Vye: The Card Game of Capture and Control
Vye: The Card Game of Capture and Control Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
Vye contains 110 cards (64 Land cards, 20 Family cards, 25 Special cards, and 1 Inevitable Empress), 150 Family tokens (30 of each color, in Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, and Black), and 6 Undead tokens (Bone).
Setup
- Sort the cards into four stacks:
- Land cards (stack all cards with the Land icon).
- Family cards (stack all cards with the Family icon).
- Special cards (stack all cards with the Special icon).
- The single Inevitable Empress card (set it aside).
- Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding set of Family cards and tokens.
- Each player lays their four Family cards face up in front of them in a line. The area with a player's Family cards is their sideboard.
- Now begin creating the initial play deck by selecting Land cards based on the number of players. Land cards are grouped into sets of four matching cards.
- Shuffle these Land cards and deal four cards to each player. These cards are kept secret from the other players until played.
| Number of Players | Total Land Sets |
|---|---|
| 2 Players | 9-11 Land Sets |
| 3 Players | 10-12 Land Sets |
| 4 Players | 11-14 Land Sets |
| 5 Players | 13-16 Land Sets |
- Lay out five cards face up from the initial deck in the center of the game board in the order shown. These cards are unclaimed. Do not place tokens on them during setup.
- Decide which Special cards (if any) to add by picking a deck theme from those listed below:
- Beginning Journeys: Use the deck you've already assembled without adding any Special cards.
- Weapons of War: Fortress, Barracks, Catapult, Underminers.
- Changing Lands: Sinkhole, Wild Lands, Earthquake.
- Connecting Kingdoms: Underminers, Wild Lands, Ancient Passage, Sanctuary.
- Greedy Rulers: Lost City, Waystone, Ancient Passage, Underminers, Necropolis.
- Kid Friendly: Play with just Land cards; don't use Family cards or the Inevitable Empress. The game ends when everyone has played all of their cards.
- Players' Choice / Random: Select four Special cards to add to the deck.
- Shuffle the remaining Land cards from the initial deck and the Special cards together. This is your final play deck. If you selected Fortress or Underminers, don't shuffle those cards into the play deck. Fortress and/or Underminers cards are dealt to all players and placed face up on your sideboard along with your Family cards.
- Next, take the bottom four cards from the play deck and separately shuffle them together with the Inevitable Empress. Place this stack of five shuffled cards on the bottom of the play deck.
- You're ready to play!
- The player who is celebrating or who will next celebrate their birthday goes first.
Turn Overview
- Play a card from your hand or sideboard.
- Claim your played card with your Family token.
- Perform the card action, if any:
- Land: Check for Land matching.
- Family: Perform Family capture.
- Special: Perform Special action.
- Draw your hand back up to four cards.
- Play passes to the left.
The Cards
There are three types of cards you can play in Vye: Land, Family, and Special cards. On your turn, you play one of these three card types on the game board to build your kingdoms.
To play a card, place it face up on the game board adjacent to any card of your choosing. In Vye, we use the term adjacent to refer to any card placement that shares a border with another card. Whereas, the term surrounding refers to all the eight possible card placements around a card. Note that, when playing a card, diagonal placement is never allowed.
The following sections describe each card type and how they work in Vye.
Land Cards
Land cards are identified using the mountain symbol in the upper left corner.
There are four cards in each Land set, with 16 total Land sets. When you play a Land card, you are the owner of that card. Place one of your Family tokens on the card to claim it and declare your ownership.
Land Matching
If the illustration on the Land card you played matches that of an adjacent card, then you also capture that adjacent Land card. If that Land card has another player's Family token on it, remove the existing token and replace it with one of yours.
Additionally, if there are multiple matching Land cards that are adjacent to each other (non-diagonal), you capture them all with one Land card placement. Capturing multiple Land cards in a path creates a Land Chain. Creating and capturing Land Chains that spread through the game board is one of the core strategies of Vye.
Please note: Land matching rules can be affected by the use of Special cards. Please consult the Special card rules for further clarification.
