Deja Vu: Fragments of Memory Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • 3-4 Player Speed Game Option
• Overview
• Actions in a Turn
  • Phase 1: Planting Flower
  • Phase 2: Recollection
  • Phase 3: Deja Vu
    • Phase 3 A. Construct Impression Cards
      • Construction Type 1: Instant Construction
      • Construction Type 2: Progressive Construction
    • Phase 3 B. Grow Cosmic Flower
    • Phase 3 C. Save up Impression Bits
  • Phase 4: Meditation
• End of the Game
  • Awakening
  • End Game Trigger
  • Totaling Victory Points
• Impression Card Powers
  • Regular Impression Cards
  • Nameless Girl Tiles - End of Game VPs
  • Public Impression Cards - End of Game VPs
• Credits

Components

• 4 Nameless Girl Tiles
• 1 Nameless Girl Meeple
• 1 Memory Hive
• 20 Flower Tokens
• 40 VP Tokens
• 15 Memory Fragments (1-pip, 2-pip, 3-pip, 4-pip, 5-pip)
• 60 Impression Bits, in the colors sun, moon, star, lightening, raindrop
• 84 Impression Cards (60 with blue card back, 12 with golden card back, and 12 with silver card back), showing the scenes Dragon Valley, Lava Paradise, Sky Palace, Magic Kingdom, Holy Desert, and Evergreen Plateau
• 15 Nebula Tiles, showing Cat's eye nebula, Boomerang nebula, Flame nebula, Helix nebula, Veil nebula, Eagle nebula, Carina nebula, Horse head nebula, Hourglass nebula, Lagoon nebula, Crab nebula, Rosette nebula, Butterfly nebula, Orion nebula, and Fox fur nebula

Setup

Randomly determine a Start Player.

1. Build up the Cosmic Map:

   All players participate in connecting the 15 Nebula Tiles to form a single Cosmic Map, following two principles:

   A. A valid connection between any two Nebula Tiles is: one tile's point touching another tile's edge, and

   B. Every Nebula Tile on the map must be connected to at least 2 other tiles.

   Shuffle the 15 Nebula Tiles. Randomly take one and place it in the middle of the table. Then place the Girl Meeple on it.

   Then, begin with the Start Player, in clockwise order, each player randomly takes 2 Nebula Tiles, connects them to the one(s) already on the table, until all of the 15 Nebula Tiles become a single Cosmic Map.

2. Randomly place 4 Impression Bits and 1 Memory Fragment on each tile.

3. Lay the Public Impression Cards individually face up beside the map. For 2 player games, use the ones with golden card back only; for 3-4 player games, use both the ones with golden and silver card back. Arrange the white ones (with Dragon Valley scenery) in sequence according to the number printed on their bottom-left corner.

4. Shuffle the Regular Impression Cards (card back color: blue) and create a facedown "Impression Deck" beside the map.

5. Place the Memory Hive, Flower tokens and VP tokens beside the map.

6. Everyone takes 1 Starting Card and lays it on the space before them, making room on its left and right for Short-term and Long-term Memory space.

7. Everyone draws 5 Impression Cards from the Impression Deck, choosing 3 as their starting hand (keep secret) and discarding the other 2 in a face up pile beside the deck.

   • If there are 2 identical copies of the same card in your hand, discard one of them and draw a new one.

The game now begins. Players perform their turns in clockwise order, until the end of game condition is triggered (see Awakening).

3-4 Player Speed Game Option

Players may have different level of analysis paralysis tendency, especially over some tactical puzzles where you cannot plan beforehand. In case you feel the need to speed up a 3-4 player game, here is a simple twist in setup to help, effectively by letting each player start the game with two "initial" Impression Cards in their Long-term Memory (without altering the 10+ cards end game condition).

The twist is simple - replace step 7 in the original setup with the following steps:

Each player...

A. Draws 7 Impression Cards from the Impression Deck (If there are 2 identical copies of the same card in your hand, discard one of them and draw a new one).

