Cryptid Smash
Cryptid Smash Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
1 rulebook
108 cards divided as:
- 24x Aqua Cards
- 24x Terra Cards
- 24x Ignis Cards
- 24x Aeris Cards
- 10x Tactical Cards
- 2x Legendary Cards
Goal of the Game
Simple. Be the first player to successfully play all the cards from your hand.
Optionally, the game may continue after the first player finishes, allowing the remaining players to keep playing until only two players remain. Play then continues between those two players until one of them also successfully plays all the cards from their hand.
Set-Up
A. Shuffle all the cards to form a drawing deck. Place it face down within reach of all players.
B. Deal seven cards from the top of the drawing deck to each player. Each player keeps their hand hidden from the other players. If a legendary card is dealt to a player, reshuffle that card back into the drawing deck and draw a replacement.
C. Reveal the top card of the drawing deck and place it face up to start the playing pile. Legendary or tactical cards cannot be used as the starting card.
D. The player who most recently spotted Bigfoot goes first. Sightings in films, online clips, or dreams are perfectly acceptable. The game starts in clockwise direction of play.
The Cards
Colors
- Aqua
- Terra
- Ignis
- Aeris
Symbols
- Latron
- Miasma
- Nyx
- Ouroboros
- Oxyro
Power Effects
- Draw 4. Next player draws 4 cards.
- Discard. Next player discards a power effect or tactical card & draws 2.
- Mirror. Repeat the last power effect played.
- Reverse. Change the direction of play. Use as skip in a 2-player game.
- Skip. Next player misses their turn.
Tactical
- Choose a player to take the next turn, even yourself.
- Choose the active color.
- Choose the active color and next player draws 4 cards.
- All players pass their hand to the left.
- Activate a tactical effect of your choice.
Legendary
- All players discard 2 cards and the active player chooses the active color.
- All players draw 6 cards.
Game Flow
On your turn, do one of the following:
- Play a card from your hand that matches at least the color, symbol, or power effect of the card on the playing pile. Then activate its effect, if any.
- Play a tactical card and activate its effects.
- If you have no playable card, draw one card from the drawing deck and end your turn.
When a player places a card matching both the color and symbol of the top card, they play again.
Gameplay Rules
When a player has one card left in hand, they must yell "smash". If another player calls them out before their next turn, they draw 2.
Legendary cards must be played immediately when drawn, even if it is not your turn. A player cannot win as a result of a legendary card effect. If a Legendary card effect would cause a player to have no cards left in hand, they must keep one card in hand.
There is no upper hand size limit.
Mirror can only be played if the playing pile contains another Power Effect.
If the drawing deck runs out, keep the top card of the playing pile. Remove tactical cards and shuffle the rest into a new drawing deck. If it runs out again, this time remove the power effect cards as well before reshuffling.
If the player affected by a discard card has no power effect or tactical cards to discard, they only draw the required cards.
Discard power effect may be chained with another discard of any color or a mirror card matching the previous discard color. When the chain ends, resolve the accumulated effect.
Draw 4 power effect may be chained with another draw 4 of any color or a mirror card matching the previous draw 4 color. When the chain ends, the affected player draws the total.
If a player is forced to draw cards, they still take their normal turn afterward.
If a played card does not change the active color, the active color remains the same as the last card that did.
Cards discarded because of card effects are placed at the bottom of the playing pile.