Phantom Ink: Arcana Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview & Goal
• Components
• Setup
• Play
  • I. Play an Arcana
  • II. Ask — or — Guess
• Clues
• Eye Spaces
• Play Arcana Reversed
• Example Turn
• Frequently Asked Questions
• For 2-3 Players
  • Overview & Setup
  • Arcana Cards
  • Silencio
  • Play
  • Goal and Game End
  • Eye Spaces
• Card Powers Booklet
  • For the Rest of the Game
  • Crystal
  • Eye Space
  • Use (Eye)
  • Offer
  • If You Ask
  • Ask in a Bonus Space
  • Whisper a Letter
  • Hand Size
  • 2-3 Player Changes
  • Glossary

Overview & Goal

There are 2 teams, each with 1 Medium and 1 Spirit. There is 1 Secret Object that both Spirits know. Each Spirit wants their Medium to guess the Object first. Mediums take turns giving their Spirit secret Question Cards to answer about the Object. The Spirit writes an answer (Clue) slowly, letter by letter until interrupted by their Medium. The first Medium to guess the Object wins for their team!

This rulebook is written for 4 players. If you have 5+ players: Add more Mediums to each team. Mediums on a team share their hands of cards, work together, and can pass secret notes. Any of them can call "Silencio."

Components

• The Pad
• 75 Question Cards
• 35 Object Cards
• 22 Arcana Cards
• 6 Crystals
• 2 Pencils
• The Object (shown in the components picture on the Pad)

NEW If you own the original Phantom Ink, combine its Question Cards and Object Cards with the ones in this box (marked with an icon).

Setup

1. Split the players into 2 groups: the Sun team and the Moon team.
2. Decide who on your team is the Spirit and who is the Medium.
3. Each team's Medium draws 7 Question Cards and NEW 3 Arcana Cards. They privately look at the cards.
4. NEW Each team takes 3 Crystals.
5. Together, the Sun Spirit and Moon Spirit draw 1 Object Card to share. They look at it without showing the Mediums. Together, they choose which word will be the Object for this game (they can use the numbers to discuss).

(A Seating Diagram labelled Spirits, Mediums, Sun team and Moon team is shown here in the source.)

Play

Teams take turns. The Sun team goes first. On your turn do the following:

I. Play an Arcana

Tip: First time playing Phantom Ink? Skip the Arcana Cards & Crystals.

NEW At the start of your turn you, the Medium, may pay 1 Crystal to play 1 Arcana. Put the card on the table in front of you, then read its power aloud and follow its instructions. Details about the Arcana powers can be found in the Card Powers booklet. Then continue your turn.

II. Ask — or — Guess

Ask (Ask a Question to receive a Clue)

1. You, the Medium, choose and Offer 2 Question Cards from your hand to your Spirit.
2. Your Spirit chooses 1 to answer, gives it back to you, and discards the rest face up.
3. In your team's next space on the Pad, your Spirit starts to slowly write a Clue. The Clue must answer the chosen Question about the Object. Spirits should say the letters aloud as they write.
4. When you think you know the Clue your Spirit is writing, call "Silencio." Your Spirit stops writing (if they are writing a letter, they finish it, then stop).
5. Place the answered Question face down in front of you. You can peek at it if you forget.

Guess (Guess the Object to try to win)

1. You, the Medium, write the first letter of your Guess in your team's next space on the Pad, and say the letter aloud.
   • If the letter is correct, your Spirit knocks on the table. Add the next letter, and say the letter aloud. Repeat until you get a letter wrong, or complete your guess.
   • If the letter is wrong, your Spirit puts their finger to their lips. Cross out the wrong letter. Your turn is over.
2. When you finish writing your Guess, add a period. If you've correctly written the Object, your team wins!

There's no penalty for making an incorrect Guess other than taking up a turn.

NEW At the end of your turn, draw Arcana Cards until you have 3, and Question Cards until you reach your Hand Size, which starts at 7. Some Arcana powers increase your Hand Size!

Clues

What kinds of Clues can I give?

• Clues must answer the chosen Question Card about the Object
• Clues can only contain letters and spaces (leave out other characters)
• Write Clues in all capital letters
• Clues should be in a language all players know
• Clues cannot contain any form of the Object (e.g. if the Object is "Airplane," you can't answer "Air" or "Plane" or "Deplaning")

Otherwise, Spirits can use whatever Clue they like—dictionary words, proper nouns, made up words, and multiple-word phrases are all okay!

