Pixel Lincoln: The Deckbuilding Game

Pixel Lincoln: The Deckbuilding Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

216 Cards:

60 Item Cards
60 Enemy Cards
20 Starting Item: Beardarang Cards
20 Starting Item: Jump Cards
16 Character Cards
12 Checkpoint Cards
8 Secret Item Cards
8 Life Cards
4 Mini-Boss Cards
4 Boss Cards
4 Player # Cards

34 Card Dividers 4 Pixel Lincoln Wooden Meeples 4 Player Tableaus 2 Level Tuck Boxes 1 Level Board 1 Level Editor Sheet 1 Instruction Manual

Setup - Levels

Place the Level Board in the center of the table within reach of all players.

A standard game is played with two Levels. Complete the following for each Level.

Choose 3 sets of Enemies, 3 sets of Items, 3 Character Cards, 3 Checkpoints, and 1 Secret Item. (Each Enemy and Item type has 5 cards in its set)
Shuffle the Enemy, Item and Character Cards together to start your Level Deck.
Deal out the top 5 Cards onto the Level Board from left to right.
Shuffle the Secret Item into the Level Deck.
Split the Deck into 3 even piles.
Shuffle a Checkpoint into each pile.
Stack the 3 piles on top of each other to form the completed Level Deck.
Place the Deck on the "Level Deck" space on the board.

Once both Levels have been created, place two Mini-Boss Cards and two Boss Cards face down, off to the side of the Level Board.

Level Difficulty

You can create Levels of varying difficulty based on the cost of Items and the power of Enemies.

EASY - low cost Items (cost of 1-3), low power Enemies (power of 1-3)
MEDIUM - mid cost Items (cost of 2-4), mid power Enemies (power of 2-4)
HARD - high cost Items (cost of 3-5), high power Enemies (power of 2-5)
INSANITY - randomly choose your Items and Enemies!

For additional assistance with Level creation, see the LEVEL EDITOR insert.

Setup - Players

The player with the most change in his pocket will take the Player 1 Card, and deal out the additional Player # Cards clockwise to all players in numerical order. Each player takes a set of Starting Cards, which consists of 5 Starting Jump Cards, 5 Starting Beardarang Cards, and 2 Life Cards. Each player takes a Lincoln Meeple that corresponds to the color on his Player # Card, and a Player Tableau of his choice.

Each player places his Player Tableau in front of him. He will then place his Player # Card on the designated spot on the Tableau with 2 Life Cards underneath it. Each player will shuffle his 5 Starting Jump Cards and 5 Starting Beardarang Cards together and place them in a pile face down to the right of his Tableau. This is the Player's Deck.

Each player draws 5 Cards from their Deck to form his starting hand.

Player order is determined by the Player # Card in front of each player.

In player order, each player will choose which Level he would like to explore and place his Lincoln Meeple at the far left of the board. Before the game starts, the Lincoln Meeples will be all the way to the left, with the 5 Level Cards lined up in the middle, and the Level Deck to the far right.

Turn Order

On his turn, a player completes the following steps in order. After the steps are completed, the next player will take his turn.

Ambush! If a player starts his turn with his Lincoln Meeple in front of an Enemy Card, he has been Ambushed and must immediately play Cards from his hand to Defeat or Jump over the Ambushing Enemy. If he is unable to Defeat or Jump over the Ambushing Enemy, he will Lose A Life and must skip to step 3. (For more information, see JUMP, DEFEATING ENEMIES, and LOSING A LIFE below)
Explore After Ambushes have been resolved, a player may play Cards from his hand to move his Lincoln Meeple from left to right across the Level Board and collect Level Cards. Cards are collected by Defeating them (Enemies, Mini-Bosses and Bosses) or purchasing them (Items and Characters). The Lincoln Meeple is moved through any adjacent open spaces after collecting Cards, and moved over any Cards that have been Jumped. A player may continue Exploring until he runs out of Cards or decides to stop. (For more information, see JUMP, MOVEMENT, ITEMS AND CHARACTERS, and DEFEATING ENEMIES below)
Discard/Draw Once a player stops Exploring, he must clear the Equip Items and Spend Money spaces on his Player Tableau. Any Cards that remained in those spaces are placed into his Discard Pile. Then the player may Discard any number of Cards in his hand and must draw back up to 5 Cards. If there are not enough Cards to draw, he must draw all of the available Cards in the deck, then shuffle the Discard Pile. The Discard Pile then becomes the Player's Deck, and he will draw the remaining Cards. A new Discard Pile will be created at the time of the next Discard.

Jump

A player may Jump over a Level Card that is immediately to the right of his Lincoln Meeple. To do this, he must Equip a Jump Card from his hand. A Card is Equipped by placing it in the Equip Items space on the Player Tableau. The player will then move his Lincoln Meeple over the card, and the Meeple is now placed to the right of the Card that was Jumped. Once the ability and Power of an Equipped Card has been used, the card must be placed into the Player's Discard Pile.

