Portals Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Goal of the Game
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • Phase I. Collect Key Cards and Stones
  • Phase II. Activate Key Cards
  • Phase III. Prepare for the Next Round
• End of the Game
• Additional Modules
  • Magic Spells Module
  • Secret Signs Module
• Solo Mode
• Player Reference
  • Magic Spells (Reference)
  • Secret Signs (Reference)

Game Contents

• 36 Key cards (12 orange, 12 red, and 12 purple). These magic keys open portals.
• 20 Secret Sign cards. These charts contain arcane knowledge about which elemental combinations lead to Dominick Dey.
• Rulebook
• 4 Circles of Elements. Magic circles spawn elemental stones that you need for spells.
• 4 two-sided Elemental boards. Contain symbols of the 5 elements and allow you to open portals between worlds.
• Elemental stone bag. This reservoir of Elemental stones is used with magic circles.
• 100 Elemental stones (20 of each color). Yellow stones represent air, green — earth, red — fire, blue — water, and dark purple — time.
• Spellboard. Each of the 4 spells allows you to use a special ability in exchange for an Elemental stone from one of the Circle of Elements.
• 24 player markers (6 rectangular, 6 oval, 6 triangular, and 6 pentagon). Your signets represent how many stones you took from the Circles of Elements.
• 66 Victory Point tokens (valued 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10). Achievements display your mastery.

Goal of the Game

Open portals to other worlds to earn the most Victory Points by the end of the 4th round.

Game Setup

This section describes a game setup for 2 to 4 players. For solo mode setup, see "Solo Mode" below. Also, the Spellboard and 20 Secret Sign cards are not used in the normal game (see "Additional Modules" below).

1. Shuffle the two-sided Elemental boards and place 1 random board between each pair of adjacent players. For a 2-player game, place 2 random boards between the players. Return all remaining boards to the box.

   For your first game, use the sides of the boards without the (square) icons. Once you grasp the rules, try the sides with increased difficulty (with the icons).

2. Place 1 Circle of Elements next to each board. Return all remaining Circles to the box. The closest Elemental boards and Circles of Elements on a player's left and right are considered available to them.

3. Each player takes 6 markers of a chosen shape, and places them next to the two available Circles of Elements: 3 markers next to the left Circle and 3 markers next to the right Circle. Return all remaining markers to the box.

4. Divide Key cards by color to form 3 decks (the dots in the corners of the cards will help you to tell them apart). Shuffle each deck separately and place them face down in a column in the middle of the table. Leave some space next to each deck for discard piles. Draw 2 cards from the top of each deck and place them face up to form 3 colored rows, 2 cards each. These 6 cards form the Key card area.

   The color of a card represents its difficulty, i.e., how many (square) icons this card has on its face. Orange cards have 2 squares, red cards have 3, and purple cards have 4. Over the course of the game, you will take Key cards and place Elemental stones on their squares with icons.

5. Place all Victory Point tokens next to the Key card area. This is the shared Victory Points (VP) supply.

You are now ready to play!

Gameplay

The game is played over 4 rounds. Each round has 3 phases.

• I. Collect Key cards and stones. Starting with the First player, each player in clockwise order take 2 actions:
  1. Take a card from the Key card area.
  2. Take a stone from a Circle of Elements and place it on a Key card.
• II. Activate Key cards. Players in alternating order transfer Elemental stones from their charged Key cards to Elemental boards, gaining Victory Points.
• III. Prepare for the next round. The next player clockwise becomes the First player, takes the bag, and places new stones on all Circles of Elements.

Phase I. Collect Key Cards and Stones

Starting with the First player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player takes their turn. On your turn, you take 2 actions in the following order:

1. Take a Key card. Choose 1 out of the 6 cards in the Key card area and place it face up in front of you. While choosing, pay attention to card numbers (see "Phase II. Activate Key cards" below). Immediately reveal a new card from the corresponding deck and add it to the Key card area to replace the chosen one. If you need to draw a new card, and the corresponding deck is empty, first shuffle the discard pile of this color to form a new deck.

   If you already have 4 Key cards in front of you, skip this action. If you have 1 to 3 Key cards and any of them has at least 1 unoccupied square, you may choose not to take a new card. In any other case, you must take a card.

