INTRODUCTION

Using the power of Cups, your first tiny minion grows and expands until it becomes a horde of several larger minions. Then, using Wands, these minions move out across the landscape, taking over new territories one by one, until the whole of the known land is occupied. As the world becomes crowded, you direct some of your minions to attack your enemies using Swords, while others use Pentacles to discover new lands. And among the new lands, you find ancient powers: Death, Justice, Strength, the Tower, and more. But your enemies also discover and draw upon the powers of the Arcana, and your minions struggle with the enemies' as you explore, destroy, and conquer the world.

OVERVIEW

Zarcana is a board game played with Icehouse pieces (either real-snazzy Icehouse pieces, or simpler-to-make Zarcana pieces) and tarot cards. The board in this game is made up of tarot cards. During the game the board may grow, shrink, and split, as players destroy and create new parts of their "world". The players use their pieces, which are called minions, to create, move into, and defend the territories represented by the cards. Each player attempts to have the highest total of territorial values by the end of the game. Zarcana can be played with two or more players; but three seems to be an ideal number, and five might be right out. A game can last between 30 minutes and an hour (games are faster with more experienced players).

EQUIPMENT SUMMARY

Minions - the playing pieces
Each player should have 15 minions (Icehouse pieces) -- five large, five medium, and five small -- of a different color than other players' minions.

Color, size, orientation, and location of minions
A minion's color shows which player it belongs to. In general, the larger a minion is, the more resistant it is to being clobbered. A minion's orientation (the direction it is pointing) limits its actions and shows which space it is targeting (pointing at). A minion's territory (i.e. the card it is sitting on) gives it the power to perform the action represented by the card. If a minion is sitting on wasteland (a space without a territory card), it has no powers inherited from the space.

Tarot cards
A tarot deck is also needed. It is recommended that a "common" type of tarot (56 cards of four suits plus 22 trump cards) be used, such as Rider-Waite. These rules use the standard trumps and suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles) from the Rider-Waite deck, simply because it is the most available tarot deck in Northern America.
 

Technical note: Suits, trumps, games, and fortunes Traditional tarot decks which are used for playing games refer to the four suits as suits, and the remaining non-suit cards as trumps (or in some games, trumps and a fool). In many fortune-telling circles, the suit cards are called Minor Arcana and the trump cards are called Major Arcana. Zarcana takes from the gaming genre, using the terms suit cards and trump cards. In some decks the suits have other names (for instance, in Tarot of the Ages there are Batons, Cups, Swords, and Coins; while the PoMo Tarot has TVs, Bottles, Guns, and Money). Most types of tarot decks can be used with little or no modification of these rules. Some exceptions are the Oswald Wirth deck (which has 22 trumps and no suit cards) and the Morgan deck, which has wacky cards with titles like "Tomato, Potato, Eggplant" (that's one card), and has no suit cards. Neither of these decks is in fact a true tarot deck (because one can't play Tarot with them), but both are called tarot decks by lots of people. In the event that a tarot deck cannot be obtained, small modifications of the rules allow a regular deck of playing cards to be used (see Zarcana with Playing Cards). Zarcana was developed using the Witches Tarot, but has been tested on many different decks. Each type of deck lends a different flavor and feeling to the game, and (with the exception of the Aleister Crowley deck) no screams have as yet been heard emanating from the cards. If you are worried about playing a game with fortune-telling cards (gasp!), remember that tarot cards most likely originated in Italy and were designed for tarot games, not fortune-telling. Conversely, you can treat a game of Zarcana as one big tarot reading.

Suit cards
The suit cards used in Zarcana are comprised of four types of suits -- Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. During the game, suit cards control how minions are going to act. A minion using a Wands card can move to another territory; Cups allow a minion to grow; Swords let a minion attack another minion or territory; and Pentacles let a minion create more territory. More details will be given later -- for now it is only important to remember that the cards' suits are used for playing the game; the values are used only at the end to determine who the winner is.

