Quest Inc.
Quest Inc. Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
In Quest Inc., players are owners of companies that specialize in completing quests for the inhabitants of the Remembered Kingdoms — the so-called Quest Inc. Your goal is to be the company with the most money at the end of the game.
As a good entrepreneur, you will choose the most profitable quests, trying to save as much as possible on freelance heroes and make each task yield the maximum profit, even if it's through the quest's spoils. You know how it is — you were already there anyway, and nobody's going to check.
Each round you take part in a competition in the city square to select the inhabitants' quests, competing with the other players to see who will complete the quests for the lowest amount of gold.
Then you will send your assistants to the city to hire the most suitable (and cheapest) heroes available. They will carry out the requested quests and bring you the spoils they find.
Choose your quests wisely. They won't always pay the best amount, but the treasures you find while completing them can make every effort worthwhile.
Components
120 pieces:
- 96 Coins (36 of value 1, 18 of value 3, 18 of value 5, 12 of value 10, and 12 of value 25)
- 5 Order markers
- 5 Beers
- 3 Healing potions
- 10 Assistant markers (2 in each player's color)
- 1 Clock (before playing, the clock needs to be attached — separate the two pieces and fasten them with the rivet)
195 Cards:
- 25 Citizen cards
- 73 Treasure cards (13 of which only enter games with 4 or more players)
- 52 Hero cards
- 8 Dungeon cards
- 5 Company cards
- 1 Entity card
- 25 Quest cards
- 6 City cards (2 of which only enter games with 3 or more players)
Setup
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Shuffle the Citizen cards and form the Citizen deck face down in the center of the table. Do the same with the Quest cards, forming the Quest deck. Repeat the process with the Treasure cards, creating their respective deck. Make sure to include or remove Treasure cards that are only used in games with 4 or 5 players (they have special icons).
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Shuffle the City cards and reveal a number of cards to the right of the formed decks, according to the number of players: 3 in a 2-player game, 4 in games with more players (3, 4, and 5). Form a row with the revealed City cards. The rest will not be used in this game (keep them in the box). The Guild Hall and the Throne Room cannot be used in 2-player games.
- If the Tavern was revealed, place the Beer markers on it.
- If the Potion Shop was revealed, place the Potion markers on it.
- If the Dungeon was revealed, shuffle the Dungeon cards and form a deck, face down, above the dungeon.
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Shuffle the Hero cards, and form a deck face down beside the City cards. Reserve a space for the discard pile. This is the only type of card that can be reshuffled during the game. If there are no more cards in the Hero deck, shuffle the discard pile to form a new one. Cards of other types will either remain in players' possession or be discarded back to the box.
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Each player chooses a color and receives their Company card and 2 Assistant markers. Important: in Quest Inc., players start the game without any coins. Wealth is in the mindset. Adjust yours and get ready to profit from zero.
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Position the Clock in the center of the table, and place the marker on the space for the first round (number 1). The game will be played over a number of rounds according to the number of players: 2 players will be 8 rounds, 3 players will be 6 rounds, and 4 or 5 players will be 5 rounds. Leave the Entity card near the Hero deck. Place the Order markers, equal to the number of players (for example, from Marker 1 to 4 in a 4-player game), to the left of the Citizen deck in ascending order.
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The first player is whoever most recently completed an important task. Give them the Clock.
How to Play
Quest Inc. takes place over a set number of rounds. Each round has 4 phases that are always resolved in this order:
A. Dawn B. Morning C. Afternoon D. Night
A. Dawn
At the start of Dawn, it is necessary to prepare the day's available quests. Basically, the town's inhabitants go to the square, looking for companies willing to complete their quests for the lowest price.
Reveal 1 Citizen card below each order marker.
Below each City card, place a number of Hero cards up to the limit of cards per column:
- 3 cards in games with 2 or 3 players;
- 4 cards in games with 4 players;
- 5 cards in games with 5 players.
If there are Hero cards remaining from previous rounds, keep them there, and reveal Hero cards until reaching the indicated number.
