Vampire Survivors: The Board Game

Vampire Survivors: The Board Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

1 Game Board
2 Map Cards
4 Player Boards
1 Coffin Board
15 Character Standees
1 Reaper Standee
4 Coffin Standees
96 Weapon Cards
76 Starting Cards
15 Character Cards
36 Achievement Cards
1 Reaper Card
3 Unlock Tokens
2 Cherry Bomb Tokens
2 Gatti Amari Tokens
4 Pentagram Tokens
40 Armor Tokens
26 Light Source Tokens
3 Advanced Light Source Tokens
4 Level Up Tokens
8 Starting Experience (XP) Tokens
8 Starting Enemy Tokens
60 Standard Enemy Tokens
60 Mad Forest Enemy Tokens
4 Mad Forest Boss Tokens
60 Inlaid Library Enemy Tokens
4 Inlaid Library Boss Tokens

Goal of the Game

Main Goal: The goal of a game of Vampire Survivors is to survive as long as possible! But no one outruns The Reaper forever…

Secondary Goal: Complete Achievements in order to unlock new content that will help you survive in future plays!

Setup

Place the game board in the center of the play area with the Mad Forest side up. Place the Mad Forest map card nearby (making sure it is not on the side labeled inverse). Place the starting enemies in the spaces shown.
Place the coffin board next to the game board.
Sort the enemy tokens by level and by type. Then, mix the level 1 standard enemies with the level 1 enemies corresponding to the map you are playing and stack them in the indicated space on the coffin board. Do the same with the level 2 enemies (separating them into two even stacks) and the level 3 enemies (separating them into three even stacks).
Shuffle the level 1 boss tiles and place 1 at random on the indicated space on the coffin board, returning the other to the box. Do the same with the level 2 boss tiles. Place The Reaper standee in the final space on the coffin.
Mix the light source tokens face down and place them in a single stack face near the game board; place 4 on the board as indicated in the setup image. For your first game, do not use the advanced light source tokens. Place the armor tokens nearby.
Give each player one player board and set the starting max health value to 3. And the starting armor value and damage value to 0.
Shuffle the character cards and distribute 1 to each player at random. Alternatively, players can choose characters. Once chosen, each player places their character card in the indicated spot on their player board and the corresponding standee on one of the 4 center spaces of the board.
Create a deck of cards for each of the players made of 4 move cards and 4 of the starting cards for that character's specific weapon. Each player shuffles this deck and places it face down near their player board. Starting cards are denoted with a starting-card icon in the corner.
Shuffle all other available weapon cards into 3 decks and place those face up near the game board. This is called the level-up display. The deck that each weapon card belongs to is indicated with a 1, 2, or 3 in the corner.

Overview

Vampire Survivors: The Board Game is a co-operative game where the players work together against the game in an attempt to survive as long as possible. The general structure of a player's turn is as follows:

Player Actions: The active player plays cards from their hand and takes actions to fight off the ever encroaching enemies. (Other players who have cards with the lightning bolt icon on them can also play them during this phase.)
Enemies Activate: All enemy tokens with action icons on them activate now. The active player may activate them in any order. If resolving one effect - like a move - reveals another enemy with an ability, the newly revealed enemy must also be activated.
Enemies Spawn: The active player adds new enemies to the board.
Level-up: The active player (optionally) spends experience to acquire new cards for their deck to become more powerful.
Draw: The active player draws 4 new cards from their deck. Adding them to any cards remaining in their hand from the previous turn.
The next player clockwise around the table begins their turn back at step 1.

In this way, players will take turns fighting against the game, and the game will constantly be applying new pressure to players. We will talk about each of the above steps in detail below.

Gameplay

Beginning with the starting player and the proceeding clockwise, players take turns doing the following phases. One player will do all of the phases in their entirety before the next player begins to take their turn.

The game ends in victory if at the end of a player's turn, there are no more enemies left on the coffin board and any player is still alive. You do not need to defeat The Reaper to count your game as a win but doing so counts as a major victory!

The game ends in defeat immediately if all players are in their coffin state (dead) at the same time or if any one player dies for a second time.

