Scarlyt — Comprehensive Rulebook

Version 2.0 | A deep dive into rules, mechanics, and strategic gameplay

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Game Overview
3. Setup
4. Turn Structure
5. Combat System
6. Card Mechanics
7. Intervention System
8. Victory Conditions
9. Edge Cases & Rules Clarifications
10. Card List & Stats
11. Contributors

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Introduction

Scarlyt is a strategic card game for 2–6 players where you build armies, cast spells, and use artifacts to outwit opponents. The game revolves around managing hand resources, timing your plays, and positioning your board to maximize victory points while defending against incoming attacks.

Key Concepts

• Black Cards: Permanents on your board (Heroes, Creatures, Buildings). Visible to all players.
• White Cards: Tactical plays in your hand (Spells, Artifacts, Bonuses). Hidden from opponents.
• Shield: A physical-damage absorption layer on Heroes. Each shield point absorbs 1 point of incoming physical damage (spells bypass shields entirely). Shields are not health — depleted shields refresh in full at the end of the attacker's turn, just like creature and building damage.
• Victory Points: Earned through building effects and matching card pairs. You must hold 8 VP through a full round to win (see Victory Conditions).

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Game Overview

Player Count: 2–6

Game Length: 30–60 minutes

Setup Time: 5 minutes

Each player competes to earn 8 victory points or achieve one of the alternate win conditions (3 Sheds or 7 Chaos cards).

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Setup

Physical Setup

1. Arrange the 6 decks in a row, face down:

   • Deck 1 (Die roll = 1): Buildings (Black)
   • Deck 2 (Die roll = 2): Spells (White)
   • Deck 3 (Die roll = 3): Creatures (Black)
   • Deck 4 (Die roll = 4): Artifacts (White)
   • Deck 5 (Die roll = 5): Heroes (Black)
   • Deck 6 (Die roll = 6): Bonuses (White)

2. Bonus/Chaos pile: If playing with Chaos cards, place the Chaos deck separately.

Turn Order

1. Online version: Player order is randomized at game start.
2. Tabletop version: All players roll 1d6; highest roll goes first, reroll ties.
3. Play proceeds clockwise.

Initial Draw

Starting with the first player, each player draws 1 card from each deck in order (Decks 1–6).

Important:

• Black cards are immediately placed face-up on your board in their appropriate zones.
• White cards are kept hidden in your hand.

Your Starting Board

After the initial draw, you will have:

• 1 Hero (Heroes zone)
• 1 Creature (Creatures zone)
• 1 Building (Buildings zone)
• 3 White cards in hand (1 Spell, 1 Artifact, 1 Bonus)

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Turn Structure

Phases of Your Turn

Each turn follows this sequence:

Phase 0: Win Check

Before rolling, check the instant-win conditions and the 8 VP condition:

• 3 Sheds on your board → you win immediately.
• 7 Chaos cards held → you win immediately.
• 8+ VP → you win only if you have held 8 or more VP continuously since the start of your previous turn (a full round of uninterrupted 8 VP). Reaching 8 VP mid-turn does not win the game on its own; opponents have a full round of opportunities to knock you back below 8 before your next start-of-turn check.

Phase 1: Roll and Draw

1. Roll 1d6.
2. Draw the top card from the matching deck (1=Buildings, 2=Spells, 3=Creatures, 4=Artifacts, 5=Heroes, 6=Bonuses).
3. If a black card is drawn, place it immediately on your board in its zone.
4. If a white card is drawn, add it to your hand.

Phase 2: Play White Cards and/or Attack

You may play any number of white cards from your hand, in any order, and you may also declare a creature attack during this phase:

• Spells: Either target a defender (zone/single resolution) or target a specific creature/building card (Scorch, Missile).
• Artifacts: Can be played proactively or held for intervention.
• Bonuses: Play to trigger immediate effects.

Attacking

On your turn you may declare one or more creature attacks:

• You choose which of your creatures attack — you can send all of them, just one, or any subset. Creatures that are not sent contribute no damage.
• You choose which defender each attacking creature targets. You don't have to point everything at the same player — you may split your creatures across multiple defenders in the same turn, which is often useful for spreading pressure or feeding the Chaos threshold.
• The damage from all creatures sent at the same defender is pooled into one physical hit against that defender (and is then assigned using the Heroes → Creatures → Buildings order).
• Ring (×2) and Gauntlets (×3) multipliers on a creature apply to its contribution in that pool.
• Each creature can attack once per turn; a creature that has already swung cannot be re-aimed at a second defender.

