Cryptozoology for Beginners Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Contents
• Types of Cards
  • Cryptid Cards
  • Assignment Cards
• Setup
• Winning the Game
• Playing a Round
  • Step 1: Choose Assignments
    • No More Assignments
  • Step 2: Draft Cryptids
    • Cryptid Cards
    • No More Cryptids
  • Step 3: Player Turns
  • Activating Cryptid Cards
  • Reward Tokens
  • Completing Assignments
  • Out of Cards
    • Full Turn Example
• End of the Game
  • Tiebreaker
• Clarifications
  • Dual-Type Cryptids
  • Colorless Cryptids
  • End of Round Cryptid Abilities
  • Drawing Cryptids
  • Gaining New Assignments
  • Discarding Cryptids
  • Returning Reward Tokens
  • Readying Cryptids
  • Keeping Cryptids
• Cryptid Deck Breakdown
• Reward Token Breakdown
• Optional Rules
  • Beginner Game
  • 2-Player Mode

Overview

Hop aboard the bus on a field trip to the legendary Hidden Valley of the Cryptids, where adventure awaits! Will you capture the best photos of mythical creatures to complete the most daring class assignments, or will you be laughed off the trip?

Each round, you'll draft and play Cryptid cards with unnatural powers to warp the game and bring you closer to victory. Collect matching cards to complete Assignments and earn points towards your ultimate goal – becoming a full-fledged supernatural photographer!

Contents

• 1 Bus Standee
• 96 Cryptid Cards
• 40 Assignment Cards
• 40 Reward Tokens

Types of Cards

Cryptid Cards

The Cryptid card diagram labels: Type, Color, Name, Ability, Requirement (icons), and Ability.

Assignment Cards

The Assignment card diagram labels: Name, Requirements (in icons), Requirements (in text), Points, and Bonus Effect.

Setup

1. Shuffle the Assignment deck.
2. Shuffle the Cryptid deck.
3. Turn all the Reward tokens facedown and mix them up.
4. Randomly choose a starting player and give them the Bus standee.

NOTE: When playing your first game, you may want to use the Beginner Game rules on the back of the rulebook.

NOTE: This image shows how the table is set up at the start of a round (see page 3).

Winning the Game

The player who collects the most points from completed Assignments and Reward tokens after 3 rounds wins!

Playing a Round

Each round has the following steps:

1. Choose Assignments
2. Draft Cryptids
3. Player Turns
4. End of Round

Step 1: Choose Assignments

Deal each player 2 Assignments facedown. Each player looks at their Assignments, then chooses 1 to place faceup in front of themselves as their Private Assignment and 1 to place faceup in the Public Assignments area in the center of the play area.

No More Assignments

The Assignment deck has enough cards that each player can be dealt 2 cards each round without the deck running out, but some card effects can cause players to draw additional Assignments. If the deck does run out, continue playing without any new Assignments.

Step 2: Draft Cryptids

Deal each player 8 Cryptid cards facedown. Each player looks at their hand, chooses 1 card, and places it in a facedown stack in front of themselves.

Each player then passes their remaining 7 cards to the player on their left. Each player again chooses 1 card and adds it to their facedown stack, then passes their remaining hand to the left. Players continue picking and passing until each player has a stack of 8 cards in front of themselves. (Note that each player must add the last card that is passed to them to their stack.)

TIP: You may look at your stack of selected cards at any time during the draft.

Cryptid Cards

Each Cryptid card has a color (RED, BLUE, YELLOW, GREEN) and type:

In order to complete Assignments and activate Cryptid abilities, you will need to collect cards with matching colors and types.

No More Cryptids

If at any time the Cryptid deck runs out during play, shuffle the discard pile to make a new deck.

Step 3: Player Turns

Once the draft is complete, each player takes all cards in their facedown stack into their hand. Players then take turns revealing and activating cards, starting with the player who has the Bus standee and going clockwise around the table.

On your turn, take the following steps in order:

1. Reveal Card: Choose 1 card from your hand and place it faceup in front of yourself.
2. Activate Abilities: You may use abilities on your faceup Cryptid cards. To use each ability, you must activate the card (turn it sideways) along with the required number of cards of the same type (see "Activating Cryptid Cards," next page).
3. Complete Assignments: If your faceup cards meet the requirements to complete a Public Assignment, claim the card from the center of the play area, place it in front of yourself, and turn it sideways to show it's completed. If you complete your Private Assignment, simply turn it sideways to show it's completed.

