Icons: Women Who Play to Win
Icons: Women Who Play to Win Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Getting Started
- Shuffle the deck and deal 4 cards to each player. You may look at your own cards.
- Place a grid of 9 cards (3 rows and 3 columns) face-down on the table creating a Memory Bank.
- Place the remaining cards face-down in a Draw Pile.
- Put the Icon tokens nearby in an accessible pile.
For example, this 4-player game is ready to start. (The printed sheet shows an illustrated setup diagram.)
Playing the Game
- The game is played in turns and moves in a clockwise direction.
- Respect those who have come before... oldest player goes first.
- During their turn a player draws a card from the top of the Draw Pile adding it to their hand. They then flip over one card in the 9-card Memory Bank for all to see.
- Players are trying to collect 1 Icon Character card and 1 Category card of the same color. These are called matching sets.
- When a player has a matching set they may play those cards on their turn to collect that hero's Icon token. To score points, it is placed in front of them. Both cards are then placed in the discard pile.
- Players may play any number of cards from their hand during their turn, and in any order, including matching sets and Action cards.
Examples of matching sets: the printed sheet shows six example pairs as card illustrations.
TIP: It's up to each player to determine their strategy. A player may even choose not to play any cards on their turn and wait.
- If the card flipped over from the Memory Bank can be played on this turn, the player may pick the card up and play it with any additional cards from their hand as needed. A new card is drawn from the Draw Pile and placed in its spot, face-down so no one can see.
- If the player cannot use the card, it is flipped over in the Memory Bank at the end of the turn. Other players will need to remember what card was hidden in that spot.
- All cards go into the Discard Pile after they are played.
- When a player is done playing cards, their turn is over. They do not redraw any new cards from the Draw Pile.
- The player to their left now begins their turn.
NOTE: A player's hand may not exceed 7 cards at the end of their turn. If a player ends up with more than 7 cards, they must choose which cards to remove from their hand and place them on the bottom of the Draw Pile.
Action Cards
The six different Action cards may be played during a turn. Once played, the Action cards are placed in the Discard Pile.
Players may play any number of cards on their turn, including any number of Action cards, so choose your moves wisely.
- AHEAD OF YOUR TIME: Give this card to a player of your choice and they lose their next turn. After the player is skipped for that turn, this card is placed in the Discard Pile.
- PAY IT FORWARD: Everyone chooses a card from their hand and passes it to their right.
- SHARE THE LOVE: Ask any player if they have a specific type of card in their hand (type of Category card, an Icon from a category, or a specific Action card). If that player has it, then they hand that card over to you. However, if they do not, the turn is immediately over and the next player begins their turn.
- RETURN THE FAVOR: Choose another player and give them one card of your choice from your hand. That player will return the favor and give you one card of their choice from their hand.
- BREAK THE BARRIER: Trade one of your Icon tokens for any Icon token from another player. You must have an Icon token to play this card.
- PASS THE TORCH: Play this card with a Category card to steal one Icon token of that category from any player.
Category Cards
These cards represent the various fields where these Icons excelled. Pair the Category card with an Icon of the same color to win an Icon token. There are 6 sets of Categories in the game:
- Arts
- Science & Innovation
- Leadership
- Adventure
- Human Rights
- Wild
Wild cards can be paired with any Icon card or a Pass the Torch Action card to create a set.
Icon Cards
- There are 40 unique Icon Character cards to play. Each Icon belongs to their own unique category indicated by the symbol in the upper left corner of the card.
- There is also one unique Icon card specifically for YOU! This unique YOU Icon card can be paired with any Category card. However, in order to play this card in a matching set, you must explain why you chose this category and how YOU will make a difference in this category (example: "I will do great things including ____________.") (The printed sheet leaves the blank in the example as a fill-in line.)
Scoring
There are multiple ways to earn points!
- Each Icon token is worth 1 point.
You may also earn bonus points if you have...
- Groups of two Icon tokens in the same category = 2 bonus points.
- Groups of three Icon tokens in the same category = 3 bonus points.
- Groups of four Icon tokens in the same category = 4 bonus points.
- Groups of five Icon tokens in the same category = 5 bonus points.
- If a player has an Icon from each category, that player gets 5 bonus points!
Scoring example: If a player has 3 Icon tokens from the Human Rights category and 1 from Leadership, their score would be: 3 points for the 3 Human Rights tokens + 1 point for the Leadership token + 3 bonus points = 7 points.
Winning the Game
When a player scores enough points at any point in the game, they win!
However, if nobody has gained enough points and the last card from the Draw Pile is drawn, then there is one last round of play. Players get one more turn flipping over one card in the Memory Bank. If nobody has scored enough points, then the player with the most points is the winner!
Points to win:
| Number of Players | Points to Win |
|---|---|
| 2-3 Players | 20 points |
| 4 Players | 16 points |
| 5 Players | 12 points |
The printed table lists player counts only up to 5, while the box and the cover state 2-8 players. No points-to-win value is printed for 6-8 players, so none is given here.
Game Includes and Card Count
Game includes: 95 Cards (41 Icon Character Cards, 30 Category Cards, 24 Action Cards) and 41 Icon Tokens.
Card count (95 total):
- 41 Icon cards: 40 Icons (8 per category); 1 Unique YOU Icon
- 30 Category cards: 5 Leadership; 5 Science & Innovation; 5 Human Rights; 5 Arts; 5 Adventure; 5 Wild
- 24 Action cards: 4 Ahead of Your Time; 4 Pay It Forward; 4 Share the Love; 4 Return the Favor; 4 Break the Barrier; 4 Pass the Torch
Component labels (sample card diagram): Icon Card; Icon Token (with a "Factory/Date Code" marking); Category Card; Action Card.