GROWL FAQ

What comes in the Howly Growly Box? (4-10+ players)

Fur bag, magnetic hinged box with slotted inserts.
10 punchboard tiles, including 1 “Start Player” tile
84 card deck (10 extra tile cards, 8 Nights, 8 Final Nights, 12 Gold, 5 Salve, 5 Charm, 8 Wound, 4 Wound (6+ players), 4 Wound (9+ players), 12 Bite, 4 Bite (6+ players), 4 Bite (9+ players)
Spells Expansion (13 cards including rules)
Curses Expansion (15 cards including rules)
24 punchboard coins (including 6 value “3” coins)
Black velvet deck bag
Golden ticket (hiding under the box insert)
36 page rulebook (including rules in English, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Japanese
(The Basic Box has the same content, but it does not have the double-height box for slotting the cards and organizing the expansions, and it does not come with any expansions. It now also allows 4-10+ players.)

Note: The 7 Sins/Undead expansions do NOT come in either box.
That add-on is available in the shop.

Card Sleeve Questions?

The sleeves come in sets of 200, with 130 wolf backs (for all the main cards and cards that say GROWL on the back), 30 Spell cards (cards with blue backs), 10 Night (includes 2 extras), 10 Final Night (includes 2 extras), and 10 Undead sleeves (for the main undead cards).

First, sleeve the main 74 cards.
If you received punchboard tiles then you don’t need the card tiles (or you can sleeve them with your own clear sleeves).
The 14 Curses cards (pitchfork icon) should be sleeved with the same wolf card back as the main cards.
The Spells cards (potion icon) should be sleeved with the blue Spells back.
If you bought the 7 Sins, those are also spell cards, so sleeve them with the blue Spells back as well.
The Undead expansion cards should be sleeved with the green undead back. The green grave/green blood drop cards from this expansion can be sleeved with your own clear sleeves or remain unsleeved. (These cards are remnants from before the game offered punchboard tiles to replace the card tiles.)

Second Deck?

If you bought an extra deck you only need up to 30 extra cards to raise the player count (see “Playing with more than 10 players”). The rest are backup cards, or you can use the second deck as a portable edition of the game, using the black velvet bag.

If you don’t have an extra deck you can invent your own cards to put in the sleeves or save the sleeves to be compatible with current or future expansions.

If you bought custom sleeves, the set comes with more than enough (200 total), so you have extras in case any are damaged or if you get expansions.

Even if you own all 4 expansions (Spells, Curses, Undead, 7 Sins), PLUS add all 30+ cards from an additional deck to play up to 15 players, you will have extras. The sleeves are not intended to cover all duplicate cards and extra cards from your second set – they only cover all the sleeves you need to play up to 15 players with all expansions.

If you bought an extra deck, it can be played standalone or with the base game to increase player count, but the sleeves do not cover both copies of the game, only up to one copy maxed-out with bonus cards and expansions.

Are stretch goals missing from the final production version?

The 3-player variant was canceled because it was not fun enough, so we replaced it with the free Spells expansion in the Howly Growly, and increased the Basic Box player count to 10, just like the Howly Growly.

The bonus Night and Final Night cards were mostly all renamed or replaced with improved versions. But the game originally came with just 5 Night/Final Night cards, and the final version comes with 16.

I bought the 25 bonus coins and there aren’t the same number as the punchboard coins (24).

That’s on purpose. For production reasons the game comes with 18 “1” coins and 6 “3” coins, and the metal version of the coins comes with 20 “1” coins and 5 “3” coins.

HOW DO I SET UP MY HOWLY GROWLY?

Howly Growly comes with a thin pack of 28 cards. Divide those based on their icon in the lower left (Curses and Spells) and slide them into their expansion slots in the box. The icons above line up with the slots.

Open the main 84 card deck. Take out the 10 tile cards. These can be placed anywhere in the box or discarded if you also have punchboard tiles.

Look for the 6+ or 9+ in the bottom-left corner of the bite and wound cards and place them in their appropriate slot (if you want you can use a tile to divide them).

Yellow/Red: Night/Final Night cards (denoted by backs of cards): put in the slot that looks like a yellow/red moon.

