Innovation
198 questions players ask about Innovation. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-06.
Sharing and the Free Draw
- Is sharing someone else's dogma effect mandatory?
- When does the active player get a free Draw for sharing?
- If several players share, or several effects are shared, is the bonus Draw given more than once?
- Does the bonus Draw happen if the sharing player's effect changed nothing?
- Is the sharing bonus Draw mandatory, and which age does it draw from?
- Are sharing and demand eligibility recounted if a dogma changes icon counts mid-action?
- In what order do players execute a shared effect?
- If I am immune to a card's demand, do I still share its non-demand effects?
- Do players with exactly as many icons as the active player share?
- Is a player with none of the featured icon hit by a demand?
Demands
- Can opponents share a demand effect?
- In a demand, does "you" mean the demanding player or the victim?
- When several cards qualify for a demand, who chooses which one is given up?
- If a demand hits several opponents, can I name a different value for each?
- If a demand asks for a card of a value the victim lacks, does it move up to the next age?
- If a demand asks for two cards and the victim has only one, what happens?
- When does a demand count as having failed to do anything (for example for Hammurabi's karma)?
- May I take a Dogma action on a card even if its demand hits nobody, or nothing happens at all?
Resolving Dogma Effects
- Must I carry out every effect on a card, and in what order?
- What if I can only partly perform a dogma effect?
- If the card I dogma'd is covered or removed during the action, do its remaining effects still happen?
- Can I use a covered or splayed card for a Dogma action?
- Do icons hidden under other cards count toward dogma icon totals?
- If an effect begins "you may", can a sharing opponent decline all of it?
- How many times does a "repeat this dogma effect" instruction repeat?
- When an effect says to draw and meld (or draw and score) several cards, do I draw them all first?
- Who is "you" in a non-demand dogma effect?
- When I return several cards at once, can I choose the order they go to the bottom of the pile?
Base Game Card Rulings
- Oars: who draws the 1, and what if no card is transferred?
- Tools: do I have to return exactly three cards to meld a 3?
- Printing Press: do I still draw a 2 if I have no top purple card?
- Construction: does the victim still draw a 2 if they transfer fewer than two cards, or none?
- Mysticism: draw a 1 or draw and reveal a 1, and is the meld forced?
- Navigation: who chooses what is taken, and what if I have neither a 2 nor a 3?
- Explosives: how many cards move and when do I draw a 7?
- Democracy: who draws and scores an 8?
- Clothing: which colors score, and are all opponents checked together?
- Statistics: does it draw a new card or take one out of my score pile?
Draw, Meld and Return
- What happens when I must draw from an age pile that is empty?
- Does the "next higher age" rule apply when I must score, return or transfer a card of a given value?
- Which age do I draw from on a Draw action, and what about a dogma that says "draw a 3"?
- Where does a card go when a dogma says draw (or draw and reveal)?
- When an effect draws and tucks (or melds) two cards, do both draws happen first?
- Can I draw back a card I just returned, and does returning refill an empty pile?
- Can I meld a card of any value, even a lower one than my current top card?
- When a card is transferred to my board, is it melded or tucked?
- Can I use the same dogma twice in one turn, and can I do two of any action?
- Does a draw printed on a dogma count as a Draw action?
Splaying
- How many icons does a splay reveal in each direction?
- Can a color be splayed in two directions at once, or splayed again in the same direction?
- Can a pile with one or zero cards be splayed, and is it still splayed if it shrinks to one?
- Can I splay or unsplay a color whenever I want?
- If a card says I may splay one color or another, can I splay both?
- Can I choose a color that is already splayed in the direction an effect names?
- When several players share a dogma that splays a color of their choice, does each choose their own?
- Do icons under a splayed top card count for icon-counting effects?
- Does unsplaying a color count as splaying it?
Achievements
- Why can't I take an achievement even though I have enough points?
- Does claiming an achievement spend my score?
- Do achievements have to be claimed in numerical order?
- Can one Achieve action claim several achievements, or a second of the same age?
- Can I use Achieve or a no-effect Dogma to pass an action?
- Do numbered achievements come automatically when I reach the score?
- Is there an achievement for age 10, or can I get an age 11 by reaching 55 points?
- Do achievements count as points, and can I peek at the face-down ones?
- When is a special achievement claimed, and does it use an action?
- If two players qualify for a special achievement at once, who gets it?
Score and Winning
- How many achievements do I need to win?
- What happens when someone must draw a card above age 10?
- What if two players tie for "the single player with the most X" on a winning card?
- If a win condition is met during a dogma, does the rest of the action still resolve?
- Is there a draw if both players loop the same dogma forever?
- Do Domotics and Collaboration need the lead over everyone, and does Collaboration need splays?
- What happens if there is no card left to draw?
Keywords and Card Wording
- What does "transfer" to a board mean, and does it count as a meld?
- What happens when I tuck a card of a color I don't have?
- Where do returned cards go, and who sees them?
- When several cards tie for highest or lowest, which one is affected?
- Can an exchange happen when one side has nothing to give?
- What does "execute for yourself only" or "do not share" mean?
- What does revealing a card do?
- Is a lone card both the top and the bottom of its color?
- Can I meld, tuck, or return from my hand when it is empty?
- Do "for every two icons" effects round down?
Team Play and Setup
Innovation: Echoes of the PastExpansion
- In Echoes, do I draw a base card or an Echoes card?
- When one effect draws several cards, is the hand rechecked for each draw?
- When does an age count as empty in Echoes?
- How are the Echoes cards set up?
- When can I bring out a forecast card?
- After meld-and-dogma from the forecast, what happens with echoes, extra actions and sharing?
- In what order are echo effects and dogma effects resolved?
- Are echo effects and sharing eligibility fixed at the start of a Dogma action?
- If a card executes another card's non-demand effects "for yourself only", do its echoes run too?
Innovation: Figures in the SandExpansion
- How do Karma effects work and who do they apply to?
- What icon is a Figures card's featured icon, and can I dogma a Figure or City?
- Do I need Echoes to play Figures in the Sand?
- When do I draw Figures cards, and how does the draw interact with empty piles?
- Do opponents draw a Figure when I claim an achievement by a dogma or karma?
- What does a Decree need, and can I use one again?
- Michelangelo: how do my hand cards count?
- Which values do Archimedes, Kepler and Einstein affect?
- If a karma replaces an action, does an "if you do" follow-up still happen?
- Grace Hopper and Susan Blackmore: when do they trigger?
Innovation: Artifacts of HistoryExpansion
- How does digging an artifact work, and what if the base cards of that age are gone?
- What can I do with an artifact on display?
- Does a "Meld action" that unlocks an artifact include melds caused by a dogma?
- How are Relics treated?
- Baghdad Battery: what does "different type" or "that type" mean?
- How does Dancing Girl's compel-and-win dogma resolve?
- What are Battleship Yamato and International Prototype Metre Bar able to do?
- Do Moses, Terracotta Army and Gujin Tushu Jinsheng use only my own board and top cards?
- What does The Daily Courant let me do, and where do put-back cards go?
Innovation: Cities of DestinyExpansion
- When do I draw a City card?
- In what order do things resolve after a Meld action with a City?
- Do all immediate icons on a melded City resolve, and do Search and Plus icons follow Echoes draw rules?
- Which icon on a City is the featured icon?
- How does Endorse work?
- Does Democracy count returns across both passes of an Endorse?
- When are the Cities special achievements (Repute, Legend, Fame) claimed?
- How do I meld a City, and must I splay as its arrow shows?