Time Masters Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Objective
• Game Components
  • Cards
  • Tokens
• Setup
• Managing Your Play Area
• Game Progression
  • Turn Overview
  • Detailed Game Phases
    • 1. Timer Phase
    • 2. Main Phase
    • 3. Access the Spheres Phase
    • 4. End of Turn Phase
• End of the Game
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Icons

Game Objective

Time Masters is a game where you build your deck representing all of your knowledge. You will play with 3 types of cards: Spells, Concentrations and Timers.

Each player starts with the same deck of 10 cards with a value of 0 victory points. The victory points will be counted at the end of the game to nominate THE Time Master!

The victory points are written on the upper left corner of the cards and also represent the level of the consciousness Sphere where they come from.

Game Components

Cards

• Spells: Spells are the only cards to have an activation cost. You find this activation cost on the upper right side of the spell cards. While on the upper left side of the cards you have the Sphere level also representing the victory points you score. There are 39 different spells available in the game.

• Concentrations: There are 5 different types of Concentrations. You differentiate them from other cards as they always depict a woman on a blue background. On a Concentration card you find the name of the wizard who released his wisdom into one of the 5 Spheres of consciousness.

• Timers: Similar to Concentrations, Timers do not have any activation cost. Their main feature is that they have one or two slots on their base, where you will be able to play your spells. By placing spells on Timers you put them temporarily on hold this round but can use them the next round to build powerful combos. Note: Only Spells can be placed on Timers, no Concentrations or Timers are allowed there.

Tokens

• Recurrent Kè: These are portions of a day (more or less 15 minutes) with which the player will have to juggle. A Kè has two sides: a gold side meaning it is active (available) and a gray side meaning that it has been spent. You will start the game with four of them on the gold side. It will be possible to acquire some more if you find the right spells (the wizard SALO'HCIN and his spell «Increase» for example). Those Kè's are known as recurring because they can return regularly from the inactive to the active side.

• Ephemeral Kè: You can get some of those blue Kè with the effect of some spells or timers cards. You can keep them unused as long as you wish next to your Permanent Kè's. We call them Ephemeral because once used they fade away and go back to the central pile. Note: A player has a limit of maximum 4 Ephemeral Kè's at the same time.

• Reminder Tokens: These are tokens helping you not to forget to apply a discount, an increase or even a limitation in the usage of your or your opponents' Kè. Reminder Tokens are used while playing cards during the game. The tokens are: "-1", "-2", "+1" and "3".

  It is perfectly allowed to give tokens to a player who is passing his turn. When a player has both a Reminder Token of "-1" and "+1" they simply neutralize each other.

  Example: The following spells from the wizard SISYPHOS «Time Heaviness» or «Slow Down» make usage of Reminder Tokens as follows:

  • Time Heaviness: The next spell of all your opponents will cost 1 more Kè to cast. Therefore you give each opponent a +1 Reminder Token for their next turn.
  • Slow Down: All your opponents can spend a maximum of 3 Kè during their next turn. Therefore you give the opponent of your choice a "3" Reminder token for his next turn.

Setup

• Selection of the 1st player: The first player is the person who recently talked with a wizard.

• Starting deck: Each player starts with a deck of 10 identical cards. Those cards all have a no value in the upper left corner, meaning they do not have any victory points.

  Note: The upper left corner values have 2 usages: it indicates the victory points and also the Sphere value of each card.

  Shuffle your 10 starting cards and draw 5 cards in your hand. The 5 remaining cards are put face down on the table; this will be your draw deck to refill your hand at the end of your turn. Each player will have the following cards to start with:

  • 3x Concentration
  • 1x Timer with one slot and no effects
  • 2x Suggestion spells
  • 2x Recovery spells
  • 2x Energy loop spells

  Your deck is the stack of cards, face down on the table, in which you will draw new cards as result of a spell you play or to fill your hand at the end of your turn. Once this deck is empty and you need to draw additional cards, shuffle your discard pile and place the cards face down. This becomes your new deck.

• Starting Kè: Each player starts with 4 Permanent Kè on the gold side.

• Consciousness Spheres: All the cards of Time Masters have a number in the upper left corner. This number represents at the same time the victory points and the Sphere from level 1 to level 5.