Pitchfork: Curses cards expansion

Potion bottle: Spells expansion (packed with Curses expansion)

Green Hand: Undead expansion (packed with 7 Sins expansion, if you purchased that).

Demon mask: 7 Sins expansion (packed with Undead expansion).

The expansions all have their icons in the bottom-left corner of the cards for sorting.

PLAYING WITH MORE THAN 10 PLAYERS
You can (unofficially) play GROWL with up to 15 players. To balance the game, you will need a second copy of the game (a “bare-bones” deck) of 84 cards. (Technically, you only need up to 30 of these extra cards, although you can try different card sets or invent your own variants if you want.)

• For EACH player above 10, add 3 additional Wound cards and 3 additional Bite cards to the game. (Store unused cards from the second copy of the game far away, so you don’t accidentally mix your two copies other than the cards needed to play with additional players.)

• Additionally, when playing with 12+ players, there will be 4 starter wolves (4 Bite cards given out during the Infect Wolf Zero phase of setup).

Playtesting is ongoing for these unofficial high player count games. There is a high likelihood that the balance will need to be updated when more data comes in. Go have fun, and if you are interested in helping the GROWL community, track your wins at high player counts and post your data to Board Game Geek.

WHY IS THE DECK FACE-UP INSTEAD OF FACE-DOWN?

• Playtesting has proven that if the deck is face-down, players forget to publicly reveal the card they draw before passing it. Playing with the deck face-up solves this problem. On your turn, instead of drawing just the top card, pick up the entire deck, select a target for the card, and then give the card before passing the entire deck to the next player.

CAN I SHOW SOMEONE MY CARDS?

• You are allowed to say anything you want about the cards in your hand but you may not show anyone your cards unless a card allows it.

CONVERTING TO A WOLF

WHAT IF I DIE AT THE SAME TIME I GET CONVERTED?

• If a human is converted to a werewolf AND dies simultaneously, they die as a werewolf.–

IF THE LAST HUMAN IS CONVERTED TO A WEREWOLF AT THE END OF THE GAME, DO THEY WIN?

• If a human is the last remaining human but is converted to a werewolf on the Final Night, they win with all the wolves. This may not seem like a big difference (winning with humans vs winning with wolves, but it DOES matter which players get to collect their gold that round).

Some players don’t like that humans who survive right to the last night will win (either as a human or wolf). If your group chooses, you can play the unofficial rule, which is that humans who get converted in the final night (or during a final night power) don’t win with the wolves. It may technically be more balanced this way, but it is difficult to track, so the official rule stands as written.

–

NIGHT PHASE

ISN’T IT SMARTER TO SHUFFLE THE CARDS I RECEIVE AT NIGHT INTO MY ENTIRE HAND, RATHER THAN SHUFFLING JUST THE 2 CARDS TOGETHER?

• You can do that if you prefer, as long as you keep track of your hand. Playtesting has proven that most players can’t remember their entire hand, which means they won’t notice when they get bitten or wounded. Keep in mind that some Night cards REQUIRE you to carefully note which cards you received from your neighbors.

CAN WE TALK DURING NIGHT PHASE?

• When a Night card is first revealed, all talking must cease other than the active player reading it (you can call this player the Night Watchman if you want). You may make claims what you passed the previous Night but you may NOT wait until you see the Night card and then tell another player what you are about to pass.

DURING NIGHT PHASE, SOMEONE ACCIDENTALLY PASSED A BITE, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE A HUMAN! WHAT DO WE DO?

• As soon as those players remember their mistake, they should admit it. They immediately out themselves as humans who broke the rules and instantly die. (They die as humans, even if they WOULD have turned into wolves that night.)

CAN WE RANDOMIZE THE CARDS WE PASS AT NIGHT?

• Players are NOT allowed to shuffle or otherwise randomize the cards they are passing away at night. They must make a specific decision which card to pass left and which card to pass right.

I’M STILL A HUMAN BUT I CAN’T PASS BOTH MY CARDS BECAUSE THEY ARE BITES!