Eye Spaces

When your team starts a turn at a space with an Eye icon, your team's Medium asks to see the next letter of any Clue on the Pad (from either team). The Spirit who wrote that Clue adds the next letter to the Clue. Then your team continues your turn as normal. NEW You can do this before or after playing your Arcana for the turn, your choice.

Play Arcana Reversed

NEW Want new Question Cards? Each turn, instead of playing an Arcana for its power, you may pay 1 Crystal and play the Arcana upside down. Then discard any number of Question Cards, and draw that many.

Example Turn

Avery, a Medium, hands 2 Question Cards to Jordan, her team's Spirit. Jordan chooses the card "What is it made of," shows it to Avery, and discards the other card. The Object is "Calendar," so Jordan decides to respond "Paper." Jordan writes 'P A P' in the empty space, pausing after each letter. Avery thinks the Clue is "Paper," and says "Silencio" to hide the rest of the answer from the other team.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the Medium doesn't say "Silencio"? — If the Spirit writes the last letter of a Clue without the Medium calling "Silencio," they add a period to the end of the Clue to show the word is complete.

What if all the spaces on the Pad are full? — If neither team correctly Guesses the Object in 8 rounds, both teams lose.

Read more FAQs at Arcana.PhantomInkGame.com/faq

For 2-3 Players

Overview & Setup

A standard game of Phantom Ink: Arcana requires 4 or more players. If you only have 2 or 3 players, you can play this cooperative mode instead! Try to guess the Secret Object within 8 rounds.

Choose 1 player to be the Spirit, and the rest will be Mediums. This mode plays just like the standard game, but with the following changes:

Arcana Cards

Remove The Hermit from the deck. Arcana Cards only affect your Sun turns. For more details, see page 7 of the Card Powers booklet.

Silencio

When the Spirit is writing a Clue, the Medium(s) don't choose when to call "Silencio." Instead, they must call "Silencio" after the Spirit writes a certain number of letters. They must call "Silencio" after 2 letters initially. The number of letters is shown by the dots on the edge of each space (2 Letters, 3 Letters, 4 Letters, 5 Letters). The source diagram shows example partial Clues on each space: Sun Turn side RO, FA, FO, ORN, BRE, CART, EASTE, OSTRI; Moon Turn side WH, CR, O, HUM, EA, SCRA, DELIC, EGG.

Play

Your team alternates taking a Sun turn (on the left side of the Pad) and then a Moon turn (on the right side of the Pad).

Sun Turn

In the next empty space on the Sun side of the Pad, you, the Medium:

• (Optional) Pay 1 Crystal to play an Arcana card.
• Then Ask a Question, just like in the standard game (Offer your Spirit 2 Question Cards; they choose 1 to answer with a Clue, and they discard the other). Your Spirit writes the first few letters of the Clue. They write 2 letters initially, and the number of letters goes up the further you have progressed down the Pad (see SILENCIO on the previous page).

Moon Turn

In the next empty space on the Moon side of the Pad, you, the Medium, choose 1 of the following:

• Guess the Object just like in the standard game, 1 letter at a time.
• Listen for Guidance by having your Spirit draw the top 2 Question Cards from the deck. The Spirit discards one and answers the other, but the Medium(s) do not get to see the Question being answered. The Spirit writes the first few letters of the Clue. The number of letters depends on how far down the Pad you have progressed (see SILENCIO on the previous page).

Goal and Game End

If you successfully Guess the Object, the whole team wins! Your score is the number of unused spaces left on the Pad. If you didn't Guess it before the 8 rounds were up, everyone loses—try again?

Eye Spaces

When your team starts a turn at a space with an Eye icon, you get to reveal the next letter of a Clue on the Pad before taking your turn. If it's a Sun turn, the Medium(s) can choose a Clue on either side of the Pad for the extra letter, as in the standard game. If it's a Moon turn, the Spirit chooses and adds a letter to a Clue from the Moon side of the Pad.

Card Powers Booklet

This booklet explains the special keywords and symbols that appear on Arcana Cards.