Note: Cards in the Discard Pile are placed face up, on top of the pile.

Movement

Movement is always from left to right. A player may move throughout the Level Board addressing each Level Card that is directly to the right of his Lincoln Meeple. Each Level Card must be Jumped or collected in order to move to the next Card. Once a player has moved his Lincoln Meeple past a Card, he can no longer collect that Card.

As Cards are collected and Defeated, they are removed from the Level Board, leaving an empty space. When a Lincoln Meeple is directly next to an empty space, the player should move the Lincoln Meeple up to the next available Level Card. The empty spaces are not filled until a Lincoln Meeple reaches the Level Deck. (For more information, see SCROLLING below)

Items and Characters

A player will collect an Item or Character Card that is directly to the right of his Lincoln Meeple by purchasing it. To purchase a Level Card, a player must spend Cards from his hand to use their Coin Value (on the top left side, below the Power). To spend a Card, he will place it horizontally under the Player # Card in the Spend Money area of the Player Tableau, so that all players can see the Coin Value that is being spent.

The player must match the Cost at the bottom of the Level Card to collect it. When an Item Card is purchased, it must be placed directly in the purchaser's Discard Pile, unless noted otherwise. When a Character Card is purchased, it must be placed directly in the purchaser's Score Pile on the Player Tableau, unless noted otherwise. All Cards that were spent for the Coin Value are immediately placed into the Discard Pile. A player may combine Cards for purchases, but each Card may only be used for one purchase. If a player overspends for a purchase, the unused Coins are sacrificed.

Note: Cards in the Score Pile are placed face up, on top of the pile.

Defeating Enemies

A player will collect an Enemy Card by Defeating it. To Defeat an Enemy, a player must Equip Items to match the Enemy's Power Level. He may Equip as many Item Cards as it takes to Defeat the Enemy. If an Item Card has an immediate effect, the effect is resolved immediately upon Equipping the Item.

Once the Power Level of the Enemy is reached, the Enemy has been Defeated. Any reaction effects listed on the Cards are resolved at this time. When an Enemy has been Defeated, it must be placed directly in the active player's Score Pile, unless noted otherwise. Any Equipped Cards that were used to Defeat the Enemy are placed in the player's Discard Pile.

If a player is unable to Defeat or Jump over an Ambushing Enemy, he will Lose a Life. If a player is unable to Defeat or Jump over a Non-Ambushing Enemy, he may choose to end his turn at that time and will not Lose a Life. (For more information, see LOSING A LIFE below)

Note: Pixel Lincoln's standard Items will only Defeat an Enemy directly adjacent to the Lincoln Meeple. To Defeat an Enemy that is not adjacent to the Lincoln Meeple, a player must Equip Items with the Projectile ability. All Power that is needed to Defeat a non-adjacent Enemy must come from Projectile Items.

Card Abilities

Item and Enemy Cards may have additional abilities that are resolved immediately at the time described on the Cards.

Character Missions

Character Cards provide special missions for which a player may earn additional points. Each Character shows 3 Suit icons which the player must collect in order to gain 10 points at the end of the game. A player will collect these icons on the Item Cards that he purchases and the Enemy Cards that he defeats. An Item/Enemy will award its standard points, and may also contribute to a Character's special mission. Each Item/Enemy can only contribute to one Character's special mission.

Note: At any time, a player may look through his or his opponent's Score Pile or Discard Pile. A player's Deck may not be looked at by anyone.

Suits

The Item and Enemy Cards may have one of 4 Suits in the bottom left corner. These Suits are used to collect sets for the Character Cards, and may also provide additional player abilities.

The four Suit abilities are as follows:

Score: On your turn, DISCARD this card to place any card from your hand into your Score Pile.
Time Travel: On your turn, DISCARD this card to look at and rearrange the top 5 Cards of the Level Deck.
Key: On your turn, at any point after Ambushes have been successfully resolved, DISCARD this card to exit the Level and enter another. This ends the Explore step of your turn.
Cancel: On any turn, DISCARD this card to immediately cancel an ability of an Item or Enemy Card after that ability has been played. (Abilities are defined by their text or Suit. Standard Power and Value are not considered abilities.)

Scrolling

When a player's Lincoln Meeple reaches the Level Deck, the Level is refilled back up to 5 Cards.

First, any Level Cards that have been passed by all of the Lincoln Meeples are removed from the game.

Then, from left to right, each Lincoln Meeple and Level Card will individually shift back to the first open space on the board, leaving room to place the new Cards.

Next, the player who reached the Level Deck will draw additional Cards to refill the Level Board back up to 5 Cards. These additional Cards are placed one by one from left to right in the open spaces on the Level Board.

If a player reaches the Level Deck and there are no spaces to place additional Cards (this happens when there are still 5 Cards available on the Level Board, and another player is all the way to the left of the Level), the leftmost Level Card is removed from the game, the Lincoln Meeples and Level Cards shift to the left and one new Card is drawn and placed into play in the single open space.

