Rick and Morty: Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind Deck-Building Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Quick Reference
  • Turn Sequence
  • End of Turn
• Setup for Your First Game
  • 1. Ricks and Starting Decks
  • 2. The Main Deck
  • 3. The Council of Ricks Stack
  • 4. The Location Deck
  • 5. The Line-Up
• Types of Cards
  • Oversized Rick
  • Starter
  • Main Deck Cards
  • Stack Cards
• Gameplay
  • Order of Playing Your Cards
  • Ending Your Turn
  • Sample Turn Sequence
• End of Game
• Additional Rules
  • Oversized Ricks
  • Attacks and Defenses
  • The Council of Ricks Stack
  • Council of Ricks Cards in Your Deck
  • Morty Waves
  • Shuffling Your Deck
  • Ongoing
  • Stack Ongoing
  • The Location Deck
  • Discarding Cards
  • Destroying Cards
  • Gaining Cards
  • Resolving Card Abilities
  • Own vs Control
• Card Types
• Zones
• Specific Card Clarifications

Contents

• 207 Game Cards
  • 36 Genius Waves Starting Cards
  • 15 Worthless Starting Cards (Jerry, Beth, and Summer)
  • 92 Main Deck Cards
  • 16 Portal Gun Cards
  • 6 Council of Ricks Cards
  • 1 Evil Rick Card
  • 20 Morty Waves Cards
  • 21 Location Cards
• 1 Location Deck Token
• 6 Oversized Ricks

Quick Reference

Turn Sequence

1. Play cards from your hand.
2. Total up your Power and purchase cards with combined cost less than or equal to that total. You may play additional cards even after making purchases.
3. As soon as you buy or gain a card, place it into your discard pile, unless instructed otherwise.

End of Turn

1. Announce that you are ending your turn. Your turn is now over.
2. Place any cards remaining in your hand into your discard pile.
3. Resolve any "at the end of your turn" effects.
4. Place all the cards you played into your discard pile. Any unspent Power is lost.
5. Fill each empty slot in the Line-Up with a card from the top of the main deck.
6. Draw five cards from your deck.
7. If the top card of the Council of Ricks stack is face down, flip it face up and read aloud the next Group Attack (or Evil Rick's Stack Ongoing ability).
8. The next player starts their turn.

Do not shuffle your discard pile and make it your new deck just because you have no cards in your deck. Wait until you must draw, discard, or reveal a card from your deck. Then shuffle your discard pile, and it becomes your new deck.

The game ends immediately when either of the following two conditions is met:

• Evil Rick is defeated.
• You are unable to refill all five slots of the Line-Up.

Setup for Your First Game

1. Ricks and Starting Decks

Each player is dealt a random oversized Rick card. Alternately, each player may choose one or deal two to each player and they choose one of those two.

Each Rick begins with a starting deck of seven Genius Waves cards, one Jerry, one Beth, and one Summer. You will use your Genius Waves cards to buy more powerful cards to add to your deck, improving it as the game goes on. The other three members of the Smith Family that you start with don't do anything for you when played. However, there are some cards and Locations that will reward you handsomely for playing a card as terrible as Jerry. If you don't have any of these cards or Locations, then Jerry, Beth, and Summer cards are good ones to destroy. More on how to do that later.

2. The Main Deck

Most of the cards that you will add to your deck as the game progresses come from the main deck. Shuffle the main deck and place it in the middle of the table. The main deck is made up of Rick, Morty, Special, and Equipment cards (92 cards total).

3. The Council of Ricks Stack

There are seven different cards that go into the Council of Ricks stack each game. All seven will be used each game. Riq IV will always be the top card of the stack, while Evil Rick (with the blue back) will always be the last card of the stack. Evil Rick is not actually on the Council, so he is not a Council of Ricks card. However, when he is face up on the stack, he is the top card of the Council of Ricks stack.

Set Riq IV and Evil Rick aside and shuffle the remaining five Council of Ricks cards face down. Place Evil Rick face down to start the stack. Place the now-shuffled five Council members face down on top of him. Finally, place Riq IV face up on top of the stack.

4. The Location Deck

Shuffle the Location deck and place the Location deck token on top of it. This will prevent players from mistaking it for the main deck or their own deck.

