Thrones of Valeria
Thrones of Valeria Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 48 Game cards
- 6 Reference cards
- 5 House tiles
- 1 Draw bag
- 76 Coin tokens
- 1 Standings Board
Terminology
The following terms and definitions are used throughout the rules.
Hand: The group of cards dealt to you at the start of a round. You never show your hand to other players.
Turn: The sequential act of all players playing one card and performing the instructions on the card.
Trick: The group of cards played by all players on the same turn.
Round: The span of time taken to play tricks until at least one player's hand of cards is exhausted.
House: 1 of 5 suits of cards identified by a color and icon — House Vega (Blue), House U'via (Purple), House Nykot (Red), House Rime (White), and House Sunder (Yellow).
Rank: The numeric value on a card.
Lead: The suit of the first card played in each trick.
Follow: Subsequent cards played after the lead card in a trick.
Standing: The order of precedence of the suits based on the House positions on the Standings Board.
Trump: A card that belongs to a House of a higher standing than any other card played in the trick.
Jester: The 3 non-House cards (Green) that can be Super-Trumps or Zero Rank.
Game Setup
Thrones of Valeria can be played competitively at any player count from 2 to 6. With 4 or 6 players, it is recommended that players form 2-person teams (see Team Play on page 4). For a 2-player game, see Two Player Rules on page 4.
Place the Standings Board in the center of the play area.
Put the 5 House tiles into the draw bag, mix them up, then randomly draw each House tile to a slot on the Standings Board.
Shuffle the 48 Game cards and deal cards to the players depending on the number of players present.
- 3 Players: Deal 13 cards to each player.
- 4 Players: Deal 10 cards to each player.
- 5 Players: Deal 8 cards to each player.
- 6 Players: Deal 7 cards to each player.
Place the undealt cards on the Standings Board as the draw deck.
Give each player 2 Silver coins, then place the remaining Silver and Gold coins where players can reach them to form the supply.
Game Flow
Objective
Be the player with the most money after 2 complete rounds.
Money
1 Gold = 5 Silver. A player may exchange 5 Silver for 1 Gold, or vice versa, at any time during the game.
Game Play
At the start of a round, the player holding the highest ranked card of the House highest on the Standings Board will lead the first trick. This is accomplished by calling out "Does any player have the 9 of House _______?" with the called rank decreasing until someone confirms they have the called card. That player then selects any one card from their hand (except a Jester card) and plays it face up to the table. The player performs the power on the card, then play continues clockwise.
You must perform as many of the instructions on the card you play as you are able to do. See Card Powers on page 6 for details and limitations.
Each subsequent player, in clockwise order, must play one card from their hand of the same House as the lead card, if possible. If they do not have any cards of that House, they play any other card from their hand. The player performs the power on the card, then play continues clockwise. Repeat as needed until all players have played one card to the trick.
The player who played the highest rank card of the House with the highest Standing wins the trick.
Dynamic House Standings
A House's Standing can change during the course of a trick. Only the Standings in place at the end of the trick are valid for determining the trick's winner.
The player who won the trick gains a reward or pays a penalty in Silver as noted next to the position of their played card's House on the Standings Board.
Special Circumstances
If an Alchemist [6] wins the trick, the reward is 6 Silver coins instead of the House reward.
If a Jester wins the trick, the reward is 5 Silver coins.
Discard all of the cards played in the trick; they will not be needed for scoring. Note: The discard pile is not open to examination during the game.
If all players still have cards in their hands, the player who just won the trick leads for the next trick.
Dynamic Round Endings
Because some card powers let you discard cards from your hand and some let you gain cards, players may not always have the same number of cards in their hands.
If any player has no cards remaining in their hand, this round is over and any cards left over in player hands are discarded. If you ended the first round, shuffle all of the cards together and deal a new hand to all players.
Ending the Game
After 2 complete rounds, the game is over and the player with the most money is the winner. If there is a tie, the players share their glorious victory.
Two Player Game
A 2-player game is played similarly to a regular game with a few modifications.
During setup, each player is dealt 20 cards. The remaining 8 cards are the draw deck.
Each player examines their 20 cards and divides them into two 10-card hands.
Each player takes up their first 10-card hand and they play that through as the first round of the game. Any cards remaining in hand at the end of the round are discarded.
Each player then takes up their second 10-card hand and they play that through as the second round of the game. Any cards remaining in hand at the end of the round are discarded.
When both rounds are completed, the game is over and the player with the most money is the winner.
Team Play
With 4 or 6 players, it is recommended to play with 2-person teams. Team members must sit on opposite sides of the table from each other.
During setup, each player still receives 2 Silver, but one person on each team is the banker. The banker holds your team's 4 Silver and any Silver accumulated throughout the game.
Team play is exactly like individual play, except that you're working subtly with your partner opposite to collect the most money. Be mindful of when your partner is winning a trick so you do not unnecessarily beat them. Sometimes it cannot be avoided, but paying close attention to when they do and do not follow the lead House will help you work together and play into each other's strong areas.
Thrones of Valeria is a friendly game (in most cases) but cross-talk between team members about held cards or play suggestions is discouraged.
Play 2 rounds as normal. The team with the most money at the end wins the game!
Sample Trick
The following is an example of a trick being played in a 4-player (2 teams) game to help explain some of the game concepts.
David leads the trick with White Huntress [5]. He then performs the card power by drawing 3 cards from the draw deck (without showing the other players), keeping 1 in hand and placing the other 2 at the bottom of the draw deck.
Kira has no White cards in hand, so she plays a Red Rogue [4]. She then performs the card power by swapping the White House Standing with the Red House standing. Even though the rank on Kira's card is lower, she is now winning the trick because the Red House has a higher Standing than the White House.
