Betwixt and Between

Betwixt and Between Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

96 Exploration Cards
64 Spell Cards
36 Absorb Magic Cards
4 x 3 Quick Guide Cards
1 Rite Card
4 Blank Solo Cards
4 Mystic Figures
2 Solo Setup Cards
160 Magic Gems representing Water, Wind, Earth and Fire
112 Magic Gem Tokens (colorblind safe option and Extra Supply)
1 Game Board
4 Familiar Tokens
56 Mystic/Obstacle Tokens
4 Mystic Sheets
4 x 4 Activation Tokens

Setup

Place the Game Board in the middle of the table (1). When playing a 3 player game, you only use a 6x6 grid of the Game Board, and when playing a 2 player game you only use a 5x5 grid. Cover up the unused spaces with Obstacle Tokens to clarify this.
Shuffle the Exploration Card Deck, Absorb Card Deck and Spell Card Deck and place them beside the Game Board (2). Draw 4 Spell Cards and keep them face-up on display beside the Game Board in a common supply (3).
Add the Magic Gems to the common supply by placing them next to the Game Board (4).
Randomly decide upon a First Player and deal out a Mystic Sheet to every player together with Activation & Mystic Tokens of matching color (5). Place the correlating Mystic Figures in opposite corners of the Game Board (6).
All players draw 2 Spell Cards each from the Spell Deck, decide 1 to keep in their hand, discarding the other (7).

Flow of the Game

The game is played throughout 3 ROUNDS that each follow the same phase structure:

EXPLORATION PHASE
- Drafting Cards
- Preparation of the Rite
ADVENTURE PHASE
- Alternate taking turns consisting of playing an Exploration Card, moving Mystic, absorbing Magic, preparing and activating Spells.
OFFERING PHASE
- Offer Magic to the Rite.
- Refresh Spell Cards, refill Spell Supply & return Mystic Tokens from the Game Board
- Reshape the Game Board by removing 1 card each
- Change the First Player

1. Exploration Phase

To create their Mystics' story, the players will draft Exploration Cards. Every player draws 5 Cards each, decides 1 to keep, passing the other Cards to the Player to the left. Players repeat this until all players have chosen 4 Cards to keep (When playing with only 2 players you will instead draw 6 cards and choose 4 to keep).

The Exploration Cards will dictate what the players will discover and possibly encounter.

Breakdown of an Exploration Card

Magic Elements: Each card has its own combination of Magic Elements, so be sure to draft Cards with the ones you'll need. The Magic Elements can only be claimed once the Card is on the Game Board, and if it has a Magic Gem on it. You absorb the Magic with your Mystic from an adjacent space.
Discovery Bonus: You will immediately receive this bonus from the supply when you've decided to play the Card. It can be either a Spell Card, an Absorb Magic Card, or any of the Magic Elements.
Action: The effect of the Card when you encounter it with your Mystic on the Game Board. Actions may for example let you move additional spaces, replenish magic, move other cards, create tunnels and exchange magic.

There are 96 Exploration Cards included in the game with different combinations of actions, magic elements and discovery bonuses!

Action Summary

MOVE - Move to an Adjacent Space.
TUNNEL - Move to another Tunnel Space. A Tunnel space is considered adjacent to other Tunnel Spaces, but you may not Absorb Magic through a Tunnel.
RESHAPE - Move and/or rotate an Exploration Card on the Game Board to an empty space up to two adjacent spaces away.
REPLENISH - Refill depleted Magic Elements of an Exploration Card.
EXCHANGE - Change one of your Magic Elements to any Element from the Supply.
EXPLORE - Draw an Explore Card and discard an Explore Card.
DESTROY - Remove another Exploration Card (and any Magic Gem on it) from the Game Board once per round. Place one of your Mystic Token on the Card to remember this.
STOP - Mystics can not enter the space (the Card can not be played on a Mystics space).

If a Spell Card or any other type of card or resource is depicted instead of an Action Symbol, you instead receive the depicted amount of that card/resource.

The Rite

With the 5th leftover Exploration Card, players will start a Rite by turning the Cards face-down. In turn order, each player chooses one card and places it so that they form a 2x2 square. The Magic Elements in the full moon will be the Victory Point condition for the current round.

In 2 Player Games, the players will take turns contributing 2 cards each, 1 at a time. In 3 Player Games, the last element is randomly decided by placing one of each Magic Element in the first players hand, who randomly draws one of them.

Example: A Rite with 2 Wind Magic Elements, 1 Earth Magic Element and 1 Fire Magic Element.

