Apocalypse Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Objective
• Components
• Setup
• Game Structure
• Game Flow
• Flow of a Trick
• Apocalypse Tokens
• Trick Resolution
  • Regular trick
  • Apocalypse trick
• Next Trick
• End of a Round
• Scoring
• Next Round Preparation
• Special Cards
  • Chaos card
  • Tranquility card
• End of the Game
• Example of a Trick
  • Trick Resolution
• Duel Variant (2 players)
  • Initial Setup
  • Duel Basics

Game Objective

Apocalypse is a trick-taking game where the goal is to score the fewest points.

Each round, you play cards and influence the Apocalypse tokens at the center of the table. Watch them carefully: if they are all flipped, the rules change and the round descends into chaos!

Components

• 45 Horseman cards in 5 suits, with values from 1 to 4 and 6 to 10
• 12 Special cards: 6 Chaos cards and 6 Tranquility cards
• 5 Apocalypse tokens

Setup

1. In a 3 or 4-player game, remove all 9 Horseman cards of one suit and place them back in the box. You will only be using 4 suits.
2. Place the Apocalypse tokens of the colours matching the suits used for the game in the middle of the table, coloured side up.
3. The player who most recently rode a horse becomes the first player.

In a 4-player game, each player receives 8 Horseman cards plus 2 Special cards.

Game Structure

A game takes place over the course of 3 rounds. Each round is divided into tricks and ends when at least one player has no cards left in their hand.

Game Flow

1. Shuffle the Horseman cards and deal a certain number to each player, depending on the number of players:
   • 3 players: 10 Horseman cards
   • 4 players: 8 Horseman cards
   • 5 players: 8 Horseman cards
   • 6 players: 7 Horseman cards
2. Give each player 1 Chaos card and 1 Tranquility card.

These Horseman and Special cards form each player's hand. The remaining cards are set aside. They will not be used this round.

Flow of a Trick

1. Each trick is played clockwise, starting with the first player: they choose any card from their hand and play it on the table, face up. a. If the card is a Horseman card, its suit becomes the leading suit. i. In turn order, each player must play one card from their hand, face up. ii. If a player has one or more Horseman cards of the leading suit, they MUST play one of them (or a Special card, see "Special Cards" section). However, if a player has no card of the leading suit in their hand, they must play a card of their choice from their hand. b. If the trick's first card is a Special card (Chaos or Tranquility), the leading suit is not yet determined. If the 2nd player also plays a Special card, the leading suit will be the suit of the next Horseman card played during the trick (see "Special Cards").

The leading suit is ALWAYS determined by the first Horseman card played during a trick.

Apocalypse Tokens

When a Horseman card is played (or a Chaos card, see "Special Cards" section), immediately flip the Apocalypse token of the corresponding suit to show its black side. If the token is already showing its black side, do not flip it.

As soon as all the tokens are flipped to their black side, the current trick becomes an Apocalypse. After resolving an Apocalypse, flip all the tokens to their coloured side up.

Trick Resolution

Regular trick

The player who played the highest-valued card of the leading suit wins the trick. They win the card they played and put it face down in front of them. All the other played cards are put face down in a discard pile.

Apocalypse trick

The player who played the LOWEST-valued card of the leading suit wins the trick. They win ALL the cards played during the trick and place them face down in front of them.

Next Trick

After resolving the trick, the winner of the trick chooses who becomes the first player to open the following trick. They may choose themselves as the next first player.

End of a Round

If one or more players have no cards left in hand after a trick is resolved, proceed to scoring for the round.

It is possible that one or more players may still have one or two special cards in hand, because these cards could not be played during the round (see "Special Cards").

Scoring

• Each Horseman card you win is worth points equal to its face value, from 1 to 10.
• Each Chaos card you win is worth 5 points.
• Tranquility cards won do not score any points.
• If a player has Special cards remaining in their hand at the end of the round, each of those cards gives them 20 points.

Next Round Preparation

1. Collect all Horseman cards, shuffle them and proceed to the round setup ("Game Flow" section).
2. Collect all Special cards and deal 1 Chaos card and 1 Tranquility card to each player.
3. The player with the most total points chooses the next first player (they can choose themselves). In case of a tie for most points, the player who won the last trick chooses the first player.

IMPORTANT! The state of the Apocalypse tokens is NOT reset between rounds: if a token is black side up, it stays that way.

Special Cards

During a trick, the Chaos and Tranquility Special cards can always be played, even if the player has one or more cards of the leading suit in their hand.

However, there can be only ONE copy of the Chaos card and ONE copy of the Tranquility card in play at any given time during a trick.

A player may, for example, find themselves unable to play if they only have special cards in hand and these have already been played during this trick. They must then skip their turn. Special cards remaining in hand at the end of the round give points to the player ("End of a Round").

Chaos card

When a player plays their Chaos card, they MUST flip the Apocalypse token of their choice to its black side. If it was the last token, it triggers an Apocalypse. If all tokens are already black side up, they do not flip any token. During trick resolution, the Chaos card has a value of 5 and is ALWAYS considered to be of the leading suit.

Tranquility card

This card has NO value and NO suit. A player playing the Tranquility card can never win the current trick.

End of the Game

After the scoring of the 3rd round, the player with the fewest total points wins the game. In case of a tie, tied players share their victory.

Example of a Trick

During a 4-player game, the Apocalypse tokens are in a certain state at the beginning of the trick.

1. Anna opens the trick with a Red 8. She immediately flips the red Apocalypse token black side up.
2. Barry chooses to play his Chaos card. He can either flip the green token or the purple token black side up. He chooses to flip the purple token.
3. Camilla, fearing that an Apocalypse is about to trigger, chooses to play her Tranquility card, even though she has a red card in her hand.
4. David doesn't have any red cards in his hand. He chooses to play a Green 4. He then flips the green token, which was the last remaining token, triggering an Apocalypse.

Trick Resolution

Since it is an Apocalypse trick, the lowest-valued card of the leading suit wins the trick. Camilla cannot win the trick, since she played her Tranquility card. David cannot win either, since he played a Horseman card of a suit different from the leading suit.

Barry played a card with a value of 5 in the leading suit (a Chaos card is always considered of the leading suit, even if a token of a different colour is flipped).

Therefore, Barry wins the trick and, since it was an Apocalypse trick, he wins all 4 cards that were played in the trick and places them face down in front of him. These cards will give him 8 + 5 + 0 + 4 points at the end of the round.

All the Apocalypse tokens are then flipped coloured side up. Finally, Barry chooses which player becomes the first player. He chooses Camilla and she will start the next trick.

Duel Variant (2 players)

Initial Setup

1. Remove all 9 Horseman cards of TWO suits and the corresponding Apocalypse tokens, and put them back in the box.
2. Shuffle the 27 remaining Horseman cards along with 3 Tranquility cards and 3 Chaos cards.
3. Deal 13 cards to each player and set aside the rest of the deck.

Duel Basics

The regular rules from the base game apply. The Duel Variant differs in how scoring works. At the end of a round, if a player scored MORE THAN TWICE as many points as their opponent, both players swap their scores for the round.