Tournament Arc Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
• Card Anatomy
  • Athlete
  • Episode
  • Region
  • Sport
• Rules: How to Play
  • Setup
  • Phase 1: Drafting
  • Phase 2: Training
  • Phase 3: Competing
• Tips: Score Calculation
• Alternative Rules and Modes
  • Competitive Ruleset
  • Extended Gameplay
    • Tournament Mode
    • Graduation Mode
  • House Rules
• FAQs
• Quick Start Guide

Objective

You are a coach, training a ragtag team of student athletes to compete and reign victorious in the ultimate sports competition! But for what sport exactly? You'll find out along the way!

You will draft your Athletes, train them via Episodes, and send them out to compete in the randomly selected Sport, taking place in the randomly selected Region.

Play competitively or play for laughs as you build a story!

2–6 Players · 15–45 Min · Ages 10+

Components

• 40 Athlete Cards
• 6 Region Cards
• 80 Episode Cards
• 24 Sport Cards
• 1 Main Character token (marked ×2)

Card Anatomy

Athlete

• Sub Name: Original Japanese name.
• Region Icon: Indicates which Region this Athlete is from.
• Version Icon: Marks which version of the game this card is from (e.g., Doodle Edition).
• Dub Name: Localized English name.
• Base Stats: Base stats of the Athlete. May be modified with Episode cards. Used in calculating score with Sport cards.

Episode

• Episode Title: Name of the Episode.
• Action Icon (a star icon behind the title): The star icon indicates that this card attaches to Athletes.
• Action Icon (a trash bin icon behind the title): The trash bin icon indicates that this card is discarded immediately after playing it.
• Action Icon (a lock icon behind the title): The lock icon indicates that this card stays face-up on the table and remains active unless it is removed.
• Stat Modifiers: Shows how this Episode affects the Athlete it is attached to.
• Effect Description: Describes how this card modifies the stats of the Athlete it is attached to. On a discard-type card, describes what happens when this card is played.

Region

• Region Name: Name of the Region.
• Region Icon: Icon that represents this Region.

Sport

• Sport Name: Name of the Sport.
• Effect Description: Describes an effect that applies to all players upon reveal or details an alternative win condition.
• Relevant Stats: Indicates which stats are relevant for calculating score.
• Team Size: Determines how many Athletes each player includes in score calculation.

Rules: How to Play

Each game of Tournament Arc™ is equal to one Season. Each Season consists of 3 phases: Drafting › Training › Competing.

Once you've tried out these rules, feel free to check out the Alternative Rules and Modes (pg. 20–23), which include options for different strategies and longer games!

Setup

1. Separate the cards into four decks: one per card type.
2. Shuffle each deck and place them face-down in the center.

(The rulebook shows an example of what the table might look like at the end of the Training Phase: a discard pile, an active Region, an active Sport, a player's team, and an Episode card attached to an Athlete.)

Phase 1: Drafting

Drafting is how each player gets their starting team of Athletes!

1. Draw the top card from the Region deck and place it face-up on the table. This determines the active Region for everyone.

   Homefield Advantage Bonus: During score calculation at the end, any Athletes matching the active Region will have their score multiplied by 2.

2. Everyone, draw 3 Athlete cards to your hand. This is not your team.

3. Choose 1 Athlete from your hand to keep on your team by placing the card face-down in front of yourself.

4. Pass the remaining Athlete cards in your hand to the next player clockwise.

5. Repeat steps 3–4 until everyone has 3 Athlete cards face-down in front of them. Your hand should now be empty.

6. Once everyone is ready, flip your Athlete cards face-up on the table to reveal your team.

7. Introduce your team to everyone!

Drafting Tip: Get creative when introducing your team! How did they meet? What are their team dynamics like? What's your team name?

Phase 2: Training

Training consists of 4 rounds where players take turns playing Episode cards to buff/debuff Athletes and cause certain events.

1. Everyone, draw 5 Episode cards to your hand.

2. Everyone will now take turns in clockwise order, starting from the player who has most recently played a sport or has won a game of Tournament Arc™.

   On your turn…

   You must play 2 Episode cards from your hand.

   You can play each Episode card on any of the Athletes on the table unless otherwise noted on the Episode card description.

   At the end of your turn, draw back up to or discard back down to having 5 Episode cards in your hand.

3. Once everyone has gone twice, draw the top card from the Sport deck and place it face-up on the table to determine the active Sport for everyone.

   If the revealed Sport has an effect, it takes place immediately.

4. Continue taking turns clockwise until everyone has played 2 more turns (total of 4 turns per player).

   Main Character Bonus: At any given moment, the single Athlete on the table that has more Episode cards attached to them than any other receives the Main Character token. At the end of the game during score calculation, the Athlete with the Main Character token will have their score multiplied by 2. If more than one Athlete is tied for the most attached Episode cards, no Athlete receives the token.