Connected Cards
Trying to keep your kingdom connected is one of the main challenges of Vye. Cards adjacent to one another that have matching Family tokens are called a kingdom and are considered connected. Whereas, cards diagonal to one another, even if they have matching Family tokens, are not connected.
The goal of Vye is to have the single largest connected kingdom when the Inevitable Empress is drawn. At the end of the game, you may have multiple kingdoms on the board, but only your largest kingdom counts as your final score.
Family Cards
The Families are organized into five houses, each with a corresponding color and symbol. The house symbols are:
- House Midnight - Blue
- House Immortal - Green
- House of a Thousand Roses - Red
- House of Ladders - Yellow
- House of the Entangled Soul - Black
All Family cards are identified using the crown symbol in the upper left corner.
Each house has four Family cards. On your turn, you can play a Family card from your sideboard instead of playing from your hand. When you play a Family card, you are the owner of that card. Place one of your Family tokens on that card to declare your ownership.
Family Capture
Family cards also capture cards surrounding them as determined by the Family Capture symbol on the card. The Family Capture symbols are: Advisor, King, Queen, Heir.
The following illustrates the way each Family card captures other cards. Unless otherwise stated, Family cards can capture any other card, including Land, Family, and Special cards.
Note that some Special cards may have rules that change how and when capture can occur. When in doubt, refer to the rules for the Special cards you are playing with.
The Advisor — When played, you gain control of the Advisor, plus all eight cards surrounding it.
The King — When played, you gain control of the King, plus the four cards adjacent to it.
The Queen — When played, you gain control of the Queen, plus all four cards on the diagonals of it.
The Heir — When played, you gain control of the Heir, plus one other card of your choice from among the eight cards surrounding it.
Note that when a Family card captures a Land card, it does not trigger Land matching, regardless of whether or not the captured Land card is adjacent to more matching Land cards. Also, the Family capture properties of a Family card are only triggered when the card is first played. When you capture a Family card already on the game board, remove the existing token and replace it with one of yours, keeping in mind that Family capture is not triggered again.
Color Capture
In addition to the Family Capture rule for Family cards, when you place a Family card of one color adjacent to another Family card of that same color, you also capture that Family card as well.
For example: the Queen of the Thousand Roses (red Queen) captures the Heir of the Thousand Roses (red Heir), through Color Capture, even though the Heir is not in a valid capture location for the Queen.
Special Cards
Special cards are identified using the sword symbol in the upper left corner. Special cards each have their own rules, detailed below. These rules have been compiled into a quick reference table, located at the end of the rulebook, for use during play.
Special cards can be captured through Family Capture and Special card abilities. When a Special card is captured it does not re-trigger its ability unless otherwise stated in the rules of a Special card.
Ancient Passage (Covers)
Ancient Passage is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Ancient Passage allows you to connect two of your kingdoms that are currently unconnected. Play Ancient Passage on top of a card you don't control that will connect two of your kingdoms. Remove all existing Family tokens from the covered card and replace them with one of yours.
When Ancient Passage covers one or more cards, it becomes the prevailing card in that position and all cards beneath it are considered out of play while covered.
Barracks (Fortifies)
Barracks is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Barracks allows you to fortify surrounding cards you already control by adding additional Family tokens to them, making them more difficult to capture. Each capture attempt on a fortified card removes one Family token from that card, rather than capturing the card itself. The attacking token is also removed from the game board.
Play Barracks on the game board with two of your tokens on it. If you choose, you may immediately move one of the tokens from Barracks to a surrounding card you already control, fortifying that card. If you choose not to fortify a surrounding card on the same turn that you play Barracks, you may do so on a later turn instead of playing a card. If only one token remains on Barracks, it cannot be removed from the card for the purposes of fortification.
Using Barracks in combination with other fortification cards, such as Fortress, can allow you to add additional Family tokens to Barracks. In these cases, you can continue to use Barracks' Special power once per turn, as long as one token remains on Barracks at the end of your turn.
If Barracks is ever captured and fortified by an opposing player, that player can use Barracks to fortify surrounding cards they control, following the same rules outlined above.
For more information on Fortification, see the Special Rules Clarification section below.