• See the rulebook: If a player… is unable to pass the two cards, they die prior to Night falling and do not pass cards.”

WHAT IF SOMEONE CHEATS?

• The game uses the honor system. Don’t play with people who can’t handle that.

40 responses to “GROWL FAQ”

Stephen Buzzell

October 28, 2018 at 9:25 pm

Can a Human or Wolf player pass a wound card or do they have to hold them, and does a wound only kill if you have 3 in your hand or if you can pass them do you keep track of wounds received?

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1. joeyvigour
  
  October 28, 2018 at 10:00 pm
  
  All cards can be passed by all players, other than the one rule that humans can’t pass Bites. If you EVER have 3 wounds at the same time then you die. When passing at Night, you are considered to be passing both cards at the same time, insofar as timing goes. Any time your hand changes (either during the “day” or at “night”) you need to check your hand to see if you have turned into a wolf or been killed.
  
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Patseen Punsiri

May 7, 2019 at 1:52 am

I accidentally mixed two decks! How many 6+ and 9+ cards are there in a single deck?

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1. joeyvigour
  
  May 7, 2019 at 3:13 am
  
  There’s 4 of each of the extra player cards. 12 normal bites, plus 4 6p Bites and 4 9p Bites. 8 Wounds, plus 4 6p Wounds and 4 9p Wounds.
  
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Raymond D Horton

May 14, 2019 at 7:59 pm

Chaos cauldron and wishing well: are these cards public knowledge as you build up 3+ cards or do you secretly stack cards on top of them? Once you have 3+ cards and give them to yourself or others (depending on which spell) do you declare that you are taking the wishing well cards and what they are/tell everyone what you’re giving to someone else due to the cauldron? Also, I’m assuming that cards passed during the night go the the well/cauldron as well?

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1. joeyvigour
  
  May 14, 2019 at 10:14 pm
  
  All cards are public and face up and the number of cards is public. I just saw the rest of the question. The cards stay they are triggered during player turns or other players’ turns. Night phase is a separate phase (player turns are sort of “day” and Night is night), so no, those cards are ignored at night.
  
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Matt Charlton

May 21, 2019 at 8:00 am

Received today thank you!

I look to have received sleeves for the undead expansion (which is listed as well as 7sins) but have only gotten the curses and spells expansions.

Is this right? Just want to make sure we aren’t missing anything.

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1. joeyvigour
  
  May 25, 2019 at 2:34 am
  
  7 Sins was an add-on, but I included those sleeves to encourage sleeves buyers to check the expansions out. It is $11 on my site.
  
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Travis

May 21, 2019 at 10:33 am

When playing with the undead it states that whomever dies that triggers the end of the game becomes undead but does NOT win with the rest of the undead. Scenario is if i have a card that says I die when there are only 3 people left and then someone else dies which causes me to die which in turn ends the game. Does this mean both people that just died do not win with the rest of the zombies as it’s a single chain reaction?

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1. joeyvigour
  
  May 25, 2019 at 2:33 am
  
  I think if you are targeted by the Undead with that card then you deserve to win with the Undead since it is passive (you can’t actively combat that power). Whereas the person whose death triggered your death had a bit more agency, so they don’t win with the Undead. (Remember however that the card you are likely referencing cannot be played to a player adjacent to an Undead player, so it is not as powerful as it first appears.)
  
  I am also fine with players overruling this, based on the detail of the circumstances. Some combos of cards create unique moments and I want players to be able to decide what seems fair. This is intended to be a light, non-competitive game (it requires the honor system and also deals with ethical decision making).
  
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  1. Curtis
    
    June 21, 2019 at 9:33 pm
    
    If this is referring to the Slime card, it does not specifically say that it cannot be played adjacent to an undead player.
    
    If you are referring to Soul Harvest, it says to give it to a player not next to you. Not necessarily not next to any undead player.
    
    So I’m having trouble understanding the situation you are referring to Joey, where a card is not as powerful as it seems?
    
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  2. joeyvigour
    
    June 23, 2019 at 1:40 am
    
    @Curtis
    The way this thread handles communication is not ideal, but briefly, the card text is correct. Both those cards require 6+ players, so they are very powerful but not until a bit later in the game when the Undead faction has started to snowball. You are right; I was referring to Soul Harvest but the final text reads as you described; not as I described.
    
