Osmosis Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Game Rules
  • General Idea
  • Goal of the Game
  • Setup
• Course of Play
  • Phase 1: Discuss
  • Some Examples
  • Examples of Discussion
  • Phase 2: Associate
  • Phase 3: Reveal!
• New Round!
• End of the Game
• Variants
  • The easiest
  • The most difficult
  • Challenge Mode
• The Mission Cards
  • Level I
  • Level II
  • Level III
  • Level IV
• Player Aid

Game Contents

This game contains 220 cards, divided as follows:

• 126 Idea cards. Image on the front and Word on the back.
• 7 Number cards. Numbered from 1 to 7.
• 56 Vote cards. Each player will have the 7 Vote cards of their colour, numbered from 1 to 7.
• 28 Mission cards. There are 7 cards for each difficulty level of the game: I: discovery, II: easy, III: initiated, IV: expert. Details of each Mission on pages 14 to 17.
• 3 Round cards.

And this booklet.

Game Rules

General Idea

Choose a Mission together, and associate the Idea cards that seem relevant to you for carrying out this Mission, but... without describing what you see on them!

Goal of the Game

Osmosis is a cooperative game. A game is played in 3 rounds. You must win at least 2 rounds to win the game. If you win all 3 rounds, you win the game with flair.

Setup

For your first game, favour level I!

1. Place the 3 Round cards on the table.
2. Choose a difficulty level, shuffle the 7 Mission cards of that level, and place 5 of them face up (set the other 2 cards aside).
3. Line up the 7 Number cards in the centre of the table so that everyone can see them clearly.
4. Associate with each Number card one Idea card, image side up.
5. Each player takes their 7 Vote cards.

Setup illustration (3 players shown): the 3 Round cards in a row, 5 face-up Mission cards beneath them, then the 7 Number cards in a column, each with an Idea card (image side up) beside it; each player (Player 1, 2, 3) holds their stack of 7 Vote cards.

Course of Play

Each Round is divided into 3 phases: discuss, associate, reveal.

Phase 1: Discuss

You must agree, all together, on the Mission you wish to carry out among those available (5 in the 1st round), and at the same time on which Idea cards you are going to associate to carry out this Mission!

How to get there?

You can discuss among yourselves as much as you like. You can describe the types of associations you imagine, but under no circumstances may you say anything that allows the other players to identify one or more cards.

So you cannot say that you have in mind a round Duo, or a funerary one, or a climatic one: that would clearly identify certain cards. But a symbolic Duo, or a visual one, or a thematic one, yes, because everything can be symbolic, visual and thematic!

You may also explain to your partners how you are carrying out a Mission:

• "I see an obvious Duo! Oh! There are even 2 Duos! One that tells a story, and the other with the 2 cards on the same theme. But they have a card in common... Could that make us a Trio?"
• "On my side I rather see a card that could chronologically trigger another card. We could isolate the triggering card to make a Solo out of it!"

In summary, you can make explicit how you carry out your Mission, but not why.

Some Examples

I can say

• In my Duo, one card can lead to the other.
• A single word could let you identify 3 cards in the same way.
• I have 2 Duos: one rather visual and the other rather narrative.
• There is a Trio that must be obvious for some people, but not for everyone.
• The 4 cards of my Quartet have a thematic link.
• The 4 cards can be ordered chronologically.
• One of the 3 cards of my Trio triggers the other 2, we can isolate this card to make a Solo!
• Contextual, of the same nature, exhaustive, simultaneous, consecutive, inevitable, complementary, which tells a story...

I cannot say

• In my Duo, the 2 cards are objects.
• I see a fruity Trio.
• I have 2 Duos: one with triangles and one with animals.
• You, with your job, you're sure to see this Trio.
• The 4 cards of my Quartet are more or less directly linked to Egypt.
• We just have to order the 4 cards in the order of the numbers.
• My Trio is made up of cards that begin with a vowel.
• Cook, farmer, aerial, vegetal, explosive, animal-related, childish, bureaucratic, very big, which fills with liquid, related to the time, which fits in the hand, planetary...

In short: describe the associations without describing the cards!

You may be a little lost during the 1st round, then a social magic will work between you and you will naturally communicate in a new way: bravo, you have just created a language in spite of yourselves!

And above all, from the moment you ask yourselves whether or not you can say something, it is probably that you cannot!

Examples of Discussion

(Illustrated with the 7 numbered Idea cards: 1 a stethoscope, 2 a broken heart, 3 a flying figure with a bag, 4 a person sitting at a desk with objects, 5 an erupting volcano, 6 a Vitruvian man, 7 hatching eggs.)

• Pink player: "I see an obvious Duo! It makes a little story: one card that can lead to another."
• Green player: "I have a Duo, rather thematic too, but it doesn't make a story!"
• Pink player: "Mine is a bit thematic too..."
• Green player: "Yes!!! I agree, by adding a card to my Duo, I see the same thing! And it tells a story!"
• Purple player: "Then I have a Trio with a card that, associated with another, symbolises something that leads to the 3rd card."
• Pink player: "I still don't see your Trios, but I realise that with my starting story, I can add 2 cards to make a Quartet that still tells the same story!"
• Purple player: "And you can't turn it into a Trio, like us? Maybe it's the same thing?"
• Pink player: "OK, I'll do that, but I don't believe it!"

Phase 2: Associate

When everyone seems to agree, each player votes by placing in front of them, face down, their Vote cards corresponding to the numbers of the selected Idea cards.

For example:

• For a Trio, you make a pile of 3 Vote cards.
• For a double Duo, you make 2 piles of 2 Vote cards.

Phase 3: Reveal!

The crucial moment comes when everyone reveals their Vote cards.

• If the absolute majority among you is in osmosis (with exactly the same Vote cards, grouped in exactly the same way in the case of Missions involving several associations, and ordered in the same way in the case of associations involving an order): the round is won! You then take the completed Mission card, which you place face down on the Round card just played. You will therefore no longer have this Mission available in the next Round.
• On the other hand, if there is no absolute majority: the round is lost. You then simply flip the Round card just played to its lost side. This Mission remains available for the next round.

(Illustration: in the won example, players 2 and 3 show matching piles while player 1 differs; the Mission card is placed on the Round card, back of the card = Mission completed. In the lost example, no two players match and the Round card is flipped: back of the card = Round failed.)

New Round!

It's easy: if the Idea cards are image side up, flip them to the Word side; if they are Word side up, replace them with 7 new cards image side up.

If the Idea card draw pile runs out, shuffle all the discarded cards and form a new draw pile.

You start the new round with the Mission cards that remain (you therefore cannot carry out again a Mission you have already succeeded during the game). For example, if you win the 1st round, you will have the choice between 4 Mission cards in the 2nd round.

End of the Game

• You lost the first 2 rounds? The game is lost.

You played 3 rounds?

• Only 1 round won: the game is lost.
• 2 rounds won: the game is won.
• 3 rounds won: the game is won with flair!

Variants

The cognitive adaptability that our brain can show is astonishing! So, as we like you to be astonished by yourselves, here are a few game variants...

The easiest

Renunciation. During the discussion, by common agreement, the players designate one of them, who eliminates one of the Idea cards. 6 remain.

The most difficult

One way forbidden! At the start of each round, one of you randomly removes one of the Vote cards from their hand. They consult it secretly and will have to manage so that the winning majority association does not contain this number.

Compulsory direction! At the start of each round, one of you randomly removes one of the Vote cards from their hand. They consult it secretly and will have to manage so that the winning majority association contains this number.

The conflict. These are the One way forbidden and Compulsory direction variants practised simultaneously. One of the players therefore first removes one of the Vote cards from their hand which must not be part of the winning majority association, then a second Vote card which must imperatively be part of the majority association.

The unconscious. At each round, determine who spoke the most during the previous round (1 of the players for games of 2, 3 or 4 players; 2 players for games of 5 or 6 players; 3 players for games of 7 or 8 players). These players are not allowed to speak during this round!

