Eternitium
Eternitium Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
In Eternitium, each player takes on the role of a time traveler racing against the others to be the first to get his hands on the Eternitium gem.
But it's not just a race, it's a race through different eras! By playing your Action cards, you'll try to be the first to find the gem, which means getting rid of all your Era cards before your opponents.
Improve your basic deck by acquiring new technologies to move faster than your opponents, or even slow them down!
Contents
- 5 player boards
- 60 Era cards
- 105 Action cards, including:
- 60 Portal cards
- 29 Basic Technology cards
- 16 Advanced Technology cards
Setup
1 • Give each player a Player board and place it in front of them.
2 • Give each player the starting cards made up of the following 5 Action cards: one Portal card of each type and one "Droid" Basic Technology card. The starting cards for each player are identified by the following symbols.
Form a face down deck with this starting cards and place it on the deck area of your Player board.
3 • For each type of portal, take as many Portal cards as the number of players multiplied by 2 and place 4 face up stacks in the first row, which form the Portal card reserve. The number of Portal cards is limited.
(With 3 players, there will be 6 "Circle" Portal cards, 6 "Square" Portal cards, 6 "Triangle" Portal cards and 6 "Diamond" Portal cards.)
4 • Shuffle the Basic Technology cards to form a face down deck and place it below the Portal cards. Then reveal the first 3 cards.
5 • Shuffle the Advanced Technology cards to form a face down deck and place it below the Basic Technology cards. Then reveal the first 3 cards.
The 3 Basic Technology cards and the 3 Advanced Technology cards must be different. If there are at least 2 identical cards, return all but one of the identical cards to the bottom of the deck and reveal new cards to replace them. This applies throughout the game except when there are not enough cards.
6 • Randomly deal each player 10 Era cards for a 1, 2 or 3 player game, 9 Era cards for a 4 player game or 8 Era cards for a 5 player game. Place these cards face down on the gem in the middle of your player board without looking at them. Then reveal the top card.
7 • Shuffle the remaining Era cards to form a face down deck. Place this deck below the deck of Advanced Technology cards. This is called the "common deck". Then reveal the first 2 cards.
Game Preparation
The first player is the last person to have traveled back in time or to have seen someone to do so (fictitiously or not). If no one is designated, randomly determine the first player. Then he takes the starting cards with the number one symbol.
At the start of the game, each player acquires their first technology. Starting with the first player and then going clockwise in turn, the players choose a Basic Technology card.
Each time a card is taken, replace it with a new one so that there are always 3 cards visible. Instead of taking one of the visible cards, a player can choose to take the first face down Basic Technology card from the deck. Each players adds their new Basic Technology card to their deck, which they shuffle.
Everyone then draws 5 cards from their deck to make up their first hand, leaving each player with a deck of 1 Action card. The race can begin!
Game Turn
Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, the players complete several turns of the game as follows:
1 - Take a Portal card
The active player must choose a Portal card and add it to his hand. If there are no more Portal cards available, the player goes directly to step 2.
2 - Playing cards from your hand
The active player plays Action cards (Portal or Technology) from his hand one at a time, applying their effect. A played Action card is placed face up in his discard pile area on the right side of his player board. If the player has no more cards in his hand or wishes to stop, he proceeds to the next step.
A Portal card can be used to discard an Era card if the type of portal corresponds to the Era card. For example, a "Circle" Portal card can be used to discard an Era card with a "Circle" portal, while a "Square" Portal card can be used to discard an Era card with a "Square" portal.
If the Era card at the top of the deck is not visible and the player does not have or does not want to play a technology card, he may still "try his luck" to discard an Era card. He plays a Portal card from his hand and then turns over the top Era card. If it matches the played Portal card, the player discards the Era card and can continue his turn. If not, the player puts the Era card back face down and shuffles his deck of Era cards without revealing any other Era cards. The player then moves on to the next step. Note that, in this case, the player will only draw 4 Action cards instead of 5 in step 5. If this was his last Era card, the player takes the top Era card from the common deck without looking at it and shuffles the new Era card with his remaining Era card.
The player does not have to play any cards. In fact, if the player wishes, he can skip this step. When doing so, the player can destroy as many cards from his hand as he wishes. The destroyed cards are returned to the game box. Then, during step 5, the player will draw cards until he has 6 in his hand instead of 5. The player then moves on to the next step.