Trump cards
In addition to suit cards there are also about 22 (in most decks) special cards, usually numbered from 0 to 21. In the game these cards are called trump cards, and in general perform like the suit cards -- with modifications to make them more powerful. For instance, the Death card is played like a Swords suit card (allowing a minion to attack to destroy) twice in one turn.
 

Optional rule: playing Zarcana without trump cards Zarcana can be played without the trump cards and their associated special actions. Just remove all of the trump cards from the deck before playing. This may be a good way to teach some people the game, but it is not quite as exciting as the normal trump-laden deck.

Card values
All cards in Zarcana have values, usually represented by the number displayed on the card. Values for cards which do not display numbers are:

• Any Ace -- worth one.
• Royalty, worth 11 each. Royalty in the Rider-Waite deck consists of Kings, Queens, Knights, and Pages.
• Any unnumbered trump card -- worth zero. Some decks come with extra non-suit cards, which can be shuffled into the deck and played as extra trump cards (see Optional Trump Cards for these cards' special actions).

SETUP FOR PLAY

Deal out hands and game board

The deck is shuffled and a hand of three cards is dealt face down to each player. Players may look at their hands, but should keep the cards concealed from other players while playing the game. After dealing hands out, the initial game board is created by dealing out nine cards face up as territories on the table. In Zarcana, the territory cards that are used as game spaces are referred to collectively as the board.
 

Optional rule: alternate setup for four players After dealing out the territories, deal out four extra territories attached to the North, South, East, and West sides of the board. The initial board will have 13 territories arranged in a diamond pattern, instead of the nine territories shown above. Important: keep the horizontal-vertical tile pattern throughout the game).

Draw pile and discard pile
The deck is placed aside, face down, as the draw pile, and space on the table is made for a discard pile. During the game, players will occasionally draw from the draw pile to replenish their hands. When cards are played from players' hands, they are placed face up on the discard pile. When the draw pile is exhausted and a player needs to draw a card, a new draw pile is made by shuffling the discard pile.

Minions start off the board
All minions start the game off the board, with each player owning 15 minions of a particular color. A player's unplayed minions are placed in a stash -- an area away from the board. A stash pad (a blank piece of paper or card) may be used by each player to hold unplayed minions.

Decide starting player
The first player can be decided by conventional means (dice, rock-scissors-paper, roll of a die, etc.), or the following optional rule may be used (which is also kind of fun):
 

Optional rule for deciding who starts Players choose one card each from their hands and put them face down on the table. When all players have placed cards down, the cards are flipped over and discarded. The player who played the card with the lowest value becomes the starting player. If there is a tie for lowest card, only the players who tied select cards from their hands and try for lowest value again. This means that players who are not included in the tie-breaker begin the game with more cards. If, through some strange luck, the tied-up players continue to tie and run out of cards, each player draws one card from the draw pile and plays it face up.

GENERAL SEQUENCE OF PLAY

The starting player takes the first turn. Turns in Zarcana are very short and sweet. On any turn, a player has one of several options. Generally, only one turn option may be done for a player's turn. For instance, if a player chooses to draw cards for a turn, that's it -- the player draws some cards and then it's the next player's turn. Players are never allowed to play cards out of turn.

Card play usually determines what a minion's action is.
If a player is taking a card action for his turn, he first chooses a minion that will perform the action. That minion then either performs a territorial action (the action designated by the territory it occupies), or takes a hand action (an action designated by a card discarded from the player's hand).

Declaring the end of the game after a new draw pile has been shuffled.
Turns in Zarcana go clockwise around the table, until after the draw pile is exhausted and a new draw pile has been made. The discard pile is shuffled and put face down (as a new draw pile) once a player needs to draw a card and there are none available. This signals that the game is almost over. After the second draw pile has come into play, any player may (as a turn option) declare that the game will end. Each player then gets one more turn, and the game ends.
 

