- UPSIDE DOWN -

Rulebook
 CHAPTERS INTRODUCTION CREDITS
GAME DESIGN: Rob Daviau
INTRODUCTION...........................................................2 LEAD DEVELOPER: Leo Almeida
OVERVIEW......................................................................2 November 6, 1983 - Hawkins, Indiana. DEVELOPMENT: Jordy Adan, Noah Cohen, and
CREDITS..........................................................................2 Brian Neff
COMPONENTS..............................................................3 LEAD PRODUCER: Isadora Leite
BASIC CONCEPTS........................................................4
After a long, 10-hour RPG session, young PRODUCTION: Thiago Aranha, Marcela Fabreti,
• GAME BOARD................................................................. 4 Will Byers disappears while riding his bike Guilherme Goulart, Rebecca Ho, Thiago Meyer,
• CHARACTERS AND CHARACTER DASHBOARD.... 5 through the fields between Cornwallis and Shafiq Rizwan, Kenneth Tan, and Gregory Varghese
• ACTION CARDS..............................................................5 Kerley, or, as his group of friends call it, PROOFREADING: Robert Fulkerson and Jason Koepp
• SCENE CARDS..................................................................5 Mirkwood. This frightening event triggers ART DIRECTOR: Mathieu Harlaut
• LEVEL TOKENS............................................................... 6 LEAD ARTIST: Giovanna Guimarães
• STACKS.............................................................................. 6
a series of bizarre occurrences in their small BOARD ART: Henning Ludvigsen
• FOES....................................................................................7
town. The unexplainable suicide of Benny COLORS OF COVER AND CARDS BACK: Giorgia Lanza
• ALLY CARDS......................................................................7 Hammond, weird phone calls and flickering SCULPTING: Irek Zieliński
lights in the Byers’ house, Barbara SCULPT ENGINEERING: Vincent Fontaine and
• ITEM CARDS.....................................................................7
Aragorn Marks
• ELEVEN POWERS............................................................7 Holland allegedly running away, and the RENDERING: Edgar Ramos
SEASON 1 SETUP..........................................................8 sudden appearance of Eleven, a girl with a LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Louise Combal
SEASON 2 SETUP..........................................................9 shaved head and paranormal powers who GRAPHIC DESIGN: Marc Brouillon and Júlia Ferrari
HOW TO PLAY.............................................................10 is apparently connected to the suspicious LICENSING:
1. MOVE............................................................................. 10 CMON: Geoff Skinner
2. PERFORM ACTION.................................................... 10
Hawkins National Laboratory. NETFLIX: Aristides “Arrow” Membreno
3. REFILL HAND............................................................... 10 PUBLISHER: David Preti
4. REVEAL SCENES..........................................................11 Little by little, new pieces of this PLAYTESTERS: Rafael Assaf, Davi Augusto, Euclides
Demodog Spawn.......................................................11 supernatural mystery begin to unfold, Cantidiano, and Felipe Galeno
WINNING OR LOSING...............................................11 forever turning the lives of some of
ACTIONS.......................................................................11 Hawkins’ residents upside down.
• UNCONTESTED ACTIONS........................................11
Calm Down and Calm Down +2.........................11
Get Item and Get Item +2..................................... 12
Gather Info.................................................................. 12
• CONTESTED ACTIONS............................................. 13
OVERVIEW
Recruit Ally.................................................................. 13
Help Eleven................................................................. 13
© 2023 CMON Global Limited, all rights reserved.
Investigate the Lab................................................... 13 Stranger Things: Upside Down is a cooperative No part of this product may be reproduced without
Rescue Will.................................................................. 13 game in which 2 to 4 players take on the role of the specific permission. STRANGER THINGS ™/© Netflix.
Fight................................................................................ 14 Used with permission. CMON, and the CMON logo
series’ protagonists. At the start of the game, players are registered trademarks of CMON Global Limited.
Remove Vines.............................................................15
Close Gate....................................................................15 choose a Character and 1 of the 2 Seasons to play,
each with its own board, actions, and unique sets of
SUMMARY.....................................................................16
cards. Characters use Action cards to move through FREE DIGITAL
iconic Hawkins Locations, get Items, control their CONTENT: ELEVEN
Fear, and to beat the value of token stacks in order to
gather Allies, escape a secret government agency, Get it here!
help Eleven and be aided by her Powers, and fight
the horrors coming from the Upside Down. They
perform their actions over a series of turns until they
reach their ultimate goal: to stop the Upside Down
forces and rescue Will... or get terrified trying.

