Prime Ordeal
Engage in a multiplayer, free-for-all style brawl to determine which creatures take over the world! Outlast opponents in this fast-paced game of survival. Collect creatures, enhance your power, and get ready for battle. Stay on top of the food chain or become ancient history.
Players: 2+ | Ages: 11+ | Time: 15-60 Minutes
Core Set: Genesis
Expansion: Flora, Fauna, & Fungi
Expansion: Extinction
Instructions
0. Shuffle cards and separate into two decks- Creation and Prime cards- with a discard pile for each deck. During gameplay, when a deck has no cards to draw from, shuffle the discard pile and use that as a new deck.
1. Choose who creates first by voting as a group or rolling a die. Set each player’s Life total to 7 for a short game, 11 for a regular game, or 13 for a long game.
2. Deal each player 3 Prime cards and then deal Creation cards into the spawning pool (any designated playing area) until 5 Creatures have been dealt.
3. Take turns creating armies. Starting with the First Creator, each player takes a turn creating Creature, Bonus, or Epoch cards from the spawning pool. Additionally, each player is allowed 1 Free Discard per turn.
Create – To create, players must pay a card’s creation cost by discarding matching Prime cards. This cost can be found in a Creation card’s upper left-hand corner. Once created, a card is placed in front of its owner under their control. Any Prime cards discarded when paying a creation cost are replaced by drawing that many from the Prime deck. Each player starts the game with a limit of creating 1 Creature and/or 1 Bonus card per turn.
Free Discard – Players are allowed to discard up to 2 Prime cards, then draw that many. Once per turn.
4. Battle – A free-for-all battle ensues!
A. Each player adds the power levels of their Creatures together to determine a power total.
A Creature’s base power level can be found in the upper-middle portion of the card (see diagram on reverse). A Creature’s final power level may change based on its abilities or the abilities of another card.
If a player has multiple Creatures with abilities triggering at the same time (e.g. “At the start of battle”), those abilities happen in succession (one after the other) with the owner choosing the order.
B. Players with the highest or tied for highest power total win the battle. Each other player loses the battle and loses a Life. Players that avoid a battle do not lose Life.
5. Check for survivors – After battle, any players that have 0 Life are eliminated. The last remaining player with any amount of Life is declared the game’s winner. If no winner is declared after battle, then move onto the next round by dealing Creation cards into the spawning pool until a Creature is dealt and returning to step 3 (taking turns).
A. If a player is eliminated, they discard their hand and place their Creation cards back into the spawning pool.
B. Upon being eliminated, a player may still use abilities that trigger after battle
Creation Card Rules
- Each player starts with a limit of having 3 Creatures and 3 Bonus cards. If a player wishes to add a card beyond their limit, a card of that type must be discarded to make space.
- Each time a Creature is created from the spawning pool, deal Creation cards until another Creature is dealt.
- If a Creature is discarded or placed into the spawning pool while cards are under it, any cards under that Creature are discarded unless an ability says otherwise.
- If a Creature has reached its limit for cards under it, cards may not be placed under it until space is made.
FAQ
- How many Prime Cards to we deal to start?
3 Prime cards are dealt to each player to start the game. Whenever a Prime card is discarded, another is drawn so that a player’s hand is always ‘full’. - Are cards in the spawning pool considered “in play”?
No. A card is considered to be “in play” if it is under the control of a player. - Does a player that has lost a battle have to calculate how much Life they lose?
No. Players only lose 1 Life per lost battle unless a card says otherwise. - Does a player win a battle if all opponents avoid battle?
Yes. If there are no opponents in battle, the player in battle wins the battle. - What happens if a card with cards under it is discarded?
The cards under the discarded card are also discarded unless the card says otherwise. - What happens if a card with counters on it is discarded?
The counters are removed unless the card says otherwise. - Can a player gain Life beyond their starting Life total?
No. A player may not go above their starting Life total for any reason. - What is a “Prime Pool”?
Thaaaaat just means “Spawning Pool.” It’s a typo! A teeny-tiny typo that made it past our vigilant proofreaders. This was found on the “populate” bonus card. - Can we play team-based games?
Yes. In team-based games, teammates share a single Life total. When battling in a team-based game, teammates combine power levels of all their creatures into a single power level.