Tanto Cuore: Doki Doki Beach Volleyball Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• 1. Game Components
• 2. Game Setup
• 3. The Flow of the Game
• 4. The Cards
  • Character Cards
  • Attack/Spike Cards
  • Action Cards
• 5. Phase Details
  • 1. Recovery/Draw Phase
  • 2. Action Phase (Optional)
  • 3. Attack Phase
  • Running Out of Cards
• 6. Ending a Set
• 7. New Set
• 8. Game End and Victory
• 9. Optional Rules
  • Optional Rule 1: Toss (High Difficulty)
  • Optional Rule 2: Action Cards (Low Difficulty)
  • Optional Rule 3: Running Out of Cards (High Difficulty)
• 10. FAQ

Game Overview

This is a two-player game inspired by beach volleyball. The first player to win 3 sets wins the game. Each player starts the game with a hand of 5 cards. On your turn, you have to play a valid card from your hand—one with an Attack value equal to the previous card's Attack Value minus 1, or higher—or you'll lose the set.

This game comes with four sets of cards, each for a different character. Each player picks two characters, and shuffles their cards together to make a deck. Naturally, each character has her own special cards and distinct abilities. Use those cards to deliver devastating special moves and rule the beach!

1. Game Components

This game contains this rulebook and 68 cards.

• 4 Character Cards
• 52 Attack/Spike Cards (13 per character)
• 12 Action Cards (3 per character)

2. Game Setup

Each player picks two characters from the four in the game. Take the Character Cards and all of the associated Attack, Spike, and Action cards for the characters you picked. The first time you play this game, we recommend using the following combinations of characters:

• Phee Primrose and Laura
• Valencia Pretre and Adorianna Corelli

Next, each player puts their two Character Cards in front of them. Take your remaining cards, shuffle them into a deck, and put them face-down next to your Character Cards. This is your personal deck. As in the diagram, use the area to the left of your deck for your discard pile, and the area above your deck for your Victory Point Cards.

[Setup diagram: for each player, the layout shows the Play Stack, Player Deck, Discard pile, two Character Cards, and Victory Cards area. Player B's area is at the top of the diagram and Player A's area is at the bottom.]

Each player then draws 5 cards from their deck to be their starting hand. If you don't like the cards you drew, you can discard as many of them as you wish and draw up to 5 again, but you can only do this once.

Finally, randomly determine who will go first. You're now ready to play!

3. The Flow of the Game

This game is divided into a series of rounds. If a player declares a loss during their Attack Phase, the round ends and their opponent wins the set. The game ends when one player wins 3 sets. Until then, you can have several rounds.

Each player takes a turn during each round, with the starting player going first. Each player goes through the 3 phases described below during their turn.

1. Recovery/Draw Phase
2. Action Phase
3. Attack Phase

Once you finish your Attack Phase, your turn ends and your opponent takes their turn.

4. The Cards

This section describes the different types of cards and the information on them.

Character Cards

These cards represent the maids that are playing volleyball. Each Character Card has a special ability, printed on the lower portion of the card. You can use your Character Cards' abilities during your Action Phase.

When you use a character's ability or play an Action Card with that character's name on it during your Action Phase, the Character Card becomes Exhausted.

1. Character Name
2. Card Effect

[Example: Phee Primrose Character Card. 1. Character Name. 2. Card Effect: "Action Phase. Draw 1 card."]

Attack/Spike Cards

The core of this game is playing your Attack and Spike Cards. Attack/Spike Cards have Attack Values on them. Think of the Attack Value as the overall power level of the card.

During your Attack Phase, you have to play an Attack or Spike Card with an Attack Value 1 less than the last card played, or higher. Also, note that several Attack/Spike Cards have special conditions or effects.

1. Character Name
2. Card Category (Attack/Spike)
3. Attack Value
4. Card Text

[Example: Phee Primrose Attack card with Attack Value 7. Valencia Pretre Spike card with Attack Value 10, whose card text reads: "After you play this card, Valencia becomes Exhausted."]

Action Cards

Action Cards are special moves that you can play during your turn's Action Phase. Action Cards also have Attack Values on them, so you can use them as Attack/Spike Cards, though if you do, the card's effects are ignored.

1. Character Name
2. Attack Value
3. Card Effect
4. Card Name

[Example: Adorianna Corelli Action card "Off-Speed Shot" with Attack Value 1. Card Effect: "This turn, the first Attack Card you play effectively has an Attack Value of 7."]

5. Phase Details

Let's go over the phases that go into each turn:

1. Recovery/Draw Phase

Skip this phase during your first turn of the game. During this phase, choose one of the following:

A) Recover a Character

Pick one Exhausted Character Card, and return it to its normal un-Exhausted state, turning it vertical again.

Exhausted

Various effects can make a Character Card become "Exhausted" during play. Indicate that the Character Card is Exhausted by turning it sideways.

[Diagram: Un-Exhausted and Exhausted Adorianna Corelli cards.]

B) Draw

If you have less than 5 cards in your hand, draw until you have 5 total. If there aren't enough cards left in your deck to draw up to 5, draw as many as you can, reshuffle the discard pile to make a new deck and resume drawing until you have 5, as described on p. 8 under "Running Out of Cards." If you still don't have enough cards, just draw as many as you can.

