The Delicate Prey
Nuernberger
The Delicate Prey
A Board Game Adaptation
1. Background
The Delicate Prey, written by Paul Bowles, is a tale of three Filala leather merchants, two brothers and
their nephew, who travel towards the town of Tessalit in hopes of selling their goods. Along the deserted
way, they meet a mysterious lone stranger, a Moungari. The Filala know the land of Moungar to be of
holy origin and acquiescently welcome the Moungari into their party.
The Moungari wishes to express his gratitude by hunting for gazelle meat on the journey. The next day, at
the opportune time, he climbs off into the hills alone and tells the Filala to come if a shot is heard, as it will
mean there are more gazelles. A shot is sounded off and the first brother heads into the hills in hopes of
assisting the Moungari. Another shot is heard; the second brother goes. The nephew anxiously awaits the
return of the two brothers and the Moungari, but none return. Suspecting that his uncles are both dead,
the nephew escapes but then turns around out of anxiety and fear of being wrong.
However, when he arrives back at the camp, he sees only the Moungari loading the packs of goods onto
the remaining camels. The Moungari spots the boy and shoots him, tortures him, and emasculates him,
before finally murdering him and heading for Tessalit.
Once in Tessalit, the Moungari sells the leather, but is suspected of illicit behavior. Several of the Filala’s
friends hear news of this and enter the town. After confirming the worst, the Filala merchants grab the
Moungari and at twilight drag him out into the desert. There, they dig a well-like pit, throw him in, and bury
him from the head-down with sands and stone, leaving him there to soon dry out in the Algerian sun.
2. Description
The Delicate Prey board game is a 4 player game (3 vs. 1 / Free-for-all).
Players are split into two categories: the Filala (3 players) and the Moungari (1 player).
The Delicate Prey
Nuernberger
THE OBJECTIVE of the Filala is to reach Tessalit or to kill the Moungari; the first Filala to reach
Tessalit or kill the Moungari wins the game.
THE OBJECTIVE of the Moungari is to kill all the Filala before they reach Tessalit and get to Tessalit
with all 4 camels to win.
3. Rules
3.1 BEGINNING
Begin by dealing out 4 character cards; 3 Filala; and 1 Moungari. Players are not allowed to reveal
their roles to other players.
Roll to see who goes first; player 1 is the caravan leader. Player 1 takes a map card from the MAP card
deck (1/3). He is not allowed to show this card to anyone. The MAP card reveals the location of Tessalit.
Each player draws 4 bullet cards and 1 food card to begin.
3.2 TURNS
Each turn, Filalas can either MOVE or HUNT.
The Moungari can MOVE, HUNT, or KILL a Filala if the Filala is the only own on his tile.
3.3 MOVING
Players move via their camels.
Player can only move after playing a food card; after playing, roll dice (2) and move up to the
maximum number of spaces on the dice.
If a player is in possession of multiple camels (after killing off another player while hunting, for example),
the player must divide their roll up between the camels they possess.
The Delicate Prey
Nuernberger
3.4 CAMPSITE TILES
After landing on a campsite, players roll 1 die and take that number of bullet cards from the deck.
3.5 HUNTING
In order to gain more food, players must go hunting. Players can choose to go hunting by leaving the path
(thus ending their turn) onto an adjacent rock tile.
When hunting, the hunter must discard a bullet and roll 1 die; the hunter draws the number of food cards
from the deck based on the roll. If another player decides to join the hunter, the hunter must give
whatever he rolled to the other player.
If another player joins the 2nd player, the 2nd player must give whatever he received to the 3rd player, and
so on.
3.6 KILLING FILALA ON THE HUNT
If the hunter is the Moungari, the hunter can kill any players joining the hunt by giving them a bullet card.
If the player receives a bullet card, they are eliminated only once the turn goes back to the Moungari.
Once a Filala is eliminated, they re-spawn at the beginning of the game as a Friendly Filala and
draw two bullet cards and can move without food.
3.6 KILLING FILALA OFF THE HUNT
If the Moungari lands on the same square as a lone Filala, the Moungari may play a Bullet card to kill the
Moungari at which point the Filala will re-spawn at the beginning.
If there is more than one Filala in the same square, the Moungari cannot attack them.
After killing a Filala, the Moungari takes possession of the Filala’s camel. Whenever the Moungari rolls
from now on, he must divide his roll between all of his camels.
After killing the Caravan leader, his map is given to whoever killed him.
The Delicate Prey
Nuernberger
3.7 KILLING THE MOUNGARI
Once the Filala know who the Moungari is, they may choose to grab the Moungari only by landing on the
Moungari’s tile.
If a player wrongly kills a fellow Filala, then both players return to the start and leave their camels behind.
4. Game Bits
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Game Board with Multiple Paths
4 Player Tokens (Riders)
8 Camels
16 Bullet Cards
24 Food Cards
2 Die
3 Cities
10 Tents
The Delicate Prey
Nuernberger
5. Hypothetical Game Scenario
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Role Setup:
o Player 2 is the Moungari
o Player 1,3,4 are the Filala
Beginning - players are low on food
o Player 1 rolls and moves along.
o Player 2 chooses to disembark from the road to hunt; he rolls a six.
Joining the Hunt
o Player 3 wants to get six gazelle cards in order to not run the risk of having to hunt again;
he joins Player 2’s hunt and spends a bullet to steal Player 3’s cards.
o Player 4 goes on the same hunt to steal Player 3’s cards.
o Since Player 2 has both Player 3 and Player 4 on the hunt, Player 2 plays two bullets
cards and eliminates them both.
The Next Turn
o Player 1 now knows that Player 2 is the Moungari; player 1 rolls away as fast as he can.
If Player 2 catches him, he kills player 1.
o Player 2 must gather the remaining camels and roll two die to get them all to the end.
Player 3 and 4 Re-spawn at start
o Player 3 and 4 race to kill Player 2
o If Player 3 or 4 reaches Player 2, game is over.
o Player 2 should thus kill off the other players later in the game, lest they re-spawn too
quickly and are able to catch up to the Moungari too quickly.
Winning Conditions
o If Player 2 reaches Tessalit with all the Camels, he wins.
o If the other players kill Player 2 before he reaches Tessalit, the Filala win.