Linkage: A DNA Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Cards
• Round Setup
• During a Round
• On Your Turn
• The Four Primary Actions
  • 1. Add an RNA Card to Your RNA Strand (or Start Your Strand)
  • 2. Repair Your RNA Strand
  • 3. Mutate an Opponent's RNA Strand
  • 4. Mutate the DNA Template
• The Two Secondary Actions
  • 1. Pay for an Extra Action
  • 2. Trade RNA Cards
• Scoring
• Winning the Game

Game Cards

10 DNA Cards

• 2 Guanine Nucleotides
• 2 Cytosine Nucleotides
• 2 Adenine Nucleotides
• 2 Thymine Nucleotides
• 1 Promoter
• 1 Terminator

46 RNA Cards

• 11 Guanine Nucleotides
• 11 Cytosine Nucleotides
• 11 Adenine Nucleotides
• 11 Uracil Nucleotides
• 2 DNA Mutations

Card notes

• The Promoter begins the DNA template.
• DNA cards like this one form the DNA template.
• The Terminator ends the round when drawn.
• RNA cards like this one are used by players to build their RNA strands.
• A DNA Mutation card can mutate the DNA template itself.

Round Setup

1. Separate the RNA and DNA cards.
2. Set aside the Terminator and Promoter cards from the DNA deck; remove four random cards from the DNA deck and then reshuffle the Terminator back into the DNA deck. Now place three of the four removed DNA cards back on top of the DNA deck, and place the final removed DNA card on the bottom of the DNA deck. (Keep all DNA cards face down during this whole process.)
   • 3 random DNA cards
   • 4 random DNA cards plus the Terminator shuffled in
   • 1 random DNA card
   • To be clear, your properly assembled DNA deck will result in the above arrangement, as seen from the side.
3. Set the DNA Promoter card face up on the table. Place the properly assembled DNA deck face down to the left of the Promoter card, and make a (shuffled) RNA deck face down to the left of the DNA deck.
4. Deal each player 4 RNA cards, then you are ready to begin! (Players keep their hand of cards secret.)

During a Round

Linkage plays in rounds. The oldest player starts the first round. To start a round, draw a DNA card and place it face up to the right of the DNA Promoter card. (This is the beginning of this round's DNA Template; the Template will usually grow during the round as further DNA cards are added to it.)

Starting with the first player and moving clockwise, each player takes a turn. (See On Your Turn below.)

When all players have taken a turn, place another DNA card to the immediate right of the previous DNA card (extending the Template), and all players in clockwise order take their turns again. This process continues until the DNA Terminator card is drawn, which ends the round.

When the round ends, immediately count and record the round's points. (See Scoring for details.) The winner of the round will be the first player in the next round. Four rounds are recommended, but more or fewer may be played to shorten or extend the length of play; make sure to agree on how many rounds you are playing before you begin!

Before starting the next round, all players discard their remaining cards and sweep the DNA Template and their RNA strands from the table; perform the Round Setup again to prepare for the new round.

On Your Turn

There are two steps to your turn, performed in this order:

1. You must perform one of the four Primary Actions, and you may perform one of the two Secondary Actions. (See The Two Secondary Actions for details about when they may be performed.)
2. You must draw exactly one RNA card from the deck into your hand.

The Four Primary Actions

1. Add an RNA Card to Your RNA Strand (or Start Your Strand)

Play a single RNA card from your hand to the table, either face up or face down. (If this is your first RNA card this round, this will start your RNA strand. If your strand is already started, this card must be placed to the immediate right of the previous RNA card in your strand.)

• Face Up. If the RNA Nucleotide of your card matches the DNA Nucleotide in the same relative position in the DNA Template, it is correct. If not, it is considered incorrect. There are two ways to check if your RNA card matches the DNA card. The first way is to look for the little triangular arrow on your RNA card. If it matches the color of the DNA card's title bar, it is correct. The other way is to look for the cloudy background at the bottom of the DNA card and the top of the RNA card. If their color matches, the RNA card is correct.
• Face Down. A face down RNA card is considered to be a wild card. A wild card counts for zero points itself, but it is considered to be a correct card in a sequence of three or four, allowing it to count toward bonus points.

Example: In this example, the first card in your strand is incorrect; its arrow does not match the title bar of the first DNA card, and the cloudy background colors don't match up. The second card in your strand is correct; its arrow does match the title bar of the second DNA card, and the cloudy background colors do match up.

2. Repair Your RNA Strand

Discard one incorrect card from your strand, then play a card that bears the Chaperone icon from your hand into the discarded card's position.

3. Mutate an Opponent's RNA Strand

Take one face up card from an opponent's strand and add it to the right of your own strand, then play a card that bears the Mutation icon from your hand into the empty position in your opponent's strand. The mutated opponent immediately draws one new RNA card from the deck into his or her hand.

4. Mutate the DNA Template

Discard either a DNA Mutation card or any two RNA cards from your hand, then:

a) Draw and peek at the top two cards from the DNA deck.* b) Use one of those two cards to replace one DNA card in the Template, picking up the replaced card. c) Order the two DNA cards you are holding (one from your original draw of two, and one that was replaced) however you like, and place them back face down onto the top of the DNA deck.

* If either of the two drawn cards in step a is the Terminator card, you may choose to reveal it and end the round immediately. If you choose not to, then you continue as normal but must use the other drawn card as the replacement in step b.

The Two Secondary Actions

1. Pay for an Extra Action

(This action is performed after your normal Primary Action.)

You may discard one RNA card from your hand and then take one additional Primary Action.

2. Trade RNA Cards

(This action may be performed before or after your Primary Action.)

You may give one or two RNA cards to one other player, and draw an equal number of random cards from that player's hand to add to your own hand. The card(s) you gave should not be among those you draw from.

Scoring

Nucleotide Points

• 2 points for each individual correct card in your RNA strand. Face down cards do not count as correct for nucleotide scoring.

Bonus Points

• Face down cards do count as correct for bonus point scoring.
• 2 points for a sequence of three correct cards in your RNA strand.
• 3 points for a sequence of four correct cards in your RNA strand.
• RNA cards may not be counted toward multiple bonus point sequences. For example, if a four-card sequence is scored, none of the cards in that sequence may be scored as part of another sequence.

Scoring example: There are three correct face up cards in your strand, so they earn 2 points each. Since we count the face down card as correct for bonus points, we also count a 4-card sequence; this earns you an additional 3 points. Your total score this round is 9 points!

Winning the Game

The player with the most points at the end of all of the rounds wins the game!