2. Adventure Phase

In turn order, players alternate taking turns activating their Activation tokens by flipping them face down in the order of their choice. Only the Explore Activation Token is mandatory to activate, the others are optional. The Activation Tokens have the following effects (see upcoming sections for detailed descriptions):

EXPLORE (Mandatory): Immediately receive the Discovery Bonus of the Card, then place the Exploration Card on any space on the Game Board that doesn't already have an Exploration Card.
MOVE (Optional): Move your Mystic Figure to an adjacent space. The Mystic may perform the Action of any Cards encountered (All players have 2 Movement Activation Tokens and they may use them on separate occasions).
ABSORB (Optional): Absorb 1 Magic from an Exploration Card on an adjacent space (It's only possible to absorb Magic that is directly facing the Mystic).

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: The player may also use Absorb Magic Cards to absorb extra Magic, as well as gain benefits from their prepared Spell Cards.

As players shape the Game Board by placing Exploration Cards, the options and possibilities increases, so cleverly creating powerful combos, making opportunities and linking Actions together is key to winning the game.

Explore (Mandatory)

Choose an Exploration Card and immediately receive the Discovery Bonus depicted in the top right corner of the Card. The bonus can either be a Magic Gem, an Absorb Magic Card from the supply, or a Spell Card (randomly draw one from the deck, or take one of the 4 face-up cards in the supply. Immediately refill the supply if you take a Spell from the Supply). Then place the Exploration Card face-up on any square space on the Game Board that doesn't already have an Exploration Card. The Player may align the Exploration Card in any direction they want when placing it, but a Player is not allowed to place the Card in such a way that a Mystic would not be able to move / or if it would enclose a Mystic. Should a Player not be able to place an Exploration Card, they may replace a previous placed Exploration Card on the Game Board.

Once the Exploration Card is placed on the Game Board, place the depicted Magic Gems from the Common Supply onto the Magic symbols of the Card.

Move (Optional)

For every Movement Activation, the player may move their Mystic Figure to an orthogonally adjacent space on the Game Board and perform the Action of any Card encountered (but not the Action of the space they start their turn on). A Player may only perform a Cards Action once per turn. Players are allowed to move their Mystic to the same space as other Mystics. However, other Mystics block the Action of the spaces they're on, so you would not be able to perform the Action of that space. Players are allowed to interrupt their movement to perform other player options (such as Absorb, Explore and activating Spell Cards) and continue their movement afterwards.

Example: The green paths show all the possible movements for the purple Mystic with 2 Movement. The Faery Star Exploration Card has a Stop symbol hindering movement to that space.

Absorb (Optional)

When absorbing Magic, the player takes 1 Magic Element Gem from an Exploration Card on an adjacent space to their Mystic (The Mystic needs some distance to the Magic source in order to absorb it), and a Mystic may only absorb Magic that is directly facing them. Once absorbed, the Magic is placed beside the player's Mystic Board. It's not possible to absorb Magic from just a Magic symbol, it needs to have a Magic Gem on it.

Example: The Green Mystic can only absorb the Blue Water Magic, as it is the only Magic that is directly adjacent to her.

Additional Options

The player may also use any number of Absorb Magic Cards to absorb additional Magic, as well as activate prepared Spells for benefits. To use an Absorb Magic Card, the Player may absorb Magic Gems from the Game Board based on the position of their Mystic (depicted as a circle on the card) and the absorb directions of the Card (depicted as hands on the card). The player may align the Absorb Magic Card however they like, and the Card is discarded after use.

Absorb Magic Cards allow the Mystics to draw additional Magic, in more than one direction. The Cards can also be aligned in any direction. The Card in the illustration would let the Mystic draw a total of 2 Magic Gems, one in each direction.

To Activate a Spell, the player moves their prepared Spell to the left side of their Mystic Board, gaining the benefit. See next section on how to Prepare a Spell.

Spellbinding

At the end of the player's turn, the player enters Spellbinding in which the next player may start their turn to keep up the pace of the game. During Spellbinding, the player flips back their Activation Tokens and may prepare Spells by creating magical patterns on their Mystic Board (called the Magic Weave) that can be activated on the Players next turn. Spells give players new abilities and Victory Points, and Players can only prepare Spells during the Spellbinding phase, which lasts until the Player starts their next turn.