[Link]

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 COMPONENTS
6 CHARACTERS

1 Eleven Tracker 1 Double-Sided Game Board

7 FOES
Lucas Sinclair Mike Wheeler Dustin Henderson

2 Patrol
Jim Hopper Nancy Wheeler Joyce Byers Demogorgon 4 Demodogs Standees

6 Character Dashboards
8 Ally Cards -
25 Scene Cards - Season 1 Season 1

15 Item Cards 48 Action Cards

8 Ally Cards -
27 Scene Cards - Season 2 Season 2 77 Double-Sided Level Tokens 4 Fear Trackers 2 Plastic Stands

3
 BASIC CONCEPTS • Location action: Lists the action(s) that can be • Eleven Powers: Powers that can be activated
performed in that Location. Depending on the type through the Help Eleven action (see pg. 13). Each
of action, they may or may not have slots associated Power has its own description and an associated
GAME BOARD with them (see pg. 11). token slot.

Each Season of the game is represented by a • Level token slots: Slots for Level tokens associated • Roads: Locations are connected by roads that
different game board side. The boards feature with a Location action or with a Foe (see pg. 6). Slots Characters and Foes use to move. Locations directly
Hawkins on the top half and either the Upside Down with stack sizes (numbers on the slots) are filled connected by roads are adjacent to each other.
(Season 1) or the Tunnel System (Season 2) on the during setup (see pg. 8 and pg. 9). Characters moving through the labeled Upside
bottom. Although each side is different, both share Down roads always gain 1 Fear (see pg. 10).
the same basic elements: • Slot group: A group of any number of slots enclosed
by a box and identified by name. • Act track: Determines the minimum number of
• Season: Indicates the Season of the respective board. Scene cards that players reveal at the end of their turn
• Ally card slots: Slots for Ally cards, always associated (see pg. 11). The track advances each time the Action
• Locations: Iconic Locations from the series. Each with the Recruit Ally action (see pg. 13) and with a deck is reshuffled. If the tracker ever advances past
Location is associated with at least 1 action. token slot. the 3rd act, the game is immediately lost (see pg. 11).

Act Track Level Token Slot Ally Card Slot Eleven Power Location Action Hawkins

Upside Down Season Road Slot Group Location Tunnel System

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 CHARACTERS AND CHARACTER DASHBOARD SCENE CARDS
Each Character has a starting Location, Fear track, • Ability: Unique ability of each Character. Unless Scene cards represent dangerous events that the
basic movement, and a unique ability, all listed associated with specific actions or turn steps (see Characters go through. Each player draws Scene cards
on their Character dashboards. Eleven is not a pg. 10), abilities are always in effect during the game. at the end of their turn and performs their listed effects.
Character and is not playable. She keeps track of Scene cards may move Foes, give Fear, remove Allies
the acts on the game board’s Act track and aids • Fear track: Represents how afraid a Character is. from the game, eliminate Eleven Powers, and create
Characters with her Powers (see pg. 7). Characters gain Fear as the game progresses through or increase stacks, among other effects.
Scene cards (see pg. 11), moving through Upside
• Starting Location: Location in which each Character Down roads, or failing when performing contested Unless stated otherwise, if any choice on how to
starts the game. actions (see pg. 13). For each Fear gained, advance resolve effects is given, the active player (the player
their Fear tracker 1 space to the right. If 1 or more currently taking their turn) chooses how to proceed.
• Movement: The number of Locations the Character Characters reach the last space of their track, they
may move to during their turn. A Character’s become Terrified and the game is immediately lost. Whenever a Scene card effect moves Foes, always
movement may be increased by using Action cards take the shortest path. If there is more than 1 option
(see pg. 10). available, the active player chooses 1.

Name
Starting Location
Movement
Ability

Fear Track

ACTION CARDS
Action cards represent the Characters’ determination. • Danger icon: Present on some cards. It increases
Characters use Actions cards to increase their the dangers that the Characters are submitting Scene Name Effect
movement and perform actions. Players may show themselves to. Characters draw 1 extra Scene card
or discuss their Action cards at any time. Each Action at the end of their turn (see pg. 11) for each they
card may have up to 3 different effects: have played.

