Dreamworld: An Unconscious Mind Card Game
Dreamworld: An Unconscious Mind Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 66 dream cards: three suits, each with 2 sets of the numbers 1-11. Suits: Diamond, Hexagon, Circle.
- 6 patient cards
- 1 Freud card
- 4 professor cards (1 per player)
- 4 professor tokens (1 per player). The pet side may optionally be used.
- 12 therapy tokens
- 60 healing tokens (15 per player): 40 regular healing tokens ("+1" tokens) and 20 gold healing tokens
About the Game
At the start of a round each player chooses a dream card. Then everyone reveals their cards simultaneously and lays them next to the current patient in order of number. The difference between the number on your card and the one on the next card is the maximum number of healing tokens you may flip: the bigger the gap, the better. If you flip all your tokens before everyone else, your treatment is more effective than the others' and you are Freud's most influential contemporary.
Player Setup
- Choose a colour and take the professor card, the professor token and five gold healing tokens of that colour. Take the regular healing tokens: 1 with value "5", 2 with value "4", 3 with value "3" and 4 with value "2". Return the remaining tokens to the box.
- Lay out your 15 healing tokens number side up in the indicated order (place the gold healing tokens in a column to the left of the others).
- Place your professor card and professor token next to your healing tokens.
Main Setup
- In a 2-player game use the sides of the patient cards and the Freud card with the numbers 11 and 1 in the upper left and right corners. In a 3- or 4-player game use the sides with the numbers 12 and 0.
- Place the Freud card on the table, shuffle the 6 patient cards and lay them out in a column above the Freud card.
- Take the 12 therapy tokens and randomly split them into 2 groups of 6. In one group turn the tokens so that the arrow points left (yellow side up), in the other so that it points right (purple side up).
- Randomly place 1 therapy token from each group on each of the 6 patient cards above Freud.
- In a 2-player game put all dream cards with the numbers 11 and 1 back in the box. In a 3- or 4-player game use all dream cards.
- Shuffle the dream cards and deal 16 cards to each player's hand.
- In a 2- or 3-player game, place 1 dream card face down to the left and right of each patient card and of the Freud card. In total 14 neutral cards should lie face down.
- Put the remaining dream cards in a deck face down above the top patient card.
Course of the Game
The game lasts several rounds. In the first round players lay their dream cards to the left of the top patient card. In the second round the cards are laid to the right. In the third round players move on to the next patient below. This process is like reading a book from left to right. The game continues until one player wins or until the end of round 14 (after dream cards have been played on both sides of all patients and Freud).
In each round players perform the following phases in turn:
- Play a card.
- Count points.
- Check the end-of-game conditions.
1. Play a Card
A. Choose a card from your hand and hold it in front of you face down. It may be a dream card or the professor card (if it is in your hand).
In a 2- or 3-player game: before choosing your card, turn face up the neutral dream card of the current round.
B. All players simultaneously reveal their chosen cards.
C. If you played a dream card, place your professor token on it. If you played the professor card, do not place the token yet - keep the card face up until the last step of this phase (see step E).
D. Lay the dream cards next to the current patient in order of number (including the neutral ones).
- When you play cards on the sun side (left of the patient card), arrange them in descending order of numbers away from the patient (higher values to the right, lower values to the left).
- When you play cards on the moon side (right of the patient card), arrange them in ascending order of numbers away from the patient (lower values to the left, higher values to the right).
Resolving ties when playing cards
- If 2 dream cards with the same number are played, the card with the matching suit has priority. It is placed closer to the patient.
- If 2 cards with the same number of the same suit are played, the order is determined by the sun and moon symbols. If you are playing cards on the sun side of the patient, the card with the sun symbol has priority. If you are playing cards on the moon side of the patient, the card with the moon symbol has priority.
- If it is still a tie, follow the suit hierarchy shown on the Freud card (see Freud Card below).
Example: the current patient's suit is Diamond and the moon breaks the tie. 2 cards with the value "6" in suit were played. The card with the moon symbol has priority and is placed to the left of the card with the sun symbol, closer to the patient.
"In suit" means that the symbol with the number on the dream card matches the symbol on the current patient card (Diamond, Hexagon or Circle). The sun and moon symbols are not a suit and serve to break ties. Cards in suit can earn points. Cards not in suit and neutral cards do not earn points, but can affect gaps when scoring points, etc.
E. If you played a professor card, set it aside in front of you face up and play one more card. If several players play one more card, they reveal their dream cards simultaneously. Build the new cards into the sequence; ties are resolved as usual (see above).
You cannot play the professor card again until you return it to your hand (see Take a Card).
2. Count Points
Start with the player whose card is currently farthest from the patient and move inward (on the sun side from left to right, on the moon side from right to left).
Rounds 1-12 are affected by the therapy tokens, one per round (see Therapy Tokens). Rounds 13 and 14 are affected by the Freud card (see Freud Card). Do not forget to apply all possible effects when scoring.
In this phase, on your turn you may either GAIN POINTS or TAKE A CARD.
A. Gain Points
- To gain points for a card, it must be in suit (the same suit as the current patient card). If your card is not in suit, you must take a card (see Take a Card).
- The maximum number of points is limited by the numerical gap between your card and the next one in the sequence. You can flip one or more healing tokens with the total of the points gained. Gaps are counted from left to right on the sun side and from right to left on the moon side. The suit of the next card does not matter. Neutral cards and cards not in suit are still counted in the sequence. Do not forget to take into account the available therapy token effects (see Therapy Tokens).
