MYST®

 

 

BACKGROUND

 

This game is played in two phases.  In the first phase, players race to build a puzzle of MYST® island—each player (or team) has a complete puzzle that is identical to the other puzzle except for its color.  The end result will be a complete image of the island made up of two different colors.  In the second phase, players move around MYST® island, attempting to reach and control key Landmarks.  At the end of the game, players earn points for the Landmarks that they control.

 

CONTENTS

 

 

OBJECT

 

To earn the most points; players earn points by controlling Key Landmarks and Marker Switches on MYST® island.

 

SET UP

 

MYST® is played in teams.  If two people are playing, each team will have one player.  If more than two people are playing, split the players into two teams.  MYST® should be played on a large table so that both teams can spread out their puzzle pieces.

 

  1. Assemble the Spinner:  Insert the axle of the spinner arrow through the hole in the top of the spinner (the side with the numbers).  Snap the base onto the arrow through the bottom of the spinner.
  2. Deal the Cards:  Shuffle the cards and deal five cards, face down, to each team. 
  3. Choose a Color:  Each team takes a playing piece.  The team with the blue playing piece takes the complete set of blue puzzle pieces; the team with the yellow playing piece takes the complete set of yellow puzzle pieces.

 

STARTING THE GAME

 

  1. Both teams look at their cards.  Based on the point values on the cards (see Landmark Cards and Scoring, below), each team secretly decides which Landmark it would like to control first.
  2. Each Landmark has one puzzle piece with the MYST® logo on it.  This is called the Key Landmark Piece.  Each team finds the Key Landmark Piece of its own color for the Landmark that it has chosen.
  3. The team with the youngest player goes first by placing the Key Landmark Piece that it chose on the board, in position (see rule #4 in The Puzzle Phase—Building MYST® Island, below).
  4. The other team places the Key Landmark Piece that it chose on the board in its position.  If the second team chose the same Key Landmark Piece that the first team played, the second team chooses another Key Landmark Piece and places it on the board, in position.

 

THE PUZZLE PHASE—BUILDING MYST ISLAND

 

  1. Once each team has placed its first Key Landmark Piece, the race to build the puzzle begins. 
  2. Teams do not have to take turns; they build the puzzle, using puzzled pieces of their color, as quickly as they can.
  3. Teams may only place puzzle pieces that touch a puzzle piece of their color already on the board.  For example, if a team starts with the Key Landmark Piece for the rocket ship, the second piece that team plays must touch that piece.  The third piece that it plays must touch one of the first two pieces.
  4. Puzzle pieces must be placed so that the image on the piece matches the image that it covers on the game board.
  5. The Puzzle Phase continues until the puzzle is finished and the tame board is completely covered.

 

 

THE EXPLORATION PHASE—MOVING AROUND MYST® ISLAND

 

  1. To start the Exploration Phase, the youngest player spines the spinner.  The arrow will point to a number on the inner ring of the spinner card; this number is the number of turns that will be played in this game.  One turn consists of both teams moving (just like a complete inning in baseball).
  2. Each team places its playing piece on the first Key Landmark Piece that it placed on the board. 
  3. The team that placed the fewest puzzle pieces on the board goes first, by spinning the spinner, and moving the number of spaces indicated on the outer ring of the spinner.  Each puzzle piece on the board counts as one space. 
  4. Teams may move fewer spaces than the number indicated, at their option.
  5. Playing pieces may not share a space.
  6. The exploration phase ends when both teams have moved the number of times that the youngest player spun.  Except for scoring the game is over.

 

REACHING AND CONTROLLING LANDMARKS

 

  1. When a team reaches a Key landmark Piece that the other team placed, it may, at its option, lay its Key Landmark Piece for that Landmark on top of the other team’s piece.
  2. When a team reaches a Key Landmark Piece that the other team laid on top of its Key Landmark Piece, it may, at its option remove the other team’s Key Landmark Piece.  The removed Key Landmark Piece is put aside; it may not be used again during this game.
  3. At the end of the Exploration Phase, the yellow team controls the Landmarks that show yellow Key Landmark Pieces and the blue team controls the Landmarks that show blue Key Landmark Pieces.

For example, the yellow team places the Key Landmark Piece for the rocket ship during the Puzzle Phase.  During the Exploration Phase, The blue team moves to the rocket ship’s Key Landmark Piece.  The blue team places the blue rocket ship Key Landmark Piece on top of the yellow rocket ship Key Landmark Piece.  Later in the game, the yellow team moves to the rocket ship’s Key Landmark Piece.  The yellow team removes the blue team’s piece and places it out of play.  At the end of the Exploration Phase, the yellow team controls the rocket ship.

 

 

 

 

 

LINKING BOOK CARDS

 

  1. There are two Linking Book Cards in the game.  These cards have different uses, depending on when they are played.
  2. During the Puzzle Phase, a team may only play its Linking Book Card if the team is unable to place a puzzle piece on the board.  The team turns over its Linking Book Card, and then places a puzzle piece on an open space on the board.  A team may not replace one of the other team’s with its piece.

For example, one team’s puzzle pieces are surrounded or completely cut off, so that it cannot place a piece that will touch one of its pieces already on the board.  This team turns over a Linking Book Card, and then places one of its pieces on an open spot on the board.

 

  1. During the Exploration Phase, a team may use its Linking Book Card to jump to any space on the board.  A team may play a Linking Book Card either before or after moving. 
  2. After being played in either phase, the Linking Book Card is discarded.  Each Linking Book Card may be played only once per game.

 

LANDMARK CARDS

 

  1. Each Landmark Card has two types of point printed on it.  The team that controls a Landmark at the end of the game earns the “Value” points on the card for that Landmark.
  2. In addition, the team that controls a Landmark at the end of the game earns the “Bonus” points shown on the Landmark Card if it placed that Key Landmark Piece on the board during the Puzzle Phase.  Bonuses are always worth two points.
  3. Teams that hold more than one card for a Landmark earn Value points for every card that they hold for that Landmark, but may only earn one Bonus for that Landmark.

 

For example, the yellow team holds two rocket ships Key Landmarks Cards; one has a value of 4, one has a value of 5.  If the yellow team controls the rocket ship Key Landmark Piece at the end of the Exploration Phase, it will earn 9 points from these cards.  If the yellow team placed the rocket ship Key Landmark Piece during the Puzzle Phase, it earns an additional 2 points (for a total of 11 points.)

 

SCORING

 

  1. In addition to the points that they earn from Landmark Cards, teams also earn 1 point for each Marker Switch that they control at the end of the game.  Only the Marker Switches that appear on their own puzzle pieces count toward these totals (i.e., the Marker Switches that appear inside the Landmark images do not count towards these totals.)
  2. When the Exploration Phase is over, the team that went first counts how many Marker Switches it controls and announces its points.
  3. The team that went first then flips over one of its Landmark Cards, adds the number of points that it earned from that card (Value and Bonus) to its previous total, and announces its new total.  The team that went last flips over one of its Landmark Cards and announces its new total.
  4. Teams take turns flipping over Landmark Cards and announcing their totals until the last card is flipped and the final totals are announced.

 

WINNING THE GAME

The team with the most points wins the game.

 

GETTING READY FOR THE NEXT GAME

 

Make sure to keep the puzzle pieces for each color separate.  For ease of sorting, each set of pieces has a different color on the bottom of the pieces.

 

For an extra challenge, play the game with the board flipped over so that the puzzle image is not visible.