Innovation Ultimate - General game info
Innovation Ultimate
2-5 players, 30-60 minutes, 14 years and older
AuthorCarl Chudyk
IllustratorsAlanna Cervenak
Sarah Farooqi
Robert Simmons
Published byAsmadi Games
Online since 2023-07-23
Developed by (Watno)
Boardgamegeek388367
Yucata.de owns a license for the online version of this game. A big "thank you" to the copyright owners (publisher and/or author and illustrator) who make it possible to have this game for free online here!
Note: This online implementation uses slightly changed rules!
Innovation Ultimate
Innovation Ultimate - Rules

Innovation

Introduction

Innovation is a game of civilization building through technologies, ideas, and ingenuity. Starting in the Stone Age, you will choose the innovations that define your people’s destiny through history from the humble beginnings of The Wheel and Clothing, to Gunpowder, Democracy, and Combustion, all the way to Satellites and The Internet. Each of these will give your civilization a specific ability. Some will allow you to advance through the ages faster, others will help build your infrastructure, and yet more will give you the ability to attack your rivals.

Each of these innovations is depicted in the game by a card, and all are unique. There are no maps or pieces to move around, as the cards provide all of the action and scorekeeping in the game. A card’s primary use is as an innovation, played face-up in front of you to be used for effect, but cards can also wind up face-down in your score pile or as achievements, representing your civilization’s power, influence, and legacy.

Content

Game Setup

Expansions Setup

A game of Innovation always requires the base set. Any or all of the expansions can be added, but we recommend using one at a time, and never using expansions with firsttime players.

Each Innovation expansion has 115 additional cards that are split into 11 ages, just like the base set. These cards are kept as separate supply piles. Depending on the amount of table space you have available, they can be stacked at a 90 degree angle underneath each deck, or placed next to the base supply piles.

Each expansion has rules for several mechanics and a couple of additional setup steps. These are listed below:

CITIES OF DESTINY

  • Include the Cities cards during setup.
  • Add the five Cities special achievements.
ARTIFACTS OF HISTORY
  • Include the Artifacts cards during setup.
  • Place the five museums next to the available museums.
ECHOES OF THE PAST
  • Include the Echoes cards during setup.
  • Add the five Echoes special achievements.
FIGURES IN THE SAND
  • Include the Figures cards during setup.
  • Place the five Decrees near special achievements.
THE UNSEEN
  • Include the Unseen cards during setup.
  • Add the five Unseen special achievements.

1) Split the base set cards into their eleven supply piles, arranged like a clock as shown above.

2) Without looking, draw one base card from each supply pile of ages 1-10, and place them in the center as normal Achievements.

3) Place the base set’s five Special Achievements nearby.

4) Perform the setup steps for each expansion you choose to play with.

5) Each player draws two cards from the age 1 supply pile, and all players simultaneously choose one to be the first card on their board. The other card is kept to form each player’s initial hand.

6) The player who chose the card whose title comes first alphabetically goes first. The first player (or the first two in a four or more player game) will take only one action instead of two on their initial turn. Subsequent turns are normal.

ANATOMY OF A CARD

CARD TITLE

Each of the 115 innovations is unique.

VALUE

Matches the age of the supply pile it came from.

DOGMA EFFECTS

Each card you play grants you abilities called dogma effects. Some are demands that attack other players. Others help you advance your civilization. A featured icon precedes each effect.

ICONS

Each card has four potential icon locations. Icons help you defend against demands, and share in other players’ dogma effects.

CARD IMAGE

One of the four icons on each card is an image depicting the innovation. It does not provide any benefit.

CARD ICONS

1-3 4-10 7-10 10-11

Basic: There are seven basic icon types that appear on cards in Innovation. Three of them can be on cards in any age, but the other four are restricted to certain periods of time.

A handful of expansion cards have icons that appear outside of these restrictions. Basic icons help you share other players’ dogma effects and issue demands.

Cities have a number of special icons.

Bonuses are worth points while visible.

Echo effects stack on to your Dogma actions.

YOUR CIVILIZATION

As you play, you will accumulate cards of five different colors in an area in front of you called your board. Your most important cards are the top cards of each color, as they can be activated for their effects through the Dogma action. Cards that you cover up over time are still useful, because some effects will allow you to splay a color in a direction. Splaying will reveal additional icons from your covered up cards.

Your board consists of all the cards you have put into play.

Visible basic icons will help you share in other players’ actions, demand from opponents, and also defend against their demands.

Your score pile contains face-down cards. Each card is worth its value (the age number) in points.

Achievements are one way to win in Innovation. Once claimed, they can never be taken away from you.

YOUR TURN

On each turn, you must take two actions. There are four types of action: Draw, Meld, Dogma, and Achieve. You can perform the same action twice, or take two different actions.

If you receive a free action from an effect or rule, it does not count as one of your two per turn.

EXAMPLE SUPPLY PILES

Below is a set of supply piles used in the Draw and Achieve examples. Ages 2, 4, and 5 have no base set cards in them, and are therefore empty.

DRAW ACTION

A Draw action lets you draw one card from a supply pile into your hand. You draw from the age matching your highest value top card. The value of a card is the age number in the top right corner.