B. Chooses 2 and puts them face up in their Long-term Memory (if it is a card with a flower symbol, take a Flower Token from the general supply and place it over the symbol). Their powers will be effective right from the start of the game.

C. Chooses 3 as their starting hand (keep secret) and discards the other 2 in a face up pile beside the Impression Deck.

D. Inspects the 2 Impression Cards in their Long-term Memory, sums up the numbers on their top-right corner (which represent the VPs you will gain from them at the end of the game), and lets that number be X. Then takes VP tokens from the general supply with a total value equal to "10 - X" (the purpose of this step is to prevent any players from obtaining more VPs than others by their initial card selection).

The game now begins. Players perform their turns in clockwise order, following rules like they do in the ordinary game, until the end of game condition is triggered (see Awakening).

As the "10 or more cards" end game condition remains the same, the gaming time can be shortened by approximately 2 rounds.

Overview

In Deja Vu, players take their turns in clockwise order. Each turn consists of 4 phases:

Phase 1: Planting Flower - You move the Nameless Girl Meeple around the Cosmic Map. If you have a Flower Token, you may also place it on the last tile she stands on, in exchange for a Memory Fragment on it. This phase is optional, and it can take place before phase 2 or after phase 3.

Phase 2: Recollection - You collect the wooden "Impression Bits" on the Cosmic Map by a "sowing" method. The collected bits are usable in phase 3.

Phase 3: Deja Vu - This phase offers 3 available actions:

• A. Construct Impression Cards - Match the shape of your Impression Bits with the "slots" printed on the Impression Cards (from your hand or on the table), and place the cards in your tableau, which grant you powers and victory points.
  • Construction Type 1: Instant Construction - Fill up the cards' slots all at once.
  • Construction Type 2: Progressive Construction - Fill up the cards' slots over several turns.
• B. Grow Cosmic Flower - Spend any 3 Impression Bits to gain a Flower Token (for use in Phase 1).
• C. Save up Impression Bits - Save unused Impression Bits over Treasure Chest icons in your Tableau, or they will be discarded at the end of the turn.

Phase 4: Meditation - This is the upkeep phase, you discard spent or unsaved Impression Bits and refill them back to the Cosmic Map if necessary. Finally you draw new Impression cards.

Then players take their turns in succession until...

Awakening / End Game Trigger - When any player has 10 or more cards in his Long-term Memory, every opponent takes one final turn, and then...

Totaling Victory Points - Players sum up and compare their VPs; the one(s) with the most VPs wins.

Actions in a Turn

A turn consists of 4 phases: 1 Planting Flower, 2 Recollection, 3 Deja Vu and 4 Meditation.

Phase 1: Planting Flower

This phase is OPTIONAL, and it can take place either before the Recollection phase or after the Deja Vu phase.

Move the Girl Meeple across connected tiles (without trackback) up to the total number of Footprint icons in your Nameless Girl Tile and Long-term Memory (At the beginning of the game, there is 1 footprint icon on the Nameless Girl Tile, so the Girl Meeple can move over to 1 connected tile).

Then you MAY move exactly 1 Flower Token from your tableau (either the Nameless Girl Tile or Long-term Memory) onto the tile on which the Girl Meeple stands, and take the Memory Fragment from that tile into your possession, which will stay with you until the end of the game.

You can move without planting a flower or plant a flower without moving. But once you place a Flower Token, the Girl Meeple cannot move further.

Important: you cannot plant more than 1 Cosmic Flower in a turn.

Example: The active player has 3 footprint icons in his tableau, so he can move the Girl Meeple up to 3 steps. He moves 2 steps and plants a flower by putting a Flower Token from his tableau onto the tile, and takes the Fragment Token from that tile into his possession. He cannot move the Girl Meeple further even if he has 1 step left. He also cannot plant another flower even if he has another Flower Token available.

Phase 2: Recollection

(The Girl Meeple is irrelevant to this phase.)

In this phase we collect Impression Bits from the Cosmic Map.

