Trickerion: Legends of Illusion FAQ
180 questions players ask · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Core Concepts
- Can I play with all Trickerion expansions together?
- Should we play by the Collector's Edition rules or the original rules?
- How many coins does each player start with, and how many does the second player get in a 2-player game?
- How much Fame does each player start with?
- Do the trick decks need to be sorted by Fame Threshold, and do you take the top card?
- Do I get a free Prepare of my starting trick, and does the Manager's component count?
- How does the Engineer's extra starting trick work?
- How many starting components can you take?
- Does a Specialist you hire during the game give its starting bonus?
- What do the Manager, Assistant and Engineer specialists add?
- Which Assignment cards do you use if you play without the Dark Alley?
- Which Location slots are used in 2-, 3- and 4-player games?
The Turn (Game Phases)
- When do Permanent Assignment cards return to your hand?
- If your Magician is on a Performance slot, must it perform?
- How is Initiative decided when players tie on Fame?
- Can you Advertise on the first turn?
- Does placing the Advertising poster do anything besides give 2 Fame?
- Who has to be paid wages at the end of the turn?
- What happens if you cannot pay wages?
- During Place Characters, does each player place all their Characters at once or alternate?
- When are Assignment cards revealed and can you choose where to put each Character?
- What if all slots at a Character's assigned Location are taken?
- Can two of your Characters be sent to the same Location?
- If another Magician performs a card holding my tricks, what do I get?
- Who receives Link bonuses: the placer or the performer?
- Do day modifiers change Link bonuses, and can yields go below zero?
- Does a Prophecy that rewards gaining shards trigger once per performance or for each shard?
- Do Prophecies that change Yields also change the performer's bonuses?
- Does a Prophecy that doubles a Bank die also double coins from a Special Assignment re-roll?
- What does 'turn' mean in the rules?
- What happens to Performance cards and their markers at End Turn?
- When are Quick Order components removed from the market?
- In what order are performances resolved?
Downtown
- Can you learn a trick whose Fame Threshold is higher than your Fame?
- If your Fame drops below a learned trick's threshold, or you lack Fame for the Theater, can you still prepare and perform it?
- Can you learn a trick from your Magician's favorite category if no Downtown die shows that category, or both trick dice show X?
- Can you reroll or set a Downtown die that shows X or was already used?
- Can you take the same action, or several actions, more than once with a single Character placement?
- How do Trickerion shards give extra Action Points: how many, when, and where?
- Can you hire more than one Character in a turn, and when can a hired Specialist be used?
- Can Head Hunter hire a Specialist using an Apprentice die?
Market Row
- How much does a Quick Ordered component cost, and does Bargain cut each item or the total?
- If a Prophecy sets all Components to cost 2 coins, what does a Quick Ordered component cost?
- Does Bargain discount the combined total of several Buy actions?
- Does 'buy up to three components of one type' mean three of the same component or three of a category?
- Can you Order a component that is already in the Market Row, or one that is about to be replaced?
- What happens when you Quick Order or Order and the slots are crowded?
- Do you still need a separate Buy action to purchase a Quick Ordered component?
- Does ordering a component in the Market example mean you have already bought it?
- What if a component type runs out of tokens?
- Where can you put a newly bought component, trick or Apprentice: do you need a Specialist's Move action?
- Can the Manager's extra component be returned, discarded or kept when moved?
Workshop and Specialists
- Are components used up when you prepare a trick, and can one stock cover several tricks?
- Does a prepared trick stop working if you lose its components, and do you need them to set up or perform?
- Can you prepare a trick again while some of its markers are still on Performance cards?
- Are Trick Markers limited, and can you prepare with fewer markers than the trick shows?
- Can one Character prepare several tricks in a single Workshop placement?
- Can you Prepare a trick and Move a trick in the same Workshop visit, and do markers move with the trick?
- Does a trick prepared on the Engineer's board keep its extra marker when moved?
- When the Assistant's Workshop action moves an Apprentice, do you move the card, the token, or both?
- Does an Apprentice moved onto the Assistant's board stay there, and can you do it again?
- Can a newly hired Apprentice go straight onto the Assistant's free slot?
- Who can use the Specialists' Workshop actions, and when does a newly hired Specialist become available?
- Is there a limit to how many tricks you learn, and can you give one back?
