Seeker Of Spells How To Play
Transcript
Hi and welcome to Watch It Played. My name is Rodney Smith and in this video, we're going to learn the two to four player game Seeker of Spells designed by Ellie Dix and published by Mindware who helped sponsor this video. The enchanted forest is filled with lost spell books and your team of mushroom wizards is determined to find the most if you can navigate the mystical barriers, portals, and those pesky other wizards. So, join me at the table and let's learn how to play. To set up, shuffle these forest floor tiles which have this back, randomly putting them face up into a 4 by 4 grid on the table so it looks something like this when you're done. In future games, feel free to set up different rectangular layouts for added variety, but no matter the arrangement, we refer to these tiles as the board. By any one of the board's sides, put this north direction marker with the arrow pointing away from the board and then going clockwise, add the east, south, and west direction markers to each of the other sides. Now, give each person a player aid, a set of these direction cards, and a pair of wizards in their chosen color. You'll keep your cards in your hand and move your wizards to the board. Put one of them into the corner square closest to you at the table and the other into one of the four central squares of the board that is furthest from that corner. So, as the blue player
seated here, I'd put my wizards into these positions and we'll assume that we have four players in this video and that means the other wizards would be placed like this. I should point out a wizard can never start the game on a space that shows one of these symbols known as a portal. So, if there is a portal where a wizard is meant to be placed, just rotate that tile clockwise until there's a spot with no portal where the wizard is meant to go. These are the differently colored spell books and using this chart found in the rulebook and on screen, you may have to remove a certain number of them based on your number of players. Do not remove any in a two-player game, but if you have a three-player game, remove one purple and one green spellbook. And if you have four players like we're setting up in this video, you'll remove two purple, one green, and one blue spellbook returning them to the box. Mix all the spellbooks you're using and place one randomly into each empty square of the forest board, including these ones which are marked with what we now know are portals, so it looks something like this when you're done. Now shuffle the spell cards which have this back and put them face down within reach of the players.
Finally, pick someone randomly to be the starting player giving them this first player token. And that's the setup. In Seeker of Spells, you and the other players will maneuver your team of wizards throughout the forest to collect spellbooks that will earn you points. You'll navigate mystical barriers, portals, and other wizards who will try to steal your spellbooks, but powerful magic you collect along the way might give you the edge needed to earn the most points and win. The game is played over a series of rounds and at the start of a round, each person will secretly examine their hand of direction cards picking one of them to use. Every player has the same four cards in their color each with a letter related to one of the game's four directions: north, east, south, and west. When you've decided on the direction you want to use, put it face down on the table and once everyone is ready, they all reveal their chosen cards. Now, beginning with the person holding this first player token and then going clockwise around the table, each person takes a turn using their revealed card to move both of their wizards. So, let's see how that works. You have two wizards and you'll move both of them on your turn in either order, fully moving one and then the other. Each of these wizards will move in the same direction as the card you revealed at the start of the round based on the matching direction cards placed around the board.
I chose east and that's this way, so that's the direction I'll be moving and I'll start with this wizard. I now move it in my chosen direction until it reaches the first non-empty square or runs into a barrier which can look like this or this. This space is not empty, so it would stop here. If your wizard stops in a space with a spell book, you collect it by removing it from the board and placing it in front of yourself. We'll talk more about collecting spell books a little later, but as you can imagine at the start of the game, there are very few empty spaces, so you will not be traveling very far at first, but as turns continue and more spell books get collected, there'll be more and more empty spaces. And remember, when your wizard moves, it keeps going in your chosen direction through every empty space. So, to better teach the rules for moving wizards, I'm going to create various examples like you might see later in the game and show you some of the things that can happen when there are not so many spell books on the board. If I was moving this wizard east, now it would go from here all the way to here where it's forced to stop and collect this spell book. But, if that spell book had not been there, then it would have kept going. And, if a wizard would leave the edge of the board, the magic of the forest causes it to re-enter the board on the opposite side and continue to move in the same
direction until it reaches a non-empty space, which would be here, and then it would collect this spellbook. When moving, instead of running into a space with something in it, you might reach one of these stone walls known as a fixed barrier. When this happens, your wizard also stops moving. So, in this case, if I was moving this wizard west, it would go all the way to here and then have to stop. It would not collect anything, but its movement would end. Here we have a mirror known as a reflecting barrier. If your wizard would move into one of these, instead of stopping, it bounces off and continues moving, but in the opposite direction. So, if I was moving this wizard west, it would run into this reflecting barrier, but then it would start going east, stopping once it entered a non-empty space like this, where it would collect that spellbook. Now, it is possible that while moving, you might end up in an infinite loop. For example, if I move this wizard to the west, it would bounce off of this reflecting barrier, start heading east, go off the edge of the board, wrap around over here, and then bump into another reflecting barrier, which would cause it to go west wrapping around until it hit this barrier again, bouncing back, and well, you get the idea. Anytime you get caught in an infinite loop like this, choose any empty square within that loop for your wizard to stop on. As spellbooks are removed from the board, spaces showing portals like these will be revealed.
While moving, if you enter a portal with nothing else in its space, you teleport to the matching colored portal on the board and continue moving in the direction you've been traveling in. So, if I was moving this wizard west, it would enter this empty space with a portal, teleport right to this one, and then continue moving west to the first square that isn't empty. If you enter a space with a spellbook and a portal, stop, collect the spellbook, but do not travel through the portal. I should point out if your wizard starts their move on a portal, then you can choose to enter it and teleport to the matching portal, continuing to move in your chosen direction. Or instead, ignore the portal and move from there as normal in the direction played. But, you can only ignore a portal if you started your turn on one. If you enter one while moving, you must teleport through it. Also, if you're moving and the portal you enter teleports you to a square that still has a spellbook, your move ends and you collect the spellbook there as normal.
