Unconscious Mind FAQ
199 questions players ask · Updated Nov 10, 2026 · Full rulebook
SetupExpansion
- How many Meeting Table Idea spaces are blocked in 2-player and 3-player games?
- Can you use the solo bot as a third player to block Meeting Table spaces in a 2-player game?
- How do you set up the District scoring tracks in a 2-player game?
- What are the five starting Grief Layers used for during setup?
- Does the order of the starting Reputation marker stack matter?
- In solo mode, how many Routine Clients are drawn during setup?
- Do you have to split the deck and shuffle Nightmares cards into the upper part only?
- Why does the order of location tiles matter in solo setup for the Id?
- Does the Id's Inkpot movement depend on the card it drew or where it actually placed its Ideas?
General Concepts
- What happens to Heart-Shaped Boxes that would go past your track's upper limit?
- What counts as a set of Insights for converting to a Heart-Shaped Box?
- Can a higher-level Insight stand in for a lower-level one when gaining a Heart-Shaped Box?
- Can you suppress an Insight and then spend that same Insight to pay an action's cost?
- Can you generate an Insight by taking one from elsewhere on your dial when the center reserve is empty?
- What counts as suppressing an Insight, and can you suppress one into the center reserve?
- How do you unlock the lower coloured Insight tokens on your player board?
- How far does Freud move when your marker and Freud's marker cross Freud icons on the Reputation track?
- Does the Freud symbol on the Meeting Table move Freud's Reputation marker?
- What happens when one of the two Client decks runs out?
- If no solo overlay tile is left when a client reaches Catharsis, what happens?
- Can an effect printed without the infinity symbol be repeated as often as you like?
- Can Gabriele Possanner's elevation ability be used more than once per turn?
- Can Emilie Louise Floge's suppress-an-Insight-for-coffee ability be used more than once per turn?
- Can a Treatise's first title be cited from another player's Treatise?
- Which part of a Research card do you cite or compile into a Treatise?
- How does the Id break ties when choosing a Treatise in solo play?
- How much Coffee does the Id gain when a Location effect triggers from its Notebook tile banner?
- Can the Id spend Bright Ideas to trigger more Location effects?
- When the rightmost Notebook supply is empty and the Id triggers its red row, what does it gain?
- What does the Id gain when it plays an action card whose effect needs Insights it does not have?
- Can the Id play cards from its hand on its action tiles, or only on the first triangle tile?
- When the Id overflows Heart-Shaped Boxes while healing a dream, does it gain points?
- Can a Routine Client's ability be used more than once per turn?
- What does the slashed treatise icon on a client power mean?
- When another player cites your Treatise, which Research card do they take?
- How do you play a Research card from your hand?
- Can you take a player-coloured Insight from anywhere on your dial to mark a District or Treatise?
- Are all player boards identical, and do players start with different setups?
- Can Kafka overcompensate a transfer, turning a Major or Median Insight into a Minor one and then transferring it?
On Your Turn
- Does your Inkpot move twice as far when you place only one or two Ideas?
- Can your Inkpot make a full lap of the rondel using extra movement from Egon Schiele or Bright Ideas?
- Is there a limit to how far Bright Ideas can extend your Inkpot's movement?
- Can you spend Bright Ideas to move the Inkpot when an action does not normally move it?
- Can you use Bright Ideas to move the Inkpot backwards?
- When your Inkpot lands on the top space, can you trigger a Notebook tile you gained during that same activation?
- Can the Inkwell symbol move your Inkpot zero spaces?
- Can a player pass or stall on their turn to block the Meeting Table when everyone has unused Ideas?
- What are the three actions available on a turn?
- Can a column of Notebook tiles unlocked by a movement action be triggered in the same turn?
Meeting Table ActionsExpansion
- Can you activate a Meeting Table action with Bright Ideas alone, without any of your own Ideas?
- Are Bright Ideas removed from the Meeting Table at the end of your turn?
