The Wizard Always Wins Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Instructions
How to Play
Action Phase
Clean-Up Phase
Ending the Game

60 Element Cards
7 Character Tiles
5 Level Dials
5 Turn Markers
1 Game Board
40 Gem Tokens, hereafter called "Gems" (8 each of 5 different colors)
25 Element Tokens (5 each of 5 different Elements)
5 Reference Cards
1 Bag of Fate
3 Add-a-Gem Tokens
3 Level-Up Tokens

Instructions

Place the Game Board in the center of the playing area.
Each player chooses a color and takes the matching Level Dial and Turn Marker. Set the Level on each Level Dial to 1.
Each player takes their 8 Gems and stacks them on the matching space on the Game Board. Put any unused Gem Tokens back in the box.
Put the other Tokens (25 Element Tokens, 3 Add-a-Gem Tokens, and 3 Level-Up Tokens) in the Bag of Fate and mix them up thoroughly.
Shuffle the Element Cards and deal a hand of three cards to each player. You may look at your own cards, but keep them secret from the other players. Put the remaining cards face down in a draw deck where all players can reach it. Leave room for a discard pile.
Place the seven Character Tiles in a row in numerical order, with the Queen (1) on the far left and the Wizard (7) on the far right, forming the Character Row.
Collect the players' Turn Markers. Randomly choose one Turn Marker and place it on the 1 space on the Turn Order Track on the Game Board. Choose the next Turn Marker and place it on the 2 space, and so on, until all players' Turn Markers have been placed on the Turn Order Track. This will determine the turn order for the first round. (The turn order will change for each round.)
Give each player 1 Reference Card to keep in front of them.

How to Play

The game is played in rounds. Each round consists of two phases:

Action Phase: Each player chooses a Character Tile, performs the Character's actions, and turns in completed Element Sets (optional).

Clean-Up Phase: All Character Tiles are returned to the Character Row and the turn order for the next round is determined.

Action Phase

During the Action Phase, each player will take a turn choosing a Character and immediately performing that Character's actions. The turn order is determined by where each player's Turn Marker is located on the Turn Order Track. The player whose Turn Marker is on the space with the LOWEST number will go first, followed by the player on the next lowest number, and so on, until all players have taken one turn.

In this example, the red Turn Marker is on the number 3 space, the blue Turn Marker is on the number 5 space, and the yellow Turn Marker is on the number 6 space. Therefore, in this round, the red player goes first, blue goes second, and yellow goes last.

On Your Turn

Follow these steps, in this order:

Choose a Character.
Perform the Character's Actions.
Turn in Element Sets (optional).

1. Choose a Character

Choose ONE of the available Character Tiles and place it in front of you.

Each Character may only be used by one player in each round. The first player will have all seven Characters to choose from. Each Character taken becomes unavailable until the next round.

Every round, you will have the opportunity to choose a different Character!

2. Perform the Character's Actions

After choosing your Character, immediately perform the actions shown on the Character Tile (before the next player chooses their Character).

Each Character has different abilities that you can use to your advantage. Most of them will help you complete Element Sets (explained later), which will help you Level Up and add Gems to the Bag of Fate.

Increasing your Level allows you to draw more tokens when you are the Wizard or Apprentice!

Sample Character Tile — The Queen (Number 1)

Number: Determines the turn order for the next round (see Clean-Up Phase).
Name: It's good to know who you're dealing with!
Actions: Perform these actions in the order shown. (The Queen's actions: Draw 1 card. Play 1 card.)

If your Character Tile says to:

Draw a Card: Take the top Element Card from the deck and add it to your hand.
Play a Card: Choose an Element Card from your hand and turn it face up in front of you. This is how you will build sets.
Draw a Token: Blindly pull a token out of the Bag of Fate and resolve its effect according to the chart below.
Draw Tokens Equal to Your Level: Look at the number your Level Dial is currently set to and blindly pull that many tokens out of the Bag of Fate. Pull the tokens out first, then resolve each effect.