If a player skipped playing cards in step 2, he can only keep a maximum of one card in his hand.
Be careful, a player can never have less than 6 Action cards (hand, deck and discard pile included).
Create a common discard pile for all the discard Era cards of all players.
3 - Discard
The player discards all the remaining cards from his hand face up in his discard pile. The discard pile can be consulted at any time by the player but not by opponents (except with the "Thieving Robot" Advanced Technology).
4 - Acquire a new Technology card
This step is optional.
The player may acquire one Basic Technology or Advanced Technology card.
The player can choose one of the visible cards or the first face down card from the top of one of the Technology card decks, and add it to the top of his deck.
However, to build this new technology, you will need resources by traveling to other eras, which wastes time. It's all about moving backwards to better move forwards!
If the player has chosen a Basic Technology card, he chooses one of the two visible Era cards and adds it face up to the top of his deck of Era cards.
If the player has chosen an Advanced Technology card, the player must take both visible Era cards, in any order, in the same way as for a Basic Technology.
The top visible Era cards can be consulted at any time by the player.
5 - Refill your hand
The player draws 5 cards from his deck unless otherwise stated in step 2. This means that he will have in his hand the Action card he has just acquired in step 4, unless he has skipped this step.
Deck Exhausted
At any time, if you need to draw a card from your deck and your deck is empty, immediately shuffle your discard pile and place it face down in your deck area. Then draw the cards you need to complete your hand.
If a player must take an Era card and the common deck is empty, shuffle the common discard pile to create a new face down deck.
Game Turn Example
This is William's first turn. He has drawn a Portal card of each type as well as the "Transporter" card he chose at the start of the game from his deck.
- He chooses to take a new "Square" Portal card and add it to his hand.
- He then plays a "Square" Portal card which allows him to discard his first Era card.
- As the second Era card is not visible, he decides to play the "Transporter" card and discards the "Triangle" and "Diamond" Portal cards so that he can discard the next Era card (the Technology cards are explained at the end of the rules).
He then decides to end his turn and discards the remaining cards from his hand.
- He acquires a new Advanced Technology card which he adds to the top of his deck. He then takes the 2 visible Era cards and adds them to the top of his deck of face-up Era cards.
He then restores his hand by drawing 5 Action cards. He draws the remaining 2 cards from his deck and then shuffles his discard pile to create a new deck from which he draws the last 3 cards.
End of the Game
Once a player has discarded all his Era cards and, thus, found the Eternitium gem, the game comes to an end.
Finish the current round of turns so that all players have taken the same number of turns. Be sure to leave your discard pile as it was at the end of your last turn in case an opponent can still use a "Thieving Robot" card.
The winner is the player who finds the Eternitium gem. If more than one player has found the gem, count the points between the tied players as follows. Players who have found the Eternitium gem can no longer acquire new Technology cards. No new Era cards can be added to these players' boards.
Players set aside the Basic Technology cards and Advanced Technology cards from their deck and discard pile. Basic Technology cards are worth 1 point and Advanced Technology cards are worth 2 points. The player with the most points wins the game. This represents the player who has built the most technologies during the game.
If there is still a tie, the player with the most Advanced Technology cards is declared the winner. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.
Solo Mode
To play Eternitium Solo, follow the classic setup.
Set aside the 3 "Temporal Blaster" cards, the 2 "Time Bomb" cards, the 2 "Thieving Robot" cards and the 2 "Quantum Clock" cards.
Shuffle these 9 cards together and form a deck. We'll call this the "AI card deck". This is because an artificial intelligence developed by a competitor wants to get in your way and find the Eternitium gem first.
Add a 6th step to the end of each of your turns: "Draw an AI card". During this step, reveal the first AI card from the deck. Resolve the card as if it were played by an opponent. The card is then returned to the game box.
Be careful. Once the AI card deck is empty, you cannot create a new AI card deck. If you need to draw an AI card but the deck is empty, nothing happens.
A game of Eternitium Solo ends after 8 turns or when you find the Eternitium gem. When you take the last Portal card, the last turn begins. If you find the Eternitium gem before the end of the last turn, you've won the game!
AI card abilities
- Temporal Blaster: Discard your next Era card and replace it with the first Era card from the common deck without revealing it.
- Thieving Robot: Destroy the last Technology card that is in your discard pile (the one closest to the bottom). If your discard pile is empty or does not contain any Technology card, nothing happens.
