Spring Court

SPRING COURT

By Laura Elnairab and Matt Brennan

RULES

Setup:

Shuffle the tiles and card deck. Arrange the shuffled tiles face-down in a 6×6 grid on the table.
Set the clock next to the grid, opposite the deck, with the hand set to 12. Set the time die next to it.
Place the shrine tokens and activated shrine tokens off to the side, under the clock.
Give each player a character and corresponding character card.

Play:

Before the game starts, all players choose a location on the grid to place their characters. This location is static throughout the game and will not change.
Give each player two cards from the deck. (Spring Forward cards get shuffled back in and replaced.)
Flip over the tiles the players have chosen to start on. Do not act on these tiles’ flip directions, if applicable.
Player 1 takes their move. They can act three times, and each of the following is one action:
- Move: up to three tiles
- Dash: one tile
- Scout: one tile adjacent to the character
- Activate Shrine: if the player is on a shrine and has three of that shrine’s treasure cards, they can free the fair folk within it
- Card Action: special action denoted on each character card
Every time a face-down tile is first moved onto, it is flipped face-up and revealed. The tile’s flip direction then immediately resolves.
Once Player 1 has taken all their actions, they draw a card. Play moves clockwise.
Once every player has taken their turn, play enters the clock phase.

The Clock:

At the end of every round, the time die will be rolled. The number that it lands on will be added to the clock.
If the clock strikes 12, time loops back to the beginning of the game. Tiles are flipped face-down and then shuffled, all cards return to the deck which then gets shuffled, and player tokens return to their starting point once the board is reset. The only thing that does not reset is the number of fairies released.

The Deck:

Most of the deck consists of treasure cards, which are necessary to activate the shrines and escape the time loop.
However, it also includes a handful of other cards. Stop Watch cards keep the time die frozen for a round, while Spring Forward cards force the clock ahead by three hours. Finally, the Inside the Circle card allows a player to warp to any discovered shrine, at any time, for free!

Card Actions:

Intrepid: player can move, dash, and scout diagonally.
Eagle-Eyed: player can scout two tiles for one action.
Changeling: once per round, whenever this player’s action would reveal a tile, they can peek at what the tile’s effect is and decide whether or not to reveal it.
Thrill Seeker: player can dash two tiles for one action.

Ending the Game:

Winning: if players succeed in releasing all six members of the Spring Court before time runs out, they are freed from the time loop, hailed as heroes, and promised free passage through fairy land for all time.
Losing: if players experience six time loops before they can activate every shrine, the fairy magic is lost, and they are trapped forever in the loop.

Inspiration: