Let's Call the Exorcist Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• First Round Setup
  • Setup Chart
• Winning the Game
• Winning a Round
• Playing a Round
  • Start of a Deal
  • Taking Turns
  • End of a Deal
• End of the Round
• End of the Game
  • Resolving a Tie: A Mini Game
• What Cards Do
  • Peeking
  • Holy Artifacts
  • Cursed Artifacts
  • Blessings
  • Mischiefs
• Clarifications
  • General
  • Holy Artifacts
  • Cursed Artifacts
  • Blessings
  • Mischiefs

Components

• 8 Role Tiles
  • 5 Innocent
  • 3 Possessed
• 43 Cards
  • 9 Holy Artifacts
  • 4 Cursed Artifacts
  • 24 Mischiefs
  • 6 Blessings
• 45 Point Tokens

First Round Setup

1. Give each player 1 point token. (Note: Only do this when setting up the first round of the game.)
2. Prepare the deck: a. Separate the cards into Cursed Artifacts, Holy Artifacts, Mischiefs, and Blessings. b. Separately shuffle the Holy and Cursed Artifacts into individual piles. Using the setup chart on the back of this rulebook, count out the appropriate number for your group size from each pile, without revealing any. c. Shuffle the Mischief and Blessing cards together into a single pile. Count out the number for your group size shown on the setup chart, without revealing any. d. Shuffle the selected Holy Artifacts, Cursed Artifacts, and Mischiefs/Blessings together to form the deck, again without revealing any. Place the deck in the middle of the table. Return all other cards to the game box.
3. Prepare Player Roles: a. Using the setup chart on the back of this rulebook, count out the appropriate number of Innocent and Possessed Role tiles, and shuffle them together. b. Deal 1 tile facedown to each player. Instruct players to secretly look at their Role tiles, then place them facedown in front of themselves. Inform the players that they must remember their Role, and may not look at their own Role tile again, unless a card effect specifically says to do so.
4. The last player to enter a church is named the first Seeker.

Setup Chart

Players	4	5	6	7	8
Innocent	3	3	4	4	5
Possessed	1	2	2	3	3
Mischiefs/Blessings	10	13	16	18	21
Holy Artifacts	4	5	6	7	8
Cursed Artifacts

Winning the Game

The game is played over a series of rounds. Your goal is to be the first player to have 7 points at the end of a round.

Each round, everyone receives a secret Role that determines which team they're on. If your team wins the round, you receive 2 points. Players can also score and steal points individually by revealing specific cards during a round.

If a player has 7 or more points at the end of a round, the game ends and the player with the most points wins!

NOTE: Your group can decide to raise or lower the number of points needed to win depending on how long you want to play.

Winning a Round

Each round, each team will try to win by being first to reveal all of their Artifacts:

• The Innocent players win the round if all Holy Artifacts are revealed.
• The Possessed players win the round if all Cursed Artifacts are revealed.

The number of each type of card in the deck (and therefore the number of Artifacts that must be revealed for each team to win) depends on the number of players. At the beginning of the game, it is a good idea to remind everyone of how many Artifacts each team needs to reveal, according to the setup chart on the back of this rulebook.

NOTE: There are always more Holy Artifacts than Cursed Artifacts in the deck (just as there are more Innocent players than Possessed ones).

IMPORTANT! Neither team starts with any knowledge of who else is on their team. Whether you are Innocent or Possessed, you must try to figure out who your allies are by watching other players' behavior and using card effects to peek at Role tiles.

Playing a Round

Each round is made up of several deals. During a deal, players will each place a number of cards on the table in front of themselves, and then will take turns revealing other players' cards and resolving their effects.

A round lasts for as many deals as it takes until one of the teams has revealed all the Artifacts it needs to win the round.

Start of a Deal

At the start of each deal, players receive cards as follows:

1. Deal out the entire deck so that each player has the same number of cards (at the start of the round, this will be 4 cards).
2. Each player secretly looks at their cards and may describe them to the other players. They may say anything they like about their cards (including whether they are Holy or Cursed, or their specific effects), and may be honest or dishonest.
3. Each player shuffles their cards and places them in a facedown row in front of themselves, without looking at them. Each player should have an idea of what cards are in front of them, but not which card is which.

Taking Turns

Once all players have received and arranged their cards, they begin taking turns choosing cards to reveal.

The player choosing a card is named the Seeker. For the first deal of the first round, the player who was named first Seeker takes the first turn.

On their turn, the Seeker chooses any card in front of any other player (they may not choose one of their own cards) and flips it faceup. The revealed card is then immediately resolved. Move the revealed card into the center of the play area for everyone to see.

The player whose card was revealed is named the Chosen. After the card's effect is resolved, the Chosen becomes the new Seeker. The new Seeker may choose a card in front of any other player, including a player who was previously Seeker (and has one or more faceup cards in front of them).

End of a Deal

The deal ends once there are as many revealed faceup cards as there are players in the game. For example, in a 5-player game, the deal ends once 5 cards have been revealed. (Make note of who was the last Chosen player, as they will be the first Seeker for the next deal.)

When the deal ends, move all faceup cards in the center of the play area to the side so all players can see which cards were revealed from each deal. Then collect all the remaining facedown cards in front of players, shuffle them together, and begin a new deal.

Note that with each new deal, each player will receive 1 fewer card. There can be a maximum of 4 deals in a round before the entire deck is revealed.

(Example: in a 5-player game, the round ends once 5 cards are revealed.)

End of the Round

When the last Holy Artifact or the last Cursed Artifact in the deck is revealed, its effect is resolved normally, and then the round immediately ends (even if the deal wasn't finished).