If all the base set cards in a supply pile are gone, that age is considered to be empty. When an age is empty, you draw from the next higher age instead. If multiple ages are empty, continue skipping as necessary.

If you have to skip age 11 and try to draw an age 12 card that doesn’t exist, the game ends immediately.

If you are playing with expansions, each has its own rule governing how its cards are drawn.

DRAW ACTION EXAMPLE

You take a Draw action, in the example to the right. Your highest top card is a 2. Even though a 4 is visible on a splayed card, it is not at the top of the purple stack and therefore is not a top card. You attempt to draw a 2, but age 2 is empty. Instead, you draw a 3.

SKIPPING AGES

If you need to draw a card from an empty age’s supply pile through a dogma effect or other rule, you skip to the next available pile in the same way. If a card instructed you to "draw a 4" or "draw and meld a 5" in the example to the right, you would draw a 6 instead, skipping the empty ages 4 and 5.

If a card instructs you to take a card of a specific value from any place other than a supply pile, you only do so if that value of card is present. Do not skip to the next available card.

MELD ACTION

Choose a card from your hand and place it on your board. If you have cards of that card’s color already, stack it on top of them. Continue the splay direction of the pile, if its cards are already splayed.

Examples of melding Coal and Mysticism on to existing stacks:

CITIES OF DESTINY

If you created a new color on your board with the Meld Action, draw a City of value equal to your highest top card. If you melded a city with with your Meld action and it has a special icon, it takes effect now.

ARTIFACTS OF HISTORY

After your Meld action, dig up an artifact and place it on display if either of the following is true:

(1) The melded card is equal to or lower than the card that it covered up.

(2) The hexagonal card image on the melded card is in the same location as on the card that it covered up (ignoring splays).

ECHOES OF THE PAST

After a Meld action, you must promote one card from your forecast, as long as the forecast card is equal to or lower than the melded card. To promote the card, meld it, and then you must take a free Dogma action, targeting the promoted card.

FIGURES IN THE SAND

After your Achieve action, each opponent will draw a Figure equal to their highest top card.

ACHIEVE ACTION

WINNING THE GAME

Achievements are one way to win in Innovation. The number of achievements required depends on the number of players and the number of expansions being used:

NUMBER OF EXPANSIONS
NUMBER
OF
PLAYERS
0 1 2 3 4 5
2 6 7 8 9 10 11
3 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 4 5 6 7 8 9
5 3 4 5 6 7 8

You may only take an Achieve action if you are eligible to claim one of the available achievements. To be eligible for an achievement, you must satisfy both of two conditions. First, your score must be at least five times the age number of the achievement. Your score is the total value of all cards in your score pile. Second, you must have a top card on your board of equal or higher value to the age number of the achievement.

When you take the Achieve action and claim an achievement you are eligible for, place it under the right side of your reference card. Your score pile only tells whether or not you are eligible, you do not spend cards from it when taking an Achieve action.

You can only be eligible to claim an achievement if it is available in the center of the table. Once another player has an achievement, it cannot be claimed by anyone else.

Example: You, in the supply-pile example above, have 15 points (4 + 4 + 4 + 3), and the 1 achievement has already been claimed. Your highest top card is a 2. You are only eligible to claim the 2 achievement, even though you have enough points for the 3, as you must satisfy both conditions. The 1 has already been claimed. You take an Achieve action and claim the 2.

DOGMA ACTION

CHOOSE A CARD

To start a Dogma action, you must choose one of your top cards to activate. This represents your civilization turning its main focus to one of the innovations you have discovered. All of the effects on the card you choose will be executed, regardless of anything else that happens to it or other cards during the action.

SHARING/VULNERABILITY

Each dogma effect is preceded by a small copy of the icon most prevalent on the card, indicating that it is the featured icon for the card. Before any effects are executed, each player counts how many of that icon are visible on their board. Any player that has at least as many as you is eligible to share in the use of your innovation. Any opponent that has fewer than you is vulnerable to demands from your innovation.

Eligibility for sharing and vulnerability to demands are only determined once during a Dogma action. Even if cards on players’ boards change during the action, they remain eligible or vulnerable for its duration.

EXECUTE EFFECTS

Many cards have multiple effects. You must execute all of them during a Dogma action. Always complete an effect entirely before you move on to the next effect.

Before you execute a non-demand effect (any effect that does not start with ‘I Demand’), each player who is eligible to share must also do so. Starting to your left and going clockwise, each of them must follow the effect’s instructions. Then, you must perform them.

Demand effects are in darker boxes and all start with ‘I demand.’ Read demand effects out loud to make it clear what your opponents must do. In clockwise order, each vulnerable opponent follows the instructions. Other opponents ignore it.

If you can only perform part of an effect, do as much as you can and ignore the rest. If any effect forces you to choose between multiple cards (ex: your ‘highest top card’, and two cards are tied), you decide which of your cards is affected.

SHARING DRAW BONUS

If one or more players that were eligible to share your effects did so, then you take one free Draw action after the Dogma action is complete. This only occurs if an opponent’s use of the shared effect caused a change in the game’s state. A change is one or more cards being moved from one location to another (or back to the same location) (ex: melding, splaying in a new direction, scoring, etc).

