Sangoku

Sangoku Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

Recruitment Deck – 74 cards consisting of various monsters, separated into suits and labeled two through ace, like a poker deck!
Legend Deck – 48 cards containing multiple copies of special creatures and powers to be collected.
Warrior Tokens – 32 tokens featuring all of the creatures from the Recruitment deck.
Player Boards – 5 boards, each with art depicting the three Realms, and the player's defense total in each.
Life Markers – 15 markers
Dealer Marker – used for denoting who the dealer is for the current round of play.

Overview and Objective

In Sangoku, 2 to 5 players recruit creatures to fight for them in the three Realms (The Heavens, Earth, and The Hells). A player is eliminated if they lose two of their three Realms. The game will end when only one player remains.

Setup

Shuffle the Legend deck and Recruitment deck separately and place them face-down in the center of the table. Beside them, place all of the Warrior tokens. This is known as the Warrior pool.

Each player sets a Player board in front of them, with the open space for the monsters facing the center.

Players use their Life markers to set their Realm defense totals to the maximum value of 12 for each of their three Realms.

Randomly determine who will begin the game as the dealer. That player takes the Dealer marker.

Each player is dealt 3 Legend cards which are kept in hand.

Phases

The game is played over several rounds. Each round consists of three phases, played in order.

Recruitment Phase
Combat Phase
Collection Phase

Recruitment Phase

The dealer for the round deals out 13 Recruitment cards to each player. In subsequent rounds, the Dealer marker moves to the player on the left who still has at least two Realms. To speed up dealing, it is permitted for the dealer to deal out multiple cards at a time, such as dealing out 5 cards at once to each player, then 5 more cards to each player, then 3 more cards to each player.

Each player separates their cards to form 3 hands. Two 5-card hands and one 3-card hand. The three card hand must be the weakest of the 3 hands. Each player places their weakest hand face-down on The Hells section on their Player board. The second hand consists of 5 cards and is placed face-down on Earth. This hand must be stronger than the hand on The Hells, and weaker than the hand on The Heavens. The strongest hand of 5 cards is placed on The Heavens. In the event a hand is invalid, it and any other illegal hands are eliminated from the boards.

(Figure: a player board with the three hands placed face-down on The Heavens, The Earth and The Hells.)

Each player, starting with the current dealer, may choose to wager one Legend card by placing it face-down on one of their three hands if they desire.

Next, starting with The Hells, all players reveal their hands and determine the winner of each Realm using the hand ranking chart. The winner of each Realm may select 1 Recruitment card from the winning hand to redeem for its corresponding Warrior token. (See: Warrior Tokens for specific rules.)

If two players exactly tie for the winning hand, such as both players having a King-high straight, then both players are considered to have won. If the hand contains no redeemable cards, nothing is done. Now, bets are settled. If a player wagered a Legend card and won the hand, they get to draw another Legend card from the Legend deck as well as keep the original one that they wagered. If they lost, their wager is discarded. However, if another player bet in the same Realm that the winning player bet in and lost, the winning player gets the lost card. For example, if three players bet in the same Realm, the winner of the hand for that Realm would get all three of the Legend cards that were bet, plus would draw a new card from the Legend deck.

After the hands have been resolved, any player who did not win in any of the three Realms draws one Legend card from the Legend deck.

At this point, all Recruitment cards are shuffled back into the Recruitment deck and we move into the Combat phase.

Combat Phase

In each Realm, all Warrior tokens attack. Each player compares with all other players.

When comparing, first set aside Warrior tokens of the same value. They are not removed, just canceled out for that particular comparison, and still count for other comparisons. Line up the remaining Warrior tokens by size, as shown.

(Figure: Warrior tokens of power 1, 2, 3 and 4, lined up by size.)

Any unmatched creature deals 1 damage to the opposing player's defense total in that Realm. Any creature matched against a smaller creature deals 1 damage as well.

Your total damage is the highest total damage received from an opposing player. In other words, you must do this comparison for each other player, but only the player doing the most damage will count against you. For example, If one player damages you for 4 and another damages you for 3, you will only take 4 damage for the round in that Realm.

Resolve the combats in each Realm starting with The Heavens (See: "Dealing Damage in Heaven: The Purple Line" on the following page for special rules) and ending with The Hells, and decrease the defense totals in damaged Realms.

Dealing Damage in Heaven: The Purple Line

(Figure: the Purple Line on The Heavens, marked "4 Power Warrior or up to damage", with the values 4, 3, 2 and 1 shown on the line from left to right.)

Only Warrior tokens with power 4 or greater, or special attacks can deal damage past the purple line in Heaven. The defending player may apply damage from stronger creatures first in a round as the player approaches the purple line, and then may avoid damage from smaller creatures once the purple line is reached.

Collection Phase

Starting with the dealer, each player may redeem a set of Legend cards for a special attack.

Some Legends, such as Fuujin and Onibi, can be redeemed in varying numbers to directly damage all opponents in any one Realm. Others, such as Genbu, are redeemed in sets of three, in exchange for a powerful Warrior token that they can place wherever they like!

Note: Each player may only redeem one set of Legend cards per turn.

After sets are played, defense totals are counted. If a player's defense total in a Realm is brought to zero, all the player's Warrior tokens in that Realm are destroyed and returned to the Warrior pool.

Important Note: When your defense total in a Realm has been reduced to zero, you will still continue to play hands there and Warrior tokens may still be redeemed in order to pursue a counter-attack. Your defense total in that Realm will remain at zero for the remainder of the game.

Game End

If any player has lost any two Realms, that player is now eliminated from the game. Return all of their Warrior tokens to the Warrior pool. When one player is left, they are declared the winner!

