Sirens Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Set Up
• Gameplay
  • 1. Reveal a Universal Rule
  • 2. Deal 4
  • 3. Draft 3, Discard 1
  • 4. Build Root
  • 5. Shuffle Ship, Deal 4
  • 6. Draft 3, Discard 1
  • 7. Build Progression
  • 8. Score Song and Capture Sailor
• Scoring
• Universal Rules
• Developer Note
• The Lyre of Orpheus (1-Player)
  • Solo Components
  • Solo Set Up
  • Solo Gameplay
  • Solo Scoring
  • Orpheus Side (II)

Overview

The game lasts for 2 to 3 rounds. Each round consists of 2 identical phases in which players draft cards, and then build a "Song" with the cards that they kept. Each player's "Song Score" will be totaled on 4 conditions, and the winning Song then takes a facedown card as a Sailor. The first player with 2 Sailors wins!

Components

• 18 Ship Cards
• 2 Player Keys
• 1 Orpheus Card
• 1 Score Card
• 1 Rule Book
• 2 Score Markers
• 1 Universal Rules Card

Ship Card anatomy: Heart, Part, Flow, Charm, Universal Rule (front); the back shows the Sailor (competitive side) and the solo side. The Orpheus card and the Score Card are used for solo play and scoring respectively.

Set Up

1. Each player chooses a color and takes a matching Player Key and Score Marker. The Player Keys are placed in front of themselves, and the Score Markers are placed near the Score Card, which should be positioned so both players may reach it.
2. Shuffle the deck of 18 cards and place them as a facedown stack near both players. This deck is the "Ship".
3. Reveal the top card face up beside the ship. This card is the "Universal Rule". Only the yellow symbol on the bottom of this card is important, all else is ignored.
4. Each player is dealt 4 cards, which they look at, but keep hidden from their opponent.

You are now ready to begin!

Gameplay

Each Round follows these steps:

1. Reveal a Universal Rule
2. Draw 4
3. Draft 3, Discard 1
4. Build Root
5. Shuffle Ship, Draw 4
6. Draft 3, Discard 1
7. Build Progression
8. Score Song and Capture Sailor

Turns are performed simultaneously.

1. Reveal a Universal Rule

Every round, first reveal a face up Universal Rule and place it beside the Ship. Note any special rules displayed on this Universal Rule. Only the yellow symbol on the bottom of this card is important, all else is ignored. This symbol will display any rules that must be obeyed for this round. Any time a Universal Rule contradicts this booklet, the Universal Rule takes precedence. (Each rule is detailed at the end of these instructions.)

2. Deal 4

Deal each player 4 cards from the ship.

3. Draft 3, Discard 1

Choose one card from your hand to keep by placing it facedown in front of yourself. Then, you must pass the remaining 3 cards to your opponent, who will pass to you a hand of 3 cards once they have chosen one to keep from their starting hand. Then you must choose a card to keep from this new hand, and place it facedown on top of your previously chosen card. Pass the remaining 2 cards to your opponent, as they do the same. From this hand of 2 cards, each player chooses 1 to keep, and then places the last remaining card onto the facedown Ship deck next to the Universal Rule, "discarding" it.

4. Build Root

Each player should have kept 3 cards in front of themselves, which they now reveal. Both players must then line up their cards in front of themselves face up and adjacent to one another in a row. After you have decided in which order to play your cards, they become locked as your "Root" for the rest of the round, and may not be moved or rearranged.

5. Shuffle Ship, Deal 4

When each player is ready, shuffle the Ship, and deal each player another hand of 4 cards.

6. Draft 3, Discard 1

Repeat step 3, drafting a card and passing your hand until you have 3 more kept cards, discarding the last card back to the top of the Ship.

7. Build Progression

Reveal the last three cards that you kept as your "Progression", and place them face up into your row of face up cards. You may not rearrange your "Root", as those 3 cards are locked. Your "Progression" must be played to the left and right of your "Root", splitting the cards how you see fit. Each player should now have a Song made up of 6 cards.

IMPORTANT: There are 2 Wild Cards in the deck (Scylla and Charybdis). The parts on these cards can become any color, and this color may be chosen during scoring. The card's Flow will correspond to the color chosen. If both Wild Cards are within the same part of a song, the +3 point Eclipse bonus is rewarded.

8. Score Song and Capture Sailor

You are now ready to score your song and compare the total to your opponent.