Technical note: making a new draw pile, and declaring the end The option to declare the end is available after the discard pile has been shuffled to create a new draw pile. The discard pile can only be shuffled once a player needs to draw a card. It can be the case that there is a discard pile and no draw pile, and no player is allowed to call the end -- because until a player needs a card, the discard pile cannot be shuffled, and until the new draw pile is made, no player can use a turn to declare the end round.

Scoring - add up values of owned territory.
After the game is over the board and all minions are left in place. Players add up values of cards for those territories which are exclusively occupied by their minions. The player who has the highest total is the winner of the game. For each territory stack, only the top card of the stack is counted in the score. Note: Tie games are possible.

TURN OPTIONS

On any turn, a player may perform one and only one of the following actions:

• Initial placement. If the player has no minions on board (i.e. they are all in stash, waiting to be played), one of the smallest minions may be placed so that it is standing upright on any territory (population limit of 3 minions permitting; see Card Actions below). This turn option is usually performed on each player's first turn -- but doesn't have to be!
• Draw up to three cards. A player's hand may not contain more than six cards. Therefore, if a player has four cards in his hand and chooses this option, he may only draw two cards. No cards may be discarded using this option.
• Reorient any or all of one's minions. The player's minions may be turned in place so that they are standing upright and/or lying down and pointing at an adjacent territories or spaces (see Orientation). Spaces that are diagonal are not considered adjacent in this game.
• Play a territorial card action for a minion. One minion may perform the action designated by the card it occupies. If the territory consists of two or more stacked cards, only the top card may be used as a territorial action. See Card Actions below for more details.
• Play a hand card action for a minion. One minion may perform the action implied by a card which is discarded from the player's hand, face up. This turn option is similar to the territorial card action above, except the minion can only use the card's action once, instead of turn after turn. See Card Actions below.
• Discard entire hand. All of the player's cards are put face up on the discard pile. The player may not keep any cards or drawany cards this turn.
• Pass. The player does nothing this turn.
• Declare the end round. The player declares that the game will end after his next turn is over. This is similar to the pass option above, except it ensures that the player will have the last turn of the game. This option can only be performed after the draw pile has been exhausted and a new draw pile has been created by reshuffling the discard pile. Once an end round has been declared, no other player may use this turn option.

CARD ACTIONS

The suit of a card determines whether the minion will grow, move, attack, change nearby territory, or perform special actions. The minion's orientation determines whether that action can be performed, and which minion or territory it will affect. The size of a minion sometimes affects the strength of the card action that the minion is performing. In general, these rules should be kept in mind for all card actions:

• Population limit. A territory (a space with a card) or wasteland space (a space without a card) may not be occupied by more than three minions (of any sizes or colors).
• Wasteland rules. If a minion ends up in a wasteland space which is not adjacent to territory, the minion is wasted, meaning the minion is immediately destroyed (returns to the player's stash). A minion may move (using Wands) or attack (using Swords) from a wasteland space, but may never grow (Cups) or create territory (Pentacles) from a wasteland space.
• Orientation. A minion's action may only affect the territory that the minion is targeting (pointing at) when it performs its action. If a minion is, for instance, using Swords to attack an enemy, the enemy must be in a territory that the attacker is pointing at, and any minions in other territories which are not being pointed at cannot be attacked. If a minion is standing upright, this indicates that the minion is pointing at the territory that it is occupying.
• Orientation with various suit actions. A minion which is standing upright cannot move (using Wands) to other spaces, because it is not pointing at those spaces. Likewise, a minion which is pointing at an adjacent space cannot use Cups to grow (because it is not pointing at its own territory). A minion using Swords or Pentacles may affect any adjacent space or its own, as long as it points at that space. To reiterate: Cups may only be used when the minion is standing; Wands may only be used when the minion is lying down and pointing at another space, and Swords or Pentacles can be used whether the minion is standing upright or lying down.
• Card play (territorial action or hand action). A minion may only take a suit action if the minion is occupying a card which displays the appropriate suit, or if the appropriate suit card is played from the player's hand and then discarded.
• Royalty is wild when played from hand. Any Royalty card may be played as any suit when played as a hand action, but can only be its own suit when played as a territorial action. For example, a King of Cups can be played as a Swords card from the player's hand to attack another player's minion. However, if the King of Cups is on board as a territory, minions occupying it may only use it to grow.