Prepare a Spell

In order to prepare a Spell, the player must create the depicted magical pattern of the Spell Card on their Mystic Board with Magic Gems (Patterns may be rotated and the empty circular spaces of the Spell Cards are not considered part of the pattern. Other Magic Gems can be placed there without breaking the pattern). No Magic is ever "spent" when preparing Spells, the Player only needs to keep the pattern in their Magic Weave in order to uphold it. During Spellbinding, Players are free to rearrange their Weave however they want without any Spells being discarded. But when they start their turn again, should a pattern of a Spell be broken, the Spell Card will be discarded and they will not gain the VP of the card.

Your Magic Weave dictates which Spells you may prepare...

Example of a Turn

The purple Player activates his Explore Activation Token and decides an Exploration Card to play, immediately receiving the Discovery Bonus. In this case an Absorb Magic Card.
The purple Player places the Exploration Card on a space on the Game Board that doesn't already have an Exploration Card on it. He then places the displayed Magic Elements on the Card (taken from the supply).
The purple Player activates his Absorb Activation Token and absorbs 1 Fire Magic from the Exploration Card on a directly adjacent space from his Mystic. (Other Magic Elements are not available to be absorbed as they are not directly facing the Mystic.)
The purple Player activates one of his Movement Activation Tokens, and moves his Mystic to the Dryads Card. He decides to take advantage of the Dryads Replenish Action that lets him refill the Magic Elements on the Basilisk (new replenished Magic Elements are taken from the supply).
The purple Player uses his second Movement Activation Token to move onto the Merrows space to use the Merrows Move Action to move yet again.
With the extra movement gained, the purple Player moves his Mystic next to the Basilisk and ends his turn by using his Absorb Magic Card to absorb 2 more Magic Elements! (The Absorb Magic Card lets players draw extra Magic from different directions; the Mystic can absorb both Magic Elements.)

3. Offering Phase

When all players have played all of their Exploration Cards, the round ends and players may claim Victory Points of the current rounds Rite by offering the requested Magic Gems back to the supply in turn order. For every fulfilled request, players get to place a Mystic Token on the Rite Card that will be worth 10 Victory Points.

The Rite is a very powerful way to get Victory Points in the Game, but it also consumes your Magic, so players want to carefully consider their offerings...

Example: The Green Mystic claims Victory Points from the Rite by discarding 2 Earth Magic and 2 Wind Magic. To show the claim, the Mystic puts one of her Mystic Tokens on the Rite.

Reshaping

Once the Rite is over, all available Spells in the common supply will be discarded and replaced by new Spells, and all your activated once per round-spells will be prepared again (moved back to the right side of the Mystic Board). Any Mystic Token on Exploration Cards with Destroy Actions will also be returned back to the players. The landscape will then reshape by players discarding 1 Exploration Card each from the Game Board (and any Magic Gem on it) in turn order. The player to the left of the current First Player will then be the new First Player for the upcoming round.

End of the Game

The game ends after the third and final Rite. Players tally up the score by combining the Victory Points from their Mystic Tokens on the Rite Card (worth 10 Victory Points each) with the Victory Points of their prepared and/or activated Spell Cards, and 1 Victory Point for each of their leftover Magic Elements that's not used for Spells. The Player with the most Victory Points is the winner! If tied, the player with the most Magic wins.

Example: The Purple Player will score 30 VP for participating in 3 Rites, 35 VP for his Spell Cards, and 3 VP for his leftover Magic not used in his Magic Weave. This gives him a final score of 68 VP.

Solo Mode

Setup

Follow the setup for 2 players with the following exceptions. Use the full Game Board (7x7 grid) and don't use any components for a 2nd player (only use a Mystic Figure as a Dummy Player). Use any side of the Solo Setup Card and place your Mystic Token on the space marked with the black circle and the Dummy Player on the white circle. Shuffle 6 random Exploration Cards with 4 Blank Cards and randomly distribute them face-down on the indicated spaces of the Solo Setup Card.

Rules

Follow the rules for 2 players with the following exceptions:

Exploration Phase: When setting up a Rite, create a Draw Pool by placing 4 of each Magic Gem Element in your hand (or any opaque container) and randomly draw 4 Magic Gems that will decide the Rite for the current round (then return the Gems to the Pool). You are the first player throughout the game.

Adventure Phase: Whenever your Mystic Figure is next to a face-down Exploration Card, you may flip it up, align it in any direction and add Magic Gems to it (but you don't receive the Discovery Bonus). If it's a blank card, immediately discard it.

After performing your turn, randomly draw a Magic Gem from the Draw Pool to see how the Dummy Player moves and which Magic Gem it removes. The Dummy Player always move 1 space in the direction of the closest Magic Symbol of the color of the Magic Gem from the Draw Pool (if none, the player will decide the direction). The Dummy Player discards every card it moves upon except for cards with Stop Actions (they will instead move in the opposite direction) and it always prioritizes moving to spaces with cards. The Dummy Player then removes 1 Magic Gem of the same color as the drafted Magic Gem from the Game Board (if none or if there are any ties, remove the Magic Gem closest to your Mystic).