Important: Once a white card is played, it cannot be retracted. Accept the consequences. (See the Consequence Rule for why this rule exists.)

Phase 3: Announce Damage and Effects

Inform all players of any damage dealt, spells cast, or artifacts activated. Affected players then have a chance to intervene — that is, to play Artifacts (or Chaos artifacts) in response. Intervention is the only way to act off-turn; Spells and Bonuses cannot be played as responses (with the narrow exception of attacker spell adds inside an open white-stack window). See the Intervention System for the full rules.

Phase 4: Gifting (Optional)

You may gift one white card from your hand to another player:

• Offer it face down.
• If they look at it, they must keep it and add it to their hand.
• If they decline to look, return it to your hand.
• Consequence: If you gift during your turn, you cannot intervene until after your next turn.

Why gift? Gifting is Scarlyt's primary social/political lever and is especially useful at 3–6 players. Common uses include:

• Bartering and alliances — bribe a rival not to attack you this round, or thank an ally for an intervention.
• Slowing the leader — drop a junk card into the table leader's hand to push them toward the Espionage threshold, or weaponize gifting by handing them a card that pushes their "cards in favor" count over 7.
• Hand sculpting — off-load a card you can't use safely before your own Espionage check.

The intervene lockout is the deliberate cost: gifting trades a turn of reactive defense for the political/strategic value of the gift.

Phase 5: End of Turn

1. Discard all white cards that were played (unless they are persistent or Secret Ruins).
2. All injured black cards heal completely (damage resets to 0).
3. Pass the turn to the next player clockwise.

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Combat System

Damage Resolution

When you deal damage to another player, the defender must assign that damage to their board in a specific order:

Damage Assignment Order:

1. Heroes (first) — Damage applied to Heroes first.
2. Creatures (second) — Any remaining damage goes to Creatures.
3. Buildings (third) — Any remaining damage goes to Buildings.

Important Rules:

• Each card must absorb or lose all of its health before damage moves to the next zone.
• Damage cannot be split between cards in the same zone. A 5-damage hit to creatures goes to the first creature until they absorb it all or die.
• Healing: All damaged cards heal completely at the end of the attacker's turn. No permanent damage carries over.

Damage Types

Physical Damage

• Dealt by attacking cards/abilities that use physical attack values.
• Must go through the damage assignment order (Heroes → Creatures → Buildings).

Spell Damage

• Dealt by white Spell cards.
• Spell damage bypasses Heroes and is assigned to Creatures → Buildings.
• Some spells also apply extra effects (for example, Curse stuns a hero; Tidalwave stuns all defender cards).
• Some spells target specific zones (for example, Quake targets buildings zone damage).

Damage Example

Scenario: Alice has a Taron (Hero, 3 shield), Wolf (Creature, 1 health), and Tavern (Building, 2 health). Bob plays Tidalwave (2 damage to each creature AND 2 damage to each building + stun all).

Resolution:

1. Taron takes no spell damage from Tidalwave (spell damage bypasses Heroes), and his shield is not reduced.
2. Wolf takes 2 damage → Wolf is destroyed (has 1 health).
3. Tavern takes 2 damage → Tavern is destroyed.
4. Taron is still stunned by Tidalwave, even though he took no shield damage.
5. End of Bob's turn: surviving damaged cards heal; stun expires at the end of defender's next turn.

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Card Mechanics

Black Cards (Board Permanents)

Heroes

• Shield Value: The amount of damage this Hero can absorb from incoming attacks.
• No Health Stat: Heroes have shield and damage values, but no separate health stat.
• Hero Damage Exists: Some heroes contribute attack damage (for example, Xander deals 2).
• Damage Order: When damage is assigned, Heroes take all damage first before creatures or buildings.
• Extra Roll Trigger: Extra Roll only triggers when Heroes, Creatures, and Buildings are all gone.
• Pair VP: Each pair of identical heroes on your board grants 1 VP.