1. Player Actions

During the action phase, you play cards from your hand. You choose how many you wish you play and the order that you play them in. Unplayed cards remain in your hand for the next turn.

When playing a card, you must decide whether to play it for its instant effect (the top effect) or its persistent effect (the bottom effect).

Cards played for their instant effect are placed on your discard pile and resolved immediately.

Cards played for their persistent effect are placed in one of the 2 card slots on your player board and their effects persist from turn to turn. Your card slots can contain 1 weapon card (or move card) and 1 passive card (or move card). If you want to play a new persistent effect in a slot containing a previously played card, the previously played card goes immediately to your discard pile.

Additionally, any weapon card may be discarded from your hand to take a single move action.

Cards with the lightning bolt icon can be played during any player's action phase, not just your own. Use them to help your friends!

Played cards can have a variety of effects but the most common effects are move effects and attack effects. Each of these will be described below.

Movement

Move effects allow you to move your standee or sacrifice all movement from the played card to take a single scroll action. So, the example Move card allows you to:

Move your character standee 1 or 2 spaces (not diagonally), or
Scroll 1.

Scroll:

Choose a space on the edge of the board in your row/column or an adjacent row/column.
Slide a new light source tile into that space - pushing any present tile(s) inward.
Slide all other existing light sources 1 space in the same direction you just slid the new light source - again pushing any present tile(s).
If scrolling causes any tokens to be pushed off the board, those tokens are returned to the top of their respective stacks so they are the first tokens drawn and returned to the board next time tokens of that type are needed.

Movement & Scrolling

Movement is important for positioning yourself to make effective attacks against enemies and for positioning yourself so as to minimize your risk of taking damage.

Scrolling is the way new light source tokens are added to the game board. This is the key mechanism by which you can introduce more coins (to spend on upgrades) or floor chickens (to heal your wounds). It can also allow you to position enemies in more favorable spots for your attacks!

Scrolling is meant to replicate the feeling of moving among the environment that occurs in the Vampire Survivors video game.

Attacks

Attack effects allow you to do damage to tokens on the map. Damage enemy tokens to remove them from the board and gain experience (XP) to be spent on weapon cards. Damage light source tokens to remove them from the board and gain pickups that can aid in your survival or help unlock new content.

Pickups can be spent on achievement cards to unlock new content. Pickups can be discarded at any time to heal 2 damage from any living player or to negate 2 incoming damage.

Additional information about Pickups (including those found on the advanced light source tokens) can be found in the advanced rulebook.

Enemies generally have an XP gem on the back but as you reach levels 2-3 increasing numbers of them will be blank. Enemies have an implied defense value of 1. (If there is an armor icon on a newly revealed enemy, immediately add an armor token to it. If you should add more than 1 there will be a number on the tile indicating how many.)

Enemy with 0 armor: 1 damage to defeat.
Enemy with 1 armor: 2 total damage to defeat.
Enemy with 2 armor: 3 total damage to defeat.
Tiles printed "No XP" have no XP gem and are discarded when defeated.

Dealing damage to an enemy first removes armor tokens until none remain. If you deal a damage to an enemy with no armor tokens, remove the enemy token from the board and add it to the communal XP pool if it has an XP gem on it (otherwise discard it).

Note: Some rare enemies contain a treasure chest on the back. For your first game, whenever you reveal a treasure chest, immediately take a card from the level-up display into your hand for free, and then discard the treasure chest token. In subsequent games, see the advanced rulebook to learn about Evolutions.

XP gems are added to a communal supply near the game board and players can spend them on their turn at their discretion (but good allies are mindful to share the bounty!)

Dealing damage to a stack of enemies deals damage to the topmost enemy and progresses down the stack as tokens are removed. (Stacks of enemies are described in more detail in the Enemies Spawn section.)

Weapon cards are used to deal damage to enemies and there are two main categories of attacks: pattern attacks and projectile attacks.