2. Take a stone. You must take this action! Take any stone from an available Elemental Circle (left or right), then take 1 of your markers next to that Circle and put it on the Circle. Place the taken stone on any unoccupied square of your Key cards.

   At the beginning of each round, there are only 3 markers of your color next to each Elemental Circle available to you. Therefore, you cannot take more than 3 stones from a single Elemental Circle. If one Elemental Circle already has 3 of your markers, you must take a stone from another Circle on your turn.

   If you skip the first action, because you already have 4 Key cards and all squares on them have stones, then while taking your second action, you must take a stone from an available Elemental Circle and return it to the bag. To prevent this, be sure to have at least one unoccupied square on your Key cards on your turn.

After taking your second action, the turn passes to the player on your left. Players continue taking 2 actions going clockwise around the table until the phase ends. Phase I ends when all player markers are placed on Elemental Circles (i.e., each player took 6 stones). All players proceed to phase II.

Phase II. Activate Key Cards

During this phase, instead of taking actions in clockwise order, players check the numbers on their charged Key cards and take their actions in ascending numerical order. A Key card is considered charged when all of its squares have stones.

Only charged cards can be activated. If you have uncharged Key cards, they remain in front of you (you may charge and activate these cards in later rounds).

To activate a Key card, perform the following steps:

1. Transfer all stones from a charged Key card to an available Elemental board (left or right). Keep their arrangement. While transferring an arrangement, follow these rules:

   • Do not change the position of the stones on your Key cards.

     At any time (even before transferring stones) you may rotate your Key cards 90° or 180° in any direction but without moving the stones themselves.

   • A stone and the square you are transferring it to may differ in color.

   • You may transfer stones to both occupied and unoccupied squares on one of the boards available to you.

   • If a stone would be transferred to an occupied square, that stone immediately returns to the bag (you will not gain VP).

   • You cannot transfer stones in a way that leaves one or more of them out of bounds.

   • Conversely, card squares without stones are allowed to be out of bounds.

   Each time you transfer stones to a board, you open a portal to another world.

2. Gain Victory Points (take VP tokens from the shared supply). When you activate a Key card, immediately gain VP for color match and for color adjacency:

   • Color match. Gain VP for stones that you transferred to unoccupied squares of a matching color, according to the table:

Players continue activating cards in numerical order until the end of the phase. Phase II ends when the players have activated all charged Key cards. A charged card cannot be kept for the next round. All players proceed to phase III.

Example 2. Ann and George are playing. At the beginning of phase II, Ann has charged Key cards No. 5 and 33. George has charged No. 3, 4, and 18. George activated card No. 3, since its number is the lowest among charged cards. After this activation, it is George's turn again, because card No. 4 (next in ascending numerical order) also belongs to him. Then Ann activates card No. 5, George activates No. 18 and lastly Ann ends phase II by activating card No. 33. Both players proceed to phase III.

Phase III. Prepare for the Next Round

All players return their markers from Elemental Circles and place 3 markers next to each available Circle, similar to the game setup. Do not remove stones from the boards and uncharged Key cards.

The next player clockwise takes the bag. They become the First player and place 6 random stones from the bag on each Elemental Circle.

End of the Game

The game ends in the 4th round after phase II (do not proceed to phase III). All players discard any uncharged Key cards (return stones to the bag — they will not provide VP).

Players count up numbers on their VP tokens. The player who has earned the most Victory Points wins. In case of a tie, the tied players share the victory. It is a good reason to play the game again!

Additional Modules

If you want to vary the game, add the additional modules with their new rules. You can mix and match them however you like, but we recommend playing your first game without any modules.

Magic Spells Module

To play with this module, you will need the Spellboard with 4 spells. Each spell allows you to use a special ability in exchange for a stone from an Elemental Circle.

During the game setup, place the Spellboard next to the Key card area. During phase I, on your turn after taking a stone from an Elemental Circle, you may place it on one of the 4 Spellboard sections (instead of your Key card) and immediately use the corresponding ability. The color of sections does not affect the game.