Hero List (compiled rarity counts in Deck 5):

• Ardan (1 shield, 0 damage, 8 copies) — Most common; fragile.
• Drenis (2 shield, 0 damage, 7 copies) — Common; balanced.
• Lyra (3 shield, 0 damage, 6 copies) — Uncommon; strong.
• Revan (1 shield, 1 damage, 5 copies) — Mid rarity; offensive.
• Marius (2 shield, 1 damage, 4 copies) — Rare; balanced offense.
• Taron (3 shield, 1 damage, 3 copies) — Very rare; strong defense plus offense.
• Xander (2 shield, 2 damage, 2 copies) — Rarest hero; highest hero damage.

Creatures

• Damage Value: The amount of damage this creature deals in an attack.
• Health Value: How much damage the creature can absorb before being destroyed.
• Attack Mechanism: All your creatures combine their damage when you attack (you choose target player).
• Buffable: Can be enhanced by Ring (x2 damage & health) or Gauntlets (x3 damage & health).
• Destroyed when health reaches 0.
• Pair VP: Each pair of identical creatures grants 1 VP.

Creature List (compiled rarity counts in Deck 3):

• Wolf (1 damage, 1 health, 8 copies) — Most common; weakest.
• Crow (1 damage, 2 health, 7 copies) — Common; extra health.
• Imp (2 damage, 2 health, 6 copies) — Uncommon.
• Skeleton (2 damage, 3 health, 5 copies) — Mid rarity; balanced.
• Mimic (3 damage, 3 health, 4 copies) — Rare; strong.
• Witch (3 damage, 4 health, 3 copies) — Very rare; durable.
• Reaper (4 damage, 4 health, 2 copies) — Rarest and strongest creature.

Buildings

• Victory Points: Each building grants its printed point value when not stunned.
• Health: How much damage before destruction.
• Special Rule: Shedding: 3 Sheds on your board = instant win.
• Pair VP: Each pair of identical buildings grants 1 VP (in addition to printed points).
• Rarity-Weighted Deck: Buildings use weighted compiled counts (not single-copy uniques).

Building List (compiled rarity counts in Deck 1):

• Shed (1 health, 1 point, 8 copies) — Most common; 3 Sheds = instant win.
• House (2 health, 1 point, 7 copies) — Common.
• Tavern (2 health, 2 points, 6 copies) — Uncommon.
• Blacksmith (3 health, 2 points, 5 copies) — Mid rarity; durable.
• Palace (3 health, 3 points, 4 copies) — Rare; strong.
• Castle (4 health, 3 points, 3 copies) — Very rare and tough.
• Fortress (4 health, 4 points, 2 copies) — Rarest and most powerful.

White Cards (Tactical Plays)

Spells

Spells deal damage, apply effects, or disrupt opponents.

Spell Mechanics:

• Spells stay in hand until played.
• Scorch and Missile require selecting a specific creature/building target.
• Other damaging spells resolve against a defender using zone assignment rules.
• Some spells deal damage to specific zones only.

Spell List (compiled rarity counts in Deck 2):

Spell	Effect	Notes
Scorch	1 damage to single creature/building	Targeted removal. 8 copies.
Missile	2 damage to single creature/building	Bypasses heroes. 7 copies.
Lightning	1–6 rolled spell damage vs defender board	Applies to defender Creatures/Buildings via spell assignment. 6 copies.
Curse	Stun 1 defender hero + 4 spell damage	Spell damage hits Creatures/Buildings (not Heroes), then hero stun applies. 5 copies.
Quake	5 damage to buildings zone	Zone-specific pooled damage; creatures unaffected. 4 copies.
Tornado	2–12 rolled spell damage vs defender board	High variance board pressure. 3 copies.
Tidalwave	2 damage to each creature & building + stun all	Damages Creatures/Buildings and also stuns Heroes. 2 copies.

Artifacts

Artifacts are powerful and flexible. You can play them on your turn or during intervene windows.

Artifact Mechanics:

• Artifacts can be played in main phase and during intervene windows (when it is your response turn).
• Cost: Non-defenders are typically limited to one response before their next turn.
• Restriction: If you gifted a white card during your turn, you cannot intervene until after your next turn.