Activating Cryptid Cards

During your turn, you may use abilities on your faceup Cryptid cards by activating them (turning them sideways). You may use any number of abilities, in any order, as long as you can meet the activation requirement of each ability.

Using a card's ability always requires you to activate the card itself, and sometimes requires you to activate other faceup cards of the same type.

For example, to use the "Seclusion of Sasquatch" card, you must activate the card itself, plus any 2 of your other faceup cards that have a Sasquatch icon. Note that in the example above, the "Sasquatch" cards are being activated to use "Seclusion of Sasquatch," so you don't also get to use the ability on the "Sasquatch" cards.

The cards you activate to use an ability do not need to be the same color; they only need to have the correct type icon. If you do not have enough cards with the correct icon, you may not use the ability.

Once a card has been activated (it is sideways), you may not activate it again (either to use its ability or meet the activation requirement of another ability), unless you use another ability to ready it (turn it right side up).

Reward Tokens

When an effect instructs you to gain a Reward token, draw a random facedown token from the pool, secretly look at it, and place it facedown in front of you.

At the end of the game, you will reveal and score all Rewards you earned. Reward values range from 3 to 6 points (see table on page 10).

If the pool of Rewards runs out, effects that allow players to gain Rewards have no effect.

Completing Assignments

In order to complete an Assignment, you must have the required combination of cards faceup in front of you. You may complete Assignments using activated and unactivated cards (as long as they are all faceup in front of you).

You may complete any number of Assignments in one turn. You may use the same cards to complete multiple Assignments (for example, you could use 5 red cards with a Sasquatch icon to claim both "5 Red" and "5 of any 1 type"). You may also use some cards to meet multiple requirements on a single Assignment (for example, you could claim Assignment #5's "2 Yellow" and "2 Chupacabra" with 2 yellow Chupacabras).

When you complete either a Public Assignment or your Private Assignment, place it faceup in front of you and turn it sideways. Once you've completed an Assignment, no other player can complete it, and you can't lose it by any means (even if the cards you used to complete it get discarded or stolen). Points from all completed Assignments are counted at the end of the game.

Some Assignments grant bonus effects for completing them. Assignment bonuses may either take effect immediately, or at the end of the round they are completed. (If an Assignment has an end of round bonus, it only occurs at the end of that round, not at the end of each following round).

Example: Completing this Assignment lets you either claim a Reward token or keep 1 of your Sasquatch cards for the following round.

Out of Cards

If you have no cards left in your hand at the start of your turn, your turn is skipped. You may not use any abilities if you are not able to reveal a new card.

Although all players start with 8 cards in hand, some card effects may cause players to draw new cards, so they may run out at different times.

Some abilities may cause a player to gain a new card after they have already revealed all cards in their hand. When this happens, the player may reveal the card on their turn and use abilities as normal (even if they were previously skipped).

Full Turn Example

On her turn, Mira reveals a Nessie and places it faceup next to the cards she previously revealed.

She decides to use Nessie's ability. She turns it sideways along with 1 other Nessie card, allowing her to draw a card.

She also has 3 Chupacabras, but she decides not to use their ability just yet. Her 5 cards are enough to complete the "2 Nessie" and "2 Chupacabra" Assignment, so she claims it for end-game points.

Step 4: End of Round

The round ends once no one has any cards left in their hand.

Gather all Cryptid cards in front of all players (both activated and unactivated) and place them in a discard pile next to the deck. (If a player completed an Assignment that lets them keep a card, they may keep it instead of discarding it.)

Each player keeps their completed Assignments, as well as their Private Assignment if it wasn't completed. All uncompleted Public Assignments are left in the center of the table for players to complete the following round.

Pass the Bus to the player with the fewest points from completed Assignments (not counting hidden Reward tokens), or the fewest Reward tokens in the case of a tie.

Begin the next round by dealing each player 2 new Assignments from the deck.

End of the Game

The game ends after 3 rounds.

