Portal of Heroes
Portal of Heroes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Pieces
- 56 Pearl cards, valued 1 to 8
- 54 Character cards with Diamonds on the backs
- 5 player Portals
Getting Ready to Play
Shuffle the Pearl and Character cards separately. Place four Pearl cards in the middle of the table, face up. Put the rest of the Pearl cards next to those four in a face-down draw pile. Place two Character cards in the middle of the table as well, and put the rest of the Character cards next to them in a face-down draw pile.
Each player takes a Portal and places it in front of them. Choose a player to go first, who turns their Portal over so the "Starting Player" symbol shows.
Note: Pearl and Character cards have separate draw and discard piles. Pearl or Character cards will always be drawn from their own draw pile and discarded to their own discard pile. Whenever a draw pile is used up, re-shuffle the corresponding discard pile and create a new draw pile.
Playing the Game
The starting player goes first then play continues in a clockwise direction. When it's your turn, choose any three of the following four actions:
- Take one Pearl card,
- Remove and replace all four Pearl cards,
- Put one Character card on your Portal,
- Activate one Character
You may take these actions in any order, and you may repeat the same action if you want to.
Take One Pearl Card
Take one of the four face-up Pearl cards or the top card of the draw pile and put it in your hand. If you take a face-up Pearl card, replace it with the top card from the draw pile immediately.
If you turn over a card with the "Swap" symbol, immediately discard the two face-up Character cards and replace them with two new ones from the draw pile (unless this happens during setup).
Hand Limit: At the end of your turn, you cannot have more than five cards in your hand. You must discard any excess cards at that time.
Remove and Replace All Four Pearl Cards
Take all four face-up Pearl cards and put them on the discard pile. Replace them with the top four cards from the draw pile.
Put One Character Card on Your Portal
Take either one of the two face-up Character cards or the top card from the draw pile and put it on your Portal so it's right side up for you (exception: the "Will-o'-the-Wisp", see below). If you pick a face-up card, replace it with the top card from the draw pile immediately.
Your Portal can only hold two Character cards. If you want to put another (third) card on your Portal, you have to discard one of your two cards and put it on the discard pile beforehand. Then put your new card on your Portal.
Activate One Character
In order to activate a Character, you have to play a certain combination of Pearl cards from your hand. The required combination is printed near the upper edge of the Character card. Discard the required Pearl cards, turn the activated character card 180 degrees, and put it next to your Portal on the right.
Example: In order to activate this Character, you will need two Pearl cards with the value 6 and two 8s.
Examples of Pearl Card Combinations
- Two Pearl cards with value 1
- One Pearl card of value 5, one 6, and one 7
- A pair, three of a kind, or four of a kind
- Any two pairs
- Three cards adding up to a total of 7
- Any number of cards adding up to a total of 10
- Three 4s or three 5s
- Three 2s and one Diamond
- Three Pearl cards with even values
- Three Pearl cards with odd values
- Any pair and one pair of 6s
- A straight of three or five consecutive values, respectively
Activated characters can give you Power Points, Diamonds, and/or the use of their special abilities (see the list at the end of the rulebook). For activating the Unicorn, you get 1 Power Point and 2 Diamonds.
Power Points (from 0 to 5) are printed in gold at the top of the activated Character card.
If there are Diamond symbols next to the Power Points, immediately take that number of Character cards from the draw pile and put them in front of you to the left of your Portal with the Diamond side up.
Using Diamonds: If you don't have the correct Pearl cards to activate a character, you can use a Diamond to increase—but not decrease—the value of a Pearl card by 1. For example, a Pearl card of value 3 becomes a Pearl card of value 4. You can only use one Diamond on each Pearl card. Used-up Diamond cards go to the Character card discard pile.
Note: You cannot create a Pearl card of value 9 with the help of a Diamond.
The End of Your Turn
Once you've taken your last action, your turn is over. If you have more than five cards in your hand at this point, you must discard the excess. Then the player to your left takes a turn.
The End of the Game
The game ends when any player collects 12 or more Power Points (from activated Characters). Continue to play until the end of the current round (when the player to the right of the Starting Player finishes his or her turn). Then, each player takes one final turn, and the game ends. At this point, the player who has the most Power Points is the winner! In case of a tie, the tied player who holds the most Diamonds wins.
Character Card Special Abilities
Note: Using red and blue abilities is not counted as an action.
Red Abilities
Red abilities are used only once and must be used immediately when the Character is activated:
- You immediately take three more actions.
- The next player gets one additional action on his or her next turn.
- Take one Character card from the Portal of one of your opponents and discard it.
- Look at an opponent's hand of cards, pick one, and add it to your hand.
- Take one Pearl card you just played back into your hand.
The "Will-o'-the-Wisp"
The Will-o'-the-Wisp is the only Character card played upside down when it's placed on your Portal. If you put a Will-o'-the-Wisp on your Portal, both of your neighbours can try to activate it on their turns, before you can activate it yourself. The player who activates the Will-o'-the-Wisp puts it to the right of his or her Portal, and gets three Power Points.
Blue Abilities
Blue abilities take effect immediately and are permanent. Depending on the ability, the effect can either be used before your first action, at any time during your turn, or after the last action on your turn.
- Pearl cards of value 1 in your hand can be used as value 8 when you activate a Character.
- Pearl cards of value 3 in your hand can be used as any value from 1 to 8 when you activate a Character.
- You may discard a Pearl card of value 2 to take 1 Diamond.
- Your hand limit permanently increases by 1 card.
- Starting immediately, you may take one additional action per turn.
- Before your first action, you may swap one Character card from your Portal with one of the face up Characters in the middle of the table.
- After your last action, once per turn, you may discard all the cards in your hand and draw the same number of cards from the draw pile.
- Before your first action, you may look at the top Character card of the draw pile and return it face down.
- You may use a Diamond to decrease the value of a Pearl card by 1. You cannot reduce a Pearl card to value 0. You may only use one Diamond per Pearl card. Discard any used Diamonds to the Character card discard pile.
Some character cards show pearl cards with a number or a "?". The "?" can be any value from 1 to 8. Each time you activate a Character, you can use the pictured Pearl card once. This counts the same as a Pearl card you played from your hand. A Pearl card pictured on a Character card does not count towards your hand limit. Its value cannot be increased or decreased using Diamonds.
Example: You want to activate Little Red Riding Hood on your Portal. You play Pearl cards valued 4, 7, and 8 from your hand, and complete the combination using the Dwarf's 5 and the Dragon's "?", which can count as a 6. You get to activate Little Red Riding Hood and discard only the three Pearl cards from your hand.