Misfit Heroes
Misfit Heroes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 125 card sleeves
- 96 Attribute cards
- 4 reference cards
- 96 transparent Character cards
- 1 Start player token
- 54 single Influence tokens | 18 Forest, 18 Sea, 18 Mountain
- 6 triple Influence tokens | 2 Forest, 2 Sea, 2 Mountain
- 24 Quest tiles | 6 Forest, 6 Sea, 6 Mountain, 6 City
- 70 coins | 38 copper - 1 value, 16 silver - 5 value, 16 gold - 10 value
Gameplay Overview
Players will recruit a team of Heroes (Humans, Beasts, and Misfits) to gain Influence in order to complete quests across the Land of Absurdia. Your team is arranged face up in a tableau in front of you, reaching up to a 4x4 grid of cards. Players take turns Recruiting Hero cards to their tableau and activating Hero card abilities.
Quest tiles are worth points and are claimed by spending Influence tokens to complete them. Hero cards are either worth a flat point value or have specific scoring conditions. Recruiting Hero cards activates their abilities, which are the key to gaining Influence and making the most of your team.
Setup
Note: If this is your first time playing, set up the deck of Hero cards by sleeving an Attribute card with a random transparent Character card in front of it. You will not need all included sleeves.
- Shuffle the sleeved Hero cards and place them in a facedown deck at the center of the table. Discarded cards go next to the deck.
- Make a supply pile of the Influence tokens and Coins near the deck.
- Sort the Quest tiles by color and arrange them beside the draw pile in 4 descending columns with the highest values at the top. In a 3-player game, remove all 11-point tiles before this step. In a 2-player game, remove all 11- and 9-point tiles.
- Randomly choose a start player and give them the Start Player Token and coins worth 35 total. The 2nd player gets 40 to start, and each subsequent player takes 5 more than the previous player. Coins and Influence tokens must be visible at all times and their quantities are public information.
- Give each player a Reference card.
- Deal each player 5 cards from the top of the deck to form their hand, which is kept secret at all times.
For Future Games
One of the most exciting features of Misfit Heroes is how the deck changes from game to game! In future games, we recommend dealing 4 cards to each player before setup and having them swap the transparent Character cards to create new cards for the deck. Shuffle all newly changed cards into the deck and proceed to step 1 of Setup.
Game End and Winning
After any player recruits the 16th card in their tableau, the game end is triggered. After the current round is finished, the game is over and the player with the most points wins!
Hero Cards
Each Hero card combines a Character with an Attribute to form a unique combination. You Recruit Hero cards to your play area (tableau) by paying their cost.
The cost to Recruit a card is located in the upper left corner and is the sum of the 0-2 values listed in the coin icon.
On the left edge of a card is a banner representing its Faction: Human (light blue banner), Beast (pink banner), or Misfit (purple banner). Cards sometimes reference Factions for the purpose of scoring or effects.
The lower half of a card has 2 effects in boxes.
Recruitment Box
The top box is the Recruitment box, which triggers either when you Recruit the card to your tableau or at the end of the game. You cannot trigger Recruitment boxes a second time.
There are 4 types of Recruitment boxes:
- Heart icon: Triggers when you Recruit the card.
- Green triangle icon: Meet specific conditions to activate its Activation box.
- Star icon: Pay a fee to activate its Activation box.
- Trophy icon: Score points at the end of the game, immediately activate its Activation box.
Activation Box
The lower box of a card is its Activation box, which you activate when you Recruit the card and trigger its Recruitment box, but you may also activate with other cards later.
Sometimes the Recruitment box of a card affects its Activation box. When a card activates another card, you disregard the Recruitment box. You may activate a card multiple times in a single turn through other cards.
On Your Turn
Players take turns one at a time with play passing to the left. On your turn, you may carry out 1 of the following main actions:
1) Recruit a Hero Card
To Recruit a Hero card, you must pay Coins equal to its cost (the sum of the values in the coin icon) and place it face up in your tableau. Your tableau consists of all the cards you have Recruited in a 4x4 grid. The first card you Recruit occupies the lower left corner, and each subsequent card must be placed orthogonally adjacent to a previously placed card and fit within the 4x4 grid.
After Recruiting a card and paying its cost, activate its Recruitment box and Activation box as long as you have fulfilled the star fee or met the triangle conditions of its Recruitment box, if any. If you cannot pay the star fee or meet the triangle condition of a card, you cannot Recruit it.
The only way to activate a card again is through other cards.
2) Draw Cards
Discard any number of cards from your hand (you may discard 0) and draw 2 cards from the deck plus an additional card per card discarded. For example, if you discard 3 cards, you would draw 5 cards to your hand.
3) Gain 1 Influence
Gain 1 Influence of any color (Forest, Sea, or Mountain) from the supply.
4) Gain 10 Coins
Gain 10 coins from the supply.
End of Your Turn and Claiming a Quest
After you have carried out 1 of the 4 main actions, you may discard 6 Influence to Claim 1 Quest. There are 2 ways to use Influence to claim Quests:
- Discard 6 Influence of the same color to claim the most valuable unclaimed Quest tile of that color.