2. Action Phase (Optional)

If you wish, you can do one of the two things described below.

A) Play an Action Card

At this point you can play an Action Card from your hand. This is optional. However, you cannot play an Action Card if the associated Character Card is Exhausted. When you play an Action Card, the Character Card listed on it becomes Exhausted. After using an Action Card, put it on your discard pile.

B) Use a Character Ability

You can instead choose to use the special ability of an un-Exhausted Character Card. You can only use one Character Card's ability per turn. Each Character Card explains what its ability does.

3. Attack Phase

During your Attack Phase, you must play a valid card, whether an Action, Attack, or Spike. If you can't, you lose the set. Place the cards you play during your Attack Phase in a single pile in front of you. We call this your "play stack."

The card you play during your Attack Phase must meet the following condition:

• Attack Value equal to (Opponent's Attack Value –1) or higher

If you're unable to play such a card, you lose the set; see "Ending a Set," below. If you can, the set continues. Your turn ends, and your opponent begins their own turn, starting with the Recovery/Draw Phase.

Running Out of Cards

If you go to draw a card and your deck has run out, shuffle the cards in your discard pile to make a new deck and then draw as normal.

6. Ending a Set

The player who wins the set takes the card with the highest Attack Value from their play stack (if there is a tie for highest they can pick one) and sets it in front of them, turned sideways to be a Victory Point Card indicating a set they've won.

Each player then moves their play stack into their discard pile. After that, you can discard as many cards from your hand as you wish.

Once that's done, each player draws cards until they have a hand of 5 cards total.

Finally, return any Exhausted Character Cards to their normal state.

7. New Set

The player who lost the previous set goes first in the next.

8. Game End and Victory

The first player to win 3 sets wins the game.

9. Optional Rules

These optional variant rules let you make the game either more tactical or simpler.

Optional Rule 1: Toss (High Difficulty)

When you play a card on your play stack, if the Character Card whose name is written on it is Exhausted, that card becomes a "Toss."

When a card is a Toss, you turn it sideways, just like when a card is Exhausted. Exhausted status only applies to Character Cards, whereas Toss applies to the top card on a player's play stack.

When you're using this rule, the Attack Phase changes as follows. The card you play during your Attack Phase only needs to meet the following conditions:

• If the card on top of the opponent's play stack is not a Toss:
  • Opponent's Attack Value –1 or higher
• If the card on top of the opponent's play stack is a Toss:
  • Opponent's Attack Value –2 or higher

Optional Rule 2: Action Cards (Low Difficulty)

The rules for Action Cards are changed as follows: When you play an Action Card, the Character Card listed on it does not become Exhausted.

Optional Rule 3: Running Out of Cards (High Difficulty)

The rules for Running Out of Cards are changed as follows:

When a player's deck runs out, you still continue the game. That player can no longer draw cards, and must keep playing with the cards they have in their hand.

If they're unable to play a card, they lose the set. After that, before you start the next set, each player shuffles their hands and discard piles together to make new decks.

10. FAQ

Q. The Attack Value 3 "Time Lag Attack" card lets you play a second card. When that happens, the next card you play could be an Attack Value 4 "Synchronized Attack" card. Does that mean I can play additional Attack Value 4 "Synchronized Attack" cards?

A. Yes. In this case you can play as many Attack Value 4 cards as you have available to you. You can then combine the Attack Values of the cards you play this way.

Q. My opponent's Attack Value is 11. I play an Attack Value 3 "Time Lag Attack" against them. I then play an Attack Value 2 "Direct Attack" (whose Attack Value becomes 10 if it's played against an Attack Value of 10+), so does that mean my Attack Value this turn is 13? Or is it just 5?

A. It's 13. Since you've met the conditions required, the Attack Value 2 card does in fact become Attack Value 10.

Q. My opponent's Attack Value is 11. During my Action Phase, I play Adorianna's "Two-Stage Attack" (During this Attack Phase you can play two cards with Attack Values of 6 or less. If you choose to play 2 cards, add their Attack Values together.) Can I then play two Attack Value 2 "Direct Attack" cards during my Attack Phase?

A. No. Because the opponent's Attack Value is already 10+, each Direct Attack card counts as an Attack Value of 10, and thus can't be used with Two-Stage Attack.

Q. I played Two-Stage Attack during my Action Phase. If I play an Attack Value 4 "Synchronized Attack" card during my Attack Phase, can I then play as many additional Synchronized Attack cards as I have available?

A. Yes.

Q. During my Attack Phase, I play Phee's "Time Out" Action Card as an Attack Value of 4. Can I still get the Time Out effect?

A. No. When you play an Action Card during your Attack Phase, you don't get its effect.

Q. During my Action Phase I play Adorianna's "Off-Speed Shot" Action Card. (This turn the first Attack Card you play effectively has an Attack Value of 7.) During my Attack Phase I then play two Attack Value 4 "Synchronized Attack" cards. What is my Attack Value?

A. The first card's Attack Value goes from 4 to 7. That means you add 4 to it, giving you 11.

Q. During my Action Phase, I play Adorianna's "Two-Stage Attack" Action Card. During my Attack Phase can I then play two Attack Value 2 "Time Lag Attack" cards?

A. You can. If you do, the effects of the Time Lag Attack cards will let you play two additional cards.