Inner Compass

Inner Compass Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

4 Life board sections
4 Player boards
4 Player pieces
6 Emotion tokens
60 Player cubes
8 Value tokens
69 Emotion cards
1 Situation track
1 Qualities board
10 Quality tiles (Sticky Note)
6 Quality tiles (Memo Pad)
1 Compass token
80 EP tokens

Setup

Take a deep breath and reflect for a moment on what is really important to you in life.
Randomly arrange the 4 Life board sections in a 2 x 2 square to form the main Life board.
Give each player a player board and 1 player piece, 2 Value tokens, and 15 player cubes of a matching color. Make sure the "Standard" side (without special icons) of the player board is face-up. Players should place 1 cube onto each of the 15 squares on the player board and place their Value tokens to the side.
Place the Qualities board near the main Life board. Shuffle the Quality tiles face-down and reveal 2 "Sticky Note" tiles and 3 "Memo Pad" tiles. Place these tiles face-up on the Qualities board along with the Inner Compass token. The remaining Quality tiles will not be used for this game.
Place the Situation track near the main Life board and randomly place the 6 Emotion tokens onto the track. (But do not place the "X" token in the top-most space.)
Place the Enlightenment Point (EP) tokens off to the side, in reach of all players.
Shuffle the 69 Emotion cards and place them face-down in a draw pile, parallel to the main Life board. Draw and place 1 card face-up next to the draw pile in each of 4 directions (above, below, left, right). These will represent the 4 directions during the game (north, south, west, east). Agree with the other players on which direction will be "north" for the duration of the game.
Randomly choose a start player. Deal 1 Emotion card to the first player, 2 to the second player, and so on. Then, in reverse turn order, players place their player pieces on a space on the main Life board. (There can only be 1 player piece per space and per group of spaces of the same color that are orthogonally adjacent.)

Player Turn

Each player's turn consists of 5 actions, carried out in the following order:

1. Free Move (Optional)

At the start of a player's turn, they may move their player piece into any space of the same color connected contiguously to the player's current space. However, if a player chooses to make this optional move, the player must move into a different color with their following action.

2. Move (Mandatory)

A player then must move their player piece by exactly 1 space in 1 of the 4 directions adjacent to their current space (north, south, west, east). A player may move into a space where there is already a player piece. However, a player may not move in a direction that would cause their player piece to move off the board.

BONUS: If a player takes a face-up Emotion card that matches the color of the space to which they moved, they may draw 1 face-down Emotion card from the draw pile.

3. Move -or- Feel Emotion (Optional)

A player then may make 1 additional move (following the rules in step 2) or take an Emotion card, but not both.

If a player decides to take an Emotion card, they take the face-up card corresponding to the direction in which they moved in step 2. (For example, if a player moved north 1 space, they would take the face-up card placed on the north side of the draw pile.)

4. Imprint a Memory (Optional)

To imprint a memory, a player may discard Emotion cards matching the color their player piece is occupying, equal to the number listed on the Emotion token on the Situation track:

1 card - Happiness (Yellow)
2 cards - Sadness (Blue), Fear (Black)
3 cards - Love (White), Anger (Red)

Place the discarded Emotion cards in a shared discard pile.

EXTRA COST: If there are 1 or more cubes of other players already on the space with the player piece, then it costs 1 more Emotion card of the same color. (The extra cost is always 1 card, no matter the number of cubes.)

DISCOUNT: The 2 emotions at the bottom of the Situation track cost 1 less Emotion card (to a minimum of 1).

The player then removes a cube from their player board from a space corresponding to the color of the Emotion cards. The player places this cube on the space their player piece is occupying.

If there are no cubes left on their player board on spaces of the corresponding color, then the player may take a cube from any space of their choice.

Players may not place more than 1 of their own cubes on the same space. If a player already has a cube in the space their player piece is occupying, they may not imprint a memory on that turn.

4a. Gain Enlightenment Points (EP)

The player gains Enlightenment Points (EP) equal to the number to the right of the corresponding Emotion token on the Situation track. (Immediately take the corresponding EP tokens from the supply and place them face-down.)

The player then takes that Emotion token and moves it to the bottom of the track, sliding all the other Emotion tokens upward.

If the Emotion token marked "X" reaches the top of the Situation track, immediately move it to the bottom and slide all the other Emotion tokens upward.

4b. Place Value Token

Once a player has cleared a row or column of cubes on their player board, the player must place 1 of their Value tokens next to a Quality tile on the Qualities board. The player will score additional EP at game end according to the Quality tile. A player may not place both of their Value tokens next to the same Quality tile.

