Game Objective

In Twisted Cryptids, you take on the role of a legendary creature trying to navigate your complex relationship with humans. Your goal is to deceive hunters, researchers, and hikers to build your myth and achieve the status of a true legend. To do this, you must set up elaborate hoaxes, plant lures, and hide in the shadows. Victory is decided by whoever accumulates the most Myth by the end of the game.

Setup

1. Board and Scoring: Unfold the board in the center of the table. It contains the Myth Track and The Wilderness, consisting of 6 Sites. Place the Myth tokens next to the track.
2. Humans: Place the Human tokens in the 3 Rest Areas corresponding to each type of human. Then, position the Hikers, Hunters, and Researchers tokens on each Site that possesses their respective symbols.
3. Decks: Shuffle the Action cards deck and the Event cards deck, placing them face down with space for their respective discard piles and the Current Event pile.
4. Player Components: Each player chooses a Cryptid and receives:
   • 1 Cryptid card (placed face up in front of them).
   • 1 Cryptid meeple (positioned at value 5 on the Myth Track).
   • 9 Sighting cards.
   • 3 Hiding Spot tokens.
5. Hidden Trait: Shuffle the Hidden Trait cards and distribute two to each player; each chooses one to keep secret (face down) above their Cryptid card and returns the other to the box.
6. Building the Stacks: Secretly organize your 9 Sighting cards into 3 Stacks of 3 cards each, face down. The top card will be the first to be revealed. Place the stacks to the right of your Cryptid card. The left stack corresponds to Hiding Spot token number 1, the middle to number 2, and the right to number 3.
7. First Player: The player who most recently visited a park receives the First Player token.
8. Hiding Spot Placement: Following the turn order (starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise), each player places one Hiding Spot token on a Site. After everyone has placed their first, the First Player token passes to the player to the left and the process repeats for the second and third tokens.
   • Restrictions: You cannot place two of your own tokens on the same Site. With 4 players, a maximum of 3 players can share the same Site. With 5 or 6 players, the limit is 4 players per Site.
9. Starting Hand: Each player draws 5 cards from the Action cards deck.

Game Flow

The game is played over 5 rounds. Each round is divided into the following phases:

1. Dawn Phase

The First Player reveals the top card of the Event cards deck, places it in the Current Event pile, and resolves its effects from top to bottom. If an effect cannot be fully carried out (e.g., there are not enough humans to move), it must be resolved partially as much as possible.

2. Day Phase

Players use their charm to move humans. In turn order, each player takes 3 turns. On each turn, you must choose one of the following actions:

• Play an Action card from your hand.
• Discard an Action card to use your Cryptid Power (limit of once per round).
• Pass the turn to the next player.

3. Dusk Phase

An Encounter occurs. The encounter Site is the one with the highest number of humans that also has at least one Hiding Spot. In the event of a tie, the First Player chooses the location.

1. Players with a Hiding Spot at the location reveal the top card of their corresponding Stack.
2. Gain or lose Myth based on the distribution of humans at the location, as indicated on the Sighting card.
3. Resolve the card's effect and place it face up next to the player.
4. The player removes their Hiding Spot from the Site and places it on top of the Stack from which the card was drawn. If the stack is empty, that token is removed from the game.

4. Night Phase

In turn order, players prepare for the next round:

• If you do not have a Hiding Spot on one of your Stacks, you may move one of your hiding spots on the board to a new Site.
• If you have a Hiding Spot on a Stack (coming from Dusk), you must place it on a Site different from where the Encounter occurred.
• You may discard any number of cards and draw from the Action cards deck until you have 5 cards in hand (this step is ignored in the 5th round).

Actions and How to Play

Action Cards

The Action cards alter the distribution of humans through specific functions. Some have an "OR" option (choose one effect) or "AND" (resolve both in preferred order). The functions are:

• Lure: Move a human from an adjacent Site to your Hiding Spot.
• Scare: Move a human from your Hiding Spot to an adjacent Site.
• Attract: Bring a human from the corresponding Rest Area to your Hiding Spot.
• Extract: Move a human from your Hiding Spot (or adjacent) back to the Rest Area.
• Strong Lure: Move a human from a Site up to two positions away to your Hiding Spot.
• Big Scare: Move a human from your Hiding Spot to a Site up to two positions away.

Sighting Types (Sighting Cards)

• Decoys: Deceive Hunters to generate Myth.
• Hoaxes: Deceive Hikers to increase your Myth.
• Silhouettes: Attract Researchers to generate Myth.
• Real Deals: High risk and high reward. They can provide a lot of Myth if the right humans are present, but can cause a loss of Myth if the wrong humans are present.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after the completion of 5 rounds. For final scoring:

1. Reveal all remaining Sighting cards in the Stacks and your Hidden Trait.
2. Unrevealed Real Deals: Gain 7 Myth for each Real Deal card that remained hidden during the game.
3. Hidden Trait: Gain Myth bonuses based on the completion level of your hidden trait's objective.
4. Total: Add these points to your current value on the Myth Track (including the 10 and 30 Myth tokens).

Victory: The player with the highest total Myth is declared the True Legend. In case of a tie, the winner is the one with the most humans at the Sites where they have Hiding Spots.

Tips for Winning

• Risk Management: Real Deal cards are powerful but dangerous. You must decide during setup whether to place them on top of the Stack to try your luck or bury them at the bottom to guarantee the 7 Myth bonus for not revealing them.
• Strategic Positioning: Use the Night phase to reposition your Hiding Spots away from where the last encounter occurred, seeking locations that favor the activation of your Sighting cards.
• Flow Control: Use the Lure and Scare functions to manipulate the number of humans at the Sites, ensuring that the Encounter occurs where you have the best card configuration.