At the start of the game, there are no stones on the Spellboard. When a player places the first stone on one of the sections, this stone sets the color for this section. After that, only stones of this color may be placed in this section. Additionally, no one can place stones of this color on any other sections of the Spellboard.

During phase III, do not remove stones from the Spellboard.

All other rules remain the same.

The four spells (in the order of the Spellboard sections: first to fourth):

1. Take 1 stone from any board and place it on an unoccupied square of the same or another board. You may transfer this stone from any board to any other board (including those unavailable to you). Transferring a stone this way does not provide VP.
2. Immediately activate 1 of your Key cards, even if it is uncharged (not all of its squares have stones). Follow all other rules for Key card activation and gain VP.
3. Return 1 or 2 stones from any available board or 1 stone from each available board to the bag. It does not matter who placed these stones on the board.
4. Take 1 stone from another section of the Spellboard and place it on any unoccupied square of your Key cards. Note that there are no stones on the Spellboard at the start of the game, therefore you cannot use this ability right away. This ability allows you to take the last stone from a section.

Example 3. Ann places a green stone on the first section of the Spellboard and uses its ability. As long as there is at least 1 green stone on this section, only green stones can be placed here. Players also cannot place green stones on any other section. If there are no stones left on the first section (e.g., due to the fourth ability), then players can once again place stones of any color there (except any colors that are already on other sections of the Spellboard).

Secret Signs Module

This module includes 20 Secret Sign cards. Each of them depicts stones of different colors in a particular pattern. These charts contain arcane knowledge on rare elemental combinations, which can help you to track down Dominick Dey.

Your goal is to have on any of your available Elemental boards stones of the same color and pattern as on your Secret Sign card. If you make an exact match, immediately place this card in front of you face up and gain 4 VP. If not, you will lose 2 VP at the end of the game.

After the setup, shuffle all Secret Sign cards and deal each player 3 cards face down. Players look at their cards (without showing them to other players), keep 1 to 3 cards, and discard the rest. Return all remaining cards to the box. Players may look at their Secret Sign cards at any time.

At the end of each phase II, check whether you have made a match of any of your Secret Sign cards. If any of the available boards contain the same pattern as depicted on your Secret Sign card, immediately discard this card and gain 4 VP.

The pattern may be located in any part of the board and oriented in any direction (e.g., rotated 90° or 180°). At the end of each phase II, you may gain VP for matching several Secret Sign cards. A stone can be a part of several patterns at the same time.

IMPORTANT! You can gain VP for each Secret Sign card only once (even if the pattern repeats somewhere else on the boards). If you have revealed a Secret Sign card and gained 4 VP, you will not lose them, even if the pattern no longer matches (e.g., someone removed a stone from the board by using the ability of the Spellboard).

At the end of the game, lose 2 VP (return to the shared supply) for each of your unmatched Secret Sign cards.

All other rules remain the same.

Solo Mode

You are a powerful mage, refining your mastery of elemental magic. You and only you will be the one to track down Dominick Dey and nothing shall stand in your way! Use your power and gift of clairvoyance to fulfill your ambition.

You can play Portals on your own, using any Elemental board as a Clairvoyance board. During the game, you will know the order in which you get stones; therefore, you will be able to plan your actions ahead. To play in this mode, you will also need the Spellboard and all Secret Sign cards.

Use special rules for the game setup:

1. Place any Elemental board in front of you. Unlike in a multiplayer game, this is the only one board available to you.

   For your first game, use the side of your board without the (square) icons. Once you grasp the rules, try the side with increased difficulty (with the icons).

2. Form the Key card area as described in the multiplayer game setup (see step 4 of Game Setup).

3. Place one more Elemental board beside the Key card area — this becomes your Clairvoyance board.

4. Put 25 Elemental stones (5 of each color) into the bag. Place 1 random stone from the bag on each square of the Clairvoyance board. The bag should be empty at the end.

   The color of squares on the Clairvoyance board does not affect the game.

5. Place the Spellboard next to the Key card area.

6. Shuffle the Secret Sign deck and place it face down next to you. Then reveal 5 cards from the top of the deck.

7. Place all Victory Point tokens nearby.

You are now ready to play!