BONUS: The first player to place a Value token next to each Quality tile immediately gains a bonus of 3 EP tokens, as indicated on the Qualities board.

5. Cleanup (Mandatory)

If a player has more than 10 cards remaining in their hand, the player must discard down to the maximum hand size of 10.

If a face-up Emotion card was taken during the turn, it should be replaced with the top card of the draw pile, placed face-up. If, at any time, the draw pile is empty, shuffle the discarded Emotion cards to form a new draw pile.

Play then passes to the next player clockwise.

Game End

If a player has already placed their 2 Value tokens and clears another row or column on their player board, then that player has found their Inner Compass! That player takes the Inner Compass token, which is worth 3 additional EP.

This triggers game end. Each other player takes 1 more turn.

Each player adds up their EP from their acquired EP tokens and the Quality tiles where their Value tokens have been placed.

The player with the most EP wins!

In the case of a tie, the player with the most Emotion cards left wins.

If players are still tied, then all tied players are equally enlightened and share the victory.

Qualities

Solidarity

Gain 2 EP for each of your player cubes that is orthogonally adjacent to (but not on) at least one Fear (Black) space on the Life board.

Bravery

Gain EP for the total number of your player cubes on a Fear (Black) space on the Life board.

# of Cubes	1	2	3	4	5+
EP	2	5	9	14	20

Empathy

Gain 2 EP for each of your player cubes that is orthogonally adjacent to (but not on) at least one Sadness (Blue) space on the Life board.

Sensitivity

Gain EP for the total number of your player cubes on a Sadness (Blue) space on the Life board.

# of Cubes	1	2	3	4	5+
EP	2	5	9	14	20

Candor

Gain 2 EP for each of your player cubes that is orthogonally adjacent to (but not on) at least one Anger (Red) space on the Life board.

Passion

Gain EP for the total number of your player cubes on an Anger (Red) space on the Life board.

# of Cubes	1	2	3	4	5+
EP	2	5	9	14	20

Generosity

Gain 2 EP for each of your player cubes that is orthogonally adjacent to (but not on) at least one Happiness (Yellow) space on the Life board.

Joy

Gain EP for the total number of your player cubes on a Happiness (Yellow) space on the Life board.

# of Cubes	1	2	3	4	5+
EP	2	5	9	14	20

Friendship

Gain 2 EP for each of your player cubes that is orthogonally adjacent to (but not on) at least one Love (White) space on the Life board.

Marriage

Gain EP for the total number of your player cubes on a Love (White) space on the Life board.

# of Cubes	1	2	3	4	5+
EP	2	5	9	14	20

Solitude

Gain EP for the total number of your player cubes that are on a corner space of the Life board.

# of Cubes	1	2	3	4
EP	4	10	18	28

Variety

Gain EP for having at least 2 of your player cubes in the same quadrant of the Life board.

# of Quadrants	1	2	3	4
EP	2	5	10	16

Individuality

Gain 2 EP for the number of distinct (not orthogonally adjacent) groups of your player cubes on the Life board. (A single cube can count as a group.) (2 EP per group.)

Community

Gain EP for each space on the Life board that contains your player cube and another player's cube.

# of Spaces	1	2	3	4	5+
EP	1	4	9	14	20

Equilibrium

Gain EP for each group of your player cubes arranged in a 2 x 2 square on the Life board. (Each cube can only be counted toward one group. Groups may be adjacent to any of your other player cubes, including other groups. However, a cube may be counted once for Equilibrium and again for Structure.)

# of Groups	1	2+
EP	6	16

Structure

Gain EP for each row or column of 3 or more of your player cubes on the Life board. (Each cube can only be counted toward one Structure. Structures may be adjacent to any of your other player cubes, including other Structures. However a cube may be counted once for Structure and again for Equilibrium.)

# of Rows/Columns	1	2	3+
EP	4	8	18

Advanced Rules

SETUP: Use the "Advanced" side (with special icons) of the player boards.

When a player imprints a memory and places a cube from their player board onto the Life board, the player may use the special action of the row where the player cube came from. There are 3 special actions:

The player may use 1 Emotion card of a different (non-matching) color when discarding cards to imprint the current memory.
The player immediately gains the following EP for removing a cube from this row:

Cube Removed	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
EP	0	1	2	3	4

The player may move one of their player cubes (including the one just placed) orthogonally on the Life board the following number of spaces:

Cube Removed	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
# of spaces	0	1	1	1	2