• Friends icon: Present on some cards. Each adds

+1 to the Character’s total action value if they’re in Friends
the same Location as at least 1 other Character. Icon

• Action value: Present on all cards. The action value of Action

each card may vary from 1 to 3. The total action value Value
of the cards played by a Character during each turn step
is used to determine their total movement and action
result (see pg. 11).
Danger
Icon

5
 LEVEL TOKENS Some stacks are created during setup (see pg. 8 If a game effect instructs players to add any number
and pg. 9) while others are created via Scene cards’ of to a stack, making it go over the maximum
effects (see pg. 11). limit of 4, place tokens until the limit is reached and
return the remaining ones facedown to the pool.
In addition, throughout the game, more tokens may Each Character gains 1 Fear for each token that can’t
be added to existing stacks. Unless stated otherwise, be added to the stack. Tokens may only be added
are always added facedown to the top of the to existing stacks. If a game effect instructs players
Back Numbered Demogorgon stack. If a stack has the top token revealed and more to add tokens to an empty slot (without any stacks),
front front must be added, place the new facedown on the simply don’t add any tokens.
Level tokens ( ) are placed in slots on the board, bottom of the stack instead.
creating stacks to represent challenges that the
Characters must overcome. The back of all are Example: At the end of her turn, Nancy reveals the Growing Vines Scene, requiring her to add 1 to
the same: blue with an exclamation point. Their each Vines stack. The stack in the Western Tunnels has 4 tokens, the stack in the Eastern Tunnels has 1
front, however, may be of 2 different types: token, currently revealed, and the Nest slot is empty. Nancy then proceeds to resolve the card. Since the
Western Tunnels has already reached the stack limit of 4 , Nancy returns the token to the pool and each
• Numbered: Feature red values that vary from 0 to 5. Character in play (in this case, her and Joyce) gains 1 Fear. She then places 1 facedown on the bottom
of the Eastern Tunnel stack, as the top one is revealed. Nancy can’t place a token in the Nest because there
• Demogorgon: Feature a red Demogorgon face is no stack in that slot.
and no fixed value. Their value is determined by the
number of stacks in the Demogorgon slot group (0
to 8). Demogorgon tokens are only used in Season 1.

Unless stated otherwise, tokens are always placed

facedown (blue side up) in the slots. However, some
game effects may instruct players to reveal tokens. In
such cases, flip the top of the indicated stack(s).
If the top is already revealed, nothing happens. If
a game effect instructs players to look at , check
the value of the indicated token(s) and return them
to their stack in the same order as before, without
revealing them.

STACKS

Stacks are the piles of formed in token slots. Stacks

can contain from 1 to 4 (empty slots do not count
as a stack). During the game, Characters use their
Action cards to beat the total value of specific stacks
and have them removed from the board in order to
perform actions and win the game (see pg. 11).

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 FOES ITEM CARDS
Foes are the enemies that move around the board, Items are useful objects that assist Characters by
threatening the Characters. Unless stated otherwise, adding bonus values to perform specific actions
Characters can never move through Locations with (see pg. 10). Items are acquired from a deck of Item
a Foe. However, if a Character starts their turn in a cards via the Get Item action (see pg. 12). Once
Location with a Foe, they may leave the Location. acquired, Items are stored below the Character
In addition to blocking movement, Foes may also dashboard and are not discarded when used.
force Characters to gain Fear and discard Action Each Character can have up to 2 Items, and both
cards through the effects of Scene cards (see pg. 5) can be used simultaneously by the Character as
and prevent Characters from performing actions long as both provide bonuses to the action being
(see pg. 10). performed. Unless stated otherwise, Characters
can only use their own Items, even if sharing a
Each Season has its specific Foes. The Demogorgon Location with another Character, and cannot trade
and Patrols are used in Season 1. Demodogs are Items among each other.
used in Season 2.