CUPS grow or duplicate a minion.

A minion using Cups may either grow one step larger (e.g. a medium minion can become a large), or duplicate by adding one minion of the same size or smaller to its territory.
Growing: The standing minion is replaced by another minion of the same color, but one size larger, from the player's stash.

Duplicating: A minion of the same or smaller size is moved from stash into the duplicating minion's territory.
Legal: A minion may use Cups only if it is standing upright. The minion must occupy a territory card. The population of the territory card must be three minions or less after the minion has duplicated. A small or medium size minion may grow larger no matter what the population is, because the number of minions in the territory remains the same.
Illegal: A minion cannot use Cups if it is lying down and pointing at an adjacent space, or if it is in a wasteland space. A minion may not grow larger if there are no pieces available in the player's stash which are one size larger. A minion may not duplicate itself if the population limit has been reached (i.e. there are already three or more minions of any color in that space)
Concept: Cups represent population growth. A minion using cups must direct all of its energy into its own growth or duplication, and therefore must be pointing at the territory it occupies. Furthermore, minions in the wasteland may never use cups, because it is difficult enough just to survive in the wasteland.

WANDS move a minion to an adjacent space.

A minion using Wands moves in the direction it is pointing to the space adjacent to its own, and is set upright so that it is no longer pointing at any adjacent space.
Legal: A minion may use Wands to move only if it is lying down and pointing at an adjacent space. A minion may use Wands to move in or out of a territory or wasteland space, as long as the space being moved into is under its population limit (i.e. is occupied by zero, one, or two minions) before the minion moves. A minion may move into a territory which is occupied by enemy minions (again, if the population limit is obeyed). A minion may move from one wasteland space into another wasteland space, as long as both spaces are adjacent to territory card(s). A minion must be set so that it is standing upright at the end of its movement.
Illegal: A minion may not move if it is standing upright. A minion may not move into a space that has reached (or is beyond) its population limit. A minion may not move to a wasteland space which is only adjacent to wasteland spaces.
Concept: Wands represent movement and invasion. Minions that use Wands must have a direction in which to move. Therefore, if a minion is standing upright, it may not use Wands. Wasteland spaces may be moved into, provided there is a nearby (adjacent) territory. Minions that end up in wasteland that is not adjacent to territory get lost and die off.

SWORDS allow a minion to attack another minion, or destroy empty territory.

A minion using Swords attacks to reduce or destroy a minion in the space that the attacking minion is targeting, or to destroy (discard) an adjacent empty territory card (i.e. a card that no minions occupy) that the attacker is targeting.

Reducing a larger minion: If the minion is attacking a larger minion, the attacked minion is reduced in size by one. If no minions are available that are one step smaller in the player's stash, the larger attacked minion is invincible. Invincible minions cannot be reduced by smaller minions.

Destroying a minion: If the minion is attacking a minion that is the same size or smaller than the attacking minion, the attacked minion is destroyed (sent to its stash).

