Seven Prophecies
Seven Prophecies Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 44 Number cards (1-11 in 4 suits)
- 12 Future cards
- 4 Prophecy cards
- 4 Bidding cards
- 2 Score Track cards
- 32 cubes (8 cubes x 4 colors)
Overview
Seven Prophecies is a must-follow trick taking game, where the suit you must follow for every trick has been pre-determined at the beginning of each round. One game consists of 3 or 4 rounds (for 3 or 4 players) and each round will consist of 7 to 10 tricks. After the deal of each hand, but before play begins, players will predict how many times they will play a card that will be 1st place in the trick, 2nd place, etc. The player who fulfills their prophecy first scores points depending on how quickly they can achieve it. The first player to reach 7 points or more (or the player with the highest score after the final round, if no player reaches 7 points) wins.
Game Flow
The game is played in rounds for the number of players. In a round, the three steps: (Prepare, Prophecy, Trick) are performed in order. The rules detailed below are for a 4-player game, adjustments for 3-player games are described at the end of the rulebook.
Setup
- Each player takes 8 cubes of their favorite color and one Bidding card.
- At the left side of the playing area, arrange the 4 Prophecy cards in a vertical column, with the 1 at the top and 4 at the bottom.
- At the right side of the playing area, arrange the 2 Score Track cards vertically with the 0 at the bottom and 7 at the top. Place one cube from each player on the 0 on the lower card.
- The starting player is the person who has most recently had a prophetic dream. If there are no clairvoyants among you, the player teaching the game is the starting player.
- Shuffle all Number cards and deal 10 to each player. There will be 4 cards remaining. Place these off to the side, keeping them face down. They will not be used in this hand but will be shuffled back in for the next hand.
- Shuffle the 12 Future cards and deal 10 of them face up, one at a time, in a horizontal row starting in the space above and to the right of the 1st Prophecy card. There will be two cards remaining - set these off to the side, they will not be used this hand but will be shuffled back in for the next hand.
Prophecy
Using the remaining 7 cubes and the bidding cards, each player simultaneously predicts how many times their cards will be in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place in the tricks that will be completed throughout the round. Each player should use their hand to shield their own prophecies until everyone is ready.
Once everyone is done, reveal your cubes and move them to the prophecy cards accordingly.
A maximum of 10 tricks are played in one round, but only 7 tricks can be predicted.
Trick Flow
For each trick, perform the following three steps in order (Play a Card, Ranking, Confirm Prophecies).
Play a Card
In clockwise order from the start player, choose one card from your hand that is of the same suit as the current trick's Future card, and play it face up in front of you. If you do not have a card of the same suit as the future card, you may play any card.
Ranking
Once everyone has played a card, determine the ranking order of those cards. Among the players who played a card that matches the suit of the current Future card, the player who played the card with the highest number wins 1st place. The player with the next highest number is ranked 2nd, and so on. Cards played off-suit are ranked by number after the cards that followed suit. When multiple cards with the same number are played, the card that was played later is stronger.
Confirm Prophecies
Once each player's ranking has been determined, place those cards vertically under the Future card for the trick, 1st to 4th from the top. Then, if a player's card rank matches one of their cubes still on the corresponding Prophecy card, they take one of their cubes from the Prophecy card and place it on the card they played this trick (signaling that the prophecy came true). If there are no cubes of a player's color remaining on the Prophecy card, they skip this step.
The player whose card was 1st place this trick leads the next trick.
End of Round and Scoring
The round will end in one of two ways:
- One or more players put all 7 of their cubes from the Prophecy cards onto the cards they played
- All 10 tricks are played
After the round is over, the score will be calculated as follows:
If the first player to fulfill their prophecy does so in the 7th trick, they score 5 points. If they fulfill it in the 8th trick, they score 3 points. If they do it in the 9th trick, they score 2 points. If they do it in the 10th trick, they score 1 point.
The player (or players, ties are allowed) with the fewest remaining cubes on the Prophecy cards scores 1 point (unless the hand goes 10 tricks, in which case there is no second place point).
Each scoring player moves their cube up on the score track by the number of points scored.
Prepare for Next Round and End of Game
The next round starts with the player to the left of the first starting player of the round just finished. Play rounds until one player has scored 7 or more points - they are the winner! Otherwise, play rounds equal to the number of players (4 players = 4 rounds) and the player with the highest total score wins. In case of a tie, the victory is shared.
Changes for 3 Players
Return the 10 and 11 cards of each suit and the 4th place Prophecy card to the box. (Only Number cards 1-9 in 4 suits and Prophecy cards 1-3 will be used).
Shuffle the Number cards and deal 10 to each player, setting aside the remaining 6 face down.
All other rules are the same as in the 4-player version.
Credits
- Game Design: Hinata Origuchi
- Graphic Design: Daniel Newman