Penny Arcade: Paint The Line ECG – Red Tide Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What Is Paint The Line?
• What You Need To Play
• How To Win
• Parts Of A Card
• Playing Cards
  • Coach Cards
  • Stamina Cards
  • Shot Cards
  • Basic Shot Cards
  • Trick Shot Cards
  • Shot Enhancement Cards
• Tapping
• Recycling
• Match Setup
• Gameplay
  • General Rules
• The Turn
• The Escalation Index
• The Serve
• The Rally
• Rule of 20 and 1
• Scoring
• Advantage System
  • Shot Types
  • Normal and Advantage
• Customizing Your Deck
• The Table

What Is Paint The Line?

Paint the Line is a Cold War era ping pong card game. Players hit the ball back and forth by rolling a 20 sided die in an attempt to meet or exceed a target number. Players play cards to aid their dice rolls and penalize their opponent's rolls.

What You Need To Play

You need your own 60 card "bag" or deck, an opponent with a 60 card bag, a ball (20 sided die) and a few tokens.

How To Win

A player wins by reaching 11 points first. Alternatively, if a player's "bag" runs out of cards, they must forfeit the game.

Parts Of A Card

A typical Paint the Line card will have the following:

1. Title and Nation Flag. Cards that have no flag are neutral cards and can be used in any deck. Cards with flags can only be included in decks of the same flag or nation.
2. The stamina cost in the upper right dictating the number of stamina cards you must tap in order to play that card.
3. Card Kind.
4. Ability description.
5. A Stat line. This can show the shot bonuses, return penalties, shot type, or advantage indicator, as well as a quick look at the keyword and cost.

Playing Cards

Decks may include Coach, Stamina, Basic Shot, Trick Shot, and Shot Enhancement cards.

Coach Cards

Coaches oversee play and offer advice that can change the outcome of a match. During play, Coaches exist outside of your deck and stay in play for the entire match.

Stamina Cards

Stamina is the resource that fuels your play. When you play a Basic Shot, Trick Shot, or Shot Enhancement you must tap the number of stamina cards indicated by the card cost.

Stamina is referenced by a stamina symbol.

Shot Cards

Shot Cards are used to aid your shots and penalize your opponent's returns. Some shot cards also have special abilities that affect gameplay in different ways. The primary benefit to using shot cards are their Shot Bonus and Return Penalty values.

A Shot Bonus is a value with a "+" in front of it. This number is added to your roll, improving your chance for success.

A Return Penalty is a value with "-" in front of it. This penalty always goes to your opponent's next dice roll, making their return shot more difficult.

Most shot cards will have two sets of values: Normal, and Advantage. Depending on the circumstance, you may choose either of these sets of values for your hit. To learn about the "Advantage System," please refer to the Advantage System section of this guide.

When you commit to hitting a shot card, resolve the card ability, double tap the shot card, then roll the d20.

Basic Shot Cards

Basic Shots are neutral shot cards which can be used in any deck.

Trick Shot Cards

Trick Shots are nation-specific shots with special effects that aid your shot or penalize your opponent's return. You can locate the nation type by referencing the flag image behind the card title.

Shot Enhancement Cards

Shot Enhancements are used when your hit needs extra firepower. Like Basic Shots, Shot Enhancements are neutral cards which can be used in any deck. Most Shot Enhancements are single use and are discarded after they are played, however some Shot Enhancements are attached to shot cards for permanent effects.

Tapping

A single tapped card is rotated 90°. While tapped, the card cannot be used. When a shot card is hit, it is "double tapped," or rotated 180°. When a card is untapped, or right side up, it is "ready" and available for use.

• Ready
• Single Tapped
• Double Tapped

Recycling

Once per turn, you may elect to Recycle by discarding cards from your hand, cards you have in play, or both. This must be done before you hit the ball. For every two cards you discard in this way, you may draw one card.

Match Setup

Decide, with your opponent, on the length of the match. A match can consist of a single game or a series of 3, 5, or 7 games.

Each player places any Coaches into play, and shuffles their deck. Then, each player rolls a 20 sided die ("the ball") to determine first serve. Each player draws seven cards from their deck. If a player is not happy with their starting hand, they may elect to mulligan by shuffling their hand back into the deck and drawing a new starting hand. You can mulligan this way once.

Gameplay

General Rules

• Games are played to 11. You do not need to win by two, as in traditional ping pong.
• The maximum hand size is 7 cards. If you have more than 7 cards in your hand, you must discard down to 7 cards before ending your turn.
• Serve alternates after each point, regardless of which player scores. This will sometimes result in a player taking back to back turns.
• If shot card abilities conflict directly, such as "Mute" and "Ignore," the higher cost card trumps the lower cost card.
• If you are playing a multi-game match: at the end of each game, shuffle your cards back into your deck and begin the next game by drawing 7 cards. You must also alternate the opening serve for each game.