Destroying empty territory: If the minion is using Swords to destroy an empty territory card, the card which is being targeted is removed and put face up on the discard pile. Any territory cards which happen to be stacked under the destroyed card remain intact (see Stacking territories, in the PENTACLES section).
Legal: A minion may only attack in the direction it is pointing. If it is standing upright, it may attack minions in its own territory. A minion may attack any other minion of any size, color, or orientation, as long as the attacking minion is pointing at the attacked minion's space. A minion may attack from a wasteland space or toward a wasteland space.
Illegal: A minion may not attack itself (but may attack minions which are the same color). A minion may not destroy its own territory, nor any other territory that happens to be occupied. A minion is not allowed to attack a larger minion which has no available minions in stash to reduce it one step in size.
Concept: Swords represent combat; specifically, an attack from a minion towards another minion or territory. Minions may attack other minions in their own spaces or adjacent spaces, which means that a minion using Swords may be standing upright or pointing at another space. Minions can carry weapons into the wasteland, so using Swords (as a hand action) from a wasteland space is allowed.

PENTACLES allow a minion to create new territory.

A minion using Pentacles draws a card from the draw pile and places it face up on the territory or wasteland space that the minion is targeting. New territory can be created in empty (having a population of zero) wasteland, stacked on top of empty territory card(s), or created in a space (wasteland or territory) which is occupied only by minions that are the same color as the acting minion.

Creating territory into the wasteland: This is the way that the Zarcana board grows in size. The new random territory is put face up in the adjacent wasteland space that is being targeted by the player's minion. The tile pattern which was begun during the initial layout is kept intact, so that any card put down on the board in a north/south orientation is adjacent to card(s) of an east/west orientation, and vice-versa. The wasteland space which is being changed by the minion's action should be either empty or only occupied by minions of the same color as the acting minion.

Stacking territories: If a minion uses Pentacles on an empty (or solely occupied) territory, the existing territory stays in place, and the newly created territory is placed on top of the old territory. When a territory has several cards stacked on top of each other, only the topmost card may be used by a minion as a territorial action.
 

Technical note: Stacked territories During the game the board layout will change as territories are created and destroyed. Since territories can be created on top of one another, it is possible for a minion to be occupying a stack of cards. Only the top card of a stack is referred to for both territorial action and for the score at the end of the game. Cards underneath the top card only come into play when they are revealed through the destruction (usually by Swords) of the top card, or by the movement of the top card (See the Trump Card Actions section: the Moon).

Legal: A minion may be lying down or standing upright to use Pentacles. If the minion is standing upright, it is targeting its own space.
Illegal: A minion may not use a Pentacles action from a wasteland space (using a minion in a territory space to create a territory underneath a friendly minion that is in an adjacent wasteland is permitted, though). A minion may never use Pentacles on a space which is occupied by minions of other colors.
Concept: Pentacles represent the growth and change of an area's intrinsic culture, power, or structure. For example, if a minion is occupying a Wands territory, the space can be thought of as a land where traveling to other areas is made easier, perhaps via a system of roads. If that minion then uses a Pentacles card and changes its territory to a Swords card, the action implies that some sort of cultural upheaval has taken place, and the land, though more difficult to move out of is now easier to defend. A minion using Pentacles may change its own territory or an adjacent space, provided no internal conflicts in the changing space exist. This means that no enemy minions can occupy an area that is being changed. Minions using Pentacles need a territorial base to act from; for this reason, a minion which occupies wasteland may not change its own space, nor any adjacent space.

TABLE OF SUIT CARD ACTIONS

Use this quick reference to see whether a minion can use a particular action while standing up, lying down, or occupying a wasteland space.
 

Suit	Useable while  standing upright?	Useable while  lying on its side?	Useable from  a wasteland?
Cups	YES	NO	NO
Rods	NO	YES	YES
Swords	YES	YES	YES
Pentacles	YES	YES	NO

THE TRUMP CARDS allow minions and players to perform special actions.

As mentioned before, trump cards (the non-suit cards numbered from 0 to 21) allow players to make special actions or turn options which are unique to each card. A list of trump card actions is included for players to refer to during the game. After you play Zarcana for a few games, you will begin to remember what each trump card's special ability is. Many of the trump card actions are adaptations of the regular suit card actions (or turn options), and the pictures or names can usually be used as mnemonics. For example, the Chariot allows a minion to move faster (like using two Wands actions in one turn), Death is like using Swords twice, and Judgement (which represents the last judgment or resurrection) allows a player to draw from the discard pile, thus resurrecting cards which have been destroyed.
 

