Dragon Punch Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Move Anatomy
• Gameplay Overview
• Hand Management
• Game Setup
• Playing a Turn
  • 1. Choosing Cards
  • 2. Resolving Opposed Cards
  • 3A. Taking Damage / Upgrading Cards
  • 3B. Flipping Used Cards
  • 4. Updating Initiative
• End of the Round
• Variant Rules
  • Tag Team
  • Turbo Mode
  • Custom Character (requires 2 game copies)

Contents

• Basic cards (12). Each has a white move and a red move on it. Basic cards always start white-move-up, and switch to red-move-up when health is lost.
• Character cards (5). Each has two purple special moves and character art on it.
• This rulebook.

Move Anatomy

A card shows: Move Name; Effect text (optional); Move locations: High and Low. Each move location may contain the following icons:

• Attack: shows attack strength and execution time (e.g. a strength of 3 and an execution time of 2).
• Block
• Evade

Gameplay Overview

The game is played in rounds, which consist of turns. Each turn, players simultaneously select a move to play. Rounds end when one player runs out of health. The first player to win two rounds wins the game.

Hand Management

Each player's 7 cards will STAY IN THEIR HANDS for the entire duration of the game. Each card contains two moves, and only the right-side-up move on the top of the card is usable. During the game, cards are turned in the following two ways:

• Flipping a card means turning it along its long axis, keeping the same side up, so it faces your opponent. This happens after using a card, and makes it temporarily unavailable.
• Switching a card means rotating the card top to bottom, so the card's other move is up. Basic cards are only ever switched from the white move to the red move, when you take damage. Character cards may be switched freely between their two moves at any moment.

Game Setup

Each player receives the same set of 6 basic cards. Each player also picks one character card. Whoever most recently lost a game (any game) decides who gets to pick first.

All basic cards must start white-move-up. Character cards may be switched freely during the game, so their initial orientation does not matter.

Playing a Turn

Each turn consists of four steps:

1. Both players secretly choose a card from their hand, move it to the front of their hand, and then reveal their chosen cards to each other simultaneously;
2. Compare the chosen cards to see which attacks (if any) are Successful;
3. Take damage if there were any Successful attacks, and flip the used chosen cards;
4. Update initiative.

1. Choosing Cards

Both players choose a card they want to play from the unflipped cards in their hand, and move it to the front of their hand.

Indicate that you've made your choice by collapsing the cards into a stack in one hand. When it is clear that both players are ready, simultaneously reveal your chosen top card to each other. For added impact, shout the name of your move out loud!

2. Resolving Opposed Cards

Look for any Attack icons on either card. For every attack made, first check whether the opposing move contains a Block or Evade icon on the same location as the Attack. If it does, the attack is Blocked or Evaded, dealing no damage.

If just ONE player made an attack that's not Blocked or Evaded, that attack is automatically Successful and deals damage.

If BOTH players made an un-Blocked un-Evaded attack, regardless of location, only the quickest one is Successful. This is determined by Initiative and execution time. Apply the three rules below (in order):

1. Player with Initiative succeeds. If one player has the Initiative, that player's attacks are Successful. The other player's attacks are Interrupted.
2. Attack with lowest execution time succeeds. If no-one has the Initiative, the fastest attack (i.e. lowest execution time) are Successful. The other player's attacks are Interrupted.
3. Both succeed. If both players' attacks all have the same execution time, all attacks are Successful.

Successful attacks deal damage equal to the strength value in their Attack icon (see "Taking Damage / Upgrading cards" below). Blocked, Evaded and Interrupted attacks deal no damage.

When resolving cards, apply both cards' effect text. Card effects may add to or change these resolution rules. For example, a Throw can not be Blocked (but can be Evaded), the Auto-Punch can't be interrupted (but can be Blocked or Evaded), a Block grants its player the Initiative when blocking an attack, and Projectile attacks are automatically Interrupted if opposed by another Projectile attack to the same location. Here are two complete examples of resolving opposed moves:

• Mai plays LOW POKE against Joe's COMBO KICK. The Combo Kick's high attack is Evaded. Of the two remaining attacks, the Poke is quicker and it Interrupts the lower kick. No damage is dealt (the Poke's attack strength is 0). If Joe had had the Initiative, his Combo Kick would have Interrupted the Poke, but only dealt 1 damage as its high attack would still be still Evaded.
• Charlie plays METEOR STORM against Sakura's FIREBALL. Nothing is Evaded or Blocked. The Fireball is quicker, Interrupting both the Meteor Storm's attacks, but also gets Interrupted itself because of its Projectile property. If Charlie had had the Initiative, the Meteor Storm's low attack would have hit but the high one would still be Interrupted by its Projectile property.

3A. Taking Damage / Upgrading Cards

A player's remaining health is equal to the number of white-side-up cards in their hand, including flipped cards. Character cards do not count towards health.

Any player who takes damage from an Attack must switch a number of basic cards equal to the Attack's strength value. For example, a player getting hit by a High Kick takes 2 damage, and must therefore turn 2 white-side-up cards to red-side-up.

In this way, taking damage changes the moves available to the player. Which cards are switched may be kept secret. Flipped cards may also be switched, although in that case your opponent will be able to see which card(s) you're switching. The amount of health each player has remaining is not secret, and should be divulged on request.

If a player takes enough damage to switch their last white-side-up card to red, they lose the round immediately (see "End of the Round").

3B. Flipping Used Cards

At the end of each turn, both players must flip this turn's chosen card to the back of their hand, facing the opponent. Flipped cards are not usable until all cards are unflipped using the Taunt card.

The most recently flipped card should always be visible to the opponent, but the other flipped cards may be hidden. Cards may be flipped either before or after taking damage.

4. Updating Initiative

The Initiative represents a speed advantage that one player may have over the other. Having the Initiative effectively reduces all your attack execution times to zero (see "Resolving Opposed Cards").

At the start of each round, no-one has the Initiative. Certain moves will give a player the Initiative on a successful Attack or Block. Having the Initiative only lasts one turn (i.e. it affects only the next card played). Only one player can ever have the Initiative: if either no-one or both players claim it during a turn, then neither player has it during the next turn.

Note that the advantage of having the Initiative only comes into play when both players Attack. It does not affect the opponent's ability to Block or Evade.

End of the Round

As soon as one player runs out of health (i.e. white-side-up cards), the other player wins the round. In the rare case that both players lose their last health in the same turn, neither player wins the round.

Before starting a new round, both players un-flip all cards and put all basic cards white-side-up.

The first player to win two rounds wins the game!

Variant Rules

Tag Team

After picking a character card, both players pick another character card. If you have two copies of the game, you can choose from all ten character cards.

Turbo Mode

Every turn, whoever is first to choose a card starts slowly counting "3, 2, 1, FIGHT!" out loud. Both players must reveal their top card on "FIGHT!" no matter what. After cards have been resolved, players should wait until all flipping and switching is complete before choosing the next turn's card.

Custom Character (requires 2 game copies)

Instead of giving each player the same 6 basic cards, give each player one copy of the game. From those cards each player takes one Taunt card, adds any 6 other basic cards, then adds any two character cards. Card selection is secret. Each player now has 9 cards in hand, including exactly one Taunt. Play as normal, but note that players now have 7 health rather than 6.