The Rite & Reshaping: If you don't offer during the Rite, you have to discard one extra Exploration Card from the Game Board during the Reshaping.

Rank

When you play solo you'll play for high scores. Check your score below to see your ranking!

Score	Rank
0-19	New Age Nut
20-39	Conjurer of cheap Tricks
40-59	Average Magician
60-79	Respected Witch
80-99	Legendary Mystic
100+	Grand Master Sorcerer

Campaign Mode

The solo mode above can be played as a standalone experience, but you may also play a 4 part solo mode campaign by following the instructions of Scenario 1 below. Remove the Familiar and the Diagonally Movement Spells before playing.

Scenario 1: The Transcendence

So, you think you're ready, do you? To enter the realm of Faeries and unfold it's inner secrets? Well, let's see how you handle yourself first...

GOAL: Follow the solo player rules and reach 45 VP to continue to the next scenario. If unsuccessful, try again.

Scenario 2: The Summoning

Not too shabby, I must say... Not mind-boggling in any sense of the word, but an acceptable effort nonetheless! Now, the time has come for you to conjure a fitting familiar for yourself. Go on, off you go, and do not return without a fine specimen!

GOAL: Follow the solo player rules and reach 55 VP and collect 5 of each Magic Element (the Magic may be included in your Magic Weave) to continue to the next scenario. If unsuccessful, try again.

Scenario 3: The Evolution

So this tragic thing is what you've decided to crown as your faithful familiar? Well, each to their own. I hope it will find a use, somehow... Now, to truly become one of my disciples, you need to be able to use your power to the fullest. But be careful... Your presence has been gaining attention, do not linger with your scent...

SPECIAL RULES: Start with a Familiar (do not use a Magic Spell Card for it). The Familiar can reveal face-down Exploration Cards when moving adjacent to them and absorb Magic instead of your Mystic. For each space your Mystic moves upon, leave a Obstacle Token. This makes the space impassable for the rest of the game (The Dummy Player ignores them).

GOAL: Follow the solo player rules and reach 65 VP and place a minimum of 10 Obstacle Tokens out on the board to continue to the next scenario. If unsuccessful, try again.

Scenario 4: The Final Test

You keep surprising, and mostly in positive ways! One day, I might be stepping down, perhaps in a few centuries or so, and on that day, I need someone that won't be a complete knucklehead. But you will have some additional company this time... I have gathered two of my other disciples, to see who's truly worthy. They are of course vastly superior to you, but anyway, I think you've deserved a chance!

SPECIAL RULES: Start with your Familiar and the ability to move diagonally (do not use Magic Spell Cards for them). Use 2 dummy players instead of 1 when playing (Decide upon the starting position and resolve them separately).

GOAL: Reach 75 VP to bring the other disciples to tears and be crowned the grand Mystic!

Spell Index

Elemental Spells: The spells produce 2 of the depicted Elemental Magic once per game when activated, and have a value of 5 Victory Points.
Point Spells: Provide no effect, just the value of 10 Victory Points.
Movement Spells: The spell can be activated once per round for an additional movement to an adjacent space, and has a value of 5 Victory Points.
Diagonally Movement Spells: The spell grants the permanent ability to move your Mystic diagonally, and has a value of 5 Victory Points. A player may prepare additional Diagonally Movement Spells for Victory Points.
Tunnel Spells: The spell can be activated once per round to instantly travel to a tunnel space, and has a value of 5 Victory Points.
Exchange Spells: The spell can be activated once per round to change one of your Magic Elements to any Element from the Supply, and has a value of 5 Victory Points.
Replenish Spells: The spell can be activated once per round to refill Magic Elements of an Exploration Card, and has a value of 5 Victory Points.
Transformation Spells: The spell can be activated once per round to Move and/or rotate an Exploration Card on the Game Board to an empty space up to two adjacent spaces away (following all other rules of placement of Exploration Cards), and has a value of 5 Victory Points.
Absorb Spells: The spell can be activated once per round to take an Absorb Magic Card from the Supply, and has a value of 5 Victory Points.
Spell Spells: The Spell can be activated once per round to take a Spell Card from the Supply or draw a random Spell from the Deck, and has a value of 5 Victory Points (Immediately refill the Spell with a new one if you take a Spell from the Supply).