Spirit
Spirit Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Spirit is a cooperative game: all the players win or lose together.
It is a non-verbal communication game. One of the players, the Spirit, will answer 3 Questions in order to have her card guessed. These Answers will be disturbed by other Spirits.
Goal of the Game
To win the game, the Mediums must:
- Fulfil as many Ghost Requirements as possible, THEN
- Find the Spirit's card.
Components and Setup
1 Divination Table (the lid AND the bottom of the box!)
- Take all the game components out of the box, except the Between-Worlds deck. It always stays in the box, in the Between-Worlds compartment. You will only open it if you play the Initiatic Journey (see page 8).
- Check that the cardboard insert is in place, then put the lid back on the bottom of the box.
- Place the closed game box in the middle of the play area.
18 Question cards: shuffle them and place them as a face-down draw pile.
32 Ghost cards: shuffle them and place them as a face-down draw pile.
1 Communication Triangle: place it on the Divination Table.
1 Listening card.
1 Forgetting card.
5 screens: the players who are not the Spirit are the Mediums. Each of them takes a screen and something to write with (paper and pencils).
4 Aides de jeu (helper cards): place them in a single pile, within reach of the Mediums.
Choosing the Spirit
Choose the person who will play the Spirit for this game. They draw the first Ghost card.
The Spirit may look at their card at any time, but the other players must never see it before the very last phase of the game.
Note: if the drawn card bothers you, shuffle it back into the draw pile and draw another.
Game Structure
A game of Spirit consists of:
- 3 Exchange rounds (three times, the Spirit reveals a word to the Mediums on the Divination Table)
- 1 Revelation round (using these 3 words, the Mediums try to find the Spirit's card)
IMPORTANT: in Spirit, all communication goes only through the Divination Table. The players are not allowed to speak. Nor may they agree in advance on how their communication will work.
An Exchange Consists of a Question and an Answer
A) The Question
The Spirit first gives the floor to a Medium: the Spirit moves the Communication Triangle on the Divination Table, in front of the chosen Medium. That Medium then draws 2 Question cards, reads them secretly, and gives one of them to the Spirit. It is this Question that the Medium asks the Spirit. The second card is placed back under the draw pile.
Note: once per game, the Spirit may refuse a Medium's Question. In that case, the Medium draws 2 Question cards again and offers one of them to the Spirit.
The Spirit reads the Question without the other Mediums seeing it. Then the Spirit looks for a word that can answer this Question. To do so, the Spirit must draw inspiration from the illustration (the Vision) or from the text (the Reason) on their Ghost card. For the moment, the Spirit keeps this word secret.
IMPORTANT: the Spirit ignores the left part of the card (the Requirement) and the value at the bottom right of the card (the Listening value). The Spirit is forbidden to answer with a word from the same family as any of the words written on their Ghost card. In addition, the Answer consists of one word and only one. Words joined by a hyphen, such as "Au-delà" (Beyond), are nevertheless accepted.
While the Spirit looks for their Answer, each Medium draws a Ghost card and reads the Requirement written on it.
The Requirement is a condition that the Medium must try to fulfil during the next step (the Answer).
Note: the explanations of the different Requirements are on the helper cards.
Note: with 3 players, the Spirit also draws a Ghost card and must try to fulfil the Requirement written on it, as if they were a Medium.
When the Spirit has found the word they want to write, they place one index finger on the Communication Triangle and slide it to the centre of the Divination Table. The Mediums also each place one index finger (and only one) on the Triangle.
Everyone is ready, the Answer can begin!
B) The Answer
The Spirit moves the Communication Triangle by sliding it over the Divination Table. They make stops to bring up the word they have chosen, letter after letter, in the eye of the Triangle.
IMPORTANT: as soon as the last letter of their word clearly appears in the eye of the Triangle, the Spirit must release the Triangle, and the Answer stops immediately.
The Spirit breaks contact.
Meanwhile, as the Spirit spells out their Answer, one letter after another, on the Divination Table, the Mediums must try to fulfil the Requirement of the Ghost card drawn earlier. This will probably require them to make stops, or even to add letters, to the word written by the Spirit. To do so, they may act, as much as they judge necessary, on the position of the Triangle.
Note: during or after the Answer, each Medium may, behind their screen, note down the letters spelled out.
Note: the Spirit must convey their word as well as possible, but it is in their interest that as many Requirements as possible are fulfilled. So throughout the movement of the Triangle, keep in mind that being delicate, without ever forcing, will allow all the players to express themselves and to listen to one another!
