Chaos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• What You Want To Do
• What To Avoid
• How to Play
• Scoring
• Important Rules that are Always in Effect
• Details
  • Dealing the Cards
  • Draining The Pool
  • Drawing Cards from The Fountain
  • Discarding to The Pool
  • Taking Actions
    • Seek
    • Trade
    • Battle
  • Playing Spectrum Sets
  • Playing Order
    • Declaring Order
    • Revealing Order
• Scoring at the End of the Round
• Strategies

Contents

• 52 Spectrum Cards
• 4 Order Cards
• 2 Chaos Cards

What You Want To Do

• Collect sets of 3 identical Spectrum cards and place them on the table.
• Collect the set of 3 Order cards and keep it in your hand until the end of the round.

What To Avoid

• Avoid the 4th Spectrum card that matches a set you have placed on the table.
• Avoid the 4th Order card if you have the other 3.
• Avoid holding a Chaos card at the end of the round.

How to Play

• Deal out the cards as explained in the details.
• The player to the left of the dealer begins the round.
• Player turns continue clockwise.

When it's your turn (phases and special events described in detail below):

1. Check the number of cards in The Pool. If it contains 5 or more cards, start Draining The Pool.
2. Draw a card.
3. Do 1, 2 or 3 of the following Actions, in any order and combination:
   • Seek: Ask another player for a card.
   • Trade: Exchange a card with another player.
   • Battle: Win or lose cards by comparing their values.
4. Optional: Place 1 or more Spectrum card sets on the table, before or after an Action.
5. Discard a card into The Pool to end your turn.

The round ends immediately when:

• All 13 sets of Spectrum cards are on the table; or
• A player has no cards in his hand; or
• Someone Declares Order, Reveals Order or Surrenders Order.

Scoring

Score the round and add the points to each player's total. Pass the deal and continue with another round until there is a clear winner with at least 13 points.

Important Rules that are Always in Effect

There are 3 unbreakable laws, always in effect, that the players should never forget:

The Force of Chaos Order and Chaos cannot co-exist in a player's hand. You must immediately discard any and all Order cards in your hand if you receive, draw, or hold a Chaos card. The Order cards are discarded into The Pool.

The Surrender of Order If all four (4) Order cards are in The Pool at the same time, Order has been surrendered and the round ends immediately. This rule should be considered each time an Order card is discarded into The Pool.

The Spin of Chaos Any time you put a Chaos card into The Pool, play is interrupted. Call out "Hands down!" Immediately all players stop looking at their cards, including you. Choose a direction (left or right), everyone passes his/her hands facedown at the same time in that direction until you stop the Spin. Everyone then picks up their new hand and play continues.

Note: Do not look at the cards until you stop the spin.

Details

Dealing the Cards

Shuffle the Order & Chaos cards together with all the Spectrum cards. The entire deck is dealt to the players facedown, along with an additional hand that becomes The Fountain draw pile.

Important: Players inspect their cards. If Order and Chaos appear together in the same hand, that player must discard their Order card(s) into The Pool.

Note: Don't draw any additional cards if you discard Orders due to Chaos effect.

Draining The Pool

If there are 5 or more cards in The Pool at the start of your turn, take one card of your choice directly from The Pool into your hand. The next player to the left does likewise and so on, until there are no cards left in The Pool.

Note: You may end up taking more cards than another player since the draining must continue until The Pool is empty.

If you take an Order or a Chaos card, it may be necessary to resolve the Force of Chaos. Do this before the next player picks so that any Order cards returned to The Pool are available for the next player.

Important: If you draw a card from The Pool that matches a Spectrum set you put on the table earlier, it negates that set. Place the matching Spectrum card on the set facedown to indicate it is now worth zero points.

Drawing Cards from The Fountain

Draw one (1) card if there are still cards left in the draw pile. Resolve The Force of Chaos before proceeding with the rest of your turn.

Discarding to The Pool

The Pool is the common discard area. All cards are placed face up in The Pool and visible to all players.

Any time cards go into the Pool, check the number of Order cards in The Pool. If all 4 Order cards are in The Pool at the same time, this means the Surrender of Order and the round ends immediately.

Watch for identical Spectrum cards. If any set of 4 Spectrum cards is in The Pool at the same time, it is immediately removed and the cards are set aside until the end of the round. These cards still count for all Spectrum cards played.

If a Chaos card goes to The Pool, resolve the Spin of Chaos before continuing.

Taking Actions

Once an Action has been started, it must be resolved before continuing your turn.