Pattern attacks inflict damage in specific patterns relative to where your character standee is. The Whip and Axe are pattern attacks, and the spaces indicated in red are those which receive damage when they are played for their active effect. Notice also that you could play these cards on your player board for their passive effect instead of for the pattern attack indicated. Your Whip pattern attacks can be mirrored. Your Axe pattern attacks can be mirrored.

Pattern attacks should be considered relative to your own position so a player sitting across the table from you would effectively play their pattern attacks inverse to your own. (If this is unclear, see the Pattern Attack entry under Key Terms & Concepts in the advanced rulebook.)

Projectile attacks deal damage to spaces that are not in a specific space and fixed distance away from your character. The Runetracer and the Knife are projectile attacks and they describe which enemies could be hit but those enemies may be a variable number of spaces away and/or in a direction of the player's choosing.

Runetracer: Deal 1 damage to all targets in one diagonal direction. Your Runetracers deal +1 damage.
Knife: Deal 1 damage to the first target in a direction of your choice (including diagonal). Your projectiles deal 1 damage to 1 target adjacent to a hit target.

Both projectile attacks and pattern attacks can be bolstered with specific cards so keep an eye out for combos that complement the cards you have!

During the action phase, you should think about the best way to play your cards to maximize their effects to defeat as many enemies as possible and to place yourself in a position where you (and your allies) are least likely to take damage from incoming enemies.

2. Enemies Activate

All enemy tokens with action icons on them activate now. The active player may activate enemy tokens in any order but must completely resolve the action icons on one enemy before activating the next enemy. If an enemy has multiple action icons, begin with the one in the top left.

When playing in the Mad Forest, you will encounter the following enemy icons:

Ranged: Enemy deals 1* damage to active player.
Fast: Enemy moves 1* step closer to the active player. Only the single enemy tile with the boot on it moves. If it is in the same row/column as the active player, it moves straight toward them. If it is not in the same row/column as the active player, it moves diagonally toward them. If the space the enemy would end in contains an enemy or a light source, the fast enemy moves again until it either lands on an empty space or until it lands on a player. If moving a fast enemy reveals another enemy tile with an action icon, that enemy must also be activated.
Armor: Place 1* armor token on this enemy. This effect happens immediately when the enemy is revealed even if it is outside the enemy activation phase.

* Sometimes enemy action icons will show a number next to them. In this case, the action should be executed as many times as indicated by the number. In the case of the Fast effect, complete all of the moves before checking if they end in a space with another token.

3. Enemies Spawn

During the spawn phase, you place new enemies on the map. This is mandatory and you have no choice to make regarding where the enemies are placed. Enemies are drawn from the coffin board beginning with the stack of enemies in the wave 1 space and then proceeding to the right as each stack is emptied.

New enemies enter the map into the outermost space from your character in each row and column you occupy. Meaning 1 stack of enemies will always come from directly above, directly to the right, directly below, and directly to the left of your standee. (Start by filling the outermost map space directly above you and proceed clockwise.)

Depending on which wave you are on, you will draw a stack of 1, 2, or 3 enemies for each side and slide them into the playing area, potentially pushing other enemies inward. The enemies from each side are introduced as a single stack.

Before spawning the first boss, you introduce 1 new enemy per side.
After spawning the first boss, you introduce 2 new enemies per side.
After spawning the second boss, you introduce 3 new enemies per side.

When introducing multiple enemies to a side, take the number of tokens needed from the stack for each side in the quantities required so that you only see the top enemy until such a time as that enemy is defeated.

Spawning Bosses

After depleting the stack of enemies for a level, a boss enemy spawns. Most bosses are simply harder versions of normal enemies. The final boss is The Reaper. Reapers have special rules explained in the advanced rulebook, but in your first games, simply spawning The Reaper is considered a victory!

Bosses always spawn into a space by themselves regardless of how many enemies you are meant to spawn based on the wave. When the stack you spawn enemies from is depleted, the boss spawns into the next spot where enemies should spawn.

If the stack was depleted without spawning the number required (e.g. if you are on wave 2 but only spawned 1 enemy to empty the stack), that stack simply spawns with fewer enemies.
If you depleted the enemy stack by spawning enemies in the 4th and final position for this spawn phase, the boss will spawn into the first position during the next spawn enemies phase.

