Rival– any player not yourself or on a team with you who is playing the game.
Historical Figure (HF) or Person– These are your people cards. These will have a brain Icon on the card with a value. The number in the brain icon tells you how many brains are needed to bring this card into play either “In School” or on the “Field of Excellence”.
Brains/Intellect– These cards are used to bring Historical Figures (HF) into play. You must have at least the number of brains needed to summon your (HF). You can summon a Person with more brains than are necessary and still have use of those leftover brain amounts.
Example: Ben Franklin needs 45 brains to summon, you have three 20 brains cards. You can place all three 20 brain cards under Benjamin Franklin but you can still use the additional 15 brains toward putting another Person on the board on a different turn.
*Brains cards are not discarded when the (HF) they are attached to is discarded. They go back into your usable brain pile on the field. Some cards can specifically discard brain cards so please read your cards carefully.
Money/Funding– These cards are spent like money to fund your Moves. Each Funding card can only be used once regardless of if the card’s amount is fully used (unless otherwise stated on the card). These cards DO NOT make change and are discarded after use.
Examples of Funding amounts:
(20 money image) this move costs 20 funding.
(35x money image) this move costs 35 funding for its first use and doubles for each use after (35,70,140,280 and so on)
(10+ money image) this move costs 10 funding but there are more things on this card that you can spend more funding on to enhance or change it.
Activated– This word, commonly found on Accomplishment/Moves cards, means that this card has an effect every turn after it has been paid for.
Gain VS Take– Some moves say “gain two health” and others say “take two health” What is the difference? Gaining health adds to your health total, taking health removes health from a rival and then adds that to your health total.
In School– this is the area of the board where your HFs go to learn. your person must spend one turn placed sideways in school before being able to go to the “Field of Excellence” unless the card says otherwise or unless another card says otherwise. Some cards can be placed directly onto the “Field of Excellence” without having to be placed in school.
Field of Excellence (FoE)– this is where you place your person (HF) who you are actively using. People and their moves are generally placed here after being “in school” unless a card says otherwise, for example, prodigy cards can be placed directly onto the Field of Excellence. You can only have one Historical Figure in the field of excellence at a time unless a card has said otherwise. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for example can call other Historical Figures to the Field of Excellence.
Draw Pile– there are two draw piles, each with separate back designs. Before play starts you should separate your cards into piles with the back that says “You Got” separate from the back that says “Schooled”. The cards marked with the back saying “You Got” are your person (HF) cards and their accomplishments/ moves. The cards marked with the back saying “Schooled” are your Brains and Money cards. The draw piles should be placed next to each other so they read “You Got Schooled”
Each draw pile should be separately shuffled at the start of the game and kept separate throughout the game. You can draw from either pile when it is your turn. You draw a total of 7 cards at the start of the game, these can be strategically d from either or both of the piles but you can only draw a total of 7 cards. At the start of each turn, you can draw one card from either pile.
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Discard pile– This is where you place your cards (HF, Moves, Funding) after they have been used or are discarded by yourself or a rival.
Your hand– the cards you have drawn from the draw pile but not yet played. Keep your rivals from seeing these cards.
Trap– these Moves are played face down to keep rivals from knowing what is said on them. You need to read these cards carefully so you know what they do and when they can be played.
Round– a round is measured from the end of your turn to the beginning of your next turn.
Turn– a turn is measured from the time a rival is finished with everything they can do and says it’s your turn until you are done with everything you can do and tell the next person it is their turn. This is important because often you can only gain health on your turn meaning you need to be clear with all players about when it is their turn so no one forgets to do anything. There is strategy involved in this.
Across the board– This phrase means all cards in the Field of Excellence and in school and may affect our brains and money piles.
Brains and Money piles– When you play brain and money cards you play them face up in front of you in piles of their type so you and other players can know how much money and brains you have available to use.
Mirror/Copy– this means you use the other card as if it is a move of your own, this may include paying for it to be used.