Witty Witches Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Game Material
• Practice Game: The Apprentice Wizard
  • 1: A regular turn
  • 2: A turn with doppelgangers
  • 3: A turn where you cannot discard a matching card
• The Master Wizard
  • Let's look at the magic spells
  • When can you cast spells and how long are they valid?
  • Doppelgangers have extra magical powers
  • Important Notes

Goal of the Game

We are at a magical wizardry party. The guests gather at the entrance, but the conditions for entry are quite unique. Guide your guests inside as quickly as possible. The first player to discard all their hand cards wins.

Game Material

The character cards (with a black back) represent the guests. Each character card has 3 features:

• Character: witch, wizard, dragon
• Object: broom, cauldron, spellbook
• Color: yellow, blue, red

Some character cards are identical and thus share the 3 features in common. These are called "doppelgangers." You can do extra things with them.

For example: The 2 blue witches with a broom are doppelgangers.

Cards with a red back are magic spells. More on this later.

Practice Game: The Apprentice Wizard

For this, only use the character cards. Set aside the magic spells. The character cards with a border and stars do not have any special meaning here and just participate. Each player gets 6 character cards in hand. The rest forms a blind draw pile. The top card is turned over and immediately starts the discard pile. This is the guest who first entered the party. Take turns playing. Each turn, you have 3 options:

1: A regular turn

If you have cards in hand that share exactly 2 of the 3 features with the top card of the discard pile, you may discard one of those cards. (Practice this with the cards).

2: A turn with doppelgangers

• You might just have the doppelganger of that top card in hand.
• Or, after discarding your regular character card, you might still have the doppelganger of that card in hand.

In both cases, you may play that doppelganger immediately and then take an extra turn. Note, taking an extra turn is never mandatory. (It's useful to also practice these 2 gameplay situations with the cards!).

3: A turn where you cannot discard a matching card

Draw a card from the draw pile. If this allows you to discard, you may do so immediately.

Warning: Speaking with exactly 1 card in hand results in 2 penalty cards. If the draw pile is empty, form a new one.

The Master Wizard

(For those who understand the practice game)

This game follows the same basic rules, but now you can also cast spells, making the game truly magical. The magic spells have a separate draw pile. Later in the game, they also form a separate discard pile.

Let's look at the magic spells

• Spells with a red border are a curse and prevent a player from playing a certain character or object temporarily. Normally, you place a curse on another player.
• Spells with a green border are a blessing. From your next turn, you may always play a card with the depicted character or object, even if it does not match the last card. Therefore, a blessing is better placed on yourself.
• Abracadabra is a special blessing. From your next turn, you may play all your cards at once, provided they all correctly connect according to the 2 out of 3 rule. If this is not fully possible, then you play a regular turn.
• Tornado (To be executed immediately and placed on the separate discard pile). All active magic spells are passed in one direction to one player. The player who casts decides clockwise or counterclockwise.

When can you cast spells and how long are they valid?

You can cast spells each time you play a character card with stars. Take the top magic spell, look at it, and place it open in front of a player of your choice. The spell is only valid for this player from their next turn. Even after it has influenced the game of that player, it remains valid. However, only one spell can be active per player at a time. If someone receives a new one, the old spell goes to the discard pile for magic spells.

Doppelgangers have extra magical powers

A turn with doppelgangers can be played against the prohibition of a curse. Moreover, after playing a doppelganger, you get to choose. You can either take an extra turn as in the apprentice wizard, or you may "witch." Witching means that you take a magic spell that is active on one player and place it on someone else. For example, you could move another's blessing to yourself or your own curse to someone else.

Important Notes

• If the first character of the discard pile happens to be a magic card with stars, the dealer may still cast a spell before the first player takes their turn.
• When casting spells and witching, you may also choose to place the magic spell on the spell discard pile.
• If the spell draw pile is empty, form a new one. However, note that curses are not reintroduced into the game.

Enjoy the magical feast!