Author: Cédric Millet
Illustration: Markus Erdt
Editor: Patrick Tonn
Playing time: approx. 20 minutes

Curtain up for the most incredible monster acts, that the world has ever seen! We are excited to invite you to dive into the world of „The Next MonStar“. In the spooktacular talent show the spooky stars of tomorrow, what they've got.

But the jury is discerning and has its own preferences: some love powerhouse vocals, others breathtaking dance moves or spooky-chic styling. Still others are into gross and creepy acts. In the game, the goal is therefore to cast the jury's favorites – which also gets the audience excited and is rewarded with popularity points on the Applause-o-meter!

Whoever manages to, in three rounds to collect the most popularity points, has won!

• 45 MonStar tiles (including 5 Mega-MonStars)

• 15 Jury tiles

• 4 stages

• 4 point-spiders

• 1 Applause-o-meter

• Spotlight symbol:

  The MonStar may only be placed in the yellow/green/red area of the stage.

• Power-Duo (only for the variant!)

  Some MonStars form a Power-Duo. A pair with the same Power-Duo symbols earns an extra popularity point.

• Talents:

  Each normal MonStar has 2 different talents. In total there are 5 talents: Spook, Singing, Disgust, Style, Dance.

1. Each take a stage and place it in front of you. The color-matching dot-spider goes into the green slime area on the Applause-o-meter.

2. Sort the 5 Mega-MonStar tiles out. These only come into play in the third round. In a two- or three-player game you also need only 10 jury tiles (2 per talent). Only in a four-player game do all 15 come into play.

3. Place all remaining MonStar and jury tiles face down in the middle. Now flip over 6 tiles of your choice (whether MonStar or jury member).

4. Find the soundtrack that corresponds to your number of players. You can find the sound files to listen to and download on this page

You play in turns clockwise and for 3 rounds. Each round consists of 2 phases:

• In the Casting phase you collect in the beat of the soundtrack tiles and place them on your respective stages – the MonStars on one of the three upper stage spaces and the Jury below on their chairs.

• Your goal is, in the applause phase at the end of each round to have as many talent symbols as possible on your MonStar tiles that match the talent symbols on your Jury tiles. Because for each match you get popularity points, which you mark with your score spinner on the applause-o-meter.

Casting phase: Collect tiles

You all have the same number of opportunities to place tiles (this always refers to MonStar and Jury tiles) on your stage and to fill it completely by the end of the round. Only in the first round must a Jury spot be left free. Because a monster always arrives late to the show!

Who among you is the scariest? You start in the first round. Start the soundtrack.

When you hear the tense gasp in the soundtrack, you must reveal a still face-down tile. If buzzers and cheers sound, you may take an already revealed tile and place it on your stage. At the next gasp it's immediately the person to your left turn. From that point on you may therefore take no more tiles, put back or on your stage move.

Attention: It is important that you always listen carefully to the signals (gasp and buzzer) of the soundtrack! Because if you miss or ignore them, you quickly lose track and may unfairly leave someone out. Fairness is the top rule in 'The Next MonStar' (even before 'Don't eat the audience!').

As soon as the big applause sounds, the casting phase is over.Pause the soundtrack at this point.

Applause phase: Receive popularity points

It's time to celebrate you and your MonStars! After the casting phase there will (hopefully) be applause and with it popularity points.

Check all the tiles on your respective stages. Proceed as follows:

1. Return duplicates: Each tile (MonStar or Jury) may only appear once on your stage. Choose one tile of each character type and return the extras to the center.

2. Flip incorrectly placed MonStars: Is a MonStar tile in the wrong stage area (see the spotlight symbol)? Then flip it over.

3. Count popularity points: Compare the talent symbols on your MonStar tiles with those on your Jury tiles. For each matching talent symbol you get 1 popularity point. For each flipped tile you lose 1 popularity point.

4. Move score spinners: Mark your current score on the applause-o-meter with your score spinner. Once you pass the star with the number 30, turn your score spinner to the side with the star. This way you know that you already have more than 30 popularity points.

After you have placed your score spinners, all tile back from your stages into the center. Flip all tiles over, shuffle them well, and then reveal 6 tiles again at random.

Continue the soundtrack. This time the person to the left of the scariest starts.

• Round 1: You may occupy only 2 of the 3 jury seats and play without Mega-MonStar tiles.

• Round 2: You may occupy all jury seats and play without Mega-MonStar tiles.

• Round 3: You may occupy all jury seats and at the start of the casting phase shuffle the 5 Mega-MonStar tiles face-down into the deck.

After the third round the game ends.

Whose points-spider is now farthest ahead?

Congratulations: You have won the hearts of the audience and may rightfully call yourself "The Next MonStar"! At least until the next challenge comes – because one thing is clear: The Show must go on!

Is there a tie? Then the winner is the one who in the third applause phase received the most popularity points.

With this variant you bring even more tension into the game and perhaps also a pinch of schadenfreude. Now it also comes down to the Power-Duo symbols that can be seen on some MonStar tiles. Try to get pairs with the same symbols on your stage – for a matching Power-Duo you get 1 bonus popularity point during the Applause phase!

But don't get excited too early! Because whoever already has a MonStar tile with a Power-Duo symbol on their stage may steal the tile with the same symbol from another stage. Wait for your Buzzer signal in the Casting phase and take the missing Power-Duo tile instead of a tile from the center. The player who was robbed then has one tile fewer on their stage until the end of the round. Mean? Hey, you're monsters — of course it's mean!