Alakablast
Alakablast Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 13 water spell cards
- 13 fire spell cards
- 13 plant spell cards
- 5 light spell cards
- 5 shadow spell cards
- 5 help cards
- 20 gems
The distribution of power-level values among the water, fire, and plant spell cards is: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6.
All light spell cards, on the other hand, have power level 0, and all shadow spell cards have power level 7.
Objective of the Game
Each participant seeks to win gems through outlandish magical duels. To do this, each person has a hand of spell cards to face their rivals through elemental duels (spell type) or power duels (spell value). But there is a catch: each person will hold in their hand cards that only they can look at (hidden cards) and other cards that only everyone else can see (open cards). Therefore, at the start of the game, no one knows the element and power of all of their own cards.
You can ask for information about your open cards, or deduce their characteristics by paying attention to which ones have been used. Anything goes in this pitched battle to pass the year.
Game Setup
Example setup for 3 participants: hidden cards, open cards, the discard pile, and the draw pile arranged around each participant, with the gems set to one side.
Give one help card to each participant.
Shuffle all the cards and deal each participant a starting hand of 2 hidden cards and 2 open cards, as shown in the diagram.
Important! Open cards are visible only to everyone else, not to the person who receives them. Hidden cards, on the other hand, are visible only to the person who receives them. Therefore, at the start of the game each participant knows their own 2 hidden cards and everyone else's open cards.
Note: in 2-player games, 3 open cards are dealt instead of 2, so each hand has 5 cards instead of 4.
Place face up in the discard zone the number of cards indicated below for the number of participants. Make sure the cards in the discard zone are sorted by type and fully visible.
- 2 participants: 10 cards in the discard zone.
- 3 participants: 6 cards in the discard zone.
- 4 or 5 participants: no cards are placed in the discard zone.
Finally, leave the remaining cards in the center of the table forming a face-down draw pile, and place the gems off to one side.
Playing the Game
Play begins with whoever is wearing the most outlandish outfit. After that, turns proceed clockwise.
On their turn, each participant must carry out one of the following actions:
A. Request information, or B. Challenge someone to a duel
A. Request Information
The person whose turn it is chooses one of their own open cards and asks someone else to give them information about that card. Whoever gives the clue decides whether to give it in terms of its element (water, fire, plant, light, or shadow) or its power level (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7).
Important! Before requesting information, the person whose turn it is may state what they already know about the card in question, indicating the exact characteristics they know (the power level or the element). If they already know its element, the information given must be its power level, and vice versa. If they know nothing about the card, whoever is informing may choose which clue to give (element or power level). The information given must be truthful.
Exception 1: if the indicated card is a light or shadow spell card, the information given about that card cannot be about its element or power — instead it must be "it is a special spell." Nothing more specific may be given.
Exception 2: if the information that the person whose turn it is claims to know is not correct, the person giving the information is not obligated to correct the error before giving the clue, and may, if they wish, use the correction of that error as the clue.
In general, any information given must always add to the knowledge that the person whose turn it is has about their own cards.
Important! If the information you are about to give to the person whose turn it is also applies to another one of their cards, you must state that as well, even in the case of special spells.
Example: Loretto asks Victor for information about her third card and states that she already knows it is a plant card. So, to give her information, Victor must state that both her third and fourth cards are a 2 (power-level information).
B. Challenge Someone to a Duel
The person whose turn it is chooses a rival and challenges them to a duel. They announce out loud the type of duel — elemental or power level — and must give the rival information about one of the rival's cards, following the same rules described above, except that it is the person whose turn it is who chooses which of the rival's cards the information will be about. Remember that you cannot give information that your rival already knows about the chosen card.
Exception: in the event that the rival already has complete and certain information about all of their open cards, the step of giving information is simply skipped.
Once the information has been given, attacker and defender proceed to resolve the duel through an outlandish three-step ritual:
- Step 1: each mentally chooses one of their own cards (hidden or open) to play. It is best not to give the rival any hints about which card you are going to play.
- Step 2: both people look each other in the eye with their hand of cards held in front of them.
- Step 3: they say in unison (with a bit of rhythm) "ALAKABLAST!" and, the moment they finish saying it, at the same time, they take the chosen cards and place them face up on the table.
Elemental Duel
In this type of duel, only the element of the card is considered, not its power level.
Water beats fire, fire beats plant, and plant beats water. Light always wins, and shadow always loses.
Example: Victor declares an elemental duel against Loretto. Once he has given her information about one of her open cards, they perform the outlandish ritual. Victor plays a water 3 in front of himself, while Loretto, at the same time, plays a light 0. Loretto wins the duel.
Power-Level Duel
In this type of duel, only the power level of the card is considered, not its element. The card with the higher numerical value wins.
Example: Victor declares a power-level duel against Loretto. Once he has given her information about one of her open cards, they perform the outlandish ritual. Victor plays a plant 6 in front of himself, while Loretto, at the same time, plays a fire 3. Victor wins the duel.
Whoever wins the duel draws a gem, which represents 1 victory point, and places it in front of themselves.
Important! In the event of a tie in a duel, the outlandish ritual is performed again with a second card, keeping the same duel type that was declared initially. Whoever wins this second duel receives two power gems instead of one. If the tie persists, a third card is played (increasing the gems that can be won), and so on. In the rare case that the tie persists through every card in both hands, the game ends immediately and the whole group shares the victory.
Doctor McPherson can't believe it. For the first time, an entire group has passed — it had seemed more likely that the abominable Alpacas of Asgord would take over the world.
At the end of the duel, both people move the cards that were played to the discard zone, keeping them visible and sorted, and draw cards from the deck until they once again have 4 cards in hand (5 cards in the case of 2-player games). Whoever won places the cards they draw face open (unable to see them themselves, but visible to everyone else), and whoever lost places the cards they draw face hidden (visible only to themselves, hidden from everyone else).
End of the Game
The game ends automatically when a person collects as many gems as the amount indicated below:
- 2 participants: 7 gems
- 3 participants: 6 gems
- 4 participants: 5 gems
- 5 participants: 4 gems
That person wins the game (and is the only one to pass the year).
"Congratulations on passing the year. A world of great possibilities now opens up for you. We invite you to continue on to advanced magic studies to optimize your bathroom timing. As for the rest of you, see you next year…"
Credits
Game design: Diego Burgos. Illustrations: Orlando Ohmke. Editing and development: José Manuel Álvarez, Eduardo Bravo, and Manuel Warner. Graphic design: Laura Mena. Rules writing: José Manuel Álvarez. Rulebook review: Eduardo Bravo, Ketty Galleguillos, Manuel Warner, and Simón Weinstein.