Time Arena Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Rules of the Game
  • Goal of the Game
• The Time in Time Arena
  • Duration of the Game
  • Summoning Fighters
  • Assembling the Figurines
• First Game
  • Creating the Teams
  • The Fighters
  • Activate a Fighter
  • Be Summoned
  • Moving
  • Attack
    • Attack a Fighter
    • Resolution of the Fight
    • Knock-out
    • Attacking the Enemy's Totem
  • End of the Turn: Skip the Turn
  • End of the Game
• Full Game
  • Creating the Teams
  • Totem Charge
  • Special Abilities
• Expert Game
  • Transporters
  • Additional End of the Game
• Team Play
• Fair Play
• Acknowledgments

Components

• A. A two-sided game board. Two different combat arenas (normal and expert levels), with each player's Totem on each side.
• B. 8 "Gates" — 4 Gates of different colours per player.
• C. 8 hourglasses — 4 hourglasses of different colours per player.
• D. 12 "Energy" tokens — 6 "Energy" tokens per player.
• E. 2 six-sided "Fight" dice — 1 per player.
• F. 8 team rings — 4 rings of the same colour per player.
• G. 12 "Fighters" — divided into 3 factions of 4 Fighters each.
• H. 2 "Charge" wheels — 1 per player.
• I. An app to download.

Setup

1. Place the game board (A) in the centre of the table facing the side of your choice, so that a Totem is in front of each player. (For the first game, place the board like the image shown above on the normal side).
2. Each player must place the Gates (B) within reach and place the coloured hourglasses next to them (C) (Place them in order: the yellow must be closest to you, then the green, blue and finally the red one).
3. Stack the 6 "Energy" tokens (D) and place them on their spot on the Totem.
4. Each player takes 1 "Fight" die (E) and the 4 rings of their colour (F).
5. Sort the Fighters depending on their colour and place the 4 resulting groups near the board (G).
6. Put your smartphone or tablet near the board, between the two players (I).
7. If you are playing a complete game or in expert mode: each player places the "Charge" wheel on the starting position of its gearing (H).

For games in teams, see the Team Play section.

Rules of the Game

Time Arena is a fighting game for 2 to 4 players (teams).

Control 4 Fighters and destroy your enemy's Totem. But be careful, time is of the essence… you only have 5 minutes to win! If the timer reaches 0, the game is lost!

Goal of the Game

Destroy the enemy's Totem

OR

Make your enemy's timer reach 0 in the Time Arena Clock.

The Time in Time Arena

Duration of the Game

During a game of Time Arena, each player has a maximum of 5 minutes to destroy the enemy's Totem.

To manage the time in Time Arena, you need the Time Arena App available on Android, iOS and Windows Phone. You must download the app before the first game in the usual app stores.

At the beginning of the game, the first player starts the Time Arena App and the countdown begins. They are now the active player.

The player carries out their actions (see Activate a Fighter), then, by pressing on the Time Arena App, they stop the countdown.

This automatically starts the opponent's countdown, who then becomes the active player.

The turns follow one after the other until the end of the game.

The active player is always the one whose countdown is activated.

Summoning Fighters

At the beginning of the game, each player creates their team and places each Fighter on its Gate (of the same colour). They are ready to enter the arena.

When a Fighter is down, it must be placed on its Gate. The player must wait some time before bringing it back into the arena.

The summoning time is determined by an hourglass, whose time is different depending on its colour:

• Yellow: 30 seconds
• Green: 45 seconds
• Blue: 60 seconds
• Red: 90 seconds

In Time Arena, managing time well is essential. Always make sure to keep an eye on both your and your opponent's time. Play quickly if you are late, or wait for one of your Fighters to become available if you have time … that's the key to victory!

If you want more accuracy on summoning times, the Time Arena App will allow you to replace the hourglasses by digital timers.

