How to play

Setting up

Everyone gets 8 cards, never a Hazard. One Number card is turned up to start the pile. Turns go around the table, like Uno.

Bad start? Until someone makes the first move, anyone can press Redeal?. Once more than half the players have pressed it, the whole game is dealt again.

The first person to have no cards left wins. You have to win at the table: the shop won't take your last card.

Your turn

Each turn you get one action. Pick one:

• Play a card on the pile that matches the top card, or a chain of Numbers.
• Draw a card. If it can go on the pile, you can still play it (alone or in a chain). A turn where you only draw gives you +1 mana at the end.
• Summon a familiar, feed one, or attack with one.
• Cast an Event from your hand for ⚡2, matching or not.
• Play a Story card (+1 mana).
• Devote yourself to a Lord.
• Go to the shop.
• Discard Equipment for combat mana.

On top of that, any time on your turn, for free:

• Play one Mana card for +1 mana.
• Spend ⚡5 to get rid of any card (the 5-charge discard).
• Use your Lord's powers.

Press End turn when you're done.

Matching

A card can go on the pile if it shares any one of these with the top card:

Color

Red on red, like Uno.

Digit

Any digit in common: a 27 goes on a 7, a 2 or a 72.

Name

Pikachu on Pikachu ex. Most numbers have no name to match.

Type

Fire on Fire, Spell on Spell.

Hold any card down to see exactly what it matches on.

Wilds (Jokers, Uno Wilds) and crazy eights (any card numbered exactly 8, from any game) go on anything, even a card with no color or digit. When one lands on top, whoever played it names its color. After that it's just that color (and an 8 still matches 8s).

Chains

Play several Numbers at once. The first one has to match the pile, and each next one has to share a digit with the one before it. For example: Yellow 9 → 69 of Rainbows → Blue 6.

A chain gives you +1 mana. In one chain you can use at most:

• one Wild (8s included): it links any two digits;
• two Medium Numbers (11 to 999);
• one Large Number (1000 and up, like the Credit Card).

Only Numbers and Wilds chain.

The kinds of card

Every card belongs to one archetype. Hold a card down to see which.

Number

Small (0–10), Medium (11–999) and Large (1000+). They go on the pile, chain, and feed familiars.

Wild

Goes on anything. Under it, a card needs a digit or a color to match it.

Mana

Play one a turn, free, for +1 mana.

Familiar

Monsters you summon, feed and attack with.

Action

Events (Skip, Draw Two, Strikes…) and Counters (Nope).

Equipment

Lets a familiar attack for free, or discard it for combat mana.

Resource

Sell it at the shop: Junk 2 gold, Material 5, Property 6.

Lord

Devote yourself to one for special powers.

Story

Builds the table's story, or a prompt to answer. Gives mana.

Hazard

Can't be played. Pay the shop 10 gold to get rid of it.

Mana

You hold up to 5 spell mana (blue pips). You get it from:

• Mana cards;
• chains;
• turns where you only draw;
• Story cards;
• buying it at the shop.

Combat mana (red pips, up to 5) only comes from discarding Equipment. It pays for anything spell mana does, but spell mana can't stand in for it. Attacks use combat mana first.

Mana pays for summoning, casting Events (⚡2), getting into the shop (⚡1), devoting to a Lord (⚡1), attacking without Equipment (⚡2), and the 5-charge discard (⚡5).

Familiars

You can have up to 4 familiars out at once.

• Summoning:
  • Small: ⚡1.
  • Medium: sacrifice a Small one, or ⚡2 if you have no Small.
  • Large: sacrifice a Medium one, or ⚡3 if you have no Medium.
  A new familiar starts in defense mode (lying sideways), with no attack.
• Feeding: put a Number into it. Its digits fill the familiar's slots (Small 1, Medium 2, Large 3), and its attack is the sum of the digits it holds. A Small Number fills one slot. A bigger Number lets you pick which of its digits to use. You can feed the familiar you just summoned that same turn, once, for free.
• Health: a familiar is destroyed when its attack or its digits run out.
• A familiar can also just be discarded on the pile by color, like any card. Familiars never chain.

Attacks

A fed familiar can attack another player. Discard an Equipment card to do it, or pay ⚡2. Everyone gets a moment to Nope it. Then the defender chooses which of their familiars block:

• A fed blocker soaks up attack equal to its own attack. Both lose that much, and whichever hits 0 is destroyed.
• A defense-mode blocker is destroyed, but it stops the attack completely and halves the attacker's attack.
• Whatever gets through, the defender draws that many cards.

You can't attack yourself, and familiars only ever fight other players' familiars.

Events and Nope

Play an Event on the pile when it matches (free), or cast it from your hand for ⚡2. Here's what they do:

Skip

The next player misses their turn.

Reverse

The turn order flips. With two players it works as a Skip.

Draw

A player draws the number on the card (Draw Two: 2, Wild Draw Four: 4).

Peek

You see the next 3 cards of the draw pile.

Strike

Hits another player's familiar: one of its digits is gone (along with that much attack), and an unfed one is destroyed. They can shield it with one of their unfed familiars instead. If they have no familiars, they draw 2.

Shuffle

The discard pile goes back into the draw pile.

Swap

You trade hands with another player.

Nope (and other Counters): after every Event, attack or targeted Lord power, everyone gets the same 4-second countdown. A Nope cancels it, a Nope on a Nope cancels that, and so on. A Counter as your last card wins.

Lords

Devote yourself to a Lord for ⚡1 or by sacrificing a familiar. It's permanent, and you only get one. A Lord has its own mana (purple diamonds, up to 4) to spend on its powers, which don't use your action. For example, Chandra can give you another discard, or blast a player for 4.

To refill a Lord's mana, sacrifice a familiar to it (Small +1, Medium +2, Large +3), or sacrifice a spare Lord from your hand to fill it completely (that uses your action). A Lord you don't want sells for 8 gold.

The shop

Getting in costs ⚡1, 2 gold, or a familiar, and uses your action. Once you're inside:

• Make one sale per visit: a single card, or a chain of several cards of one kind (three Junk, two Properties, never a mix). Junk 2 gold, Material 5, Property 6, Equipment 7, a Lord 8. A chain earns +1 gold per card in it: three Junk sell for 6 + 3 = 9.
• Buy as much as your gold allows:
  • a Sale card (6 gold);
  • a random card of a kind you name (10 gold): a Number or familiar of the size you pick, a Wild, an Action or Equipment;
  • a mana (5 gold);
  • getting rid of any card from your hand (10 gold).
• Leaving the shop ends your turn. The shop won't take your last card.

Story cards

Locations, Roles and Objectives build the scene on the table. A Prompt sets a question, and Answers answer it. Each gives +1 mana. If the table votes an answer funny, it gives a second one.

Calling Uno

When you're down to one card, press Uno. Until you do, anyone can catch you, right up until your next turn starts, and you draw 3.

If a turn is dragging, a Hurry up! button appears for everyone else after 10 seconds. Once most of them press it, the player has 15 seconds left.

Cheat sheet

These are the current playtest rules and they change often. The deck builder can make any deck you like: see Making cards and decks.