Finding Anastasia Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Phase 1: Ask Question
  • Phase 1B: The Response Reaction (Optional)
  • Phase 2: The Action Choice
• Four Player Game
• Game End
• Roles and Their Conditions
• Commonly Asked Questions
• 1-3 Player Rules
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
  • Automa Card Overview
  • Game End
  • Commonly Asked Questions

Game Overview

One player is the Empress, while the rest of the players are guests. To find Anastasia, the Empress and her guests must ask questions of each other. The responses are marked on a central board for all players to see. Players must deduce who is and isn't Anastasia. As questions are answered, gems are given to players. The gems can be used on a player's turn to perform actions such as gaining clues, revealing roles, or asking additional questions. The game continues until Anastasia is found or a role ability causes the game to end.

Components

Decks of cards

• 29 Clue cards
  • 5 Location Clues
  • 5 Trinket Clues
  • 5 Story Clues
  • 14 Blank Clues
• 9 Player Role cards
  • 7 Guests
  • 1 Anastasia
  • 1 Empress

Miscellaneous

• 24 Player Tokens (3 each of 8 different shapes)
• 1 Gem bag
• 50 Red Gems
• 8 Player Aids
• 1 Game Board
• 8 Envelopes

Setup

1. Prepare the Clues by sorting the Clue cards into three decks: Location, Trinket, and Story. Shuffle these decks and place them face down.
2. Prepare Anastasia's Invite by (a) drawing one card from each Clue deck and placing them into an Envelope without looking at any of the Clues. Also (b) place Anastasia from the Guests deck into the same Envelope and set aside.
3. Prepare the other Invites by taking a number of Envelopes equal to 1 fewer than the number of players and filling them as follows. Shuffle all 3 of the Clue decks together and (a) draw and place 1 of these Clue cards along with (b) 2 Blank Clue cards in each Envelope. Next look through the Guest cards and remove any Guests above the player count (as shown on the upper right of the Player Role cards; see page 8 if playing with four players). Then (c) place the Empress Role card into one of the Envelopes and Rasputin's Agent into another, setting them aside with the Anastasia Envelope. Finally, (d) shuffle the remaining Player Role cards, placing a random Guest into each remaining Envelope. Discard any unused Guest cards and Blank Clue cards back into the box without looking at them.
4. Shuffle the Invite Envelopes and give one to each player, along with a Player Aid and 1 starting Gem. Each player should also take 3 matching Player Tokens of their choice.
5. Create the tableau by placing the Game Board in the center of the table (within reach of all players).
6. Place the Gems and remaining Clue cards near the Game Board.
7. Each player privately looks at their Invite by looking at their Role and Clue cards. These cards make up a player's hand of cards. Then the Empress reveals her Role by placing the Role card face up in front of them and taking the Gems as noted on her card. The other players place their Role card and Clues face down on the table. Players may look at their Role card and Clue cards at any time. Do not show any cards to another player unless you have to!

Gameplay

The game is played in rounds of player turns of 2 phases each, starting with the Empress as the first player.

Phase 1: Ask Question

The Active Player asks a question to any player. The question must relate to one of the three Clue categories: Location, Trinket, or Story.

Examples of acceptable questions:

• "What Trinket do you have as proof?"
• "What is your Story for how you escaped?"

Then the Responding Player answers. They must answer, claiming one of the relevant Clues, but can lie as long as they do not have a Clue in that category in hand. However, if they do have the Clue in the given category then they must answer the question truthfully. For example, if the Responding Player has a Trinket and is asked about a Trinket, they must tell the truth of what Trinket they have.

Examples of acceptable answers are:

• "I have been living in Paris." (may mean they have no Location or the Paris Location)
• "My Trinket is a Music Box." (may mean they have no Trinket or the Music Box Trinket)

This piece of information is immediately made public by the Responding Player who places one of their Tokens onto the space on the Game Board associated with the category and answer (note that if they already have a Token on a space in that category, that Token is used instead of a new one, moving it if necessary) but does not reveal the corresponding Clue card. The Responding Player then receives all of the Gems on the Clue space on the Game Board, if any. Then each other Clue space in the same vertical column gets a Gem placed on the Game Board from the supply.

Phase 1B: The Response Reaction (Optional)

If a player happens to have the Clue card that the Responding Player is claiming to have, they may choose to reveal the Clue card publicly to prove the answer is a lie. Each player can do this at most once per game, shown by placing the Clue card face up in front of them.

Phase 2: The Action Choice

The Active Player must select an action and receive or pay Gems, to the supply next to the Game Board, associated with that action.

