Zura
Zura Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 60 travel cards (back: travel-ready kids). Fronts show landscapes.
- 35 Tzerzurian cards (back: magic seal).
- 4 reference cards.
Set-up
Set aside the four reference cards and split the other cards into their two corresponding decks: the travel deck with the travel-ready kids on the back side and the Tzerzurian deck with the magic seal on the back side. Shuffle each deck separately and thoroughly. Then, deal out 5 travel cards to each player and place the remaining travel cards face down in the middle of the play area to create a draw deck, reveal the top card and place it next to the draw deck so that every player can clearly see what card it is, this is the discard pile.
Next, without revealing any of the Tzerzurian cards, place 8 of them face down in two rows of 4 as shown in the illustration, this is the search area. The remaining Tzerzurian cards form a face down draw pile that you should place in easy reach for all players. You are now ready to start the game. The player who was most recently on a hike plays first, play then continues in clockwise order until the game is finished.
(Illustration: the travel card draw deck and discard pile in the middle of the table; the search area of two columns/rows of 4 face-down Tzerzurian cards around them; the Tzerzurian card draw deck; and each player's Tzerzurian stack in front of that player.)
Turn
When it is your turn, there are only two things you need to do, and both are compulsory:
First: You draw your hand back up to 6 travel cards. You may choose to draw your first card from the travel discard pile, and then, whether you did or not take the top card from the discard pile, you draw from the travel draw deck back up to 6 cards. If the draw deck is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw deck.
Second: You must discard one or more travel cards from your hand. If you discard more than one card, they all must match in landscape type unless any of the Tzerzurian cards says otherwise. Depending on how many cards you discard though, you will trigger different effects:
- Discard 1 or 2 cards: nothing happens, you would usually do this to increase chances of finding a card that you need
- Discard 3 cards: you must flip one Tzerzurian card of your choice in the search area for all players to see.
- Discard 4 cards: you must flip two Tzerzurian cards of your choice in the search area for all players to see.
- Discard 5 cards: First you peek at one face down Tzerzurian card in the search area without showing other players. You put that card back in its place and then you must flip two Tzerzurian cards of your choice in the search area.
- Discard 6 cards: First you peek at one face down Tzerzurian card in the search area without showing other players. You put that card back in its place and then you must flip two Tzerzurian cards of your choice in the search area, on top of that, you may steal one Tzerzurian card that is in front of any of your opponents' Tzerzurian stack.
Important: Whenever you flip and find a Tzerzurian card that matches the landscape type of your travel cards (special cards always match: see flip side for more details), you place it in front of you. If you already have one or more cards in front of you, then you place the new card on top covering all other cards. This way you make a stack and only the top card is ever visible. Should you claim more than one Tzerzurian card, then you choose which one you want to go on top, this is also true if the Tzerzurians were gained in a combination of revealing and stealing.
Card Anatomy
Each Tzerzurian card shows its adventure points (top-left corner) and its character power (in the box at the bottom of the card). The colour of a Tzerzurian card must match the colour of the travel cards (landscape) you discarded.
The Hermit
You always collect the Hermit regardless of the travel cards you play and on top of any Tzerzurians that you might have found. For example, if you discard 4 mountain cards, you reveal 2 Tzerzurian cards. If one of them is the Hermit and the other is a mountain Tzerzurian, you collect them both. The Hermit, whilst not a Tzerzurian, has been accidentally caught in this mystical mess. Even though he is not exactly who you were looking for, you are glad that you did free him from the magical seal, as he is a very helpful and friendly character.
The Zuran Imp
You always collect the Zuran Imp regardless of the travel cards you play and on top of any Tzerzurians that you might have found. For example, if you discard 4 mountain cards, you reveal 2 Tzerzurian cards. If one of them is the Zuran Imp and the other is a mountain Tzerzurian, you collect them both.
Note: Whilst not dangerous, the Zuran Imps are extremely annoying and always come in pairs. Because of this, they are the only characters in the game that are worth minus points and on top of that can only be collected in pairs. So when you find the first one, it remains in the search area face up. The player to find a second Zuran Imp will have to collect both with whatever other Tzerzurians they may have found that turn.
End of Turn
At the end of your turn, flip back unclaimed Tzerzurian cards and fill back the search area to 8 face down cards from the Tzerzurian deck.
Tzerzurian Abilities
Each Tzerzurian has a special ability (see below for summary of abilities) that you get to use for as long as that Tzerzurian is on the top of your stack. If you claim a new Tzerzurian, then the new one will replace the previous one with its new ability (or possibly the same). It's important to note that each player will only ever have one ability available to them at any time. Note that the Tzerzurian abilities are triggered on top of the regular effect for playing travel cards.
(Each ability is shown on the sheet as a pictogram with the caption below.)
- When you discard 4+ cards: peek at one Tzerzurian card.
- When you discard 5+ cards: steal the top Tzerzurian card from one of your opponents' Tzerzurian stack.
- When you discard 1 or 2 cards: you may discard another card of a different type.
- Choose one of your claimed Tzerzurian cards and place it on top of your stack.
- At the start of your turn, you draw back up to 7 cards.
- During the draw phase: you may draw up to 2 cards from the discard pile instead of only one.
- At the start of your turn, you may look at the top card of the draw deck: choose to put it in the bottom of the deck or place it back on top.
- Choose an opponent, both of you choose one travel card from your hand and exchange them.
Variable adventure points
X = number of players + 1 point per card of the same colour as this card.
Example: In a 3 player game, this card will be worth 3 points plus one additional point for every green card.
Game End
The game ends when there are no more cards in the Tzerzurian draw deck. The player who exhausted the Tzerzurian deck will not play again. All other players get one final turn and after that each player adds up the adventure points of all the Tzerzurians they found and subtract points for all the Zuran Imps they collected. The player who collected the most points is the one who will have the most amazing stories to tell to the elders when back in the village, whilst waiting for the adults to return, and is thus the winner of the game.