Final Girl rule FAQ and clarifications (unofficial)

Posted On February 11, 2023

I love Final Girl and its very thematic horror atmosphere. And, although after a few gameplays I was totally fine with improvising with the rules, early plays in particular have been a bit frustrating for me, as I felt the rules were sometimes a bit too “open to interpretation”.

Scouting various forums, on BoardGameGeek in particular, Final Girl designer AJ Profirio has answered a lot of ruling questions. I’m trying to compile all these answers on this page, which I’ll try to keep updated regularly. When in doubt, check the BoardGameGeek Final Girl Rules Forums.

Keep in mind that Final Girl is a thematic game that shouldn’t be bogged down by looking at a 100 page rulebook all the time. The designers intentionally kept the rules light, and when the rulebook doesn’t answer your questions, don’t forget that you can houserule things with the rule of thumbs given by the designers, using Infinite Evil, Abject Realism, or Never-ending Hilarity rules as described in the rulebook. Remember: the goal of this game is to have fun in a thematic way, not to fret over rules!

Final Girl rule Clarifications

General

• Q: What happens if I need to add victims to the board but the victim bag is empty?
• A: Don’t add a new one

• Q: Can I use weapons with reaction cards such as retaliate?
• A: Yes (source: designer)

• Q: During the killer attack phase, can you only play reaction cards? Specifically, I was wondering if you can play planning during this stage to improve success odds on a retaliate.
• A: No to “Planning” and “Improvise“. “Close call” is allowed however. (source: Designer)

• What happens if I reach -1 time outside of the Action phase? Do I have to skip my entire action phase next turn?
• A: Yes. Yikes! (source: Designer)

• Q: If a terror card says something about killing victims but it is not directly tied to a killer action, does the bloodlust track still move up?
• A: Yes. Any time a victim is killed Bloodlust goes up, unless the card or effect specifically says otherwise. (source: Designer)

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• Q: Can items (e.g. Whistle) be used mid-movement?
• A: No. (source: designer)

• Q: About traps (e.g. Bear Trap and Odds and Ends). Can you plant them if you’re in the same space as the killer and they immediately go off?
• A: No, the killer needs to “enter” a space for them to trigger. In this case he does not “enter” the space he is already in, as no movement was involved

• Q: Some cards give an effect “Whenever you roll at least one star…” (e.g. Adelaide’s Bat & Shield). Do partial success converted as a success count in this case?
• A: Yes. A partial success that you converted into a success (e.g. by discarding two cards) counts as a star/success

• Q: Resolving the Retaliate action card. I got one star, so I reduce 3 damage to 1. That damage is enough to flip my last heart token, and it’s blank! Did I lose the game in that moment or do I still get to resolve the damage to the killer?
• A: Resolve the damage and if it is enough to kill the killer AND they don’t come back, you win, but you die (source: designer)

• Q: Does bloodlust increase when attacking the Final Girl?
• A: Unless a card overrides this, in general, no

• Q: The Killer Dark Power (or some other Killer component) has some heart symbol, does this mean I regain some life? (e.g. Inkanyamba Killer Wrath)
• A: Any Killer component (Killer Board, Terror Cards, Dark Powers, etc. etc.) that has the recover health symbol is for the Killer and not you (the Final Girl) (source: designer)

The Happy Trails Horror (Hans)

• Q: Does the rope trap kill victims?
• A: Yes (Source: Designer)

• Q: Skinny Dipping (the victim in the lake). How does Hans ever kill this victim? I presume he doesn’t swim through the lake, or can anybody move through that space?
• A: There is nothing preventing enemies from moving into, or through the lake. (source: Designer)

• Q: I know victims won’t follow you into a space containing the killer, but if FG is in the killer’s space, can I use the whistle to summon a victim into our space? I can use this tactic to stop the killer attacking me in the next killer phase, as it will attack the victim instead.
• A: Absolutely! (source: Designer)