Technical note: Multiple turn options do not allow a card to be used twice! At times an trump card will allow a player to take two or more turn options in one turn. If a player has multiple turn options, a card may not be used twice in the same turn. For example, if a player's minion is occupying the High Priestess territory, the player may use the card's special ability to draw two cards and take another turn option. As a second turn option, the player is not allowed to draw two cards again (and take another turn option), because the High Priestess has already been used. If the player has another minion sitting on the World card (which is like a wild trump card), the High Priestess action may be used twice in one turn, because the World is playing the action the second time.

 

Technical note: A hand or territory action is carried out by a single minion. In almost all cases, actions in the game are carried out by a specific minion, rather than a whole territory. For example, Strength allows for two cups actions; however, both actions must be used by the same minion. Two minions that occupy the same territory cannot each grow once. Similarly, the Chariot allows one minion to move twice - it does not permit two minions to each move once. The main exceptions to this rule are the Fool, which allows a player to take two random actions with one or two minions; and assorted other cards like Justice and the Lovers, which do not require a minion to be present on the board.

TRUMP CARD ACTIONS

Fool                                                        Random Action: draw and play two cards.
Player using the Fool draws a card from the top of the deck and plays the card's action as if it was played from his hand. The random action may originate from any one of the player's minions on the playing field. The player must play the card drawn if it is at all possible, even if it means attacking friendly minions or territory. Whether or not the action is possible, the drawn card is discarded. Then the whole process is repeated a second time -- draw, perform the action, discard. Any royalty cards drawn and played cannot be played as wild cards when the Fool is played.

Magician                                                              Wild Suit Card: play as any suit.
The Magician can be played as a card of any suit (but not any Zarcana card). This is similar to a royalty card played from hand, except the magician is also wild when it is played as a territory.

High Priestess (Popess)                          Informant: draw 2 cards and take a turn.
The player using the Priestess draws the top 2 cards of the deck and adds them to his hand before immediately taking any other turn option. The hand limit of six cards must be obeyed.

Empress                                             City: grow, ignoring population limit or wasteland.
The player may use the Empress as a cups card, ignoring the usual population limit. If the acting minion is on a territory that has reached or exceeded its population limit, or in the wasteland, it may still grow or duplicate. As when using cups, the minion using the Empress must be standing upright.

Emperor                                              Taxation: take cards from defeated minion.
Using the Emperor, a minion may attack to destroy (similar to a swords card). The player may destroy a minion or territory as in normal swordplay, and he may demand up to three cards from the player's hand (defending player picks the cards) who owns the reduced or destroyed minion. Hand limit of six must be obeyed. This card may be used as a normal sword. An invincible minion can still be attacked by the Emperor (if it is not affected, it still must pay tax).

Hierophant (High Priest, Pope)        Conversion: defeated minion changes color.
Using the Hierophant a minion may attack another minion (similar to a swords card). Instead of destroying a minion or reducing its size, the player replaces the minion with one of his own from his stash. Replacement must be same size as the destroyed minion or smaller, and is placed upright. This card may not be used as a normal sword.

Lovers                                                       Creation: minion appears in wasteland.
The player who uses the Lovers may place one minion of any size from stash to an empty wasteland space that is adjacent to any territory on the board.

Chariot                                        Speed: minion moves twice, ignores orientation.
The minion using the Chariot card uses it as a rods card, up to twice in one turn, ignoring orientation of the moving minion. Minion must be placed upright at the end of the turn.

Strength                                                     (Fortitude) Power: minion grows twice.
The minion using the Strength card uses it as a cups card, up to twice in one turn. Strength must obey population limits.