- Can you place a Bright Idea on a Meeting Table space that already holds an Idea?
- Can you place an Idea on an action space that another of your own Ideas already points to?
- Can you place two Ideas on the same Meeting Table space to point at different adjacent actions?
- With the 5+ Madness effect, can Ideas be pointed at more than two action spaces when the Gramophone lets you place three?
- Can you use Bright Ideas to take the same Meeting Table action again, or activate an action your own Idea already points to?
- Are the effects of an action space mandatory, or can you use only some of them?
- Do you still slide the center Notebook tile over when the Notebook tile supply is exhausted?
- If your Pet is on the top level, can you reduce the Inkpot movement by 1 or 2 and simply not move the Pet?
- When you gain a Notebook tile for the first row you complete, can you place it in the top row regardless of Cured Clients?
- Can you fill my Notebook board without curing Clients?
- Can a Notebook tile replace an existing tile when a valid empty space is available?
- Can you take the victory point coins on an empty Notebook space instead of a tile?
- Which Volumes can I cite from another player's Treatise?
- When publishing a Treatise, can you take the missing Volumes from cited players in any order?
- When publishing the Treatise of the Dead, must both gray Volumes come from in-play Research cards or citations?
- Can you cite another player's double-volume card from the Free Association expansion when publishing a Treatise?
- Can you use a Notebook tile gained from a Research card immediately, by placing it in the Inkpot row you are still resolving?
- Is a Level I or Level II Notebook tile stronger?
- Can you elevate the same Insight you used to pay for a Notebook tile action?
- Can you elevate the same Insight twice when you gain 2 elevations?
- Can an Insight be elevated regardless of the color of the location that granted the elevate effect?
- When two Ideas are placed in different rows in one turn, do the Inkpot movement values add up?
- Do you pay Coffee for each action when placing two Ideas on one table action?
- If you buy two Notebook tiles in one turn, is the Meeting Table display refilled between the two buys?
The City Map
- If Freud's Reputation marker is already on 10 when you gain Reputation, do you still advance your own marker?
- When you gain a Reputation point, in what order do Freud's marker and your marker advance?
- How do you resolve the Reputation track when your Inkpot lands on it?
- Does the sixth space of a District bonus track give Reputation when you claim it?
- Does the "any symbol" routine client modifier act as a wild location tag?
- Do Location effects from a Notebook tile's location icon give one action per tag, and does the icon count as a tag?
- When a Location has several tags, do you trigger all Location effects or choose one?
- Does Freud gain the effects of a new Location when a Reputation gain moves him?
- How does the Fireworks standee work?
Recall Ideas
- Can you spend your turn Recalling if you have no Ideas on the Meeting Table?
- Can you recall Bright Ideas that you placed on the Meeting Table?
- Do your own Idea tokens return to you when you recall Ideas?
- Which District recall tokens give a Reputation point?
- With Sophie Zimmermann, can you take a District Bonus and then claim the extra Location bonus during Recall?
- With Sophie Zimmermann, can the second Location bonus come from a different Location than the first?
- Does Tilla Durieux's power let you claim a Recall bonus from any location, not just where your Professor or Freud is?
- Can Tilla Durieux and Sophie Zimmermann together let you claim two Location bonuses from a Location where neither you nor Freud is?
- Can you claim more than one District bonus in the same District?
- When claiming a District bonus that moves your Inkpot, can you leave the Inkpot where it is to activate the same space?
- Does the Recall Reminder tile switch from Coffee to Victory Points in Era 2?
- When recalling Ideas and claiming a District bonus that gives Reputation, do you advance the Reputation track before moving the Inkpot?
- Which Insight token must you use to claim a District bonus during Recall Ideas?
- How does claiming a Location bonus or a District bonus work when you recall Ideas?
- Can a Location or District bonus be claimed by more than one player?
- Can Bright Ideas boost a District bonus or claim an extra Location bonus during a Recall Ideas turn?
