Mythology: Greek

Icarus & his friends have crafted handmade wings. Day and night, jubilant with their newfound freedom, they fly higher & higher... A trick-taking game of flying, flipping, & trying not to soar into the hot, hot sun.

With competitive (2-5p) and co-operative (3-5p) modes, players win tricks to fly higher in the sky. The winner of each trick moves to the next open space above them on the scoring track unless they fly into the sun, in which case they will plummet to below the bottom-most player.

Every card has two different values which alternate - along with the trump suit - whenever a 5-card is played. With rules simple enough to teach in a few minutes, Trickarus is accessible for those unfamiliar with trick-taking, while also having enough challenge for more experienced trick-takers to experiment with different strategies.

US EDITION Changes:
Smirk & Dagger Games has made the following adjustments for the English edition.
The Lightning Bolt card has a new function. It no longer causes the winner of a trick to fly down the track. 2 copies of the card now exist in the Stormy Weather rules.

Stormy Weather rules:
Add 2 Lightning cards and the second (new) poker chip token.
A Lightning card may be played at one of two times, as the first card of the round when you are the Lead player – or – if you are unable to follow suit during a trick.

Playing the Lightning card swaps the Day / Night chip with the one currently out of play. This will change the Strongest Suits (Trump) from Sun & Moon to Clouds & Raindrops and vice versa. Note: swapping the chip does not change Day / Night and cards are not rotated. If the Sun is face up (Day) it swaps for Clouds (also Day). If the Moon is face up (Night) it swaps for Raindrops (also Night) and vice versa.

This means that Clouds and Raindrops are no longer always “junk” suits but have the ability to be the
Strongest Suits.

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New 2 Player game

A dummy score tracker token (Icarus) is added to the game. Icarus is dealt a three card hand, face up, so both players know what Icarus will play over the span of three rounds. Then, a new set of cards comes out.
Unlike the 3-5p mode, a player does not win by being highest on the track at the end of the game. Instead: One player has the goal of the game ending with Icarus either above or below all the other
players on the score track.
The other player has the goal of the game ending with Icarus between the two other players on the score track.
While both are tested as equally balanced ways to win, players will have personal preferences and strategies. This push and pull mechanic makes for a far more engaging two-paler experience.

Hercules and the 12 Labors is an immersive solo card and dice game where players embody the legendary hero Hercules, striving to complete the 12 Labors and ascend to godhood.

Engage in epic battles as you roll and allocate dice to unleash powerful abilities against fearsome foes, including the multi-headed Lernean Hydra, the flesh-eating Stymphalian Birds, and the formidable three-headed Cerberus. Each triumph earns you mighty rewards like the Impenetrable Hide or Athena’s Instrument, granting the strength needed to face the ever greater trials ahead.

Your journey will take you to the ends of the earth, from stealing the Golden Apples of the Hesperides to claiming the belt of Hippolyta from the Queen of the Amazons. Along the way, mood cards reveal the memories and emotions that haunt your past, testing your resilience or rewarding your fortitude.

Only by defeating each Labor and accumulating divinity can you unlock the gates of Olympus, securing your place among the gods and etching your name into legend! Are you ready to face the ultimate challenge and forge your destiny?

Dark times loom over the kingdom of Thebes. The blind, old king Oedipus left the throne in disgrace and asked Polynices and Eteocles, his own sons, to rule the city together. But power corrupts and ancient feuds call for new blood to be spilled. Soon, Polynices finds himself leading an army from the rival city of Argos against his own brother. The Theban nobles support Eteocles as he maintains precarious rule over Thebes. The young king calls for defenders to man the seven gates of the city, while the invaders’ seven champions lead the attack on the gates. Meanwhile, the famous citadel of Thebes, the Cadmea, lies in disarray. It is as if the Fates themselves have lined everything up against the current rulers of Thebes!

While the common folks prepare for war, the noble families whisper among themselves that the time for new leadership has come, and the time to rebuild the Cadmea is now!

In Thebai, players assume the role of influential leaders from noble families during the tumultuous late Bronze Age. Throughout the game, players are tasked with rebuilding the Cadmea, the citadel of Thebes, while restoring the city’s exports, praying to the gods of the city, and protecting the lives of the citizens as grand heroes spill each other’s blood outside the gates.

The game lasts 10 rounds, each divided into an Action phase and a Fate phase. During the Action phase, players use one Citizen die, and then move their Archon on the Cadmea. During the Fate phase, players may get additional scoring opportunities, depending on their accomplishments and for protecting the city gates. After final scoring the player with the most Victory Points is the winner.

The Moirai (often called The Three Fates in English) are goddesses from Greek mythology. They have set their spinning wheel in motion to weave the destiny of humankind. Clotho spins together the thread of life, Lachesis uses her rod to measure the lengths of that thread, and Atropos is in charge of deciding when to cut a soul’s thread.

As commanded by the three Moirai, the players must create a loom with cards in which various lives will be woven together. On their turn, players choose to keep a card or take an entire discarded pile and place all those cards in their loom. At the end of Moirai, the players score points according to the scoring criteria of Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos cards. Whoever does the best wins.

—description from the publisher

This entry is for the retail edition that has 32 gods and 4 mode cards, as compared to the Pantheon Edition with 100 gods and 12 mode cards. The remaining content was split into 4 expansion packs: Soaring over Olympus, Tides of Poseidon, Seasons of Chaos, and Hiding in the Underworld.