After that, move on to the next phase.
Tip: If you want, these steps can be performed during game setup to speed up this process before the first round.
B. Morning
The moment has come to compete for the day's quests in a contest in the city square, to see which company accepts the lowest price for each quest.
By the end of this phase, each player will receive 1, and only 1, quest to resolve this round or in later rounds.
Square Contest
The contest for quests happens by columns, starting with the column below order marker 1, then 2, and so on.
Note: contests in 2-player games are slightly different and are described at the end of this manual.
Place a Quest card below the first Citizen card, and then below both cards, place a number of Treasure cards equal to the sum of the Treasure numbers indicated on both the Citizen card and the Quest card.
Example: In column order 1, the "Magic Mirror" card was revealed, which has 1 Treasure. Below it, the Quest card "Wash the Mermaid", which in turn has 2 Treasures. Therefore, 3 Treasure cards will be revealed in this column.
Then, each player who does not yet have an order marker (in the round's first contest everyone participates), starting with the player holding the Clock and continuing clockwise, will choose one of the following options:
- Take part in the contest for the Quest; or
- Pass without taking part in the contest.
The first player who agrees to take part in the contest states how much gold they accept to RECEIVE to complete the quest. The value is at most the gold the citizen offers, but can be for less (even for free!).
The next player who chooses to take part in the contest must state that they accept the quest for a lower amount than the previous player, otherwise they pass on this contest.
This continues until everyone but one player has passed, or someone offers to do the Quest without receiving any money for it. In both cases, that player is considered the winner of the Quest.
When a player wins a contest, they receive the Turn Order marker, the Quest card, and the Treasure cards, and also receive the amount of money they committed to receiving. They place the Quest card next to an empty icon on their Company card, and the Treasure cards under this Quest card. The Citizen card is discarded to the box. This player will no longer take part in other contests this round.
King's Compensation: if no other player eligible to receive a quest entered this contest, the last remaining player MUST take the column of cards. However, they receive in coins the maximum amount the citizen offers plus 5 gold as compensation — after all, no business thrives in a kingdom without the crown's support.
Next, start the next contest by revealing Quest and Treasure cards, following the order of the column numbers. Whoever starts the next contest is the player with the Clock (they do not pass the marker to anyone during this phase). If they have already won a contest (that is, they hold an Order marker), the next player clockwise who does not yet have an Order marker starts instead.
All other players will make these same choices until every player has received 1 Quest and 1 order marker.
Example: In the same order-1 column, the Green player begins by passing. Yellow really wants "Glasses That See the Truth" to finish their collection and already offers to receive 8. Blue passes immediately. Purple decides to lower it to 4; Yellow really wants the item and says they'll do it for 0, ending the contest. Yellow receives the Quest card, the 3 Treasure cards, order marker 3, and no coins. The Citizen card is discarded to the box.
Example: Continuing the round from the previous example, if Green and Blue had passed, Purple — the last player who had not received a Quest card this round — must take the Quest card, the Treasure cards, and order marker 3. In addition, they receive 13 + 5 gold, due to the King's Compensation.
Example: In another round, Green and Yellow pass. Blue accepts the Quest for 14 and Purple passes. In this case, Blue does not receive compensation, since they were not the last player eligible to receive a Quest card this round. They will receive the cards and 14 gold.
Important:
- The last player to receive a Quest receives the cards that were revealed and the citizen's maximum value WITHOUT the King's Compensation, since that only occurs if all players eligible to receive Quests pass before the last player.
- A player cannot have more than 2 unresolved Quests in front of them, but remember that each round, each player only receives 1. If a player with 2 unresolved Quests in front of them is about to receive a third, they MUST discard 1 of the previous 2. When doing so, return the Treasures under the Quest card to the box. The player did not fulfill the agreement, so they will not receive the Treasures. In addition, leave the unresolved Quest card next to the Incomplete Quest icon on their Company card. At the end of the game, the player loses in gold an amount equal to that Quest's strength.