Solo game is played over 25 turns and is not broken into rounds and phases. Each turn, you take 3 actions in the following order:

1. Take a Key card. Choose 1 out of the 6 cards in the Key card area and place it face up in front of you. Immediately reveal a new card from the corresponding deck and add it to the Key card area to replace the chosen one. If you need to draw a new card, and the corresponding deck is empty, first shuffle the discard pile of this color to form a new deck.

   If you already have 4 Key cards in front of you, skip this action. If you have 1 to 3 Key cards and any of them has at least 1 unoccupied square, you may choose not to take a new card. In any other case, you must take a card.

2. Take a stone. You must take this action! Take the next stone from the Clairvoyance board and immediately place it on any unoccupied square of your Key cards.

   Always take stones from the Clairvoyance board in the following order: from left to right, top to bottom.

   After taking a stone, you may place it on one of the 4 Spellboard sections (instead of your Key card) and immediately use the corresponding ability (see rules to Magic Spells module).

3. Activate a Key card. Activate a charged Key card if you have one. A Key card is considered charged when all of its squares have stones. You must activate a Key card as soon as it is charged.

   If you have uncharged Key cards, they remain in front of you (you may charge and activate these cards on later turns).

   If you have no charged Key card at this time, proceed to a new turn now.

   To activate a Key card, perform the following steps:

   3.1. Transfer all stones from a charged Key card to your Elemental board. Keep their arrangement. Follow the multiplayer game rules while transferring an arrangement (see "Phase II. Activate Key Cards").

After you have finished your turn, begin the next turn with action 1. Continue taking turns until there are no more stones on the Clairvoyance board left. The game ends after your 25th turn, in which you have taken the last stone from the Clairvoyance board. Count all your Victory Points. Find your total in the Achievement table below.

Points	Achievement
35 points or less	Apprentice. Well, not bad! Keep it up, and one day you will become a mage.
36—39 points	Guild Member. You have opened many portals, but there is room for improvement!
40 points or more	Master Mage. No doubt, you are a master of your craft! There is no limit to perfection.

Player Reference

The game is played over 4 rounds. Each round has 3 phases.

I. Collect Key cards and stones. Starting with the First player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player on their turn takes 2 actions:

1. Take a Key card if you have less than 4. You may skip this action if you have unoccupied squares.
2. Take a stone from an available Elemental Circle (left or right) and place 1 of your markers there instead. Place the taken stone on a square of your Key card.

Phase I ends when all player markers are placed on Elemental Circles.

II. Activate Key cards. Players activate their charged Key cards in ascending numerical order of card numbers.

• a. Transfer all stones from your Key card to an available Elemental board (left or right).
• b. Gain Victory Points for color match and for color adjacency:
  • Color match. Gain VP for stones that you transferred to squares of the same color (1 stone — 1; 2 stones — 2; 3 stones — 4; 4 stones — 6).
  • Color adjacency. Each transferred stone provides 1 VP for each stone next to or diagonal to it of the same color that was already on the board.
• c. Discard the activated Key card.

Phase II ends when each player has activated all their charged Key cards.

III. Prepare for the next round. Players place 3 of their markers next to each Elemental Circle available to themselves. The bag is passed clockwise: the new First player places 6 stones on each Elemental Circle.

When phase III ends, start a new round.

The game ends in the 4th round after phase II (skip phase III). The player who earned the most Victory Points wins. In case of a tie, the tied players share the victory. It is a good reason to play the game again!

Magic Spells (Reference)

• Take 1 stone from any board and place it on an unoccupied square of the same or another board.
• Immediately activate 1 of your Key cards, even if it is uncharged (not all of its squares have stones).
• Return 1 or 2 stones from any available board or 1 stone from each available board to the bag.
• Take 1 stone from another section of the Spellboard and place it on any unoccupied square of your Key cards.

Secret Signs (Reference)

After the setup, shuffle 20 Secret Sign cards and deal each player 3 cards face down. Players keep 1 to 3 cards.

If at the end of phase II at least one of your available boards matches the same pattern that is on your Secret Sign card, then immediately place this card in front of you and gain 4 VP.

At the end of the game, you will lose 2 VP for each of your unmatched Secret Sign cards.