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Rules marked with 
are a change from the original game.
Table of Contents
Renowned Mediums are racing to prove who has the strongest connection with the World Beyond.
Ask questions of your Spirit to correctly identify a secret object before the other team. Use Arcana cards to gain special powers and be careful not to give too much information to your opponents!
OVERVIEW AND GOAL
There are 2 teams, each with 1 Medium and 1 Spirit. There is 1 Secret Object that both Spirits know. Each Spirit wants their Medium to guess the Object first.
Mediums take turns giving their Spirit secret Question Cards to answer about the Object. The Spirit writes an answer (Clue) slowly, letter by letter until interrupted by their Medium. The first Medium to guess the Object wins for their team!
These rules is written for 4 players. If you have 5+ players: Add more Mediums to each team. Mediums on a team share their hands of cards, work together, and can pass secret notes. Any of them can call “Silencio.
CONTENTS
If you have the base game, combine its Question Cards with the ones in this box (marked with 
). Do the same with the Object Cards.
SETUP
-
- Split the players into 2 groups: the Sun team and the Moon team.
- Decide who on your team is the Spirit and who is the Medium.
- Each team’s Medium draws 7 Question Cards
and 3 Arcana Cards. They privately
look at the cards. - Each team takes 3 Crystals.
- Each Medium draws 7 Question Cards and privately looks at their cards.
- Together, the Sun Spirit and Moon Spirit draw 1 Object card to share. They look at it without showing the Mediums. Together, they choose which word will be the Object for this game. (They can use the numbers to discuss)
Teams take turns. The Sun team goes first. On your turn do the following:
1.
PLAY ARCANA
Tip: First time playing Phantom Ink? Skip the Arcana Cards & Crystals.
At the start of your turn, your Medium may pay 1 Crystal to play 1 Arcana. Put the card on the table in front of you, then read its power out loud and follow its instructions. Details about the Arcana powers can be found in the Arcana Cards booklet. Then continue your turn.
2.
ASK A QUESTION
(to receive a clue)
-
- You, the Medium, choose andOffer 2 Question Cards from your hand to your Spirit.
- Your Spirit chooses 1 to answer, gives it back to you, and discards the rest face up.
- In your team’s next space on the Pad, your Spirit starts to slowly write a Clue. The Clue must answer the chosen Question about the Object.
⮚Spirits should say the letters aloud as they write.⮘ - When you think you know the Clue your Spirit is writing, call “Silencio.” Your Spirit stops writing. (If they are writing a letter, they finish it, then stop)
- Place the answered Question face down in front of you. You can peek at it if you forget.
– OR –
GUESS THE OBJECT
(to try to win)
- You, the Medium, write the first letter of your Guess in your team’s next space on the Pad, and say the letter aloud.
-
- If the letter is correct, your Spirit knocks on the table. Add the next letter, and say the letter aloud. Repeat until you get a letter wrong, or complete your guess.
- If the letter is wrong, your Spirit puts their finger to their lips. Cross out the wrong letter. Your turn is over.
-
- When you finish writing your Guess, add a period. If you’ve correctly written the Object, your team wins!
There’s no penalty for making an incorrect Guess, except that you waste a turn when you could have been getting a Clue.
At the end of your turn, draw Arcana Cards until you have 3, and Question Cards until you reach your Hand Size, which starts at 7. Some Arcana powers increase your Hand Size!
STRATEGY TIP
Mediums: Say “Silencio” as soon as you can. It’s better to say “Silencio” early so the other team doesn’t get too much info.
Spirits: Choose a Clue that will be clear to your Medium after only a few letters. Write slowly; give them time to say “Silencio.”
CLUES
- Clues must answer the chosen Question Card about the Object
- Clues can only contain letters and spaces (leave out other characters)
- Write Clues in all capital letters
- Clues should be in a language everyone knows
- Clues cannot contain any form of the Object (e.g. if the Object is “Airplane,” you can’t answer “Air” or “Plane” or “Deplaning”)
Otherwise, Spirits use whatever Clue they like—dictionary words, proper nouns, and made up words are all okay! You can even use multiple-word phrases, but careful: they often give away too much.