In the unlikely event that two players lose their second Realm during the same round, then the player with the highest defense total in their remaining Realm is the winner. In the very rare event both players have the same Realm defense total remaining, then both players tie for the victory.

Game Details

Recruitment Deck Ranking of the Hands

5 of a Kind
Royal Flush (AKQJ and 10 of the same suit)
4 of a Kind
Straight Flush (five consecutive cards of the same suit)
Full House (three of one rank and two of another rank)
Flush (five cards of the same suit)
Straight
3 of a Kind*
2 Pair*
1 Pair*
High Card*

*Only the bottom four rankings are available for the 3 card hand.

Redeeming Recruitment Cards

(Figure: an Orochi card redeemed for a 5 power Orochi Warrior token, and a Genbu card redeemed for a 5 power Genbu Warrior token.)

If you win a hand, you may redeem a Recruitment card from that hand for a Warrior token corresponding to the color of the card. In the case of a tie, both players may redeem cards starting with the player to the left of the dealer. If the creature is available in the Warrior pool, take it from there. Otherwise, you take the creature from any Realm, belonging to any player (all opponents and your own included) and place it in the Realm corresponding to the hand you won!

Warrior Tokens Availability and Power

Among the basic Warrior tokens, Dragons and Oni are unique. There is only 1 of each color for Dragons and Oni. As stated above, If you win a hand and redeem a creature that is already in play, you steal that creature from the player that has it, and it goes to your Realm. If you control it in another one of your Realms, you must move it to the current Realm.

Samurai and Dogs have 2 tokens in each color. If all of the Samurai or Dogs of a specific color are in play and you redeem a one, you may choose which of the Samurai or Dogs in play to take and place in your Realm.

(Figure: the standard Warrior tokens, Dragon 4, Oni 3, Samurai 2, Dog 1, and the Legendary tokens, Genbu 5 and Orichi 5.)

Standard Tokens:

Dragon – 4 power
Oni – 3 power
Samurai – 2 power
Dog – 1 power

Legendary Tokens:

Genbu – 5 power
Orichi – 5 power

Inside The Recruitment Deck - Bridges and Wilds

Bridge cards, found in the Recruitment deck, count as any number in a straight. Bridge cards can be paired to each other, and count below the value 2 in rank order of the cards. Wild cards count as any suit in a flush and have no numeric value. Wild cards cannot be used to make pairs or sets.

(Figure: a Bridge card, marked "B" and "bridge" with the value 5 in its corners, and a Wild card.)

Legend Deck Special Attacks

Some sets of Legend cards can be redeemed for special attacks. The number of cards required to perform a special attack and the amount of damage done by that attack are indicated on the set collection cards. For example, if you collect 4 Onibi cards, you can redeem them during the Collection phase to do 5 damage to all opposing players in the Realm of your choice.

(Figure: four Onibi cards.)

Some sets can only be redeemed to do damage in a certain Realm. For example, the Hachiman set can only do damage on Earth and the Raajin set can only do damage in the The Heavens.

Note: Sets can only be redeemed after combat damage is dealt in all the Realms each round, and are redeemed in order starting with the dealer and proceeding left. If a player is eliminated from the game prior to their chance to play a collected set, they are out of the game and unable to play the set.

Legendary Tokens: Genbu and Orochi

Some sets of Legend cards can be redeemed for Legendary tokens. These creatures are treated as 5 power Warrior tokens. If you collect a set of 3 Genbu or 3 Orochi, you may redeem them immediately for the appropriate Legendary token. As with other tokens, if Genbu or Orochi is already in play and you play a set, you steal the creature. Genbu and Orochi may be placed in the Realm of your choice when redeemed, and will stay in that Realm unless another set of the same Legend cards moves them.

(Figure: three Genbu cards and three Orochi cards.)

Special Legendary Effects: Kitsune, The Monkey King, Yosei, Shinigami

Any number of Kitsune may be played as a Wild to complete a set of Raijin, Hachiman, Genbu or Orochi.

Any number of Yosei cards may be added to a complete set of Legend cards to add 1 damage per Yosei. This number does not count towards the included set's size.

When a Shinigami set is redeemed, it deals 2 damage to one opponent. In addition, you steal one Warrior token from any opponent, in any Realm that you choose.

When The Monkey King is redeemed, it deals 1 damage for each other unique Legend card you turn in at the same time. For example, if you redeemed The Monkey King, Raijin, Genbu, and Yosei, you would deal 3 damage to all opponents in the Realm of your choice. You cannot redeem more than 1 Legend of the same type.

Note: All used Collection cards are placed in the discard pile along with the Collection cards that are lost in bets where the winning hand did not bet in that Realm. If the Collection card deck runs out, it is reformed by shuffling the discard pile.

(Figure: Genbu cards and a Kitsune card, shown as an example of a Wild card.)

Variants

Optional Rules For Advanced Play

Back From the Brink: When a player has lost one Realm, that player may then wager two cards instead of one.

Hardcore Mode: You take damage from all other players, not just the player doing the most damage to you in a round. This speeds up the game about 1 to 3 rounds on average if a shorter game length is desired.

Haunted: Whenever a removed player would take a turn, each other player loses 1 point in each Realm (or, optionally, Realm of choice). This rule speeds the game up slightly when a player is knocked out, although typically the game ends in under 45 minutes to an hour anyway, and is usually over fairly soon after the first player has been eliminated.

Source Notes

Printed-text inconsistencies transcribed as printed: the Legendary token is spelled "Orichi" in the Warrior Tokens section and "Orochi" everywhere else (including on the Orochi card itself); the Raijin set is spelled "Raajin" once in Legend Deck Special Attacks and "Raijin" elsewhere.