Treat Clients
- Can you cure a client with Heart-Shaped Boxes alone, without treating its Dreams?
- Can you treat a client with a Dream and then finish it with Heart-Shaped Boxes in the same turn?
- Can you treat both the Manifest and Latent Dreams of one client in a single turn?
- Does excess therapy from a Dream that cures a client turn into Heart-Shaped Boxes?
- Are the rewards from a Dream or a client's ability compulsory when you treat?
- Can you use the same Dream card twice on one patient before it is discarded?
- Are discarded Dream cards removed from the game, or can they be reshuffled back in?
- Do you reshuffle the Illusion dream deck when it runs out?
- If you take an Illusion dream, do you also take a Manifest dream?
- Do a Dream's effects resolve before a patient reaches Catharsis, and can its icons be used then?
- What happens when a client's Dreams do not supply enough therapy points to cure it?
- Are a client's abilities and Location tags active once its Grief layer is removed, before it is cured?
- Can a client's grief-gated ability be used on the same turn its Grief layer is removed?
- Does Catharsis remove the Grief layer even when hearts remain or the client is cured the same turn?
- Do you score the VP spaces you pass on the therapy track, and do they pay again when you treat the client?
- Do you still get Dream card rewards when you cure a client with Heart-Shaped Boxes?
- Can a Routine Client's ongoing action be used more than once in the same turn?
- Does treating a client through its Dreams use up your whole turn?
- Can you complete a Dream with a better Insight than it asks for, such as a Flame in place of a Spark?
- How does Gabriele Possanner's power work when you have no Insight to Elevate?
- Can a tile placed in the Last Notebook column count the cure that triggered it toward the column requirement?
- Can you spend Coffee to lower a Dream card's Insight cost?
- Can a client power that lets you suppress an Insight for a Coffee be used repeatedly?
- Does a Dream card's move effect give a full location action?
- Can you use a bonus from resolving one Dream on another patient's Dream in the same turn?
- What does a Dream whose icon matches the client's Grief layer do?
- What does the Therapy Point icon do when a client is treated?
- What happens when you cure a client?
- Does Gustav Mahler's ability give both a Major Insight and a Heart-Shaped Box on a matching dream?
- Do the Manifest and Latent Dreams cover a patient's full cure, and what covers any hearts left over?
- Does treating the Manifest Dream by itself remove the Grief layer?
- Are Heart-Shaped Boxes spent when you use them to produce therapy?
- What is the difference between Routine clients and Case-Study clients?
Location Goals
- Can a Location Goal's any-location-tag icon count separately for each Case-Study Client when scoring?
- Must you claim every Location Goal tile you qualify for right away, and what if you forget?
- When you gain two Reputation at once, how far does Freud's Reputation marker advance?
- Can the two player-colored Insights for a Rendezvous objective sit in the center reserve, or must they be placed?
- Do three Mad Insights satisfy a Rendezvous objective that asks for Major Insights?
- Can you claim several Rendezvous objectives in one turn, and what does each claim cost?
- Does the Id claim Location Goal tiles during its own turn?
- Do Mirror clients count as Routine clients for the three-Routine-clients Location Goal?
- When you claim a medal district token with Sophie Zimmermann, is it resolved before or after Freud moves?
- Does a client in your office that has reached Catharsis count its Location tag toward a District bonus?
End of Turn
- When can you spend Heart-Shaped Boxes to produce therapy for a client?
- Can you spend Heart-Shaped Boxes on a client you drafted on the same turn?
- When you draft two clients in one turn, when do the client and Dream displays refill?
- In the final round, do you draft a replacement client after curing one?
- Can you gain Heart-Shaped Boxes from Insights during the end-of-turn step, then spend them for therapy?
- Can you convert Insights into more than three Heart-Shaped Boxes in one turn?
- Can you convert Insights into Heart-Shaped Boxes mid-turn and use them to treat a patient?
- What can you do when you gain a Heart-Shaped Box but your track is full?