All players reveal their Role tiles. Each player on the team that revealed all its Artifacts first receives 2 point tokens.

If no one has at least 7 points, set up and play a new round, following the setup instructions on page 2 to deal out new Roles and build a new deck. The player who was last Chosen in the previous round is the first Seeker of the new round.

IMPORTANT! After the first round, players no longer receive 1 point at the start of the round.

End of the Game

If a player has 7 or more points at the end of a round, the game is over and the player with the most points wins!

If a player earns their 7th point during a round, finish the round as normal (play until a team reveals all its Artifacts), then determine the winner.

Resolving a Tie: A Mini Game

In the case of a tie, the tied players do the following:

1. Shuffle 1 Blessing with 4 Mischief cards and lay them facedown in a row between the tied players. Designate one end of the row as 1 and the other as 5.
2. Each player simultaneously says, "EX-OR-CIST" with a hand in a fist. On "CIST," the players show a number of fingers corresponding to a card in the row.
3. Each player counts down the row and reveals the card they selected. a. If a single player selects the Blessing, they win. If multiple players select the Blessing, reset and repeat the tiebreaker with only the players who selected the Blessing. b. If the Blessing is not revealed, discard any revealed Mischief cards and select cards again. If all 4 Mischief cards are discarded before the Blessing is revealed, reset the tiebreaker and repeat until a winner is selected.

What Cards Do

Peeking

When an Artifact instructs you to peek at an Artifact or Role tile, secretly look at it, then return it facedown. You may say anything you like about what you saw, but be very careful that you do not visually reveal the card or tile to other players.

Holy Artifacts

Among other special effects, Holy Artifacts may allow you to peek at your own Role. This can be useful because some Mischief cards can shuffle up players' Role tiles, potentially changing which team you're on.

Cursed Artifacts

Along with messing with other players, Cursed Artifacts may allow players to peek at other players' Roles. Since the Possessed are outnumbered, this can help them gain information about who is on their side.

NOTE: Innocent players must use the effects of Cursed Artifacts they reveal, even though this may hurt their chances of winning the round.

Blessings

Blessings cause individual players to gain or lose points. Whether your team is ahead or behind, your personal goal of gaining the most points can be achieved by seeking out Blessings, or by tricking other players into revealing a Blessing that gives you points!

REMEMBER! If a player has 7 or more points during a round, finish the round before ending the game.

Mischiefs

Mischiefs do not help either team directly, but it can shake up the game and potentially be used to your advantage. Mischiefs may allow you to peek at cards around the table, change who will be Seeker next, or restrict who the next Seeker is allowed to choose cards from.

When a Mischief card instructs you to shuffle up Role tiles, take the tiles from the affected players (without looking at them) and mix them up on the table surface, to ensure they are not revealed to anyone. Then pass 1 tile back facedown to each affected player.

Remember that after round setup, you are only allowed to look at your Role tile if an Artifact tells you to, so if your Role tile has been shuffled, you'll need to find a way to peek at it to figure out if you changed teams!

Clarifications

General

• The Seeker: The player who is choosing a card to reveal.
• The Chosen: The player whose card was revealed.

Holy Artifacts

Cleansing Whip (card text: Each player must peek at their rightmost card, then pass it to the player on their right.) Each player who is passed an Artifact must place it on the right end of their card row.

Cloth of Transcendence (card text: Each player must peek at their leftmost card, then pass it to the player on their left.) Each player who is passed an Artifact must place it on the left end of their card row.

Collection Plate (card text: The players with the fewest [points] each gain a [point token].) If all players are tied with the same amount of points, all players gain a point token.

The Blessed Prepuce (card text: If this is the first Holy Artifact revealed this round, the Chosen may peek at all of their remaining cards.) The Chosen must put their cards back in the same facedown order.

Also in the deck: Tablet Chunk (The Seeker and the Chosen may peek at their own roles.)

Cursed Artifacts

Book of the Mostly Dead (card text: The Chosen may peek at any other player's role.) The Chosen may peek at their own Role.

That One Ring (card text: If this is the first Cursed Artifact revealed this round, the Chosen steals a [point token] from a player of their choice.) You cannot steal a point from a player with 0 pts.

Also in the deck: Pazuzu Bust (The Seeker may peek at the Chosen's role.)

Blessings

Divine Sanction (card text: The Chosen selects another player to lose a [point token].) If a player with 0 pts is instructed to lose a point, ignore this effect. A player cannot have negative points.

Also in the deck: Piety (The Chosen gains a [point token].)

Mischiefs

Cruel Cowardice (card text: The Chosen must select another player to become Seeker.) The Chosen cannot select from another player this turn and passes the Chosen responsibility to another player.

Hellish Hijinx! (card text: Flip this facedown and shuffle it back into the Chosen's unrevealed cards. The Seeker must then select a new Chosen and reveal one of their cards.) If this is the only card a player has, it is simply turned facedown.

Satanic Spew! (card text: The Seeker may not be selected as Chosen next turn.) This effect does not last the entire round, only the next selection.

Vile Violation (card text: The Chosen must peek at any one card of another player, but may not select its owner as Chosen next turn.) When a card is peeked at, place it back into the same card row position it was removed from.

Wicked Whiff! (card text: The Seeker and the Chosen swap all of their unrevealed cards, then shuffle them.) Neither player may peek at their cards before or after they are swapped. After shuffling their own cards, arrange them in a row as normal.

Also in the deck: Is That You, Satan? (The Seeker and the Chosen shuffle their roles. The Chosen may then peek at one of the shuffled roles.)

Note: in the printed manual, point icons in card texts are shown as symbols and are rendered here as "[point token]".