Artifact List (compiled rarity counts in Deck 4):

Artifact	Effect	Type	Notes
Watch	Destroy 1 building	Artifact	Building removal. 3 copies.
Amulet	Destroy 1 hero	Artifact	Hero removal. 4 copies.
Bubble	Save 1 card from destruction	Intervention	Prevent key card damage. 7 copies.
Staff	Absorb/cancel a pending spell	Intervention	Defensive spell counter. 6 copies.
Mirror	Reflect 1 spell OR nullify 1 artifact	Intervention	Counter spells/artifacts. 5 copies.
Ring	Multiply target creature stats x2	Artifact	Doubles target creature damage and health. 8 copies.
Gauntlets	Multiply target creature stats x3	Artifact	Triples target creature damage and health. 2 copies.

Bonuses

Bonus cards provide one-time utility or powerful effects.

Bonus Mechanics:

• Play Bonuses during Phase 2 of your turn.
• Most Bonuses discard after use.
• Secret Ruins: Stays on your board for 1 round, automatically granting 2 VP at round end, then discards.
• Bonuses cannot be intervened with.
• In compiled Deck 6, there are 7 bonus card types.

Bonus List (compiled rarity counts in Deck 6):

Bonus	Effect	Notes
Fate	Draw 1 card from any deck	Flexible choice of deck. 7 copies.
Luck	Roll 2d6, draw 2 cards	Better odds than single roll. 6 copies.
Fortune	Roll 3d6, draw 3 cards	Maximum card draw option. 4 copies.
Secret Ruins	2 VP (persists 1 round on board)	Grants VP automatically; then discards. 2 copies.
Steal	Take 1 card from opponent's hand	Disruptive; random selection. 5 copies.
Seize	Take 1 building from opponent's board	Permanent theft; immediate effect. 3 copies.
Betrayal	Convert 1 opponent's hero/creature to yours	Turns their units against them. 8 copies.

Chaos Cards

Chaos cards provide an alternate path to victory.

How to Gain Chaos:

1. Deal damage to the current Chaos threshold (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12).
2. Chaos damage can accumulate across attacks during your turn.
3. Chaos threshold HP resets at end of turn.
4. When threshold is reached, claim a Chaos reward card to your Chaos pile.
5. Instant Win: If you ever hold 7 Chaos cards, you win immediately.

Chaos Card Properties:

• Each Chaos card is either Black or White.
• Black Chaos: Play during your main phase like a normal black card; stays on board.
• White Chaos: Play during main phase like normal white cards; artifact chaos can also be used in intervene windows.
• Espionage note: White chaos cards are excluded only when tagged chaos; otherwise they count as normal white cards in favor.

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Intervention System

What is Intervention?

Intervention is the ability to play an Artifact in response to another player's action, even when it's not your turn. This creates dynamic, reactive gameplay.

When You Can Intervene

• Triggers: Another player announces damage or plays an action that affects you (or, for non-targeted artifacts/spells, simply resolves at the table).
• Requirements:
  • You must hold a valid Artifact response in hand (or a Chaos artifact).
  • Attackers may also add Spells inside an open white-stack window.
  • You did NOT gift a white card during your most recent turn.
• Timing: You can intervene after the damage/effect is announced but before it fully resolves.

Tabletop vs. Online Timing

Scarlyt has two equivalent timing models:

• Tabletop play: An artifact may be played at any time, by any eligible player, as long as the trigger condition is open and that player hasn't locked themselves out via gifting. Players speak up in real time; there is no enforced order. If two players want to intervene simultaneously, resolve in turn order starting clockwise from the attacker.
• Online play: Because the server has to serialize responses, interventions are presented as explicit response windows: the defender is prompted first, then other players in player order, then the attacker. This is purely an implementation detail of the digital client — the set of legal plays is identical to tabletop.

Intervention Examples

Scenario 1: Bubble Saves a Card

• Bob plays Missile on Alice's Witch.
• Alice plays Bubble on Witch → Witch is saved from destruction.

Scenario 2: Mirror Reflects a Spell

• Charlie plays Lightning (rolls 4 damage) targeting Alice.
• Alice plays Mirror → Lightning is reflected back to Charlie instead.

Scenario 3: Watch Destroys a Threat

• David plays Seize to steal Alice's Tavern.
• Alice plays Watch to destroy one of David's buildings.