  For each Sphere level from 1 to 5, shuffle the 20 cards and draw 10 at random. Place the 10 remaining cards back in the box. Those will not be used for this game. The 10 random cards will form the 5 stacks of Spheres for each corresponding level for this game. Align the 5 Spheres in the middle of the table, cards face down. Then, reveal the first card on top of each Sphere.

  Note: A variation to the random selection of 10 cards is to do the setup yourself and choose 10 cards for each Sphere. This can be useful if you want to setup the game in a particular way; to include more or less interaction with your opponents for example.

Managing Your Play Area

1. Your deck (cards face down)
2. Your hand
3. Your discard pile (cards face up)
4. Your Timer zone: Here you place Timers and the spells resulting from the activation of your Timers (see Timer Phase activation for more details). On the slots of the Timers you will place your spells vertically.
5. Your Spell zone: Here spells from your hand are activated. This will offer access to the Spheres level 1 to 5 depending on the number of spells played.

Game Progression

Turn Overview

On a player's turn you will have 4 distinct phases summarized below.

1. Timer Phase

2. Main Phase

   • You can pass to recover all your Kè's
   • You can play one or more actions below in any order:
     • A. Play cards from your hand
       • A1. Timers
       • A2. Spells
       • A3. Concentrations
     • B. Activate one or more Timer(s)
     • C. Discard 2 cards to recover 1 Kè

3. Access Spheres Phase

4. End of Turn Phase

Detailed Game Phases

On the first game turn each player starts at phase 2.

1. Timer Phase

This is a mandatory action at the beginning of each turn. If you have one or more Timer(s) which are full, meaning no free slot, you have to choose between:

• Timer Activation:

  • Place the Timer(s) which are full in your discard pile.
  • The spells placed on a Timer are already paid: they need to be played during your turn in your Spell zone.

• Timer Delay:

  • You can choose to delay the activation of your Timer. This costs 1 card (any type can be used: Spell, Concentration, Timer) that you place face down underneath the Timer you which to delay. This action can be repeated for any number of rounds.
  • The penalty of delaying your Timer with this manipulation is that at the end of your turn, in place of taking 5 cards to refill your hand, you will only draw up to complete your hand minus the number of cards under your Timers. If you have 1 card under a Timer, you refill your hand with 4 cards; 2 cards under a Timer, you refill your hand with 3 cards and so on.

  Note: If at the beginning of your turn you have a full Timer that you discard, you need also discard any card used as a Timer Delay action.

2. Main Phase

In this phase you will have to choose whether to pass or to play cards from your hand.

PASS

• When you pass, you recover all your Permanent Kè's that were inactive.

  Be careful: If you have at least one full Timer when you pass, you still have to place a card from your hand underneath each and every full Timer(s).

  If you don't want to, your Timer will go directly to your discard pile along with the spells on it. Do not complete your hand (cf. «Timer Phase»).

PLAY

A. Play one or more card(s) from your hand

• A1. Timers:

  • A Timer is always played in the Timer zone.
  • A Timer can stay in the time-out zone forever, with the exception if a spell obliges you to discard or activate the Timer. As long as there is at least one free slot on it you don't have to pay the Timer Delays.
  • Playing a Timer does not cost any Kè. Timer cards don't have any costs.

• A2. Spells:

  • You can now play as many spells as you want, one at a time, as long as you can pay its cost to cast the cards. The cost is represented by the Kè written in the upper right corner of cards.
  • When you play a spell, flip the needed Kè's to their gray side to indicate it was used.

  Spell zone

  • If you play a spell in your Spell zone, pay its cost with your Kè's, then immediately apply the effect(s). Example: If you play «Cerebral Cleaning» from TORREIP, you must immediately banish permanently 2 cards in your hand from the game.

  Timer zone

  • You can play a spell on a Timer in the Timer zone. The spell cards placed on Timers have their effects applied only once the Timer will be activated. Nevertheless, you pay directly the cost of the spell during this turn to place that spell on a Timer.

    Note: Some Timers have effects that are activated when you play spells on them. In this case, immediately apply the Timer's effect completely if possible.

• A3. Concentrations:

  • A Concentration has no cost and will be placed in the discard pile directly after applying its effect. When you recover a Kè, flip it back to its gold side.
  • There is no limit on the number of Concentrations you can play during your turn. You can use and re-use the same Concentration in combination with some spells that allow you to recover cards from your discard pile.

