Fantasy Flight Games

Journey to Middle-earth Today

Published 17 December 2012 | The Hobbit Card Game

Journey to Middle-earth Today

The Hobbit Card Game Is Now on Sale

Take part in Bilbo’s epic journey to reclaim the home of the dwarves with The Hobbit Card Game, on sale now at your local retailer and on our webstore!

Designed by Martin Wallace, The Hobbit Card Game is a fast-paced, standalone, trick-taking card game for two to five players. Join the battle in Middle-earth as the forces of good and evil clash. Fight against the forces of evil as Gandalf, Thorin, or Bilbo, or gang up on the heroes as Smaug the dragon or the goblin leader Bolg. Play to win hands and use the cards you’ve won to deal damage to your opponents, or heal allies and help them with extra cards. Each hero or villain has a special ability that allows a player to assign cards that he has won to his enemies and allies. It will take careful planning to best apply the spoils of any hard-won victory.

Relive Bilbo’s Adventure

Bring Bilbo’s adventures with Thorin and company to life as each side struggles to outwit and outmaneuver the other, and the dwarves fight to win back their homestead.

At the beginning of the game, each player is randomly assigned a role as one of five key players in the story of Bilbo Baggins: Smaug, Bolg, Gandalf, Thorin, or Bilbo. The number of good and evil characters in play is determined by the number of players, and these characters are dealt to players face-down at the beginning of the game.

In order to secure victory, Bilbo and the other heroes must work together to survive their journey to the Lonely Mountain. The villains are only concerned with destruction and death, so depending on the number of players, the evil characters can win by using their combined power to destroy some or all of the forces of good before the final round of play.

The odds are stacked against the dwarven company, as the forces of evil have numbers on their side, and the raw might of Smaug the dragon. At the beginning of each round, players are dealt a hand of cards. The villainous players are dealt extra cards, and they then must discard down to the same number as the good players. This allows the forces of evil to make sure that they will be striking at the heroes with as much power as possible.

Dealing Damage and Healing Allies

Middle-earth is fraught with peril for the heroes with orcs and wargs hounding their every step, but there is aid to be found throughout the land as well. Utilizing the powers of good and evil in the deck will be a key to victory for either side. Some cards in the deck have one of three symbols on them, a white star symbolizing the forces of good, an orc’s helm that represents evil, or a pipe which allows players to draw an extra card.

Each time a player wins a round of play, he must then distribute the cards that he’s won according to the rules outlined on his character’s card. Cards imbued with the white star of good will heal the heroes and deal damage to the evil characters; likewise, cards with the orc’s helm will harm the good characters and heal Smaug and Bolg. Good and evil characters alike will benefit from receiving a card with a pipe, which will allow a player to draw an extra card in the next round of play. Heal and support your allies and strike at your enemies to secure victory!

Enter into the realm of Middle-earth and take part in the battle to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug. Pick up The Hobbit Card Game from your local retailer today!

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The copyrightable portions of The Hobbit: The Card Game are © 2012 Sophisticated Games, Ltd. The Hobbit and the characters, events, items and places therein, are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-Earth Enterprises and are used under license by Sophisticated Games, Ltd. and their respective licensees. Fantasy Flight Supply is a trademark of Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc.

Prepare to go There and Back Again

Published 19 November 2012 | The Hobbit Card Game

Prepare to go There and Back Again

The Rules for The Hobbit Card Game Are Now Online

A whirring noise was heard. A red light touched the points of standing rocks. The dragon came.

They barely had time to fly back to the tunnel, pulling and dragging in their bundles, when Smaug came hurtling from the North, licking the mountain-sides with flame, beating his great wings with a noise like a roaring wind. His hot breath shriveled the grass before the door, and drove in through the crack and scorched them as they lay hid. Flickering fires leaped up and black rock-shadows danced. Then darkness fell as he passed again. –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

The rules for The Hobbit Card Game are now available on our support page! The Hobbit Card Game is Martin Wallace’s fast-paced, standalone, trick-taking card game for 2-5 players.

Win hands and use the cards you’ve won to deal damage to opponents, or heal allies and help them with extra cards. Each character assigns cards differently, so use your skills wisely! Fight the forces of evil as Gandalf, Thorin, or Bilbo, or smash the hopes of the heroes as Smaug or Bolg, the goblin leader.

Prepare for the Clash of Good and Evil

The rules for The Hobbit Card Game outline the battleground for the conflict between the forces of good and evil. Download the rulebook to see what it takes to smash the hopes of the heroes or triumph over the villainous forces of Smaug! Each character has special rules that dictate how players must distribute the cards that they win in a hand. Players are dealt their characters at random, so study all of the different special abilities to prepare for any game.

The Hobbit Card Game Rules (pdf, 573 kb)

Download the rules today, and look for Martin Wallace’s The Hobbit Card Game later this year to take part in the legendary tale of Bilbo’s adventure!

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Announcing The Hobbit Card Game

Published 12 September 2012 | The Hobbit Card Game

Announcing The Hobbit Card Game

A Standalone Trick-Taking Game by Martin Wallace

“There is one point that you haven’t noticed,” said the wizard, […] "but Smaug could not creep into a hole that size, not even when he was a young dragon, certainly not after devouring so many of the dwarves and men of Dale.” “It seems a great big hole to me,” squeaked Bilbo (who had no experience of dragons and only of hobbit-holes). –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Fantasy Flight Games is happy to announce The Hobbit Card Game, Martin Wallace’s fast-paced, standalone, trick-taking card game for 2-5 players. Players win hands by trying to lay down the highest card of the suit in play. Use the cards you’ve won to deal damage to opponents, or heal allies and help them with extra cards. Each character assigns cards differently, so use your skills wisely! Fight the forces of evil as Gandalf, Thorin, or Bilbo, or smash the hopes of the heroes as Smaug or Bolg, the goblin leader.

Each player takes on the role of one of the heroes or villains in the classic story of Bilbo’s adventures. In order to win, the villainous characters must use their combined power to destroy all of the forces of good before the end of the final round of play, and the heroes must simply work together to survive the onslaught.

Attack Your Enemies, Support Your Allies

Players work to win hands, and then assign cards to themselves or other characters depending on the rules outlined on their character card. Each card can have one of three symbols on them or be blank.

Each character has a special affinity with the forces that govern his motives. Gandalf, Bilbo, and Thorin are scions of good, while Smaug and Bolg are cruel and evil. The cards respond to these alignments accordingly. A white star on the card symbolizes the forces of good, the helm of an orc adorns cards possessed of evil power, and assigning a card with a pipe grants players the ability to draw an extra card in the next round. If a card with the opposite power is assigned to your character (Gandalf gets an orc helmet, or Smaug gets a star), then that character takes a point of damage. If your character is already damaged and is assigned a card with the symbol of their own side (Bilbo gets a star, or Bolg gets an orc helmet) then that character gets a single point of damage healed. Two points of damage eliminates a character from the game, so use the cards you win to knock out your opponents and heal your allies.

The round ends when players have emptied their hands, and the last of the cards that were in play have been assigned to the characters. Players who have taken enough damage are eliminated at this point. Depending of the number of players, if enough good characters have survived, the game continues until the final round. If the evil characters have killed enough of the heroes, then the villains win the day!

Whether you’d like to take your chances outlasting the assault of evil, or you’re interested in annihilating the heroes, look for The Hobbit Card Game later this year and take part in the legendary tale of Bilbo’s adventure!

Please note: This standalone product is unrelated to the LCG The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.

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