Stones of Fate
Stones of Fate Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Collect as many points as you can by strategically placing your stones next to cards and using some cards' special effects to your advantage.
Components
- 4 Player Reference cards
- 82 Stones of Fate cards: 22 Major Arcana cards and 60 Minor Arcana cards (15 each of the suits: Coins, Wands, Cups, and Swords)
- 20 Fate stones: 5 each of four different colors
Glossary
- Spread: The group of cards on the table into which players place their stones.
- Collection: The cards a player has acquired which are kept face up in front of him/her and comprise his/her score.
- Zone: The area on the edge of a card showing a symbol.
Setup
Each player chooses a color and takes the five fate stones and player reference card of that color. Deal out a spread of 9 cards (6 cards for a 2 player game) face up on the table. Next, count out 8 cards per player and place them face down beside the spread to form the draw deck. Return the rest of the cards to the box (they will not be used in this game).
Give the players a few minutes to look at all the cards in the spread and then turn them all face down.
The player having the most recent birthday is the starting player. Turns proceed in clockwise order.
On Your Turn
On your turn take 2 of these actions in any order (you may choose the same action twice):
- Peek at a Card
- Move a Stone
- Flip a Card
Peek at a Card: A player may peek at any card in the spread or at the top card of the deck. To do this the player picks up the card without showing it to anyone and looks at it in a way that will not disclose its identity to the other players and then returns it to its previous position. Note: When peeking, players should try to remember how the card will look when turned face up. See below for how cards are flipped.
Move a Stone: A player moves one of their fate stones from anywhere to one of the four sides of any card in the spread or removes one of their stones from the spread. A player may never move another player's stone with this action.
More than one player may place stones on any side. There is no limit to the number of stones that can be placed on any side. A stone between two cards is considered adjacent to both cards.
Flip a Card: A player may flip any one card in the spread. A card is flipped around its vertical axis (left to right).
Note: Stones remain in the spread.
When a card is flipped:
- Carry out applicable special effects on the card.
- Look at the zones to determine which player wins the card.
- If a player wins the card, that player adds it to their collection and carries out any applicable special effects. Otherwise the card is discarded.
Ending a Turn
For each empty space in the spread, the current player draws the top card from the draw deck and places it face down in the spread without looking at it.
Note: When placing cards in the spread, players should be sure to maintain the same orientation as all other cards in the spread.
Ending the Game
When the last card from the draw deck is drawn and placed appropriately, this signals the end of the game. After the current player finishes his/her turn, all cards in the spread are immediately flipped face up. Ignore all special effects, and determine the winner of each card. Players who win these cards add them to their collection as usual. The game is now over and the player with the highest score wins. In the event of a tie, the player with the most cards wins!
Zones
The edge of each card may have a symbol on it indicating the zone for that edge. The winner of a card is determined by looking at each zone for a card and evaluating the fate stones adjacent to those zones. There are four types of zones: Power zone, Keystone zone, Forbidden zone, and Opportunity zone.
Power zone: All stones placed adjacent to Power zones count toward winning this card. When a card is flipped, the player with the HIGHEST TOTAL number of stones in ALL Power zones wins this card. A player does not have to have stones next to all Power zones to win this card (if tied or no winner, discard the card).
Keystone zone: In order to win this card, a player must have the EXACT number of stones as shown (no more, no less) adjacent to ALL Keystone zones. Each Keystone zone must be matched exactly – if there are 2 icons on the right and 1 on the bottom, the player must have 2 stones to the right of this card and 1 stone on the bottom of this card (if tied or no winner, discard the card).
Forbidden zone: If a player has any stones adjacent to this zone, that player CANNOT win this card. ALL of their stones adjacent to this card are ignored when evaluating the winner of this card, which is determined from the remaining players' stones.
Opportunity zone: This zone does not affect determining the winner of this card. When a card with an Opportunity zone is flipped, every player with one or more stones adjacent to it may draw a card from the deck and add it to their collection. Each player draws only one card no matter how many stones they have adjacent. Draw in clockwise order beginning with the player who flipped this card.
Sides with no symbol: If any side of a card has no symbol, it is considered blank and does not affect determining the winner of the card.
Special Effects
FLIP: The player who flipped this card carries out the instructions as written. Carry out all FLIP effects from the revealed card(s) before determining a card winner and carrying out any WIN effects.
WIN: The player who wins this card carries out the instructions as written (regardless of who flipped it). Note: The effect of winning the card is only performed once and only immediately when the card is won from the spread and added to the player's collection.
Special effects are not triggered when cards are drawn from the deck or gained from another player.
Handling multiple effects: If multiple effects occur, such as needing to flip multiple cards, the player who triggered the effect chooses the order (one at a time). Once all flip effects have been carried out, the current player will decide in what order to resolve who wins the face up card(s). Draw cards for an Opportunity zone before determining the winner of the card.
Major Arcana card – Death: If there is a tie for highest score, the player who won the card chooses one of those players to give this card to.
Examples
In this example, black will win this card since black has 3 total stones adjacent to Power zones and green only has two. Neither player has stones adjacent to the top Power zone yet both are still eligible to win this card since it is not necessary to fill all Power zones. The stone that green has on the right side of this card is not adjacent to a zone and therefore does not count toward winning this card.
In this example, green will win this card. Even though black has two stones adjacent to the Power zone which would beat green's stone, black cannot win because of the stone located adjacent to the Forbidden zone on the left. Having a stone adjacent to the Forbidden zone means the black stones are all ignored when determining the winner of this card.
This card will be worth 1 point at the end of the game unless the holder can collect 3 Swords cards (including this one) in which case it will be worth 3 points.
In this example green will win this card. Green has matched up the exact number of Keystones in each of the Keystone zones. Black has too many on the bottom and therefore cannot win this card. Since both players have a stone adjacent to the Opportunity zone they both may draw a card starting with the player who flipped this card.
Red uses their second action to flip the Strength card. Because red has 1 stone adjacent to the left Keystone zone and 1 stone adjacent to the top Keystone zone, red wins this card. The WIN effect allows red to move any three fate stones. Red chooses to move their stone on top to the right side of this card and chooses to move the two black stones back to black's supply.
In this example black will win this card. However, before this card is added to black's collection the FLIP effect must be carried out. In the case of The Tower (each player must discard a card at random) this card will not be in black's collection when he/she randomly selects a card to be discarded. Once each player discards a card (including black), black then adds The Tower to his/her collection.