Mystory – Rules

Scenario

Sucked into some unknown time vortex, players travel between historical events, encountering a myriad of people and objects along the way. Together they take turns crafting a group narrative by integrating key historical facts and concepts into a remixed adventure that demonstrates understandings of historical themes and causality.

In Mystory, you are time travelers sent to the past to rewrite history any way you choose. Use the description on the Mystory card and any prior knowledge to craft a narrative about how you would use that item or how that person might act!

Number of Players

  • 3 – 5 players

Materials

Mystory Cards represent people, objects, actions, and concepts that characterize a given historical period. Each card displays the card’s name, an image, a brief description, color-coded time period, and domain affinity.

Event Cards represent critical historical events and provide context for the storytelling gameplay.

A card’s Time Period is indicated both by its overall color. History is divided into six major time periods:

  • Red (Prehistory & Ancient History: ~30,000 BC – ~800 BC)
  • Orange (Classical Period: ~800 BC – 500  AD)
  • Yellow (Post-Classical Period: ~500-1500 AD)
  • Green (Early Modern Period: ~1500 – 1815 AD)
  • Blue (Late Modern Period: ~1815 – 1945 AD)
  • Purple (Contemporary History: ~1945 – Present)

A card’s Domain Affinity is indicated by the white icon in the bottom left of the card. Domain affinities represent a way to classify and connect historical figures, objects, actions, and concepts across time. There are six domain affinities:

  • Art & Literature
  • Science & Discovery
  • Philosophy & Religion
  • Politics & Government
  • War & Combat
  • Society & Pop Culture

Setup

  1. Shuffle the two groups of cards.
  2. Draw two (2) Event cards from the deck and place them face down on opposite ends of the table.
  3. Each player is then dealt four (4) Mystory cards. Players should keep their Mystory cards hidden from other players.

Gameplay

  1. To begin the first round, one player will place a Mystory card face up, anywhere between the two face down Event cards.
  2. Moving clockwise, each player must play a Mystory card that matches either the color (time period) or affinity of another card on the table.
    • Cards must be played in a way that connects the two events in a linear timeline.
    • Any card, regardless of color or affinity, may be matched with an Event card.
    • A player may insert their card between two cards that have already been placed if the color and/or affinity conditions are met for both sides.
  3. Players continue placing Mystory cards along the timeline until they each only have one card remaining.
    • If there is a central point along the timeline where the cards leading to each Event card do not match, an Event card is placed face down between them.
  4. The last player to place their third Mystory card will flip the left Event card and read it aloud.
  5. The last player will then begin the story using the revealed Event card and the Mystory card adjacent to it.
  6. Play continues in a clockwise direction. Each player’s turn must build off of the prior player’s in some way.
  7. When the rightmost Event card is reached, players then complete their own personal role in the narrative by each playing their final Mystory card.
  8. After each player has finished their personal story, the game ends. Shuffle the cards up and play it again!

 

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