Valente: O amor em jogo
Valente: O amor em jogo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 Heart Track (1)
- 1 Heart Marker (2)
- 4 Individual Trust Boards (3)
- 4 Trust Markers (4)
- 80 Game Cards (5)
- 1 Secret Card (6)
Setup
Place the Heart Track (1) in the centre of the table, visible to everyone. Place the Heart Marker (2) on the central space of the track.
Give one Trust Board (3) to each player and place a Trust Marker (4) on the 0% space of each board. Any remaining boards and markers can be put back in the box, as they will not be used in this game.
Then shuffle the 80 Game Cards (5) and deal 5 to each player. The remaining cards are placed to the left of the Heart Track (1), in the centre of the table, face down, forming the central draw deck. The top card of the central draw deck must be placed face up to the right of the Heart Track (1), forming the discard pile. It is important not to change the order of the discard pile during the game.
The player who most recently fell in love starts the game.
Objective
In Valente - O amor em jogo, the players' objective is to guide Valente towards an important decision in his life. He must decide to whom he will give his heart: his platonic love, Dama, or his recent passion, Princesa. To do this, he cannot be torn in two, and he must also be confident that he is making the right decision.
The player who manages to make Valente take this important decision wins the game.
How to Play
In Valente - O amor em jogo, the players use cards to tell stories about Valente's romantic misadventures, guiding, through those same stories, the heart and the trust of this young, lovestruck little dog.
Card Anatomy
A game card corresponds to one or more panels within a strip. Each card has three main pieces of information.
- The story of that sequence of panels. Valente is a narrative-building game. Always read the story being formed in the centre of the table and enjoy one more adventure of this friendly little dog.
- The type of that card. There are 3 types of card in the game:
- Start-of-strip cards, represented by the symbol 1.
- Middle-of-strip cards, represented by the symbol 2.
- End-of-strip cards, represented by the symbol 3.
- The effects of the card. Whenever a strip is published, all the effects of the cards that make it up are activated. See "Publishing a Strip".
Anatomy of a Strip
Every strip in the game must have a beginning, a middle and an end. For this reason, each strip is made up of 3 cards: one start card, one middle card and one end card, as shown in the rulebook's diagram of three example panels (start, middle and end).
Player Turn
The game is played clockwise, one player at a time. The possible actions are:
- Buy a card from the central draw deck or from the top of the discard pile, or;
- Play a card, or;
- Discard up to 3 cards and draw the same number of cards from the central draw deck.
On their turn, a player may freely choose two actions to take, and may even repeat the same action twice. When a player finishes their second action, their turn ends and it is the turn of the player immediately to their left.
Example of a turn: It is player "A"'s turn. "A" must take two actions. For the first action, "A" chooses "I. Buy a card from the central draw deck and/or from the top of the discard pile". They take the first card from the draw deck. For the second action, "A" chooses to do the same thing and buys another new card from the central draw deck. A's turn ends and it is the turn of "B", who is immediately to the left of "A".
Buying a Card
This action is simple. The player may buy ONE card from the top of the central draw deck OR buy the card on top of the discard pile.
There is a limit of 7 cards in a player's hand. If a player ends their turn with more than 7 cards in hand, they must discard cards of their choice until they have only 7 cards.
Playing a Card
A player may also play a card from their hand onto the table. To do so, they must follow certain rules.
A card can only be played into a strip at the correct moment. That is, a start-of-strip card can only be played to begin a strip.
In the same way, a middle-of-strip card can only be played into a strip already started, right after a start card, as the second card of that strip.
And end-of-strip cards can only be played into strips that already have a beginning and a middle, so the third and last card of a strip that has not yet been published.
When an end card is played and a strip is complete, it is then published, going into the central story. See "Publishing a Strip".
Note: It is important to point out that players may only have 3 started strips in front of them. If a player has already started three strips without publishing any of them, the player may, if they wish, start a new strip, but to do so they must discard one of the 3 strips already started. ATTENTION: the discarded strip must be discarded in full.
Discarding Cards and Drawing the Same Number
If your cards are not exactly as you would like, you may discard 2 or 3 cards from your hand to draw the same number of cards from the central draw deck.