• Privately look at a Clue (receive 2 Gems). The Active Player selects another player, gives them 1 Gem, and the Responding Player privately shows the Active Player one of their Clue cards of their choice. The Clue card can be a Blank (indicating that they are not Anastasia) or a valid Clue card (indicating that the player has the indicated Clue).
• Exchange 1 Clue with another player (receive 1 Gem). The Active Player selects another player and gives them one of their Clues, adding it to their hand. The Responding Player gives the Active Player one of their Clues within the same category, adding it to their hand. If the Responding Player does not have one in the same category, then the Responding Player can give the Active Player any other Clue card. The Responding player must not give back the same Clue just received.
• Ask an Additional Question (receive 1 Gem). The Active Player selects another player and asks them a question per the rules of phase 1.
• Draw a Clue (receive 0 Gems). The Active Player draws the top 2 Clues from the remaining Clue card deck and keeps 1, adding it to their hand of Clues. The Active player then places the Clue card not selected back onto the top of the deck.
• Reveal Another Player's Role card (discard 5 Gems). The Active Player discards 5 of their Gems back to the Gem supply and selects another player, who must flip over their Role card, revealing the Responding Player's Role. The Responding Player's Reveal Effect then takes place.
• Reveal your Role card (discard 7 Gems). The Active Player discards 7 of their Gems back to the Gem supply and flips over their Role card, revealing their own Role. The Active Player's Reveal Effect then takes place. Some Roles cannot be self revealed like the Impostor or Anastasia.

After the Active Player's Phase 2 is completed, the next player, clockwise, is informed that it is their turn and they become the Active Player.

Four Player Game

Finding Anastasia can be played with 4-8 players. When playing with 4 players, the only modification used is that the Empress is removed from the game. All other aspects of the game remain the same. Also in this instance, the first player is the oldest player.

Game End

The game ends when a player's Role Reveal Effect indicates the End of the Game. The end of the game can result in multiple victories as the end game Roles can work in synergy or discord.

Roles and Their Conditions

Anastasia

If your Role is revealed the game ends. You cannot reveal your own Role. You win if you are revealed by anyone except Rasputin's Agent.

Collector

If your Role is revealed, choose one: Take 10 Gems from the supply or draw 1 Clue card. You win if you have at least 1 Clue card from each category in your hand. Declare it on your turn to end the game.

The Empress

Reveal your Role at the start of the game. Take 4 Gems from the supply and take the first turn. You win if you reveal Anastasia.

Family Friend

If your Role is revealed, the Empress gains 1 Clue and you gain 4 Gems from the supply. You win if you or the Empress reveal Anastasia.

Gossip

If your Role is revealed, choose a player and look at their hand of Clue cards. When revealed, choose whether you win if Anastasia wins or loses. Announce allegiance.

Impostor

If your Role is revealed the game ends. You cannot reveal your own Role. You win if your Role is revealed by anyone except Rasputin's Agent.

Misinformant

If your Role is revealed, starting with you, each player in turn order either draws a Clue card or takes 2 Gems from the supply. You win if Anastasia does not win.

Psychic

If your Role is revealed, look at another player's Role. If it is Anastasia, reveal it. You win if you reveal Anastasia.

Rasputin's Agent

If your Role is revealed, immediately reveal another player's Role. That player is poisoned and cannot win the game. You win if Anastasia does not win.

Red Army Spy

If your Role is revealed, the game ends after each player (including yourself) has taken 1 more turn. You win if Anastasia does not win.

Thief

If your Role is revealed, steal 1 Gem from each player. You may immediately take an action (as per phase 2). You win if you reveal Anastasia.

Commonly Asked Questions

Why would I want to reveal my Role?

One of the objectives of this game is to trick another player into revealing your Role to get your own Reveal Effect without spending your Gems/action. The Reveal Effect will give you a boost to your win condition. It is important to note that some characters cannot reveal their own Role, such as Anastasia or the Impostor.

If my Role is revealed, can I still win?

In most cases, yes! The action of having your Role revealed usually provides you a boost to your win condition, and may mean you win as a direct result. Note however that in some circumstances (such as if you, as Anastasia or the Impostor, are revealed by Rasputin's Agent) this will end the game immediately, with you not winning.

When does the game End?

In this game almost everyone is vying to be mistaken as Anastasia by another player, however, once a player is revealed to not be Anastasia, the game does not necessarily end. The game ends only when one of the revealed Roles has an End Game condition associated with it.

Do we have to always play with the Anastasia Role?