- You may spend up to 3 "+1" tokens before gaining points to increase the gap value (even if it is 0). To do so, put the "+1" tokens on your current dream card. Gain points as usual, then add 1 point for each such token. All spent tokens stay on the dream card.
- When you gain points and flip a healing token, it must always be the rightmost token in the row you choose. You advance toward the last gold healing token on the left (see examples below).
Restrictions:
- You cannot use "+1" tokens on the same turn in which you obtained them.
- You cannot use more than 3 "+1" tokens per round.
- "+1" tokens do not change the value of the dream card or the gap value for other players (i.e. the tokens you use affect only your own points).
Example: Karl played an in-suit card with the value 2. The next card in the sequence has the value 4, so the difference is 2. Karl adds 3 "+1" tokens and increases the points to 5. Then he flips his rightmost healing token with the value 5 - it is a gold token.
Example: Sabine played an in-suit card with the value 8. The next card in the sequence has the value 3, the difference is 5. She could flip the rightmost healing token with the value 5, but instead decides to flip the rightmost tokens with the values 2 and 3. Each becomes a "+1" token and she sets them aside in her supply. In the following rounds she can use them.
B. Take a Card
If you cannot or do not want to gain points, you may take one of the following cards into your hand:
- Your own professor card.
- Any face-up dream card from the previous round.
If the dream card you take has "+1" tokens on it, add them to your supply. They can be used in the following rounds according to the general rules for gaining points (see above).
3. Check End-of-Game Conditions
Check whether any player has flipped all of their healing tokens. If so, that player wins! In case of a tie, the player with the most "+1" tokens in their supply wins. If there is no winner, start the next round. If there is still no winner after round 14, proceed to the final scoring.
Final Scoring
The player who has flipped the most gold tokens wins!
If there is a tie on this criterion, the player with the lowest sum of the tokens remaining unflipped wins. If still tied, the player with the most "+1" tokens in their supply wins.
Example: after 14 rounds Margaret and Alfred have each flipped 4 gold healing tokens. This is more than the others. Margaret did not flip the gold token with the value "6". Alfred has 2 unflipped healing tokens with the value "2", with a total value of "4". The sum of Alfred's unflipped tokens is lower and he wins the game.
Freud Card
In rounds 13 and 14 a card of any suit earns points. If 2 cards with the same value are played, their order (i.e. which card will be closer to Freud) is determined by the suit hierarchy. For cards played on the sun side, Circles outrank Hexagons and Hexagons outrank Diamonds. For cards played on the moon side, Diamonds outrank Hexagons and Hexagons outrank Circles. A tie within one suit is resolved by the usual rules, using the sun and moon symbols (see above).
Solo Mode
About the Game
In solo mode you play against an automated opponent, Id. Id wins if it flips all 6 of its healing tokens. You win if you flip all 15 of your healing tokens. Otherwise the game ends after 14 rounds. You win if you have flipped more gold healing tokens than Id. Otherwise Id wins.
Setup
Perform the main setup as for a 2-player game. Choose a difficulty level (Easy, Medium or Hard) and lay out 6 gold healing tokens for Id according to the layout below. Id has no other healing tokens. Give Id a professor token.
Id's tokens (values, in two rows of columns as shown in the rulebook):
- Easy: 4, 4, 4 in the top row and 3, 3, 3 in the bottom row.
- Medium: 4, 4, 4 in the top row and 2, 2, 2 in the bottom row.
- Hard: 4, 4 in the top row, 3, 3 in the middle row and 2, 2 in the bottom row.
Course of the Game
- Before choosing a card, turn over the neutral dream card next to the current patient, as usual.
- After you play your card, take 1 dream card from the deck for Id and reveal it. Place Id's professor token on it.
- Lay out the cards and count points as usual. Exception: Id's cards always earn points, even if they are not in suit.
- Determine the numerical gap for Id and flip the tokens with the highest possible value. (Id always flips the most valuable token rather than a sum of smaller ones.)
- Check whether any player has flipped all of their healing tokens. If so, that player wins! If not, continue the game.
Therapy Tokens
One therapy token affects each of rounds 1-12 (the token on the current patient card).
- 8 / 9 / 10: If your dream card has one of these numbers, add 1 to the points gained.
- Sun / moon symbol: If your dream card has a sun / moon symbol, add / subtract the indicated number from the points gained (the token shows a green heart with "+2" and a red heart with "-1").
- Farthest dream: If you play the dream farthest from the current patient, add / subtract the indicated number from the points gained (the token shows a green "+1" and a red "2", i.e. +1 / -2).
- Closest dream: If you play the dream closest to the current patient, add / subtract the indicated number from the points gained (the token shows a green "2" and a red "1", i.e. +2 / -1).
- Gap 0 or 1: If your gap is 0 or 1, add 3 to the points gained.
- Skip: When gaining points you may ignore the next dream card (i.e. skip it). Take into account only the gap between your card and the next one after the skipped one.
- Before (lightning): Before choosing and revealing cards, take 1 dream card from the deck and place it face up next to the current patient. Build it into the sequence when players reveal their cards.
- After (clock): After players reveal their cards, take 1 dream card from the deck and build it into the sequence.