- Discard 2 of each of the 3 Influence types (6 tokens total) to claim the most valuable unclaimed City Quest tile.
You may only claim 1 Quest per turn. Once you have spent Influence or opted not to, discard down to 8 cards in hand, 8 Influence of each color, and 80 coins if necessary. Play passes to the left.
End of the Game and Scoring
After any player Recruits their 16th Hero card in their tableau, finish the current round so that all players have an equal number of turns.
Your score is the sum of the points on your Quest tiles and Hero cards in your tableau, plus 1 point per Influence token and 1 point for every 10 coins, rounded down. In the case of a tie, the tied player with more cards in hand wins. If players are still tied, they celebrate their shared victory. Yippee!
Scoring Example
Cards in tableau (trophy cards + individual cards): 31 points, Quest tiles: 30 points, Coin: 1 point, Influence tokens: 2 points. Total: 31 + 30 + 2 + 1 = 64 points.
After determining the winner, we suggest mixing up the cards a second time, adding even more changes to your deck for your next play! Just like you did at the start of the game, deal each player 4 cards and have them swap the transparent Character cards around. You may also change out the entire deck or keep it the same (if that's what you really want!)
You're Ready to Start Playing!
Keep reading for finer points.
Terms and Icons
- Above, Below - Directly adjacent to an edge of a card and either above or below it.
- Activate - Resolve the Activation box on 1 of your cards in play.
- Adjacent - Directly next to a card vertically or horizontally, not diagonally.
- Claim - Take an unclaimed Quest tile by discarding Influence tokens.
- Column - Cards aligned vertically in your tableau, with or without gaps. The leftmost column is column 1, the column to its right is column 2, and so on.
- Cost - The Coins required to Recruit a card.
- Discard - Return Influence to the supply or cards from your hand to the discard pile face up.
- Draw - Draw a card from the top of the deck into your hand.
- Gain - Take Coins or Influence from the supply and place them in your play area.
- Group - Any number of orthogonally adjacent cards, usually sharing a quality.
- In play - A card is in play if it is in your tableau and not Stunned.
- Recruit - Reveal a card from your hand and place it in your 4x4 tableau adjacent to at least 1 other card, paying its cost.
- Reveal - Flip a card face up, usually from the deck.
- Row - Cards aligned horizontally in your tableau, with or without gaps.
- Pay - Spend Coins, returning them to the supply and making change if necessary.
- Stun - Flip a card in play face down. You may no longer activate it, it does not contribute its faction symbol, and it does not score at the end of the game. Players may look at stunned cards.
- Tableau - The arrangement of cards in front of you.
- Your cards - Face up cards in play in your tableau.
Faction Icons
- Human card
- Beast card
- Misfit card
Other Icons
- Forest
- Sea
- Mountain
- An Influence token of any color
- Coins
Other Important Rules
- You may choose not to activate an Activation box when Recruiting a card or activating it with another card. You must carry out the whole effect if you activate it.
- When activating cards with a "twice" or "3 times" effect, fully resolve the effect before activating it again.
- "This turn" effects apply to cards you activated prior (as well as the current card) but not to cards you activate afterward.
- When activating multiple cards as the result of a single card, resolve them one after the other.
- Influence tokens are finite. If there are not enough Influence tokens for an action, take all remaining tokens of the corresponding type (beginning with the current player if multiple players would gain Influence).
- If you need to draw cards and the deck is depleted, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck. If there are not enough cards remaining for an action, draw all remaining cards.
- You may have more than 8 cards in hand, 8 Influence tokens of each type, or 80 coins during your turn, but you must discard down to these quantities at the end of your turn. It is also possible to exceed 8 cards in hand, 8 Influence of each type, or 80 coins on another player's turn.
- Cards with Activation boxes that activate cards can only ever activate other cards and cannot directly activate themselves.
Credits
Designer: Phil Walker-Harding Artist: Matthew Owen (@mrmattzan) Lead Development: Josh Wood Additional Development: Kirk W Buckendorf, John Goodenough, Neil Kimball, Mark Wootton Producer: Adelheid Zimmerman Graphic Design: Estefania Rodriguez, Whitney Tsai Writing and Editing: Peter McPherson Production: David Lepore Playtesters: Colton Broadhead, Chris Cobb, Andrew Cork, Theodore Coyer, Andy Desa, Ketan Deshpande, Karen Dransfield, Jamie Dunk, David Gordon, Liam Hanrahan, David Harding, Ian Hutchison, Chris LaBanca, Mandy McCool, Chris Morphew, Tobias Nielsen, Pedro Ometto, Vlad Orellana, Matthew Ransom, Matthew Rodela, Estefania Rodriguez, Francisco "Paco" Rojas, Peter Samet, Lee Smathers, "Some British Guy", Mark Starr, Karan Tolani, Richard Trout, Nathanael Van Der Reyen, Dan Varrette, Amanda "Panda" Wong, Adelheid Zimmerman, John Zinser
© 2025 Alderac Entertainment Group, 2505 Anthem Village Drive, Suite E-521, Henderson, NV 89052, USA. Misfit Heroes and all related marks are ™ or ® and © where indicated Phil Walker-Harding or Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; All Rights Reserved. Made in China.