Yes. The Anastasia Role must always be included in the Invites.

What happens once the Clue card deck runs out?

Once the Clue card deck runs out, no more Clues can be drawn; just skip that step for any Reveal Effects and players can no longer take the 'Draw a Clue' action from this point forward.

1-3 Player Rules

Setup

1. Prepare the Clues by sorting the Clue cards into three decks: Location, Trinket, and Story. Shuffle these decks and place them face down.
2. Prepare Anastasia's Invite by (a) drawing one card from each Clue deck and placing them into an Envelope without looking at any of the Clues. Also (b) place Anastasia from the Guests deck into the same Envelope and set aside.
3. Prepare the other Invites by taking 5 Envelopes and filling them as follows. Shuffle all 3 of the Clue decks together and (a) draw and place 2 of these Clue cards along with (b) 1 Blank Clue card in each Envelope. Next look through the Guest cards, remove, and take the Empress role. Finally, (c) shuffle the remaining Player Role cards, placing a random Guest into each remaining Envelope. Discard any unused Guest cards and Blank Clue cards back into the box without looking at them.
4. Shuffle the Invite Envelopes and unpack the contents of each envelope without revealing the contents. Place the role card face down and a fanned out hand of clue cards.
5. Create each player's Purse by taking red gems and placing them in front of yourself. For a solo game: 10 gems, for a 2-3 player game: 6 gems. For a solo game take two Empress tokens and place them along with the red gems. For a 2-3 player game take four tokens. The solo player aid is placed between all players.
6. Place the remaining Clue cards face down off to the side.
7. Create the Automa by taking the automa deck and shuffle them, placing them facedown next to the remaining clue cards.

Gameplay

The game is played in rounds of player turns where each turn has 2 actions, starting with the youngest player.

Actions:

The Active Player must select an action and receive or pay the costs associated with that action.

• Remove a Guest (receive X Gems). The Active Player selects one of the guests and discards their role without revealing it by placing it sideways. The Active Player then is able to take the gems placed beneath the guest that was removed.
• Draw a Clue (receive 0 Gems). The Active Player draws the top 2 Clues from the remaining Clue card deck and keeps 1, adding it to their hand of Clues. The Active player then places the Clue card not selected back onto the top of the deck.
• Reveal a Clue card (discard X Gems). The Active Player discards 1 gem for each revealed Clue card of a Guest after the clue has been revealed. For instance the first revealed Clue card of a Guest would cost 1 gem while the second revealed Clue card would cost 2 gems. This revealed Clue card remains face up for all players to see.
• Privately look at a Clue (discard 1 Token). The Active Player selects one of the guests, discards a token above the guest, and then privately draws and views the Clue card of their choice. The Clue card is then placed back where it was prior to viewing, face down.
• Reveal a Guest's Role (receive 0 Gems). The Active Player selects a Guest's Role card and flips it over, revealing the Guest. This is shown to all players. If the Guest is Anastasia, then the Active Player wins. If the Guest revealed is anyone other than Anastasia then the Active Player loses and all other players continue to play as normal, skipping any player's who have lost.

After the Active Player's two actions are completed, the next player, clockwise, is informed that it is their turn and they become the Active Player.

Once each player has taken the same number of turns, the Automa deck's top card is revealed. The Automa card shows two actions that have been organized into tiers. If the primary action cannot be taken, then the secondary action is taken instead. If the secondary action cannot be taken then the tertiary action is taken. And if the tertiary action cannot be taken then the action is skipped.

Automa Card Overview

After the player's complete each of their turns the automa player performs its turn. The players reveal the top card of the Automa deck and follow the instructions. The Automa deck consists of two actions with backup actions if the primary actions cannot be performed.

The printed example card on this page shows Action 1 and Action 2, each with the tiers Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. Its text reads (the "If not then" lines are the Secondary and Tertiary tiers; the card's own tier labels are not printed in the text layer, so this mapping follows the "If not then" wording):

• Action 1: Reveal Guest 3 Clue. If not then: Guest 4 exchanges an unshown clue with Guest 5. If not then: Guest 1 returns 3 gems to you, revealing Guest 2's Role.
• Action 2: Guest 6 draws a clue. If not then: Guest 5 expends 3 gems to reveal Guest 2. If not then: Guest 3 leaves the party.

Game End

The game ends when Anastasia has been revealed or no player's remain due to revealing Guests that were not Anastasia.

Commonly Asked Questions

What happens once the Automa deck runs out?

Once all Automa cards have been revealed, then the Automa discarded cards are shuffled together in to reform the Automa deck.