Equinox (2012)
Equinox (2012) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Decide which player will play first. Put all of the tiles except Stone in the bag and shake them up. Draw seven tiles from the bag to form the pool in a location that both players can reach. It is not important which side of a tile in the pool is face up, and no point chips are placed during setup. The second player decides, after seeing the initial pool, which color he or she wants to be. To form the beginning of the board, place the grey Stone tile in the center of the play area. Now, play can begin! The first player takes a half (one tile) turn to begin the game.
Board
The Board grows each turn as more tiles are played. Each tile's action will allow you to manipulate the game in some way!
Pool
Since SWORD and JEWEL were just drawn from the bag, they have point chips on them.
Gameplay
Play will alternate between the players. At the beginning of your turn, draw tiles from the bag until the pool has seven tiles, adding a token to each new tile drawn (see New Tile Penalty, below). Then choose two tiles from the pool and play them, one at a time, adjacent to any tile that has already been played. You may play either face of the tile, regardless of whether you are playing as black or white. After placing each tile, if it has a red or yellow effect, it will take place immediately. Tiles cannot be moved or removed once they have been played, unless they are the target of another tile's action that causes such a change.
New Tile Penalty
Whenever a new tile is drawn, a point token is placed on it. If you play a tile with a point token, you give that token to your opponent, since they never had an opportunity to choose it. At the end of each turn, all point tokens on tiles in the pool are removed. These points that are earned during play; the rest are earned at the end of the game.
Place point tokens on both tiles that have been drawn from the bag to the pool.
Tiles
Each tile has an action that takes effect after the tile is played. Many of the actions affect only the tile's "neighbors," i.e. the tiles that are adjacent to it. If the actions of a tile would prevent you from having a legal play, you may play anywhere. Actions are color-coded according to what sort of effect they have:
- Red: An effect that will flip one or more tiles immediately.
- Yellow: An immediate effect that does not involve flipping tiles.
- Purple: An effect that begins immediately and lasts until the end of the game, as long as the tile remains in play.
- Blue: An end-of-game effect that will influence scoring.
Additional Notes on Tiles
- The orientation of the text and pictures on tiles does not have any effect on the game.
- Sometimes it may not be possible to use the entire action of a tile; in this case, the remainder of the action is lost. Do all parts of the action that you can.
- Once a red or yellow action tile is placed, you must then choose as many valid targets as possible for its power as is possible; beyond that you may choose freely.
- No tile may choose itself as a target unless specifically allowed by the tile's action.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of a turn if there are no tiles in the pool or in the bag. For end-game scoring, complete all the blue actions for tiles in play in ascending numerical order. Each player takes the tiles of their color and the point tokens on top of them. Tiles and tokens are worth one point apiece, and the highest score wins!
Tile Reference: Red
Red actions are capable of flipping tiles from white to black, or vice versa. All of these actions occur immediately upon playing the tile.
An immediate effect. Complete the text on it as soon as you play this tile. Red effects are a one-time use.
Strategy: Many red tiles can help you attack opponent tiles that are otherwise out of reach. Use DART to flip a distant tile.
- DAY – Flip the DAY tile and all its neighbors to white.
- NIGHT – Flip the NIGHT tile and all its neighbors to black.
- CANDLE – Flip any black tile to white.
- SHADOW – Flip any white tile to black.
- FIRE – Flip all neighbors of the FIRE tile.
- SWORD – Flip three tiles in an arc pattern around the SWORD tile, as shown in the diagram.
- MACE – Flip three tiles in a triangular pattern next to the MACE tile, as shown in the diagram.
- SPEAR – Flip three tiles in a straight line stemming from the SPEAR tile, as shown in the diagram.
- DAGGER – Flip one neighbor of the DAGGER tile.
- DART – Flip a tile that is exactly two spaces away from the DART tile (not necessarily in a straight line).
- BALANCE – Flip a white tile and a black tile that are neighbors of each other.
- ARROW – Flip a tile that is four or more spaces away from the ARROW tile (not necessarily in a straight line).
Tile Reference: Yellow
Actions that have immediate effects other than flipping. All yellow actions occur immediately upon play.
An immediate effect. Complete the text on it as soon as you play this tile. Yellow effects are a one-time use.
Strategy: Play KEY to move a troublesome tile! KEY can be swapped with VORTEX, moving the card's damaging effects away from your own tiles. VORTEX will now consume your opponent's tiles at the end of the game.
- KEY – Swap the KEY tile's location with any other tile on the board.
- TREATY – Select two tiles that are both neighbors of the TREATY tile and swap their locations.
- MAP – Choose the two locations your opponent must play tiles next turn. They still choose which tiles to play.
- DESTINY – Choose the two tiles your opponent must play next turn. They still choose where to play them.
- SPEED – Draw another tile from the bag and play it. This tile is subject to the new tile penalty and you must give your opponent a point token.
