaPorte • Mark & Joan Lindahl • Ben Moy • Drew Richards • Grace Santy-Lindahl • Clark Willix • and many others.

Help bring this game to life!

We're working on finding a publisher for Battle Dentale! Here's how you can help bring this game to life:

• Vote for Battle Dentale in the BGDL Solo/Duo Challenge
• Leave us a review below.
• Join our email list
• Visit the Small Furry Games website
• Follow Small Furry Games on Facebook
• Talk about #BattleDentale online, and share this page

GAME DESIGN BY EMILY WILLIX • ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX PORCAYO

EMILY WILLIX is a game designer who loves creating fun, thinky games in small packages. She’s always on the lookout for ways to make games more earth-friendly, and operates her company, Small Furry Games, from a solar- and wind-powered sailboat currently located in the Dominican Republic. When she’s not designing games, Emily is probably proofreading another game designer’s rulebook. Or playing a game. Or thinking about games. But when she’s not doing anything game-related, she spends her time making YouTube videos, maintaining an old boat, and playing music with friends. Learn more about her current projects at www.SmallFurryGames.com.

ALEX PORCAYO is a freelance illustrator who is passionate about visual storytelling. He typically spends his time creating comic books, book illustrations, and tabletop concepts. Alex is frequently sought after for fantasy character designs, backgrounds, and illustration editing. When he’s not developing tabletop art, you can find him working on book illustrations, producing Lo-fi music, listening to ska, and playing video games. Alex lives in South Florida with his 2 snakes (Hydra and Pixel), and his cat, Bumi. You can find out more about Alex at www.kineticpop.com, follow him on Instagram @kineticpop) or follow him on Twitter.