Seek

Ask another player for a Spectrum card or an Order card by revealing one from your hand. The targeted player must give you the card if they have it.

If the target player does not have the card you want, your Seek has failed and you must immediately discard a card from your hand into The Pool.

If you Seek 3 times in one turn and never fail, all the other players must discard one of their cards into The Pool, starting with the player on your left.

Important: If a Chaos card is discarded, resolve the Spin of Chaos before the next player discards.

The following Seeks are illegal:

• Seeking a card that is part of a set on the table
• Seeking a Chaos card
• Seeking a card if the other 3 are in The Pool
• Seeking the same card from a player if a previous seek failed during your turn.

Trade

Select a card from your hand and pass it to another player facedown. The targeted player does the same and you both exchange cards at the same time.

Note: Resolve the Force of Chaos immediately.

Battle

Select a card from your hand and place it facedown in front of you. All the other players do the same thing. All the cards are then revealed at the same time. The card with the highest unique value will win the Battle.

First, if 2 Chaos cards meet in Battle, both are returned to their owners' hands.

Next, if any other cards appear more than once, therefore are not unique, they go into The Pool. This includes all Spectrum cards and Order cards but not Chaos cards.

Order cards have a value of 14, Spectrum cards are face value (1 thru 13), and the Chaos cards are worth 0.

The owner of the card with the highest unique value takes all the remaining Battle cards into their hand.

Battle Example: The current player announces he/she is taking the Battle action. All Players choose one card from their hand and place it in front of them. Once all players have selected and placed a face down card in front of them the cards are revealed simultaneously.

Current player reveals a 12-Spectrum Card, Player 2 reveals a 3-Spectrum Card, Player 3 reveals a Chaos Card (Worth 0), Player 4 reveals a 12-Spectrum Card, and Player 5 reveals a 9-Spectrum Card.

First, check to see if two Chaos cards are in played. In this example only one was played, so the Chaos card remains. Next check of you have any duplicate Spectrum or Order cards in play. Here we have two, 12-Spectrum card, in play. Any cards that are not unique, having another matching card, are placed into The Pool (discard pile). Now the remaining cards are a 3-Spectrum Card, a Chaos Card, and a 9-Spectrum card.

Of the remaining cards the 9-Spectrum card has the highest value, played by Player 5, therefore takes all remaining cards, 3 in this example, are taken into his/her hand. The current player now continue their turn.

Playing Spectrum Sets

If you have 3 identical Spectrum cards in your hand, you may place them on the table during your turn when you are not taking an Action.

Note: You can only place a set on the table when it is your turn.

Playing Order

Declaring Order

• You can only Declare Order during your turn.
• You must have the set of 3 Order cards and no other cards in your hand.
• You cannot Declare Order in the middle of an Action. If you are in a position to Declare Order while taking an Action, you must complete the Action first.
• When you Declare Order, the round ends immediately.

Note: You cannot discard a card to end your turn and then Declare Order. You must Reveal Order.

Revealing Order

• You can only Reveal Order when it's not your turn.
• You must have the set of 3 Order cards and no other cards in your hand.
• You cannot Reveal Order in the middle of another player's Action. If you are in a position to Reveal Order while they are taking an Action, you must wait until the Action is completed.
• When you Reveal Order, the round ends immediately.

Discarding at End of Turn

When your turn ends, place one card face-up onto The Pool.

If you discard a Chaos card, you control The Chaotic Spin but your turn still ends after the spinning stops.

Scoring at the End of the Round

Spectrum Cards:

• Each Spectrum set(s), 3 cards, on the table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Point
• Each Spectrum set(s), 3 cards, if you hold the 4th card in your hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Points
• Each Spectrum set(s), 4 cards, that was negated during the round. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Points

Order Cards:

• Order set, 3 cards, in your hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 points
• Order set, 4 cards, in your hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 points
• Revealed Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 points
• Declared Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 points

Chaos Cards:

• Chaos card(s), 1 or 2 cards, in your hand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Points!

Important: Score 0 for the round if you are holding a Chaos card – no matter how many Spectrum sets you have in front of you!

Strategies

We believe that exploring the game with its numerous and subtle strategies should be a journey that each player experiences for themselves. However, for those that are impatient, here are some hints: Intentionally fail when seeking, Trade away a Chaos card, Battle to lose instead of win, Use the Pool to force cards on another player. It will be for the player to determine how and when to best use these strategies, and others they discover for themselves!