Spirits of Inori Valley
This is a charming family strategy game with worker placement mechanics and extremely beautiful design. In the game, you will compete for the favor of the spirits of Inori Valley throughout the four seasons, and to do this, your elders will make offerings and build altars on the ancestral tree. Whoever manages to gain the most favor will become the next guardian of the ancestral tree!
The game is perfect for both a light, enjoyable game with friends or family, and for ambitious experienced strategists.
Basic concepts
- Favor tokens. These tokens represent the favor of the spirits, and you will receive and spend them throughout the game, as well as earn points for them.
- Elders. These are your worker tokens, which you will place in the card slots and on the ancient tree plot.
- Journey and Seasonal Change Cards. These cards depict spirits of certain colors, slots for placing elders, the corresponding effects and placement costs, and symbols that will determine the colors of subsequent journeys.
- Altars. You will build altars, represented by tiles, when you place elders on the ancient tree plot.
- Runes. These are special tokens that you keep secret until you decide to reveal them to apply a certain effect.
Gameplay Overview
The game lasts four rounds — the seasons. In each round, players take turns until they have used all of their elders. On your turn, you must perform one of two actions:
- Place an elder on the card. Place an elder in any free space on the cards, pay the cost, if any, and apply the corresponding effect. Effects can give favor tokens, rune tokens, and points for your favor tokens.
- Send an elder to the primeval tree. Place an elder on any free space on the tree, pay the cost if any, and place any available altar tile if it is not already in the space. After sending the elder, apply the space`s effect. Effects can grant favor and rune tokens, points, and other special effects.
You can also play rune tokens on your turn, but sometimes it is more beneficial to hold them until the end of the game to gain an unexpected advantage for other players.
End of Round
When the season ends, you must take the following steps:
- Prepare for the Journey. Score points for the elders on the cards and the corresponding favor tokens, remove the elders from the cards, and then replace the cards with new ones according to the symbols in the lower or upper right corner.
- Return the elders. Remove the elders from the next season`s cell that you placed during preparation, as well as from the ancient tree area.
- Choose a new seasonal change card. The player with the fewest points takes the top two cards from the seasonal change deck, chooses one of them, and places it in the newly unlocked cell.
End of the game
After finishing counting the points scored during the fourth season, players score points from the ancient tree area. The player with the most points wins and becomes the guardian of the sacred ancient tree for the next year!
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