Silent Guardians Rule

Adventurers set out on a journey to defeat the Demon King.
Along the way, the villages they visit are gripped by the terror of monsters, trembling as night falls.

You become those adventurers, facing the trials imposed on each village together with your companions.
If you overcome these trials, the village will be freed from the threat of monsters, and its people will finally awaken to the morning light with hope in their hearts.

But the closer a village lies to the Demon King, the more vicious and cunning the monsters become.
That means the trials you face will grow ever more severe.

You fight in conditions where you must rely on each other completely, with no time to even survey your surroundings.
Reading the movements of monsters, sharing your strength, and deciding in an instant who will defeat how many each split-second decision determines life or death.

If even one ally falls, the battle is lost.
There is no time for strategy meetings. The village is under attack right now!!

Now, show your teamwork.
Only you can cut through this night of despair and bring back a dawn of hope to the village.

●Components

●14 Sword Token
　・12 Color Sword Token
　　　red, blue, yellow, green
　・2 All-Color Sword Token
　　　gray

●44 Playing cards
　・40 Color Cards
　　　red, blue, yellow, green
　・4 Trump Cards
　　　gray

●4 High Indicator Card

●5 Random Generation Card

●Rules

This game has three rule modes:

A. Basic Rules

B. Scenario Rules
C. Random Generation Rules

We recommend starting with A. Basic Rules. You probably won’t be able to win them at first. Next, win all of B. Scenario Rules, then return to A. Basic Rules and play again—you should be able to succeed this time. Once you get used to the game, we recommend trying the Random Generation Rules as a spice.

【Important Rule】
During gameplay, players are allowed to talk freely at all times, but they must not say anything that conveys numbers. Communicate through your plays instead!!
This rule applies to all game modes.

■SetUp(A.Basic Rules)

1.Shuffle the playing cards and remove one card of each color. Then deal the remaining cards to the players.

The removed cards are not used in the game, but since which colors are missing is important information, it is recommended to place them face down on the table.

・3 players: 12 cards each, 8 cards removed (ensure one card of each color is removed)
・4 players: 9 cards each, 8 cards removed (ensure one card of each color is removed)

2.Deal a High Indicator card to each player.

3. Arrange the dealt cards by color in ascending order.
Then place the High Indicator card on the higher end.
Pass them to the player on your left.

4.The receiving player holds the cards without looking at the numbers.

●Game Play

★Dividing the Sword Tokens

① Randomly determine the starting lead player.

② The lead player closes their eyes and places the sword tokens randomly in the center of the table.
　Be careful not to see the colors of the tokens at this time.
　(12 tokens for 3 players, 9 tokens for 4 players)

③ Starting from the lead player and proceeding in order, each player chooses one token from the center and decides whether to take it or not.
　If a player chooses not to take it, they pass for the rest of this phase.
　After making a choice, play moves to the player on the left.

④ Repeat until all sword tokens have been taken by the players.

【Example 】

★Play Tricks

①The lead player plays any 1 card from their hand. The color of the played card is called the lead color.

②The player to the left then plays a card from their hand. If they have one or more cards of the lead color, they must play one of them. If they do not, they may play any card.

③All players continue in the same way until each player has played one card.

④The winner of the trick takes all cards played in the trick and places them face up in front of themselves. This is called winning a trick.

●Determining the Winner of a Trick

The player who played the highest-numbered card of the lead color wins the trick.
If any trump(Gray) cards are played, the player who played the highest-numbered trump card wins instead.

●Sword Token Placement

The player who wins the trick places a sword token on top of the trick they won.
The color of the sword token must match the color that appears most frequently among the cards in that trick.
By doing this, the monsters shown on those cards are sealed.

If the player cannot place a valid sword token, the game is immediately lost.

※Gray sword tokens may be used as any color.

The player who wins the trick becomes the next lead player, and the tricks continue.

【Example 】

Rangea is the lead player and plays a red card.

Lycoris plays a number that is likely the weakest among the red cards, because they do not want to win the trick.

Dinox, holding a red sword token, plays a number that is likely to be strong in red.

Alfred does not have a red card, so he plays any number he chooses. He likely decides to play a high yellow card here, thinking it would be better to get rid of it now.

Dinox, who played the highest-numbered card of the lead color, wins the trick.
Since red is the most frequent color, Dinox places the red token on the trick he won.
The next lead player is Dinox.

【Important point】
You place the sword token matching the majority color.

This means that if the lead player plays a red card and all other players play blue cards, the lead player—being the only one who played red—wins the trick. However, the sword token must be blue.

※If the trump color (gray) is the most common color, you must place the gray sword token.

【Pecial color combinations】

2 vs 2
When two colors appear in equal numbers, the player who wins the trick may choose either of those colors.
All different colors
When all cards in the trick are different colors, the player who wins the trick may choose any color. This can even be a color not present in the trick. For example, if the colors are red, blue, green, and gray, the player may choose yellow.

Hint: Intentionally creating a situation where all colors are different can bring you closer to victory.

●End of the Game

★When all tricks have been played (all cards in hand are used), if every won trick has a sword token placed according to the conditions, all players win.

★If at any point during play you cannot place the required sword token on a won trick, the game is lost.

■B. Scenario Rules

When you play this game for the first time, you may find the basic rules quite difficult to win with.
If you managed to come close to winning, you’re probably quite the game geek.

If you didn’t fully enjoy the game under the basic rules, I highly recommend trying the B. Scenario Rules. The core gameplay remains exactly the same, but it becomes a bit simpler and easier to think through.

As the designer, I’m really looking forward to you discovering the true depth and fun of this game.

The difficulty increases in order from No.1 onward. You may start playing from any level you like, but we recommend playing in order.

From No.1 to No.9, there is a new concept called “Transfer Count.” This indicates how many times players can give their sword tokens to another player at any point during the game. This is the total number of transfers allowed per game. For example, in No.1, all players together may transfer tokens up to 2 times

■C.Random Generation Rules

Place either a randomly generated card or two random cards in the center of the table.

At this time, adjust their orientation so that one card shows the “No” side on the left and the other shows the “No” side on the right. You can use the “+No” marking as a reference.

Add these two additional rules and play using the basic rules.

●FAQ

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●Credits

Game Design：Ryusei Nakata
Illustration ＆Graphics：MOSKI

Thanks to all the players who test-played.

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