For the Rest of the Game

Purple Arcana Cards have effects that are relevant for the rest of the game. Usually, they give you an extra power whenever something else happens. Black Arcana Cards have one-time effects. Keep them on the table, but you don't need to pay attention to them afterwards.

Crystal

When an Arcana tells you to Reclaim 1 Crystal, play the card and use its powers like normal, then take back the Crystal you spent. This power will let you play more than just 3 Arcana total.

If you have already spent all your Crystals, you won't be able to play one of these Arcana, even though it would give you a Crystal back after.

Eye Space

When your team starts a turn at a space with an Eye icon, before or after you play an Arcana Card (your choice), choose any Clue to learn about. The Spirit who wrote that Clue adds the next letter to it. If there are no more letters, they add a period.

Use (Eye)

When an Arcana Card tells you to use an Eye, do the same thing as you would for an Eye space—choose any Clue, then the Spirit who wrote that Clue adds the next letter to it.

Some Arcana will give an Eye with special rules, like Whispering the letter instead of revealing it.

Some Arcana will give you an extra power whenever you use an Eye. These extra powers happen both when you use an Eye space, and when you use an Eye from an Arcana.

Offer

When you Ask on a normal turn, you always Offer:

Choose 2 Question Cards from your hand and give them to your Spirit. They choose 1 of those Questions to answer, and discard the rest.

Some Arcana let you Offer additional Question Cards to give to your Spirit when you Ask. Your Spirit chooses 1 Question to answer from among the cards you Offered. They discard the rest of the Questions.

The Hanged Man has you Offer normally, plus add in the top Question card from the deck.

In rare cases, you may not have enough Questions in your hand to Offer. If this happens, Offer as many as you have left.

If You Ask

Some Arcana instruct, "If you ask this turn…" These Arcana make Asking better in some way. If you choose to Guess, the power does nothing.

Ask in a Bonus Space

You get to Ask an extra time: Offer your Spirit 2 Question Cards from your hand, they choose 1 to answer, and discard the rest. You can call "Silencio" as they write the Clue.

It's exactly the same as choosing to Ask on your turn, except it happens in an extra space. Use a scrap of paper for the Bonus Space, or divide the current space on the Pad in half and use the other half.

After resolving the Arcana Card's extra Ask, you take the rest of your turn and Ask again in the normal space for the turn! (These Arcana don't allow you to use your turn for a Guess.)

Whisper a Letter

When you are instructed to Whisper a letter, your Spirit Whispers the next letter in the chosen Clue to you. The other team doesn't get to know the Whispered letter.

You may write the letter down to remember it. Then your Spirit adds a blank where that letter would go in the Clue. For example, "BR_".

When using an Eye on a Clue with a Whispered letter, the team using the Eye can choose to fill in the next blank or can reveal the next letter after all of the blanks.

Hand Size

Some Arcana increase your Hand Size for Question Cards; for the rest of the game, when your turn ends, you draw Questions until you reach your new Hand Size.

2-3 Player Changes

In the cooperative game mode, these Arcana Card powers change slightly:

• WHISPER: Write the letters on the Pad.
• IF YOU ASK: These powers happen on your Sun turn. You can still Guess on your Moon turn.
• OFFER: Only affects your Sun turns.
• THE CHARIOT & THE FOOL: These Arcana prevent you from Guessing on your Moon turn. Always call "Silencio" for The Fool after 1 letter. Call "Silencio" for The Chariot after the same number of letters as dots on this turn's space.
• THE HIGH PRIESTESS & THE LOVERS: You get their powers on your Sun turns 1-3.
• JUSTICE: Copy an Arcana you have played.
• THE HIEROPHANT, THE WORLD, & STRENGTH: These Arcana don't give their benefits on Moon turns.

Glossary

• RECLAIM CRYSTAL: Take back the Crystal you paid. (Page 1)
• EYE: Choose a Clue. Its Spirit writes the next letter on that Clue. (Page 2)
• OFFER: Give your Spirit extra Questions to choose from. (Page 3)
• IF YOU ASK: Use this Arcana's power only if you choose to Ask on your turn. (Page 4)
• BONUS SPACE: Get an extra Ask action. Use a paper scrap or half a space. (Page 4)
• WHISPER: Your Spirit whispers the next letter in a Clue to you. (Page 5)
• HAND SIZE: At the end of your turn draw Question Cards until you have this many. Starts at 7. (Page 5)