Co-Mix
Co-Mix Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 5 Comic Page boards (1 for each player/team)
- 150 Panel cards
- 10 Score tokens
- 10 Character tokens
- 50 Review tokens (5 for each player)
- 21 Slow tokens
- 1 sand timer (90 seconds)
- 1 rulebook
Introduction
With 3 to 5 players, all players will play by themselves, each one creating and telling his own story each round. With more than 5 players, the setup stays almost the same, but at least some players will play in teams of two (if there is an odd number of players, one player will play alone, see below).
A game with 6 to 10 players follows the same rules as a game with 3 to 5, with some exceptions. All these exceptions are explained in the Team Game boxes. If there are 3 to 5 players in your game, you can skip these boxes (but if there are 3 players, pay attention to the special rules in the Reviewing section).
Setup
Each player takes a Comic Page board and puts it in front of him, with the 6-panel side face up (once you have some experience with the game, we strongly recommend you use the 9-panel side instead: longer stories are more interesting for experienced players). Put any unused Comic Page boards back in the box.
Team Game Box: Teams are formed by 2 players. Each team receives 1 Comic Page. If there are an odd number of players there will be one "solo player" that will play following the normal rules for a game with up to 5 players. Teams are formed as shown here:
- 6 players: 3 teams (3 stories)
- 7 players: 3 teams and 1 solo player (4 stories)
- 8 players: 4 teams (4 stories)
- 9 players: 4 teams and 1 solo player (5 stories)
- 10 players: 5 teams (5 stories)
Each player takes a set of Review tokens and the Score token and Character token that show the same character. Put all the unused tokens back to the box, if any.
Each player places his Score token on the "0" space of the Score track and his Character token in front of himself, as a reminder for the other players.
Team Game Box: Each player on a team has his own set of Review tokens.
Shuffle the Panel cards and place them in the middle of the table, so all players can easily reach them. This will be the Panel deck.
Place the sand timer and the Slow tokens next to the Panel deck.
A game of Co-Mix lasts 3 rounds. Each player, or team, will create one story each round. If you so prefer, before starting you may also agree to play a shorter game (with 1-2 rounds) or a longer one (with 4-5 rounds).
Gameplay
During a game of Co-Mix you will create your own comic book stories (the number of which depends on how many rounds you've decided to play), tell them to the other players and then review the stories you liked the most.
A game is divided into 4 phases: PREPARATION, SCRIPTING, STORYTELLING, and REVIEWING.
Preparation
At the beginning of each round, all players decide on the title for their stories together. All stories will have the same title. If you cannot agree on a good title or if you don't have any good ideas, you can choose a title from the list of examples at the end of these rules, or draw two random cards from the Panel deck and take inspiration from them. Once the title has been chosen, deal 12 PANEL CARDS to each player (players on the same team will share a single set of 12 cards).
All Panel cards are two-faced, so you will have 24 different panels to choose from when you create your stories!
Scripting
Look at your panels and start to create your story! All players (or teams) create their stories simultaneously. Original and interesting stories have a better chance to get good reviews!
Team Game Box: Team players must look at their cards together, talk to each other, and build their story cooperatively.
The Comic Pages have 6 spaces. You can only place 1 card in each space, so your comic will always have a total of 6 panels (again, after your first few games we strongly recommend that you use the 9-panel side of your Comic Pages for longer, more interesting stories).
As soon as the first player (or team) finishes his story, he announces it loudly, takes the sand timer and flips it. The Panel cards on his Comic Page cannot be moved anymore. The other players now have only 90 seconds to finish their stories!
As the other stories are completed, their creators have to declare it too, and their panels can't be moved anymore. The last player to complete his story receives 1 Slow token.
Team Game Box: Team players both receive 1 Slow token.
If the sand timer runs out, all players with empty spaces left on their Comic Page (if any) must take 1 Slow token, then shuffle the Panels they still have in their hands and randomly place some on their board, until there are no empty spaces left. We recommend that you not let that happen to you: it can be really difficult to tell a story that makes any sense in this situation!
Once all stories have been completed (or the sand timer has run out), players have to discard all the Panel cards still in their hands.
Storytelling
As soon as all comics are ready (or when the sand timer runs out), it's finally time to show your story to the world! Starting with the player with the sand timer (the first to complete his comic), and proceeding clockwise, all players turn their Comic Page towards the other players and tell their stories.
Team Game Box: If a story has been created by a team, each team player will have to tell half of the story for his team. One player describes the first 3 panel cards, the other will describe the last 3. In a game with 9-panels stories, split the story into 4 and 5 panels, or 5 and 4, it's your decision how to split it up.
Some quick, helpful suggestions:
- When telling your story, you must follow the order in which you placed the Panel cards, FROM THE TOP LEFT TO THE BOTTOM RIGHT.
