Chroma Mix Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • The Anatomy of a Card
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • 1. Print (Play a Card)
  • 2. Mix
  • 3. Refill
  • 4. Swap
• Ending the Game
  • A Ruby Victory
  • A Sapphire Victory
  • A Point Victory
  • A Burgundy/Mustard/Petrol Victory
  • Tiebreakers
• Solo Variant
  • Solo Setup
  • Confident Billy's Turn
  • Solo Tiebreakers
• Advanced Rulings
• Card Reference
  • Rank 1
  • Rank 2
  • Rank 3
  • Rank 4

Components

• 100 cards:
  • 36 Rank 1 cards
  • 23 Rank 2 cards
  • 21 Rank 3 cards
  • 12 Rank 4 cards
  • 4 player aids
  • 1 first player card
  • 3 mix cards (solo)

The Anatomy of a Card

• Victory points: only counted when the card is in the play area.
• Quantity: how many copies of this card are in the game.
• Rank: 1-4 dots correlating to the amount of pigments the colour has.
• Continuous effect: a continuous effect that gets triggered by actions, modifies actions, or wins the game. Marked with an infinity symbol.
• Instant effect: a one time effect that happens when you play the card. Marked with a lightning bolt symbol.
• Flavor text: some interesting facts.
• Pigment composition: the pigments making up this card.

Setup

1. Every player starts with 1 Soft Cyan, 1 Pale Magenta, and 1 Light Yellow in their hand.
2. Make 3 face-up piles of cards, each containing all copies of the remaining Rank 1 cards.
3. Place 3 face-up piles of cards on the table, each containing all 3 copies of Ruby Red, Emerald Green, or Sapphire Blue.
4. [Skip on first play] Randomly select Burgundy, Mustard, or Petrol, and make a face-up pile containing that selected card.
5. Shuffle all 23 Rank 2 cards and form a face-down deck.
6. Same with all 21 Rank 3 cards.
7. Then, deal six cards from each deck to form a Rank 2 row and a Rank 3 row. These rows constitute "the Market".
8. Leave some space for a discard pile for each of these two rows.

Playing the Game

The first player is the player who most recently printed something.

On a turn, choose one: Print, Mix, Refill, or Swap.

1. Print (Play a Card)

Play one card from your hand to your play area. Resolve any instant effects.

Example: Adam plays "Soft Cyan" from his hand and places it in his play area. He uses its instant effect and chooses to add 1 Pale Magenta from the supply to his hand. The card he played will remain in his play area until he decides to do the "Refill" action on a later turn.

Play Area: The table space in front of each player is called their play area. Cards in the play area are not part of the hand, and vice-versa.

If the full effect of a card cannot be resolved, resolve as much as possible.

Example: Betty plays "Cerulean" and attempts to add 2 Soft Cyan to her hand while there is only 1 in the supply. In this case, she only adds 1 Soft Cyan to her hand.

Continuous Effects: following an infinity sign are always active while that card is in the play area. Continuous effects are not applied if they are not in the play area.

Instant Effects: following a lightning bolt symbol occur when that card is played. A card may have both effects.

For example: Charlie plays "Coral." The continuous effect that allows him to mix cards in his play area is applied as long as it is in the play area. But the effect that adds a Pale Magenta to the hand is applied only once when that card is played. If the card is returned to his hand with a refill action and later played again then the instant effect is also applied again.

2. Mix

Take exactly 2 cards from your hand (not play area!) and return them to the supply (or discard for Rank 2 and 3 cards).

You then add a card from the supply/market to your hand equal to the composition of the cards returned.

Example: Diana returns a "Soft Cyan" and "Light Yellow" to their supply piles and takes a "Jungle" from the market. On a later turn she returns a "Cerulean" and "Fuchsia" to the rank 2 discard and takes a "Blue" from the rank 4 supply, getting closer to victory.

Mix combinations must be exact. You cannot "overpay" by mixing 2 cards that exceed the composition of the cards returned.

Example: Diana can't mix "Violet" and "Cerulean" to "Blue," since it would contain too much cyan pigment.

