Teratozoic
Teratozoic Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
Each player controls their own set of monster parts, which are depicted on cards, and tries to build from them the toughest monsters. Players receive new parts from the common supply and some of them they keep in their own deck. The player who builds the most powerful monsters by the arrival of the Teratozoic (from the Greek terato-, "monster", and -zoic, "era") wins the game.
Setup
Separate the era cards and lay them out in a stack in the following order:
- Apocalypse (3+ players)
- Post-Apocalypse (4+ players)
- Darkozoic
- Post-Darkozoic (4+ players)
- Pre-Teratozoic
- Early Teratozoic (5+ players)
- Teratozoic
In a game of 5-6 players, use all era cards. For 4 players, remove the Early Teratozoic card from the game, and so on.
Each player receives 6 starting monster-part cards (marked with the ⊗ or ⊙ symbol) with values from 1 to 6, shuffles them face down, and creates their own personal deck.
Shuffle all other cards face down and place the resulting common deck in the center of the table.
Determine the first player. Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes 5 cards into hand, in accordance with the rule written on the current era card (in its upper left corner). For example, during Post-Apocalypse a player takes 4 cards from the common deck, then 1 card from their personal deck.
Game Turn
Several rounds are played in each era. Each round consists of the following phases:
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Declaration (Заявка): Starting with the first player, each player, after looking at their hand, declares whether they intend to play all of their cards, taking into account the minimum number of cards the player must play in this era, shown in the upper right corner of the era card. For example, during Post-Apocalypse a player must play at least 3 cards. If a player will not play all of their cards, they must place the cards they will not play face down on the table in front of themselves.
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Growth (Рост): All players simultaneously create monsters from the cards they kept in hand, laying them face up on the table. Players total the value of the monsters they created and announce it. The player who created monsters with the greatest total value is the winner of the round. They become the new first player.
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Reproduction (Размножение): Players receive cards based on the outcome of the battle just fought. First, the round winner takes from the cards played by all players as many cards as shown on the era card next to the star (1 card in the Post-Apocalypse era) and places them on their personal discard pile. Then each player takes from all of their own cards (both played and set aside face down) as many cards as shown at the bottom of the era card (1 card in the Post-Apocalypse era) and places them on their personal discard pile. Players must take the indicated number of cards.
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Mutation (Мутация): Each player discards their remaining cards (the ones not taken) to the common discard pile. Starting with the first player, each player draws 5 cards as shown on the era card. If a player's personal deck has run out, they also create a new personal deck from their personal discard pile. If a player has fewer than 5 cards remaining, they are eliminated from the game, discarding all of their cards to the common discard pile. A player always draws from the common deck first. If the common deck has run out, the next era begins: the player creates a new common deck from the common discard pile and draws the remaining cards as shown on the new era card. If during the drawing the last era (Teratozoic) begins, then, after the new common deck is created, players continue to draw cards according to the rule of the previous era, after which:
Teratozoic (Final Era)
At the start of the Teratozoic, each player shuffles their personal discard pile (but not the cards in hand) into their personal deck for the last time. If during this era a player's personal deck runs out, the player plays with the number of cards they have. The game continues for as long as there are players able to play.
End of the Game
At the end of the Teratozoic, each player creates up to three single-colour whole (no free ends) monsters from all of their cards and counts the total number of cards used. The player with the highest number is the winner. Card values are not counted for this.
If two or more players are tied on points, the winner is the player who can create the greater number of single-colour whole monsters from their unused cards.
Creating Monsters
A player begins each round with 5 cards in hand, from which they create monsters.
If a player plays all 5 cards of such a hand as 5 different monsters, their total value will be 19 points (the sum of all cards is 17, plus 2 doublings of monsters with value 1).
But if the player, for example, joins 2 green parts into one monster, they get 8 points more: the card "1" doubles not only the second card "6" but also the 1-point bonus for a single-colour whole (no free ends) monster.
By joining 2 orange parts into one monster, the player can bring the total value of their monsters to 32: 16 for the green, 12 for the orange, and 4 for the purple.
Monster Value
- Add up the total value of all played cards.
- Add a +1 bonus for each single-colour whole (no free ends) monster.
- If cards show a doubling of a monster's value, double the result. If a monster has 2 parts with doubling, the result is quadrupled.
- If none of the played monsters has free ends, gain a +1 bonus.
If two or more players contending for the round win end up with the same monster value, each of them draws 1 card from their personal deck and tries to use it. A player may completely rebuild their monster parts. If necessary, repeat this to determine the sole winner of the round.
Card Diagram Captions
Captions printed on the card diagrams in the source, as transcribed:
- Monster-part card (карта части монстра): "value" (upper left corner), "colour", "free end", "no free end", "set" (набор).
- Era card (карта эры): "minimum number of cards the player must play" (upper right corner); "draw: common deck / own deck" (общая / своя колода); "number of players". The era-card captions overlap in the source scan and are not fully legible; the rules text above covers the same information.
Difficulty
To get acquainted with the game, it is recommended that in your first games you do not use the complex cards (marked "А"). Add these cards to the game only after you have become familiar with its principles.
Reducing the number of era cards (compared with the recommended number) shortens the game; increasing it lengthens the game, and also makes it more strategic. When playing with two players, you can try removing all the cards of one colour entirely. The game length will then shrink to 15-30 minutes. You can also try allowing the doubling of the value of monsters that are not single-colour.
Example of Play
Two players play the extended variant of the game, beginning with the Apocalypse.
Andrey is dealt 5 cards: four "1"s and one "4". He thinks his opponent, Sveta, will create more valuable monsters and take his orange 4, so he sets this card aside and declares: "Not playing all cards."
Sveta, in turn, has a hand of average strength. Seeing that Andrey is not playing all of his cards, she believes she has good chances of winning the round. "Playing all," she declares.
Andrey combines his four 1s, getting a total monster value of 5: 4 for the cards themselves and a +1 bonus because none of his played monsters has free ends.
From her 5 cards, Sveta creates two monsters with a total value of 15: 14 for the total value of all the cards and a +1 bonus for a whole, single-colour purple monster.
Since Sveta is the winner of the round, under the rule of the current era (Apocalypse) she takes 1 of the cards played by all players. She chooses her own purple 6, since she cannot take Andrey's face-down card, which is most likely valuable. Then each player may take 1 card from among all of their own cards (played and face down). Sveta takes her orange "3", and Andrey takes his set-aside orange "4". The players place the chosen cards on their personal discard piles.
Andrey discards his remaining four 1s to the common discard pile. Sveta does the same with her remaining cards: one "1" and two "2"s.
The Apocalypse era continues, so now each player must draw 4 cards from the common deck and 1 card from their personal deck.