Training Tips:

• Tell a story as you play Episode cards!
• Remember, only Episode cards with the star icon behind their title attach to Athletes (see Card Anatomy).
• Is this everyone's first time playing? Place the following Sport cards face-down at the top of the Sport deck: Relay Race, Baseball, Golf.
• Remember that Episode cards can be played on any Athlete on the table unless otherwise specified on the card.

Phase 3: Competing

The winner is decided through the competition!

1. Everyone, push forward the number of Athletes specified on the active Sport card to represent your competing team.

2. For each competing Athlete, add together their relevant stats as indicated by the active Sport card to get their Athlete score. This includes both base stats and modifications from attached Episode cards. See the example below.

3. Apply relevant bonuses to Athletes on your team.

   Main Character Bonus: Double the score of the single Athlete on the table (not per team) with the most Episode cards attached.

   Homefield Advantage Bonus: Double the score of each Athlete that matches any active Region.

4. Calculate your team score by adding together the Athlete scores of all your competing Athletes.

5. The player with the highest* team score wins!

   *Unless an alternative win condition is described on the Sport card.

Tip: Need help calculating your score? See "Tips - Score Calculation" below.

Competing example: Only 1 Athlete is being sent out to compete because the Sport indicates 1 Athlete per team. Xavier's relevant stats are Teamwork, Body and Underdog. Xavier's Teamwork is 1 + 3 – 2 = 2, Body is 2 + 2 – 1 = 3, and Underdog is 0 + 1 = 1. Teamwork + Body + Underdog = 2 + 3 + 1 = 6. Apply the Region Bonus (×2): 6 × 2 = 12. Xavier's score = 12. Team Score = Xavier's Score = 12. Inactive "benched" Athletes are the Athletes not being sent out to compete.

Tips: Score Calculation

If you find yourself struggling with score calculation, here are some tips to help make things easier!

Tip #1 - Cover Up: Use your fingers or an unused card to visually cover up irrelevant stats when adding modifiers to any base stat.

Tip #2 - Cancel Out: Of the relevant stats, do you see any negative numbers with positive counterparts (e.g., -2 and 2)? If so, those cancel out to 0! In other words, you can treat them as if they don't exist.

(Example from the rulebook: Athlete Score = 2 + 4 + 1 + 1 = 8.)

Tip #3 - Write It Down: Have a scratchpad, napkin, or tablet handy? Jot down your calculations when determining the score for each Athlete. Depending on the number of attached Episode cards, it may be easier to find the sum per relevant column and then add those numbers together to get an Athlete's score.

Tip #4 - Multiply After Adding: If an Athlete has any multipliers (i.e., Homefield Advantage, Main Character bonus, Evil Clone), it is generally easier to multiply the total of all the relevant values rather than multiply each number individually before totaling. These will have the same result due to the Distributive Property of Multiplication.

Tip #5 - Use a Calculator: No shame in using a calculator! In fact, we encourage it if it helps you calculate your team score faster or with more confidence.

Tip #6 - Exclude Certain Sports: Prior to starting a game, consider removing Sports cards that use more stats or Athletes than you are comfortable with.

Alternative Rules and Modes

Competitive Ruleset

This ruleset is designed for those who want a more strategic gameplay experience.

The Setup, Drafting Phase, and Competing Phase are the same as in the standard ruleset. The difference is in the Training Phase.

Training:

1. Move the decks from the middle of the table to somewhere off to the side.

2. Draw 10 Episode cards and place them all face-up in the middle of the table. This becomes the public pool which players may choose from on their turn.

3. Play as you normally would, except all players must select and play 2 Episode cards from the center on their turn. There are no private hands.

4. Draw to replenish the public pool of Episode cards back up to 10 after each turn.

   The Sport is still revealed after everyone has completed 2 turns.

   The Training Phase ends after 4 rounds.

Extended Gameplay

Looking for longer games? Use either of the following game modes to extend gameplay!

Tournament Mode

This mode can be used with either ruleset. The Setup and Drafting phase remain unchanged. However, Training and Competing now occur per round.

1. At the start of each round, draw the top card from the Sports deck to reveal the active Sport for the round.
2. Going clockwise, each player takes their turn playing 2 Episode cards as usual.
3. At the end of each round, players calculate their team's score according to the active Sport.
4. The player with the best team score for the Sport wins the round and claims the Sport card.
5. Keep all active Episode cards on the table and repeat Steps 1–4.
6. First player to claim 3 Sports cards wins the game!

Graduation Mode

This mode consists of multiple Seasons and can be used with either ruleset. The main difference is in how Athletes are drafted.

First player to win 2 Seasons becomes the champion of the Ultimate Sports Tournament and wins the game!

Season 1: Same setup and flow as a single standard game except that at the end of the Season (AKA after competing), all players select 1 Athlete on their team to graduate.

All graduated Athletes and their attached Episode cards are removed from the game.