5. The Line-Up

After shuffling the main deck, place the top five cards from the main deck into the Line-Up. There is no board necessary to play this game; just reserve space for each card.

Next, place the Portal Gun, Council of Ricks, and Morty Waves stacks at the end of the Line-Up. You may want to turn these stacks perpendicular to the Line-Up so that everyone can reach them. Place the shuffled Location deck (with token on it) on one end of the stacks. Portal Guns and Council of Ricks are always available to be bought or defeated during your turn (while cards remain in their stacks). Morty Waves are never bought; they are gained only through unfriendly card effects. The main deck and the four stacks of cards on the end are not part of the Line-Up.

Once you have arranged the main deck, the Line-Up, and the other stacks, it will look something like the above. Your opening five cards in the Line-Up will vary.

Types of Cards

The different card types that you can play are Starter, Rick, Morty, Special, Location, and Equipment. Morty Waves have no card type.

Oversized Rick

Example — Annoyed Rick: If you play two or more Rick cards during your turn, you may put a Starter in your hand into a foe's hand.

Starter

Genius Waves: +1 Power. Jerry, Beth, and Summer: (No effect.)

Main Deck Cards

• Morty — example, Cowboy Morty: +2 Power. Defense: You may discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you do, draw two cards.
• Rick — example, Cyclops Rick: +1 Power. If this is the first card you play this turn, you may destroy a card in your hand or discard pile.
• Special — example, Red X: Draw a card. Ongoing: Defense: Discard this card from play to avoid an Attack.
• Equipment — example, Tranquilizer Gun: +2 Power. Defense: You may discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you do, a foe of your choice gains a Morty Waves.

Stack Cards

• Council of Ricks — example, Maximums Rickimus: Each player may destroy a Genius Waves in their hand or discard pile. Draw a card for each card destroyed this way. Group Attack: Each player discards the highest cost card in their hand.
• Location — example, Bird World: Ongoing: Once during each of your turns, you may flip the bird at a foe. If you do, each player who is not that foe draws a card.
• Morty Waves — At end of game, pair this with a Genius Waves to negate this card's VP penalty.
• Portal Gun — example, Portal Gun: +2 Power. You may discard a card. If you do, play the top card of the Location deck. At end of turn, if you did not buy it, put it into the Location discard pile.

Gameplay

Randomly determine a player to go first. Each player begins by shuffling their deck and drawing five cards. Players take turns in clockwise order. You take your turn by playing cards from your hand face up for all players to see. This generates Power (the "currency" of the game) and other effects.

Each turn, you may buy cards from the Line-Up, from the Portal Gun stack, and/or buy the top card of the Council of Ricks stack to improve your deck. Cards you buy or gain are always immediately placed into your discard pile unless you are instructed otherwise. Discard piles are always face up. Soon they'll be shuffled into your deck, and then you'll be drawing these newer, more powerful cards into your hand so you can play them. Buying powerful cards builds up the effectiveness of your deck. That's why it's called a "deck-building game"!

You can buy any number of available cards with combined cost less than or equal to the amount of Power you have for the turn. For example, your Genius Waves each give you +1 Power. If you draw four of them and no other cards with any Power bonuses, your total Power for the turn is 4. You can buy a single card with cost 2, 3, or 4, or even two cards each with cost 2, assuming these options are available. Portal Gun cards are (usually) available if the cards in the Line-Up are too expensive, and you may buy more than one during your turn if you wish. You may pass if you cannot buy or do not wish to buy any cards.

Jerry, Beth, Summer, and Morty Waves provide no Power. Since they weaken your draws and deck, you may want to try to destroy them as soon as possible. (Being sentimental? Remember you are a RICK! It's not like Rick hasn't left the Smith family behind before …) You may play them if you wish, but they have no effect when played. They are not discarded until the end of your turn when you discard all cards you have played and any cards that you have kept in your hand. However, there are cards you can buy that will make playing them worthwhile.

Order of Playing Your Cards

On your turn, you get to play the cards in your hand in the order of your choice. When you play a card, its game text resolves immediately. When you have played all the cards you wish to play at that time, total up the Power you have accumulated and buy what you wish to buy from the Line-Up or the face-up stacks. You do not have to play all of the cards in your hand before you start making purchases if you don't wish to. You may play additional cards even after making purchases.

