Mystic Paths Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Set-Up
Object
Order of Play
Scoring
Gameplay Hints
Variants
Credits

1 Eternal Forest Board — This is where the Magic happens — Assemble the 3 pieces to begin.
6 Apprentices and Bases (1 of each color)
30 Progress Tokens (5 each of 6 colors)
6 Wizard Cups (2-sided tokens)
60 Portals (+ extra blanks to customize)
42 NOT Tokens (7 each of 6 colors)
108 Clue Cards
30 Map Cards
5 Round Cards

Set-Up

Assemble the game board and place it in the center of the table. Randomly pick 19 Portals and place them into the empty spaces on the board. Place the 5 Round Cards in one stack (face up) on the table.
Each player takes one color of an Apprentice with Base, 5 Progress Tokens and 7 NOT Tokens. Each player takes the 3 Progress Tokens that are numbered 1, 2, & 3, and places them face-up in front of them. Keep the rest in reserve.
Each player places their Apprentice with the Base on the Portal that's connected to a starting icon. (Choose the starting icon closest to you on the board. This is your starting spot). These are the 6 starting icons.
Shuffle the deck of Clue Cards and deal 4 face down to each player. Clue Cards should remain hidden in your hand unless played to the table.
Shuffle the Map Cards and deal one face down to each player. This card shows your private mapped out Path and is never revealed until the end.

Object

The base game is played cooperatively to achieve the highest score as a team. All of you have been transported to the Eternal Forest. Your objective is to successfully navigate each of your mapped Paths though the mystical labyrinth. Each player's Path is unique. And only you know your own map. But your teammates are needed to open the sealed Portals along the way. Give clues to your teammates as they are the ONLY ones that can get you through to the end.

Order of Play

1 — Study Your Map

The Map Card contains the pre-determined Path that each player must take through the Forest. Each player takes a moment to compare their own Path to the game board. The symbol (star) on the Map Card represents each player's starting Portal on the board. The numbers 1—10 represent each player's step-by-step Path that correspond with the Portals on the game board.

We suggest showing new players an example of a Map Card to point out how the Mystic Path corresponds to the board space by space. This will help them understand how their own Path will work.

2 — Present Clues for the First 3 Steps in Your Path

In order to make progress along any Path, each Portal must be identified by other players. The player must give a clue so others can successfully guess the secret word that corresponds to the next Portal in their Path.

To do this, each player selects one clue that best describes each step along their Path. The Clue Cards from your hand are the ONLY thing you may use to describe which step you are supposed to move onto next. Begin with step 1. Take a card from your hand that best describes the word on the Portal for the 1st step in your Path. Place that card facing the other players so they can easily read it.

Place the '1' Progress Token on top of the unused word on that Clue Card. This indicates that the visible clue is for that step. Then do the same thing for the 2nd and 3rd Portals in your Path. Once everyone has done this, there will be three Clue Cards in front of each player.

Steps 1, 2 & 3 are oriented this way only for the rules.

You may opt to place a NOT Token on a Clue Card played. This signifies that your clue is the opposite of that word.

For example, if you are trying to guide someone to pick a Portal with the words Empire State Building, you might choose to display the clue SHORT and place a NOT Token on it so that your clue becomes NOT SHORT.

3 — Guessing the Path

Decide as a group which player's Path to guess first.

When players try to guess the next Portal on a player's Path, they will collectively discuss and decide on an answer. When the group reaches consensus, they must touch the word on the board to indicate which Portal is the correct next step. Once a Portal is touched, the guess cannot be changed! As a matter of strategy, players should examine the subsequent Clues to help identify the possible correct Path.

If the players make an INCORRECT guess:

Be careful not to reveal the correct answer.
Place one of your NOT Tokens on the incorrect guess. This will remind the other players not to guess that Portal again next round.
Guessing on your Path stops. Your turn ends.

If the players make a CORRECT guess:

Yay! Move your Apprentice to the new Portal just guessed. (Make sure your Apprentice does not block the word on the Portal. Also, make sure your Base is placed where your Apprentice was, to keep track of the Portal your Apprentice just vacated.)
Remove all of your NOT Tokens from the board, the Progress Token and the Clue Card guessed. For example, if the first step is guessed remove the Progress Token 1 and the Clue Card under it. Place the Clue Card in a discard pile.
Your turn continues — Players may then make a new guess for the next Portal in your Path. If all of your active Progress Tokens have been guessed your turn ends.

NOTE: These restrictions apply whenever making a guess:

The next step will always be a Portal adjacent to your Apprentice's location.
The next step will never be the Portal where your Base sits (Your Apprentice's last location).
You cannot communicate in any way until a guess is made by a player touching a Portal.