EYE SPACES
When your team starts a turn at a space with an Eye icon, your team’s Medium asks to see the next letter of any Clue on the Pad (from either team). The Spirit who wrote that Clue adds the next letter to the Clue. Then your team continues your turn as normal.
You can do this before or after playing your Arcana for the turn, your choice.
PLAY ARCANA REVERSED
Want new Question Cards? Each turn, instead of playing an Arcana for its power, you may pay 1 Crystal 
and play the Arcana upside down. Then discard any number of Question Cards, and draw that many.
EXAMPLE TURN
Avery, a Medium, hands 2 Question Cards to Jordan, her team’s Spirit. Jordan chooses the card “What is it made of,” shows it to Avery, and discards the other card. The Object is “Calendar,” so Jordan decides to respond “Paper.” Jordan writes ‘P A P’ in the empty space, pausing after each letter. Avery thinks the Clue is “Paper,” and says “Silencio” to hide the rest of the answer from the other team.
CO-OP MODE
In the cooperative game mode, the Arcana Card powers change slightly:
WHISPER:
Write the letters on the Pad.
IF YOU ASK:
These powers happen on your Sun turn. You can still Guess on your Moon turn.
OFFER:
Only affects your Sun turns.
THE CHARIOT & THE FOOL:
These Arcana prevent you from Guessing on your Moon turn. Always call “Silencio” for The Fool after 1 letter. Call “Silencio” for The Chariot after the same number of letters as dots on this turn’s space.
THE HIGH PRIESTESS & THE LOVERS:
You get their powers on your Sun turns 1-3.JUSTICE:Copy an Arcana you have played.
THE HIEROPHANT, THE WORLD, & STRENGTH:
These Arcana don’t give their benefits on Moon turns.
GLOSSARY
RECLAIM CRYSTAL: Take back the Crystal you paid.
EYE: Take back the Crystal you paid.
OFFER: Give your Spirit extra Questions to choose from
IF YOU ASK: Use this Arcana’s power only if you choose to Ask on your turn.
BONUS SPACE: Get an extra Ask action. Use a paper scrap or half a space.
WHISPER: Your Spirit whispers the next letter in a Clue to you.
HAND SIZE: At the end of your turn draw Question Cards until you have this many. Starts at 7.
This section explains the special keywords and symbols that appear on Arcana Cards in more detail.
FOR THE REST OF THE GAME
Purple Arcana Cards have effects that are relevant for the rest of the game. Usually, they give you an extra power whenever something else happens.
Black Arcana Cards have one-time effects. Keep them on the table, but you don’t need to pay attention to them afterwards
CRYSTAL
When an Arcana tells you to Reclaim 1, play the card and use its powers like normal, then takeback the Crystal you spent. This power will let you play more than just 3 Arcana total.
If you have already spent all your Crystals, you won’t be able to play one of these Arcana, even though it would give you a Crystal back after.
EYE SPACE
When your team starts a turn at a space with an Eye icon, before or after you play an Arcana Card (your choice), choose any Clue to learn about.
The Spirit who wrote that Clue adds the next letter to it. If there are no more letters, they add a period.
USE EYE
When an Arcana Card tells you to use a , do the same thing as you would for an Eye space—choose any Clue, then the Spirit who wrote that Clue adds the next letter to it.
Some Arcana will give a with special rules, like Whispering the letter instead of revealing it.
Some Arcana will give you an extra power whenever you use a . These extra powers happen both when you use an Eye space, and when you use a from an Arcana.
OFFER
When you Ask on a normal turn, you always Offer:
Choose 2 Question Cards from your hand and give them to your Spirit. They choose 1 of those Questions to answer, and discard the rest.