There should always be 6 cards in each row. If a card is removed from a row for any reason, immediately replace it with the top card of its respective deck. If the deck is empty, shuffle its discard pile into the deck. Only if the deck is still empty can a row have less than 6 cards in it.

If the Rank 1 or Rank 4 supply runs out, then they can no longer be obtained unless more copies are returned to the supply.

Several continuous effects improve mix.

3. Refill

Choose any number of cards in your play area and return them to your hand.

This makes it possible to play them again on later turns, enabling you to reuse powerful continuous effects.

Since the cards you mix have to come from your hand (unless you have "Coral" in play) you may also need to do a refill action to have enough cards to mix.

Tip: Consider not returning certain continuous effect cards to the hand, because if you do you will lose these continuous effects!

Note: You may choose to refill and return zero cards to your hand.

This may be strategic if you have Jungle in play and just need a Rank 1 card. This might be an even stronger move if you have multiple copies of Jungle.

4. Swap

Exchange 1 card from your hand for any Rank 1 card from the supply.

If you have no cards in your hand, you may instead add 1 Light Yellow to your hand.

This action is generally inefficient and not recommended.

The Swap action does not trigger any card effects!

Tip: try to avoid making a Rank 4 card too early in the game, as Rank 4 cards do not generate (sentence ends here in the printed rulebook).

Ending the Game

When a player meets a win condition, players complete the current round so that all players will have had the same number of turns.

Example: In a 4-player game, when the player who went second wins, the players who went 3rd and 4th get one additional turn.

There are 6 win conditions:

A Ruby Victory

A player with the Rank 4 card "Ruby Red" in their play area AND the Rank 4 cards "Emerald Green" and "Sapphire Blue" either in their hand or play area wins the game.

A Sapphire Victory

A player with the Rank 4 card "Sapphire Blue" in play, AND 17 or more cards (including Sapphire) either in hand or play area wins.

A Point Victory

A player with 17 VP (or more) on cards in their play area wins the game. "Emerald Green" with its 6 VP is helpful.

A Burgundy/Mustard/Petrol Victory

Use only one per game:

• A player with "Burgundy" in their play area and exactly 2×Rank 3, 3×Rank 2 and 4×Rank 1 cards (in either hand or play) wins the game.
• A player who has "Mustard" in their play area and tucks cards with a total of 8 (or more) rank dots under it wins the game.
• A player who has "Petrol" in their play area and 6 (or more) Rank 2 cards either in their hand or play area wins the game.

Tiebreakers

If multiple players trigger the game end on the same turn, the true winner is:

1. Burgundy, Mustard, or Petrol
2. Ruby
3. Sapphire
4. Most VP
5. Reverse turn order

Example: 2 players both won with Ruby, so among those 2 players, the player with the most VP wins. If it is still tied, the player who went after the other wins.

Tiebreakers for players who did not meet a win condition: add up the total number of rank dots on cards in their hand or play area, most wins. Ties are broken by reverse turn order.

Solo Variant

Overview: In the solo variant, you will play against a "Bot" known as Confident Billy. Billy is so confident it lets you decide what it mixes, as long as it does not have that colour in its hand.

Solo Setup

Set up your hand and the market/supply area as normal, then prepare the 9 card automata deck of 3 mix cards and 2 of each Rank 1 card, no cards start in its hand. Mix cards have different backs!

Confident Billy's Turn

Each turn, Billy draws 2 cards from its deck into a hand of cards that is face-up and placed in a row on the table for easy overview.

Billy does not have a play area! Nor does Billy ever play cards or use any effects except for triggering the game end and winning. It only puts more cards in its hand row until it mixes.

For each Mix card drawn, Mix 2 cards from Billy's hand into a legal and available card and place that in its hand, you must prioritize mixing for a card Billy does not already have. The mix card and any cards used to pay for the mix are then placed in an automata discard pile. Shuffle this discard pile into a new automata deck when it runs out.

Since Billy does not have a play area, "Sapphire Blue" and "Ruby Red" trigger in its hand, and Billy wins with 17+ VP in its hand.