Ending Your Turn

1. Announce that you are ending your turn. Your turn is now over.
2. Place any cards remaining in your hand into your discard pile.
3. Resolve any "at the end of your turn" effects.
4. Place all the cards you played into your discard pile. Any unspent Power is lost.
5. Fill each empty slot in the Line-Up with a card from the top of the main deck.
6. Draw five cards from your deck.
7. If the top card of the Council of Ricks stack is face down, flip it face up and read aloud the next Group Attack (or Evil Rick's Stack Ongoing ability).
8. The next player starts their turn.

Sample Turn Sequence

After shuffling up your starting cards, you draw a hand of four Genius Waves and one Jerry for your first turn. You may play the four Genius Waves for a total of 4 Power, which is enough to buy Flying Saucer-Shaped Pancakes from the Line-Up. After buying it, you put it into your discard pile. Jerry provides you with NOTHING, per usual.

End of Game

The game ends immediately when either of the following two conditions is met:

• Evil Rick is defeated.
• You are unable to refill all five slots of the Line-Up.

Return all Ongoing cards you have in play, all cards in your hand, and all cards in your discard pile to your deck. Then, players total up the Victory Points on cards in their deck. Morty Waves that are not paired up with Genius Waves will reduce your total score.

The player with the highest Victory Point (VP) total is crowned the winner! In case of a tie, the tied player with more cards from the Council of Ricks stack (including Evil Rick) wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with the greater number of cards in their deck wins.

After a winner has been determined, all players will need to take apart their decks, placing all of the cards back into their proper stacks. Be sure to return all Locations to the Location deck. There should never be any Location cards in the main deck.

Additional Rules

Oversized Ricks

Your version of Rick gives you an ability that you may choose to use during your turn. If a Rick has two abilities on his card, both of them may trigger on the same turn. Your oversized Rick is not a "Rick card," so if you play a card that counts card types or even the number of Ricks you have played, your oversized Rick does not contribute to that in any way.

Attacks and Defenses

Some cards allow you to make an Attack against the other players in the game. When you play a card with an Attack ability, each affected player has an opportunity to avoid the Attack with a card that has a Defense ability. A player using a Defense card's ability negates the Attack only for that defending player. A player may only utilize one Defense card per Attack. If a player doesn't avoid the Attack, they are immediately affected by the Attack card's ability. However, if the Attack requires interaction among the players (like passing cards), the Attack won't resolve against any players until each player has had a chance to avoid it. Avoiding an Attack does not negate any other abilities (like +2 Power) of a card, unless an ability specifically counts the number of players successfully hit by the Attack.

The Council of Ricks Stack

When you have accumulated enough Power in a turn, you can choose to defeat a card in this stack. If you defeat (buy) a card on this stack, take the topmost face-up card from the stack and place it into your discard pile, unless instructed otherwise. The next card in the stack remains face down until your turn is over, so a player may defeat only one of these cards per turn. Council of Ricks cards range in cost from 8 to 12, and the middle five cards of the stack are randomized at the start of each game, so check the stack for the current Rick's cost.

On each Council of Ricks card (other than Riq IV), you will find a Group Attack. When revealed on the Council of Ricks stack, the Group Attack resolves immediately against each player in the game. Each player with a Defense card may defend against the Attack. The Attack will resolve against any players who do not defend themselves. These Attacks do not happen during any player's turn.

Council of Ricks Cards in Your Deck

Like any other card you acquire, a Council of Ricks card will aid you in your future turns. When you play a Council of Ricks card from your hand, the text at the top of the text box is the relevant text. The Group Attack is no longer applicable, as the Council member already made that Attack when the card was first revealed from the Council of Ricks stack.

Note that the first six cards in the stack are each labeled "Council of Ricks." Evil Rick is not on the Council, but he is still a card in the Council of Ricks stack. Their card type is Rick, just like a Rick from the main deck. Council of Ricks is a title, not a card type, so playing a Council of Ricks does not count as playing two different card types.

