Arcanum
Arcanum puts the power of the Tarot in your hands. You must earn prestige by secretly aligning yourself with the four noble Houses that rule the city, then manipulating their... (read more)
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Noble Knight GamesPlaytime
45 minutes
Published
2011
Age
10+
Publisher
Elfinwerks
Players
3 to 5 players
Designers
Andrea Chiarvesio and Pierluca Zizzi
Playstyle
Involved
Game's Categories
Strategy Game and Elfinwerks
Description
Arcanum puts the power of the Tarot in your hands. You must earn prestige by secretly aligning yourself with the four noble Houses that rule the city, then manipulating their destinies to make your favorites rise in power!
The central component of the game is a full deck of Tarot cards, divided into two smaller decks: the Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana.
The Minor Arcana cards serve two functions. First, you use them to bid for the favors of the four Houses, secretly placing one of these cards face down in front of you each turn. When a scoring round occurs (and three points during the game), these bid cards determine which players earn points for each of the Houses. Secondly, you use them to control the movement of the playing pieces on the board. Unlike other games, the pieces are not controlled by any single player. All players may use whichever playing pieces is best for their strategy, by playing a matching Minor Arcana card. Moving the pieces will alter the relative positions of the four Houses on the prestige track, and allow the player to take a special action to advance his plans.
The Major Arcana cards are more mysterious. Each Major Arcana card offers a unique power, useable only once, that can have a powerful effect on the city. These cards may alter the ranking of the Houses, grant the player extra actions or victory points, or even block all the other players from an entire section of the board!
Arcanum is a game of skill, bluff, luck, and intuition that plays in about 90 minutes.
Arcanum includes:
• 1 Game board
• 1 Complete Tarot deck, including:
•56 Minor Arcana cards
•22 Major Arcana cards
• 16 Wooden playing pieces
• 5 Wooden scoring pawns
• 12 Player's aid sheets detailing the Major Arcana in 5 languages
• 1 First player marker
• 9 Prestige tokens
• Rules in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish
The central component of the game is a full deck of Tarot cards, divided into two smaller decks: the Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana.
The Minor Arcana cards serve two functions. First, you use them to bid for the favors of the four Houses, secretly placing one of these cards face down in front of you each turn. When a scoring round occurs (and three points during the game), these bid cards determine which players earn points for each of the Houses. Secondly, you use them to control the movement of the playing pieces on the board. Unlike other games, the pieces are not controlled by any single player. All players may use whichever playing pieces is best for their strategy, by playing a matching Minor Arcana card. Moving the pieces will alter the relative positions of the four Houses on the prestige track, and allow the player to take a special action to advance his plans.
The Major Arcana cards are more mysterious. Each Major Arcana card offers a unique power, useable only once, that can have a powerful effect on the city. These cards may alter the ranking of the Houses, grant the player extra actions or victory points, or even block all the other players from an entire section of the board!
Arcanum is a game of skill, bluff, luck, and intuition that plays in about 90 minutes.
Arcanum includes:
• 1 Game board
• 1 Complete Tarot deck, including:
•56 Minor Arcana cards
•22 Major Arcana cards
• 16 Wooden playing pieces
• 5 Wooden scoring pawns
• 12 Player's aid sheets detailing the Major Arcana in 5 languages
• 1 First player marker
• 9 Prestige tokens
• Rules in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish
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