You do not get a free Draw action due to players affected by demands.

FIGURES IN THE SAND

During your free Draw action, draw a Figure instead of a base card.

KEYWORDS

Actions (Draw, Meld, Achieve): A dogma effect that instructs you to draw, meld, or achieve does not count as an action of that type. It does not count as one of your two actions per turn. It does not trigger expansion draws or foreshadow promotion.

Bottom: The bottom card in your stack of a color. If you have only one card of a color, it is both the bottom and top card of that color.

Card Image: The image in a hexagon on a card, depicting the innovation. The location of the image affects which splays are most effective, and are used by the Artifacts of History draw rule.

Draw and X: Many dogma effects instruct you to draw and tuck, draw and meld, or draw and score a card of a specific value. First, draw the card, skipping empty ages as appropriate. Then, perform the action (tuck it, score it, meld it, etc) on the card you drew. ‘Draw and reveal’ effects place the card in your hand, unless the effect takes it away afterward.

Exchange: Swap cards from the two locations given, even if one half of the exchange is empty. An exchanged card has not been "scored," (or "melded", "drawn", etc) for the purposes of special achievements or karma effects.

Self-Execute: Some effects instruct you to self-execute another card. When you do, you execute all the non-demand effects on that card. Demand effects are ignored, and you do not share non-demand effects, regardless of icon count. Echoes: If the self-executed card is a top card on any board, first perform all echo effects in that color on that board. If it is not a top card, first perform all echo effects on that card only.
Super-execute: This is a stronger form of self-execute. When you super-execute a card, you also execute all demand effects (but not compel effects on Artifacts cards). All opponents are considered vulnerable regardless of icon count.
Chain rule: When instructed to self-execute or super-execute a card while already resolving a 'Self-Execute' or 'Super-execute', first draw and achieve an 11.

Highest / Lowest: Refers to the value (age number) of the cards in question.

Junk: Move the card to the junk. It can now only be interacted with by effects that specifically reference the junk.

Lose: If a player loses, they are eliminated from play. Junk all cards belonging to them. They are skipped in turn order, and no longer count for player adjacency.

Non-demand effect: Any dogma effect that does not begin with "I Demand." (or "I Compel" with Artifacts of History)

Return: A returned card is placed at the bottom of its supply pile, face down. If multiple cards are returned at once, choose the order. If you return a base card of an empty age, it is no longer empty.

Score: To score a card, place it in your score pile, face-down. Your score is the total value of all the cards in your score pile.

Top: The top card of each color is the card on top of its stack. If you have only one card of a color, it is both the bottom and top card of that color.

Transfer: Move a card from one area in play to another. Transferring a card does not count as melding, achieving, scoring, etc.

Type: The type of a card is which expansion it comes from.

Tuck: To tuck a card, place it on the bottom of the matching color pile, continuing a splay if possible. If no cards of its color are on your board, it forms a new pile.

Visible: A card is visible if it is a top card, or if it is in a splayed stack and you can see any part of it. An icon or echo effect is visible if it is on a top card or can be fully seen due to a splay.

Value: The value of a card is its age number. If a card refers to the value of something you don’t have, like your top purple card if you have none, treat the value as 0.

SPLAYING

Many dogma effects will instruct you to splay a color in a direction. At any given time, a color is either unsplayed, splayed left, splayed right, splayed up or splayed aslant.

To splay a color, take the top card and slide it in the direction indicated, revealing one icon if splaying left, two icons if splaying right, three icons if splaying up, and 4 icons if splaying aslant. If there are more than two cards, repeat the process so that all cards in the color are splayed. If the color was already splayed, unsplay it before splaying it in the new direction. If a color contains zero or one card, it is always considered unsplayed. If a splayed color is reduced to zero or one card, it does not remember that it was previously splayed.

To the right are examples of purple splayed left (two cards), blue splayed right (three cards), and red splayed up (three cards).

SCORE, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Over the course of the game, you will accumulate cards in your score pile through dogma effects. Each card in your score pile is worth points equal to its value (the age number). When you slide them under your reference card, the number will be visible in the top left. Your score is the total value of all these cards. When playing with expansions, your score may be increased by visible bonus icons. To the right is an example score pile with 15 points:

Ten normal achievements are available to start the game, one of each from ages 1 through 10. You can claim an achievement with the Achieve action, if you have enough points and a top card of the achievement’s value or higher. Once gone, they are not replenished. You do not have to claim them in order, and on occasion it is makes strategic sense to take a higher achievement first.

Example: During a dogma effect, you meld a card with on it, bringing your total number of icons to 13 . Once the action is complete, you claim the World achievement.

Special achievements are checked after every action. If you meet the conditions for one of them, take it immediately. Like normal achievements, once a special achievement is claimed by a player, it is no longer available for others to claim. In the rare case that two players simultaneously become eligible to claim a special achievement, the tie is broken in turn order going clockwise, starting at the player left of the current player.

WINNING AND GAME END

There are three ways to win a game of Innovation: by achievements, score, or special card effect.

To win via achievements, you need to claim a number of achievements depending on how many players are in the game. This is checked after each action. If multiple players simultaneously reach the require number of achievements, the player with most achievements wins. If there is a tie, the next player in player order wins (i.e. the current player loses the tie). For a two player game with just the base set, 6 achievements are needed. For each extra player, subtract one. For each expansion included, add one. A minimum of 3 achievements are needed, regardless of player count.

