Tips beyond

If you're playing with "Summoning an Enchanted Celestial Spirit" enabled, scroll down to read what each spirit does when summoned!

The end of the game triggers once either one player has enchanted 3 Celestial Spirits (arranged 4 cards of the same color in their respective patterns) or the draw pile has been depleted twice. From there, the game continues until all players have had an equal number of turns.

Additionally, the game immediately ends once one player has enchanted Nian Shou by collecting all 6 of its cards.

Here are some important things to consider during each step of a player's turn:

1. Reveal and Collection

There are five different-colored Celestial Spirits, and there are 16 cards per color. When revealing cards, consider the odds of revealing a color you have already revealed. Drawing 2 cards then choosing to stop is typically a safe bet so you can collect multiple cards in one turn.

If you have Lotus tokens available, try and reveal cards equal to the number of tokens you have before deciding to stop drawing, to a maximum of 5 cards revealed before you absolutely must stop. If you happen to reveal two of the same color, you'll have your tokens to act as a safety net and still collect more cards instead of only collecting the last card drawn.

Remember: revealing two identical colors in your first two cards grants you a Nian Shou card!

2. Positioning

An additional element to consider are the Yin/Yang symbols on the corners of your revealed cards. If an opponent has a card you need towards enchanting a spirit, check the corner symbol of it and see if one of your revealed cards has the opposite color. If it does and it's a card you don't immediately need towards enchanting a spirit, move that card to one of your 4 Slot spaces as a Capture card. It is possible to steall a Nian Shou card from an opponent using one Yin and one Yang, so keep that in mind as well!

Otherwise, work towards arranging 3 Celestial Spirits at a time and leave the rest to be used as Capture cards. You may have more than one of a particular spirit, but some are easier to arrange than others:

Turtle Snake and Vermilion Bird - Composed of 4 similar cards. Worth 6 points when enchanted.

Double Azure Dragon and Double Metal Tiger - 2 Head cards and 2 Body cards. Worth 9 points when enchanted.

Yellow Unicorn - 4 different cards. Worth 12 points when enchanted.

3. Captures and other actions

Captures

If you have Capture cards, you may now use them to steal spirit cards from an opponent that are not part of an enchanted Celestial Spirit. In doing so, the attacked opponent receives one Lotus token for each card stolen as compensation. There is no limit to how many times you can capture cards from one opponent.

At the end of the game, you gain 1 point for each face-up Spirit card not part of an Enchanted Spirit, unused Capture card, and any token in your play area. With this in mind, you and your opponent effectively retain the same point count if you were to steal a Spirit card and you will LOSE a point if you steal a Nian Shou card!

The following actions are only available when playing with either or both Advanced Mode modules.

Protection Tokens

Your Lotus tokens may be used to protect your face-up Spirit cards, changing its current Yin or Yang symbol to a dual Yin Yang symbol similar to the Nian Shou cards, and is captured in the same method of discarding a Yin Capture card AND a Yang Capture card.

● One Spirit card can only be protected by one token, and one token only protects one Spirit card.

● A token placed on a Spirit card cannot be moved.

● Once placed, the token will be returned to your Stock if the protected card is captured by an opponent.

● The attacked player does NOT take a token from the common supply as compensation if the captured card had a token.

● Any tokens on a Spirit that gets Enchanted are returned to the common supply.

● Nian Shou cards cannot have protection tokens.

Summoning an Enchanted Celestial Spirit

The active player can place one of their Lotus tokens in the center of one of their Enchanted Celestial Spirits to summon it, either after enchanting or on a later turn. The active player can summon several Spirits in the same game turn. A Spirit can only be summoned if there is not already a Lotus token in the center of its pattern.

Effects obtained during a summoning:

Turtle Snake - Reveal the top 4 cards of the draw pile and choose one to place in your play area, Spirit side up. The remaining cards will be shuffled back into the deck.

Vermilion Bird - Take a Yin or Yang Capture card from the discard pile and place it on an empty slot of your Stock card.

Double Azure Dragon - Reveal the top 2 cards of the draw pile and choose one to place in your play area, Spirit side up. The remaining card will be placed back on the draw pile without shuffling.

Double Metal Tiger - If still available, take a Nian Shou card from the central pattern and place it in your play area, Spirit side up.

Yellow Unicorn - Choose another of your Summoned Celestial Spirits and return its Token to your personal Stock. That Spirit may be summoned again.