ALLY CARDS
Allies are friends, family members, and acquaintances
that can be recruited through the Recruit Ally action
(see pg. 13) to assist the Characters. Ally cards are Item
placed randomly in Ally slots on the board, along Name
with the number of listed on their stack size in the Bonus
associated token slot. Each Season has a set of 8 Allies. Value
Once recruited, Allies are stored below the Character
dashboard and are not discarded when used. Each
Character can have any number of Allies, limited only
ELEVEN POWERS
by the number of Ally cards for each Season. Allies
cannot be traded among Characters. Allies are always Present on the board and with associated token slots,
in effect during the game, unless associated with Eleven Powers can be activated through the Help
specific actions or turn steps. Eleven action (see pg. 13) and provide the Characters
with powerful effects in exchange for their assistance.
Each Power can be activated once per game. Once
activated, all associated with the Power are
Stack returned to the token pool. Powers without a stack
Size associated with them cannot be activated.
Power Name Effect
Ally
Name
Effect

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 SEASON 1 SETUP
1. Place the game board in the play area with the 5. Take 7 random from the pool. Without 8. Place the Demogorgon in the Upside Down
Season 1 side faceup. revealing, shuffle them with the 5 Demogorgon School Location.
facedown. Then, take these tokens and
2. Take the Season 1 Scene cards and Ally cards and randomly place them in the Rescue Will slots, 9. Place 1 Patrol standee in the Hawkins Castle
shuffle them separately, forming individual decks, creating 3 stacks of 4 tokens. Byers Location and 1 in the Upside Down
and place them facedown next to the board, Laboratory. Make sure that the plastic stands
within reach of all players. 6. Place the indicated number of facedown tokens are attached to the standees.
from the pool in all game board numbered
3. Shuffle the Item cards and the Action cards slots, creating stacks (Eleven Powers, Hawkins 10. Each player:
separately, forming individual decks, and place Laboratory, Patrols, and Demogorgon group slots). • Chooses 1 Character and takes their respective
them facedown next to the board, within reach Then, reveal the top from the Hawkins’ stacks. figure, Character dashboard, and 1 Fear tracker.
of all players. Return unselected Characters, dashboards,
7. Draw and place 1 Ally card faceup in the Hawkins and Fear trackers (if any) to the game box.
4. Shuffle all numbered (excluding the 5 School and Byers House Ally slots. Then, place • Places their Character in the starting Location
Demogorgon tokens) facedown, creating a a number of facedown in their associated indicated on their dashboard.
pool, and place them next to the board, within slots, creating stacks as indicated by each Ally • Places the Fear tracker on the start space of
reach of all players. stack size. Finally, reveal the top of the stacks. the Fear track on their Character dashboard.
• Draws 5 cards from the top of the Action deck.
2 3
4 NOTE: If Lucas is in play, his player also takes 1 Item
11
card from the top of the Item deck.
8
11. Place the Eleven tracker on the 1 st
space of
the Act track on the board.
6

1 7

10

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 SEASON 2 SETUP
1. Place the game board in the play area with the 5. Place the indicated number of facedown tokens 8. Each player:
Season 2 side faceup. from the pool on all numbered slots creating • Chooses 1 Character and takes the respective
stacks (Eleven Powers, Laboratory, Rescue Will, figure, Character dashboard, and 1 Fear tracker.
2. Take the Season 2 Scene cards and Ally cards Western Tunnels Vines, Demodogs, and The Return unselected Characters, dashboards,
and shuffle them separately, forming individual Gate group slots). Then, reveal the top from and Fear trackers (if any) to the game box.
decks, and place them facedown next to the the Hawkins’ stacks. • Places their Character in the starting Location
board, within reach of all players. indicated on their dashboard.
6. D raw and place 1 Ally card faceup in the School • Places 1 Fear tracker on the start space of the
3. Shuffle the Item cards and the Action cards and Byers House Ally slots. Then, place a number Fear track on their Character dashboard.
separately, forming individual decks, and of facedown in their associated slots, • Draws 5 cards from the top of the Action deck.
place them facedown next to the board, creating stacks as indicated by each Ally stack
within reach of all players. size. Finally, reveal the top of the stacks. NOTE: If Lucas is in play, his player also takes 1 Item
card from the top of the Item deck.
4. Shuffle all numbered facedown, creating a 7. Place 1 Demodog in the Eastern Tunnels and
pool, and place them next to the board, within 1 in the Nest Location. Place the remaining 2 9. Place the Eleven tracker on the 1 st
space of the
reach of all players. Demodogs next to the board, within reach of Act track on the board.
all players.
IMPORTANT! Demogorgon are not used in
Season 2.
2 3
4
9