Optional Rule: If you are looking for a longer game, increase the number of achievements required to win by 1. Agree on this before starting the game.

NUMBER OF EXPANSIONS
NUMBER
OF
PLAYERS
0 1 2 3 4 5
2 6 7 8 9 10 11
3 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 4 5 6 7 8 9
5 3 4 5 6 7 8

To win by score, the game must end due to a player attempting to draw a card higher than age 11. This can happen if the age 11 supply pile runs out, or through various dogma effects. The moment the card would be drawn, the game ends immediately. In this case, each player’s current score is more important than achievements, as time has passed by their relevance. The player (or team) with the highest current score wins. If tied, most achievements wins. If still tied, the game is a draw.

Several cards can end the game early. Some allow you to win given a certain condition, which if satisfied ends the game immediately. Others let "the single player with the most X" win. These also end the game immediately, but only if there is no tie for X. If there is a tie, the effect is ignored entirely. In a team game, this grants victory to all players on the team.

STRATEGY TIPS

Innovation plays differently nearly every time you take it out of the box. While long term planning is possible, it is often much more beneficial to seize the best tactical option at any given moment. Splaying and thus amassing icons is important, as is spending time to accumulate points. The first few times you play, it is probably easier to focus more on the cards that you have rather than trying to internalize every possible action each player could take.

Tips:

icons (which appear in ages 1-3) are very powerful early, but can quickly be a liability later if not covered, due to cards like Gunpowder and Engineering.

icons begin appearing in age 4. You will want to get some as soon as possible. Being completely shut out of the new technologies can be very painful, as the cards that use can yield many points in the mid-game.

icons arrive in age 7. Late game effects are very powerful, and having on your board can protect you from demands and help you share in what your opponents are doing.

If you can take the Achieve action, it is almost always the correct decision. If you don’t, you might lose cards from your score pile before your next turn, or someone else could claim the achievement first!

Don’t be afraid of sharing! While it’s true that you don’t want to actively help opponents, it’s often a smart play to give another player a small benefit if you’ll reap a larger one. Always factor in the free Draw action you’ll receive for sharing.

Remember that eligible opponents must share your dogma effects, and they perform their actions before you do. If the age 1 supply pile has a single card left in it, and you share a dogma effect that says "draw a 1," your opponent will get the 1, and you’ll get a 2!

Age 9 and 10 cards are very powerful, and can end the game immediately. If you’re trying to win by achievements, you want to finish up before the game reaches this stage. On the other hand, if you’re behind in achievements, you may want to get to these cards as soon as possible. They may be your last, best hope for victory! Until the game is over, no lead in Innovation is safe.

These tips focus on playing with just the base set.

INFORMATION VISIBILITY

  • You may never look at the identity of normal achievement cards, even if you have achieved them.
  • You can always look at the cards in your hand, score pile, forecast, and board (even if covered up).
  • You can always count and see the value and type of cards in each supply pile, each hand, and each score pile.
  • When an effect requires you to do something with a card of a specific color or icon, and you don't have such a card, you need to prove this by revealing all cards from the area in question. Similarly, if an effect depends on whether a card that is not visible to everyone has a specific color or icon, reveal it.
On Yucata:
  • All cards on all players boards (both splayed and unsplayed) are considered open information.
  • Information you get from card movements is automatically tracked, unless the "No card tracking" option is selected in the invitation.

VARIANT: TEAM RULES FOR FOUR PLAYERS

With four players, you can play in teams. Team play with four players is less chaotic and more strategic than a normal four-player game.

In a team game, demand effects are not executed by your teammate, and if you share a non-demand effect with your teammate only, you do not get a free Draw action. Any dogma effect that refers to ‘opponent’ does not affect your teammate. Your team’s achievements are counted together for determining victory, but you claim achievements without your partner’s score. The number of achievements for a team to win is the same as in a 2-player game.

If the game ends from a dogma effect, an individual player winning grants that victory to their team. If the game ends by a player trying to draw a card higher than age 10, the team with the highest combined score wins.

"PARLEY" RULES FOR GAMES WITH 4+ PLAYERS:

Imagine the players are sitting in a circle. The player before you and the player after you are adjacent to you. The others are non-adjacent.

To parley, return a card from your hand as payment.

If you want to share in a dogma effect of a non-adjacent player (assuming you have the correct number of icons), you may parley.

In order to avoid a demand effect from a non-adjacent player, you may parley.

As an action on your turn, you may dogma a top card on a non-adjacent player's board by parleying (you still use your own icon count).

PLAYING WITH EXPANSIONS

Once you’ve played the base game a few times, you can add in expansions. Playing with expansions before learning the base game is not recommended. The rules for each expansion are explained in the chapters below.

Each expansion you play with has additional setup steps. Once in play, expansion cards behave similar to base cards. They can be in score piles, on your board, and have value equal to their age number. The type of cards in your hand, score pile, etc are public knowledge, because they have a different colored back.

