InBetween Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Components
  • Character cards
  • Town and Creature cards
  • Symbol tokens
  • Awareness cards & Awareness markers
  • Activity marker
  • Direction token
  • Energy cubes
  • Safety markers
• Setup
• Game Structure
  • 1. Awareness phase
  • 2. Action phase
  • 3. Activity phase
  • 4. Movement phase
• Game End
• The Safety Track and Safety Marker
• Card Clarifications
  • Creature Cards
  • Town Cards
  • Character cards
• Credits
  • Designer notes
• Character Cards Abilities

Game Overview

During a game of InBetween, the Creature player is trying to devour the inhabitants of Upsideville by drawing them ever deeper into its home dimension, while the Town player is trying to increase the safety of the inhabitants in the Human dimension until they are secured from the Creature's depredations.

Players take it in turn to play cards and use abilities that will draw the Characters further into their dimension. At the same time they are trying to increase their Awareness of their opponent so as to enhance a powerful one-time ability that may affect the game's outcome.

There are several routes to victory in InBetween; a player can win by drawing enough Characters into their dimension, or by increasing their Awareness to its highest level.

Components

• 18 double-sided Character cards
• 28 Town cards & 28 Creature cards
• 11 Symbol tokens
• 2 Awareness cards & 2 Awareness markers
• 1 Activity marker
• 1 Direction token
• 10 Safety markers
• 20 Energy cubes, 10 in each player color
• 2 Player aids

Character cards

Each Character card represents a person who lives and works in Upsideville. Character cards are double-sided; one side shows the Character in the Human dimension, the other shows the Character in the Creature dimension. Both sides of the Character card have a Safety track, two different symbols, and an ability that may be activated during play.

Each card shows: Name, Safety track, Symbols, Starting card symbol, an Ability triggered during the activity phase, the Character in the Human dimension (one side), and the Character in the Creature dimension (other side).

Town and Creature cards

Town and Creature cards are the primary way in which players interact with Character cards. Each player has cards which are specific to them. The Town has 28 unique cards (8 of which are equipment). The Creature has 4 copies each of 7 different cards.

Each card shows: Name, Activation cost, Symbol, and an Ability triggered when the activation cost is paid.

Symbol tokens

There are Town symbol tokens and Creature symbol tokens. When a Symbol token is placed on a Character card, treat that card as if it had the token's symbol printed on it (in addition to any symbols printed on the card itself).

Awareness cards & Awareness markers

Each player has their own Awareness card and double-sided Awareness marker. The card tracks represent different things to each player: the Town player's progress on their track shows their success at spreading the word about the Creature, while the Creature makes progress as it learns human habits and discovers ways to move more freely between the dimensions.

Each Awareness card shows the Awareness levels, the abilities available to players on different levels, and whether the Town and Creature awareness markers are active or inactive.

Activity marker

The Activity marker moves from one Character card to another. The marker is double-sided, showing which player's turn it is. The ability of the Character card that the marker is currently on can be activated during the current turn.

Direction token

This double-sided token indicates the direction in which the Activity marker will be moved at the end of each player's turn.

Energy cubes

Energy is important in the game. Players spend Energy cubes to activate the cards they play and to increase their Awareness level. When Energy is spent or lost, the player returns Energy cubes to the common supply. More Energy can be gained by Resting.

Safety markers

These markers are used to indicate the Safety state of the Character cards.

Setup

1. The player who most recently set off a fire alarm becomes the Town player and the other player is the Creature. Alternatively, use any other method to determine who plays as the Town and who plays as the Creature.

2. Take the Character cards, shuffle them, and deal 10 cards in a circle. The first card dealt should be placed with its Human dimension side face up, then successive cards should alternate between the Creature and Human dimensions. Return the rest of the cards to the game box as they will not be needed during the game.

   When the first Character card with a star symbol in its right lower corner is dealt, immediately place the Activity marker on it. If the marker is placed on a Character card in the Human dimension, place it so that the Creature color is face up, and vice versa.

3. Place the Direction token in the middle of play area showing the clockwise direction.

4. Each player takes their Awareness card and Awareness marker, placing the card near to them, and putting the marker on the "0" Awareness level with its active side face up.

5. Place the Symbol tokens, Energy cubes, and Safety markers in a common supply where both players can easily reach them (for example, inside the circle formed by the Character cards).

6. Each player takes the 28 cards of their side, shuffles them, and places them face down near them as their Deck.

7. Each player draws 3 cards from their Deck to form their starting hand. Players keep their hands of cards secret from the other player.

8. Each player takes 5 Energy cubes of their color from the common supply and places them next to their Awareness card - this is the Energy that is available for them to spend.

