How to play
Revised on November 8, 2021
INTRODUCTION
Let's explore the atlascardgame!
- 180 Match cards
- 18 Action cards
(6 Skip Cards, 6 Reverse cards, 6 Trade cards)
- 6 Atlas cards
Total: 204 Cards
6+, 2-10 Gamers
GOAL
Be the first one to match all the cards in hand in a round.
The gamer with the highest score at the end of the game is the champion.
MATCHING - Match Three
THREE cards of the same category of the same region of Asia.
Example: the card played is a South East Asia water animal card while a gamer has two South East Asia water animal cards.
MATCHING - Match Four
Cards of all FOUR categories of the same region of Asia.
Example: the card played is a North Asia plant card while a gamer has a land animal card, a water animal card and a bird card, all of North Asia.
MATCHING - Match Five
Cards of the same category across ALL FIVE regions of Asia.
Example: the card played is a East And Central Asia water animal card while a gamer has four water animal cards respectively of South, West, South East and North Asia.
MATCHING - Priority Match
THREE cards of the same species. Example, if the card played is a South Asia Red Panda card, and a gamer has two South Asia Red Panda cards. Please also refer to the rules in PLAY.
SCORING
The first gamer to get rid of all the cards in hand gets points for the cards left in the other gamers’ hands.
Atlas card: 3 points each.
Action card: 2 points each.
Match card: 1 point each.
There will be no scoring if the round of the game ends with the draw deck being depleted.
MAKE YOUR OWN CARD STAND
What you need:
Any piece of paper, preferably the strongest but foldable one you can find. The size depends on how large you want the stand to be.
All 60 Living Species
South East Asia
Land Animals
Pileated gibbon
Malayan Tapir
Javan Rhinoceros
Water Animals
Clown Featherback
Clown Triggerfish
Arowana
Birds
Malayan Banded Pitta
Silver Pheasant
White-bellied Sea Eagle
Plants
Palm Tree
Breadfruit
Butterfly Pea Flower
ACTION CARDS
Skip card: The next gamer in line to play after this card is played is “skipped”, losing his or her turn.
Reverse card: The direction of play is reversed when this card is played, i.e., from clockwise to anticlockwise, and vice versa.
Trade Card: The gamer who plays a Trade card is entitled to pick ONE card from the hand of cards of any gamer. He or she must then give ONE card back to the other gamer whose card has been picked.
ATLAS card: This card can be used as joker to substitute any match card.
PLAY
- Each gamer must draw and then play a card. Any gamer whose cards in hand can match this played card must declare “match” explicitly and do the matching instantly, showing the matched cards too. Beside the draw pile, all played cards that are not matched are stacked face up, while cards matched are piled face down.
- Gamers other than the person next in line to play need not draw or play a card after a matching. The gamer next in line must draw and play a card after matching with a card played by another gamer. He or she can do as many matchings as possible within his or her own hand of cards after drawing a card.
- After a gamer has drawn a card, no matching can be done with the card previously played.
- If more than one gamer declares MATCH, priority is given to the one closest to the one who plays the card. When tied, the gamer next in line to play has priority. But he or she must give way to the gamer who has two cards identical with the card played, i.e. all three cards are of the same species. A gamer who shall win with that particular matching has top priority.
- A gamer with only one card left and that card is an Action Card does not have to draw card when it comes to his or her turn. He or she simply plays that last card and wins. If that last card is a match card, the gamer must either draw an identical species card or an identical species card is played by another gamer. This gamer has top priority to take that card played in this scenario. If competition arises, the priority rule applies.
SETUP
Gamers start with 13 cards each person. The remaining cards are placed face down in a draw pile. The gamer to the left of the dealer is the first player to draw a card (the top one) from the draw pile. The gamer then plays a card. The game follows a clockwise direction until a REVERSE Card is played. From the second round onwards, the winner of the previous round draws card first.
MATCH CARDS
All 180 cards are equally divided into FIVE groups, corresponding to FIVE regions of Asia, each distinguished by a specific colour.
- Green NORTH ASIA,
- Red EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA,
- Purple SOUTH ASIA,
- Brown WEST ASIA,
- Yellow SOUTH EAST ASIA.
Each region has FOUR categories of living species:
- land animals,
- water animals,
- birds,
- plants.
Each category has THREE species. Please refer to the table .
North Asia
Land Animals
Siberian Tiger
Polar Bear
Arctic Fox
Water Animals
Red King Crab
Northern Pike
Herring
Birds
Baikal Teal
Siberian Blue Robin
Snowy Owl
Plants
Siberian Bugloss
Silver Birch
Red Raspberry
West Aisa
Land Animals
Asiatic Cheetah
Caracal
Arabian Oryx
Water Animals
Arabian Angelfish
Dugong
Red Lionfish
Birds
Eastern Imperial Eagle
Caspian Gull
Goldfinch
Plants
Pomegranate
Olive
Apple of Sodom
East and Central Asia
Land Animals
Horse
Urial
Grey Wolf
Water Animals
Jellyfish
Amur Carp
Largehead Hairtail
Birds
Daurian Redstart
Black-faced Spoonbill
Pin-tailed sandgrouse
Plants
White Poplar
Pistachio
Peony
SOUTH ASIA
Land Animals
Red Panda
Honey Badger
Markhor
Water Animals
Pearlspot
Zebrafish
Rohu
Birds
Asian Openbill
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Common Green Magpie
Plants
Neem Tree
Mangoes
Golden Shower Tree