Cities of Destiny is the simplest expansion, and Figures in the Sand is likely the most complex. You can mix and match expansions in any combination (even playing with all of them!) but we recommend that you learn them one at a time. Each expansion’s rules are independent, that multiple expansions contain bonuses and duplicated Achievements from Echoes of the Past.

Remember that with each expansion used, you must claim one additional achievement to win.

NEW ACTION TYPES

Innovation’s expansions introduce several new special action types: Endorse, Decree. These new action types can be taken as one of your two actions per turn, just like Draw, Meld, Dogma, and Achieve. Each Special action can only be used once per turn, but you can use two different special actions as your two per turn. A special action can only be used if its corresponding expansion is in use.

ACTION TRIGGERS

Many effects in Innovation’s expansions trigger off the completion of an action or other occurrence within the game. If a rule or effect references a Meld action, Dogma action, Draw action or Achieve action, it does not include effects that cause you to meld, draw, or achieve. For example, Executing Sailing (Draw and meld a 1) would not cause you to check your forecast for cards to promote, because it was not a full Meld action.

Multiple events may trigger after you take a Meld action. If this happens, perform them in the following order. If the melded card stops being a top card on your board, do not proceed to the next step.

1) Execute a City icon’s effect.

2) Draw a City.

3) Dig an Artifact, and place it on display.

4) Execute a figure’s "When" karma effect.

5) Promote a foreshadowed card.

BONUS ICONS

A bonus icon grants you additional points as long as it is visible. Your highest visible bonus is worth its value in points. All your other visible bonuses are worth one point each.

DUPLICATE ACHIEVEMENT ELIGIBILITY

Some expansions can add or remove cards from the standard achievements area, or allow you to claim a card as a standard achievement directly from a different area. These cards often take effect only if you are eligible to claim that achievement.

Typically, you are eligible to claim an achievement if your score is at least five times its age (5, 10, 15... for ages 1, 2, 3...), and if you have a top card equal to or higher than its age. If you already have a standard achievement of that age, you need twice as many points to be eligible. If you already have two, you need three times as many, and so on.

Example: You already have age 1 and 3 standard achievements. An additional age 3 achievement has been added to the available standard achievements. You would be eligible to claim it if you had at least 30 points in your score pile, and a value 3 or higher top card on your board.

DRAWING EXPANSION CARDS

When playing with expansions, there are specific rules governing how each expansion’s cards can be drawn. An Echo or Unseen card might be drawn in place of a base card at any time, while Figures, Cities, and Artifacts are drawn in response to specific events occuring.

If all the base cards from an age’s supply pile are gone, that age is considered empty for all types of cards. When drawing an expansion card of a value, skip empty ages and draw from the next available non-empty age.

Example: There are 0 base cards and 8 Figures cards in the age 4 supply piles. You need to draw a Figure of value 4. Age 4 is empty, and you draw a Figure of value 5 instead.

If an expansion’s supply pile has no cards in it, and you try to draw from it (after skipping empty ages), draw a base card of that value instead.

Example: There are 2 base cards and 0 Cities cards in the age 2 supply piles. You need to draw a City of value 2, so you draw a base 2 instead.

Cities of Destiny

DRAWING CARDS

There are two situations that cause you to draw a Cities card. If you already have a Cities card in your hand, ignore these conditions.

1) When you take a Meld action to meld a card that adds a new color to your board, draw a City.

2) Immediately after splaying a color in any new direction, draw a City.

In either case, draw a Cities card of value equal to your highest top card.

ENDORSE ACTION

The Endorse action allows you to perform a doubled Dogma action.

It can be used as either of your two actions during a turn, but cannot be used twice.

To take an Endorse action, perform the following steps:

1) Choose the top card on your board that you want to Endorse, and note its featured icon.

2) Choose a top city on your board. It must have the featured icon on it.

3) Pay for the Endorse action by junking a card from your hand of equal or lower value to the city you chose. The junked card’s color and icons are irrelevant.

4) Execute the effects from the card you chose in step 1 as if it were a Dogma action:

  • Determine eligibility for sharing, vulnerability to demands, and which echo effects are visible as you normally would.
  • When you execute a non-demand effect, do it twice.
  • When you issue a demand, affect all opponents twice (go around the table clockwise, and then a second time).
  • When another player shares a non-demand effect, they execute it only once.
  • Draw for sharing, if applicable.
To endorse on Yucata you first choose the city and then the card to be endorsed.

CITY ICONS

Each city has one or two special icons. Plusses, Searches, and Arrows, Uplift, Unsplays and Junks grant an immediate effect when melded, but only if the city was melded with a Meld action (not through an effect). Flags and Fountains provide benefits as long as they are visible. If a city has two special icons, both take effect.

Plus: Draw a card of value one higher than the city’s age.
Arrow: Splay the city’s color in the direction indicated by the arrow.
Search (normal icon with a magnifying glass): Search icons count as normal icons while visible. In addition, the Search effect causes you to draw and reveal X base cards of value X, where X is the value of the city. Of all the revealed cards, take all cards that bear the same icon as the Search into your hand. Return the rest. Ignore all expansion draw rules and effects during a Search action, and do not draw from the next higher age if the stack is depleted.
Uplift: Junk all cards from the deck of value one higher than the city. Then draw a card of value 2 higher than the city.
Junk Achievement: Junk an available achievement of the city's value.
Unsplay: Unsplay the city's color on each opponent's board.
Flag: While a flag is visible, it counts as an achievement if no opponent has more visible cards of the flag’s color than you do.
Fountain: While a fountain is visible, it counts as an achievement.