Catapult
Catapult is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Catapult allows you to capture surrounding cards. Play Catapult on the game board with three Family tokens. On the same turn, Catapult immediately attempts to capture a card with one of these tokens. If the card is not fortified, remove the existing token from it, and replace it with one of the three tokens from Catapult. If Catapult attempts to capture a fortified card, remove one of the existing tokens, but don't place one of yours on the card. The attacking token is also removed from the game board.
On a later turn, instead of playing a card, you can attempt to capture a surrounding card using one of your remaining Family tokens from Catapult, as long as one Family token remains on Catapult after each attack.
If Catapult is attacked while it has more than one Family token on it, Catapult is considered fortified. When attacked, remove one token from Catapult. While any of your tokens remain, you still control Catapult.
When used in combination with fortification cards such as Fortress or Barracks, Catapult can gain more tokens than its initial three. In these cases, Catapult can continue to attack surrounding cards, once per turn, as long as one Family token remains on Catapult after each attack.
If Catapult is captured and fortified by another player, that player can use Catapult to attack surrounding cards with the same rules detailed above.
For more information on Fortification, see the Special Rules Clarification section.
Earthquake
Earthquake is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Earthquake allows you to swap any two cards on the game table (except Sanctuary), leaving existing Family tokens on them. Play Earthquake on the game board and place one of your Family tokens on the card. Then, pick any two cards on the game board (one of them can be Earthquake), and swap their locations. Make sure to leave the Family tokens on the cards when you move them.
Land matching, Family capture, color capture, and any abilities of Special cards do not re-trigger when Earthquake swaps two cards' positions. If one of the cards swapped is a Wild Land, it remains the same Land it was previously.
If there are multiple cards in a stack, the entire stack must be moved.
Earthquake can move cards that are fortified.
Fortress (Fortifies)
Add one face-up Fortress card to each sideboard during setup. On your turn, you can play Fortress instead of playing from your hand.
Fortress allows you to fortify surrounding cards you already control by adding additional Family tokens to them, making them more difficult to capture. Any capture attempt on a fortified card removes one of the existing tokens from the card, rather than capturing the card itself. The attacking token is also removed from the game board.
Play Fortress on the game board with four of your Family tokens on it. If you choose, you may immediately use Fortress to fortify cards. Move up to three Family tokens from Fortress to any surrounding card or cards you already control. You may place more than one token on any surrounding card you control.
If you leave more than one Family token on Fortress, on a later turn, you may move a single token from Fortress to a surrounding card you already control, instead of playing a card. If only one token remains on Fortress, it cannot be removed from the card for the purposes of fortification.
You can add additional Family tokens to your Fortress through the use of other Special fortification cards, such as Barracks.
If Fortress is ever captured and fortified by an opposing player, that player can use Fortress to fortify surrounding cards they control, following the same rules outlined above.
For more information on Fortification, see the Special Rules Clarification section below.
Lost City (Covers)
Lost City is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Lost City is worth two points if it is connected to your largest kingdom at the end of the game. Play Lost City on top of an existing Land card you already control, keeping your existing tokens. Lost City does not add additional tokens when placed.
When Lost City covers one or more cards, it becomes the prevailing card in that position and all cards beneath it are considered out of play while covered.
Necropolis
Necropolis is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Necropolis summons an army of the dead that spreads across the game board like a plague. Play Necropolis on the game board and take a number of Undead (bone) tokens equal to the current number of players + 1. In a 3-player game take four Undead tokens; in a 4-player game take five Undead tokens; and so on. Place the Undead tokens on Necropolis.
The player who played Necropolis immediately takes one Undead token from Necropolis and makes a capture attempt on any adjacent card. Moving clockwise, the next player takes an Undead token from Necropolis and attempts to capture any card adjacent to any Undead token. The process continues until every player has moved one Undead token from Necropolis. This will leave a single Undead token on Necropolis. Once all Undead tokens are placed, the player who played Necropolis draws back up to four cards, and play continues normally to the left.
Any capture attempt by Necropolis of a fortified card removes one of the existing Family tokens from the card, rather than capturing the card itself. The attacking Undead token is also removed from the game board.