On the lowest difficulty, you go first. Increase the difficulty by giving the automata:

• 2 starting turns: Easy
• 4 starting turns: Medium
• 6 starting turns: Hard

Solo Tiebreakers

On the lowest difficulty, Confident Billy goes second, so it will get a turn after you meet your win condition to potentially win on ties. On higher difficulty modes, Confident Billy goes first, so you will get an extra turn after Billy meets its win condition to beat them on tiebreakers.

Advanced Rulings

Effects that are triggered as a result of actions (such as printing, mixing, or refilling) occur immediately after that action has resolved. This has several timing implications:

Jungle: If a player Refills and returns Jungle to the hand, Jungle will not activate its effect to "add a Rank 1 card to the hand" because it will no longer be in the play area by the time Refill resolves.

Orange: When an Orange in play is used to mix for something else, it will have left the play area by the time the Mix resolved. Thus, you cannot put the resulting card in the play area.

You may choose to not print cards immediately when mixing when you have Orange, if you want to play those cards on a later turn to gain their instant effects.

Coral+Lemon: When a Coral in the play area is used for a mix, a second mix (via Lemon) can no longer use cards in the play area for the mix since Coral is no longer in play.

Violet+card that adds cards: When printing cards with Violet, each print and resulting effects are resolved one by one. Thus, if the first additional print is used to print a card that adds cards to hand, they can be used for the second print action.

Orange+Lemon: When an Orange is in play and Lemon is mixed and printed, that player can then mix a second time as Lemon allows 2 mixes per turn.

Prism+Pear: The Pear effect to add a Rank 1 to hand cannot be used as the cost to discard a card to pay for printing Prism, because that happens before Pear triggers.

Pear: triggers itself.

Coral: A Coral in play can be used in a mix.

Grey: If the player to the left of the player who has Grey mixes multiple times in one turn (possible due to Lemon), it generates a Rank 1 card for each time.

Key: After Key is printed (normally and not by Orange), that player may mix or refill as well that turn. Refilling or Printing via a card effect does not count towards Key's ability, you can still do those actions normally the same turn.

Partial Moves: Unless the effect specifies "up to" or "may," the full effect must be attempted. Example: a player that played Turquoise cannot choose to only take 2 Soft Cyans (unless there are only 2 in the supply).

Violet & Lavender vs Orange: When you print cards with Violet or Lavender, you still get their instant effects. It is just Orange that does not allow the instant effects of cards printed through its effect.

Card Reference

Rank 1

Soft Cyan: Rank 1, Pigment: 1 cyan, 0 VP, Instant effect, ×12 in game. When this card is played, add "Pale Magenta" OR "Light Yellow" to your hand.

Pale Magenta: Rank 1, Pigment: 1 magenta, 0 VP, Instant effect, ×12 in game. When this card is played, add "Soft Cyan" OR "Light Yellow" to your hand.

Light Yellow: Rank 1, Pigment: 1 yellow, 1 VP, Instant effect, ×12 in game. When this card is played, perform a refill action to return at most 1 card. This triggers "Jungle".

Rank 2

Cerulean: Rank 2, Pigments: 2 cyan, 0 VP, Instant effect, ×4 in game. When this card is played, add 2 identical Rank 1 cards to your hand.

Coral: Rank 2, Pigments: 1 magenta + 1 yellow, 2 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, Instant effect, ×3. When this card is played, add a Pale Magenta to your hand. Continuous Effects: When Mixing, you may use cards in your play area or cards in hand, or one of from each. You can still only use 2 cards (unless you have "Raspberry" in your play area).

Fuchsia: Rank 2, Pigments: 2 magenta, 0 VP, Instant effect, ×4 in game. When this card is played, add a Rank 1 card to your hand, you may then instantly play it.

Jungle: Rank 2, Pigments: 1 cyan + 1 yellow, 2 VP, Continuous effect - stacks!, ×3. Continuous Effects: After you Refill, add a Rank 1 card to your hand. This effect stacks! Note: Jungle has to stay in the play area to trigger.

Lavender: Rank 2, Pigments: 1 cyan + 1 magenta, 0 VP, Instant effect, ×3. When played, discard a Rank 2/3/4 card in your hand or play area. Then, add 2 cards with the same total pigments to hand, and play them. Note: think of this card as a "Reverse-Mix".

