Icarus Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
  • Icarus Deck Card Counts (Each Color)
• Set Up
• Sequence of Play
  • 1. Card Step
  • 2. Bid Step
  • 3. Challenge Step
• How to Win
• Play Variations
  • Longer Flights
  • The Daedalus Challenge
  • Flight Cards
    • Fancy Flying
    • Talons Challenge
  • Fight In The Skies

Game Components

The game includes 126 cards:

• 7 different-colored decks of Icarus cards, each containing 15 cards with these values: 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, and 7
• 21 Flight cards
• 30 Feather tokens (-2 point value "singed" on one side and -5 point value "burnt" on the other)
• 1 Game Mat
• 1 Bid Value marker (Icarus flying). The back side has a "+20" for bids that go beyond the final track space.

Icarus Deck Card Counts (Each Color)

Value	# of Cards
0	3
1	2
2	2
3	2
4	2
5	2
6	1
7	1

Set Up

1. Place the Game Mat in the center of the table.
   • Place the Bid Value marker on the "1" space of the Bid track.
   • Place the 30 Feather tokens in the feather section of the mat.
2. In the Standard Game, the Flight cards are not used; return them to the box.
3. Separate the cards into individual Icarus card decks by color. Shuffle each deck and place it face down along the edge of the Game Mat where indicated.
4. Each player draws one card from each of the Icarus decks. Thus, each player will have a hand of seven different-colored Icarus cards.
5. Draw one more hand (one card from each deck); this is the "Daedalus Hand" and is placed back in the box, unseen.
6. Determine who will take the first turn. If you cannot decide, the player who owns the game goes first.

Sequence of Play

A Match consists of seven Rounds of play; each Round ends with the removal from play of one colored deck of Icarus cards and one player earning a Feather token. Thus, a Match ends when the last Icarus deck is removed from play.

During a Round, you may first swap one card, placing one card from your hand onto a face-up discard pile next to the corresponding color deck and drawing one card from the same color deck into your hand (the Card Step). Then, during the Bid Step, you must announce a bid of any number in any one color, e.g., "17 Blue" (you are claiming that the total value of all cards of this color in each player's hand is at least that high). The next player in clockwise order must then decide whether to Accept or Challenge your bid (the Challenge Step).

1. Card Step

You may swap one card by discarding it from your hand and replacing it with the top card of the corresponding color Icarus deck. Every card you discard gives more information to all players! As beginners, place discards face up, in a row, next to the draw pile, in such a way that all of the discarded values remain revealed (see The Daedalus Challenge for a variation).

When any deck is exhausted do not reshuffle it. Players can no longer draw from that deck for the rest of that Match.

2. Bid Step

After your Card Step, you must announce a "bid"; this is your claim that the total value of all cards in play of a given color is at least that high.

• If it is the first turn of a Round, you must announce any sum of any one color (e.g., "11 Blue").
• If you accepted the previous player's bid, you must announce a higher bid than the previous one of any color still in play. This bid does not have to be "1 higher," just "higher." There is strategy (and risk) in raising the bid to the next player!

Indicate your bid by placing the Bid Value marker on the corresponding track number to assist players' memories as to what the current bid is.

3. Challenge Step

With your bid made, the next player in clockwise order must now Accept or Challenge your bid:

• If that player Accepts the bid, proceed with their turn normally, starting with the Card Step.
• If that player Challenges the bid, all players reveal their card in the challenged color (only) and their values are totaled to determine if the bid is Safe or Unsafe:
  • Safe: If the total value of the revealed cards is equal to or greater than the bid, the bidder is "safe" and the challenger receives a Feather token (see below).
  • Unsafe: If the total value of the revealed cards is less than the bid, the bidder is "unsafe" and receives a Feather token (see below).
  • Feather tokens: When you collect a Feather token, place it in front of you showing its singed (-2 point) side if the difference between the bid and the actual total is two or less, or its burnt (-5) side if the difference is three or more.
  • Removal: After resolving a Challenge, place all of the cards of that color back in the box; that color is out of play for the rest of that Match. Players will have one fewer card in their hands after each challenge.
  • Next Turn: Whether the bid was Safe or Unsafe, the challenger immediately takes the next turn.

After all seven Icarus decks have been removed (and thus players have no Icarus cards remaining in their hand), that Match is over; repeat the Set Up Steps and continue play with another Match, until the end of the game is reached (see below).

How to Win

The game ends immediately when any player has acquired four Feather tokens. Each player then totals their points using the singed (-2 each) and burnt (-5 each) feathers they have acquired. The player with the highest score (i.e., the fewest penalty points) wins the game. Tied scores are joint winners.

We recommend playing several games and totaling each player's scores; players should change seats at the start of each game to mix up the player order. The player with the highest score is the victor.

Play Variations

You may try any of these variations in whatever combination desired by mutual agreement.

Longer Flights

You can play longer Matches by requiring more Feather tokens to end the game; four players could play up to a fifth acquired Feather token as the end game condition, and three could play to a sixth or even seventh acquired Feather token as the end game condition.

The Daedalus Challenge

You can increase the difficulty level of the game by changing how Icarus card discard piles work. Instead of allowing all of the card values in the discard pile to be visible, place discards face up, in a neat pile, next to the draw pile. Only the value of the top card in the discard pile should be visible. This will test players' memories!

Flight Cards

The following are additional variants designed and developed by Victory Point Games.

Set up by shuffling the Flight cards, and placing them next to the mat. Do not distribute any cards at the beginning of a Match! Flight cards will indicate when and how to play them. Cards that are not possible to play (e.g., because a draw pile is exhausted) cannot be played. After using a Flight card, discard it in a neat pile, face up next to its draw pile.

At the end of a Match, each player can have no more than one Flight card and must discard any extras before setting up and starting the next Match.

When the Flight deck is exhausted do not reshuffle it. Players can no longer draw Flight cards for the rest of that game. When setting up a new game, reshuffle the Flight deck.

There are two variations for drawing Flight cards — Fancy Flying and Talons Challenge (you can use either or both):

Fancy Flying

During your Card Step, instead of swapping one card, you can instead reveal one card from your hand, and place it face up in front of you for all to see. Then draw a Flight card and add it to your hand. During a future Card Step, you may swap a revealed card instead of a card from your hand, if you desire, but its replacement card also remains revealed. After resolving its color's challenge, remove all revealed cards.

Talons Challenge

If, at the end of your turn, the next player accepts your bid, then the following player clockwise has the option to Challenge your bid, and so on around the table for all the other players who did not make that bid until either:

• They have all accepted the current bid, in which case continue normally with the next player's turn; OR
• One player Challenges that bid. Resolve the Challenge and if the bidder is unsafe, then the challenger draws a Flight card. It then becomes the challenger's turn.

Fight In The Skies

During Set Up Step 1, instead of placing the Feather tokens in the feather section of the mat, give each player an equal number of tokens (three is recommended, but when there are five or fewer players you can give each player more for a longer game). Place any unused Feather tokens in the box.

Each Feather token now represents one "Life"; when you lose your last "Life" (i.e., Feather) token, you are out of the game. In a Challenge, the player who is incorrect loses one Life token. Nothing happens to the player who is correct in a Challenge.

When you lose your last Life token, place your remaining cards in the box; you are out of the game. If it was your turn, play passes to the next player.

The last player with one or more Life tokens remaining wins!