99 Heroes
99 Heroes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
In 99 Heroes, you will lead a band of heroes in a series of quick simultaneous battles, called lanes, against an opposing band.
The player who wins more lanes wins the game!
Setup
Each player should select the same number of heroes and place them in their reserve area. In a typical game, each player will use 3 heroes.
Each player should take a standard 52-card deck and remove Jokers. Shuffle this and draw a hand of 6 cards.
Players place their 3 heroes face-down into different lanes, then reveal them simultaneously.
Randomly select a player to go first.
Gameplay
Players take turns going back and forth. On a player's turn, they do the following:
- Upkeep (Character abilities)
- Draw a card from their deck.
- Play a card.
- Activate a skill.
- End (Character abilities)
Playing Cards
When playing a card, select one of your heroes with 2 or fewer active cards, and place the card from your hand face-up on that hero.
These face-up cards are called Active Cards.
Activating Skills
After playing a card, if the played card matches the rank or suit of a skill on the hero, you may perform the matching effect.
Activating a Skill is optional. Once you choose to activate a skill, however, you must perform all of its effects as completely as you are able.
Game End
The game ends when a player is unable to Draw a Card or Play a Card. Usually, this happens because all of their heroes have 3 or more Active Cards, or because a player's deck is empty. Once either condition happens, the game ends immediately.
Scoring a Lane
The total Strength of a hero is the sum of all the cards face-up on the hero (face cards are 5's). Heroes also receive +1 Strength for each bolster (face-down cards) on them.
Compare all heroes in a lane. Each hero earns 1 point for each other hero whose strength they exceeded.
The player who has earned the most points is the winner.
Other Effects
Unique Abilities
Each hero has a Unique Ability (or "UA") which drastically changes the rules of the game. UAs typically work regardless of which hero you choose to activate in a turn.
Try to discover synergies that will unlock new strategic options for your favorite heroes!
Bolster X
When you are instructed to Bolster, take that many cards from the top of your deck and place them face-down on a single hero of your choice without looking at them.
These cards provide +1 Strength at the end of the game. You can't look at them unless an effect tells you to.
Some effects instruct you to bolster from your hand. In this case, you may select which cards to use for the effect.
Discard
When you are instructed to discard a card, the discarded card is moved from play or from a hand to the discard pile of its owner. We recommend playing with distinct decks of playing cards so that it's clear who owns which cards.
Shift
Shifting moves an active card from one hero to another.
You cannot shift a face-up card onto a hero if it would cause them to have more than 3 active cards.
Swap
Swapping changes the positions of two heroes. All cards and bolsters remain where they are, and are not moved with the swapping heroes.
Clash
All players in the clash draw a card, then discard a card from their hands. The player who discards the highest card wins the clash, and all other players lose. In a tie, the tied players neither win nor lose.
Resolve a Lane
Immediately tally Strength for all heroes in this lane, and assign points based on the victor. Then, all heroes and cards in this lane are removed from the game. Their Unique Abilities also stop working once removed.
Bonus Turn
After the end of the current turn, you may take another turn. You cannot gain an additional bonus turn during a bonus turn.
Timing
When there are multiple effects with the same timing, the turn player chooses which order to resolve them.