Arcs

Here is a general overview of how to play Arcs, broken down into the setup, how turns and rounds work, and how the game ends.

Setup

To set up a game of Arcs, follow these steps:

• Place the map on the table and collect the 18 battle dice and 25 resource tokens (p. 17).
• Give the initiative marker to a random player (p. 17).
• Shuffle the 20 action cards numbered “2” through “6” to form the action deck (p. 17). For 4-player games, also shuffle in the 8 action cards numbered “1” and “7” (p. 17).
• Place the 3 ambition markers on their blue, lower-numbered sides in the available markers section of the map (p. 17).
• Place the chapter marker on the "1" space of the chapter track, and put the zero marker in the ambition declared slot (p. 17).
• Shuffle the Vox and Guild cards to make the Court deck, then draw a face-up Court row (drawing 3 cards for 2 players, or 4 cards for 3–4 players) (p. 17).

How a Round and Turn Work

A game lasts up to 5 chapters, and each chapter consists of multiple rounds played until everyone runs out of action cards (p. 8). In each round, players take turns starting with the player who holds the initiative marker (p. 3).

On your turn, you must play an action card in one of the following ways:

• Lead Card: If you have the initiative, you must play an action card face up as the lead card (p. 8). You may take one action for each action pip on the card based on its suit (Administration, Aggression, Construction, or Mobilization) (p. 8).
• Surpass: If you are following the lead player, you can play a face-up action card of the lead card's suit with a higher card number than the lead card (p. 15). You may take actions equal to the pips on your card (p. 10).
• Copy: Play any action card face down to take only one action of the lead card's suit (p. 10, 15).
• Pivot: Play a face-up action card of a different suit than the lead card to take only one action listed on your played card (p. 10, 15).

Players can also attempt to seize the initiative when playing a card by playing an extra action card face down or by Surpassing with a "7" action card (in 4-player games) (p. 10). After everyone takes a turn, check whether the initiative changes, discard the played cards, and start the next round if players still have cards in hand (p. 24).

How the Game Ends

A chapter ends when all players run out of action cards in their hand, at which point players gain Power (victory points) from ambitions they fulfilled (p. 4, 7).

The game itself ends if any player reaches the required threshold of Power:

• 27 Power in 4-player games (p. 1).
• 30 Power in 3-player games (p. 1).
• 33 Power in 2-player games (p. 1).

The game also ends if the chapter marker reaches Chapter 5 (p. 1). When the game ends, the player with the most Power wins, with ties broken by whoever is earliest in the turn order (p. 1).