We've now seen several examples of how spellbooks get collected from the board. But, now let's learn what we do once we collect them. Each time you collect a spellbook, stack it on top of the last one you collected. In this way, as the game goes on, you'll have a growing stack of them. And if the stack ever gets too high, feel free to split it, but keep their order the same and ensure you remember where the top is so you can continue to add new spellbooks there. If you gain a green, red, or gold spellbook, they'll be worth points at the end of the game as we'll see. A purple spellbook will also be worth points, but at the moment you collect one, you also draw the top card of the spell deck. We'll see how these work in a moment, but they will have powers you can use during the game. Anytime you add a blue spellbook to your stack, your opponent with the fewest spellbooks in their stack gains a spell card from the deck. If these were the current stacks of the other players when I gained this blue spell book, then the player here would now draw a spell.
But if I had opponents that were tied for the least spell books, then I would get to decide which one of them draws the spell card. Now that we understand collecting spell books, I can explain the remaining rules for movement. If your wizard enters a square containing another wizard, you stop there and then steal the top spell book from their stack adding it on top of yours. Anytime a player has a spell book stolen from their stack, they immediately draw a spell card from the deck. While moving, if you enter a space that contains more than one opponent wizard, you steal a spell book from each of their stacks in any order you choose and then each of them would gain a spell card from the deck. Just be aware, the wizard who is doing the stealing does not gain a spell card if they take a purple spell book from another player and if they take a blue spell book, the player with the least spell books does not gain a spell card like they normally would when one of these are collected. However, as mentioned, each player that was stolen from always gains a spell card. Also be aware, if you land on another player's wizard when they are on a portal, you stop and you steal a spell book from them and they gain a spell card, but you do not teleport through the portal.
Unlike spaces with opponent wizards, you always move through your own wizards. So, if this wizard was moving west, it would not stop here, it would keep moving until it reached a space that would cause it to stop. In this case, the one here with a spell book which it would collect. With that, we've now covered the rules for moving and collecting spell books, which you'll find reminders of on your player aid. As we saw, you can also gain spell cards. So, let's see how they're used. Each spell will tell you when you can use it in its bottom area here. For example, you can play this one during your own turn. To play the card, you just reveal it and resolve its listed effect here. In this case, you move to any empty square of your choice and then move in the direction on the card you chose that round. So, as an example, when it's my turn to move one of my wizards, I could play this to move it to any empty space and then I'd begin moving in this direction from there, which would allow me to collect this spellbook. This spell says it can be played at any time and that means you could resolve it when another player is moving their wizard.
Here, I could play this to rotate the tile one of my wizards is standing on 90° clockwise. So, if an opponent's wizard was moving towards me on their turn, I could pause them during that move to reveal this spell and rotate the tile I'm on by 90°. Then they would continue moving, but now they would bump into this barrier and stop. Much better than having them run into me and steal a spellbook. You can play multiple spells in the same turn and each one you use, you add to a shared face-up discard pile. We're not going to go through all the spells in this video as how they work is written on them, but I'll share several on screen for you to pause and read if you're curious to see what types of effects they can allow you to use during the game. There is quite a variety and that will allow you to use and combine effects in different ways each time you play. While playing, if the deck of spells ever runs out, shuffle the spell discard pile into a new deck and continue drawing anything you were owed.
If there are no cards left in the draw or discard piles, then no spells are gained. So, to summarize, at the start of a round, each player picks a direction card from their hand, and then they are simultaneously revealed. Beginning with the person holding the starting token and going in clockwise order, each person will take one turn, moving both their wizards one right after the other, following the direction that they chose. Once everyone has had a turn, the round ends and you pass the first player token clockwise. Then a new round begins, but you'll keep the direction cards that were played in previous rounds face up on the table and will have to pick a new one for the current round from the ones that you're still holding. When a player only has one direction card in their hand at the end of a round, they take back the three in front of them to choose from for the next round. Rounds will continue like this until there is only one red spell book remaining on the board or once any player has collected a certain number of spell books based on your number of players. In a two-player game, this happens once a player has 20 or more spell books. In a three- or four-player game, this happens when a player has 15 or more spell books. When a game-ending condition occurs, you finish the current round and then proceed to final scoring.
Using the scoring rules found on this other side of your player aid, you'll now earn or lose points based on the colors of the spell books in your stack. Each red tile is worth minus one point. Every green spell book is worth three points. Each purple spell book is worth one point and every blue spell book is worth six points. For gold spell books, total how many you have and then look up that number in this row. You'll now earn the number of points showing below it. So, with three gold spellbooks collected, I would earn nine points total in this example. You also earn any points showing in this area on every spell card you collected but did not play. So, if I was still holding these, I would gain three more points. Now, the player with the most points wins. In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most red spellbooks wins. And if there's still a tie, the tied players share the victory. And that's everything you need to know to play Seeker of Spells. If you have any questions about anything you saw here, feel free to put them in the comments below and I'll gladly answer them as soon as I get a chance. You'll also find forums for discussion, pictures, other videos, and lots more over at the game's page on BoardGameGeek and I'll put a link to that in the description below. And if you found this video helpful, please consider giving it a like, subscribing, and clicking that little bell icon so you get notification anytime I post a
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