Hermit (Seeker)        Stealth: minion moves, ignoring population limits and orientation.
The minion using the Hermit card uses it as a rods card, ignoring the population limit of the invaded territory, and ignoring initial orientation.

Wheel of Fortune                                        Luck: minion creates secret territory.
The minion using the Wheel of Fortune uses it as a pentacles card, but instead of placing the new territory face up, he places it face down without showing the face of the card to anyone except himself (the player may peek at the new territory just before he places it, after that no player may look). A minion in the new face-down territory has no special or territorial ability. At the end of the game the territory is turned face up and points are given to the player who controls it.

Justice                                                                      Balance: players trade hands.
The player who uses Justice trades his hand with any other player.

Hanged Man               Sacrifice: minion destroys self, space, and fellow minions.
All of the minions in the territory of the minion that uses the Hanged Man (including that minion itself), and the territory itself, are destroyed (discarded and put in the stash). Territories which happen to be residing underneath the destroyed territory remain intact.

Death (Transition)                     Genocide: minion may destroy twice in one turn.
The minion using the Death card uses it as a swords card, twice in one turn, or it may eliminate an invincible minion. This card may be used as a normal sword.

Temperance       Subterfuge: minion may change territory occupied by enemy minions.
The minion using Temperance uses it as a pentacles card, ignoring types of population in the attacked territory (population can be any color, and territory will change underneath it). When Temperance is used from the player's hand, a minion may use its power while in the wasteland.

Devil (Horned One, Materialism)        Confusion: minion reorients all nearby minions.
The minion using the Devil may reorient any and all minions of all colors in its own territory and all territories and wastelands that are adjacent to it.

Tower                                        Disaster: minion may destroy occupied territory.
Using the Tower, the minion may attack to destroy (similar to a swords card). Instead of destroying a minion or reducing its size, or destroying an empty territory, the player may destroy an occupied territory, possibly turning it into wasteland. Minions of a destroyed territory remain intact. This card may be used as a normal sword.

Star                                   Abundance: player draws 4 cards; ignores hand limit.
The player using the Star card draws 4 cards from the deck, ignoring the card limit for his hand.

Moon                                                 Enchanted Land: minion's territory moves.
The minion using the Moon card picks up the territory that it occupies, along with all of the minions occupying it, and places it on any empty territory card or on any empty wasteland space (wasteland space must be adjacent to another territory). All minions in the transported territory are switched to upright position. Any territory which is under the territory using the moon stays put.

Sun                                     Choice: minion creates territory from player's hand.
The player using the Sun uses it as a pentacles card, with this exception: instead of drawing the territory card from the deck, he selects it from his hand.

Judgement (Aeon)                  Resurrection: player draws from the discard pile.
The player using Judgement may draw up to 3 cards from the top of the discard pile. Card limit for hand must be obeyed. If Judgement was played from hand, it is placed on the discard pile after the 3 cards are drawn.

World (Universe)          Wild Arcana Card: played as any face up Arcana card.
The World can be played as any Arcana card which is (on the turn that the World is played) displayed as a territory. The World cannot be played as a suit card.

OPTIONAL TRUMP CARDS

This section is included for those decks which have blank or special non-suit cards which could pose as trump cards, or for changing the standard trump card actions as a "house option". For the purposes of scoring, remember that unless the card is numbered, it is considered to have a value of zero.

Alchemist                                                         Create a stack of two territories.
The minion using the Alchemist card uses it as a Pentacles card, twice in one turn. The second territory must be placed on top of the first.

Assassin                                                                    Attack; ignore orientation.
The minion using the Assassin card uses it as a Swords action, ignoring orientation of the attacking minion. This means that the minion can be targeted on one territory and attack another.

Doppelganger                     Duplicate last discarded action; changes in value.
The minion plays the top card of the discard pile as if it was just played from the player's hand, if the player has played the Doppelganger from his hand; or as if from the minion's Doppelganger territory. This card is similar to the World, except it can only have the same power as the top card on the discard pile. Important: Doppelganger has a changing value. At the end of the game, its value is the same as the value of the top card of the discard pile.