Morty Waves

Some cards force players to gain a Morty Waves. If this happens, the card is typically placed in that player's discard pile, effectively adding it to their deck. Morty Waves have no ability when drawn or played during the game and can be played or kept in your hand and discarded at the end of your turn. At end of the game, each Morty Waves in your deck subtracts 1 Victory Point from your VP total, so you'll need a plan for destroying them at some point! However, you can pair up a Morty Waves with a Genius Waves (if you still have any) to negate the -1 VP. Each of your Morty Waves needs to pair up with a separate Genius Waves to achieve this benefit. Each Morty Waves that has no partner Genius Waves will still reduce your score by 1 VP.

If the Morty Waves deck runs out, effects that would cause a player to gain a Morty Waves card do not do so, but any other effects those cards have still resolve as usual. A player may still play a Defense to avoid an Attack, even when there are no Morty Waves available to be gained.

Shuffling Your Deck

You don't shuffle your discard pile and make it your deck as soon as you run out of cards. However, at any point during the game if there are no cards in your deck and you need to draw, discard, or reveal a card from your deck, immediately shuffle your discard pile, and it becomes your new deck.

Ongoing

When you buy or gain a card with Ongoing, it goes to your discard pile just like any other card. However, when you later draw and play an Ongoing card, it will remain in play in front of you for the rest of the game, or until a card effect causes you to lose it from in play.

An Ongoing card in front of you (that you control) counts as "in play," just like any card you played during your turn. It counts as "played" only on the turn in which it entered play. Cards in the Line-Up or that a foe controls are never "in play" for you to take advantage of, though some cards will allow you to affect foes' cards in play. Ongoing cards give you special abilities turn after turn while they remain in play.

Stack Ongoing

This ability is found only on Evil Rick. While he is the top card of the Council of Ricks stack, this ability is active. It remains active until he is defeated (bought) by a player to end the game.

The Location Deck

This randomized deck features Locations Rick and Morty traveled to in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" and other episodes from the series. To gain access to a card in this deck, you must buy a Portal Gun. Each time you play a Portal Gun, you may discard a card of your choosing from your hand. If you do, flip the top card of the Location deck face up and place it in front of you. You are playing the Location card, but it did not come from your hand. You get to take advantage of the card text on that Location this turn. You may even choose to buy the card at any point during your turn before or after using it. If you buy the card, it immediately goes to your discard pile like any other card you would buy. If you do not wish to buy it or can't afford it, it still remains in play until the end of your turn.

At end of turn, discard all Locations you control that did not enter play from your hand. Locations you played from your hand during this turn or previous turns are safe. Place discarded Locations into the Location discard pile next to the deck. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to create a new Location deck. If all Locations have been purchased, an effect that plays card(s) from the Location deck will fail to play a Location.

Discarding Cards

When a card tells you to "discard" a card, it means from your hand as the default. However, a card may tell you to discard a card from another place, such as the top of your deck or from in play. Cards discarded in this way count as being "discarded."

Destroying Cards

Some cards have abilities that allows you to destroy a card from your hand, your deck, or even the Line-Up. When you destroy a card, place it into a face-up pile of destroyed cards anywhere away from the play area, removing it from your deck and the game. You often get to choose which of your cards to destroy. If Morty Waves and Portal Guns are destroyed, they do not go back to their respective stacks.

Gaining Cards

When a card tells a player to gain a particular card or a card of their choice, that card is taken and immediately placed in that player's discard pile at no additional cost, unless otherwise directed by the card. If a card tells to you gain a card with a specific name, card type, or cost and there are none available, you simply don't gain the card.

Resolving Card Abilities

If a card's ability affects multiple players, and the order matters (for example, an Attack that has all three opponents gain a Morty Waves, with only two Morty Waves remaining in the stacks), resolve that ability for each affected player in clockwise order, starting from the player who played the ability.

When you play a card that triggers another effect, like on your oversized Rick or a Location you control, fully resolve the card you are playing before resolving any secondary effects triggered by your card play.

Own vs Control

You control cards that you have played and are in play or that are in front of you on an Ongoing basis. You do not control cards in your hand, deck, or discard pile.

You own cards that come from your deck, whether they are in play, being played, or in your hand, deck, or discard pile. You may both own and control the same card at the same time.