Checkpoints

When a Checkpoint is placed onto the Level Board, please do the following:

First Checkpoint - Nothing additional.
Second Checkpoint - Draw a Mini-Boss card and place it face down, underneath the Checkpoint card. (Without looking at the Mini-Boss)
Third Checkpoint - Draw a Boss card and place it face down, underneath the Checkpoint card. (Without looking at the Boss)

When the first active player reaches the Checkpoint with his Lincoln Meeple, the Checkpoint card is removed from the game. All players in that Level are considered to have reached a Checkpoint, and will each receive their bonuses.

Checkpoint Bonuses

When a player reaches a Checkpoint, all players in the same Level may do one of the following:

Choose to draw a Card from their deck and place it into their hand. -or-
Cull/Remove a Card from their hand and place it into their Score Pile for the remainder of the game. -or-
Exit the Level and start at the beginning of another. (only if another Level is available)

As a reward, the active player who was first to reach the Checkpoint receives an additional bonus. His second choice may be the same as his first choice. He can choose and complete one before choosing another.

After the Checkpoint bonuses are taken, the Checkpoint Card is removed from the game and the active player may continue his turn. (Note: Changing Levels automatically ends the Explore step of a player's turn.)

Boss / Mini Boss Battle

If a Boss or Mini-Boss Card is under a Checkpoint, it is flipped over after the Checkpoint bonuses have been chosen. The Boss or Mini-Boss is now in play.

Bosses and Mini-Bosses are Enemies, but they cannot be Jumped over. When a Boss or Mini-Boss Ambushes a player, he must Defeat it, or Lose a Life.

Level Clear

A Level is cleared when the Boss has been defeated. All unused Cards in the Level Deck are removed from the game. All players will remove their Lincoln Meeples from that Level and place them at the start of another Level. If the Bosses from all Levels have been defeated and there are no other Levels to play, the game is now over.

Losing a Life

When a player is unable to Defeat or Jump over an Ambushing Enemy, he will Lose a Life. First, he must remove one of his Life cards from the game. The Lincoln Meeple is then returned to the player, and he places it at the start of one of the available Levels. He may then Discard/Draw back up to 5 cards and end his turn.

Each player has 3 Lives, with his Player # Card being last Life. If the Player # Card is removed from the game, that player has been eliminated.

Continue

An eliminated player may choose to Continue by removing Cards totaling up to 5 points from the game. These must be taken from his Score Pile. If there are not enough Cards in his Score Pile, he must remove all Cards in his Score Pile from the game. Then he will shuffle his deck and remove one random Card for each additional point needed.

The eliminated player will then take his Player # Card back, and place his Lincoln Meeple at the start of the Level that he would like to play. He now has one Life, and can Continue on his next turn. Before starting, he must shuffle his deck and draw 5 Cards.

A player may also choose not to Continue. If he does not Continue, he will flip his Player Tableau over and wait for final scoring. His points will be tallied up at the end of the game.

Game End

The game ends when the second Boss has been defeated, or when all players have lost all of their lives.

Winner

The winner is the player with the highest score. All players (including any players who were eliminated and chose not to Continue) will place their decks and any remaining Life Cards into their Score Pile.

High Score

Players will flip over their player tableau to tally up their final score.

Each player will add up the points on the bottom right corner of his cards.

Character Cards may provide additional bonus points. Players will take each Character Card and check to see if they have collected all of the Suit icons required by that Character to obtain the points shown. Cards that are used to fulfill the icon requirements of a Character Card can each only be used once. They cannot be used for multiple Character Cards.

The player with the highest score wins!

In the event of a tie, the tied players will count up and see who has defeated the most Enemies/Mini-Bosses and Bosses. The player with the higher number is the winner.

Solo Play

Pixel Lincoln: The Deckbuilding Game can be played solo, with a few modifications.

In creating your Levels, you will not use any direct player-to-player Items or Enemies. This includes Slime and Metal Slime.
After each turn, a Card must be removed from the game. One Card from the top of the Level deck (in the Level which the player is actively in) is revealed, then removed from the game.
If a Checkpoint is revealed and removed from the game, the player will not receive a Checkpoint reward.
If the third Checkpoint is revealed and removed, the Level Deck is removed from the game and the Boss is placed face up on the Level Deck space (extending the Level one extra space).
While a Boss is in play, instead of removing a Card from the Level Deck you will remove the leftmost Level Card from the game. The Boss Card will not be removed until defeated.

Customization

The format of Pixel Lincoln: The Deckbuilding Game allows for plenty of customization. Do you want to try Levels with more Enemies and fewer Items? Or do you want to just shuffle a bunch of Cards together and see what happens? Give it a shot. The above rules are the standard way to play, but you can make this game your own. The game comes with enough Cards to play up to 4 Levels at a time, using just about every Card in the box.