Challenge Mode

Leave the Round cards in the box.

Place the Mission cards in 4 draw piles (one per level) on the table, face down.

Draw 3 cards from the pile(s) of your choice and place them face up: these are the possible Missions for the 1st round.

Play a first round.

If you lose the round, the game is over.

If you win the round, set aside the Mission card you completed and replace it by drawing a new card from the draw pile of your choice. Continue with a new round, and so on until you lose a round. Always alternate an Images round and a Words round.

At the end of the game, your score corresponds to the total number of neurons shown on the Mission cards won.

To play over several sittings, simply set aside the completed Mission cards and resume later!

Try to beat your record in a future challenge, unless you managed to win 28 rounds in a row!

Example: Mission cards completed during the first 3 rounds (three cards shown). Total = 9 points.

The Mission Cards

Level I

• Solo: 1 card.
• Duo: 2 cards.
• Trio: 3 cards.
• Quartet: 4 cards.
• Ordered Duo: 2 cards. One is positioned before the other and the cards must be positioned in exactly the same order by an absolute majority of players for the round to be won.
• Double Duo: 2 cards + 2 cards. During the voting phase, you must explicitly make 2 piles of 2 Vote cards. The Vote cards must be distributed in exactly the same way between the 2 piles by an absolute majority of players for the round to be won.
• Opposed Duo: 2 cards. 2 cards presenting an opposition.

Level II

• Solo: 1 card.
• Trio: 3 cards.
• Duo + Solo: 2 cards + 1 card.
• Trio + Duo: 3 cards + 2 cards.
• Trio with leader: 3 cards.
• Quartet with leader: 4 cards. One of the Vote cards is positioned before the other 2/3. In addition to having the 3/4 cards identical, it is the same card that must be positioned first for an absolute majority of players for the round to be won.
• 2 Ordered Duos: 2 cards + 2 cards.

Level III

• 3 Duos: 2 cards + 2 cards + 2 cards.
• 2 Trios: 3 cards + 3 cards.
• Trio with leader: 3 cards.
• Quintet with leader: 5 cards.
• Ordered Trio: 3 cards.
• 2 Ordered Duos: 2 cards + 2 cards.
• Quartet with leader and finisher: 4 cards. 4 Vote cards with one card positioned first and one last. In addition to having the 4 cards identical, it is the same card that must be positioned first and the same card last for an absolute majority of players for the round to be won.

Level IV

• 2 Duos: 2 cards + 2 cards.
• Quartet + Duo: 4 cards + 2 cards.
• 3 Ordered Duos: 2 cards + 2 cards + 2 cards.
• 2 Ordered Trios: 3 cards + 3 cards.
• Ordered Quartet: 4 cards.
• Ordered Quintet: 5 cards.
• Quintet with leader and finisher: 5 cards. 5 Vote cards with one card positioned first and one last. In addition to having the 5 cards identical, it is the same card that must be positioned first and the same card last for an absolute majority of players for the round to be won.

Player Aid

Cooperative game for 2 to 8 players.

Goal of the game: win at least 2 of the 3 rounds of a game.

Each round is made up of 3 phases during which you play simultaneously:

1. Discuss. Talk as much as you like to agree on the Mission to carry out among those available and the Idea cards to associate among the 7. The Mission cards are detailed on pages 14 to 17. You can describe the associations you imagine, but NEVER may you say anything that would allow the other players to identify one or more cards. Find examples of what you may or may not say on page 7.
2. Associate. When everyone seems to agree, each player votes by placing in front of them, face down, their Vote cards corresponding to the numbers of the selected Idea cards.
3. Reveal. Everyone reveals their Vote cards: if the absolute majority of players voted the same thing, the round is won! If the absolute majority of players did not vote the same thing, the round is lost. Alternate the Images rounds and the Words rounds.

Pages 18 to 27 of the booklet (the biography of Sabina Spielrein and the history of psychoanalysis, a presentation of the game's thematic background, "Our approach", production anecdote and acknowledgements) contain no game rules and are not transcribed.