ENDORSE EXAMPLE

You take an Endorse action, targeting The Pirate Code. You choose Venice to endorse The Pirate Code because its featured icon, , is present on Venice. To pay for the action, you must junk a card of value 3 or less from your hand (it can be any card of any color). You then determine eligibility and vulnerability as with a normal Dogma action. You issue the demand twice, then share the non-demand effect, then execute it twice for yourself.

Artifacts of History

DRAWING ARTIFACTS: DIG

The way you acquire Artifact cards is different from all other sets. Instead of being drawn into your hand, they go on display, face-up on your reference card. A dig event occurs after your Meld Action if you:

1) Covered up a card with a lower (or equal) card.

2) Covered up a card with another card, and both cards have their hexagonal card image in the same location.

If either or both are true, draw an Artifact card of value equal to the covered up card, and place it face up on your reference card. The artifact is now On Display. If there is no Artifact card of that age (after skipping empty ages) to draw, or if you have a card On Display already, ignore the dig event.

Instead if digging up a new artifact, you are allowed to steal a museum containing an artifact of the value you would dig up from an opponent. Do not skip ages for this.

COMPEL EFFECTS

Artifacts contain a special type of demand effect that starts with "I Compel." A player is vulnerable to compel effects only if they would be eligible to share your non-demand effects. Other than this difference, they behave exactly like demand effects. When it is time to execute a compel effect, you read it aloud to vulnerable opponents, and they each perform the instructions in clockwise order.

In many cases, an opponent will be forced to execute the instructions of a compel effect and then share in other non-demand effects on an Artifact card.

Remember that to obtain a free Draw action as a sharing bonus, a non-demand effect must be shared. Compel effects are considered to be demand effects for all purposes.

ARTIFACTS "ON DISPLAY"

At the start of your turn, you may take a free Dogma action targeting the card on display. Determine sharing and vulnerability, adding the icons from the card on display to your total. Execute all its effects. This free Dogma action does not count as one of your two actions per turn.

After you had the opportunity you dogma your artifact on display, take an available museum from the center of the table and place it next to your player board with the artifact in it.

When you take the last museum, if one player has the sole majority of museums, that player achieves one of the museums. Then, return all the museums and the artifacts that were contained.

If there is no museum available when you normally would place your artifact in one, instead take the artifact into your hand.

You can meld an artifact from one of your museums with a meld action.

A card on display is not part of your board or hand, and cannot be affected at all by any effects. Its visible icons do not count as part of your board, except for determining sharing and vulnerability during its free Dogma action.

Echos of the Past

DRAWING CARDS

Whenever you would draw a base card for any reason, you might draw an Echoes card instead. If you have a unique highest top card (i.e. the highest age value among your top cards appears exactly once), draw an Echo of value matching the base card you would have drawn.

If playing with multiple expansions, the following rules apply:

1) If playing with Echoes and Figures, the Figures draw rule takes priority when drawing a card for sharing.

3) If playing with Echoes and Unseen, the Echoes draw rule takes priority when drawing the first card of a turn.

4) If another expansion’s supply pile is empty, and you are forced to draw a base card instead, check the Echoes draw rule before drawing that base card.

ECHO EFFECTS

Example: When taking a Dogma action targeting Umbrella, first check to see who is eligible for sharing. Then, execute the three echo effects (1, 2, 3), and finally Umbrella’s dogma effect (4). Before each effect, players eligible to share would do so.

An echo effect is a special type of effect that appears where an icon would normally be. During a Dogma action, before executing the dogma effects of a card, first check to see if any echo effects are visible in its color. Execute each of those effects, starting from the card on the bottom of the stack, and ending with the card on top. Each effect is shared with eligible players as if it were a normal dogma effect.

Echo effects are also executed when a card’s dogma effects are performed for a reason other than a Dogma action. Other expansions add various ways for this to occur, including Endorse and Promoting. In all of these cases, echo effects in that card’s color are executed.

FORESHADOW

Foreshadowing allows you to store cards for future use in an area called your forecast. Cards in your forecast are face-down and tucked under the top edge of your reference card. You may look at them at any time, but your opponents may not. When an effect causes you to foreshadow a card, place it in your forecast.

Your Forecast has a limit of 5 cards. Your limit decreases based on the best splay you have on your board. Left: 4, Right: 3, Up: 2, Aslant: 1. If your limit changes and you have too many cards in your Forecast, nothing happens. If your Forecast is at or above its limit, and you would move a card into it for any reason, leave it wherever it was. [Ex: "Draw and forecast a 6", while at or above your Forecast limit, you would draw the 6 and then keep it in your hand]

At the conclusion of a Meld action, any card in your forecast of equal or lower value to the card you melded is eligible to be promoted. You must choose one eligible card to promote (meld it). If you do, you must also take a free Dogma action targeting the promoted card. This free Dogma action does not count as one of your two actions for the turn.