Lemon: Rank 2, Pigments: 2 yellow, 2 VP, Continuous effect - no stack, ×4. Continuous Effects: On turns that you choose to Mix, you may do the Mix action twice. Note: this effect does not stack (VP do stack).

Prism: Rank 2, Pigments: 2 cyan / 2 magenta / 2 yellow (choose one pair), 0 VP, Instant effect, ×2. When this card is played, you may discard 1 card from play/hand to add 1 Rank 2 card to hand. Note: When using Prism in a mix, it is worth any 2 identical pigments, it has no 'memory' of its cost.

Rank 3

Azure: Rank 3, Pigments: 2 cyan + 1 magenta, 0 VP, Instant effect, ×3 in game. When this card is played, add a Rank 2 card to your hand. Illustration of an "Azure jay".

Key: Rank 3, Pigments: 2 cyan + 2 magenta + 2 yellow, 3 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, ×1. Continuous Effects: You may mix and refill and print each turn, in any order. Each action must be resolved separately and in its entirety.

Orange: Rank 3, Pigments: 1 magenta + 2 yellow, 3 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, ×3. Continuous Effects: When you Mix a card, you may put it directly in your play area, but do not activate any of its instant effects. Note: This counts as a Print action.

Pear: Rank 3, Pigments: 1 cyan + 2 yellow, 3 VP, Continuous effect - stacks!, ×3. Continuous Effects: After your last Print action in a turn, gain a Rank 1 card to your hand. Note: only gain 1 card/copy of "Pear" in a turn.

Raspberry: Rank 3, Pigments: 2 magenta + 1 yellow, 3 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, Instant effect, ×3. When played, add a Rank 1 card to hand. Continuous Effects: When Mixing, you may return any number of cards to mix instead of just 2.

Slate Gray: Rank 3, Pigments: 1 cyan + 1 magenta + 1 yellow, 3 VP, Continuous effect - stacks!, Instant effect, ×2. When played, add a Rank 1 card to your hand. Continuous Effects: When your neighbour to your left mixes, you may add a Rank 1 card to hand.

Turquoise: Rank 3, Pigments: 2 cyan + 1 yellow, 3 VP, Instant effect, ×3 in game. When this card is played, add 3 identical Rank 1 cards to your hand. Illustration of an Aztec "Xiuhtecuhtli" mask, made of turquoise stones.

Violet: Rank 3, Pigments: 3 magenta, 0 VP, Instant effect, ×3 in game. After this card is played, do 2 Print actions. Note: Neither of those 2 cards can be "Violet".

Rank 4

Burgundy: Rank 4, Pigments: 1 cyan + 2 magenta + 1 yellow, 3 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, ×1. Continuous Effects: If this card is in your play area, and you have exactly 1×Rank 4 (Burgundy), 2×Rank 3, and 3×Rank 2 cards, you win.

Emerald Green: Rank 4, Pigments: 2 cyan + 2 yellow, 6 VP, no effect, ×3. Note: only one "Emerald Green" per player is allowed in the play area. Note: you don't need this card for a VP victory.

Mustard: Rank 4, Pigments: 1 cyan + 1 magenta + 2 yellow, 3 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, ×1. Continuous Effects: If this card is in your play area, when you refill, you may tuck up to 2 of the refilled cards under this card. If 8 or more rank dots are tucked under this card, you win.

Petrol: Rank 4, Pigments: 1 cyan + 2 magenta + 1 yellow, 3 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, ×1. Continuous Effects: If this card is in your play area and you have 6 or more Rank 2 cards in either hand or play area, you win.

Ruby Red: Rank 4, Pigments: 1 magenta + 3 yellow, 0 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, ×3. Continuous Effects: if this card is in your play area, and you have "Sapphire Blue" and "Emerald Green" in either hand or play area, you win.

Sapphire Blue: Rank 4, Pigments: 3 cyan + 1 magenta, 0 VP, Continuous effect - n/a stack, ×3. Continuous Effects: If this card is in your play area, and you have ×17 or more cards in your hand and/or play area (including this), you win.