• Q: How does the Bear Trap interact with the Whistle? The latter says “immediately end the killer phase”, but what if I lure the killer into the bear trap while using the whistle? Does this mean that the killer skips his killer phase, or he simply takes 2 damages and because he was not hit during his killer phase, he gets to do it as usual?
• A: Apply the rule of Ambiguity: for example (abject realism rule) resolve it in the way that results in the most realistic or thematic outcome (source: designer)

• Q: Do you need to be in the area with the Motor boat token to use it? Does it move with you to the new area when you use it?
• A: Yes, and yes (source: Designer)

• Q: Can the motor boat only be used once, once per round or as often as I can afford to pay for it?
• A: As often as you can afford it (source: designer)

• Q: “He just came out of nowhere“, it says to move Hans to the furthest victim. Does that mean the furthest from Hans, or the furthest from me?
• A: Furthest from Hans (source: designer)

• Q: Killer has a Minor Dark Power card with added health. Aluminum bat says “”When you do damage to the killer while wielding the bat, you may immediately discard a Minor Dark Power card including any health on it.”. What happens when I use it in this case?
• A: discard the Minor Dark Power card and all health on it, then do full damage to his life bar (source: designer)

Slaughter in the Groves (Inkanyamba)

• Q: On the Divine Wrath card where it says “Discard 1 (or 2, or ALL) random Action card(s), is that from your hand? From your discard? From the Action Tableau?
• A: From your hand.

• An Unforgivable Betrayal scenario errata: it says to seed the Ceremonial Dagger into the Garage item deck, which is incorrect (this was copy/pasted by mistake from the Wrath and Games scenario). Intead, follow the Special Rules section: place the Ceremonial Dagger tracking token on Inkanyamba’s starting space to be found during the game.

• Q: Loud and Obnoxious whenever divine wrath increases, increase it by an additional 1 and Increase divine wrath by #of victims at sacred spaces while the sacred spaces are empty. What happens?
• A: wrath never increased so loud and obnoxious doesn’t have any effect. (source: designer)

Frightmare on Maple Lane (Dr. Fright)

• Q: Do you have to Convince someone in an occupied house to let you in, if you’re asleep?
• A: yes (source: designer)

• Q: Do you have to fall asleep if you take a short/long rest?
• A: yes, you MUST fall asleep if you rest. Plan accordingly (source: designer)

• Q: (Officer Kopp card) Can the killer attack victims in the same space as the police car?
• A: Yes, there is no rule that prevents that

• Q: (Officer Kopp card) Will victims in the police car willingly move into the killer location?
• A: Yes. In general victims won’t follow the Final girl into the Killer’s space, but other effects in game can move them into the killer space (Source)

• Q:(Boiler room). Can I retaliate from Boiler room attacks, and if so can I use weapons?
• A: The attacks from Dr. Fright in boiler room are considered to be in same space. You can retaliate. And you can augment that damage with a weapon if (and only if) that weapon can be used at range 0. (Source: Designer)

• Q:  “Slash Her“, in the card last section saying “All victims that are not in a <wrench> panic”. I guess it should be a house not a wrench?
• A: “House” symbols on maple lane are equivalent to wrench symbols. (Source: Designer)

• Q: Can you hurt Dr Fright with the booby trap if you are awake ?
• A: Yes, since this is not an attack (source: Designer)

• Q: I drew the girlfriend card, then shortly after that, the boyfriend card. Since technically my girlfriend is the closest victim, does she turn into my boyfriend, or do I pick another non-special victim?
• A: Pick another victim to become the boyfriend. Special victims do not change after becoming “special”

• Q: Girlfriend victim. The wording says that she will follow you into the killers space. Does this mean that she has to follow you into his space, or it’s optional, overriding the rule which states that victims normally won’t follow you into the killers space. In other words, if me and my girlfriend are in the same space, and I move into killer’s space, can I choose to leave her behind?
• A: Yes; it’s optional (source: designer)