Figures in the Sand

DRAWING CARDS

There are two situations that cause you to draw a Figures card.

1) When you take a Dogma action, and would receive a free Draw action for sharing, draw a Figure instead of a base card.

2) When you take an Achieve action, and claim a standard achievement, each opponent draws a Figure, in clockwise order from you.

In either case, draw a Figures card of value equal to your highest top card.

KARMA EFFECTS

Each Figure has one or more karma effects. They do not need to be activated with a Dogma action to be used. There are four types: "When," "Each," "Decree," and "Would." Karma effects never chain or trigger off of other karma effects. In the rare case that multiple "Would" karmas are triggered by the same action, the current player decides which karma occurs and ignores the others.

Remember, any time some portions of an effect are not possible, do as much of the effect as you can, and ignore what you cannot do.

"When" karma effects

"When" karma effects begin with "When you meld this card," Follow the instructions immediately when the Figure is melded.

"Each" karma effects

"Each" karma effects begin with "Each" and then list something on your cards that will be modified. This can be icons, cards in a certain location, or your score, and the karma effect will describe how they are changed. Each karmas stay in effect as long as the figure remains a top card.

"Decree" karma effects

"Decree" karma effects allow you to take a Decree action with two figures in your hand instead of three, and also remove the need to have a figure of the correct color to issue the decree. Decree karmas stay in effect as long as the figure remains a top card.

"Would" karma effects

"Would" karma effects begin with "If you would," and then have a triggering condition and a reaction. When that condition occurs, the karma effect interrupts whatever effect or action was in progress. If the reaction starts with "instead," cancel the original effect and follow the instructions of the karma effect instead. If the reaction starts with "first," follow the instructions of the karma effect, and then continue with the original effect. Would karmas stay in effect as long as the figure remains a top card.

DECREE ACTION

Instead of typical special achievements, Figures in the Sand includes five Decree cards, one for each color. Decrees are a special type of achievement, but one that is not safe and can be stolen. All five Decrees begin in the center of the table with the other Special Achievements. Decrees are claimed by taking a Decree action.

You may only take a Decree action if you have Figures of three different values in your hand. To do so, junk all cards in your hand (including both Figures and non-Figures). Then, choose a Decree matching the color of one of the Figures you removed.

Example: You have four cards in your hand, including three figures (one of which is yellow). You take a Decree action, junking them all and claiming Expansion. You decide to splay up your purple cards.
  • If it is in another player’s Achievement pile, return it to the area with the Decrees. Do not activate its effect.
  • If it is in the center of the table, claim it as an Achievement and activate its effect.
  • If it is already in your possession, activate the effect.

Decrees are very powerful! Using them effectively is key to victory.

Many Figures have a karma effect stating that you may issue a specific Decree with any two Figures. This allows you to take the Decree action with two Figures in hand instead of three, choosing that specific Decree. The colors of the Figures are irrelevant, but you still must remove your entire hand from the game.

FADE

At the end of any action (on any player’s turn), if you have more than one top Figure you must fade the excess. To fade a Figure, score it. You must continue fading Figures one by one until you have only one top Figure. You choose which Figures to fade.

If you meld a card on top of a Figure, the Figure card becomes a part of the stack of that color, continuing to contribute icons, bonuses, and echo effects to your board, just like a normal card. Figures that are partially visible due to splaying do not count for fading.

AUSPICE

If you dogma a card, and have a top figure that contains that card's featured icon, you can use Avatar as the featured icon instead.

The Unseen

DRAWING UNSEEN CARDS

When drawing a base card for the first time on a turn (including another player's turn), draw an Unseen card instead. The Echoes draw rule takes precedence.

SECRETS

The bottom edge of your reference card is your Safe, and various effects will cause you to tuck cards there, face-down. They are Secrets, and cannot be looked at by any player (even you!). When you are instructed to Safeguard a card, it moves to your Safe and becomes a Secret. You can take an Achieve action to claim a Secret as an achievement, if eligible. They are not available achievements for any other purpose.

Your Safe has a limit of 5 cards. Your limit decreases based on the best splay you have on your board. Left: 4, Right: 3, Up: 2, Aslant: 1. If your limit changes and you have too many cards in your Safe, nothing happens. If your Safe is at or above its limit, and you would move a card into it for any reason, leave it wherever it was. [Ex: "Draw and Safeguard a 6", while at or above your Safe limit, you would draw the 6 and then keep it in your hand]

