YOU and three opponents choose and control one MONSTER, with its own special abilities, and one branch of the military! YOU decide where your MONSTER will go to increase its health - by destroying cities! Small cities are snacks, others are one-course meals, bigger ones are two-course meals. Better get your military units into Los Angeles or New York City right away - they're worth the most to whomever eats them first. You gain extra attacks as your MONSTER achieves INFAMY by destroying historic landmarks - Mt. Rushmore, the Alamo, the Washington Monument and many more! Each monster has a personal goal - Tomanagi the Carnosaur wants to gobble tourists on the boardwalk at Atlantic City before knocking down the casinos!

If YOUR military weakens a MONSTER enough, it's sent to Hollywood to make B movies! YOU earn bonus money and, even if you only retreat the MONSTER, a chance for a breakthrough in military research - like the Blonde Lure! YOU could command the National Guard. YOU decide how you spend your military budget. It's only cut if a MONSTER ravages one of your bases. You'll be more successful with four or more units, but even a single Guard unit can defeat the MONSTER. Yeah, right! BEWARE - if you fire a cruise missile, the MONSTER may MUTATE and get Atomic Breath, grow Whip Tentacles, or just go BESERK! And just as you close in with a massive force to attack - it can DISAPPEAR off the map, reappearing in one of its six lairs! BUT WAIT - that MONSTER in Hollywood has gradually been getting stronger - it has BROKEN FREE to RAVAGE AGAIN!

WHEN will this horror end???? The MONSTER that destroys the 20th city issues a challenge to the others. They scramble to get to one of five Challenge Sites, say Niagra Falls, to grab the chance to strike first! If your military has Super Colossal Guy or the Mecha-MONSTER, even they can win this fight-to-the-finish. (In your dreams!) The MONSTERS weigh in...the challenger chooses who to fight first. The winner adds the loser's beginning health score to whatever it has left after the battle and chooses the next opponent. The last MONSTER standing is the KING of the GIANT MONSTERS and wins the game!

THE TOURNAMENT: Although new, 167 played in 1998, the second largest draw at the convention. Special MONSTER theme prizes will be awarded to finalists. A juniors tournament has been added Saturday at 3 PM for those 12 and under. We've got more room and brave assistants to speed the setups. Ben Knight, one of the game designers, will appear from his lair for some heats! Many losers may still advance to a new second round that begins immediately after the fourth heat Saturday so check for Alternate status. The top 16 play Sunday morning for the right to advance to the final.

The last player beaten in a MONSTER challenge is not necessarily the second place player. To determine advancement, handout sheets will record at the start of the MONSTER challenge: 1 point for each health point, 2 for each infamy marker, and for these specific mutations: 9 for Whip Tentacles, 6 for Armor Scales, Atomic Breath, or War Spikes, 3 for Beserk or Hi-Octane Blood. Up to three points can be earned for MONSTER sound effects. (See back of the rule book! The silent BRONACLE OF THE DEPTHS' facial expression will be judged.) To prevent delays to accumulate factors, five bonus points may be awarded for games completed 15 minutes before the scheduled end. Tiebreakers: number of toys collected from smashed military bases and how often your MONSTER went to Hollywood. To stick to our schedule, a warning may be given - after the next city is eaten, the MONSTER challenge is issued. This likely will happen in the Saturday heat; we must calculate who advances and start Round 2 at 10:00 PM.

Tournament rules:
1) You Are Here/Local Hero infamy marker - the player who has the second choice of military will place the marker in the space of their own hometown, instead of Hunt Valley, MD.
2) During your military purchase and placement phase, you may remove military units from the map, but no trade-in value will be paid. You may purchase them again on the FOLLOWING turn and place them on an intact base. The Navy can transfer units from one coast to another this way.
3) Players may not lend or give cash to one another. No deficit spending!
4) Retreats - If a MONSTER is to be retreated in a battle with multiple military branches, then a branch controlled by the MONSTER has no say on the retreat route. If other branches cannot agree on the retreat route, settle it with a die roll. Unless a player holds the Guard Commander card, all players except the MONSTER make the choice for surviving National Guard units.
5) Misprint on the game board - MONSTERS do not have the option of remaining in Hollywood when they regain half their starting strength. They must break free - go to L.A. or disappear.