6
1

5 7

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 HOW TO PLAY REMEMBER: Characters moving through certain 2. PERFORM ACTION
roads connecting Upside Down Locations gain 1
Fear for each road they move through. If the Character ends their move step in a Location
Once players have chosen a Season to play, they without a Foe, the active player may perform 1 action
take their turns in clockwise order. The player Example: Lucas starts his turn in the Police Station listed on the Character’s current Location (or in the
who most recently rode a bike goes first. A player Location with the Demogorgon, Hopper, and Mike. case of Mike, his ability). Actions allow players to gain
currently performing their turn is the active player. He wants to reach the Upside Down Laboratory. Items, recruit Allies, lose Fear, and activate Eleven
The shortest and ideal route to the Location would Powers, among other options. Performing a Location
Each player turn has 4 steps, to be performed in order: require 3 movements and there would be no Fear action is optional.
gain. However, there’s a Patrol in the Hawkins
1. Move Laboratory, which would force Lucas to end his However, if the Character ends their move step in a
2. Perform Action move step immediately without reaching the Location with at least 1 Foe, they cannot perform a
3. Refill Hand intended Location. He then plays 2 Action cards: Location action. Instead, they must perform 1 Fight
4. Reveal Scenes a value 1 card with and a value 2 with . His action (see pg. 14).
total movement is 5: his Character’s 1 movement
plus 4 (3 from the cards’ values and 1 for the ,
1. MOVE since he’s in a Location with other Characters). He
To perform any action, play at least 1 Action card and
add any bonuses from Items, Allies, and/or abilities
decides to move through a longer path, using 4 of to determine the total action value. Keep the cards
The active player may move their Character. A the 5 total movement value. He stops in the Upside played next to the Character dashboard, along with
Character’s movement value (the number of Down Laboratory, gains 1 Fear for moving through the cards played during the move step, if any. Then,
Locations they can move through) is determined by the Upside Down road, and loses the rest of his perform the action (see pg. 11).
their dashboard and may be increased by playing 1 movement value (1).
or more Action cards before moving. Add the value Once the perform action step is completed, play
of the cards played (if any) with the Character’s basic moves to the next step.
movement and move through the roads a number
of Locations up to the total movement value. Keep
the cards played next to the Character’s dashboard
to keep track of the number of played during
the turn.

The player may decide not to use the total

movement value. However, any leftover movement
is lost (it does not carry over to the next steps). If,
at any point during their movement, the Character
enters a Location with a Foe, their move step ends
immediately and any leftover movement value is
lost. Unless stated otherwise, Characters may only 3. REFILL HAND
leave Locations with a Foe if they start their turn
already in the same Location. The active player draws Action cards from the top of
the deck until they reach 5 cards in hand. If there aren’t
Once the Character reaches their intended Location, enough cards in the deck, shuffle the discarded cards
runs out of movement, or enters a Location with a back into the deck, along with the cards separated
Foe, their turn proceeds to the next step. next to the Character dashboard (making sure to
first take note of the total number of played), and
move Eleven 1 space to the right on the Act track.
Then, the player continues refilling their hand.