What's Up with That Wizard Dude?

Like his haircut, the Wizard is all business. He cares only about Gems of your color. Because he's all about winning!

When performing the Wizard's action, look at the number your Level Dial is currently set to and blindly pull that many tokens out of the Bag of Fate. If you draw a Gem of your own color, you win the game!

Increasing your Level and adding Gems to the Bag of Fate will give you a better chance of winning when you choose the Wizard!

All other tokens mean nothing to the Wizard and have no effect. After drawing tokens, if the game is not over, return ALL of the tokens back to the Bag of Fate. Your turn is over.

Token Effects

Token	Apprentice, Farmer or Hunter	Wizard
Add-a-Gem token	Add 1 of your Gems to the Bag of Fate.	No effect.
Level-Up token	Turn your Level Dial up 1 Level.	No effect.
Element token	Keep the token in front of you to complete sets.	No effect.
Gem token	No effect.	If it's a Gem of your color, YOU WIN! Otherwise... no effect.
After drawing	Keep Element Tokens. Return ALL other tokens to the Bag of Fate.	If the game is not over, return ALL tokens to the Bag of Fate.

Come to me when you're ready to WIN! That can be any time, as long as you have put at least one Gem into the Bag of Fate. With just a Gem or two in the bag, your odds are slim, but it can happen! Or maybe you want to wait until you have more Gems in the bag, and a higher Level for more token pulls? It's entirely up to you, my friends!

3. Turn in Element Sets (optional)

After performing your Character's actions, if you have completed any Element Sets, you may turn them in and receive the rewards.

Sets are completed with Element Tokens and Element Cards that have been played face up in front of you. Cards in your hand do not count toward completing sets. You may use any mix of cards and tokens to complete a set.

Each Element Set has a different reward and requires a different number of Elements to complete.

Element Sets

Set	Reward
4 Flowers	Turn your Level Dial up 1 Level.
5 Snails	Put 1 of your Gems in the Bag of Fate.
6 Bones	Turn your Level Dial up 2 Levels.
7 Mushrooms	Turn your Level Dial up 1 Level and put 1 of your Gems in the Bag of Fate.
8 Potions	Put 2 of your Gems in the Bag of Fate.

When completing sets, count the number of times the Element appears on the card or token.

Some examples of how you might complete a set of Snails (5 Snails are needed): two cards each showing two Snails plus one card showing one Snail; OR one card showing two Snails plus three tokens each showing one Snail; OR five tokens each showing one Snail.

After turning in a set, discard all of the cards and tokens that were used. If the card deck runs out, shuffle the discards to create a new draw deck. The discarded tokens will not be used again.

Notes on Completing Sets

You may turn in more Elements than necessary for a set, but you will not get "change." For example, you could turn in two cards with three Snails each, but even though only five Snails are needed, you will not get a Snail back.

You do not have to turn in all of an Element type if you do not need to. For example, if you have two cards that show two Flowers each, and a token that shows one Flower, you only need to turn in the two cards to complete the set. You may keep the token to complete another set later.

You do not have to turn in a set if you do not wish to. For example, if you have two cards that show three Flowers each, you have a total of six Flowers. Only four Flowers are needed for a set. You may wait until you play two more Flowers (either one card or two tokens), which would give you eight total Flowers. Then you could turn them all in for two complete sets, which would get you two rewards!

Clean-Up Phase

After all players have taken their turn (everyone will have a Character Tile in front of them and will have taken all of the Character's actions), the Action Phase is over.

Now, each player looks at the number shown on their Character Tile (Queen is 1, Oracle is 2, and so on) and places their Turn Marker on that number on the Turn Order Track. This will determine the turn order for the next round. Return all Character Tiles to the Character Row and start the next round's Action Phase.

Ending the Game

If you are using the Wizard, and you draw your own colored Gem out of the Bag of Fate, you win the game!

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