Scoring

Points are awarded through 4 conditions that are resolved in this order:

1. Hearts

2. Parts

3. Flow

4. Charm

5. Begin by determining the total number of Hearts in each Song. The player with the most Hearts scores their Song first. (If tied, score the oldest player first.) The player with the most Hearts receives points equal to the Heart difference. (i.e.; Stefano has 5 total Hearts, and Cheri has 7. Cheri receives 2 points.)

   IMPORTANT: If you paired the Sun and the Moon into the same Part, you receive a bonus of 3 additional points for an Eclipse!

6. Music is shown in 4 colors; Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. A "Part" is one or more adjacent cards in your song that all match color. Each part will award points, if your song contains at least 3 Parts. A part's value is determined by multiplying its size by itself, or squaring it (i.e.; a 1-card Part is worth 1 point, a 2-card Part is worth 4 points, a Part with 3 cards is 9 points, a size 4 Part is 16 points, size 5 is 25 points, etc.).

   IMPORTANT: A Song scores 0 Part points if it does not contain at least 3 Parts!

7. Each color of music has a color it likes to be followed by, or it "Flows" into. When a Part is followed by the right Flow color (shown by the color of arrow), you receive points for the "Flow Step". Each transition spot from one Part to another is a "Step". If the arrow matches the Part color on the next card, the Step will provide points as a "Flow Step". Flow Steps score progressively, so your first Flow Step is worth 1 point, your second Flow Step is worth an additional 2 points, your third is worth 3 more points, and so on (i.e. a song with 4 correct Flow Steps will award 10 points.).

8. Most Cards contain half of a Charm accompanied by a value. When correctly combining 2 matching Charm halves, you will gain points equal to the Charm's value. (i.e.; combining both halves of a shark's tooth will award 4 points.)

The player with the most valuable song wins the round! That player takes the Universal Rule card and places it in front of them, flipped facedown so that it shows a Sailor.

IMPORTANT: Each Sailor also provides an additional Heart for the proceeding rounds!

If a player has collected their second Sailor, they are the winner! If neither player has 2 Sailors, then another round is played. Gather all cards except for captured Sailors, and begin the next round with the "SET UP" step once again. Ties will award neither player a Sailor.

Universal Rules

(Each rule is shown on the card by a symbol; listed here in the order printed in the rulebook.)

• Single card Parts are worth -1 point.
• Flow Steps are only worth 1 point each.
• Draft 7 total cards into your song. (Pass the last card of the song, don't discard it.)
• Only contiguous groups of Hearts will score.
• Double your Heart total.
• Each non-matching Charm half is worth -1 point.
• Non-matching Charms may be combined. Sum the numbers on both Charm halves.
• Choose your last (6th) song card blindly from the last 2 cards presented facedown.
• Each kept card must be placed facedown to the right of the previous one.
• Each kept card must be placed facedown to the left of the previous one.
• Each size 1 song part is 4 points.

Developer Note

There is a companion app for Sirens. With this app, you can take a picture of the cards in your song, and it will play back the song you've created. Once you have the app, after finishing a round or the game, arrange your cards in a 2x3 grid by moving or sliding the three rightmost cards underneath the three leftmost cards. Then, simply take a picture and let the app do the rest.

The Lyre of Orpheus (1-Player)

Orpheus has decided to brave your waters, and believes himself to be impervious to your sweet sonnets. He plays his lyre with passion and vigor, striking the strings and increasing its volume as his boat approaches the shore. However, you're always up for a challenge, so you straighten your feathers and clear your throat, and set off toward the water's edge armed with a melody.

Can you capture such a prestigious trophy, or will Orpheus best you on his way to the Underworld?

Solo Components

Same components as the two-player game (18 Ship Cards, 2 Player Keys, 1 Orpheus Card, 1 Score Card, 1 Rule Book, 2 Score Markers, 1 Universal Rules Card). The Ship cards and Universal Rules card have a Solo side and a Competitive side.

Solo Set Up

1. Shuffle the deck of 18 cards and place them as a facedown stack near both players. This deck is the "Ship".
2. Choose your difficulty level, and place the "Orpheus" card face up next to the ship deck. For Easy or Normal difficulty, place the card showing the (I) side. For a challenge, place the card showing the (II) side.
3. Leave room in front of yourself for 2 rows of cards, or "songs". Your song will be directly in front of you, and Orpheus' song will be the row above yours, farther from you face up on the table. Reveal the top Ship card and place it face up into Orpheus' row, beginning his song.

You are now ready to begin!

