Circadia
Circadia Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 36 Habitat cards: 18 Day and 18 Night (6 of each per habitat — forest, river, mists). The front of each Habitat card shows its points value; the back shows its points value as well, since face-down cards can also be claimed.
- 144 Spirit Creature cards: 48 bear (forest), 48 axolotl (river), 48 goose (mists). Each creature type has cards at 5 different values, with 17, 13, 8, 6, and 4 copies of each value respectively.
Setup
- Shuffle the Day and Night Habitat cards together for each of the 3 different habitats and place the 3 decks face down to form a column. Reveal the top 3 cards from each deck and place them next to their deck to form a row.
- Shuffle all the Spirit Creature cards together in one deck and place it face down. Reveal the top 5 cards from the deck and place them in a row next to the deck to form the display.
- Deal 5 Spirit Creature cards to each player to form their starting hand. Each player keeps their hand private.
The youngest player goes first.
Goal of the Game
Play your Spirit Creature cards into sets of identical creatures to claim Habitat cards and earn Balance points.
When a player reaches 15 points, it triggers the end of the game. The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins!
How to Play
On your turn, follow the steps below in order. When your turn is over, the next player in clockwise order takes their turn and so on.
- Play Spirit Creatures
- Claim Habitats
- Draw Spirit Creatures
1. Play Spirit Creatures
Play at least 1 Spirit Creature card from your hand into a new or existing set in your play area. You may play several cards of any creature type, as long as each card you play has the same value.
- You can have up to 3 sets of Spirit Creatures in your play area.
- You can have more than one set of the same Spirit Creature type.
When adding Spirit Creature cards to an existing set:
- They must be of the same Spirit Creature type as that set, AND
- Their value must be equal to or greater than the last card in that set.
If you have 3 existing sets and cannot add any cards to at least one of those sets, you MUST discard all the cards from a set in your play area and begin a new set.
Note: You are free to discard any amount of sets during your turn to start new ones.
Example 1) Ryan decides to play all the value 4 cards from his hand. He has an existing set of Bears and of Axolotls. He can add each card to its respective set as its value is equal to or greater than the last card in that set.
Example 2) Beth has value 1 cards in her hand. She decides to start a set of Bears but she can't add the Goose cards to her existing set because the last card in that set has a value of 2. She could discard her Axolotl or Goose set to start a new one, but she prefers keeping those larger sets intact.
2. Claim Habitats
You may claim a face-up Habitat card from a row OR a face-down Habitat card from the top of a deck IF you have a qualifying set:
- The amount of Spirit Creature cards in one of your sets is equal to or greater than the value of a matching Habitat card, AND
- You have added at least 1 Spirit Creature card to that set this turn.
The first card you claim can either be a Day or Night card (face up), or the top card from a deck (face down). Your second card onwards must respect the Daytime/Nighttime Sequence (see below).
When you claim a Habitat card:
- You MUST discard all the cards from the qualifying set.
- Then place the Habitat card in front of you to form a single line from left to right. Each card you claim is added to the end of that line.
- A face-up Habitat card from a row stays face up.
- A face-down Habitat card from the top of a deck stays face down.
Example) Beth played Goose cards this turn and now has a total of 5 cards in her set. She discards that entire set and claims the value 5 Mists Habitat card.
Note: You may claim several Habitat cards during the same turn. For each Habitat card you claim you MUST discard a qualifying set.
After claiming one or more Habitat cards, refill any empty spaces in the rows from the corresponding deck so that each one contains 3 cards.
Daytime / Nighttime Sequence
Day and Night cards in your Habitat line MUST always alternate.
Face-down Habitat cards can go after a Day or Night card (or another face-down Habitat card) and act as the opposite of the last card in your sequence. Use the appropriate orientation!
Note: If your first Habitat card is a face-down one, you MUST choose its orientation (Day or Night) when you claim it.
3. Draw Spirit Creatures
Draw an amount of Spirit Creature cards from the display equal to the value of the card(s) you played and add them to your hand. After drawing, refill the display so that it contains 5 cards. If the deck runs out, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
Example) Ryan played value 4 cards during his turn. He must draw 4 cards from the display.
Hand Limit – 8 Cards
After drawing cards, if you have more than 8 cards in hand, discard cards from your hand until you have a total of 8.
End of the Game & Final Scoring
When a player reaches 15 or more Balance points, the end of the game is triggered. The other players take one final turn each.
Players then add up the Balance points on their Habitat cards and the person with the highest score wins! If there is a tie, the tied player with the highest value Habitat card wins. If there is still a tie, compare the next-highest value Habitat card and so on. If the tie persists, the tied players share the victory.
Example) Both Ryan and Beth have a total of 16 Balance points. Because Beth has the highest value Habitat card (8) she breaks the tie and is declared the winner!