Damage and Retaliation

If an enemy is placed on any character for any reason (most commonly the result of being pushed by other enemies or as the result of a fast effect), that character takes damage and deals retaliation damage.

Normal enemies deal damage equal to their defense value (i.e. 1 damage for each armor token on the enemy and 1 more damage for the tile itself). Players deal an equal amount of damage in retaliation to the enemy damaging them. Use the dials on your player board to track your armor, max health, and damage. Armor for players functions identically to armor for enemies - players only take damage after their own armor has been reduced to 0.

If a player ever receives damage equal to their max health, they have died and their character standee is replaced with a coffin standee (see Death).

If any enemies deal damage to a coffin (including damage that surpasses that required to kill a player), that damage is passed on to the next player who would have a turn.

Example: It's a 3 player game with Antonio, Imelda, and Pasqualina. Antonio has 2 health remaining and an enemy with 3 armor enters his space. That enemy deals 4 damage to Antonio and takes 4 damage in retaliation. Since it only takes 2 damage to kill Antonio, his standee is replaced with a coffin and the remaining 2 damage is passed on, making Imelda take 2 damage. Fortunately, this does not kill her, otherwise the remaining damage would be passed on to Pasqualina.

4. Level-Up

During the level-up phase you may choose to purchase one or more cards from the display using the collected experience in the communal pool. Purchased cards go immediately to your hand and are available for use on your next turn (or during any player's action phase in the case of cards with the lightning bolt icon).

Every card costs 3 XP. (The rulebook illustrates this with an example showing three available level-up cards: the Whip, Armor, and Magic Wand.) So in that example you could choose to purchase 1 of the Whip, Armor, or Magic Wand for 3 XP (leaving 5 in the pool for the next player), or you could purchase 2 of the available options for 6 XP (leaving 2 XP in the pool for the next player).

Additionally, once per turn, during the level-up phase, you may spend 1 XP in order to refresh one of the level-up decks. When choosing to refresh, take the top card from a level-up stack of your choice and place it on the bottom of its stack.

Note: When to spend XP buying a new card and when to save it for another player can be an important strategic decision!

5. Draw

Draw 4 cards from your deck and add them to your hand (along with any unplayed cards from your previous turn and any cards you might have purchased during the level-up phase).

If there are not enough cards in your deck to draw 4 more, draw what you can then shuffle your discard pile to make a new deck and continue drawing until you have drawn 4 cards total.

There is an 8 card hand-limit in Vampire Survivors: The Board Game. If you have more than 8 cards in your hand after drawing, discard cards until you have reduced the number of cards in your hand to 8. You do not trigger any effect for discarding cards this way.

Players take turns cycling through the 5 steps described above until something triggers the end of the game.

Game End

Players end the game with a victory by surviving until the appearance of The Reaper!

Players lose a game if they die too often.

Deaths (per game) are limited to once per player.
If any player dies a second time or if all players are dead simultaneously, the game immediately ends.

After the first time you have survived until the appearance of The Reaper, consult the advanced rulebook to learn how to fight him in future games!

Defeating The Reaper is difficult but possible. Doing so results in a major victory!

After the game ends, and regardless of the outcome, you must resolve the achievement cards and unlock new content for future games.

Achievement Cards

The achievement cards laid out during setup give you secondary goals in addition to surviving until the appearance of The Reaper.

During the course of play, the moment that any player completes the indicated task on an achievement card, mark that card with one of the unlock tokens.

At the end of the game, flip any cards that have unlock tokens on them to reveal what has been unlocked. If any of the available achievement cards were not unlocked, stack them back on top of the achievements deck. You will get another chance to unlock them in the next game.