Some Arcana let you Offer additional Question Cards to give to your Spirit when you Ask. Your Spirit chooses 1 Question to answer from among the cards you Offered. They discard the rest of the Questions.
The Hanged Man has you Offer normally, plus add in the top Question card from the deck.
In rare cases, you may not have enough Questions in your hand to Offer. If this happens, Offer
as many as you have left.
IF YOU ASK
Some Arcana instruct, “If you ask this turn…”
These Arcana make Asking better in some way. If you choose to Guess, the power does nothing.
ASK IN A BONUS SPACE
You get to Ask an extra time: Offer your Spirit2 Question Cards from your hand, they choose1 to answer, and discard the rest. You can call “Silencio” as they write the Clue.
It’s exactly the same as choosing to Ask on your turn, except it happens in an extra space. Use a scrap of paper for the Bonus Space, or divide the current space on the Pad in half and use the other half.
After resolving the Arcana Card’s extra Ask, you take the rest of your turn and Ask again in the normal space for the turn! (These Arcana don’t allow you to use your turn for a Guess.)
WHISPER A LETTER
When you are instructed to Whisper a letter, your Spirit Whispers the next letter in the chosen Clue to you. The other team doesn’t get to know the Whispered letter.
You may write the letter down to remember it. Then your Spirit adds a blank where that letter would go in the Clue. For example, “BR_”.
When using a on a Clue with a Whispered letter, the team using the can choose to fill in the next blank or can reveal the next letter after all of the blanks.
HAND SIZE
Some Arcana increase your Hand Size for Question Cards; for the rest of the game, when your turn ends, you draw Questions until your each your new Hand Size.
General Questions
How do I play with more than 4 players?
Add more Mediums to each team. Mediums on a team share their hand of cards, work together, and can whisper and pass secret notes. Any of them can call “Silencio.”
What happens if the Medium doesn’t say “Silencio”?
If the Spirit writes the last letter of a Clue without the Medium calling “Silencio,” they add a period to the end of the Clue to show the word is complete. If the Spirit finishes the word but the Medium calls “Silencio” before the Spirit writes a period, the Spirit doesn’t need to add the period. Keep the other team guessing about whether the word is finished!
What if I don’t like any of my Question Cards?
Once per game, each team’s Medium may discard their Question Cards face up and draw 7 new ones.
What if all the spaces on the Pad are full?
If neither team correctly GUESSES THE OBJECT in 8 rounds, both teams lose.
Can I look up how to spell things?
Phantom Ink isn’t a spelling game. Anyone can look up how to spell specific words. Spirits can also look up facts if they want. Mediums shouldn’t look up facts, and should be especially careful not to try to figure out Clues by putting the first few letters into a search engine.
Table talk
Spirits can’t give any additional guidance. Be careful to avoid saying things like “this Clue is going to be hard.”
What if the Spirits can't decide on the Object to use for the game?
If the Spirits don’t agree on which Object to us, randomly choose an object (for example, you can roll dice)
Are these questions grammatically correct?
Certain Question Cards in Phantom Ink end in a preposition, which some guidelines say is incorrect grammar. We think the questions are clearer this way, even if they’re a bit more casual.
Do I have to use an Eye space if I don't want to?
Yes. It’s rarely a problem to ask for another letter on an opponent’s clue. Doing so almost always helps you more than it helps the other team.
Do I have to GUESS THE OBJECT if it's my 8th turn?
No, but you should.
Can a Spirit look at the other team's Question cards?
If your group is very competitive, Spirits shouldn’t peek at each others’ questions. But if everyone agrees that it’s more fun to let the Spirits peek, go ahead.
Why do the Question Cards have their categories printed both directions?
So you can lift one side to peek at the category, like in Blackjack!
What happens if a Medium misspells the Object when GUESSING THE OBJECT?
Be charitable. If it’s clear that the player knows what the Object is, but just forgot how to spell it, we recommend letting it count. Remember: Mediums can look up how to spell words if they wish.