Trickerion: Dahlgaard's Gifts
Mindclash Games, APE Games, Corax Games · Board game · 2015Game Objective
In Trickerion: Dahlgaard's Gifts, you take on the roles of illusionists competing to become the most renowned in the world. The objective is to accumulate the most Fame by performing spectacular tricks and honing your skills. The victory condition is to have the highest amount of Fame at the end of the game.
Setup
Setting up to play with the Magician Powers and Duel of Magicians variants involves a few additional steps:
General Setup:
- Shuffle each of the three Power cards decks (yellow, orange, and red) and place them face down next to the Main Game Board.
- Create a deck of seven face-up Turn Setup cards and place it next to the Main Game Board. If playing without the Dark Alley, create this deck with only five cards.
- Use the Performance cards with gray Trick markers printed on them to create the Performance cards deck.
Player Setup:
- In addition to the basic starting setup, each player receives 4 Magician Powers of each color (12 in total).
- Evaluate these cards and discard any 4, keeping 8 to use during the game.
- Each player receives 3 Trickerion Shards instead of 1.
Game Flow
The game progresses in turns, and the specific structure may vary depending on the active variants. However, some elements are common:
Assignment Phase:
At the beginning of the Assignment Phase, each player may learn up to one Power card.
Turn:
- After rolling the Downtown dice, place the top card from the Turn Setup deck next to the deck.
- Based on the layout printed on the card, cover 2 spaces in the Downtown, Market Row, and Dark Alley, and 2 days of the week in the Theater using the face-down wooden discs of the remaining players' colors.
- This way, there will be different character spaces and days of the week available each turn, and since players can always see the next card, they can plan one turn ahead.
Actions and How to Play
The available actions and how to use them are crucial for success. With the variants, new options emerge:
Learning Powers:
- Power cards are learned by placing them face up next to the power spaces on the left edge of the Player Game Board.
- A power can only be placed next to a power space if:
- It is printed on the Power card as a valid slot (valid slots are highlighted with an arrow on the right edge of each Power card).
- The slot is open with Trickerion Shards.
- The player meets the power's Fame Threshold (or pays the difference between the Fame Threshold and their current Fame with Coins).
- If a slot already has a power, the player must return it to their hand before placing a new power there.
Trickerion Shards:
- Trickerion Shards are stored in the power spaces of the Player Game Board, placing each received Shard on the Shard symbols there.
- Shards must be added from bottom to top (starting with the 1 Shard symbol) and spent from top to bottom.
- A power space with a Shard on all its symbols is considered open, and powers can be placed there.
- When a Shard is spent from a power space, the power placed there is immediately returned to the player's hand.
- If the player has a Shard on all symbols and has excess, those are spent first.
Trick Links (Duel of Magicians):
Players can now create Links with the default gray "neutral" Trick markers printed on the Performance cards.
End of Game and Scoring
The final scoring for the Magician Powers variant is almost the same as the base game with the Dark Alley, with one important exception:
- Trickerion Shards do not grant Fame points at the end of the game.
Consult the manual for details on final scoring and victory/defeat criteria.
Tips for Winning
- Plan ahead using the Turn Setup cards to anticipate available options and optimize your actions.
- Manage your Trickerion Shards wisely to open up spaces for new powers, while also being aware that they will not grant Fame at the end of the game.
- Explore the synergy between the different Magician Powers you choose to create unique and powerful strategies.
