Mana Mana
Mana Mana Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Your Goal
Repeatedly, you lay out sets of up to 6 cards with the same image in front of you or one of the other players. For this, you get MANA, which you can then use again in order to quickly gain additional cards. Many cards in your own display and lots of MANA lead you to victory.
Your Game Materials
- 72 image cards with 9 patterns
- 2 overview cards
- 72 MANA tokens
Note: the English text prints "9 patterns" here. The German and French editions print 6 patterns, and the rest of the English rules is consistent with 6 colours of 12 cards each. Read "9" as a printing error for 6 unless a corrected edition states otherwise.
Set Everything Up
- Shuffle the image cards and form a face-down pile. Turn the five cards at the bottom perpendicular to the rest of the deck.
- Each player takes 1 image card from the pile into his hand.
- Line up 5 image cards face up as a display next to the pile.
- Put all MANA tokens within reach as a supply.
- Place 1 overview card next to the card pile so that it is easy for everybody to see.
- The 2nd overview card is given to the starting player – the oldest one among you.
- Then you all play in turn.
How You Play
On your turn, you choose one of the following 2 options:
- Take image cards from the display
- Lay out image cards in front of you or in front of any other player
After every turn, you refill the display with cards from the pile so that there are 5 face-up cards again.
Note: you may NOT draw a card from the pile during your turn, other than the refill described above.
Option 1: Take Image Cards from the Display
Take one or more cards of one colour from the display into your hand.
- If you take only 1 card, this doesn't cost you any MANA.
- For every additional card you take on the same game turn, you have to put 1 MANA token back into the supply.
Example: You take 3 purple cards from the display into your hand; for that, you put back 2 MANA tokens.
Note: since you initially have no MANA, you can take more than one card only later in the game.
Limit of Hand Cards
You may never have more than 10 hand cards. So, if you have 10 image cards in your hand at the beginning of your game turn, you have to lay out cards.
Option 2: Lay Out Image Cards in Front of You or in Front of Any Other Player
- In front of you: lay out one or more hand cards of a colour that is not yet lying there.
- In front of any one player of your choice: lay out one or more hand cards of a colour that is already lying there.
Always put cards of the same kind next to each other and fan them out.
For This, You Get MANA
Count the number of cards of the colour played that are now lying in front of the player where you just laid out the card(s).
- If you have laid out cards in front of you, you count them there.
- If, in the colour you have played, there is now a total of …
- 1 image card » Take 2 MANA tokens from the supply
- 2 image cards » Take 1 MANA token from the supply
- 3 image cards » Take 2 MANA tokens from the supply
- 4 image cards » Take 3 MANA tokens from the supply
- 5 image cards » Take 4 MANA tokens from the supply
- 6 image cards » Take 6 MANA tokens from the supply
You can look this up anytime on the two overview cards!
There may never be more than 6 image cards of the same colour lying in front of any player.
Example: You lay out 3 green cards in front of a player who already has 2 green cards lying in front of him. Since there are now 5 green cards in total in front of him, you get 4 MANA tokens.
Completing a Card Row
Once a player has 6 image cards of one colour lying in front of him, he pushes them together into a pile. This "completes" this row of cards. From now on, nobody may lay out image cards of this colour in front of him anymore.
How You End the Game
When you put the first perpendicular card of the pile into the display, you keep playing …
- … until the starting player would have his next turn.
- … until – beginning with the starting player – everybody, in turn, has had another turn.
After that, the game ends, and you determine the winner(s).
And the Winner Is …
Add up the number of:
- image cards lying in front of you
- MANA tokens you own
The player with the greatest total of both wins!
In case of a tie, the player who has fewer hand cards left wins. There can be several winners.