Solo Gameplay

The game lasts for 2-3 rounds. Rounds end once you've built a 6 card song, with which you will score against Orpheus' lyre. The more valuable song awards a Blessing, and the first to 2 Blessings wins the game!

Each turn, you will draw 2 cards into your hand. One will be chosen to keep (A), and the other is given to Orpheus (B).

When you keep a card, place it face up into your Song. The first card may be placed anywhere in your Song, but each subsequent card must be placed either onto the farthest left empty space on the end, or onto the farthest right empty space on the end, adjacent to another card in your Song. Once cards are placed into a Song, they may not be moved or rearranged.

After you've kept a card, the other one is placed onto an end of Orpheus' Song. You must always first check the spot on the left end. If the card matches anything on the left end (Part, Flow, Charm, or Wild), then the card is placed there into the leftmost space. Otherwise, the card is placed into the rightmost empty space in Orpheus' Song.

Continue repeating these steps of drawing 2 cards, keeping one, and giving the other to Orpheus until you have 6 cards in your Song, and Orpheus has 7. You will then score your Song against the one performed by Orpheus.

IMPORTANT: There are 2 Wild Cards in the deck (Scylla and Charybdis). The parts on these cards can become any color, and this color may be chosen during scoring. The card's Flow will correspond to the color chosen. If both Wild Cards are within the same part of a song, the +3 point Eclipse bonus is rewarded. Wild Cards are always played to the Left side of Orpheus' song, and will match the color to the card's Right.

Solo Scoring

Points are awarded through 4 conditions that are resolved in this order:

1. Hearts

2. Parts

3. Flow

4. Charm

5. Begin by determining the total number of hearts in each Song. ORPHEUS' HEARTS ARE ALWAYS DOUBLED! The player with the most hearts scores their Song first. (If tied, score Orpheus' Song first.) The player with the most hearts receives points equal to the heart difference. (i.e.; You have 5 total hearts, and Orpheus has 3. Orpheus' hearts are doubled to make 6, so Orpheus receives 1 point.)

   IMPORTANT: If you or Orpheus paired the Sun and the Moon into the same Part, that player receives a bonus of 3 additional points for the Eclipse!

6. Music is shown in 4 colors; Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. A "Part" is one or more adjacent cards in your Song that all match color. Each part will award points, if your Song contains at least 3 Parts. A part's value is determined by multiplying its size by itself, or squaring it. (i.e.; a 1-card Part is worth 1 point, a 2-card Part is worth 4 points, a 3-card Part is 9 points, a size 4 Part is 16 points, size 5 is 25 points, etc.)

   IMPORTANT: Your Song scores 0 Part points if it does not contain at least 3 Parts! Orpheus can have any number of parts and score normally.

7. Each color of music has another color it likes to be followed by, or it "Flows" into. When a Part is followed by the right Flow color (shown by the arrow), you receive points for the "Flow Step". Each transition spot from one Part to another is a "Step". If the Arrow matches the Part color on the next card, the Step will provide points as a "Flow Step". Flow Steps score progressively, so your first Flow Step is worth 1 point, your second Flow Step is worth an additional 2 points, your third is worth 3 more points, and so on. (i.e.; a song with 4 Flow Steps will award 10 points.)

8. Most Cards contain half of a Charm accompanied by a value. When correctly combining 2 matching Charm halves, you will gain points equal to the Charm's value. (i.e.; combining both halves of a shark's tooth will award 4 points.)

The player with the most valuable Song wins the round! That player takes the top Ship card and places it next to them, keeping it facedown as a Blessing.

IMPORTANT: Each Blessing also provides an additional heart for the proceeding rounds!

If you have collected your second Blessing, you are the winner! You've bested Orpheus as the superior songwriter, and he departs with a hanging head. If Orpheus has collected his second Blessing, then his Song has defeated yours, and has proven rumors true of its powerful beauty. Your curse has been broken, and you will begin to fade.

If neither player has 2 Blessings, then another round is played. Gather together all cards except for won Blessings, and begin the next round with the "SET UP" step once again. Ties will award neither player a Blessing.

Orpheus Side (II)

IMPORTANT: If you are playing on Normal difficulty, once you have more Blessings than Orpheus has, then he will increase his vigor. Flip Orpheus' card over to side (II).

ORPHEUS Side (II) [Normal & Challenge Difficulty] - All of Orpheus' Hearts are doubled, including the one on this card. Additionally, each Single Part (a color card not matching any adjacent color) in his song receives an additional 3 points to their value. (This brings each Single Part to 4 points each. It can be helpful to try and pair Orpheus' colors together to keep his points low.)