- EACH PANEL YOU PLACED must have some part in your story, so you need to tell something about each one of them (even if it's just one word or a dramatic sound).
- Pointing at a panel with your finger while telling something about it will help your listeners follow the story you're telling them.
- Don't tell overly long stories, or your listeners will get bored. One sand timer should be enough to tell a good story.
Reviewing, Consensus and Scoring
After all comic stories have been told, it's time to begin the reviewing process. All players take their Review tokens in their hands. Each Review token shows a different icon (or no icon at all). During the reviewing process you must place 1 Review token, face down, on each story (including your own).
Exception for 3 players: place 2 Review tokens instead of 1 on the stories of the other two players. You still have to place just 1 Review token on your own.
Review tokens represent the feeling that the story most inspired for you:
- Original token: rewards the most original story (the one that stood out the most for its creativity and brilliance);
- Exciting token: rewards the most exciting story (no matter the emotion evoked, it may be the most moving, scary, funny, etc.);
- Composed token: rewards the best composed story (the one with the smoothest flow, the most appealing visuals, or that followed the title of that round the best).
- NEUTRAL tokens (those without icons) are given to stories that didn't particularly impress the reviewer, or if there was another that conveyed the same feeling better.
You always have to place at least 1 neutral token during each Reviewing phase.
When all Review tokens have been placed, each comic's creator reveals the tokens placed on his (or their) story and checks how many of each kind the story received.
Team Game Box: The 2 players of a team will have to decide how to distribute their Review tokens separately, and they cannot consult with each other.
The score each story obtains depends on the consensus between the reviews (i.e. the tokens) all stories received.
First, discard all the neutral tokens and put them aside. Then, for each KIND of non-neutral tokens, check which story received the most:
- the story with the highest number of tokens of one kind, retains them (in case of a tie, all tied stories retain all the tokens of that kind);
- all the tokens of that same kind that were placed on the other stories are discarded and put aside together with the neutral tokens.
When consensus has been checked, each comic's creator receives 1 point for each token that is left on his own story, no matter the kind. Then, each player is also awarded 2 points for each one of his tokens that is left on the other players' stories. Giving fair reviews is almost as important as creating a good story!
See the example of score calculation below.
Team Game Box: Team players score their points separately, and compete for victory even with each other.
At the end of each round, move your Score tokens to mark your score on the Score track, then shuffle all Panel cards back to the Panel deck, take back your Review tokens and begin a new round, starting back from the Preparation phase.
After the end of the last round, check the score track. The player with the most points is the winner! If there's a tie, the player with the least Slow tokens wins. If there's still a tie, the victory is shared.
Example
(The page shows a score-calculation illustration, before and after consensus, with stories scoring 8, 5, 7 and 5 points; its token graphics are not reproduced here.)
Here is an example of how versatile Co-Mix Panel cards are. We've taken one of the example titles you can find on the last page of these rules ("We Need a Hero"), laid out a set of 9 cards, and created two completely different stories from it... as you can see, your imagination is the only limit!
Example 1: The city needed a hero to stop the crime wave that had been haunting its citizens for almost a decade. After a long series of interviews, the Mayor selected a smart young boy who would be transformed into the ultimate hero. He volunteered for the program because he wanted to leave his footprint on the world's destiny. The boy was put in the hands of the city's best scientists: they created a special serum to enhance his strength and put him in a special training capsule to make him the perfect warrior. When he was finally able to start his fight against crime, the young-boy-turned-hero was smiling. He would really leave his footprint now!
Example 2: The Crimemaster had a lot of evil ideas in his head, but no technological means to realize them. He talked with many scientists, but no one had the talent he needed. Only the famous enfant-prodige Billy Geniac would be able to create the device he needed, but even after abducting the boy, he refused to cooperate with such an evil man. Sadly for him, the Crimemaster wouldn't take no for an answer. He ordered his Masked Thug to sneak in Geniac's house through the backyard, find the boy's old grandfather, drug him and bring him to his secret lab. The old man fought like a lion, but he could not resist the Thug and was captured. The Crimemaster's plan was finally coming together: Geniac would have to obey his commands now, and only a superhero could save the world from him. A malevolent grin formed on his face.
Title List
- Somewhere in the Night!
- An Unexpected Guest
- A Mysterious Mystery
- Happily Ever After
- The Inexplicable Theft
- The Craziest Day of My Life
- Happy Birthday, Moron...
- Hopeless Love
- I've Been Framed!
- Save the Day
- An Epic Outcome
- Together Forever
- Run! Run!
- I Can't Remember...
- Don't You Cry
- Bad Day
- The Femme Fatale
- Pull the Plug
- Two Seconds
- Give Me the Money!
- They Made Me a Criminal
- Winter is Coming
- The Stranger
- Irresistible Temptation
- Too Smart
- A Deadly Kiss
- Just One Last Kiss
- My Greatest Fear
- I Work Alone
- Two Destinies