The Age 9 Unseen card 'Teleprompter' uses a different text on Yucata than it will in the physical version.
New rules summary
  • Age 11 cards (including new game end condition of drawing past 11 instead of drawing past 10)
  • Age 10 standard achievement (need 50 points and Age 10)
  • New icon in Ages 10 and 11
  • New splay direction, aslant (splay up and right)
  • All the Ages 1–10 cards have the same titles, but some of them have different effects.
  • Minor changes made to text on special achievements, including timing (most are now achieved at the end of an action).
  • Win by achievements is only checked at the end of each action
  • "Junk" means remove from game, and there are cards that junk special achievements, standard achievements, and whole ages of draw piles. Note that there are effects that can bring junked cards back into the game.
  • "Self-execute" means execute the non-demand dogma effects and don't share them.
  • New "parley" rules for games with 4+ players (excluding team games):
    • Imagine the players are sitting in a circle. The player before you and the player after you are adjacent to you. The others are non-adjacent.
    • If you want to share in a dogma effect of a non-adjacent player (assuming you have the correct number of icons), you may choose to return a card from your hand.
    • In order to avoid a demand effect from a non-adjacent player, you may choose to return a card from your hand.
    • As an action on your turn, you may dogma a top card on a non-adjacent player's board by returning a card from your hand (you still use your own icon count).
  • New "chain" rule: If you are self-executing or super-executing a card as instructed during an effect (like Computers tells you to do), and are instructed by that card to self-execute or super-execute another card (say Robotics), before you do you draw and achieve an [11].
Echoes of the Past:
  • you no longer draw an Echoes card at game start
  • new draw rule if highest top card value is unique, draw Echoes instead of base
  • foreshadowed cards now must be melded and executed on a Meld action
  • forecast limit starts as 5, reduces to 1 depending on most advanced splay
  • Destiny achievement only requires 5 cards in forecast now
  • some effects have alternate execution if foreseen
  • Echoes are now executed on self/super-executing, but not when dogmaing an artifact on display
Figures in the Sand
  • no inspire, no echoes
  • avatar icon on each card
  • If you dogma a card and have a figure with the featured icon of that card, you can choose Avatar as the featured icon instead (Auspice)
  • Figures can't be dogmaed anymore
  • Some Decree texts changed
Cities of Destiny
  • endorse cost junk instead of tuck
  • Glory and Victory now trigger on junk from your hand instead of tuck
  • unsplay effect icon (4 arrows to the corners): unsplays the color on all opponent's boards
  • uplift icon (X and arrow up): junks the deck of the next age, then draws a card of the age after
  • junk achievement effect icon (X): junks an achievement of the city's age
  • Cities can't be dogmaed anymore
Artifacts of History
  • no relics
  • there are 5 available museums
  • at start of turn, you may free dogma your artifact on display. Regardless of whether you do, you take a museum and put the artifact there (unless it's no longer on display after the execution)
  • instead of digging a new artifact, you may steal an artifact from an opponent's museum of the exact value you would dig (before skipping empty ages)
  • on all museums full, sole plurality artifact holder achieves one, rest returned
  • if all museums achieved, activated artifacts go to hand from display
The Unseen
  • you no longer draw an Unseen card at game start
  • effects that safeguard available standard achievements, and sometimes other cards, as secrets in your safe
  • secrets achievable with achieve action
  • safe limit starts as 5, reduces to 1 depending on most advanced splay
  • draw rule if drawing a card for the first time on a turn and it would be a base card, instead draw Unseen, Echoes draw rule takes precedence
  • state-based special achievements (all in Unseen) checked after each action only, in share order
Implementation Notes
Card images are still work in progress and might be behind the implementation in some cases, sorry for any confusion that will arise from that.
One card from the Unseen expansion (Teleprompter) has a different effect than in the physical version.
Apart from the new rules, there were some clarifications/changes the implementation of which might have caused some bugs:
  • When moving multiple cards at the same time, you now move them one by one instead of first building up a selection. It is possible that new cards become eligible due to this, which is how it's intended to work.
  • You are now required to reveal cards to show their color/icons when a game effect depends on that, in order to "prove" that you're not cheating.
  • The implementation of selecting cards by their back changed (again!).
Please watch out for these!
Hints for handling
Cards are always drawn face-down in order to allow more undos. Once you reveal them with the "Reveal cards"-button, you are no longer able to undo past that point.
The number of cards in a stack on your board is indicated by the number in the bottom right. If the stack is splayed, the icons revealed by the splay are shown below the top card. To view the cards contained in the stack, click the number in the bottom right. This is also how you can select those cards for an effect.
You can click on any area containing cards to see the cards in that area. Cards you have trackable information about are shown face-up, even if they are in an area you can't see (such as an opponent's hand).
When clicking a draw pile or the i-Icon on a facedown card in your hand, all cards with that back you don't know the position of will be shown (these are the cards that could be there).
When selecting cards on your board, colors are used to indicate what type of action will be performed:
  • Red: Dogma
  • Black: Dogma, but at least one opponent will share / not be affected (also, a warning icon will be displayed).
  • Orange: Endorse
You can hover a card name in the log or the grey status bar to view the full card (or tap on mobile).
In order to display the cards on a player's board in a single row even on smaller displays, they can shrink a lot with the standard settings. If you want the cards to be displayed bigger, but with a linebreak, increase the "minimum card width" in the settings.
By default, the board of the most recently active opponent is displayed. By clicking in their info areas, you can toggle additional opponents' boards. In the settings you can change this to always displaying all opponents' boards, or just a single opponent's board.
When selecting cards from a location where you are mot allowed to look at the cards, there are two cases. If the location is one you control (for example, your claimed achievements) or a neutral location (like the junk), you can select a card by it's back and position in that location (cards will always go first to enter on the left, to last to enter on the right). On the other hand, if the location is one controlled by an opponent (such as their hand), you can select a card back, and a random card with that back will be selected (this simulates your opponent shuffling the cards, as they would in real life).
 
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