Beyond
Beyond Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
BEYOND is a competitive game.
To win, gain the most energy points at the end of the game, or enchant the Evil Spirit Nian Shou.
The Celestial Spirit Cards
Card fronts: Celestial Spirit face
Each Celestial Spirit card has 2 independent components:
- 1 colored illustration linked to a type of Celestial Spirit
- 1 protection symbol: black "Yin" or white "Yang"
Example: a Turtle Snake Yang Spirit card.
Card backs: Yin or Yang Capture Side
The reverse side of each Celestial Spirit card features the symbol from the front side.
There are 8 Yin and 8 Yang cards for each type of Celestial Spirit — 40 yin backs, 40 yang backs.
Enchanted Celestial Spirit
As soon as a player has a complete pattern, the Celestial Spirit is called enchanted. The 4 cards of this pattern can no longer be captured by an opponent.
Each pattern is present in 4 copies. Thus, each type of Celestial Spirit can be enchanted a total of 4 times by one or more players.
Energy Points by Enchanted Spirit
- Turtle Snake — The Turtle Snake pattern is composed of 4 similar cards.
- Vermilion Bird — The Vermilion Bird pattern is composed of 4 similar cards.
- Double Azure Dragon — The Double Azure Dragon pattern is composed of 2 Heads cards and 2 Body cards.
- Double Metal Tiger — The Double Metal Tiger pattern is composed of 2 Heads cards and 2 Body cards.
- Yellow Unicorn — The Yellow Unicorn pattern is composed of 4 different cards.
Please note: these are just 5 examples. For a pattern to be complete, there are no conditions on the Yin or Yang symbols of the 4 cards in the pattern.
The 6 Cards of the Evil Spirit
To enchant the Nian Shou Spirit, a player must have all 6 of this Evil Spirit's unique cards.
A player who succeeds in enchanting Nian Shou wins the game instantly.
Nian Shou cards are automatically protected by one Yin AND one Yang.
Set Up
The first player, the wisest person, takes the Stock card BEYOND.
The other players each take a standard Stock card. Each player then takes and places 2 Lotus tokens on their card.
Take the 6 Evil Spirit cards to create the central Nian Shou pattern.
Thoroughly shuffle all the Celestial Spirit cards to create a common deck with the backs visible.
A common supply is formed with the remaining tokens.
During the game, a discard pile of cards will be created. It can be looked at any time.
Game Round
A player's turn consists of 3 phases:
- Phase 1 Reveal and collection
- Phase 2 Positioning of collected cards in their play area
- Phase 3 Spirit enchantments, captures, compensations
When a player has finished their turn, the next player is the person on their left.
End of the Game - Counting Energy Points
When a player has performed 3 Celestial Spirit(s) enchantments OR when the second draw pile is finished.
In these 2 cases, the game round is completed, down to the last player.
Then, counting energy points, each player adds up:
- the energy points of their Enchanted Celestial Spirit patterns
- +1 per Celestial Spirit Face card outside of the complete patterns
- +1 per Nian Shou card
- +1 per Capture Face card
- +1 per token in their entire play area
In the event of a tie, the player with the fewest Spirit Face cards wins.
OR instantly when a player succeeds in enchanting the Nian Shou evil Spirit.
If you are combining several games, this player scores 15 and the others 0.
Details
Phase 1: Reveal and Collection
The active player turns over the top card of the draw pile, reveals its Spirit face and places it next to the draw pile. They can repeat this action if they wish to.
Successful reveal. As long as all the revealed cards represent different Spirits, i.e. are different colors, the player can decide to stop and then has to collect ALL of the revealed cards.
Failed reveal. As soon as the active player reveals 2 cards from the same Spirit, i.e. same color, within the same round, they have to stop revealing cards. They should collect only the last revealed card. Non collected cards are discarded.
Special case: Obtaining a Nian Shou card. If the first 2 cards revealed by the active player are of the same Spirit, they obtain a Nian Shou Spirit card from the central pattern, if any left. They place it Spirit Face up in their play area.
Failed reveal with use of Lotus tokens. The active player may discard one or more of their Lotus tokens to collect, per token, one revealed card of their choice. The last card revealed is anyhow always "free". Example: the player discards 2 Lotus tokens to collect the Tiger "body" card and the Turtle Snake card; the last revealed card is collected "for free".
A Lotus token can still be used in the event of a failed reveal with the first 2 cards of the same Celestial Spirit.
Phase 2: Positioning of Collected Cards in Their Play Area
For each card collected in phase 1, the active player must definitely choose on which side they wish to place it in their play area:
- Spirit side up
- OR Capture side up — Yin or Yang, placed on an available corner of their Stock card. At any given time, a player can have a maximum of 4 Capture cards. They can use these cards in this round or a future round.
Phase 3: Spirit Enchantments, Captures, Compensations
Compositions, Enchantments. The active player composes patterns, using:
- cards collected in Phase 1 and placed Spirit face up in their play area in Phase 2,
- potential cards captured during Phase 3.
A given player may enchant the same Celestial Spirit several times, i.e. possess several patterns from the same type of Celestial Spirit.