- How do you get enough Heart-Shaped Boxes to cure a client early in the game?
- After treating a client with a row-added tile, can you activate the newly acquired tile in the same end-of-turn row activation?
- Does Freud move every time any player gains Reputation, and what ends the game?
- Are unused Heart-Shaped Boxes lost at the end of your turn?
- Does spending Heart-Shaped Boxes to cure a client count as treating it?
Final Scoring
- How is the Reputation track scored at the end of the game?
- How do Archduke Ferdinand's Bright Idea bonus and Coffee conversion score at game end?
- Can the same pair of location tags be scored more than once for Selma Kurz, and must the tags share one card?
- Can one Wild location tag count toward every final-scoring category it applies to?
- Does Arjun Raval's effect or end-game scoring count Research cards outside your own tableau?
- How does the 3 VP space at the end of the Reputation track work once Freud is there?
- What do the scoring icons below the Inkpot track on the player board mean for Location tags?
Modules
- In solo mode, does the Id use its Dream cards when it cures a client?
- How do nested actions from Scholarly Research Cards resolve, and can you publish a Treatise with the first card?
- In solo mode, what does the bot do when its Meeting Table space is occupied by your Ideas?
- When the Id's location bonus places a marker on its Activate Column action, does the Id activate a column?
- Does the Journalist count as a figure when you count figures for a location effect?
- Can you use other players' Treatise tags on a location trigger where the Journalist is not present?
- Does the Journalist's power apply to tag triggers from a Notebook tile's location tag banner?
- What happens when a client effect places an overlay tile but none are left?
- When the Id gains Reputation, does it also get a Reputation track bonus?
- Does the Id gain one Coffee for each Insight when a tile gives it two Minor Insights?
- How do you set up the Cure 5 Clients location tile and the Treatise tiles for the solo Id?
- When the Id lands on a Notebook tile space, does it pay Coffee for a box, and does it gain Notebook tiles from placing Ideas?
- Do the Id's Bright Ideas return to the general supply after use?
- Does the Id spend Heart-Shaped Boxes before drafting new clients?
- Does the Id gain Reputation for flipping all nine of its Notebook tiles, and does it publish a Treatise without a player-colour Insight?
Unconscious Mind: NightmaresExpansion
- Can you use a Mad Insight gained mid-treatment to take the Gramophone for a second treatment?
- What does the lightning bolt trigger icon on a Nightmare card mean?
- Where does a Black Insight go after it is used?
- If the two Madness-benefit ideas point to different Action spaces, are both spaces blocked until you Recall?
- Can you spend or return Mad Insights from the cracked dial for Treatise or District bonuses?
- Can an Insight in a crack, including a Mad Insight, be transferred, elevated or suppressed?
- Can an Insight be transferred into a crack that already holds three Mad Insights?
- Which cracks can a Major Insight move into on the Nightmares dial?
- Can you move Insights across a big crack on the dial if the crack is already filled?
- Once a Dark Insight is acquired, can it be placed on a Treatise or District bonus?
- When a Wild Research card is cited as part of a Treatise, what colour is it?
- Does Treatise of the Dead count for the two-Treatises achievement, and can you cite it repeatedly?
- When the Id draws and plays a Wild Research card that gives Madness, how does it resolve?
- If you use a Nightmare Dream after the Grief layer is gone, how many Therapy points does it give?
- Does a Nightmare Manifest Dream stay on a client when Heart-Shaped Boxes cure the client's Grief layer?
- Can you treat the same client twice in one turn with the Pets module, and does the Gramophone add to it?
- Can you spend Bright Ideas and also move your pet to reduce inkpot movement, and why does the pet track show two cogs?
- Which Insights can the 8+ Madness effect transfer for free?
- How many Insights does a Mad starting Notebook tile place at setup?
- When a Nightmare Dream's Catharsis point moves a client's marker, are the intermediate VP spaces scored?
- When you gain a Dark Insight from a Nightmare patient, which crack do you choose?