The Turn

At the beginning of your turn, ready all of your stamina cards and draw a card. During your turn, you may do each of the following actions once:

• Put one Stamina Card from your hand into play.
• Untap one shot card once.
• Recycle to draw more cards.
• Play as many cards from your hand to the table as you have Stamina to pay for.
• Hit one shot card, or use the Default Shot. A Default Shot is a hit that requires no shot card. If you choose to hit a shot card, you can elect to hit either a ready shot card in play by paying its stamina cost, or you may hit a shot card played from your hand this turn for free.

The Escalation Index

The Escalation Index is the doomsday clock that administers the gameplay of Paint the Line. The Escalation Index is made up of 8 cards with even target numbers from 6 to 20.

The Serve

During a Serve, players can elect to hit a shot card or the Default Shot. Shot cards always have advantage during a Serve. Shot cards with the "Serve" ability can only be hit during a serve.

The Rally

The Escalation Index is the number you must roll or exceed to successfully hit or return a shot. With each successful shot, the Escalation Index increases one increment. This number begins at 6, and generally increases by 2 each return.

A rally continues until a player misses a shot by rolling under the required Escalation Index target number. If the Escalation Index reaches 20, it remains at 20 until the rally ends.

Rule of 20 and 1

Rolling a natural 20, or critical shot, is an automatic success. The Escalation Index is increased normally in such cases, but the return shot has a target number of 20. Additionally, if a shot card was used, all effects and penalties apply. If a critical shot is returned successfully, the Escalation Index is increased as usual and the target number returns to normal.

A roll of 1 is always a failure.

Example: The Escalation Index is at 10 and Joe hits a Drive Shot with a normal -1 return penalty. He rolls a 20. The shot is successful and the Escalation Index is increased to 12. Since it was a critical shot, the Escalation target number is set to 20 for Vladimir's return shot. Vladimir also has a -1 to his roll from Joe's Drive Shot as well, bringing the target number to 21. Vladimir chooses to hit Order of Lenin for a +8 bonus and is successful. The Escalation Index returns to normal and is increased to 14.

Scoring

A point is awarded to the player who performed the last successful shot of a rally. After a point is scored, all cards, except Coaches are reset to ready.

Advantage System

Shot Types

Hitting the ball without using a shot card is a Default Shot. Default Shots have no benefit and always convey advantage to your opponent. For this reason, you should choose to hit the ball with a shot card whenever possible.

Each shot card has a shot type indicated in the bottom center of each card. The shot card types are Lob, Spin and Drive.

• Lob
• Spin
• Drive

Normal and Advantage

Each Shot Card typically has two sets of bonus and return penalty values. "Normal" is the base set of values for a shot card, and can be used at any time. "Advantage" are the set of values that are accessible when the shot card is being hit with Advantage. In order for a shot card to have Advantage, it must either be hit during a Serve, or when it returns a shot that is of a shot type it has Advantage over. Use the following guide to determine Advantage:

• Lob shots have advantage over Spin shots.
• Spin shots have Advantage over Drive shots.
• Drive shots have Advantage over Lob shots.
• Lob, Spin and Drive shots all have Advantage over a Default shot.

Or "LSD" for short. Each shot card typically has a small indicator to the right of its shot type, telling you which shot type it has Advantage over. You can also find an Advantage System diagram on the Escalation Index.

Customizing Your Deck

Paint the Line: ECG is an expandable card game. By purchasing multiple sets, you can customize your own deck. Custom deck rules are as follows:

• Decks must be 60 cards. If you choose to play with a Coach, that Coach card must be included in that 60 card count.
• There can be no more than 4 copies of each card per deck, not including Stamina Cards.
• Each deck may only contain cards from a single nation. Neutral cards can be used in any deck.

The Table

Cards that are played from your hand are put into play. Once cards are in play, they remain on the table until the game ends unless they are removed by a shot effect or Recycled. The table has specific zones designed to keep play organized:

• The Power Plant is where your Stamina Cards are kept.
• Shot cards that are ready to hit are housed in the Arsenal.
• The Salvo contains the last shot cards hit by each player.
• Tapped shot cards that are not ready to hit are contained in the Reserve. Once a shot card is ready, it is moved back to the Arsenal.

During play, shot cards will frequently move between the Arsenal, the Salvo and the Reserve.