- Can you use the Manager's components for the free starting Prepare action?
- Can you remove a trick or component sitting on a Specialist's slot to make room for a new one?
Theater, Links and Yields
- Can your Characters occupy different weekdays in the Theater in the same turn?
- Which Thursday or Sunday yield modifier applies to a trick: the performance day or the day my Characters stand?
- Is the Thursday or Sunday modifier applied once per performance or to each trick?
- Can you place a Character on a -1 AP Sunday slot where it gets 0 AP, and must a placed Character take an action?
- Do trick Yields, including shards, pay out each time a trick is performed?
- Which trick's level sets the Link bonus, and does a placement that creates several Links pay each?
- If you complete a shard Link with two of your own tricks, do you get two shards?
- Does Reschedule give a Link bonus, and can you move a marker back into the slot it left?
- Do I have to create a Link when setting up a trick, and where may the marker go on a Performance card?
- Can one Character set up several trick markers in a turn, even across different Performance cards?
- When a Magician performs, which tricks are triggered, and what happens to the card and markers?
- Do tricks stay on a Performance card that no Magician performs?
- Who can stand in the Theater's front Performance spot, and can the Magician act there?
- Can a worker go backstage to set up a trick marker without sending the Magician?
Dark Alley and Special Assignment Cards
- Can one Dark Alley draw take Special Assignment cards from two different decks?
- When you take several Dark Alley draw actions in one placement, can you draw everything first and choose afterwards?
- How many Action Points do Dark Alley Special Assignment cards cost?
- Are the Special Assignment decks placed face up or face down?
- What happens to Special Assignment cards after they are kept, played or returned?
- Is a Special Assignment card's ability mandatory, and can you use both its ability and its +1 AP?
- Does a Special Assignment card's bonus apply to every repeated action, or just one?
- Can Dark Alley cards be used at any Location, and can you hold more than three Theater cards?
- Can any Character go to the Dark Alley?
- In what order do several Yield modifiers apply to a trick (Prophecies, Special Assignment cards, Elektra, Grand Premiere)?
- How does Grand Premiere work: first performance only, and can it be combined with New Twist or Street Performance?
- Does Paid Audience's Thursday or Saturday modifier apply to tricks performed by other players?
- How does the Black Market Special Assignment card work?
- When Trick Overhaul swaps a trick, do its markers on Performance cards stay?
- How does the Festival of Magic Prophecy work?
- If several shard Links or trick yields give shards in one placement or performance, does a 'when you gain a shard' Prophecy trigger more than once?
- Do Prophecies override Magician Powers and Special Assignment cards?
- Does a Prophecy that gives every Character 1 AP override Subliminal Motivation's 2 AP for Apprentices?
- Does the Prophecy that forces Characters onto the lowest-AP-modifier slot apply to the Theater?
- Does Unstable Prototype pay out if you return zero components?
- How does Business Share pay its owner across several Buy actions?
- Does Diligent Crew trigger once, or once per idle Specialist, and can you pick the same reward twice?
- When can a Special Assignment card's text be used, based on its icon?
- Does the Double Coin Prophecy affect Fame and Fortune's payout?
- Do Special Assignment cards replace the regular Assignment cards?
Magician Powers
- How does Elektra's Supercharge work: extra AP, extra payout and marker source?
- How does Red Lotus's Trick Steal work with yields, supercharge and day modifiers?
- Can The Great Optico copy a Special Assignment card, even for its +1 AP?
- When can Yoruba choose an opponent's Performance card, and who gets the bonuses?
- When Master of Chains reschedules a trick to make a shard Link, do the other players get the shard too?
- Does the Priestess of Mysticism have to be at the Dark Alley to use her power?
- If The Great Optico copies Dubious Sources, who gets the Quick Order goods?
- How does the Priestess of Mysticism's Fate Weaving work?
- When are Magician Powers learned?
- Does the Gentleman's bonus trigger when another player's Magician enters a Location?
End of the Game
- Is there a cap on end-game Fame bonuses?
- How is the end-game Fame scored, and who wins ties?
- Do Level 3 trick end-game bonuses need the components, or is a Trick Marker enough?
- Do Level 3 end-game bonuses score once or once per matching component or trick?
- Do the Manager's virtual components count for end-game trick bonuses?
- Do unused Special Assignment cards score at the end of the game?