B. Activate a Timer

• A Timer can be activated at any time during your turn to benefit from the spells placed on it.
• A Timer can even be activated the turn it arrives in your Timer zone.
• When you activate a Timer, place it directly in your discard pile, while leaving the spells placed on it in the Timer zone. Remember, it is mandatory to use the spell cards from the Timer on this turn.
• Some Timers have a power that obliges you to discard them. If you do this, send it to your discard pile with all the cards attached to it.

C. Discard two cards to recover one Kè

• At any time during your turn, you may discard two cards to recover one Kè. This action is repeatable during your turn, as long as you have enough cards to discard.

3. Access the Spheres Phase

Recover one or more cards from the Spheres depending on how many spell cards were played during your turn.

Depending on how many spells you have now in your Spell zone, you will be able to access the Spheres at the center of the table. With one spell you can access the Sphere level 1; with two spells you can access the Sphere level 2 and so on. The cards that you get while accessing the Spheres go directly in your hand and not in the discard pile.

Note: It is not the points of the cards but the total number of cards in your Spell zone that allows you to select the Spheres to pick up new cards.

If you do not like a card visible on top of a Sphere, you can — under the condition you spend 1 card extra for this action — pick the 2nd card beneath the card on top of a Sphere.

Example 1: With a total of 4 cards in your Spell zone and you decide to pick up 1 card from the Sphere level 4 — alternatively — you can pick a card from the Sphere level 1 and a card from Sphere level 3. Example 2: With a total of 4 cards in your Spell zone, you can pick the card beneath the top card of Sphere level 2 (this costs 3 points) and the top card of Sphere level 1.

WARNING: IT IS NOT ALLOWED TO ACCESS THE SAME SPHERE MORE THAN ONCE PER TURN

4. End of Turn Phase

Discard the spells in your Spell zone and complete your hand back to five cards minus the number of cards placed face down under the Timer(s), if any.

Example: You have one card under an active Timer; you then complete your hand up to 4 cards and not the default 5 cards. If you already have 5 or more cards in your hand, no problem, just do not draw any cards.

WARNING: YOU DO NOT RECOVER YOUR Kè FROM ONE TURN TO ANOTHER!

End of the Game

The game immediately ends when a player takes the last card of a second stack of Spheres, which means now 2 Spheres are completely empty.

Each player will now count the victory points accumulated during the game. Count the points of each card in the upper right corner (also used for the level of the Spheres).

If there is a draw, the winner is the one who has to most Kè (including Ephemeral Kè). If previous count is still a draw, count the total number of cards Sphere 5 in the hands of players. The player with the highest total is declared the winner.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I recover some Kè's?

• Play a Concentration card and apply its effect. You recover immediately the number Kè indicated on the card.
• Discard two cards from your hand, at any time during your turn, to recover one Kè.
• Pass your turn and recover all your Kè's. Don't forget you still have to perform the Timer Phase even when you pass.

May I play a Concentration or Timer card on a Timer?

• No, only spells can be played on a Timer.

Are we allowed to play a spell on a Timer and activate that spell during the same turn?

• Sure, it will help you to create powerful combos. Additionally, some Timers have an effect when you activate them.

What does exactly mean: «discard or recover half (rounded up)»?

• Each time you have to recover or discard half of something, always round that up.
• If you have 5 cards and you need to discard half (rounded up) of them, this would mean you discard a total of 3 cards. If you have 3 Kè's and you recover half (rounded up) of them means you recover 2 Kè's.

Icons

Here under you will find the explanations about the game icons.

• Kè: The Kè are small portions of time (representing approximately 15 minutes) needed for wizards to bend time to use their powers.
• +1 Kè: Add 1 Permanent Kè to your pool of Kè. This Kè will be added on the gold side (active) and can be used immediately.
• +1 Ephemeral Kè: Add 1 Ephemeral Kè (blue color) to your pool of Kè. This Ephemeral Kè is active and can be used immediately.
• Turn 1 Permanent Kè: Turn a Permanent Kè from the gray side (inactive) to the gold side (active).
• Draw + turn 1 Permanent Kè: Draw a card from your deck to your hand, then, turn a Permanent Kè from the gray side (inactive) to the gold side (active).
• Banish 1: Banish a card from your hand out of the game.