On Your Turn: 2 Mandatory Actions (Draw or Summon)

1) Draw:

Draw 1 card from the eight face-up cards (replacing cards immediately) or from the top of the deck. (Discard down to 7 cards at the end of your turn.)

2) Summon:

• The cost to summon animals is equal to the card rank, reduced by each adjacent Shared Element and the difference in rank when Ascending the same animal.
• The cost is paid by discarding cards or tokens matching the Element OR Animal icon of the card played.
• When placing cards, you must place them into an empty space or on top of a lower-rank version of the same animal.
• After summoning the animal, gain the matching Animal Token (take from another player if needed).

Element Tokens:

You acquire Element Tokens by playing Animals on top of lower-rank matching Animals (Ascending) OR by covering an existing token on the game board space. If an Element Token is not available, take one from another player.

Scoring Years (Points) ~ Two ways to score during the game:

1. When gaining an Animal Token, you gain 1 year per Animal Token you control.
2. When Ascending an animal you already control, you gain 1 year per Element Token you control.

End of Game ~ Most Years Wins

When the deck is empty or a player reaches 60 years, it triggers the last round. Each remaining Element Token you control counts as 1 year, and each card in your hand matching an Animal Token you control counts as 1 year.

Ties are broken by the player controlling the current years animal, which for 2026 is the Horse.

Co-op and Solo:

Goal is the fully Ascend all animals to rank 5 before the cards run out.

• You only score at the end of the game for each animal that has reached rank 5, scoring 1 year for each card of that animal on the board.
• You may now move an animal 1 space when playing a new animal in order to optimize the adjacent element discount
• When a rank 5 animal is played, the matching Animal Token is placed onto the card to show it has been completed. That animal may no longer be moved and becomes a barrier.
• BONUS: When successfully Ascending all 12 animals to rank 5, you also count all remaining face up cards and cards remaining in the deck.

Score Rankings: 1-11: Beginner, 12-20: Apprentice, 21-28: Average, 29-37: Good, 38-45: Strong, 46-54: Expert, 55-59: Master!

Spirit Scrolls Expansion:

There are 5 unique Scroll types for each element, and each type ranges from level 1 to 5.

At the start of the game, set up the Scrolls into 5 matching element stacks from largest (level 5) on the bottom to the smallest (level 1) on the top of each.

Players may own any number of Scrolls of each element type, provided they can fulfill the requirements and pay the cost.

To claim an available scroll from the supply:

• You must first Summon an Animal Card matching that Scroll's element. The level of the summoned Animal determines the maximum level of the Scroll you may take (e.g., summoning a level 3 Wood Animal allows you to claim up to a level 3 Wood Scroll).

• Pay the Cost: Move your marker backward on the Year Track by a number of years equal to the claimed Scroll's level. If you do not have the years available to pay, then you may not claim the Scroll.

1. Scroll Exchange: If you already own a Scroll of the matching element, you may exchange it for the new Scroll. If you do, you receive a discount equal to the Level of the exchanged Scroll. (The exchanged scroll may be active or inactive)

1. Example: You own a level 2 Fire Scroll and claim a level 5 Fire Scroll. You return the level 2 Scroll to the supply and only pay 3 years instead of the full 5. The reverse is also true: If you own a level 5 Fire Scroll and later gain a lower level 3 Fire Scroll, you may exchange the level 5 without spending any years since you are exchanging for a lower level version.

• Discard any unclaimed lower level Scrolls of the matching element back to the game box.

• Take the claimed Scroll and place it on its active side in front of you, ready to be used.

New Action: Activate Scroll On your turn, you must still take 2 actions. However, you now have a third choice available alongside the standard Draw and Summon actions:

Activate Scroll Action: Trigger the ability of one of your active Element Scrolls and flip it to its inactive side.

• Level Limitation: The activated ability can only affect cards with a level equal to or lower than the level of the Scroll being activated.

The Five Elemental Scroll Effects: A Scroll’s strength scales based on its level, with level 5 being the strongest. The ability can only target cards of equal or lesser level to your Scroll's level.

Wood Scroll: Summon an Animal Card from the Discard Pile for free.

• Search the discard pile for a single Animal Card (of a level equal to or less than the Scrolls level) and Summon it directly onto the Game Board, ignoring its resource cost.
• The normal Token acquisition and year-scoring rules apply upon Summoning.
• You must be able to Summon the Animal Card following all the normal rules for Summoning. If the Animal cannot be Summoned, then you can not choose it.

Fire Scroll: Remove an Animal from the Calendar.

• Choose a single Animal type (of a level equal to or less than the Scrolls level) currently on the Game Board. Remove all cards of that Animal type and place them all in the discard pile. Gain 1 year on the Year Track for each card removed in this way.
• The player who controlled the matching Animal Token gains the matching Element Token of the topmost Animal Card removed. The current player chooses where to take the Element Token from the supply or game board first. If none are available they may take the Token from another player.
• Lastly return the matching Animal Token back to the supply.

Earth Scroll: Draw up to 5 cards of a single Animal from the Discard Pile.

• Choose a single Animal Type. Draw all cards of that type (of a level equal to or less than the Scrolls level) from the discard pile into your hand. Gain 1 year on the Year Track for each card drawn. (Hand limits still apply at the end of your turn).

Metal Scroll: Move an Animal on the calendar or change its level.

• Select an Animal on the Game Board (of a level equal to or less than the Scrolls level) and gain years on the Year Track equal to the Animals level. You must now either move all of that Animals’ cards to any open, unoccupied space or exchange the topmost card with any other card underneath. If you cannot do either then you may not choose that Animal Card.

Water Scroll: Gain Element Tokens

• Take any combination of unclaimed Element Tokens up to the Scrolls level and add them to your personal supply. You may not take Tokens from other players in this way, only choose from Tokens on the Game Board or from the supply.

Free Action: Refreshing Scrolls You may spend one of the two matching Element Tokens indicated on the inactive side of a Scroll as a free action to refresh it, flipping it back to its active side. Place all spent Element Tokens next to the Game Board after use. The Element Token you spend must be one of two types:

• Its Own Element (Self-Activation)

• Its Generating Element (The Cosmic Cycle: Wood feeds Fire > Fire forms Earth > Earth bears Metal > Metal carries Water > Water nourishes Wood).

Your turn ends immediately after completing your two Main Actions, and you may no longer refresh Scrolls until your next turn.

For example: As your second Main Action, you activate the Water Scroll to collect Element Tokens. Because your turn ends immediately after completing this Main Action, you cannot use those newly collected Element Tokens to refresh any Scrolls until your next turn.