Assembling the Figurines

The Fighters are shown from the back and the front. For an optimal gaming experience, assemble the stand as shown on the image on the left (in the "front slot" of the Fighter). To ensure that the stand is well fastened, it has a special notch that requires some strength to assemble.

Important: to ensure the rigidity of the stands, do not disassemble the Fighters when you put them back in the box.

First Game

During this game, the players will discover the basic rules of Time Arena:

• how to move around
• how to fight
• time management

Creating the Teams

Each player takes 4 Fighters for their team, and places each of them on the Gate of the same colour.

During the next games, you will be able to create your own team (see Full Game) and try new tactics.

To identify the Fighters on your team: fasten the team ring to help you recognise your 4 Fighters easily. When you place a Fighter on the board, turn it in a way that it faces your opponent and has its back to you.

The Fighters

Each Fighter has 3 different attributes:

• moving (= Number of small tabs)
• attack
• defense

Some Fighters have a special ability, located in a circle. These abilities will be ignored during this first game.

Activate a Fighter

During their turn, the player activates their Fighters in any order they choose.

While it's activated, a Fighter can:

Be summoned AND/OR Move AND/OR Attack

Important:

1. A Fighter can only be activated once during a player's turn.
2. A player must activate at least one Fighter (if they can, see 3).
3. A player can skip their turn without activating their Fighters only if they are all already knocked out.
4. The activation of a Fighter must be finished before another is activated.
5. A Fighter can move and attack in any order, but cannot under any circumstances split its movement in two (by moving partially, attacking, and then finishing its move).

The player ends their turn by pressing the Time Arena App whenever they want.

Be Summoned

The active player can summon a Fighter located on its Gate if the corresponding hourglass is finished.

They then place their Fighter on one of the free summoning squares.

Important: If the player wants to move a Fighter that they just summoned, or attack with it, they have to do it right after having placed it on the board (since you can only activate a Fighter once per turn).

Note: At the beginning of the game, all 4 Fighters are ready to be summoned.

Example: After having activated the Time Arena App, Gabriel chooses his first Fighter, the "Boxer", which he places on a summoning square. Gabriel's "Boxer" can move up to 2 squares on the grid. It can move on all the highlighted squares on this picture. It has to move before activating another Fighter.

Moving

A Fighter can move up to a number of squares equal to its moving attribute (represented by the number of tabs on top of it).

A Fighter can move orthogonally and diagonally. It cannot move across a square with another Fighter on it.

Attack

Attack a Fighter

A Fighter can attack an opponent's Fighter if it is close to it (orthogonally or diagonally). The active player announces the target of their Fighter and then they must roll their "Fight" die.

Resolution of the Fight

• Automatic success: the attack is successful, the opponent's Fighter is knocked out.
• Critical failure: the attack has failed, nothing happens.
• Otherwise: The player adds the result of the die to the attack number of their Fighter (red number) and then compares the result to the defense of the enemy Fighter (green number). If the attack number is higher than the defense number, the enemy Fighter is knocked out. If it is equal to or lower, then nothing happens.

Important: All Fighters (even the ones with 0 in attack) can attack by rolling the dice.

Knock-out

When a Fighter is knocked out, the player that controls it places it on the Gate of the corresponding colour and turns over the corresponding hourglass.

Example: Gabriel's "Minotaur" (green) is in front of Soan's "Mercenary" (red). Gabriel decides to attack. He rolls his "Fight" die and gets a "1". He adds the number to the attack of the "Minotaur" (2) and gets a total of 3. The defense of the "Mercenary" is 3. The "Minotaur" cannot beat it and nothing happens. If the "Fight" die landed on "2" or on "KO", the "Mercenary" would have been knocked out. The player would then have placed it on the red Gate.

Attacking the Enemy's Totem

A Fighter can attack the enemy's Totem if it is close to it. This means if it is on one of the edges of the enemy's side of the board (highlighted squares in this picture).

The Totem's defense is 1. The Totem cannot attack (but has a special ability that will be skipped during this first game).