The content that can be unlocked is as follows:

Weapons/Passives: New weapons and passives can simply be added to their respective decks when unlocked and used in every game moving forward. Each will indicate in the corner which deck they belong to.
Characters/Starting Weapons: New characters can be selected by any player when starting a new game. Their starting weapon cards are indicated with a starting-card icon. Remember when starting the game to make a starting deck consisting of 4 move cards and the 4 starting weapon cards that correspond to the character you have selected.
Evolutions: Evolutions are powerful abilities that you can unlock by collecting a treasure chest while having specific cards in the slots on your player boards. These are explained in detail in the advanced rulebook.

Death

Death is not (always) the end!

If a player is in a coffin state at the start of their turn, that player heals 1 damage and replaces their coffin standee with their player standee then takes a turn as normal.

When a player dies, they still finish the remaining phases of their turn. Enemies still spawn and activate. The dead player can still spend XP during the level-up phase and still draws cards.

However, while in a coffin state a player may not play cards - even those with the lightning bolt icon on them! And remember as soon as one player dies twice or all players are dead simultaneously, the game immediately ends!

Now you know how to play Vampire Survivors: The Board Game. After you are comfortable with these rules, check out the advanced rulebook to make your plays even more interesting and fun!

Advanced Rules

The following is the official Advanced Rulebook for Vampire Survivors: The Board Game, transcribed as sections of this file. The Advanced Rulebook recommends playing through the game with only the core rules first; after your first few plays, add these rules to increase complexity.

Evolutions

Evolutions are powerful cards that you earn as a result of completing certain achievements. The first one you discover is likely to be Thousand Edge so we will use this card as the example for explaining evolutions (though the rules for how to use them are the same no matter the order you discover them).

Once an achievement unlocks an evolution, it is available in every future play through. During setup, make sure you place all available evolution cards face up near the game board so that players can consult them at any time during play.

The example card is the Thousand Edge (EV001). Its "Needed for Evolution" symbols show the two cards required (a weapon card and a passive card providing their persistent effects). Its effect is: your Knives now damage every target in the direction fired (instead of just the first). An evolution card is put immediately and permanently into play. It does not take up a spot in your tableau.

In order to earn an evolution during your game you must have two specific cards on your player board providing their persistent effect - one weapon card and one passive card. Each evolution card will show you what two cards are required.

If you have the two required cards on your player board and you reveal a treasure chest, you immediately claim the evolution card from the supply! If you do not have the two required cards for an evolution but another player does, that player claims the relevant evolution.

In the case that multiple players meet the requirements for evolution, simply begin with the active player and proceed clockwise around the table to determine who claims an evolution. Only one player can claim an evolution card per chest.

If no player meets the requirements for evolution, the player who revealed the chest takes a free card from the level-up stacks as normal.

When you claim an evolution, place it face up above your player board. It is never shuffled into your deck. It simply provides you with its benefit for the remainder of the game.

Once an evolution has been claimed, no other player can claim that evolution. But, once you have unlocked multiple evolutions, it is possible that multiple players all have evolutions or even that one player has multiple evolutions.

These are powerful cards so, do your best to get at least 1 evolution every game to have the best shot of defeating The Reaper!

Advanced Light Source Tokens

The advanced light source tokens can be easily incorporated into your games (or removed to simplify the game for new players). Just like the standard light source tokens, they are simply shuffled into a single face-down stack with all other light source tokens and can appear when doing a single damage to any light source. Unlike the Floor Chicken and the Coin, however, the advanced light source tokens do not get added to the common supply - they are instead resolved immediately upon their reveal and then discarded.

Advanced light source tokens have the following effects:

Vacuum: Immediately reveal up to 3 other light source tokens anywhere on the map and resolve them.
Nduja Fritta Tanto: Immediately deal 2 damage to the first 2 targets in any 1 direction (including diagonal) from your character.
Rosary: Immediately deal 1 damage to up to 4 different enemies anywhere on the map.

Maps

During your first plays of Vampire Survivors: The Board Game you will always play on the Mad Forest map. Later, after unlocking a specific achievement, you can play on the Inlaid Library map. On any unlocked map, you have the option to play inverse mode at any time.

The Mad Forest

The Mad Forest map has no special rules beyond those explained in the core rulebook. When playing on the Mad Forest map you will encounter enemies with these action icons: Ranged, Armor, and Fast. These action icons are explained in depth in the core rulebook.

