HOW TO PLAY / RULES OVERVIEW
HOW TO PLAY ELEMALS.
Explore the key rules and gameplay formats below. The complete printed Expedition Guide is included with the physical game.
This is a gameplay overview based on the current ELEMALS Expedition Guide, not the full printed rulebook.
01 / THE EXPEDITION · GUIDE P.4
YOUR EXPEDITION BEGINS HERE.
ELEMALS is a game of discovery and competition. Players lead rival expeditions, combining extraordinary lifeforms into teams to meet the requirements of different Sectors.
Claim Sectors to gain Resonance. In the Standard Game, play ends after a round in which 10 or more Sectors have been claimed or at least one player has reached 10 Resonance. The player with the most Resonance wins; tied leaders enter the Final Expedition. See pp.4, 18–19.
02 / PREPARING THE JOURNEY · GUIDE PP.5–13
THE CARDS & SETUP.
Each belongs to a Family — Covalent, Ionic, Metallic or Noble — and has six Properties: Density, Surge, Bond, Lifespan, Flow and Mass.
Tactical technologies that can replace one named Property with an adaptive value of 1, 2 or 3.
Places to overcome across the Emergence, Coherence and Dissolution Epochs, worth 1, 2 and 3 Resonance respectively.
Optional conditions used in the Advanced Game and to operate The Incursion in Solo play.
For a Standard Game, shuffle the decks, reveal 4 Sectors in the Expedition Zone, and give each player 5 Elemals and 3 Protocols. Keep room for discard piles and claimed Sectors. See pp.12–13.
03 / PLAYING A ROUND · GUIDE PP.14–15
FOUR STEPS. ONE ROUND.
COMMIT
Everyone secretly chooses a Sector Attempt or Recycle, and commits 1–3 Elemals with an optional Protocol. A Sector Attempt can have at most one Anomaly.
REVEAL
Choices are locked. Recycle replaces committed cards; players who attempt a Sector move their committed cards to that Sector.
RESOLVE
Apply Protocol effects, check each attempt against the Sector requirements, then determine the result for each Sector.
CLEANUP
Discard committed Protocols, handle Elemals based on the attempt’s outcome, check for game end and restock if play continues.
04 / SECTOR ATTEMPTS · GUIDE PP.16–17
PRECISION BEATS NUMBERS.
A Sector Attempt must meet every requirement on its target Sector to be Valid. Perfect Stability makes an attempt automatically Valid if its team has exactly three Noble Elemals, except in variants where that rule is switched off.
- TEAM EFFICIENCY
The Valid attempt using the fewest committed cards wins.
- NOBLE STABILITY
When Efficiency remains tied, the attempt with the most Noble Elemals wins.
- MUTUAL COLLAPSE
If the tie remains, nobody claims the Sector. All Valid attempts at that Sector suffer Mutual Collapse.
If only one Valid attempt targets a Sector, it succeeds. Any other Valid attempts at a Sector with a successful winner are Failed attempts. See p.17.
05 / CLEANUP & RESTOCK · GUIDE P.18
EVERY CHOICE HAS A COST.
INVALID
Return all committed Elemals to your hand.
SUCCESSFUL
Claim the Sector, gain its Resonance and discard committed Elemals.
FAILED
For each committed Elemal, choose whether to return it to your hand or discard it. If you have fewer than three Protocols, draw one.
MUTUAL COLLAPSE
Return any committed Anomaly Elemal and discard all other committed Elemals. If you have fewer than three Protocols, draw one.
All Protocols committed to a Sector Attempt are discarded. If the game continues, refill to 4 visible Sectors and 5 Elemals in hand. See p.18.
06 / CHOOSE YOUR EXPEDITION · GUIDE PP.20–21, 28–30
FIVE WAYS TO PLAY.
2 players · 10–15 min. Only Emergence Sectors; two visible Sectors; no Protocols or Perfect Stability. Reach 2 Resonance to end the game.
2–4 players · 20–45 min. Emergence and Coherence Sectors only; no Perfect Stability. End at 7 Resonance or 7 claimed Sectors.
The full multiplayer game: Sectors across all three Epochs, Protocols and up to 6 players.
Play alone against a simulated rival. The Incursion draws from Instability and Elemal decks to determine where and how it acts.
Introduces Instabilities: conditions that affect every player and change from round to round.
The Impulse variant can also shorten Solo play to a 7-Resonance objective. The complete, detailed rules are included with the physical game.
BEGIN THE EXPEDITION
EXPLORE THE UNIVERSE.
Discover ELEMALS, its four Families and its extraordinary Sector environments.