Sen
Sen Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
54 dream-land cards:
- Cards valued 0 through 8, four copies of each (36 cards)
- Cards valued 9 (raven card), nine copies (9 cards)
- Special lands valued 5, 6, and 7 — Take 2, Peek 1, and Swap 2 — three copies of each (9 cards)
Also included: a pencil and a notepad, for keeping score.
On each land card you will find:
- a value indicating the number of ravens in the land
- an illustration depicting a dream land
- special lands have an additional action
Goal of the Game
Players set off on a journey into the world of dreams, where extraordinary lands await them. Some are like something out of a fairy tale, others are dark and full of ravens. The goal of the game is to create a dream with as few ravens as possible.
Game Setup
A Shuffle all the cards thoroughly. Take 4 cards each and don't look at what's on them! Place them face down on the table in front of you. These 4 cards form the player's dream.
Important! Make sure that while dealing the cards, no one turns any of them face up. Players must not know what cards they have.
B From the remaining cards, form a face-down pile (cards lie face down) and place it in the middle of the table.
C Take the top card of the face-down pile and place it next to it face up. This will be the beginning of the face-up pile.
Remember that throughout the game, the cards will lie on the table in the manner shown in the diagram:
- The cards making up a player's dream always lie face down on the table.
- The cards in the face-down pile always lie face down.
- The cards in the face-up pile always lie face up.
So if, during the game, you place a card from your dream onto the face-up pile, you place it face up (because on that pile, cards always lie that way).
Course of Play
Introduction
During the game you will take cards from the face-down or face-up pile and carry out the actions described below. You will change lands in your own dream as well as in the dreams of your rivals. The goal of these actions is to have as few ravens as possible in your dream.
When a player decides that their dream has the fewest ravens, they say WAKE UP!, which means the round ends. Players count the ravens in their dreams and record the results. They then play another round.
The game ends when a player reaches a score of 100 ravens. The player with the fewest ravens wins.
Note! Before the game begins, each player peeks at 2 lands in their own dream. They may choose any 2 of the 4 cards lying in front of them. After peeking, they return them to their place (still face down).
Players peek at their 2 cards in such a way that their rivals cannot see what is on them.
So before play begins, players know which 2 lands they have in their dream. The other 2 lands remain unknown to them for now.
The player who had the strangest dream last night (or the oldest player) starts the game. On their turn, a player may carry out one of two actions:
- A take a land from the face-up pile,
or
- B take a land from the face-down pile.
These actions are carried out according to the rules below.
A The player takes a land from the face-up pile and exchanges it for one of the lands in their dream.
Remember that at the start of the game, each player only knows 2 lands in their dream. If they don't like one of them (it has too many ravens), they can exchange it for the land visible on the face-up pile. They can also take a risk and exchange one of the two lands unknown to them.
Example: A player likes the land lying on the face-up pile. They place it in the spot of one of the lands in their dream. They swap the two lands' places, remembering that lands in the dream lie face down, while on the face-up pile they lie face up.
B The player takes a land from the face-down pile (in such a way that their rivals do not see what is on it) and decides what to do with it — they choose one of the following options:
B1 Exchange it for one of the lands in their dream.
Example: The player likes the land they took from the face-down pile. They add it to their dream, in place of one of the lands, which they place on the face-up pile.
B2 Place it on the face-up pile.
Example: The player doesn't like the land taken from the face-down pile. So they place it on the face-up pile.
B3 Use its special action (special lands are described below). The player may (but does not have to) use this action — the decision belongs to the player.
- If they decide to use the special action, they place this land on the face-up pile, and then carry out the action.
- If the player does not want to use the special action, they treat this land as a normal land (see: B1, B2).
Example: The land taken from the face-down pile has a special action. The player decides to use it. They place this land on the face-up pile and carry out the corresponding action.
Special Lands
When a player takes a special land from the face-down pile, they decide whether they want to use its special action:
- if they don't want to, they treat it as a normal land — that is, they add it to their dream (B1) or place it on the face-up pile (B2),
- if they want to, they place it on the face-up pile and carry out the special action.
Take 2 — The player takes 2 lands from the top of the face-down pile. They choose one of them (placing the other on the face-up pile) and carry out one of the normal actions described earlier (B1, B2, B3).
Peek 1 — The player peeks at 1 land of their choice in the dream of any player (they may peek at a land in their own dream), then places it back in the same spot.
Swap 2 — The player swaps 2 lands in the dreams of any players, without revealing them. One of them may be a land from their own dream.
Note! A player may only use special actions when the special land was taken from the face-down pile. If a player takes a special land from the face-up pile, they cannot use its special action.