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 4. REVEAL SCENES However, there is 1 empty slot in the Hawkins WINNING
Laboratory, which allows him to ignore 1 , and
The active player draws and resolves Scene cards. Officer Powell is his Ally, also allowing him to OR LOSING
Determine the number of Scene cards to reveal ignore 1 .
by adding the current Act number (1, 2, or 3) with
the total number of icons on the cards played Stranger Things: Upside Down is a cooperative
during the turn (0 to 5). Action cards discarded by game. Players either win or lose as a group. As soon
a game effect do not count towards the number of as players complete the following goals, the game
Scene cards to reveal. Deduct from the total amount ends immediately in victory:
any bonus the active player may have (such as
Laboratory empty slots or Ally effects). • Season 1 goal: Save Will by removing all stacks
from the Rescue Will slots.
Then, reveal from the top of the Scenes deck and • Season 2 goal: Save Will and close the Gate, in this
resolve 1 Scene card at a time. Discard each Scene order. First, remove all stacks from the Rescue Will
that is resolved into a discard pile. If, at any point, slots. Then, remove the stack from The Gate.
an End of the Day Scene card is revealed, resolve its
effects and reshuffle the discard Scene pile back into Players immediately lose the game if 1 or more
the deck without revealing any further cards. Characters become Terrified and/or if the Action
deck would be reshuffled while Eleven is already on
Once the player is done revealing Scene cards, the 3rd act space.
either by revealing the total number required or an He will then reveal and resolve 2 Scenes, 1 at a time.
End of the Day card, their turn is over. If the Action
deck wasn’t shuffled during the Refill Hand step,
discard the Action cards played during the turn into ACTIONS
an Action discard pile next to the Action deck. Then,
play moves to the next player in clockwise order.
Actions are performed by the Characters during their
IMPORTANT! Whenever a game effect instructs turn, according to the Location they’re in, abilities (in
players to remove a card from the game, place the Mike’s case), or the presence of Foes. There are 2
card back in the game box. The card will no longer types of Actions:
be available during the remainder of the game.
UNCONTESTED: Characters resolve the action
Example: Lucas played 1 during his move step without any obstacles.
and 1 during his action. He would have to draw CONTESTED: Characters must beat the value of stacks
4 Scene cards, 1 for each plus 2 since Eleven is in order to resolve the action. Otherwise, the action
on the 2 nd
act space. cannot be resolved and the Character gains Fear.
DEMODOG SPAWN
When playing Season 2, Demodogs may be spawned
by Scene cards. Every time a Demodog is spawned,
UNCONTESTED ACTIONS
create 1 stack of 3 in an empty Demodog slot
and place 1 Demodog figure currently off the board There are 3 uncontested Actions, each with
in the listed Location. If all 4 Demodogs are on the unique effects.
board, nothing happens. Proceed to resolve the
card’s other effects, if any. CALM DOWN AND CALM DOWN +2
Lose an amount of Fear equal to the total action value.
• Locations: Scrap Yard and Hawkins Castle Byers
(Season 1) and Pumpkin Patch (Season 2). The Scrap
Yard Location also adds 2 to the Character’s action value.

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 GET ITEM AND GET ITEM +2 GATHER INFO
Draw a number of Item cards equal to the action value Reveal the top of as many stacks as the action value (if possible).
from the top of the Item deck. Choose 1 to keep and • Locations: Police Station (Seasons 1 and 2).
shuffle the rest back into the deck. All Hawkins’ Locations
and the Upside Down Laboratory allow Characters to Example: Hopper is in the Police Station Location. He plays 2 cards: One with value 1 and the other with value 2.
perform the Get Item action. The Main Street Location
also adds 2 to the Character’s action value.

REMEMBER: Characters can have up to 2 Items at

any time. If a player would get a 3rd Item, they must
choose 1 to discard.

Example: Nancy is in the Main Street Location. She

plays 1 card with value 3 and gains 2 more from the
Location. She proceeds to draw 5 Item cards from the He proceeds to reveal the tokens on top of 3 different stacks and chooses the 3 Rescue Will stacks.
top of the deck. She chooses to keep the Gasoline
and shuffles the rest of the cards back into the deck.