• Q: Can bicycle transport victims as well?
• A: No

• Q: Normally Victims will not follow the Final Girl into a space occupied by the Killer (Item and Event cards may allow this). With the Awake and Asleep states for Dr Fright, if I’m Awake, am I able to move, with Victims, through the space occupied by Dr Fright?
• A: No rules are changed other than those specified. So no, you cannot. (source: designer)

Carnage at the Carnival (Geppetto)

• Q: The Minion Action reads: “Spawn 1 Puppet > (target Victim) > Move“. Does only one puppet move, or all of them?
• A: You spawn 1 puppet, then each puppet on the board targets a victim and moves. (Source: Designer)

• Q: Trap effects. When to they apply?
• A: Trap effects (e.g. Acid Trap) inflict damage each time you enter the space, but also inflict damage once when the trap appears if you are already there. (Source: Designer)

• “Run! I’ll Hold them off” event card errata: “If an Enemy would move into your space while the Fiance is there, instead kill the Fiance and the Killer stays where they are.” Should read: “If an Enemy would move into your space while the Fiance is there, instead kill the Fiance and the Enemy stays where they are.” (source: designer)

• Q: Can you Guard against the damage Geppetto inflicts while resolving Endless Maddening Laughter?
• A: No; In General you cannot guard/retaliate against something that is not specifically an attack (source: designer)

• Q: The Strongman Hammer is a weapon that uses 2 hands, and explicitly says it can’t be put in the backpack. So what can you do if you need a free hand?
• A: You’d need to discard the Hammer (remove it from the game) (source: designer)

The haunting of Creech Manor (Poltergeist)

• Q: “Voices… I hear voices!“. Do all victims move to the next floor, independently of room connections, or must there be a direct path for the victims to move?
• A: The move must be a legal move. There must be a possible path for the victims to go from their current room to the floor above, in one move. (Source: Designer)

• Q: “Master Showman” terror card. This card tells us to place Geppeto on your Space and place the puppets on each adjacent space if able. I drew this card when all the puppets were on the board. Geppeto and one puppet were already on my space and there was only one adjacent Space. Do I place all puppets on the only adjacent space ? Or do I place only one puppet on this space and the others stay where they are?
• A: Move the all the puppets to the single adjacent space, following the text of the cards exactly as written (Source: Designer)

• “It’s coming, it’s coming!” card errata: The target should be the final girl, not the victims (source: Designer)

• Q: “The ground is shaking“: The description on this card says that…”all your moves during the next Action phase are panicked”. Lets say I roll well on a sprint card and my next movement is going to be 3 spaces. Do I panic just the once at the start of that movement, or do I panic 3 times (1 per time I try to move to another space)?
• A: In this example you would panic 3 times, once per space (source: Designer)

Final Girl Character specific questions

• Q: Charlie‘s ultimate power says “during your Action Phase, you can take 3 damage to take the Critical Blow card directly into your hand”. Can she use the final strike card even if the card isn’t in the tableau (e.g. if it’s in my hand, or in my discard pile )?
• A: No. (source: Designer)

• Asami‘s special ability: “Whenever you draw at least one Item card, draw an extra card and choose one.”. What happens to the two cards you don’t choose?
• A: both go back into the search pile, for each you choose if it goes “face up on top” or “facedown on bottom”.

• Q: How exactly does Nancy’s ultimate work? She takes damage and you swap the black health token out for a new one. Do you look at yours and the new one? Or is there some way to besides luck to decide if you want to do that?
• A: you don’t get to look at the one you have, but you do get to look at the new one and then decide (source: designer)

• Q: Barbara‘s Ultimate power says: When you damage an Enemy in your space, you may do an additional Damage for each Victim present. For each additional Damage done, a Victim is killed. Do NOT increase Bloodlust for Victims killed in this way. Hans’s “Feed” Dark Power says: For every Victim that Hans kills, he recovers 1 Heart. Do victims killed by Barbara count towards Hans’s power?
• A: it is justifiable not to let him regain the health, but there is no official rule, so use the Rule of Ambiguity (source: designer)

Any other burning “Final girl” questions I missed? Let me know in the comments.

Games mentioned in this article

Final Girl

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