Be careful. When you play cards with compensation, such as the "Giga-Droid" or the "Laboratory", you must reveal a new AI card and apply its effect immediately. At the end of the turn, you still perform step 6.
Solo Mode Special Missions
We've got 10 different missions with different setups and some specific rules to spice up your games of Eternitium Solo.
Mission 1
The start of the training... Only play with Basic Technology cards and Portal cards. The AI cards deck only contains 3 "Temporal Blaster" cards.
Mission 2
Your Droid disappeared! Put the "Droid" card from your starting cards back in the box. Your starting hand contains 4 cards. You only place one Portal card of each type in the Portal card reserve.
Mission 3
The gem is not far away! Your Era deck contains only 5 cards instead of 10. You must find the gem within 4 turns. Therefore, only place one Portal card of each type in the Portal card reserve.
Mission 4
You become confused and lose control over the portals you create. Instead of making a Portal card reserve, shuffle the 8 Portal cards and form a face down deck. Then reveal the top 3 cards. After choosing a Portal card in step 1, reveal a new Portal card.
Mission 5
Time gaps appear... On each turn, between step 5 and step 6, flip your entire Era deck over. If the last card was face down, it becomes the first visible card.
Mission 6
Self-destruction phase underway. At the beginning of each turn, before step 1, you must destroy one card from your hand. Put it back in the box.
Mission 7
Time warp... Your Era deck only contains 5 cards instead of 10. At the end of each turn, after step 6, add a face-down Era card to the top of your Era deck.
Mission 8
Technologies are becoming more complicated to build. When you acquire a new Technology card in step 4, turn the Era cards you take face down before placing them on the top of your Era deck.
Mission 9
You are seized by frenzy! During step 2, you must play as many cards as possible. This means that you always have to "try your luck".
Mission 10
Artificial intelligence is one step ahead of you. Your starting deck contains 2 Portal cards of each type in addition to the "Droid". Put the "Data Analyser" Basic Technology cards back in the box.
Basic Technology Cards
Double Portal — Discard an Era card with one of the two portals.
Droid — Make your next hidden Era card visible. If your top 3 Era cards are already visible, nothing happens.
Temporal Blaster — Swap the top Era card of your deck with the top Era card of an opponent's deck, whether they are visible or not.
Futuristic Smartphone — Immediately draw 2 Action cards from your deck. The smartphone does not have an infinite battery. Therefore, you can't use more than 3 "Futuristic Smartphone" cards per game turn.
Digital Wallet — Acquiring a Technology card in step 4 of this turn will require one less Era card. You do not have to take any Era card for a Basic Technology card, and you only have to take one Era card for an Advanced Technology card.
Transporter — Discard 2 cards from your hand to discard your next Era card.
Data Analyser — Choose either to discard or destroy as many cards from your hand as you wish. The destroyed cards are returned to the game box. Then draw as many Action card from your deck as you have discarded or destroyed.
Advanced Technology Cards
Ultimate Portal — Discard your next Era card, whether it is visible or not.
Giga Droid — Make your top 3 Era cards visible, and all other players make their next hidden Era card visible. If you already have the top 3 cards of your deck visible, nothing happens.
Thieving Robot — Immediately take any one card from an opponent's discard pile. Then place the "Thieving Robot" in that player's discard pile. You cannot consult your opponent's discards before using this card.
Recycler Robot — Immediately choose any one card from your discard pile and return it to your hand.
Time Bomb — All opponents turn their top 3 Era cards face down. They then shuffle their Era cards. If their top 3 Era cards are already face down, they do nothing. This may result in some visible Era cards being shuffled in among the hidden Era cards.
Quantum Clock — All opponents add the first Era card from the common deck to the top of their Era cards without revealing it.
Laboratory — Immediately add a Basic Technology card or an Advanced Technology card to your hand. All other players, starting with the player to your left and continuing clockwise, add a Basic Technology card to their hand. Players do not take Era cards to acquire this new technology.
Lexicon
- Action card — Portal cards + Basic Technology cards + Advanced Technology cards.
- Basic Technology cards
- Advanced Technology cards
- Era card
- discard
- destroy
- shuffle
- flip
- visible — face up.
- hidden — face down.
- active player
- an opponent
- all other players
- swap
- place in opponent discard pile
- choose