Matt has no choice and must follow in suit. He plays a White Mercenary [3]. He then performs the card power and collects 3 Silver from the supply. Matt hands the 3 Silver to David who is acting as the team's banker. Kira is still winning the trick based on House Standing.
Sarah has no White cards in hand, and she sees that her partner, Kira, is already winning the trick. She plays a Blue Thief [2]. She then performs the card power and takes 2 Silver from David. In Team Play, no matter who the player chooses, the Silver is taken from that team's banker.
Kira wins the trick because she has the highest ranked card in the House with the highest Standing. The Red House's Standing is to the right of the 3 Silver reward. Sarah is the banker for their team, so she collects the 3 Silver from the supply and adds it to their pool of Silver.
All played cards are moved to the discard pile. Since Kira won the previous trick, she will lead the next trick.
Card Powers
Each House (or suit) has cards ranked 1 - 9, and all cards of the same rank have the same card power.
All cards have an immediate power associated with playing them, except one: the Alchemist card power only triggers at the end of the trick and only if you win the trick.
Card powers must be performed unless physically impossible.
Example: If the only card you have is a Sorceress [7], after you play it you will not have a card in hand to discard so you skip that part of the action.
There may be instances where you cannot perform all of a card power's instructions. In this case, do as much as you are able.
Example: If you play a Thief [2] and you choose an opponent with 1 Silver, then you will only take their 1 Silver.
The Jester has a card power, but activating a Jester's card power requires payment of Silver coins and it is optional.
Rank 1: Assassin
Move one House to the bottom of the Standings Board, shifting the other Houses up.
You may not target a House that is locked (see "Rank 8: Condottiere").
When shifting other Houses up, only move Houses that are not locked. If the bottom House is locked, the House moving down goes to the lowest position that is not locked.
Rank 2: Thief
Take 2 Silver coins from an opponent. You may or may be forced to choose an opponent with fewer than 2 Silver. Take what you can (even zero). If your chosen opponent only has Gold, they must exchange 1 Gold for 5 Silver from the supply so you can take 2 Silver coins from them.
Rank 3: Mercenary
Gain 3 Silver coins from the supply.
Rank 4: Rogue
Swap the positions of 2 adjacent Houses on the Standings Board.
The top Standing is NOT adjacent to the bottom Standing.
If a House is locked, it cannot be the target of a swap.
If a House is locked, it loses its adjacency to the Houses above and below it. The Houses above and below it are now adjacent to each other.
Rank 5: Hunter
Draw 3 cards from the draw deck and look at them without showing the other players. Add 1 of those cards to your hand and put the other 2 cards at the bottom of the draw deck.
If the draw deck does not have 3 cards, shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw deck. If the draw deck still does not have 3 cards, draw what you can (even zero).
Rank 6: Alchemist
You take no immediate action when you play this card.
If you win the trick with this card, you gain 6 Silver coins instead of the usual House Standings reward. If you do not win the trick, you receive nothing.
Rank 7: Sorceress
Gain 1 Silver coin, then discard one card from your hand into the discard pile.
If you have no cards in hand to discard after playing this card, the second power is skipped.
Rank 8: Condottiere
Lock or unlock 1 House's Standing for this trick only. Twist the House token of your choice to show it as locked. Untwist a locked House token of your choice to show it is unlocked.
Treat a locked House as if it is not present when other House Standings need to be manipulated around it.
If a House is locked, it loses its adjacency to the Houses above and below it. The Houses above and below it are now adjacent to each other.
A locked House token does not prevent a player from receiving the House Standing reward.
At the end of the trick, turn all locked House tokens to their normal unlocked orientation.
Rank 9: Matriarch
Move 1 House up 2 spaces and move the others down 1 space each.
The top Standing is NOT adjacent to the bottom Standing.
If a House is locked, it cannot be the target of this movement.
If a House is locked, it loses its adjacency to the Houses above and below it. The Houses above and below it are now adjacent to each other.
You cannot move a House token up unless it can move up by 2 unlocked spaces.
Jester 1, 2, and 3
Pay 1, 2, or 3 Silver coins when you play a Jester to activate it and raise it above all Houses, or pay nothing and treat this card as rank zero.
You cannot lead with a Jester card unless you have no other cards available in your hand.
You cannot follow with a Jester card unless you have no cards from the lead House in your hand.
Place the paid coins on the Jester card to show it is active, then move those coins to the supply when the trick is completed.
If multiple Jesters are active in the same trick, the Jester with the highest number wins.
If you paid to activate a Jester and you win the trick, you gain 5 Silver coins instead of a House Standings reward or penalty. If you do not win the trick, you receive nothing.
Quick Play Reference
Game Setup — Randomly place the House tiles on the Standings Board.
Shuffle the Game cards and deal cards according to player count:
- 3 Players: Deal 13 cards to each player.
- 4 Players: Deal 10 cards to each player.
- 5 Players: Deal 8 cards to each player.
- 6 Players: Deal 7 cards to each player.
Remaining cards become the draw deck.
Give each player 2 Silver and place remaining money near the board as the supply.
Game Overview — The game is played over 2 rounds.
At the start of a round, the player holding the highest ranked card of the House highest on the Standings Board will lead the first trick.
In clockwise order, each player must follow suit, if able, and play a card. If you cannot follow suit you play any other card in your hand. Whenever you play a card you must use its power.
The player who played the highest ranked card of the House with the highest Standing wins the trick. They gain a reward or pay a penalty in Silver as noted next to the position of their played card's House on the Standings Board. Discard all the played cards.
If all players still have at least 1 card in hand, start a new trick. The player who won the last trick leads the trick.
If any player has no cards remaining in their hand, the round is over. Discard all cards in hand. If you ended the first round, shuffle all of the cards together and deal a new hand to all players. If you ended the second round, the player with the most money is the winner.