Players reveal their Reward tokens and total up the points on their Rewards and completed Assignments. (Incomplete Assignments are worth no points.)

The player with the most points is the winner!

Tiebreaker

In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most completed Assignments AND Reward tokens wins. If there is still a tie, players share victory.

Clarifications

Dual-Type Cryptids

Cards with multiple types (such as "Weirdo Rodeo") have no abilities, but may be activated to use other abilities of either type, and may be counted towards Assignments requiring either (or both) types.

Colorless Cryptids

Cards that are labeled colorless have no color, and can't be used to complete Assignments that require specific colors (including Assignment #27, "6 of any 1 color").

End of Round Cryptid Abilities

Several card abilities only take effect at the end of the round:

• Mothman / Mystery of Mothmen: At the end of the round, if you have the most cards with Mothman icons of any player (including activated cards), you may use either 1 "Mothman" card to gain 1 Reward token, OR 1 "Mystery of Mothmen" card to gain 2 Reward tokens. You may only use 1 of these abilities, not both. If you do not have the most cards with Mothman icons, you may not use either ability. In the case of a tie, all tied players may use either ability.
• Professor Robert Zoic's Books of Cryptozoology: At the end of the round, each player who has exactly 1 copy of this card gains 1 Reward token.

Drawing Cryptids

When you draw cards, always draw them from the Cryptid deck, unless you are specifically instructed to gain an Assignment. Newly drawn cards are added to your hand.

Gaining New Assignments

When you gain a new Assignment, place it faceup in front of you as a Private Assignment (unless otherwise instructed). If you reveal an Assignment on your turn (either Public or Private) that you can complete right away, you may do so. If there are no Assignments left in the deck, effects that add new Assignments have no effect.

Discarding Cryptids

When you must discard a Cryptid card, place it faceup in the discard pile next to the Cryptid deck. Players may look through the discard pile at any time. Assignments cannot be discarded.

Returning Reward Tokens

When you return a Reward token to the pool, do not reveal it to other players. You may choose to return any Reward you've collected over the course of the game. After you return a Reward token, mix the pile up.

Readying Cryptids

When you ready an activated Cryptid card, turn it so it is no longer sideways. It can be activated again normally.

Keeping Cryptids

Some Assignment bonuses allow you to keep Cryptid cards to use on the following round. Make sure to ready any cards you keep so they can be activated again. In the final round of the game, keeping cards has no effect.

Cryptid Deck Breakdown

• 12 Nessie
• 4 Riddle of Nessies
• 12 Sasquatch
• 4 Seclusion of Sasquatch
• 12 Mothman
• 4 Mystery of Mothmen
• 12 Chupacabra
• 4 Calamity of Chupacabra
• 4 Weirdo Rodeo
• 4 Freaky Flying
• 12 Professor Robert Zoic's Book of Cryptozoology
• 8 Monster Hunters!
• 4 Creepy Cryptid

Reward Token Breakdown

• 16 tokens worth 3 points
• 12 tokens worth 4 points
• 8 tokens worth 5 points
• 4 tokens worth 6 points

Optional Rules

Beginner Game

When playing for the first time, you may want to use the following setup and rules changes:

1. During setup, remove all copies of the following cards from the game:
   • Riddle of Nessies
   • Seclusion of Sasquatch
   • Calamity of Chupacabra
   • Mystery of Mothmen
   • Jersey Devil
   • Siren
   • Thunderbird
   • Jackalope
   • Assignments 33-37
2. At the start of each round, give each player 1 Assignment instead of 2 and place 2 Assignments from the top of the Assignment deck into the Public play area.
3. When drafting, choose 2 cards from each hand instead of 1.
4. Play for 1 or 2 rounds instead of 3.

2-Player Mode

When playing with 2 players, you may choose to play with the standard rules or use this variation for more strategic drafting.

1. When drafting, first deal each player 4 cards and follow the normal rules for drafting. Once each player has selected 4 cards, deal each player another 4 cards and repeat, so that each player selects 8 cards total. Then take turns revealing cards as normal. (This rule prevents each player from knowing too much about what their opponent has available to draft, and keeps things exciting.)
2. Play for 4 rounds instead of 3 (so that each player gets 2 rounds with the Bus standee).