Select a tile (call it Starting Tile), pick up all the Impression Bits on it and move them onto connected tiles (i.e., each tile must be physically touching the prior tile your Impression Bits moved through), dropping 1 Impression Bit on each tile as you pass through, until you run out of Impression Bits.

You cannot backtrack onto the Starting Tile or any tile you passed through.

Once you finish moving the Impression Bits, take the last Impression Bit you dropped on the final tile (call it Ending Tile) back in your hand, along with ALL other Impression Bits of the SAME COLOR (disregarding shape) that were already on that tile. Proceed to the Deja Vu phase.

Important: White Impression Bits are "wild" (can represent any color), and they are treated differently. White bits are picked up alongside others from the Starting Tile and dropped on the way as normal. However, the Impression Bit being dropped on the Ending Tile can never be a white one.

(Normally, you may not claim white bits in this phase, but some Impression Cards give you the powers to do so. See details in the "Impression Card Powers" section at the end of this rulebook.)

Example: The active player chooses any tile as Starting Tile, and takes all the Impression Bits on it. He then distributes the bits one per each connected tile along a path. Once he places the last bit - in this case the purple moon - he immediately takes possession of all the purple bits from that Ending Tile.

Phase 3: Deja Vu

With the Impression Bits gained in the Recollection phase, you can now use them to: A. construct Impression Cards, B. grow Cosmic Flowers, and/or C. save them up in Treasure Chests.

Phase 3 A. Construct Impression Cards

One of the main activities in the game is bringing Impression Cards from your hand or from the public area into your tableau. We call this process "Constructing Impression Cards".

There is a vertical array of "Impression Slots" printed on the top-left corner of every Impression Card. Constructing a card means covering these slots with Impression Bits. The following are some basic principles:

1. Impression Slots on the same card must be covered from top to bottom, one after another.
2. A bit's shape must match the shape of the slot it covers (color doesn't matter).

There are 2 types of construction: 1 Instant Construction and 2 Progressive Construction.

Construction Type 1: Instant Construction

Instant Construction is applicable to both Regular Impression Cards and Public Impression Cards.

If you are able to cover every slot on an Impression Card all at once, the construction of this card is instantly complete. You go through the following "Upon Completion" process immediately:

1. Inspect the color of every Impression Bit on the card. Score 1 VP (take physical VP tokens from the general supply) for each bit of the same color as the card (white bits are "wild" and they always score VPs in this process).

   In the case of white Impression Cards, only white Impression Bits score VPs.

2. Put the Impression Card in your Long-term Memory. This card's power becomes effective immediately.

3. Put aside the bits you just spent, as they will be disposed of at the end of your turn.

As long as you have adequate Impression Bits, you can complete any number of Impression Cards in a turn.

Example: This card takes 3 bits to complete. The blue moon and the white star grant a 2 VP Token to the player. The card instantly enters the player's tableau, and the hand size of the player is increased by 1.

Example: This card takes 6 bits to complete, and one of them can be any shape. The white raindrop and the white sun grant a 2 VP Token to the player. The card instantly enters the player's tableau, and a Flower Token is placed over the card.

The shape of bits and slots must match. Color doesn't matter. Slots must be covered from top to bottom, cannot skip.

* You may not construct a given Impression Card if another copy of it is in your tableau (Long- or Short-term Memory).

Construction Type 2: Progressive Construction

Progressive Construction is only applicable to Regular Impression Cards (i.e. not applicable to Public Impression Cards).

Sometimes you may not be able to cover every slot on a card all at once. The Short-term Memory in your tableau can help. It holds incomplete Impression Cards and enables you to construct them across several turns.

At the beginning of the game, every player's Short-term Memory can hold 1 card (as indicated in the top left corner of the Nameless Girl Tile). This capacity can be increased as the game proceeds.

You can put a card from your hand (not from the public area) in the Short-term Memory if:

1. At least its topmost Impression Slot is covered, AND
2. Its bottommost Impression Slot is uncovered.

Once a card enters the Short-term Memory, it stays there until its completion (i.e., all the slots are covered).