Intervention Order

If multiple players wish to intervene on the same trigger (online, or as a tiebreaker tabletop):

1. The defender gets the first response window.
2. Then other players respond in player order.
3. The attacker is checked last.
4. Each intervention can trigger further interventions (chain reactions are possible).

In tabletop play, this order is only used to resolve ties when two players speak up at the same moment — any player may otherwise call an artifact whenever the trigger is still open.

Consequences of Intervention

• Response Limits: Non-defenders are usually limited after they act; defenders may continue responding while their window remains active.
• Gifting blocks intervention: If you gifted during your turn, you cannot intervene until after your next turn.
• Intervention counts as a play: The artifact is discarded after use.

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Victory Conditions

Primary Win: 8 Victory Points

You win the game when you hold 8 or more VP through a full round. Concretely: you must have ≥8 VP at the start of one of your turns and still have ≥8 VP at the start of your next turn's win check. This gives every opponent a full round of attacks, spells, Seize/Betrayal, and interventions to knock you back below 8 before the win locks in.

VP comes from:

1. Building Points: Each non-stunned building on your board grants its printed point value.

   • Example: Tavern (2 points) + Palace (3 points) = 5 points.

2. Matching Card Pairs: For every 2 copies of the same card name on your board, you score 1 VP. Pairs are counted per unique card name, then summed across Heroes, Creatures, and Buildings.

   • Example: 2 Wolves + 2 Taron = 1 VP (Wolf pair) + 1 VP (Taron pair) = 2 VP total.
   • Example: 3 Wolves = ⌊3 ÷ 2⌋ = 1 VP (the unpaired Wolf scores nothing).
   • Example: 1 Wolf + 1 Crow = 0 VP (different names do not pair).

3. VP Calculation (evaluated at each start-of-turn win check):

   • Total = (sum of printed building points for non-stunned buildings) + Σ over each unique black card name on your board ⌊copies of that name ÷ 2⌋.

Alternate Win 1: 3 Sheds

If you ever have 3 Sheds on your board at the same time, you win instantly. Sheds are weak (1 health, 1 point each) and easily destroyed.

Alternate Win 2: 7 Chaos Cards

If you ever hold or control 7 Chaos cards, you win instantly. The Chaos path is unpredictable but can reward bold strategies.

Endgame: Final Round

When the 3rd deck runs out of cards:

1. The player who drew the last card starts the final round.
2. All remaining players take one last turn in clockwise order.
3. After all have played, highest VP wins.
4. If tied, the first tied player in turn order is selected as winner.

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Edge Cases & Rules Clarifications

Stun Mechanics

What is Stun?

• A stunned black card is flipped face-down on your board.
• Stunned cards can still be targeted and damaged.
• If lethal damage would destroy a stunned card, the destruction is prevented while stun remains.
• Stunned buildings do not contribute their printed building points while stunned.

Duration:

• Stun lasts until the end of the stunned player's next turn.
• Example: Alice stuns Bob's Wolf on Turn 3. The Wolf remains stunned until the end of Bob's Turn 4.

Removing Stun:

• Automatically at end of the stunned player's next turn.
• If the stunned card is stolen or seized by an opponent, it is no longer stunned (card moves to opponent's board face-up).

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Extra Roll (Emergency Draw)

Trigger: If a player loses all their Heroes, Creatures, and Buildings in a single turn (board completely cleared), they immediately trigger an Extra Roll.

Resolution:

1. Roll 1d6.
2. Draw 1 card from the matching deck.
3. If black, place on board immediately.
4. If white, add to hand.
5. Continue playing the game.

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Espionage Threshold

Trigger: If a player ever has 7+ white cards in their favor, Espionage is triggered.

White Cards in Favor:

• White cards currently in your hand.
• White cards currently on your board (e.g., Secret Ruins, or an attached buff like Ring/Gauntlets — see below).
• White cards you've played that are still active this turn.
• White cards tagged chaos do not count; untagged white chaos rewards count like normal white cards.