All remaining Athletes, with their respective Episode cards still attached, are carried forward into the next Season.

Seasons 2+: Shuffle all Region cards played in the previous Season back into the Region card deck. Then draw the Region.

Do not add discarded Sports, Athletes, or Episode cards back into their decks. However, if you run out of any card type, shuffle and repurpose all discarded cards of that type to create the new respective deck (e.g., Episodes).

During the Drafting Phase, each player draws Athlete cards until their team has a total of 3 Athletes. If a player already has 3 or more Athletes after graduation, then they do not draw any Athlete cards for this Season's draft.

House Rules

Tournament Arc™ is ultimately about having fun! Feel free to modify the rules to fit how you want to enjoy the game.

We encourage trying all the rulesets and game modes presented in this rule book to see what you do and don't like first!

Here are some examples of house rules:

• No Math Allowed: Simply go by vibes! Whatever is funniest or most satisfying from a narrative perspective wins.
• Rotate the Starting Player: Shift who will start off each round.
• Mulligan (Hand Refresh): All players may discard and replace their entire hand of Episode cards once per game.
• Featured Character Bonus: Episode cards attached to Athletes that are featured in the Episode card art are extra effective (subjective).

FAQs

Is there a maximum number of Episode cards that can be attached to an individual Athlete?

No.

Are negative numbers also affected by bonuses/multipliers?

Yes.

Do bonuses stack?

Yes! If an Athlete is the Main Character and if the Athlete's Region matches an active Region, then their score is multiplied by 4! Watch out though, this can work against you.

Do the "Moving to..." Episode cards allow you to change the active Region?

No. As indicated by the star symbol behind the title and by the description, the "Moving to..." Episode cards can be attached to Athletes to change the Athlete's Region. This can be used to force an Athlete to gain or lose the Homefield Advantage bonus.

Do I draw after an event that reduces my hand below 5 Episode cards?

No. If you start your turn with less than 5 Episode cards due to some previous event or effect (e.g., card taken from "Birthday Party"), you should still wait until the end of your turn to get your hand back to 5 Episode cards, unless otherwise specified by the card that affected your hand.

What if more than one Athlete has the highest number of Episode cards attached to them?

If multiple Athletes have the highest number of Episode cards attached to them, then no Athletes receive a Main Character bonus. We call this the Ensemble Cast rule.

Does "Someone's Dad" receive the home field bonus at Central Stadium?

Yes! He lives there.

Can I play "Non-Canon OVA" on "Someone's Dad"?

No. As noted in his description, he functions as an Athlete card.

What happens to the Athlete card I play "Magical Girl Transformation" on top of?

It remains attached directly underneath the newly drawn Athlete as if it were an Episode card. This means the base stats of your original Athlete will now add or subtract from the new Athlete on top of it.

Can I play "Non-Canon OVA" on an Athlete who is attached to another Athlete (e.g., via "Growth Spurt" or "Magical Girl Transformation")?

Yes. The lower Athlete card now functions as an Episode card and can be discarded by "Non-Canon OVA".

Can there be more than one Episode card with a lock icon active on the field at the same time?

Yes.

What happens if we run out of Episode cards while playing?

This happens sometimes when playing with larger groups. If you run out, shuffle the discard pile to create your new Episode card deck.

What happens if I don't have enough Athletes on my team to meet the number of Athletes indicated on the Sport card?

You will then compete with your entire team. For example, if a Sport requires 3 Athletes and you only have 2, you will calculate your score using both Athletes. In the rare occasion that you have 0 Athletes, your score will simply be 0.

In some cases, this can work to your advantage.

Can I use a calculator to help calculate my score?

Yes! Do whatever is easiest for you to calculate your score. See Tips — Score Calculation for some tips.

What if there is a tie?

If multiple players have the same best score for the active Sport, then the Sport shall be immediately replaced with the next card from the top of the Sport deck.

All players shall re-select which Athletes to send out as their team and calculate the total score according to the new Sport card. Repeat as needed until there is no longer a tie.

Quick Start Guide

From the back cover of the rulebook.

You are a coach, drafting and training a team of student athletes to win the ultimate sports competition! But what sport, exactly? You'll find out along the way!

Draft: Draw 1 card from the Region deck to determine the region. Draw 3 cards from the Athlete deck, select 1 and put it face-down in front of you. Pass the other cards clockwise, & repeat until everyone has a team of 3 Athletes!

Train: The training phase consists of 4 rounds. Everyone starts with 5 Episode cards in their hand. You play 2 Episode cards from your hand per round. Draw back up or discard down to 5 Episode cards at the end of your turn. The guide's round sequence reads: Round One, Round Two, Sport Reveal, Round Three, Round Four. You may play Episode cards on any visible Athlete, unless otherwise specified.

Compete: Calculate your team's final score based on the active Sport card and apply any bonuses. Highest* score (usually) wins!

*Some Sport cards describe different win conditions.