To sum up: on their turn, a player takes a land from the face-up or face-down pile and carries out the corresponding action. This ends their turn. The player sitting to their left begins their turn.
End of the Round
A round can end in two situations:
- When the face-down pile runs out (a rare case).
- When a player decides that their dream has the fewest ravens, and says WAKE UP! at the start of their turn.
If a player wants to say WAKE UP! and end the round, they cannot carry out any other actions on that same turn.
All players reveal their dreams (turn the cards over) and count the ravens.
- If it turns out that the player who said WAKE UP! does not have the fewest ravens, they must add a 5-raven penalty to their score! In the event of a tie for the fewest ravens, the player receives no penalty. If you want to raise the level of risk, agree that the penalty is 15 ravens.
- If it turns out that this player does have the fewest ravens, they do not add anything to their score — they end the round with a score of 0 ravens.
Players then record their scores and play another round:
- they set it up following the description in the Game Setup chapter,
- before the round begins, they peek at 2 lands in their dreams,
- the player sitting to the left of the player who ended the previous round starts the game. They take a land from the face-up or face-down pile.
Example: Player 4, at the start of their turn, decides that they have the fewest ravens in their dream. So they say Wake Up! — the round ends. Everyone reveals their dreams and counts the ravens in them:
- player 1 has gathered 19 ravens,
- player 2 has gathered 16 ravens,
- player 3 has gathered 10 ravens,
- player 4 has gathered 11 ravens. They are not the player with the fewest ravens, so they must add a 5-raven penalty to their score. They therefore have 16 ravens.
Players record their scores and play the next round.
End of the Game
The game ends when a player reaches (or exceeds) a score of 100 ravens. The winner is the player who has accumulated the fewest ravens in total. In the event of a tie, the players share the victory.
You can adjust the length of the game by agreeing to play, for example, to 70 or 150 points. You can also agree to play a fixed number of rounds (e.g. 10 rounds).
Game Variants
Variant: "Ravens Aren't So Scary"
In this variant, lands with 9 ravens play a big role. The player who has the most of them at the end of the round, as a reward, does not add them to their score!
Note! If several players are tied for the most lands with 9 ravens, no one receives the reward and everyone must add them to their scores.
Example: Player 4, at the start of their turn, decides that they have the fewest ravens in their dream. So they say Wake Up! — the round ends and everyone reveals their dreams. They check who has the most lands with 9 ravens: player 1 has one such land, the other players have none. Player 1, as a reward, therefore does not count the 9 ravens from that land.
- Player 1 has gathered 10 ravens.
- Player 2 has gathered 16 ravens.
- Player 3 has gathered 10 ravens.
- Player 4 has gathered 11 ravens. They are not the player with the fewest ravens and must add a 5-raven penalty to their score. They therefore have 16 ravens.
Variant: "Go All In!"
In this variant, the player who has gathered only lands with 9 ravens in their dream is rewarded. This variant therefore allows for a very risky style of play — you can gain a lot, but also lose a lot.
The player who, at the end of the round, has only lands with 9 ravens in their dream, as a reward does not add them to their score — they end the round with a score of 0! The other players do not count the ravens in their dreams — they end the round with a score of 50 ravens!
Note! If two players have only lands with 9 ravens in their dreams, no one receives the reward — ravens are counted as in the basic version of the game.
Variant: "I Know What I Have"
On their turn, a player may carry out not one of two (as in the basic version of the game), but one of three actions. The third action is exchanging two identical lands for one (!) land.
- At the start of their turn, the player points to 2 lands in their dream and states the number of ravens found on each of them (e.g.: "Each of these lands has 7 ravens"), and then reveals those lands.
- If the player was right, they place them on the face-up pile and take one land from the face-down pile. They add it (without peeking!) to their dream. This way they have one fewer land in their dream.
- If the player was wrong, they turn them back face down and, as a penalty, take one land from the face-down pile. They add it (without peeking!) to their dream. So they now have one more land in their dream.
Example 1: At the start of their turn, a player decides to reduce the number of lands in their dream. A They point to two lands and say: "These are lands with 7 ravens." B They reveal the indicated lands. The player was right, so they place them on the face-up pile. From the face-down pile they take one land and add it to their dream. C The player ends their turn with three lands in their dream.
Example 2: At the start of their turn, a player decides to reduce the number of lands in their dream. A They point to two lands and say: "These are lands with 7 ravens." B They reveal the indicated lands. The player was wrong, so they turn them back face down (they remain in their dream). From the face-down pile they take one land and add it to their dream. C The player ends their turn with five lands in their dream.