IMPORTANT: at any moment during the Answer, if a player loses contact with the Communication Triangle, whether on purpose or not, the Answer stops immediately!
When the Answer ends, each Medium decides in their own conscience whether the Requirement on their Ghost card is fulfilled or not:
- If the condition is met, the Medium places their Ghost card, face down, on the Listening card.
- If the condition is not met, the Medium places their Ghost card, face down, on the Forgetting card.
Note: each fulfilled Requirement increases the chances of freeing the Spirit at the end of the game.
The Revelation
ONCE THE 3 EXCHANGES ARE COMPLETE, THE FINAL PHASE OF THE GAME BEGINS.
The Spirit secretly draws 5 Ghost cards. They add their own Ghost card to them and shuffle the 6 cards. Then they give them to the Medium on their left. That Medium reads them aloud in the most neutral way possible, shows them to the other Mediums, and places them face up all around the Divination Table.
The Mediums then take note of these cards. They may, as they wish, pick up a card to look at it more closely, then put it back in its place.
IMPORTANT: as throughout the game, the players are not allowed to communicate orally, so do not read the cards aloud. Instead, leave each Medium to consult the cards and form their own opinion.
When a Medium thinks they know which card is the Spirit's, they place one index finger on the Communication Triangle. When every Medium is ready, and each of them has an index finger on the Triangle, they move it together, all at once, over the Divination Table, to the Ghost card they believe is the right one.
IMPORTANT: as during the Exchanges, as soon as a Medium loses contact with the Triangle, it can no longer be moved, and the nearest Ghost card is considered designated. The Medium who lets go of the Triangle must take responsibility!
While the Mediums make their choice, the Spirit assesses whether the Mediums have listened closely enough throughout the game.
To do so, they take all the Ghost cards present on the Forgetting card and discard them. Then they take, from the Listening card, the same number of Ghost cards and discard them too. The cards discarded in this way are placed in the Ghost draw pile.
Note: if there are more cards on the Forgetting card than on the Listening card, all the cards in these two piles are then discarded.
Once this manipulation is done, the number of cards remaining on the Listening card represents the Mediums' Listening value, which is decisive for victory.
In this example, the Mediums have a Listening value of 5.
Victory or Defeat?
The game is WON if:
- The Ghost card designated by the Mediums is indeed the Spirit's card, AND
- There remain as many or more Ghost cards on the Listening card as the Listening level expected by the Spirit.
The game is LOST if either of these conditions is not met.
The Listening level expected by the Spirit is shown by the number on the Spirit's card (the value in the bottom right corner).
The Initiatic Journey
You feel at ease with the rules and the game, and you are now ready to begin your initiatic journey... Draw the very first card of the Between-Worlds deck and read it aloud to all the players. From now on, whether you have won or lost the game, you will determine what happens to the Spirit: whether they can leave for the Beyond, remain here below, or sink into Limbo...
You won the game: the Spirit, finally free, leaves for the Beyond!
- Open the box and place the Spirit's card in the Beyond slot.
- Then draw the next cards of the Between-Worlds deck. Each victory gives you access to a complete level of experience: draw the cards of the level one by one until you reach the next level.
- As soon as you reach a card bearing the warning symbol, stop drawing.
Note: the cards drawn in this way may be:
- An extract of your initiatic journey, that is, a chapter of the story you are going to live, which you read aloud immediately to all the players.
- New Ghosts to add to the Ghost draw pile.
- A Mystic Experience, that is, a new way of making contact. How Mystic Experiences work is explained on the cards themselves.
- A helper card concerning a new Ghost Requirement. It is to be added to the other helper cards.
You lost the game but fulfilled one of the two victory conditions: the Spirit felt listened to enough to remain among you and accept future help.
Put the Ghost cards present on the Listening card back into their draw pile. Then place the Spirit's card on the Listening card; it is a bonus for your next game.
You lost the game with neither of the two victory conditions fulfilled: contact with the Spirit is completely broken!
Open the box and slide the Ghost card into the Limbo slot: this Ghost is lost forever. You will no longer have the possibility of freeing it, but the Journey continues.
Tips for Good Communication
- Applying less effort on the Triangle often makes communication easier.
- Mediums, abandoning the Requirement of the drawn Ghost is sometimes the best solution.
- Spirit, going around an area of the Communication Table can sometimes avoid a blockage.
- Spirit, let the Mediums have the possibility of moving the Triangle; they too have things to say.