The Inverse Mad Forest

When playing inverse mode, you must make one change to setup and one change to gameplay.

Setup: Give each player 1 armor before the start of the game. This rule appears only here so don't forget this step!
Gameplay: Reverse the order of the Enemies Spawn and Enemies Activate phases as indicated on the Inverse Mad Forest map card. This trumps the order of phases displayed on the player boards.

Note: Because enemies will spawn before they activate, you will frequently find yourself unexpectedly shot by ranged enemies or stepped on by fast enemies. Be careful! Inverse mode is quite difficult!

The Inlaid Library

The Inlaid Library is a new map that you can play on after you have unlocked the achievement which tells you to do so. This map uses a new set of enemy tokens which include a new action icon as well as introduces a new restriction during gameplay.

Setup: When setting up the Inlaid Library, mix the standard enemies with the Inlaid Library enemies. The Mad Forest enemies are not used.
Gameplay: When scrolling in the Inlaid Library, new light source tokens can only be introduced from the open sides of the board. Light source tokens may not be introduced from the sides of the board that depict the bookshelves. This restriction is noted on the Inlaid Library map card.

This restriction only applies to spawning light sources with a scroll effect. Enemies spawn from all 4 sides as normal.

New action icon, Exploding: Exploding enemies deal 1 additional damage when they enter a space containing a player's standee. Additionally, when an exploding enemy is removed from the board, it deals 1 damage to any player who has a standee in a space orthogonally adjacent to the one the exploding enemy was removed from. This effect is always active even outside of the Enemies Activate phase.

The Inverse Inlaid Library

The special setup instructions indicated for Inlaid Library and the restrictions to scrolling also apply when playing Inverse Inlaid Library.

Setup: Give each player 1 armor before the start of the game. This rule appears only here so don't forget this step!
Gameplay: Reverse the order of the Enemies Spawn and Enemies Activate phases as indicated on the Inverse Inlaid Library map card. This trumps the order of phases displayed on the player boards.

The Reaper

The Reaper is a special enemy who spawns after the last standard enemy. Because The Reaper is unique, he has an oversized card as well as a standee. When The Reaper spawns, he appears on an outer edge space by himself just like a normal boss. At the time he spawns, add 15, 20, 25, or 30 Armor tokens to The Reaper's card depending on if you are playing with 1, 2, 3, or 4 players. The Reaper is defeated when all armor tokens are depleted and he takes 1 additional damage.

As long as The Reaper is on the board, skip the Enemies Spawn step.

During the Enemies Activate step, The Reaper executes the following actions:

Ranged Attacks: Deal 5 damage to the active player.
Move 4: Move 4 steps toward the active player according to normal move rules. Only check The Reaper's final space to see if he moves again due to stopping on an enemy.
Deal 3 Melee Damage: If The Reaper would enter the space of a player during his move step, he deals 3 damage to that player and takes 3 retaliation damage - excess damage from The Reaper spills over to the next player(s) as normal.

The Reaper stays in the last spot he occupied before he moved into the player's space unless that space has enemies. In that case, he moves clockwise around the player's standee until he reaches an empty space. Both orthogonal and diagonal spaces are considered in this process.

Note: Outside of the Enemies Activate step, if a player moves into The Reaper's space, 3 damage is assigned to the player and 3 damage to The Reaper. Then the player returns their standee to the space they entered from.

After resolving all enemies with action icons, including The Reaper, play proceeds to the next player as normal.

Defeating The Reaper is difficult but possible. Doing so is considered a major victory!

Movement & Scrolling

The core rulebook covers the basics of movement and scrolling but this text explains those mechanisms fully including some useful scenarios to get more out of your movement and scrolling.

Movement: As noted in the core rulebook, the standard move card allows you to move your standee 1 or 2 spaces. If, however, you end your movement on another player's standee, you must move 1 additional space as one space cannot hold two players. This additional move is repeated until your standee ends up in a space without another player.