When a Fighter attacks the enemy's Totem, the fight system works the same as against a regular enemy Fighter.

If the attack is successful, you compare its attack (attack of the Fighter + result of the "Fight" die) to the Totem's defense (1) and you remove "Energy" tokens equal to the difference between the two.

Important: If the die lands on "KO" (automatic success), the opponent's Totem automatically loses an "Energy" token. Then the player compares the attack of their Fighter to the defense of the Totem in order to remove as many "Energy" tokens as the difference between the two.

Example: Gabriel's "Minotaur" (green) is in front of Soan's Totem. Gabriel decides to attack. He rolls his "Fight" die and gets a "1". He adds the number to the attack of the "Minotaur" (2) and gets a total of 3. The Totem's defense is 1, Soan Removes 2 "Energy" tokens from his Totem. If the "Fight" die landed on "KO", the opponent's Totem would have lost 2 "Energy" tokens: 1 for the "KO" die + 1 for the "Minotaur" attack (2 - 1).

End of the Turn: Skip the Turn

When the active player decides that their turn is over, they hit the button on the Time Arena App to stop the countdown. The turn and the countdown of the opponent start automatically.

Important: Activating the Time Arena Clock implies that it's no longer your turn, so you cannot play any forgotten actions before your next turn.

End of the Game

The game can end in two different ways:

• When a player loses their last "Energy" token on their Totem, they lose the game.
• When the Time Arena App reaches 0, the player loses the game.

Full Game

As soon as you're comfortable with the basic rules, you can add these 3 rules:

• creating the teams
• Totem charge
• special abilities

Creating the Teams

Players will be able to create their own teams at the start of the game:

Player A will choose a Fighter from whatever colour they wish and place it on the corresponding Gate. Player B will then choose a Fighter from whatever colour they wish and place it on the corresponding Gate.

B now selects a Fighter of another colour. A then selects a Fighter of the same colour.

B again selects a Fighter of a third colour, followed by A, who also picks one of the same colour.

Finally, A picks a Fighter of the remaining colour. Player B then picks their fourth Fighter.

Each player now has 4 Fighters of 4 different colours.

Summary: AB / BA / BA / AB

Totem Charge

Every time you roll "Critical failure" with the "Fight" die, you can move your "Charge" wheel one notch towards the Totem.

At any time during their turn, a player can use one of the bonuses they have obtained (the current notch or one of the previous ones). The player applies the bonus' effect and then moves the "Charge" wheel down to its first position.

Important: In case of a critical failure, before turning the wheel a notch, you can use the Totem's charge to roll the die again (if the bonus is available). In this case the wheel goes back to its original position and doesn't turn further.

Available bonuses:

• +1 — Add +1 to the result of the "Fight" die result
• Reroll — Reroll the "Fight" die
• Move — Move one square further
• Energy — Get an "Energy" token back if your Totem is missing any of its 6 original tokens

Example: Soan's Fighter missed its attack after he rolled a "Critical failure". However, his Totem charge has reached the 4th notch meaning he can use one of the following bonuses: "+1 attack" or "Reroll". He decides to use the "reroll" ability to try and beat his opponent's Fighter. After using the bonus, he resets the "Charge" wheel to its starting position. Instead of rolling the "Fight" die again, Soan could have instead moved his "Charge" wheel one notch towards the Totem.

Special Abilities

Some Fighters have special abilities. If two rules are in contradiction, the one that always applies is the special ability.

Counter: this Fighter can fight back against all close-quarters physical attacks (adjacent squares, including diagonally). The resolution is simultaneous.

When one of your Fighters with the "Counter" ability is attacked, you must roll your "Fight" die as well. Each fight is resolved individually as usual (whatever the result of each dice roll is).

You must use your counter as fast as possible, before your opponent has activated another Fighter or ended their turn. Otherwise, your counter isn't used.

Important: A Fighter can only counter if it is in contact with its attacker.

Important: Remember, the Totem can also counter if it is attacked!