Once a bit covers a slot in the Short-term Memory, it stays there until the card's completion (cannot be removed for any reason).

You can keep on adding any number of Impression Bits to these cards in your subsequent turns (following the "covering from top to bottom" and "matching shape" rules).

Upon completion (i.e., all of its slots are covered), a card in the Short-term Memory will be immediately transferred to the Long-term Memory, following the "Upon Completion" process (step 1 to 3) described in the Instant Construction section.

The tableau space previously holding this card is now freed up and becomes available again.

Important: Impression Cards DO NOT provide any power when they are in the Short-term Memory.

Example: In this example, the player has 1 footprint icon on his Nameless Girl Tile and 1 on the blue card in the Long-term Memory, so he can place up to 2 cards in his Short-term Memory. He decides to partially construct both the green and purple card, placing them in the Short-term Memory, with the Impression bits on top of their slots.

Example: This turn, the player has gained 2 Impression Bits that match the slots in the green and purple cards. The last slot of the green card is covered, and it is complete now. The "Upon Complete" process takes place: 1) The 2 green Impression Bits grant the player a 2VP Token. 2) Transfer the green card to the Long-term Memory. Its power is now available. 3) Remove the Impression Bits from the green card for disposal at the end of the turn.

Phase 3 B. Grow Cosmic Flower

There is a circle space with a Flower icon on the Nameless Girl Tile. It is a reusable space for growing Cosmic Flowers.

You may spend any 3 Impression Bits (disregarding shape and color), take a Flower Token from the general supply and place it over this space. This Flower Token is now usable, and it will stay here until it is used.

Once this Flower Token is used, the circle space holding it is freed up again, available for growing another flower.

Put aside the bits you just spent, they will be disposed of at the end of the turn.

Important: the Nameless Girl Tile is the only place you can regrow Cosmic Flowers.

Note: you cannot move the Flower Token to other cards. The Flower Token can only be removed when it is used (i.e. placed on Nebula Tiles).

Phase 3 C. Save up Impression Bits

There is a circle space with a Treasure Chest icon on the Nameless Girl Tile and some Impression Cards. You can save your Impression Bits by putting them over this space.

Each Treasure Chest icon can save 1 unused Impression Bit (disregarding shape and color). Once in the Treasure Chest space, Impression Bits will remain unused and ready for use in the remainder of the game. You are also free to remove, add or redistribute bits in the Treasure Chests in any Deja Vu phase in your turns.

Phase 4: Meditation

This is the upkeep phase.

1. Fill the Memory Hive

   Collect all spent or unsaved Impression Bits in your hand. Discard them to the Memory Hive one after another, each occupying one hole.

2. Replenishment

   Once the last hole in the Memory Hive is occupied, Replenishment occurs. The active player takes all the discarded Impression Bits (including those in the Hive and those unable to enter the Hive) in his hand, randomly putting them back on the Cosmic Map, one at a time. First, replenish every tile containing no bits, and then replenish every tile containing 1 bit, then every tile containing 2 bits, and so forth until there are no more bits in his hand.

   In case the number of bits remaining is not enough to replenish every tile containing the same number of bits, the active player decides which tiles to replenish first.

3. Draw new Impression Cards

   Now the active player may discard any number of Impression Cards from his hand, and draw new cards up to his hand size.

   The hand-size of a player is defined by the total number of Hand icons on his Nameless Girl Tile and Long-term Memory. At the beginning of the game, every player has a hand size of 3.

   If a card you draw is the same as any card in your tableau (Long-term or Short-term Memory), discard it and draw another one.

   If there are 2 identical copies of the same card in your hand, discard one of them and draw a new one.

   If the Impression Deck is exhausted, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

Then it is the next player's turn.

End of the Game

Awakening

With the help of cosmic spirits, the nameless girl finally recovered most of her memories, and found out her true identity to be the Star Princess, with a lifelong dedication in planting hope and faith across the universe.

