GEMSLINGERS

ALPHA EDITION

Ages 8+ 2-5 Players 30-60 Mins to Play

Gemslingers, like yourself, are searching for unique gems scattered across the badlands. Discover these gems to add to your collection, but watch out because other Gemslingers want what you have!

$30.00 USD

How to Play

Contents

100 Gem cards (10 copies of each type)

Card backs resemble a cave lined with many glistening gems
10 Gemslinger cards (1 copy of each type)

Card backs resemble a desert with many cacti
1 Instruction manual

Setup

The Cave

Shuffle the gem cards together. Deal 10 gems to each player. Place the rest of the gems face down into a deck on the playing field. This deck will create the Cave that all players will draw from.

Gemslingers

Shuffle the gemslinger cards together. Deal 1 card to each player. Players will leave these cards face up in front of themselves on the playing field for all players to see. These cards represent each player's affinity gem, the gem the player will be collecting to complete the objective. Remove the rest of the gemslinger cards from the game.

Objective

You win the game the moment you have 6 copies of your affinity gem purified in your stash.

Stash

Your stash is designated by the space underneath your affinity card. At the end of your turn, put any number of copies of your affinity gem from your pouch into your stash. Cards in your stash cannot be activated, nor can they be the target of other gems.

Pouch

Your pouch is designated by the space in front of you on the playing field. You may purify any number of gem cards into your pouch. These must remain face up for all players to see. Gem cards can only be activated from your pouch.

Rush Round

Before the game starts, each player may purify any gems they can from their hands. The activation of gems is outlawed until the Rush Round ends when all players are done purifying their gems. After all players agree to end the Rush Round, choose the player wearing the most vibrant colors to be the Current Player, then begin the first turn of the game starting with the Draw Phase.

Play

Draw Phase

The Current Player draws from the Cave until they have 10 cards in hand. The activation of Gems is outlawed until the Current Player finishes drawing.

Purify and Activate Phase

After the Draw Phase ends, the Current Player may choose to purify as many or as few gems as they want from their hand. The activation of Gems is only permitted during this phase.

Ending the Turn

The Current Player may end their turn at any point. Gems cannot be activated during this phase. The Current Player puts any number of copies of their affinity gem from their pouch into their stash. Afterward, the Current Player status is given to the player to the left. The new Current Player then starts their turn with the Draw Phase. This cycle continues until a player completes the Objective.

Settling Disputes

Sometimes the speed of the game will create problems that have to be solved before the game continues. If this happens, a Sheriff may be elected to make the final decision to those problems. Otherwise, you may vote as a group to decide what happens. Finally, if nothing else works, of the players affected by the problem, choose the player soonest to become the Current Player to make the final decision.

Discard Priority

Some gems require other gems to be discarded when activated, such as Sapphire and Topaz. When this happens, discard the activated gem last. If the activated gem (such as Ruby and Aquamarine) targets another gem on the field, the targetted gem is discarded last. In both instances, the gem discarded last should be the gem sitting on top of the discard pile after the spell is finished.

Purifying Gems

There are 3 methods of purification. Each gem card purified this way must come from the Current Player’s hand. Gems are only allowed to be purified during the Purify and Activate Phase.

Affinity

From your hand, choose 1 copy of the the gem shown on your gemslinger card, then put it directly into your pouch.

Pair

From your hand, choose 2 copies of the same gem, put 1 of the gem cards into the discard pile, then put the remaining gem card into your pouch.

Unique

From your hand, choose 3 unrelated gem cards, put 2 of the chosen gem cards into the cave’s discard pile, then put the remaining gem card into your pouch.

Players must purify gems one at a time. The entire purify process must complete before that player purifies or activates another gem. Other players activating gems may put their spell on hold if it affects a player purifying a gem.

Activating Gems

Gem cards can only be activated during the Purify and Activate phase. To activate a card, you must discard the card from your pouch, then cast the spell named below the gem. Spells resolve the moment they are cast. If 2 players choose to activate gems at a similar time, the player quickest to their gem activation casts their spell first. Players must activate their gems one at a time. It is allowed to activate a gem while another gem is still being resolved, as long as the newly activated gem does not affect players resolving the effects of another gem.

Some gem spells may break some rules. If that happens, such as Aquamarine’s Negate spell, follow the rules stated on the spell of the activated gem instead. To help gems complete their spells after being activated, an activated gem cannot be targetted by another gem and a gem targetted by another gem cannot be activated.

Shuffling the Cave

The moment a player must draw a card from the Cave while it is empty, shuffle the discard pile. The Cave will be created anew from the shuffled discard pile.

Alternate Game Modes

Lightning Rounds

For a rapid and chaotic game, all players will act as the Current Player. Players will draw, purify, and stash at the same time.

Heavy Load

For a longer, more tactical game, players will stash at the start of their turn (before drawing to hand size) instead of the end.

All or Nothing

For a resource depleted game, players win after stashing all 10 copies of their affinity gem.

Quick Gem and Spell Lookup