Cryptozoology for Beginners

Hop aboard the bus on a field trip to the legendary Hidden Valley of the Cryptids, where adventure awaits! Will you capture the best photos of mythical creatures to complete the most daring class assignments, or will you be laughed off the trip?

Each round, you’ll draft and play Cryptid cards with unnatural powers to warp the game and bring you closer to victory. Collect matching cards to complete assignments and earn points towards your ultimate goal – becoming a full-fledged supernatural photographer!

Each round has the following steps:

1. Choose Assignments Deal each player 2 Assignments facedown. Each player looks at their Assignments, then chooses 1 to place faceup in front of themselves as their Private Assignment and 1 to place faceup in the Public Assignments area in the center of the play area.

2. Draft Cryptids Deal each player 8 Cryptid cards facedown. Each player looks at their hand, chooses 1 card, and places it in a facedown stack in front of themselves.

Each player then passes their remaining 7 cards to the player on their left. Each player again chooses 1 card and adds it to their facedown stack, then passes their remaining hand to the left. Players continue picking and passing until each player has a stack of 8 cards in front of themselves. (Note that each player must add the last card that is passed to them to their stack.)

3. Player Turns Once the draft is complete, each player takes all cards in their facedown stack into their hand. Players then take turns revealing and activating cards, starting with the player who has the Bus standee and going clockwise around the table.

On your turn, take the following steps in order: 3.1. Reveal Card: Choose 1 card from your hand and place it faceup in front of yourself. 3.2. Activate Abilities : You may use abilities on your faceup Cryptid cards. To use each ability, you must activate the card (turn it sideways) along with the required number of cards of the same type (see “Activating Cryptid Cards,” next page). 3.3. Complete Assignments: If your faceup cards meet the requirements to complete a Public Assignment, claim the card from the center of the play area, place it in front of yourself, and turn it sideways to show it’s completed. If you complete your Private Assignment, simply turn it sideways to show it’s completed.

4. End of Round The round ends once no one has any cards left in their hand. Gather all Cryptid cards in front of all players (both activated and unactivated) and place them in a discard pile next to the deck. (If a player completed an Assignment that lets them keep a card, they may keep it instead of discarding it.)

Each player keeps their completed Assignments, as well as their Private Assignment if it wasn’t completed. All uncompleted Public Assignments are left in the center of the table for players to complete the following round.

Pass the Bus to the player with the fewest points from completed Assignments (not counting hidden Reward tokens), or the fewest Reward tokens in the case of a tie. Begin the next round by dealing each player 2 new Assignments from the deck.

END OF THE GAME The game ends after 3 rounds. Players reveal their Reward tokens and total up the points on their Rewards and completed Assignments. (Incomplete Assignments are worth no points.) The player with the most points is the winner!

-description from publisher