9. The active player is the one whose color is shown by the Activity marker.

Game Structure

Players alternate in taking turns. Each turn consists of 4 phases that are resolved in order:

1. Awareness phase - the active player may use their Awareness ability.
2. Action phase - the active player must perform one of three available actions.
3. Activity phase - the Character card with the Activity marker on it is activated.
4. Movement phase - the Activity marker is moved to the next Character card as determined by the Direction token, and flipped to its other side.

Throughout the game, players must check whether one of the conditions has been met that would trigger the end of the game. If this happens during a player's turn, the game ends immediately and a winner is determined.

1. Awareness phase

Once in the game, a player may use their Awareness ability. This can only be done if the player's Awareness marker is on its active side, and on a level from 1 to 5.

Awareness level 6 has no ability. If a player reaches the 6th Awareness level they immediately win the game.

When a player activates their Awareness ability, they can choose the ability of the level where the Awareness marker is, or any lower level. Thus if a player is on the 4th Awareness level, they can select one of the abilities from levels 1 to 4. When a player uses the Awareness ability, they must flip their Awareness marker to its inactive side; this indicates that player cannot use an Awareness ability for the rest of the game.

2. Action phase

The active player must perform one of three actions:

• Play a card
• Prepare
• Rest

Play a card:

The active player selects a card from their hand and plays it. After playing a card, the player must choose to do one of the following:

A. Shift the Safety marker on a Character card by 1 space. The player chooses a Character card that has a symbol which matches the symbol on the card they have played. Then they shift the Safety marker on that Character by 1 space. (More about the Safety track and shifting the Safety marker on page 14).

B. Place a Symbol token on any Character card. The player takes a Symbol token from the common supply that matches the symbol on the card they have played, and places it on any Character card. If the chosen token is already on a Character card, the player must move it to another Character card of their choice. Each Character card may have more than one Symbol token on it, but Character cards can never have Symbol tokens placed on them that match symbols already printed on the card.

Tokens on a Character card give that Character additional symbols. When placing tokens, be careful not to cover any existing symbols.

If an effect removes a Character card from the game, return any Symbol tokens on it to the common supply before discarding the card.

Additionally, after playing the card and choosing one of the options above, the player may activate the ability printed on the card. To do this, the player must spend Energy (returning it to the common supply) equal to the card's activation cost. Finally, the card gets discarded to the owner's discard pile.

If the player does not have enough Energy to activate the ability, they can still play the card and just shift a Safety marker or place a Symbol token.

Equipment Cards - The Town player has eight powerful Equipment cards in their Deck. These cards are used in the same way as normal cards: when one is played, the Town player must shift a Safety marker or place a Symbol token and may then spend Energy to activate the card. If an Equipment card is activated, it remains in play rather than being discarded. It has an ongoing effect that lasts until the card is removed from play. The Town player may have a maximum of three Equipment cards in play at the same time. If the Town player chooses to activate a fourth Equipment card, they must immediately choose one of the other three to remove from play.

Playing an Equipment card to shift a Safety marker or place a Symbol token but not paying to activate it only causes the card to be discarded, not removed from play.

Whenever a card is removed from play, it is returned to the game box, not to the discard pile. If a Character card is removed from play, close up the gap in the circle.

Prepare:

The active player may discard as many cards from their hand as they wish, then they draw cards from their Deck until they have 5 cards in hand.

Whenever a player needs to draw cards and their Deck is empty, they take all the cards from their discard pile and shuffle them together to form a new Deck. They then continue to draw cards.

Rest:

The active player gains Energy equal to the number of Character cards in their dimension.

The active player counts the number of Character cards that are in that player's dimension. Then they take that number of Energy cubes from the common supply of their color, and place them next to their Awareness card. Each player can only have a maximum of 10 Energy; if there are not enough Energy cubes of that player's color in the common supply, the player takes only the cubes that are available.

Example: It is the Creature player's turn and they choose the Rest action. There are 6 Characters in the Creature dimension, so the Creature player can take 6 Energy. However, since they already have 5 Energy and there are only 5 Energy cubes of their color remaining in the common supply, they just take all 5, bringing them to the maximum of 10 Energy.

3. Activity phase

Depending on its Safety state, the Character card with the Activity marker on it may trigger during the Activity phase:

• If the Character is InBetween (there is no Safety marker on the card) nothing happens.
• If there is a Safety marker on the card, the player whose dimension the Character is currently in may increase their Awareness level by 1 step. To do this, they must spend a number of Energy cubes equal to the new Awareness level that they wish to reach (e.g. increasing Awareness to the 1st level costs 1 Energy, to the 2nd level costs 2 Energy, etc).

A player can increase their Awareness level whether or not their Awareness marker has been flipped to the Inactive side. If a player reaches the 6th Awareness level they immediately win the game.

