Portents

Overview

What ABG knows about this game

You are the king’s last fortune-tellers, but after tonight he’s going to make another budget cut and heads will roll. The sacrifices are scattered on the altar and the king is demanding a reading. It’s time to make a future for yourself. OBJECT Manipulate the Bird Sacrifice Tiles (referred to as “BS Tiles”) into lines of 3 with a shared attribute, called Portents, to collect Omen Tokens from the outside of the Altar. Use Portents to make sets of Omens with a common attribute called Fortunes. Create one Fortune of 4 Omens or two Fortunes of 3 Omens to win! TURN SEQUENCE Each turn has two phases: Sleight of Hand and then Scrying. In the Sleight of Hand phase, the active player manipulates the arrangement and composition of the BS Tiles on the Altar. In the Scrying Phase the active player performs upkeep on the Altar and collects Omens for their Fortunes. SLEIGHT OF HAND There are 3 steps in the Sleight of Hand Phase. It represents waving one’s hands over the altar with occult flair. Improvised incantations are encouraged. 1. Push The active player may push 1, 2, or 3 tiles off the Altar from a single side. These BS tiles may be pushed in any arrangement as long as they move in the same direction from the same side. 2. Replace After tiles are pushed off of the Altar, the active player fills the empty spaces on the Altar with new tiles from their hand. They may place their tiles freely in the empty spaces. 3. Palm All the tiles that the active player Pushed off of the Altar enter their hand for the next turn. SCRYING This phase combines scoring and upkeep. There may be up to 4 steps depending on the game state. They are performed in the order below. 1. Check for New Portents The active player checks the Altar for any new Portents. If any are present on the Altar proceed to step 2. If not, skip to step 4. 2. Collect Omens If any of the new Portents on the Altar are in a line with an Omen Token, the player immediately collects the Omen(s). 3. Ignite New Burnt Offerings For each new Portent on the Altar, the player chooses a tile to turn into a Burnt Offering and flips it over to its lit side. Every new Portent requires a new Burnt Offering of its own. 4. Snuff Old Burnt Offerings If any Burnt Offerings were on the Altar during the Sleight of Hand phase, check if they are still a part of a Portent. If they are no longer a part of any Portent, flipping the Burnt Offering tile to its unlit side. If flipping a Burnt Offering over would create a new Portent, it stays lit.