Strategic note — forcing Espionage on someone else: Because attached white cards count toward the host's "cards in favor," you can deliberately push an opponent over the threshold. The classic move is to play a Ring or Gauntlets on one of their creatures: the buff helps their creature, but it also counts as a white card in their favor, potentially triggering an Espionage discard on their next check. Gifting can be used the same way — handing a target a white card to nudge their count to 7+ — which gives the rule real strategic depth beyond a soft hand cap.

Resolution:

1. Roll 1d6 (result = number of cards to discard).
2. Discard that many eligible white cards from your hand (player chooses which).
3. Espionage occurs once per turn maximum, even if you drop below 7 and climb back above it later.

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Consequence Rule

Once a white card is played, it cannot be retracted.

This includes:

• Spells that deal damage.
• Bonuses that steal or convert cards.
• Artifacts that destroy cards.

However:

• Interventions can still counter a played white card (e.g., Mirror reflects a spell).
• Damage assignment can be adjusted during the Defend phase (as long as hero > creature > building order is respected).

Why this rule exists: Most card games have an implicit "play what you play" convention, but Scarlyt makes it explicit because two of its core systems would otherwise be exploitable:

• Hidden information. White cards are secret until played. Without a hard no-retract rule, a player could fish for information by "playing" a Missile, watching whether anyone reveals a Bubble or Mirror, and then taking it back if the response is unfavorable.
• Reactive intervention chains. Interventions can cascade (Mirror countering a spell, Staff absorbing it, Bubble saving a card, etc.). Allowing retractions partway through a chain would unwind every prior response and create endless table disputes about who committed to what.

The rule keeps reveals honest and keeps intervention chains clean — it is a balance/clarity rule, not a strictness rule.

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Deck Depletion

When a deck runs out of cards:

• Do not reshuffle discard piles into the deck.
• Players who would draw from a depleted deck skip that draw (no replacement).
• If 3 or more decks are depleted, the Final Round is triggered.

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Card List & Stats

Black Cards

Heroes (compiled rarity counts)

Card	Shield	Damage	Copies in Deck 5
Ardan	1	0	8
Drenis	2	0	7
Lyra	3	0	6
Revan	1	1	5
Marius	2	1	4
Taron	3	1	3
Xander	2	2	2

Creatures (compiled rarity counts)

Card	Damage	Health	Copies in Deck 3
Wolf	1	1	8
Crow	1	2	7
Imp	2	2	6
Skeleton	2	3	5
Mimic	3	3	4
Witch	3	4	3
Reaper	4	4	2

Buildings (compiled rarity counts)

Card	Health	Points	Copies in Deck 1
Shed	1	1	8
House	2	1	7
Tavern	2	2	6
Blacksmith	3	2	5
Palace	3	3	4
Castle	4	3	3
Fortress	4	4	2

White Cards

Spells (compiled rarity counts)

Spell	Damage	Effect	Copies in Deck 2
Scorch	1	Single creature/building	8
Missile	2	Single creature/building	7
Lightning	1d6	Rolled spell damage vs defender board	6
Curse	4 + stun	4 spell damage to Creatures/Buildings + stun hero	5
Quake	5	Buildings zone (pooled)	4
Tornado	2d6	Rolled spell damage vs defender board	3
Tidalwave	2 each	Creatures & buildings damage + stun all (including heroes)	2

Artifacts (compiled rarity counts)

Artifact	Effect	Type	Copies in Deck 4
Watch	Destroy 1 building	Artifact	3
Amulet	Destroy 1 hero	Artifact	4
Bubble	Save 1 card	Intervention	7
Staff	Absorb/cancel spell	Intervention	6
Mirror	Reflect/nullify	Intervention	5
Ring	Multiply target creature stats x2	Artifact	8
Gauntlets	Multiply target creature stats x3	Artifact	2

Bonuses (compiled rarity counts)

Bonus	Effect	Copies in Deck 6
Fate	Draw 1 card from any deck	7
Luck	Roll 2d6, draw 2 cards	6
Fortune	Roll 3d6, draw 3 cards	4
Secret Ruins	2 VP (persists 1 round)	2
Steal	Steal 1 card from opponent	5
Seize	Steal 1 building	3
Betrayal	Convert 1 opponent creature/hero	8

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Contributors

• Kenneth Dougherty

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Scarlyt Comprehensive Rulebook v2.0
Last Updated: May 21, 2026
Verified against card data and game code