Evil Eye                                                                               Devalue a territory.
The minion using the Evil Eye makes the value of the territory that is targeted by the minion worth a negative 2. A mark of the Evil Eye, such as a penny, is put on the targeted territory to remind players of the card's new value. If the marked card is destroyed or covered by another card, any marks disappear.

Holy Grail                                Grow; ignore orientation and wasteland space.
The player using the Holy Grail uses it as a Cups action, ignoring orientation of the growing minion. If the acting minion is in the wasteland, it may still grow. The grown or duplicated minion keeps the same orientation as the minion using the Holy Grail.

Miser                                                  Discard some of the cards in your hand.
The player using the Miser discards some of the cards in his hand, and keeps the good ones.

Plague                                Destroy multiple minions and one empty territory.
The player who uses the Plague card announces a plague. Each player in the game must immediately destroy one of his/her own minions from anywhere on the board. The plague destroys a minion belonging to the announcer as well. The announcer also discards one empty territory of his/her choice from the field.

Gate                                                     Teleports minion to a random territory.
The minion using the Gate card moves to any territory on the board which is of the same suit as the territory that the minion currently occupies. If the top card is a Trump, the minion moves to any Trump card on the board. The minion must be placed upright, and may not teleport to a card which has already reached its population limit.

Ghost                                              Take a turn option for the invisible player.
The player who uses the Ghost takes a turn option for the invisible player. The invisible player has its own color of pieces, its own stash, and its own hand, which is dealt out at the beginning of the game. Only those players who play the Ghost from hand or use it as a territorial action may look at the invisible player's hand, and/or take any turn options for the invisible player. At the end of the game, the player who owns the Ghost territory (or has it in hand) gets the invisible player's score added to his/her score. If no one owns the Ghost, the Invisible player gets its own score.

Catapult                                            Attack a minion or territory up to two cards away.
The minion that uses the Catapult uses it as a swords action, attacking another minion or empty territory. The target of the attack can be up to two spaces away from the attacking minion in the direction that the minion is pointing.

ZARCANA WITH PLAYING CARDS

If you don't own a Tarot deck, don't despair. With a few modifications to the rules, you can use a regular deck of playing cards to play Zarcana.

The easiest way to play Zarcana with playing cards is to simply ignore all of the special trump rules, except for the fool. Use a joker as the Fool. (You can even play with two fools in the deck if you wish.) Then play as normal, with suit translations.

Of course, the game is much more fun and exciting with the Trump powers, so this chart provides a means of making appropriate substitutions. Note that if you choose to use the Royalty as Trump cards, they cannot then be used as wild suit cards when played from the hand. They should instead be treated as Trump cards, although they are still worth 11 points each when scoring.

CREDITS

Game design and author of the rules - J W Cooper, whose favorite territory is the Moon.
Minions who became addicted to playtests - Kristin Looney, Andy Looney, and Keith Baker.
Additional minions who weren't so addicted - Bruce Beard, Dave Choat, Dan Russett, Paul Johnson, Larry Schroder, Rick Dutton, Gina Mai Denn, Leah Spevak, Rob Bryan, and Michael Cusick.
Written rules playtesters - Ian "Tusky" "Cheez-O-Man" McCowen, Tapas "Mo" Misra, Nick Fung, and Albert Mao.
Assorted editors and kibitzers - Andy Looney, Chris Welsh, and Keith Baker.
Chaotic game tweaker - J W Cooper (sorry Zarf).
Demon with deadline and illustrations - Andy Looney, whose favorite territory is also the Moon.
Patient goddess - Gina Mai Denn, whose favorite territory is, after much meditation, the World.
Amazing minion who put the gist of the rules on one sheet of paper - Andrew Plotkin!
Other minions I forgot to mention - I don't know, I forgot. But Jacob Davenport is one.