In addition to this, if the Safety marker is on Guarded, Secured, Terrified, or Devoured (see page 14), then the ability of that Character card is activated.

During the Activity phase, the side of the Activity marker that is showing is irrelevant. Only the Safety state of the Character card the marker is on, and dimension that Character is in, are used to determine which player, if any, can increase their Awareness level and activate the Character's ability.

4. Movement phase

Move the Activity marker to the adjacent Character card in the circle in the direction shown by the Direction token. Then flip the Activity marker over to indicate the new active player. The game goes on until one of the end-game conditions is met.

Game End

The game ends immediately if one of four conditions is met:

• If there are 3 Secured Character cards, the Town wins.
• If there are 3 Devoured Character cards, the Creature wins.
• If one of the players reaches the 6th Awareness level, that player wins.
• If, at any time during the game, only 5 Character cards remain in play, the player with more Character cards in their dimension wins the game.

The Safety Track and Safety Marker

The Creature wants to drag the inhabitants of Upsideville into its own dimension and devour them, while the Town must resist this, pulling them back into the Human dimension and trying to save them. This inter-dimensional tug-of-war is represented by the flipping of the Character cards between dimensions and the position of the Safety marker on the card.

The Safety marker on a Character card indicates how much the Character is in danger of being drawn into the other dimension. Players are trying to shift the Safety markers on Character cards in their dimension to the lowest space on the Safety track (Secured or Devoured). Once a Safety marker on a Character card reaches the Secured or Devoured state, the marker is locked and cannot be moved except by card and Awareness abilities that explicitly override this rule.

Each side of the Character card has 4 spaces on the left edge which form the Safety track. There are 6 possible Safety states as shown here:

Human dimension: Alert, Guarded, Secured.

Creature dimension: Nervous, Terrified, Devoured.

Remember: If at any stage there are 3 Devoured or 3 Secured Character cards, the game ends immediately.

When a player shifts a Safety marker on a Character card, they move it up or down one space on the card's Safety track in the direction of their choice.

At the start of the game, none of the Character cards have Safety markers on them. This means they are all in an InBetween state. However, each Character card is still in one dimension or the other (determined by which side of the card is face up). If a Character is InBetween, and a player is able to shift a Safety marker on it, the player must choose to either place a Safety marker on the top space of the Safety track on the card, or flip the card to the other dimension.

If there is already a Safety marker on a Character card, a player may shift the marker one space down (if they want to draw the Character further into the dimension it currently occupies) or one space up (if they are trying to flip the Character to the other dimension).

If the Safety marker is on the top space of the Safety track and it is moved up, the marker is removed and the Character is now InBetween. As described above, the next shift of the Safety marker on this card can be used to either put the Safety marker back on the top space, or to flip the Character to the other dimension.

Example: Sam is Guarded (the Safety marker is in the second space from the top of the Safety track). If the Creature wants to pull Sam into its dimension then it would need to shift the Safety marker by 3 spaces: 1 to make Sam Alert, 2 to remove the Safety marker and make Sam InBetween, 3 to flip Sam to the Creature's dimension. Sam would still be InBetween, but he is now in the Creature's dimension.

Card Clarifications

Golden Rule: If a card effect or ability contradicts the rulebook, the wording on the card takes precedence.

Creature Cards

Hiding - Place this card in such way that no symbols on the Character card are covered. The symbol from the Hiding card does not count as an additional symbol of the Character card on which it is placed. If the Activity marker were to ever be placed on this card, it is instead placed on the next Character card in the direction of the Direction token. Hiding can be placed on the Character card that currently has the Activity marker on it. In this case, the Activity marker is not immediately moved on; that only happens the next time the token would be placed on the Character card.

Replacement - The Creature chooses a Character card and moves it to any other place in the circle, placing it between 2 other Character cards. Adjust the Character cards around the circle so that they are evenly spaced. Any markers and tokens on the card stay in place.

Town Cards

Evacuation - After removing a Character card, adjust the other Character cards around the circle so that they are evenly spaced.

Preparations - Compare the Energy after spending the 2 Energy to activate this card's ability.

Reroute - See 'Hiding' for rules on placing this card on a Character card.

Revolver - This ability can be triggered during the Creature's Action phase. The Town must announce that this ability is being used immediately after the Creature decides to activate a card's ability, but before knowing exactly how the Creature would use that ability.

Shotgun - See 'Hiding' for rules on placing this card on a Character card. The Shotgun card itself can still be affected by other card effects.

Walkie Talkie - This ability can be triggered in any Activity phase during any player's turn.

Character cards

Bob, Carl, Mandi & Rodney (Human dimension) - If there is no adjacent Character card in the Creature dimension, this ability has no effect.

Carl (Creature dimension) - In addition to shifting the Safety marker, or placing a Symbol token, the Creature can also pay the Energy to activate the ability on the card.

Sam (Creature dimension) - The Creature can freely choose either option. The Town then meets the loss as much as possible. E.g. if the Town has 1 card in hand and 3 Energy, and the Creature chooses for the Town to discard 2 cards, the Town would only discard 1 card.

Credits

Game Designer: Adam Kwapiński

Card's Artwork: Seweryn Borkowski, Sebastian Zakrzewski, Tomasz Kalisz

Rulebook and card's layout: Paweł Niziołek

Rulebook and card texts: Matt Dembek and Paul Grogan (Gaming Rules!)

Designer notes

InBetween was created during a 16 hour drive to Essen Spiel 2015. The idea hit me out of nowhere and since I was the only person from Historical Games Factory without a driving license back then, I could focus on the game. From that day the game went through lots of changes. It also received a totally new theme thanks to Board&Dice creativity (special thanks to Matt Dembek). Creating a game from the moment when it's an idea until its final version is a long and laborious process. That's why I would like to thank a few people who wanted to playtest it with me long before InBetween was fun: Małgorzata Boryczka, Jakub Wasilewski, Jakub Polkowski, Joanna Gleń, Marcin Gleń, Piotr Żuchowski, Michał Sieńko, Barbara Sanecka-Sieńko, Bartłomiej Hysyk.

Character Cards Abilities

Each entry lists the ability on the Human dimension side, then the ability on the Creature dimension side.

Bob: Human dimension side: The Town chooses an adjacent Character card in the Creature dimension and shifts the Safety marker on it by 1 space. Creature dimension side: The Creature lowers the Town's Awareness level by 1, if able.

Carl: Human dimension side: The Town chooses an adjacent Character card in the Creature dimension and shifts the Safety marker on it by 1 space. Creature dimension side: The Creature may play 1 card from its hand.

Earl: Human dimension side: The Town gains 2 Energy and draws 1 card. Creature dimension side: The Creature may use the ability of one other Terrified or Devoured Character card.

Jayme: Human dimension side: The Town may play 1 card (but cannot activate its ability). Creature dimension side: The Creature may discard 1 card from hand to shift the Safety marker by 1 space on every Character card with the same symbol as the discarded card.

Jeremy: Human dimension side: The Town may move the Activity marker up to 2 Character cards in the direction shown by the Direction token. Creature dimension side: The Creature may flip the Direction token.

Julie: Human dimension side: The Town may move the Activity marker up to 2 Character cards in the direction shown by the Direction token. Creature dimension side: The Creature draws 2 cards.

Lance: Human dimension side: The Town may play 1 card (but cannot activate its ability). Creature dimension side: The Creature gains 3 Energy.

Maggie: Human dimension side: The Town gains 2 Energy and draws 1 card. Creature dimension side: The Creature may increase its Awareness level by 1 using only half the Energy needed (rounded down).

Mandi: Human dimension side: The Town chooses an adjacent Character card in the Creature dimension and shifts the Safety marker on it by 1 space. Creature dimension side: The Creature may flip up to 2 Character cards that are InBetween from the Human dimension side to the Creature dimension side.

Max: Human dimension side: The Town may play 1 card (but cannot activate its ability). Creature dimension side: The Creature may remove an adjacent Character card from the game.

Mina: Human dimension side: The Town may play 1 card (but cannot activate its ability). Creature dimension side: The Creature may choose 1 card from its discard pile and put it in their hand.

Natalie: Human dimension side: The Town gains 2 Energy and draws 1 card. Creature dimension side: The Creature may shift the Safety marker on adjacent Character card by 1.

Richard: Human dimension side: The Town may move the Activity marker up to 2 Character cards in the direction shown by the Direction token. Creature dimension side: The Creature may remove one Equipment card currently in play from the game and gain Energy equal to its activation cost.

Rodney: Human dimension side: The Town chooses an adjacent Character card in the Creature dimension and shifts the Safety marker on it by 1 space. Creature dimension side: The Creature looks at all the cards in the Town's hand and may discard 1 of them.

Sam: Human dimension side: The Town gains 2 Energy and draws 1 card. Creature dimension side: The Creature chooses 1 option: the Town must discard 2 cards OR the Town loses 3 Energy.

Scott: Human dimension side: The Town gains 2 Energy and draws 1 card. Creature dimension side: The Creature gains 1 Energy for each Character card in the Creature dimension with a Safety marker on it.

Timmy: Human dimension side: The Town may move the Activity marker up to 2 Character cards in the direction shown by the Direction token. Creature dimension side: The Creature may shift the Safety marker on a Secured Character card by 2 spaces.

Tom: Human dimension side: The Town may play 1 card (but cannot activate its ability). Creature dimension side: The Creature may discard 1 card from hand to gain Energy equal to triple its activation cost.