Unconscious Mind

To set up Unconscious Mind, first place the City Map and Meeting Table boards in the center of your play area. Arrange the seven Location Goal tiles between the two boards, ensuring the small location tag icon is facing up. Sort the District Tokens by color and stack them on their matching spaces on the City Map, with the Reputation Point token on top of each stack. Place Freud's Reputation Marker on space 1 of the Reputation Track and his figure on the matching location indicated by the leftmost Location Goal tile (or the next one if it shows the gray tag). Set up the Notebook Tiles on the Meeting Table according to the player count, blocking unused Idea Spaces with Idea Pieces. Prepare the Mixed Decks, including Grief Layer, Latent and Manifest Dream, and Routine and Case Study Client cards, setting aside specific cards for later. Draw and display initial Routine and Case Study Clients, placing Grief Layers on top. Each player takes their Player Board, Insight Dial, and Office Board, placing their Inkpot, Heart-shaped Box Marker, Coffee Marker on space 4, three Idea Pieces in top slots, three in personal supply, and six Insight Pieces on designated spots. The starting player receives the Starting Player Token, and other players may gain additional starting resources based on turn order. Finally, each player draws a random Office Room card and places it below their secondary office room, then draws Routine Clients equal to the number of players plus one, places starting Grief Layers on each client, and sets their Therapy Marker on the appropriate space based on combined therapy points. Place their Professor Figure on the City Map location matching their chosen Office Room card and mark starting Insights on their Insight Dial. Once all players have completed these steps, the game is ready to begin.

In Unconscious Mind, players assume the role of psychotherapists in early 20th-century Vienna. The primary objective is to treat clients by analyzing their dreams and applying insights to help them overcome unconscious traumas. This is achieved by moving through intellectual circles, writing articles, publishing treatises, and most importantly, making therapeutic progress on clients. From a gameplay perspective, this is a Euro-style game where players compete for Victory Points by looking for smart synergies and efficiently using resources to reach both small and large goals. Curing clients is crucial, as it activates ongoing abilities from Routine Clients and powerful end-game scoring conditions from Case Study Clients. Insights, represented on the Insight Dial, are the main resource used to advance therapy. The game proceeds clockwise until the end is triggered, with players choosing one of three main actions on their turn: Treat Clients, State Ideas, or Recall Ideas. The Meeting Table actions, where players place Idea Pieces to perform various tasks, are central to making progress in the game.

On a player's turn, they choose one of three main options: Treat Clients, State Ideas, or Recall Ideas. The 'State Ideas' action involves placing Idea Pieces (small speech bubbles or light bulb tokens) onto vacant Idea Spaces on the Meeting Table board. Each Idea Piece has a pointed end or base that acts as an arrow, indicating which action space it targets. Players activate a different action depending on the orientation of their Idea Piece. An action is only available if there's a free space for the Idea Piece and no other Idea Piece from the same player already points to that action space from another direction. Players can combine two Idea Pieces (two regular, two Bright Ideas, or one of each) on the same action space to trigger that action twice. The Meeting Table actions are the core of the game, allowing players to gain new insights, publish treatises, advance their Professor and Freud on the City Map, and more. Each action space has small gear icons, indicating it can be activated up to two times per turn. Some actions offer a choice between two effects. After performing a Meeting Table action, the Inkpot Figure on the Player Board moves clockwise a number of steps determined by the Inkpot icons next to the used Idea Space. Landing on or passing Thought icons on the Inkpot track allows players to gain new Idea Pieces. The Inkpot can also trigger entire rows of Notebook Tiles or columns of unlocked actions on the Player Board. When the Inkpot lands on the leftmost position of its track, it triggers the Reputation Track on the City Map. The 'Recall Ideas' action allows players to retrieve all their Idea Pieces from the Meeting Table back into their supply, gaining Coffee as a reward based on the number of different Idea Spaces they had occupied. This action also allows players to claim Location or District Bonuses on the City Map if their Professor or Freud is in the corresponding area and they meet the tag requirements.

Victory points are tracked immediately on the Victory Point track on the City Map. Players gain victory points throughout the game by increasing their Reputation, completing Notebook Rows, publishing Treatises, and curing clients. When a player's Reputation Marker or Freud's Marker crosses specific icons on the Reputation Track, additional victory points or bonus actions are awarded. At the end of the game, after the final round, players proceed to final scoring. First, any additional victory points from their position on the Reputation Track are tallied. Then, players score points for their Insights on the City Map: 4 points for being represented in one district, 10 points for two districts, and 18 points for all three districts. Next, players score their completed Notebook Rows on their Player Board: 1 point for one row, 5 points for two rows, and 16 points for all three rows. Completing all three rows also grants one Reputation Point during the game. Case Study Clients provide powerful end-game scoring conditions, detailed on a separate overview card, which are calculated based on various game elements like Bright Ideas, cured clients, Location Tags, and Notebook Tiles. Finally, remaining resources are scored: each stored Heart is worth 2 victory points, and each Bright Idea left in a player's supply is worth 1 additional victory point. The player with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player higher on the Reputation Track is the winner.

The game ends when Freud's Reputation Marker reaches the final space (space 10) on the Reputation Track. The player who caused Freud's marker to reach this space immediately earns 3 victory points. The Starting Player Token is then flipped to its Pocket Watch side, indicating that the current round will be completed, followed by one final round of play. The only difference in this last round is that empty Therapy Slots on player boards are no longer refilled. Once the final round is over, players proceed to final scoring. All victory points accumulated throughout the game are tallied, including those from the Reputation Track, Insights on the City Map, completed Notebook Rows, published Treatises, and cured clients. Case Study Clients provide specific end-game scoring conditions, and any remaining stored Hearts and Bright Ideas are converted into victory points. The player with the most victory points wins the game. In the event of a tie, the player whose Reputation Marker is higher on the Reputation Track is declared the winner.