The example in the rulebook shows Antonio with his normal move options available, but if he ends his turn on Imelda, he must move an additional space. This additional move could land him in a space next to Imelda or, if he used it to land on the space containing Gennaro, he would move again.

Scrolling: Scrolling may also be used for extra advantage by using the effect to push enemies off the edge of the game board. As noted in the core rules, using a scroll effect allows you to introduce a new light source token from an edge of the board and then push each existing light source in the same direction that you just pushed the newly introduced light source. Doing this can result in an enemy, stack of enemies, boss, or even The Reaper being pushed off the edge of the board.

Pushing an enemy or enemies off the board in this way causes them to return to the coffin board on top of the stack that they came from. When you reach your next Enemies Spawn phase, you simply spawn these enemies first.

The Power Up Menu is unlocked by an achievement late in the game and has huge ramifications on game play. The rulebook recommends you do not look it up until you have completed achievement number 30.

The Power Up Menu is a powerful unlock that has huge ramifications for how you play the game.

After Unlocking the Power Up Menu, the active player can spend coins at any time in order to affect the game state. The options for spending coins are:

1 coin - Refresh a level-up stack
1 coin - Move your standee 1 space
2 coins - Heal 1 damage
3 coins - Deal 1 damage to any target

Variants

Persistent Wealth: When playing with the persistent wealth variant, save any unspent coins between games. Simply store unspent coins tokens separately from the other light source tokens in the box (or write down how many you had) and put them back in the available supply before setting up the next game.

This variant will make unlocking certain achievements easier and, late in the game, it might just make defeating The Reaper easier too.

Sequential Level Ups: Use the level up tokens corresponding to the color of each player in the game.

When the active player spends experience gems on a Weapon card, the purchased weapon can go to any player whose level up token is face up. This can be the active player or one of the other survivors. Whenever a player receives a weapon card, they turn their level up token face down.* When all level up tokens are face down, all level up tokens are turned face up again.

*Note: Weapon cards from treasure chests may also only go to a player with a face-up level up token. But evolutions may go to a qualifying player regardless of their token status and claiming an evolution does not cause your level up token to flip face down.

Mandatory Level Ups: When playing with the mandatory level ups variant, players must spend XP acquiring at least one card from the level-up stacks if possible during the level-up phase. Players are permitted to spend 1 XP on refreshing a stack before purchasing a card. If after spending XP on a refresh, there are at least 3 XP left in the common supply, you must level up.

This variant adds a slight degree of difficulty by occasionally forcing you to take cards you don't want. Working around the complicated situations this puts you in is part of the fun!

References

What follows is a brief reference covering key terms and concepts as well as explanations for unique cards not addressed elsewhere in the rulebook. This material should cover the vast majority of questions you may have when playing Vampire Survivors: The Board Game.

Key Terms & Concepts

Armor: Indicated on players by the dial on the player board. If a player without armor receives damage, that player receives a damage to be tracked with the dial on their player board.
Closest: See Distance.
Damage: Indicated on players by the dial on the player board. If a player's damage is ever equal to their max health, that player dies and their standee is replaced with a coffin. Any damage that would exceed a player's max health is passed on to the next player in turn order.
Distance: Distance from your standee is always counted orthogonally. This can matter in cases where a particular effect requires the closest target or a space at least X spaces away. If multiple targets fit the description, you choose which of the qualifying targets is affected. The rulebook shows a grid diagram of how far each space is from the indicated standee.
Heal / Healing: When an effect heals you, reduce 1 damage for each point of healing. If you have no damage, healing has no effect on you.
Max Health: Indicated on player by the dial on their player board. If a player's damage is ever equal to their max health, that player dies and their standee is replaced with a coffin. Any damage that would exceed a player's max health is passed on to the next player in turn order.
Mirrored: When Mirroring an attack, imagine that the player across the table from you played it. The rulebook shows example grids for the Whip (standard and mirrored) and the Axe (standard and mirrored).
Passive: A specific type of weapon card. Passives have the lightning bolt icon indicating that they can be played during any player's Player Actions phase - not just your own.
Pattern Attack: A specific type of weapon card that deals damage in a pattern. The pattern is always oriented relative to your standee and also your seating position. These are often stronger than projectiles. The rulebook shows how the Axe pattern changes depending on which side of the table you are sitting on.