Example: The "Mercenary" (red) attacks the "Wildling" (yellow) that has the "Counter" ability. The two players each roll their "Combat" dice. The "Mercenary" gets a 3 for its total attack, and knocks out the opponent. The "Wildling" rolls a "KO" on its "Combat" die. The "Mercenary" is also knocked out. The two Fighters are placed on their Gates.

Ranged attack: This Fighter can attack even if it isn't close to its target (Fighter or Totem).

Before the usual fight, the player must check if the Fighter is in range and if it has a line of sight on the target.

The range: The Fighter can attack a target at a distance equal to or less than the number on the "Longshot" symbol. The range is calculated like movements (diagonals are also allowed).

The line of sight: For the attack to be achievable, the Fighter must have a clear line of sight between the centre of its square to the center of the square where the target is located. This line of sight must not cross a square occupied by another Fighter (but can pass in the corner of squares occupied by Fighters).

If the Fighter is in range and has a clear line of sight, the fight occurs as usual: the player rolls the "Fight" die, adds the result to the Fighter's attack and compares the total to the target's defense.

Example: The "Twins" can perform ranged attacks on all Fighters located 2 squares away from them if they have a line of sight (green lines).

Shield: the Fighter with this ability makes any other Fighter invincible if it's located on one of the 8 squares around it: a Fighter protected cannot be wounded in any way. This ability doesn't work on the Fighter itself, nor on the Totem.

Restoration: if the Fighter is still in play after the end of your turn and the opponent doesn't have any more Fighters left on the board, then your Totem gets 1 "Energy" token that it had lost previously.

Bomb: Instead of a normal attack, the Fighter can explode. In this case, the attack hits all the 8 squares around the Fighter. The player rolls the "Fight" die once to determine the Fighter's attack. The result affects all the squares (allied and enemy Fighters, and Totem). Whatever the result, the Fighter using this ability is knocked out.

Expert Game

When you are comfortable with the full game, you can use the expert side of the board. Its adds 2 new rules:

• The transporters
• An additional end of the game

Transporters

On the board you will find two transporter squares for each colour.

A Fighter can use one moving point to move between the pair of its own colour.

Additional End of the Game

There are less summoning squares on this board, which opens up the new tactic of trying to block all of the opponent's summoning squares.

There is also a new condition to end the game other than the two usual conditions:

If you have knocked out all the enemy Fighters AND you occupy all the opponent's summoning squares at the end of a turn, then you win the game.

Team Play

When more than two players are playing, make 2 teams and divide the Gates and Fighters among you. There are always 4 Fighters per team.

Each player of a team can only activate their Fighters. In a team, you can use the Fighters in any order you prefer.

Communication is important, but don't waste too much time; figure out each person's role before playing ("Fight" dice, hourglass, Time Arena App).

Fair Play

During the first few games don't hesitate to use the pause function on the app (and by stopping the hourglass by laying it on its side) to explain some parts of the rules.

When you play against players of different levels, the app helps by giving more or less time depending on the team.

In the midst of battle, sometimes the game parts can fall. Be worthy of a Time Master and let your opponent pick an hourglass up, or get back their fallen die before you start their turn.

If you exclusively use the app (and not the hourglasses for the time management of the summonings), pausing will also stop the digital timers of the Fighters. Think about that if you have to settle disagreements!

Acknowledgments

I don't have enough sand in my hourglass to have the time I would need to thank everyone so … My thanks to all of you, the testers, players, friends, and specifically to: Thomas - Luc - L'asti, Nonozentil, Soan, Jao and Paco – Mathilde, Camille & Raphaël - Nico, Joyeux Manu, Loïs, Ludo and Dam's - the whole BLAM ! team, a super family.

Fabrice

Author: Fabrice Lamouille. Character design: Shanshan Zhu. Illustrations: Shanshan Zhu, ann&seb.

English translation: Sébastien Gilet - Jason Boyd.