Prophecy
Prophecy Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Elements
60 Codex Cards. These cards represent the pages of the Codex that the priests consult to read the future.
- 14 cards in 4 suits (Flower, Spear, Snake, Eagle), ranked 1 to 14.
- 4 Specialists: Lizard (0), Shaman (+0.5), Jaguar (15), Monkey (15).
6 Prophecy Tokens. Use these tokens to lock in your bid. They protect and identify the bidding cards set aside each round.
1 Trump Wheel. This wheel tracks which suit is trump for the current round. The trump sequence for the 8 rounds is: Flower, Spear, Snake, Eagle, Eagle, Snake, Spear, Flower.
Vocabulary
Cards dealt to players make up their hand. A trick includes all the cards played during a turn and taken by the player who played the highest card. Any card in the trump suit is higher than any suited card that is not trump.
Setup
- Take a Prophecy token and keep it in front of you.
- Leave the 60 Codex cards in the middle of the table. Take the Trump wheel and set it to the sun symbol shown on the right (Flower). Place it near the cards.
- Each player draws a random card from the deck. The player with the highest non-Specialist becomes the dealer. Players tied for highest ranked card redraw.
Overview of a Game
The game is played over 8 rounds. Each round is divided into 4 phases: Deal, Bid, Play, Score.
1. Deal
The dealer takes the deck of 60 Codex cards, shuffles them, then deals them all to the players equally.
With 2 or 3 players, deal 17 cards to each player and set the rest aside, face down.
2. Bid
You must now try to predict how many tricks you will take during Phase 3 Play by bidding a number of cards from your hand. After looking at your hand, choose the number of cards shown in the table below. Then place them in a face-down stack in front of you.
Place your Prophecy token on top of the stack to show the other players that you have finished your bid. You cannot change your bid, but you can always look at it secretly. The cards in this stack will not be played.
| Number of players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cards bid | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
How to choose which cards to bid?
Look at the suits of the cards in your bid.
- Flower represents 0 tricks. The sun is round like a 0.
- Spear represents 1 trick. The spear is straight like a 1.
- Snake represents 2 tricks. The viper has 2 heads.
- Eagle represents 3 tricks. You can see the number 3 on the eagle's wings and tail.
Add up the values represented by the suits of the cards you chose. This value is the number of tricks you think you will win during Phase 3 Play.
Important! You may not include Specialists in your bid, only suited cards.
Example: In a 4-player game, you can make a 3-value bid in these different ways:
- Spear + Spear + Spear = 1+1+1 = 3
- Flower + Flower + Eagle = 0+0+3 = 3
- Flower + Spear + Snake = 0+1+2 = 3
The more you play, the more skilled you will become at bidding. Will you try to bid accurately? Or simply dump weak cards in order to win more tricks? Perhaps you can discard all the cards in a single suit so you can play trump sooner?
Revealed Bids. In games with 3 or more players, the player with the highest score must bid first and reveal their bid cards face-up for the duration of the round. If there is a tie for the lead, all those players reveal their bids simultaneously. Other players may wait until these bids are exposed before making a normal face-down bid. Exceptions: for the first and final rounds of the game, all bids are concealed.
3. Play
Play as many tricks as you have cards in hand. Starting with the player to the left of the dealer then continuing clockwise, each player plays 1 Codex card from their hand to the middle of the table, following these requirements:
- The first player leads the trick with any card except the Shaman (+0.5). You cannot begin a trick with the Shaman (+0.5).
- If you have at least 1 card of the lead suit in your hand, play either a card of this suit or a Specialist (see "What Is the Lead Suit?").
- If you do not have a card of the lead suit in your hand, you may play any card.
After all players have played a card, whoever played the highest card wins the trick (see "Which Card Wins the Trick?").
This player takes all the cards in the trick and makes a face-down stack in front of them. Separate all the tricks you win to make it easier to calculate Score. You may not examine previous tricks. The player who won the last trick leads the next one. If it's your turn to lead and you only have the Shaman in your hand, surrender the lead to the player on your left and automatically lose the trick. You also incur a penalty (see Score). Once all cards have been played, continue to Phase 4 Score.
Specialists
- Jaguar (15). This card is the highest trump.
- Monkey (15). This card is the highest non-trump. It loses to any trump.
- Shaman (+0.5). This card is the same suit and a half-rank higher than the card played right before it (it beats the other Specialists if played immediately after them). It cannot be led.
- Lizard (0). The Lizard is the lowest card in the lead suit.
What Is the Lead Suit?
At the start of each trick, there is no lead suit.
- When a suited card is led, that suit becomes the lead suit for the remainder of the trick.
- If the Jaguar is led, the lead suit is the trump suit, as indicated on the Trump wheel.
- If the Monkey is led, the player who played it announces the lead suit, but cannot name trump.
- If the Lizard is led, the player who played it announces the lead suit, which may be trump.
Which Card Wins the Trick?
The card with the highest value in the trump suit wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card in the lead suit wins.
Example: Snake is trump. Alice leads the trick with an Eagle 4. Bob plays the Eagle 9. Charlie holds some Eagle cards, but he holds nothing stronger than Eagle 9. Charlie needs the trick, so he plays the Shaman (+0.5), which is a half-step higher than Bob's card, giving it a rank of Eagle 9.5. For now, Charlie is winning. However, David has no Eagle and plays a Snake 3. David wins this trick because he is the only one who played trump.
4. Score
Once the final trick is played, reveal and note each player's bid for the round and calculate points as follows:
- Gain 1 point per trick you won.
- If you won exactly as many tricks as you bid, your prophecy has been fulfilled! Gain bonus points as shown in the table below. Note bonus points separately from the points gained from tricks. They determine the tie breaker at the end of the game.
- If you surrendered the lead on the last trick with the Shaman, score 0 for the round instead.
| Number of players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus points | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
Example: In a 4-player game, you bid 3 tricks, and you won exactly 3 tricks. You gain 3 points for the tricks plus 5 bonus points.
The deal proceeds clockwise to the player on the left. Adjust the Trump wheel to reveal the next trump suit. Begin a new round starting from Phase 1 Deal.
End of the Game
After 8 rounds, the player with the highest score wins the game. If there's a tie, the one who fulfilled their prophecy most often wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.
Variant - Short Game
Prophecy can also play over 5 rounds only. Make the following changes:
- During setup, point to the Eagle symbol on the Trump wheel.
- The first 4 rounds play normally. The 5th round has only 1 possible trump card: the Jaguar (15). The other Specialists keep their normal effect.
- If the Jaguar is the first card of a trick, there is no lead suit. The other players can play any card.
Reminder
| Number of players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cards dealt | 17 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| Number of cards bid | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Bonus points | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
You are allowed (and even encouraged) to talk about what you want to play and influence or deceive other players. However, you can never show your hand or your face-down bid to the other players, except in the scoring phase.