Weapon Cards by Deck

Deck 1: Bracer, Crown, Hollow Heart, King Bible, Knife, Pentagram, Spellbinder, Whip
Deck 2: Armor, Attractorb, Clover, Cross, Duplicator, Lightning Ring, Runetracer, Santa Water
Deck 3: Axe, Candelabrador, Empty Tome, Fire Wand, Garlic, Magic Wand, Pummarola, Spinach

The Quick Reference page of the Advanced Rulebook also lists enemy action icons (Ranged, Armored, Fast, Explosive), player board dials (Armor, Max Health, Damage), and tokens (Light Source, Armor, Cherry Bomb, Gatti Amari, Pentagram, Unlock). Those are icon-only in the printed text and are explained in the sections above.

Unique Cards

The following cards are unlocked through achievements after many plays of Vampire Survivors: The Board Game. They receive a special mention here because they work slightly differently than other cards.

The Advanced Rulebook marks this section as containing spoilers and recommends not reading it until you have unlocked achievements 30, 31, 34, and/or 36.

Mortaccio: Mortaccio's starting weapon is the Bone. This weapon card only appears as a starting card. It does not appear in any of the level-up stacks.

Bone - Instant Effect: Choose a direction. Deal 1 damage to the first target in that direction and then 1 damage to the first target in the opposite direction.
Bone - Persistent Effect: Whenever you play a Duplicator for its instant effect, you may also trigger the instant effect of Bone. Because the Duplicator can be played during another player's action phase, you may also trigger this effect during another player's action phase.

Yatta Cavallo: Yatta Cavallo's starting weapon is the Cherry Bomb. Yatta is the only Character with a specific effect on his Character card. At the start of Yatta's Player Actions phase, any Cherry Bombs on the board detonate, activating their pattern attacks.

Cherry Bomb - Instant Effect: Detonate a Cherry Bomb or place one in an empty space at least 3 away.
Cherry Bomb - Persistent Effect: Whenever you play a Candelabrador for its instant effect, you may also trigger the instant effect of Cherry Bomb. Because the Candelabrador can be played during another player's action phase, you may also trigger this effect during another player's action phase.
Cherry Bomb - Detonation Pattern: Shown as a diagram on the card and in the Advanced Rulebook (the Cherry Bomb Detonation Pattern figure); the pattern attack is applied when the bomb detonates.

When placing a Cherry Bomb in a space, use one of the two included Cherry Bomb tokens. You cannot place more than two Cherry Bombs. If a target moves into a space containing a Cherry Bomb token, the token is removed from the board and deals 1 damage to the target. The bomb does not detonate as normal in this case. Any Cherry Bombs on the board automatically detonate, triggering their normal pattern attack, at the start of Yatta Cavallo's player actions phase - as indicated on Yatta Cavallo's Character card.

Giovanna Grana: Giovanna Grana's starting weapon is the Gatti Amari.

Gatti Amari - Instant Effect: Add a Gatti Amari to a space adjacent to your standee if possible. Move each Gatti Amari 1 space, then each Gatti Amari does 1 damage to each adjacent space (this can damage players too!).
Gatti Amari - Persistent Effect: Whenever you play a Crown for its instant effect, you may also trigger the instant effect of Gatti Amari. Because the Crown can be played during another player's action phase, you may also trigger this effect during another player's action phase.
Pentagram - Instant Effect: Target player chooses 1 side of the board to place a pentagram token. Do not spawn enemies from that side of the board this turn (then remove the token).
Pentagram - Persistent Effect: Return this card to the bottom of any stack in the level-up display to take the top card from that stack into your hand.

When placing a Gatti Amari, use one of the two included Gatti Amari tokens. You cannot place more than two Gatti Amari. If a Gatti Amari occupies the same space as any other token or standee, the Gatti Amari token is removed from the board and deals 1 damage to the space it was removed from (this can also damage players!).