In the process of lost and found, she realized that every memory is an invaluable gift in our life. Whether it's happiness or sadness, memories are the proof of our existence. As long as we remember what we love, they will live forever in an intangible yet indestructable form.

End Game Trigger

When there are 10 or more Impression Cards in a player's Long-term Memory at the end of his turn, each opponent takes one last turn (still in clockwise order) and then the game ends. Victory Points are totaled as below:

Totaling Victory Points

• A. VP tokens
• Long-term Memory:
  • B. Constant VPs (printed on the top-right corner)
  • C. Variable VPs (depends on individual Public Impression Card)
• D. The Nameless Girl Tile (2VPs for each link between 2 Impression Cards)

* Cards and bits in the Short-term Memory DO NOT score VPs.

The player with the most VPs wins. Tied players share the victory.

Example of Totaling VPs: A VP tokens: 1+2+2+1+3+3 = 12. Long-term Memory: B Constant VPs: 3+5+4+2+4+4 = 22. C Variable VPs: 6 + 15 + 4 + 0. D Nameless Girl Tile: 8. Total Score: 12+22+6+15+4+0+8 = 67.

Impression Card Powers

Regular Impression Cards

• At the moment this card enters your Long-term Memory, cover this icon with a Flower Token from the general supply. You can use this Flower Token in any Planting Flower phase (even in the same turn).
• You can save 1 Impression Bit (disregarding color and shape) over each of this icon in your tableau.
• Every icon of this kind in your tableau increases your movement for the Girl Meeple in the Planting Flower phase by 1 tile.
• Every icon of this kind in your tableau allows you to take 1 white Impression Bit from the Ending Tile where you take possession of Impression Bits in the Recollection phase.
• Every icon of this kind in your tableau increases the card-holding capacity of your Short-term Memory by 1.
• Every icon of this kind in your tableau increases your hand size by 1.

* The "tableau" mentioned here includes the Nameless Girl Tile and Long-term Memory only.

Nameless Girl Tiles - End of Game VPs

2 VPs for every link between 2 Impression Cards in the Long-Term Memory. Two cards are "linked" if they are in the same color and the numbers on their bottom-left corner are consecutive (meanwhile the pictures on the two cards can be connected seamlessly). Card No. 1 and No. 7 are also considered linked.

Public Impression Cards - End of Game VPs

• 5 VPs for every Memory Fragment of the same specific color in a sequence (i.e. their number of pips are consecutive). A single Fragment is a sequence. Fragments with 1 pip and 5 pips are also considered consecutive.

  * You only score for 1 sequence with this card, so choose the longest one.

• 18 VPs for every set of 3 Memory Fragments with the same number of pips and different color.

• 2 VPs for every Memory Fragment (disregarding color and number of pips).

  * Each Memory Fragment may only be used in 1 Public Impression Card's scoring.

• 3/6/10/15/21 VPs for 1/2/3/4/5+ White Impression Cards (including this one) in your Long-term Memory.

• 1/3/6/10/15 VPs for 1/2/3/4/5+ Impression Cards of the same specific color (including this one) in your Long-term Memory.

  * The color of the Nameless Girl Tile is NOT relevant in the scoring above.

Credits

Deja Vu: Fragments of Memory © 2018 Cheung Ngok Nin. All rights reserved.

• Game Design, Creative & Art Direction: Terry Cheung
• Illustration: The Nameless Girl - Miura Naoko; Card Landscapes - Dendy Dhamier; Cosmic Companions - Alisa Ryshchuk
• Digitization: David Noall (Digital version of the game is available on Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator)
• Rules Translation: Emeline Balmer (French), Karsten Schulmann (German), Francesco Barretta (Italian), Cathy Calcan (Japanese), Juan Carlos Coca (Spanish)
• Game Fiction: Original Chinese Version - Terry Cheung; English Literary & Creative Editor - Lane Watson
• Playtested By: The Fallen Angels Testing Group