Captures - optional actions. The active player may take Spirit face up cards from one or more opponents.
- 1 Yin Capture card for a Spirit card protected by a Yang
- 1 Yang Capture card for a Spirit card protected by a Yin
- 1 Yin Capture card and 1 Yang Capture card for a Nian Shou card
The captured card must be placed Spirit face up in the active player's play area. The used Capture cards are discarded.
The active player can capture several cards from the same opponent.
Compensations. For each captured card, the attacked player takes 1 Token from the common supply and places it on their Stock card. There is no limit of token in stock per player. If the common supply is empty, there is no compensation.
Example. Jessy, the active player, starts to compose a 2nd Turtle Snake Spirit pattern, with a card she collected in phase 1. Jessy takes the Vermilion Bird Yang card from Sam, thanks to a Yin Capture Card. Sam gets 1 Token. Jessy thus completes a Vermilion Bird pattern. This spirit is enchanted, these 4 cards cannot be captured anymore. Jessy also captures one of Sam's Nian Shou cards, with 2 Capture cards: a Yin and a Yang. Sam gets 1 Token again.
Advanced Mode
Once you have learned the basic rules, we recommend this advanced mode. It includes 2 independent modules which can also be combined during Phase 3.
Protection Tokens
The active player may use one or more of their tokens in stock. Each token used in this way is placed on Yin-Yang side, on top of the Yin or Yang symbol of a Celestial Spirit side card.
- A card can only be protected by a token, and a token only protects one card.
- A token placed on a Celestial Spirit card cannot be moved.
- Once placed, a token is only recovered if the protected card is captured by an opponent.
- To capture a protected card, an opponent must discard a Yin Capture card AND a Yang Capture card. In this case, the attacked player puts the token that was placed on the card back into his stock instead of taking one from the common supply.
- If the active player completes a pattern with one or more protection tokens, the tokens for that pattern are returned to the common supply.
- Nian Shou cards cannot have protection tokens.
Summoning an Enchanted Celestial Spirit
The active player can place one of their Lotus tokens in the center of one of their Enchanted Celestial Spirits to summon it, when the pattern is completed or on a later turn. The active player can summon several Spirits in the same game turn.
A Spirit can only be summoned if there is not already a Lotus token in the center of its pattern. Effects obtained during a summoning:
- Turtle Snake: Take the card of your choice from the first 4 of the draw pile and place it in your play area, Spirit side up. Then shuffle the draw pile.
- Vermilion Bird: Take a Yin or Yang Capture Side card from the discard pile and place it on an empty slot of your Stock card.
- Double Azure Dragon: Take the card of your choice from the first 2 of the draw pile and place it in your play area, Spirit side up. Place the second card back on the draw pile without shuffling.
- Double Metal Tiger: If still available, take a Nian Shou card from the central pattern, and place it in your play area, Spirit side up.
- Yellow Unicorn: Put back into your personal stock one of your tokens placed in the center of another Enchanted Celestial Spirit, which can, as a result, be summoned again.
Example: by summoning the Vermilion Bird, the active player retrieves a Yin Capture card from the discard pile.
Thanks
Sophie and Thomas
We would like to thank everyone who accompanied us in this wonderful adventure since the first prototypes of our then called WU SHOU!
The organizers, volunteers, and players of the gaming events we have had the chance to be a part of: Vous êtes joueurs?! in Romans-sur-Isère, Lub'en Jeux in Lauris, La Contrée des jeux in Avignon, La Journée du Jeu in Grans, Les Instants Ludiques in Aix-en-Provence, Le Festival du Jeu d'Istres, Lacanau en Jeu - special thanks to Jérôme Marié, le Festival International des Jeux de Cannes, Valence Joue aussi la Nuit, l'Alchimie du Jeu in Toulouse, Paris Est Ludique.
The CLAP - Collectif Ludique des Auteurs de Provence, in particular Amélie Assié, Romain Lisciandro and Fabrice Puleo.
Louis Blaise, Justine Vanhuffel, Thibaut Andrieux, Karen Nguyen, David Carmona, Laurène Boué, Florian Boué, Ludovic Maublanc, Théo Rivière, Penelope Gaming.
Adeline @la_boite_de_jeu_de_solyane and our fellow players from Jeux en Scène 13, Yanick - Plâtobar, Sébastien @la_toile_des_jeux, Christelle - Au Dé Chanceux, Marc - La Perle Rare.
Obviously our families and friends.
And of course Justine, our five-legged unicorn, particularly for her graphic and illustration work bringing poetry and a singular energy to the game.
Justine
Many thanks to Thomas and Sophie for offering me this lovely project. They allowed me to take my first steps as a games illustrator and to move from RGB to the dark side of CMYK.
Credits
Design: Sophie Planchais & Thomas Niesor
Illustrations: Justine Vanhuffel
Graphics: Justine Vanhuffel
Publishing: Victoire SAS
Manufactured in Poland: Fabryka Kart
WARNING! Not suitable for children under 3 years old. Presence of small elements in the game. Danger of suffocation.
2024 © All rights reserved