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James Rank

May 25, 2019 at 3:55 am

Hi,

If a human player has in their hand 1 charm and 3 bites (Net 2 bites) can they pass one of the bites?

Thanks,
James

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1. joeyvigour
  
  May 25, 2019 at 10:34 am
  
  This is in the rulebook:
  “If a player dies during a Night’s card effect, or if they are unable to pass the two cards, they die prior to Night falling and do not pass cards.”
  
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  1. Chisel Wright
    
    May 29, 2019 at 5:39 am
    
    Similar but not quite the same: as a human if you have 2 Charm and 3 Bites are you “able to pass cards” (the two charms) during the night phase, and the act of doing so turns you into a werewolf (before you check to see what you received)?
    
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    1. joeyvigour
      
      May 29, 2019 at 11:34 pm
      
      Yes, sometimes passing cards turns you into a wolf, but it is still allowed since it doesn’t break rules. The previous situation is different since the player was unable to follow the rules of not passing bites as a human.
      
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Lucia Hedderley

May 27, 2019 at 4:06 am

I’m confused by the sleeves, there are extra blue (4) & growl (10) and yet not enough yellow or red which are both 6 short?

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1. joeyvigour
  
  May 28, 2019 at 11:30 am
  
  Hi, if you got a second deck then one set of sleeves is not enough for two separate copies of the game. If you want to make one set of the game playable up to 15 players then you don’t sleeve both copies – I sent extra cards you don’t need per the FAQ. You don’t need to sleeve two copies of the same Night and Final Night cards; you just need extra wounds and bites, as described above.
  
  I also explain this in a couple of the updates. If you have the 7 Sins and Undead then put the spells cards with the blue backs inside the extra blue sleeves – I provided extra sleeves in case any of your sleeves get damaged or if you want to create your own cards.
  
  Joey
  
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  1. boholu
    
    May 28, 2019 at 11:50 am
    
    Thanks for your response, though I think it would probably have just made sense to have provided the extra few for the red & yellow to sleeve the second deck completely given it was only a couple short, otherwise if its all unsleeved then it’s just an enormous amount of spare howl sleeves as there is enough of those to sleeve both sets and still have spares? What is the point of a complete second deck if its not all used to create the max player count? What cards do I actually need from the second deck so its up to the max player count?
    
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    1. joeyvigour
      
      May 28, 2019 at 12:14 pm
      
      Hi, I am very confused by your comment. I sent you 50 extra cards so your upgraded deck (to play with max play count of 15) can also be used standalone if you wish (as a second copy). You are commenting on the FAQ page, but the answer to your question is above, in the FAQ – “PLAYING WITH MORE THAN 10 PLAYERS”
      
      You only need Bites and Wounds, but you can use other cards from the extra deck to try different variants if you want. Sleeve whatever you want- you have more than a complete copy so you can throw out whatever sleeves or cards you don’t want.
      
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CatG

June 3, 2019 at 9:55 am

Is there any chance for a new How to Play video now that the game is completed and sent out to backers? I think you’ve done a great job clarifying questions, I just learn best seeing a game played out.

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rae

June 6, 2019 at 5:49 am

Hi, what size of sleeves that best fit the cards?

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1. joeyvigour
  
  June 6, 2019 at 7:55 pm
  
  the cards are atandard poker size 63mm x 88mm
  
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Angel

June 6, 2019 at 5:59 pm

What size of sleeves best fit the cards?

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Riley Chappell

June 9, 2019 at 6:59 pm

Can dead people talk at all?

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1. joeyvigour
  
  June 10, 2019 at 5:47 am
  
  The rulebook just says that they can’t give away secrets – they can’t admit which team they are on for example (unless a Séance card or another power grants them this ability). In the Undead expansion they can say anything they want.
  
