darkSpyro

Hi all,

I got this idea whilst playing Skystones in Skylanders Giants. This game is quick and easy to play. Games only last a couple of minutes, so perhaps players could play best 2 out of 3 or best 3 out of 5 and sofourth.... If you have any questions or queries, don't hesitate to ask in the comments below.

RULES Ver 0.1 Beta

Deck:
Each player's deck will consist of 12 Cards chosen by each player.

Concepts:
(These are terms used by the game)
- Attack (fist symbol)
- Defense (shield symbol)
- Agility (running Stealth Elf symbol)
- Luck (four-leaf clover symbol)
- Giant (indicated by Giant symbol)
- Series (series 1, indicated by no symbol OR series 2 indicated by Series 2 symbol)
- Lightcore (indicated by Lightcore symbol)

Card Layout:

Each Card is divided to 4 sides - Top, Bottom, Left and Right.
Each side is represented by a corresponding symbol:

Top: Attack
Right: Defense
Left: Agility
Bottom: Luck

Playing the Game:
Players decide who goes first. This can be determined any way you like (i.e rock, paper, scissors, Youngest goes first, flip a coin).

The game is played on a 3x3 grid, much like the Skystones game in Skylanders: Giants.
Players start by holding their entire deck of 12 Cards in their hand. At any time, do NOT reveal your cards to your opponent!

The Player who goes first places a Skylander from their hand onto one of the 9 spaces on the table.

The Player who goes next places another Skylander on another space on the grid. A Player cannot place a Card onto a space that is already occupied unless using the Upgrade Rule (See Special Rules below).

If after placing a Card on the table, its sides are touching the sides of any opponents Cards, compare the Values of each players Cards. If your Value is higher than opponent's Value, then that Card is K.O (Knocked Out).

I.e. Spyro's Top (Attack =60) is touching Eruptor's Bottom (Luck =35). Spyro defeats Eruptor as his Value (60) is higher than Eruptors (35).

The defeated Card is turned face down. Your Card may not be K.O during your own turn.

After all 9 spaces have been filled, each player counts their own Cards on the table (excluding K.O Cards). The player with the higher total is the winner. If you somehow run out of Cards, and cannot place a Card before all 9 spaces have been filled, you automatically forfeit the game.

Special Rules:

Giants: Each player may only have one Giant in play at any one time. K.O Giants do not count as 'in-play'.

Upgrades: If you have a Series 1 Card (denoted by having no symbol in its bottom right hand corner) in play, when it is your turn to place a Card, you may upgrade that Card instead by placing a Series 2 or Lightcore Card on top.

I know this sounds funny, but Activision should actually make an actual card game of Skystones and sell it in stores. Go old school baby!

Anyone played? I'd appreciate some feedback please.

I'll probably bring them with me on my trip to South Dakota and play my brother.

Awesome game Sparx!

Your rules are quite easy to pick up and learn. I taught my 7 year old cousin to play in about 5 minutes flat, now he has taught his whole family and they play Skylanders cards as part of their family game night. It's rather ingenious that you based this game on Skystones. No cards have 100% advantages over other cards so gameplay is quite balanced between players no matter what deck you bring.

I showcased these game rules at my local Magic: The Gathering night at EB Games and we have alot of Skylanders fans there, they were quite impressed!

The only criticism is that there are no rules for magic items and locations... please add rules for them :-)

Thank you so much for a great game Sparx! Keep up your awesome work!

hey flynn, thanks for your kind words.

We actually recently held a tournament at my local EB Games and they were nice enough to give out some Sidekicks as prizes ( I won a whisper Elf). Seems like these rules are making their rounds atm and I have had private messages from other forum members who have enjoyed these rules too!

As the rules have had alot of playtesting (I've played well over 100 games), it's about time to bring out an Alpha release. If anyone else has played, and would like to add their input, please do so :-)

as for magic items, rules I will hopefully include them in the Alpha release.

I have an idea for the other cards

These rules add cards to the deck to allow the maximum number of cards to be 17.

Locations

Players may only have one Location card in their deck, Only one location card may be in play and location cards do not count towards victory.


Darklight Crypt Gives a +10 bonus to all stats to any undead Skylander next to it (doesn't give any bonus diagonally)
Dragon's Peak Gives a +10 bonus to all stats to any Fire Skylander next to it (doesn't give any bonus diagonally)
Empire of Ice Gives a +10 bonus to all stats to any Water Skylander next to it (doesn't give any bonus diagonally)
Pirate Seas Gives a +10 bonus to all stats to any Earth Skylander next to it (doesn't give any bonus diagonally)


Magic Items

Players may only have 3 Magic items in their deck. Magic items are played as a reaction to combat and players may only play one magic item card per combat. Cards are Played after a combat begins face down and revealed at the same time. After the combat ends the Magic items are placed in the discard pile. Players are not required to play a Magic item during a combat. (ex: player A plays a magic card and Player B decides to not play a magic card)

Healing elixir flip one skylander face up it may do battle again (if attacked from another side) and it does count towards victory
Time twister Replace one of your skylanders with one from your hand
Sparx Dragonfly +10 Attack to a skylander for this combat
Winged Boots +10 speed to a skylander for this combat
Anvil rain -10 defense to a skylander for this combat
Sky-iron Shield +10 defense to a skylander for this combat
Hidden Treasure +10 Luck to a skylander for this combat
Ghost swords +10 Attack to a skylander for this combat

Battlegrounds

Players may only have one Battleground card in their deck, Only one Battleground card may be in play and Battleground cards do not count towards victory. A battleground card can bridge the gap between skylanders and cause a combat where either skylander can be KO ed. This can cause interesting combats because the stat that is used is the one that borders the Battleground card. When in combat with multiple skylanders each skylander uses the stat that shares a side with the Battleground and the highest number wins. Placing a skylander next to a battleground causes a new combat to begin with all skylanders that are next to the battleground.


Catapult acts as a normal battleground
Dragonfire Cannon acts as a normal Battleground
Golden Dragonfire Cannon Each skylander compares only their luck stat to find the winner.

I'm not exactly clear on how the giants work and also when we get the S3 characters will we be able to go straight from S1 to S3 or will we have to go S1 to S2 to S3.

Would everyone watching this thread kindly visit this one for a different game involving Skylanders. My own version of the game, with rules for every figure, including Location Pieces, Magic Items, Battle Items, Swap-Force, Giants, and other special rules, Behold: The Skylanders Card Game.

Wouldn't Dragons Peak be a bonus for the fire element?

I'm currently planning something

oops yep you are correct.