- WIND – Return all tiles from the pool to the bag. Next turn, ALL tiles will be subject to the new tile penalty, even if the same tiles return to the pool.
- DEATH* – Remove any one tile from the board and set it aside; it is completely out of the game.
- EXILE* – Remove any one tile from the board and return it to the bag.
- MIRROR – Mimic an action from a neighboring red or yellow action tile. This action occurs from the point of view of the MIRROR tile.
- DOOR – Select two tiles anywhere that are neighbors of each other and swap their locations.
- HOOK* – Select one tile anywhere and move it neighboring the hook.
- FAMINE – Your opponent may only play one tile on the next turn.
* You may never split the board into multiple sections.
Tile Reference: Purple
Effects from purple tiles begin when they are played and persist as long as the tile is on the board.
A persistent effect. All neighbors of this tile that are red are ineffective for the rest of the game, or until SHIELD is forcibly removed from the board.
Strategy: Disrupt your opponent's plans by playing CHARISMA in an inconvenient location.
- STONE – Unaffected by all other tiles' effects. STONE is grey and counts towards neither player's score at the end of the game.
- SHIELD – SHIELD and its neighbors are unaffected by red effects.
- MAGIC – MAGIC and its neighbors are unaffected by blue effects.
- CLOAK – CLOAK and its neighbors are unaffected by yellow effects.
- JEWEL – Your opponent gains a point token when you play a tile neighboring the JEWEL tile.
- BRIDGE – Any tiles that neighbor the BRIDGE are also considered to be neighbors of each other.
- SHEEP** – SHEEP must always have more white neighbors than black.
- CROW** – CROW must always have more black neighbors than white.
- CHARISMA* – Tiles must be placed neighboring the CHARISMA tile.
- POISON* – Tiles cannot be placed neighboring the POISON tile.
- ROOSTER* – New neighbors must be white.
- WOLF* – New neighbors must be black.
** You cannot play effects that violate this restriction. * If you have no legal play, ignore this effect.
Tile Reference: Blue
Blue actions affect scoring, and do not happen until all tiles have been played. All blue tiles have a number on them. During end-of-game scoring, the effects of blue actions occur in ascending numerical order. Some blue actions involve the placement of point tokens; these tokens are additional points that increase the value of the tile. It is important that these tokens stay on the tile until all blue actions have been completed, as a later action may change the ownership of that tile and all associated tokens.
35 BETRAYAL – An end of game scoring effect. Blue tiles result in many point tokens and can result in large swings at the end of the game. Positioning them effectively is crucial to success in Equinox.
- 00. SNOW – Flip the SNOW tile to white.
- 10. INK – Flip the INK tile to black.
- 20. TOWER – Place three point tokens on the TOWER tile.
- 30. LOYALTY – Place one point token on the LOYALTY tile for each neighbor showing the same face as LOYALTY (black or white).
- 35. BETRAYAL – Place one point token on the BETRAYAL tile for each neighbor showing the opposite face from BETRAYAL (black or white).
- 40. FREEDOM – Place one point token on the FREEDOM tile for each vacant space it neighbors.
- 50. COIN – Place one point token on the COIN tile and each of its neighbors.
- 55. WAR – Place two point tokens on each red neighbor of the WAR tile.
- 65. THEFT – Place all point tokens from neighbors onto THEFT.
- 70. DISEASE – Flip the DISEASE tile and all of its neighbors.
- 80. PEACE – Remove all red neighbors of the PEACE tile from the game.
- 90. VORTEX – Remove the VORTEX tile and all of its neighbors from the game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: If POISON and CHARISMA are both adjacent to an open space, what happens? A: CHARISMA only forces you to make legal plays. Since placing a tile next to Poison would be illegal, ignore open spaces that're next to both POISON and CHARISMA.
Q: Does SHIELD protect against a MIRROR copying a red Action? A: Yes.
Q: If I flip or remove a tile that has point tokens on it, what happens? A: The point tokens remain on the flipped tile, or are removed from play if the tile is removed.
Q: When I play the KEY, does that mean the target tile goes back to the pool? A: No. The action occurs AFTER the tile has been legally played, so the target tile goes to the position where you have just played the KEY.
Q: Can I use the DESTINY tile to force my opponent to play the as-yet-unrevealed new tile? A: Sure! Who says destiny has to be predictable?
Q: If I play a red tile covering a specific target area (such as the SWORD), can that target area include tiles that are protected by the SHIELD? A: Protected tiles are illegal targets; they may only be included in the target area if there is no possible target area that hits more legal targets from the position the tile was played. The same goes for empty spaces.
Q: The tile I have played permits me to remove a tile from the board. Can I remove a tile that would split the board into two or more separate parts? A: No, the board must remain contiguous.
Q: Can VORTEX or PEACE split the board into multiple sections? A: Yes, but this has no other effect.