- How do shards score at game end with Magician Powers or Horror Saws?
Trickerion: Dahlgaard's AcademyExpansion
- What does the solo Heir do on a Market Row action when its Shopping List is empty?
- Can the Heir set up a trick on a Performance card that will be removed this turn?
- In what order does the solo Heir send its Characters?
- How does the solo Heir score at the end of the game?
- Can you teach the same trick over and over, or move it between classrooms, to collect the Teach bonus repeatedly?
- When does a taught trick pay out, and what does it give?
- Can you put a trick in a classroom without its components, such as one prepared only thanks to a Practice Room discount?
- Does a Level 3 trick sent to a classroom still score its end-game bonus?
- Can you build over a classroom or practice room that already has a building, and can you renovate then practice in one action?
- How often can you Learn a Secret, and when can you Discover New Secrets?
- Does a newly learned Secret's extra AP or ability apply to the same placement?
- Do Secrets apply only to the Protégé, and can the Protégé perform?
- What does the Protégé start with, and what wage does it pay?
- Do the Academy Magicians replace the standard ones, and what is the feather side?
- Does Dahlgaard's Academy require the Dark Alley?
- Does the Quick Start setup need a Prophecy at the start or extra coins?
- In a 2-player Academy game, should we use blocking cards or the Turn Setup dice, and can Gifts cards be mixed in?
- Can the Secret Workshop promo be played with the Academy?
- If a 2x yield Prophecy applies and a trick is performed twice and placed in a classroom, how much does it score?
- If two markers of the same trick are in a performance, does Grand Premiere double both?
- How does Professor Bernard's exchange work with classrooms and scoring?
- Do I need the Academy to play the solo Heir, and can I play solo without the Dark Alley?
- If the Heir's non-Magician character would place no tricks in the Theater, what happens?
- How does the Heir choose which Performance card and where to place its trick markers?
- How is the Heir's Ready or Busy stance decided?
- What happens when the Heir gains more characters than it can use?
- Does the Heir get full trick yield in classrooms, and does it keep its Theater markers?
- How does the Heir convert coins and score at game end?
- How does the Heir act in Downtown, including X dice and blocking?
- How does the Heir handle Special Assignment cards, Business Share and Prophecies?
- In solo play, which Turn Setup dice are rerolled each turn?
- What happens to the Heir's markers when its trick is replaced or its card is discarded?
- When is a Location contested in solo play, and which Characters go first?
- Does the Heir buy at the Market Row, and does it start with a shard in Dawn of Technology?
- In solo play, do blocking tokens on Theater performance spaces also block the backstage spaces?
- Does the solo Heir ignore the Sunday -1 on Theater character slots?
Trickerion: Dawn of TechnologyExpansion
- How does the Smoke Machine contraption reduce a component requirement?
- How often can contraptions be used or built?
- How do Signature Tricks work: starting trick, free prepare, markers and swapping?
- Does a Signature Trick that scores 'any level 3 trick' count the original trick that went back to the box?
- How are shards scored at game end with Dawn of Technology?
- Can Dawn of Technology be used in solo mode?
- Can the Training Machine give AP to a Magician on a Theater performance slot?
Trickerion: Dahlgaard's GiftsExpansion
- How do you learn, replace and place Magician Powers?
- What are the shard-marked slots on the left of the player board for?
- What does Dahlgaard's Gifts include, can it be used with solo play, and is the Dark Alley modular?
- Do Charisma, Allowance and Pocket Money trigger once per performance or for each source?
- Which Magician Power bonuses are paid at the end of the game?
- How do Perfect Coordination and Intrusion work with Duel of Magicians?
- How do Hired Cutpurses and Mass Hypnosis (with Advertising Monopoly) work?
- How do the Duel of Magicians blocking cards and grey neutral spots work?
Trickerion: Arcane ArtsExpansion
- Can wagon actions be mixed with Location actions?
- How do enchantment rewards work when performing, with a Prophecy that ignores the Enchantment die, or when another player performs?
- How do enchantments interact with preparing a trick?
- What can the Shapeshifter count as, and where can it go?
- When must the Golem be sent, and does it contest every Location for the Heir?
- Why does the Arcane Arts rulebook say a Level 3 trick needs 32 Fame?
- Does Business Share collect coins spent at the Arcane board while the caravan is at Market Row?