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mathieu

July 10, 2019 at 7:38 am

Hi Joel.
Thanks again for the game. It is pretty fantastic and has been a hit so far with our friends.
I was wondering.
Could you make a chart announcing clearly how many cards of each type we need to add in the game depending on the number of player ?
Has I bought the extra game to be able to play with up to 15 people, it is sometimes a mess when I want to play with 6 or 7 people has I need to go back to the core rule book, and look up how many cards there are in the normalk game, then remove the extra cards.
It ‘d be way sipler to have a chartt such as

4Players 5P 6P 7P etc.
Bite 15 15 18 20
Wound 20 20 22 24
etc.

Would it be possible to get something like that ?
I have to admit, sometimes the thought of having to go through deducting the number of cards required for a game makes me choose another game for that evening.

Thanks.

Mathieu

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1. joeyvigour
  
  May 15, 2020 at 4:35 pm
  
  This is on the back of the rulebook for the people who bought the boxed copy of the game. The number of copies of cards in the base game is listed on the back of the box.
  Fans have made a chart for the high player counts above 10. I’ll add it to board game geek.
  
  Joey
  
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  1. Curtis
    
    May 26, 2020 at 8:54 pm
    
    Has this been updated yet? I couldn’t find it in Files or Images on BGG.
    
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    1. joeyvigour
      
      May 26, 2020 at 11:55 pm
      
      i haven’t yet. it must have been posted in the french rules. if you email me i can send it
      
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Xu Zhenzhong

July 10, 2019 at 10:31 am

Hi,

The game has been very fun after I introduced it with my friends. We encountered one question recently:

For the Night Card Silver Bullet,

If a Human player receives this card and suffer one wound, as the game continues he gotten bitten and turned into a werewolf, does the Silver Bullet take immediate effects and cause TWO wounds to him the moment he turned or it remains as ONE wound as he was a Human when this card is played on him?

Thank you!

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1. joeyvigour
  
  July 10, 2019 at 2:15 pm
  
  @Xu
  Yes, the silver bullet becomes 2 wounds if you turn. You just have to remember! The expansions introduce an icon in the upper right called Spells and these are cards that stay active. The Silver Bullet is similar to the Spells.
  
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Xu Zhenzhong

September 17, 2019 at 3:06 am

Hi,

It’s me again. My friends and I recently started playing the Undead expansion and it was a totally new fun experience for all of us!

One question that we encountered during our games was:
“What happens when the Undead deck runs out? Do we reshuffle the used ones back and use again? Or does each Undead player now left with the option of giving away one card from their hand to the top for the next living player to take?”

Looking forward to your answer and also your next Madness expansion!

Regards,
ZZ from Singapore

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1. Joey V
  
  September 17, 2019 at 10:20 am
  
  It is too powerful for the Undead to use too many Undead cards so when they have gone through them they can only put wounds on top the deck. If they also run out of wounds, all they can do is communicate with other Undead to try to work together to win.
  
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Panos Panagiotidis

December 2, 2019 at 4:39 am

Hello

And if i get three bites and become a werewolf, can i still pass those bite cards that made me a werewolf to other players or do i keep them??

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1. joeyvigour
  
  December 2, 2019 at 4:43 am
  
  Yes. This game uses the honor system, so you just remember that you are a werewolf and you can now pass the bites.
  Bites turn into “ammunition” for wolves to bite people.
  
  joey
  
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Raymond l

March 9, 2020 at 9:22 am

What do the undead do once the entire undead deck has been discarded/played. Do they then stop playing cards or do they then only get to stack wounds in the deck?

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1. joeyvigour
  
  March 21, 2020 at 3:09 pm
  
  Usually this can only happen right at the end of the game, so the Undead don’t shuffle, they can only put a card on top of the dead (technically they can put *any* of their cards on top, which might matter if you are combining this with other expansions).
  
  Also remember that the game automatically ends if there’s only 2 players left alive.
  
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Jeffery Jordan

September 26, 2021 at 6:02 pm

Picked this up at GenCon 2021 and played it for the first time tonight. Love it! Where can I find the expansions now?

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1. Fun Bundles
  
  January 21, 2022 at 8:52 pm
  
  The license is with another publisher but if you reach out to me via the contact page I can direct you to retailers who have it.
  
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