There may be situations when it is not possible to play an Undead token. In these instances, leave the unplayable tokens on Necropolis. Necropolis is considered fortified whenever it has more than one token on it.
Sanctuary (Covers)
Sanctuary is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Sanctuary allows for multiple players to share control of this card. To play Sanctuary, pick any card on the game board and remove all Family tokens from it, even if it is fortified with more than one token. Place Sanctuary on top of that card, covering it. Finally, take one token from each player and place it on top of Sanctuary.
Once placed, Sanctuary cannot be captured, moved, destroyed, fortified, or covered. Family tokens on Sanctuary are considered connected to any adjacent matching Family tokens.
When Sanctuary covers one or more cards, it becomes the prevailing card in that position and all cards beneath it are considered out of play while covered.
If playing Sanctuary on top of Necropolis, remove all tokens from Necropolis. Then place one token from each player on top of Sanctuary, as well as one Undead token.
Sinkhole (Covers)
Sinkhole is shuffled into the play deck during setup. Sinkhole is played on top of any existing card.
To play Sinkhole, pick any card on the game board and remove all existing Family tokens from it, even if it is fortified with more than one token, and place Sinkhole on top of that card. After that, no further tokens can ever be placed on Sinkhole.
When Sinkhole covers one or more cards, it becomes the prevailing card in that position and all cards beneath it are considered out of play while covered.
Underminers
Add one face-up Underminers card to each sideboard during setup. On your turn, you can play Underminers instead of playing from your hand.
Underminers "digs" under an adjacent card to capture the card on the other side of it. Play Underminers on the game board with two Family tokens. Underminers immediately attempts to capture a card by digging under an adjacent card to capture the card on the other side of it. When capturing, remove the existing Family token from the card and replace it with one of the two tokens from Underminers. If Underminers attempts to capture a fortified card, remove one of the existing Family tokens, but don't place one of yours on the card. The attacking token is also removed from the game board.
You can lose control of the Underminers if rival players use Family or Special cards to gain control of the card. When captured, the Special ability of Underminers is not re-triggered.
Waystone
Waystone is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Waystone allows you to take an extra turn when played or captured. Play Waystone on the game board and place one of your Family tokens on it to declare your ownership. Then draw a card from the draw pile and immediately take another turn. After your second turn, play continues normally.
When play has moved around the table and returns to the player controlling Waystone, they do not get to take two turns again. The second turn is only triggered when the Waystone is played or captured. So, if another player captures Waystone, they immediately get a second turn.
Wild Land
Wild Land is shuffled into the play deck during setup.
Wild Land takes on the aspect of an adjacent Land. When you play Wild Land, you declare which adjacent Land Wild Land becomes. Then you claim Wild Land, as well as capturing any matching adjacent Land cards in a chain. When following any game rules or performing card actions, Wild Land is that new Land for the remainder of the game, even if it is captured by another player or moved by Earthquake.
Wild Land can be played adjacent to a Land card as long as there are fewer than four matching Lands in that chain. Additionally, a single Land Chain can never contain more than one Wild Land.
Tip: To help remember which Land card the Wild Land is taking on the aspect of, place the Family token closer to that side of the card.
Special Rules Clarification
Fortification
Fortified cards are cards that have more than one Family token on them, making them more difficult to capture. When attempting to capture a fortified card, remove one of the existing Family tokens from the card instead of capturing it. The attacking token is also removed from the game board. When only one token remains on a card, it is no longer considered fortified and may be captured.
Fortified Land cards block Land matching attempts. When placing a Land card next to a matching fortified Land card, remove one Family token from the fortified Land.
Ending the Game
The game ends immediately when the Inevitable Empress is drawn. No further turns are taken, and kingdom scores are counted to determine the winner.
Scoring
When the game finishes, each player tallies their kingdom score and a winner is declared. You earn a number of points based on your single largest holding at the end of the game. Count the number of cards under your control that share an adjacent border. You may have multiple groups of connected cards, or holdings. Remember to pay attention to the effects from any Special cards, if you added them into the game, when tallying your score.