Card Types

There are six different card types in the game: Rick, Morty, Equipment, Special, Starter, and Location. Morty Waves have no card type. A "Morty" card is a brownish card with the card type Morty on its "card type bar" in the middle of the card, just under the art. Morty Waves, several Special, and several Equipment are all cards that have "Morty" in their names, but they are not "Morty cards."

In the same way, cards like "Rick Tracer" and "Ricks Don't Care About Mortys" are not "Rick cards." The Council of Ricks stack are all Ricks. Playing one counts as playing a Rick.

Zones

Zones are areas in the game: in play, a player's deck, a player's hand, a player's discard pile, the main deck, the Location deck, the destroyed pile, and the Line-Up. Some cards give a benefit when they are "destroyed in any zone." That means if the card is in your hand, discard pile, or even the Line-Up and you destroy it with a card effect (like "Ricks Don't Care About Mortys"), you get the benefit. The destroyed card is then placed into the destroyed pile. When a card in the Line-Up needs to "replaced," add the top card of the main deck to the Line-Up.

Specific Card Clarifications

Alien Morty: You can destroy zero, one, or two cards total, not up to two in your hand and up to two in your discard pile.

Bird World: The person you flip off is the only player at the table who will not be drawing a card from this effect.

Cromulon Dimension: You play the card, so you control it during your turn. However, the player whose deck it came from is the owner. When it leaves play due to being destroyed or because your turn ends, the player you "borrowed" it from gets to put it into their hand.

Cronenberg Rick: This card gains the game text of the card you place on your oversized Rick that same turn. So it will have card text even the first time you play it. Cards on your oversized Rick are not in play and cannot be interacted with in any way. If a Location is placed on your oversized Rick, it is active only while Cronenberg Rick is in play. Since Cronenberg Rick's ability only lasts until the end of your turn, he cannot get stuck in play by revealed an Ongoing card. If a Defense card is on your oversized Rick, that can never be used to avoid an Attack.

Cronenberg World: When you play a Location from your hand or via a Portal Gun, you are playing a Location card type that turn. In later turns, that Location is already in play, so you did not "play" a Location card type.

Dimension 35-C: Morty Waves have no card type, so they are not Starter cards. Revealing a Rick and a Morty Waves, for example, would allow you to draw both cards.

Doopidoo Dimension: Gaining a card (like with Solicitor Rick) does not count as having bought a card. Discard all of the cards you played and any remaining in your hand. Then draw a new hand of five cards, gain a Portal Gun from the stack, and place it into your new hand.

Evil Rick: He has ability text at the top of his game text box just so Evil Morty can manipulate him. When your turn starts, his Stack Ongoing ability causes you to be Attacked. You may utilize a Defense card to avoid this Attack.

Hamster in Butt World: This triggers even if this is the card you buy.

Laser Pistol: If you play this card, you must destroy a card. It's not optional.

Mask Morty: "While you own this" means if the card is in your hand, deck, or discard pile, or in play in front of you. Having these extra names does not make it a Starter card.

Morty Dazzlers, Morty Insurance, Replacement Morty Voucher, The Good Morty Tract, The One True Morty, Aqua Rick, and Captive Morty: Remember that Morty is a card type (the brownish cards); these are not Morty cards.

Pawn Shop Planet: If there are no other cards that match your card's cost, you will gain the card you placed in the Line-Up and put it into your discard pile as usual.

Quantum Rick: A face-down Rick has no abilities.

Red X: When you play this, draw a card. You will not draw cards on subsequent turns while it remains in play due to its Ongoing status.

Rick Prime: Check his Group Attack for the prime numbers that you can retrieve from your discard pile.

Rick Sanchez C-137: Each of your Morty Waves that aren't paired with a Genius Waves still give you -1 VP.

Ricktiminus Sancheziminius: If you reveal an Ongoing card from a foe's hand, return it to their hand. You do not get to play it. The rest of the cards you reveal from other hands will still resolve.

Riq IV: The discards must come from the four cards you drew.

Zeta Alpha Rick: If a player avoids this Attack, a card is not passed to them. If only a single player is passing a card, they pass it to their own discard pile.