- Some Quest cards feature slightly different Treasures:
Wake the Dragon for Coffee, Water the Herbs, and Decode the Message: besides the Treasure cards, completing these Quests yields an amount of gold that is only received after the Quest is resolved.
Locate the Tracker: A hero got lost and is rescued after the Quest is completed. When the Quest is completed, take a Hero card from the top of the deck.
Plant the Entity: After completing the Quest, receive the special Entity card.
When all players have acquired a quest and hold 1 order marker, the Afternoon phase begins.
C. Afternoon
"Let's go to the city to find the cheapest heroes. I mean, the best heroes, as long as they cost less and give us more profit!"
In this phase, players will Visit the City, sending their assistants in order to hire heroes to complete the Quests.
Starting with the player holding Order marker number 1, and continuing in ascending order, each player chooses and places an Assistant of their color on the City card of their choice, as long as both of their markers are in different places. Each card can have any number of assistants. Each time a player visits a city location, they perform one or both of the following options, in whichever order they like:
- Hire Heroes;
- Use a City card's ability.
Hire Heroes
At the city location where you placed your Assistant marker, choose up to 3 heroes of different classes — that is, you cannot take more than one hero with the same symbol. Pay the sum of their gold cost and keep these heroes in your hand.
Use a City Card's Ability
You may activate the ability of the City card where you placed your assistant once. Each location has a unique ability:
Square: Receive one coin for visiting the location (this coin can be used to help pay the cost of heroes at this location).
Tavern: Pay 1 gold and receive 1 Beer marker. Beers can be used during the resolution of a Quest, adding 2 to the strength of the group of heroes. Only 1 beer can be bought per visit.
Potion Shop: Pay 2 gold and receive 1 Potion marker. Potions can be used during the resolution of a Quest, allowing you to avoid discarding a hero card. Only 1 potion can be bought per visit.
Throne Room: When hiring heroes, you may hire 1 of them from any other City card. The restrictions of a maximum of 3 heroes per purchase and no repeated classes still apply.
Guild House: When hiring heroes, you may hire up to 3 heroes that share the same class at this location. Important: you must choose whether to buy using the guild rule or the usual rule — you cannot use these rules partially, such as hiring 2 heroes that share a class and a third with a different class.
Dungeon: Discard 1 Hero card from your hand and look at the top 3 cards of the Dungeon deck. Choose one to place in your Treasure pile and return the other 2 cards to the top of the Dungeon deck. Dungeon cards are treasures that will help you complete your collections.
After all players have visited the city once, they will visit a second time, but to a location different from the one they already visited this round — that is, one that does not have a marker of their color on it.
Other players' markers do not restrict your visit. You just cannot visit the same location twice in the same round. A location that no longer has heroes can still be visited, since you may use only the location's ability.
When all players have visited the city twice, players may resolve the Quests they wish, during the Night phase.
D. Night
After a long journey of adventures, the heroes return to the companies and hand over the Treasures they obtained during the Quests.
In the Night phase, players may resolve any Quests they wish and receive the related Treasures.
To resolve a Quest, the player chooses any number of heroes, treasures, and items that together add up to a strength equal to or greater than the Quest's value, and that include at least one hero of each class shown on that Quest card. Classes are symbols present on the hero cards.
The hero classes are minimum requirements, meaning you may discard more heroes than needed to add up to the required strength, regardless of class.
After resolving a Quest, discard the heroes used, return any Beer and/or Potion markers used to their corresponding place in the city. Then, take the Treasure cards that are below the Quest card and place them in your personal Treasure pile. You may look at these cards whenever you want. Place the resolved Quest card next to the Completed Quest icon on your Company card. This pile can serve as a tiebreaker at the end of the game.
Items Used in Missions
There are some items and Treasure cards that can be used when you resolve Quests. The items that can be used are:
Beer: Adds 2 to the heroes' strength. Effects can be combined. After being used, return the beer to the tavern during the Night.