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 CONTESTED ACTIONS RECRUIT ALLY RESCUE WILL
Each Ally has only 1 stack associated with them. Beat •S  eason 1: Each Rescue Will action has only 1 stack
Contested actions require the player to beat a stack the Location’s respective stack. associated with it. Beat the Location’s respective stack.
in order to be resolved. To beat a stack, the action • Success: Discard the stack. Take the Ally card • Season 2: Choose any 1 stack in Hopper’s Cabin
value must be equal to or higher than the total sum associated with the Location and place it faceup and beat it. All stacks in Hopper’s Cabin must be
of the value in the stack. Otherwise, the action below the Character dashboard. It starts to take discarded before players can perform a Close
fails, it is not resolved, and the Character gains Fear. effect immediately (in the same turn). Then, Gate action.
draw the top card from the Ally deck and place it • Success: Discard the respective stack. All Rescue Will
When performing a contested action, perform the faceup in the empty Ally slot. Place the number of slots must be empty to win the game (see pg. 11).
following steps, in order: facedown indicated on the Ally card stack size • Locations: Upside Down School, Byers House,
in the associated slot, creating a stack. If the Ally and Castle Byers (Season 1) and Hopper’s Cabin
1. Play Action cards and determine the total action value. deck is depleted, no more Allies can be placed and (Season 2).
recruited in the Location.
2. Check all the in the stack associated with the • Locations: Hawkins School and Byers House IMPORTANT! In Season 1, Demogorgon in a
action (see pg. 4) by turning them faceup (the top (Seasons 1 and 2). beaten stack are discarded back to the pool as usual.
may already be revealed) and tally their value. Note This means that the tokens, initially only present in the
that the stack associated with the Close Gate action HELP ELEVEN Rescue Will stacks, may eventually be added to any
also has bonuses added to its value (see pg. 15). Choose 1 unused Eleven Power (Powers with a stack) stack in the game through the effects of Scene cards
available in the Location and beat its respective stack. (when adding tokens or creating stacks).
REMEMBER: Each Demogorgon value is equal to • Success: Discard the respective stack. The chosen
the number of stacks in the Demogorgon slot group. Eleven Power immediately activates and cannot be
activated again for the rest of the game.
3. C
 ompare the total action value with the stack’s • Locations: Upside Down Laboratory (Season 1)
total value: and Wheeler House (Seasons 1 and 2).

• If equal or higher: The action is a success. Discard

the respective stack from the slot, returning all its
facedown to the pool. Then, proceed to resolve the action.
• If lower: The action failed and cannot be resolved.
Instead, perform the following steps, in order:

1. Gain Fear equal to the difference between the

action value and the stack’s.
2. Turn all in the stack facedown and shuffle INVESTIGATE THE LAB
them. Randomly remove 1 and return it to Choose any 1 stack in the Laboratory and beat it.
the pool, without revealing its value. • Success: Discard the respective stack. Each empty
3. Return the stack with the remaining tokens slot in the Hawkins Laboratory allows Characters to
facedown back to its slot. ignore 1 when revealing Scene cards (see pg. 11),
regardless of the Location they’re in. It takes effect
IMPORTANT! If the stack only has 1 , the Character immediately, in the same turn.
succeeds even if their total action value was lower • Location: Hawkins Laboratory (Seasons 1 and 2).
than the token’s. They proceed to discard the and
resolve the action. However, they still gain Fear. IMPORTANT! If a card creates stacks in an empty
Hawkins Laboratory slot, it does not affect the
There are 7 contested Actions, each with unique number of Scene cards drawn during that same turn
effects and stacks to beat. (the active player still gains the empty slot bonus),
only in future ones.

13
 FIGHT Example: Hopper is in the Police Station with the Demogorgon. He decides not to move and therefore
A Fight action is performed in any Location with a must perform a Fight action. He plays 5 action cards for a total of 9 action value.
Foe. Foes are always fought 1 individual at a time. If
there is more than 1 Foe in a Location, choose 1 to
Fight. The action resolution differs for each Foe:

DEMOGORGON - SEASON 1
Choose any 1 stack in the Demogorgon group slot and
beat that stack. If all Demogorgon slots are empty, the
player must still fight it. In this case, play at least 1
Action card and immediately succeed.
• Success: Discard the respective stack and move
the Demogorgon to an adjacent Location. If all
Demogorgon slots were initially empty, move Then, he chooses 1 stack from the Demogorgon and reveals its 4 tokens: 2 tokens value 1, 1 token value
the Demogorgon a number of Locations equal to 3, and 1 Demogorgon token, which values 4, since there are 4 stacks in the Demogorgon slot group. The
the action value. The Demogorgon can never be stack total value is also 9. The action was a success!
eliminated or removed from the board.

PATROLS - SEASON 1
Patrols have only 1 stack associated with them. Beat
the stack in the Patrols group slot.
• Success: Discard the stack, move the Patrol to any
Location on the board, and immediately refill the
Patrols slot with 4 facedown from the pool.
Patrols can never be eliminated as a result of a
Fight, but may be removed from the board as a
result of the Psionic Blast Power (see pg. 13).

DEMODOGS - SEASON 2
Choose any 1 stack in the Demodogs group slot and
beat that stack.
• Success: Discard the respective stack and remove
the eliminated Demodog figure from the board.
Although Demodogs can be eliminated in a Fight Hopper discards the respective stack and moves the Demogorgon to the Scrap Yard.
or removed due to game effects, more Demodogs
may also be spawned during the game, returning
them to the board (see pg. 11).