Example: As her first action of the turn, player "B" decides to discard 2 cards from her hand and thereby draw two cards from the central draw deck, using only one action of her turn. She then plays a start-of-strip card and thus ends her turn.
Publishing a Strip
Whenever an end-of-strip card is played, completing one of that player's strips, that strip is immediately published. That is, it becomes part of Valente's story, in the centre of the table.
As soon as it is placed in the centre of the table, just below the last published strip, the effects present on the cards of that strip are triggered, one by one, in order, from the start of the strip to its end.
Example: Player "A" has just published one of their strips.
The effects are then resolved in order. First, Valente's heart advances two spaces along the Heart Track towards Dama. The player moves the Heart Marker. Next, "A" advances one space on their Trust Track with their Trust Marker. Then Valente's heart advances one more space towards Dama, and player "A"'s trust advances once more.
Effects
The game does not only have effects that influence Valente's heart and his trust. Other effects are also present, and they can help you in the search for a happy ending for the little dog.
- Move Valente's heart one space towards Dama (right).
- Move Valente's heart one space towards Princesa (left).
Note: If Valente's heart is already at the most extreme point of the Heart Track and the effects of the published strips say to advance even further in that direction, the player who published that strip gains 1 advance on their Trust Track. It is important to note that only 1 advance on the Trust Track is made, regardless of the number of advances on the Heart Track.
- The player who published this strip advances their Trust Marker one space.
- The player who published this strip draws 3 cards from the central draw deck, chooses 1 to keep in their hand and discards the other two in any order they wish.
- Discard the last card of a strip not yet published belonging to a player of your choice (this may be yourself, too).
- The player who published this strip draws 1 card of their choice from the discard pile. It is important to do this without changing the order of the cards in the discard pile.
Valente Gives His Heart
This is the most important effect in the game. It is with this effect that a player can win or lose a game. This is Valente's choice to give his heart.
However, this choice may succeed, or fail. If it succeeds, the player who published the strip wins the game. Otherwise, they move back one space on their Trust Track and the game continues normally.
In order for Valente to make a definitive decision, one that cannot be taken back and that ends the story, a player must meet two conditions:
- Valente's heart must be at the most advanced point of the Heart Track (the rulebook shows the heart on the far end of the track).
- The player's Valente trust must be at the maximum.
There are 3 icons that represent Valente making his decision.
- The first icon represents a decision without determining which of his suitors Valente will give his heart to. In this case, for the decision to be definitive, Valente's heart must be at either extreme of the Heart Track, in the direction of Dama (right extreme) or of Princesa (left extreme).
- The second and third icons are deterministic. One is a decision to give his heart to Dama and is represented by the icon below, with a small D. The other has a small P and represents the decision for Princesa.
- In both of these cases, Valente's heart must be at the extreme of that suitor for the decision to be definitive. That is, Dama is at the right extreme of the track and Princesa is at the left extreme.
If a published strip ends with a decision by Valente and meets the requirements to be definitive, the player who published that strip wins the game.
If a published strip contains a decision by Valente but fails to meet its requirements, the player who played that strip loses one space on their Trust Track and the game continues normally.
Time
Time is a very important element in Valente's romantic misadventures.
In the game, you may play using time or not, as you choose.
If you decide to play with Time, it may happen that none of the players wins the game. This happens after a certain number of rounds.
Example: at the end of the 20th round, in a two-player game, the game ends and nobody is the winner.
In this case, open the Secret Card (6) and read it aloud for everyone at the table.
The time limit depends on the number of players:
- 2 players: limit of 20 rounds
- 3 players: limit of 15 rounds
- 4 players: limit of 12 rounds
Notes on This Translation
- The backers' acknowledgements section (the list of crowdfunding supporters and the thank-you text preceding it) has been omitted as credits. The designer, artist and publisher credits page has likewise been omitted.
- The text of the Secret Card is printed on the physical card and is not reproduced in this document.
- The rulebook gives both "up to 3 cards" (Player Turn) and "2 or 3 cards" (Discarding Cards) for the discard action; both are transcribed as printed.
- The trust track is printed with the spaces 0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 80%, followed by a final maximum space shown with Valente's picture rather than a percentage.