Your largest holding at the end of a game is your kingdom score. The player with the largest kingdom score wins the game. If two players have the same score, the game is a tie.
Terminology
- Adjacent: A card placement that shares a border with another card.
- Capture: When you remove another player's Family token from a card and replace it with one of your own tokens.
- Claim: Whenever you play a card and place one of your Family tokens on the card.
- Color Capture: When you place a Family card of one color (house) adjacent to a Family card of the same color (house), you capture that Family card if you don't already control it.
- Connected: A card that is adjacent to a card that shares the same color Family token.
- Cover: When you place a card on top of another card, it becomes the prevailing card in that position and all cards beneath it are considered out of play while covered.
- Family Card: A card with one of the four Family members on it (Advisor, King, Queen, or Heir), bearing the Family icon.
- Family Token: The colored tokens placed on cards to declare your ownership.
- Fortified: When there is more than one token on a card.
- Land Chain: Multiple Land cards of the same Land set in an adjacent, connected path.
- Land Card: A card with the Land symbol on it.
- Land Matching: The act of capturing two or more Land cards of the same type with a matching Land card.
- Play Deck: The deck of cards used to play Vye, created from Land and Special cards of the players' choosing.
- Sideboard: The rows of cards placed face up in front of each player at the start of the game, traditionally the four Family cards, but can also include Fortress and/or Underminers.
- Special Card: A card with the Special symbol on it.
- Surrounding: Any of the card placements that surround a card in all eight directions, adjacent and diagonal.
Quick Reference
- Ancient Passage — Deck (1 Card): Play Ancient Passage on top of a card you don't control that will connect two of your kingdoms. Remove existing Family tokens from the covered card, and place one of your own Family tokens on Ancient Passage.
- Barracks — Deck (2 Cards): Play Barracks on the game board with two of your tokens on it. On that same turn, you may immediately move one of the tokens from Barracks to a surrounding card you already control, fortifying that card. If you chose not to move a Family token from Barracks on that turn, you may do so on a later turn instead of playing a card.
- Catapult — Deck (2 Cards): Play Catapult on the game board with three Family tokens. Catapult immediately attempts to capture a surrounding card with one of these tokens. On a later turn, instead of playing a card, you can attempt to capture a surrounding card using one of your remaining Family tokens from Catapult.
- Earthquake — Deck (1 Card): Play Earthquake on the game board and place one of your Family tokens on the card. Then, pick any two cards on the game board (one of them can be Earthquake) and swap their locations. Make sure to leave the Family tokens on the cards when you move them.
- Fortress — Sideboard (5 Cards): Play Fortress on the game board with four of your Family tokens on it. You may immediately use Fortress to fortify cards. Move up to three Family tokens from Fortress to any surrounding card or cards you already control. You may place more than one token from Fortress on any surrounding card you control. If you leave more than one Family token on Fortress, on a later turn you may move a single token from Fortress to a surrounding card you control instead of playing a card.
- Lost City — Deck (2 Cards): Lost City is worth 2 points if it is connected to your largest kingdom at the end of the game. Play Lost City on top of an existing Land card you already control, moving the existing Family tokens onto Lost City in the process.
- Necropolis — Deck (1 Card): Play Necropolis on the game board and take the number of Undead (bone) tokens equal to the current number of players + 1 and place them on Necropolis. The player who played Necropolis immediately takes one Undead token from Necropolis and makes an Undead capture attempt on any adjacent card. Moving clockwise, the next player takes an Undead token from Necropolis and attempts to capture any card adjacent to any Undead token, including the card that was just captured by Necropolis itself. The process continues until every player has moved one Undead token from Necropolis.
- Sanctuary — Deck (1 Card): To play Sanctuary, pick any card on the game board and remove all Family tokens from it, even if it is fortified with more than one token. Place Sanctuary on top of that card. Then, take one token from each player and place it on top of Sanctuary. Once placed, Sanctuary cannot be captured, moved, destroyed, fortified, or covered. Family tokens on Sanctuary are considered connected to any adjacent matching Family tokens.