NOTE: If a Character is in a Location with a Foe,

they must perform a Fight action. In the rare event
the player has no Action cards in hand, consider
their action value 0.

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 REMOVE VINES Example: Joyce is in The Gate Location and performs a Close Gate action. Knowing that the top token
The Remove Vines action is exclusive to Season 2. value is 2, since it was already revealed by a game effect, she plays 4 action cards. Since Jonathan is her
Each Remove Vines action has only 1 stack associated Ally and he counts as a Character in her Location, she gains 2 bonus value, for a total action value of
with it. Beat the Location’s respective stack. 10. The Gate stack starts the game with 4 . She reveals the tokens from the stack. The stack value is 8.
• Success: Discard the stack. Vines stacks interact
with Scene cards. By removing them, Characters
reduce their chances of gaining Fear. In addition,
tokens in the Vines stacks add value to The Gate
which must be beaten in order to win the game.
• Locations: Western Tunnels, Nest, and Eastern
Tunnels (Season 2).

There is a total of 4 across the Vines stacks, 3 in the Western Tunnels and 1 in the Nest (the Eastern
Tunnels slot is empty), and there is 1 Demodog on the board, so the Gate total value is 13. She failed.

CLOSE GATE
The Close Gate action is exclusive to Season 2 and
can only be performed after Will has been rescued
(see pg. 13).
The stack value is equal to the total value of The
Gate stack plus the quantity of in each Vines
stack (0 to 12) and Demodogs on the board (0 to 4).
• Success: Discard the stack. The Gate slot must be
empty in order to win the game (see pg. 11).
• Locations: The Gate (Season 2).

Joyce gains 3 Fear, shuffles the tokens in the stack, removes 1, and places the stack back into the slot.

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 - SUMMARY -
Choose a Season to play and perform its setup. Then, start the game.

PLAYER TURN TYPES OF ACTIONS

Each player turn has 4 steps, to be performed in order: UNCONTESTED: Are not associated with stacks and are
resolved without any obstacles.
1. Move CONTESTED: The value of the stack associated with the
2. Perform Action action must be beaten to be resolved.
3. Refill Hand
4. Reveal Scenes 1. P
 lay Action cards and determine the total action value.
2. Tally the stack value.
1. MOVE 3. C
 ompare the total action value with the stack’s total value:
• If equal or higher: The action is a success. Discard
Move through the roads a number of Locations up to the the stack and resolve the action.
Character total movement value. • If lower: The action failed and cannot be resolved.
• Add the value of Action cards played (if any) with the Instead:
Character’s basic movement. 1. Gain Fear equal to the difference between the
• Unless stated otherwise, if the Character enters a action value and the stack’s.
Location with a Foe, their move step ends immediately. 2. Shuffle the stack and randomly remove 1 .
• Characters may only leave Locations with a Foe if they 3. Return the stack facedown back to its slot.
start their turn already in the same Location.
WINNING OR LOSING
2. PERFORM ACTION
The game ends immediately in victory:
Perform an action depending on the Location and Foes.
• If the Character ended their move step in a Location SEASON 1: When Will is saved by removing all stacks from
without a Foe, they may perform 1 Location action. the Rescue Will slots.
• If the Character ended their move step in a Location SEASON 2: W
 hen, in order, Will is saved and the Gate is
with at least 1 Foe, they must perform a Fight action. closed. First, remove all stacks from the Rescue
Will slots. Then, remove the stack from The Gate.
3. REFILL HAND
The game ends immediately in defeat if any of the
Draw Action cards from the top of the deck until 5 cards in following happens:
hand are reached. • If 1 or more Characters become Terrified.
• If the Action deck would be reshuffled while Eleven is
4. REVEAL SCENES already on the 3rd act space.

Draw and resolve Scene cards, 1 at a time, equal to the Act

number plus number of played during the turn.

If an End of the Day card is revealed, resolve its effects and

stop revealing cards. Reshuffle the discard Scene pile.

REMEMBER: If a game effect instructs players to add

to a stack making it go over the maximum limit of 4, each
Character gains 1 Fear for each token that can’t be added
to the stack.