Once your turn ends: The turn passes to the next player in clockwise order.

4 — Prepare for the Next Round

Once all players have had a turn, everyone draws back up to 4 Clue Cards in their hand. If the Clue deck is depleted, shuffle the discards and replace the deck. Replace Clue Cards guessed with new Clue Cards and Progress Tokens for the next steps in your Path. You should have 3 total Progress Tokens displayed.

Each round after the 1st round, you get to add one more Clue Card to a step that was not guessed in the previous round.

Round 5 - In this round you are allowed 1 extra Clue Card and Progress Token for a total of 4.

Flip the face-up Round Card face-down beside the deck to keep track of the round you are on.

Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until the end of the game.

5 — The End

The game ends immediately after 5 rounds.

If you successfully reached the end of your Path before the game ends, take a Wizard Cup.

Place it in front of you; Gold side up if you achieved this in round 4 or Silver side up if in round 5.
Add 2 points to your final score for a Gold Cup and 1 point for a Silver Cup.

Once a player has reached the end of their Path they continue to help make guesses for the other player's Paths.

Scoring

Each player's score is the number of the last step successfully reached in their Path. So if Joseph still has Progress Tokens 5 through 7 displayed, then his last successfully reached step was 4. Thus his score is 4.

Add up all the scores of each player and divide by the number of players (round down). This final score shows how well your group of Apprentices performed.

Points	Final Grade
11+	A+ AMAZING!!	Top of your class! This begins your path to success!
10	A AWESOME!	Excellent! Now, let's discuss paying back your student loans...
9	A- ACCEPTABLE	Mmm, so close to perfection!
8	B BRAVO!	Not half bad. More like 3/4 good.
6-7	C CLOSE!	But this isn't Horseshoes nor hand grenades...
4-5	D DUBIOUS!	Not sure you are getting the hang of this yet.
1-3	F FAILURE!	Is your wand broken? Please work on your spellcraft.

Gameplay Hints

When solving clues, look at the board and consider future steps. You may see a pattern connecting the clues.
Some Paths are more challenging and may loop back across the same Portal twice!
Keep in mind that the next step of your Path is NEVER the one you just came from. So whichever Portal has your Apprentice's Base cannot possibly be a word to guess.
When placing an Apprentice on any Portal, keep them away from the word so everyone can read it.
Try not to choose Clue words that could apply to multiple adjacent Portals as that may confuse whoever is guessing.

Variants

In all variants, ties are broken by Wizard Cups. Gold beats Silver. If still tied, it is a shared victory but hey, you made the Honor Roll!

Individual Play

With an experienced group of 3–6 players you can play competitively as individuals. The game plays the same, except that you display Paths ONLY to the player to your left who will guess the Path of your Apprentice. You will guess the Path for the player on your right. Each player scores the total of their Path score and the Path score of the player to their right. The player with the highest total wins!

Team Play

With a group of 4 or 6 players you can play in teams. Players divide into teams of 2 players each and sit opposite each other around the Forest. The game plays the same, except that only your teammate can guess which Portal Token is next on your Path. Each team scores the total of their two players and highest score wins!

Go For It All

This variant is "everyone against the game" for one round. To play, one player is chosen as the sole Apprentice and gets a Map Card and twenty (yes 20!) Clue Cards. The rest of the players are a team whose goal is to guess the ENTIRE 10 step Path in one turn! So the player with the Map Card studies the map, and lays out 10 clues facing the team, one for EVERY step on the Path. (They can ignore the use of the Progress Tokens, but can use NOT Tokens as needed.) The other players attempt to go as far as they can by guessing correctly for each step. If a step is guessed correctly, move on to the next clue. If not, stop and try again with a new Apprentice, new map and a new set of clues. See how far you can get. Try to get through all 10 steps!

If you succeed, email us with your name(s) at [email protected] and we'll put you into the Hall of Fame on our website!

Credits

Designers: Kevin Worden and Brian Leet Development: Frank DiLorenzo, Joseph Rose, Matt Mariani Editing: Frank DiLorenzo, Vincent Salzillo, Matt Mariani Graphics: Jenn DiFranco, Brandon Lewis Illustration: Brandon Lewis, Stephani Stacy, William O'Brien Musical Score: Colin Yurges 3D Modeling: Chad Hoverter Apprentice Model: Maria Worden

Mystic Paths™ game materials use tradenames and trademarks that are widely recognized by the public. The use of these game materials is not sponsored or approved by the owners of these trademarks and these materials should only be used for entertainment purposes.