Potion: Returns a Hero card that was used to resolve a Quest back to your play area (cannot be used on Mercenaries, Brutes, or the Entity). After being used, return the potion to the potion shop during the Night.
Important Notes
There is no required order for completing Quests, but for your first games, we recommend following the same order in which you visited the city.
A player is not required to resolve a Quest on the same night they received it. They can hold on to it to resolve in later rounds, and in future rounds they may complete 2 Quests during the same phase, in whatever order they wish.
The strength of heroes can be increased with the use of some Treasures and markers, but at least one Hero card must be discarded to resolve a Quest.
Missions
Let's look at more details about the game's Quests.
Guide the Bat: this Quest requires a sum of hero strengths of 8 or more (of any class).
Hug the Lava Golem: This quest requires a sum of strength of 10 and the presence of at least 1 Warrior and 1 Mage (1 multiclass card with both icons already counts for both requirements).
So this Quest "Hug the Lava Golem" can be resolved with these cards: total strength of 10, with at least 1 Warrior icon and 1 Mage icon — or total strength of 12, with at least 1 Warrior icon and 1 Mage icon.
This Quest needs a minimum strength sum of 11 and at least 2 Cleric icons.
This Quest needs a minimum strength sum of 15 and at least 1 of each icon shown. In addition, after completing this Quest the player receives 6 gold coins.
This Quest needs a minimum strength sum of 8. In addition, after completing it, the player places this card in their hand. When resolving a Quest in the future, they can place this card in their pile of completed Quests and reduce the required strength of another by 2.
This Quest needs a minimum strength sum of 11 and at least 2 Warrior icons. After completing this Quest the player receives 1 beer marker. If the Tavern is not in play, after using the beer, return the marker to the box.
This Quest needs a minimum strength sum of 9. After completing this Quest the player receives 1 card from the top of the Hero deck.
This Quest requires a minimum strength of 10. After completing it, the player receives the Entity card.
Special Heroes
Mercenaries: They are extremely skilled and get the job done when necessary. Because of this, they count as 1 of the symbols of the other 4 classes. The choice of icon is made only at the moment of completing the Quest. At the moment of hiring, Mercenaries count as a fifth class. In addition, potions cannot be used on them.
Brutes: They are strong, but have no class, figuratively and literally. They contribute only their brute strength to quests. Since they have little intelligence, they don't usually charge much. At the moment of hiring, since they have no class, you may buy more than one in the same turn (if they are on the same City card). In addition, potions cannot be used on them.
End of Round
After all players have completed or set aside their quests, turn the round indicator on the Clock to the next round's space, unless it is already on the last space (for the number of players in this game: 8 for 2 players, 6 for 3 players, and 5 for 4 and 5 players). In that case, the game ends and final scoring takes place. If this does not happen, the player with the highest Order marker receives the Clock.
Next, return the order markers to the left of the Citizen deck, as was done during setup. The next round begins, starting from Dawn.
Final Scoring
At the end of the last round, each player's score is counted, which is the amount of gold they have.
Add up the value of the coins acquired during the game and the value of the Treasure card collections in your Treasure pile. If a player has not completed one or more Quests — quests next to the failed-quest icons — they must place those quests in their failed quests pile. Now look at the strength value of their uncompleted quests and SUBTRACT the strength value of those Quests from that player's total gold.
The player with the most money wins the game.
In case of a tie, add up the strength of the completed Quests of the tied players. The highest value wins. If the tie persists, the player with the highest turn order marker wins.
Treasure Collections
Treasure cards have symbols that determine how many cards of that symbol you need to have to be worth a certain amount of gold. The small number at the base of the card indicates how many cards of that set are present in the treasure deck.
Mythical Meals: A single mythical meal card is worth 3 gold. A set of two cards from this collection is worth 7 (the two together are worth 7, not each individually). A set of 3 cards is worth 11, and so on. Above 7 cards, each new card adds 6 to the collection's value.
