How to play
You lead the Sun Court or the Moon Court (the seed decides which). The realm has 36 towns in five reaches: the Highwold in the middle, the Glasswater, the Emberdale, and the two home reaches, the Saltmarsh of the Moon and the Farrow Isles of the Sun. Each court starts with six sway on the map. Then the Moon sets six more in its home reach and the Sun seven, at most two in a town. The Moon, which moves first, starts with the Moot Bell.
- A turn. Both courts herald a card at once, face down; the two heralds turn up and are played for their events, the stronger first. Then each court makes six moves (seven from turn 4), the Moon first, taking turns.
- A move. Play a card for its event (a card of your own court or of either court) or for its strength. A card of the other court played for strength gives them its event: you choose whether it happens before or after your use.
- Strength. Place one sway per point next to your own sway or your gate; upset a town with a die; persuade with two dice, one try per point; or discard the card on the Star Road for a roll at the next step.
Holding a town
You hold a town when your sway there is at least its steadiness (1 to 4) plus the other court’s sway. A sway costs 2 in a town the other court holds; once your placement breaks their hold, the next costs 1. Keystones count for more at a Fair.
Upsets
Pick a town with the other court’s sway and roll a die: the die plus the card’s strength, less twice the steadiness. Each point above zero removes one of their sway; points left over become your sway. An upset in a keystone snuffs a candle of the Truce.
Persuading
Each try is a roll of two dice, one for each court. Each court adds 1 for every held town next to the target, 1 for more sway there, and 1 if the target is next to its gate. The higher total removes the difference from the other court’s sway there; a tie does nothing.
The Truce
Five candles, from calm (5) to broken (1). Each keystone upset snuffs one; each turn end lights one again. At 4 no one may upset or persuade in the Highwold; at 3 not in the Glasswater either; at 2 not in the Emberdale either. The court on move when the Truce reaches 1 loses at once, also when the other court’s event did it.
The vigil
The strength of your upsets fills your vigil each turn. At the turn end, a court whose vigil is below the Truce gives the other court 1 point for each step short.
Fairs
A Fair card scores its reach at once, and you must play it in the turn you hold it. A court with a town there has a Foothold; with more towns and more keystones than the other (and a town that is not a keystone), Sway; with more towns and every keystone, Hold. Each keystone held there adds 1, and so does each town held there next to the other court’s gate. The higher sum gains the difference. Hold the Highwold at any Fair and you win.
The Moot Bell
Strength 4, and 5 when all of it goes into the Glasswater. It is played face up as a move for strength only, then passes to the other court face down and turns up at the next turn. Its holder gains 1 point at the end.
Decks and hands
The Thaw cards start the year; the Bloom cards join the draw pile at turn 4 and the Harvest cards at turn 8. Hands are 8 cards, then 9 from turn 4. A starred card whose event happens leaves the game.
Winning
Reach 20 points, hold the Highwold at a Fair, or see the other court break the Truce or keep a Fair at a turn end, and you win at once. Otherwise every reach is scored after turn 10, the Bell’s holder gains 1, and the court with the points wins.
What a Fair is worth
| Reach | Foothold | Sway | Hold |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Highwold | 3 | 6 | wins |
| The Glasswater | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| The Emberdale | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| The Saltmarsh | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| The Farrow Isles | 1 | 3 | 6 |
The Star Road
One try a turn: discard a card of at least the step’s strength and roll at or under its number. The first court to a step gets its first reward; the other court, when it arrives, the second. A gift lasts until the other court reaches the same step: the Seer sees the other herald before choosing; Twin Kites gives two tries a turn; the Lamp Keeper may let one card go at the turn end.
| Step | Card | Roll | First / second |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Lamp Hill | 2+ | ≤ 4 | 1 point |
| 2. Kite Field | 2+ | ≤ 4 | the gift Seer |
| 3. Glass Tower | 2+ | ≤ 3 | 2 points / 1 |
| 4. Comet Arch | 3+ | ≤ 4 | the gift Twin Kites |
| 5. Owl Loft | 3+ | ≤ 3 | 2 points |
| 6. Silver Stair | 3+ | ≤ 4 | the gift Lamp Keeper |
| 7. Cloud Well | 4+ | ≤ 3 | 3 points / 1 |
| 8. Star Crown | 4+ | ≤ 2 | 4 points / 2 |
At the online table
- Point at a card, the candles, the points bead or the moon dial, or hold a finger on it, to read what it does.
- Tap a card to lift it: its uses show above your hand. Tap a use to play it, then tap the ringed towns on the map. An upset or a persuade shows its odds and asks once more.
- On a phone, tap a reach’s name to see it up close; the Courts, Piles and Log buttons open the rest of the table.
- On a keyboard: 1 to 9 lift a card, B the Moot Bell; E, P, U, R and S choose event, place, upset, persuade and the Star Road; O switches the order for the other court’s card; Tab and the arrow keys move between the towns you may pick, Enter picks; D is done; Esc puts a card back; F shows the focused town’s reach up close; H goes to your hand; C, I and L open the courts, the piles and the log; M turns the sound off.
- Each decision has a 90-second timer. If it runs out, the table makes a safe move for you. An empty seat is taken by a bot, always marked as a bot.
- A game takes about 60 minutes. A game lives on the server: if the server restarts, the table closes.
Why it is fair
A secret seed decides who leads the Moon, every shuffle and every die. You see its fingerprint when the game starts and the seed itself when it ends, so you can check the whole game. Verify a game.