Legendary Items: A single Legendary Item card is worth 4 gold. A set of two cards from this collection is worth 10, while a set of 3 cards is worth 18, and so on. You cannot form a collection of 6 or more Legendary Item cards. Extra cards start a new collection.
Dungeon Blueprint: This collection is only worth gold if complete with 4 cards, worth 45 total. From 1 to 3 cards, the collection is worth nothing. This collection is only present in games with 4 or 5 players. 1 Dungeon Blueprint card can be returned to the box to add +2 to the heroes' strength. Effects can be combined.
Mimics: They increase the difficulty of the Quest to be resolved by adding their value to the Quest's total. This means this Treasure must be placed beside the Quest, not below it, when a player receives the cards with it in a contest. After the Quest is completed, the Mimic becomes a Treasure card worth 7, 8, or 9. These cards are only present in games with 4 or 5 players.
Runes: The Rune collection is similar to other collections, except that besides the collection of different runes, they can also form collections of matching runes (or a specific Amethyst-Sapphire pair). A set of 2 Emerald Runes is worth 5 gold. A set of 3 is worth 11. A set of 2 Ruby Runes is worth 6 gold. A set of 3 is worth 13. Sets of 2 different runes are worth 7 gold — for example, a set of Emerald and Ruby, or Emerald and Amethyst. A set with Sapphire and Amethyst is an exception and is worth 9 gold. If you have a set with 3 different runes it's worth 15 gold, a set with 4 different runes is worth 28 gold, and finally, a set with all 5 different rune types is worth 45 gold. Finally, the Chromatic Rune card (only present in games with 4 or 5 players) serves as a wild card. Alone this card is worth nothing, but combined with other runes it can be considered either different OR matching for the collection. The player chooses at the end of the game how they want to organize their collections. For runes, the small number at the base of the cards indicates how many runes of that color are present in the treasure deck.
Elemental Items Collection: These Treasures have 2 possible collections: Item or Element, and the player chooses only at the end of the game which collection each item belongs to. Each of these cards has an Item collection icon: Weapon, Armor, Ring, or Special, and an Element collection icon: Fire, Water, Earth, or Air. For example, the Bronze Armor and the Woven Armor both have the armor icon, but the Bronze one is of the Fire element and the Woven one is of the Air element. At the end of the game, if grouped as armor, the player receives 6 gold. If considering elements instead, each would be worth 2.
Using treasures during the game: These treasures can also be discarded before the end of the game as a free action so that the player receives the gold value of the collection. This can be done if you need money to hire a hero.
Another function is to use the individual item's ability. Return the card to the box and receive the effect. These effects are used at the moment of completing Quests. The effects are:
- Add 2 or 4 to the heroes' strength. Other effects can be combined.
- Same effect as the potion (also cannot be used on Mercenaries, Brutes, or the Entity).
Dungeon Cards: There are two special cards: "Solidified Element" and "Ultimate Combo Token", which have 4 different icons. At the end of the game, you need to choose which icon on these cards you will use to make up your collection.
Two-Player Mode
In 2-player games, the only change is in the Morning phase, specifically during the contest.
The player with the Clock, after evaluating the column with order marker 1 (Citizen card, Quest card, and Treasure cards), can do 1 of 2 things:
A. Pass and not take the cards from the column. In this case, the other player takes the quest with the King's Compensation, that is, receiving the citizen's maximum value plus 5 gold.
B. Offer a single amount for the column. This amount must be equal to or less than the amount the citizen is offering. Then the other player chooses whether to accept receiving that stated amount, or to pass. Unlike games with more players, there is no reduction of amounts until someone passes. The first player chooses an amount, and the second player chooses whether they or the first player will do it for THAT amount.
After one of the players receives order marker 1 and the cards from the column, the other player reveals the Quest card under citizen marker 2 and the Treasure cards, then receives the maximum amount the citizen offers, the cards, and the marker from that column (without the King's Compensation). Afterward, the Afternoon and Night phases occur in the same way.