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ION Rules Web

The document describes the rules of a chemistry-themed card game called ION. Players draft element and ion cards over three rounds to form neutral compounds and collect noble gases for points. Players can use action tiles to modify their turns by selecting extra cards, taking from the center, or rearranging cards. Points are scored for neutral compounds and noble gases at the end of each round based on their makeup.

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Donato Tocco
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86 views

ION Rules Web

The document describes the rules of a chemistry-themed card game called ION. Players draft element and ion cards over three rounds to form neutral compounds and collect noble gases for points. Players can use action tiles to modify their turns by selecting extra cards, taking from the center, or rearranging cards. Points are scored for neutral compounds and noble gases at the end of each round based on their makeup.

Uploaded by

Donato Tocco
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 8

A Compound Building Game

-The Rules-

h a video of the rules here!


Scan the QR Code to watc

Game Design: John Coveyou


Game Development: John Coveyou & Shelley Spence
Graphic Design: Tomasz Bogusz
Art & Illustrations: Matt Franklin & Tomasz Bogusz
Ion: A Compound Building Game
A chemistry card game about Ionic Bonding,
for 2-7 scientists
OBJECTIVE
ION is a simple card drafting game where players select
from a number of available element and ion cards with
the goal of creating neutrally charged compounds and
sets of Noble Gases.

The Game in a Nutshell: select one of those cards


Each player is dealt eight Drafting Cards and must
se to either “bond” their
and then pass the remaining. Players must choo
sibly to form an ionic
selected card with another ion or set it alone (pos
already neutral) . Players
bond at a later time or because the element is
of neutrally balanced
score points based upon the type and quantity
collect. Players may gain
compounds they construct and noble gases they
s, which are listed on the
additional points for building specific compound
a set of Action Tiles which
Compound Goal Cards. Players also have available
game. After thre e rounds,
award them additional moves throughout the
subtract points from Action
players add their total scores from each round,
wins!
Tiles used, and the player with the most points

GAME COMPONENTS
Compound Goal Cards Action Tiles Drafting Cards
(9 Cards) (21 Tiles) (94 Cards)
1 Acid Compound Card 7 Select Two Tiles 50 Charged Ion Cards
2 Base Compound Cards 7 Take From Center Tiles 18 Neutral Noble Gas Cards
4 Salt Compound Cards 7 RXN (Reaction) Tiles 6 Transition Metal Cards
1 Noble Gas Goal Card 6 Polyatomic Cards
1 Neutralization Card 14 Radioactive Element Cards

Page 2
GAME SETUP
Setting Up the Action Tiles
Step 1 : Match each trio of “Select Two”,
“Take From Center”, and “RXN” Action
Tiles according to the letter on the point
side of the tiles. MATCH
Step 2 : Flip these matches face down and randomly give one trio
to each player.

Step 3 : Remove the unused Action Tiles from


the game.

* Each player should now have one of each of the three Action Tiles in front of them (point side
down): “Select Two”, “Take from Center”, and “RXN”. IMPORTANT! Players should not look at the
point side of these tiles until they are played during the game. *
Setting Up the Drafting Ca
rds
Step 4 : Separate the Draftin
g Cards from the
Goal Cards. If playing with few
er than
5 players, remove the 5+ pla
yer Goal
Cards. Then shuffle each dec
k separately.
Step 5 : Flip four Drafti
ng Cards face up in the
center of the table. If an
y
same, continue drawing of the cards are the
cards until all four cards
unique. are
Step 6 : Now, deal eight Dra
fting Cards to each player.
makes up a player’s hand. This
Setting Up the Goal Cards *5 or more
Step 7 : Randomly flip tw players
o Goal Cards face up in the
center of the table.
* If playing with 5+ player
s, flip three Goal Cards inst
ead of two.*

Page 3
GAMEPLAY-THREE ROUNDS
Gameplay takes place over three rounds. The process for each round
is exactly the same until the final scores are counted at the end of
round three.

Step 1 : Each player will select one Drafting Card from their hand and place that
Drafting Card face down in front of them.
Step 2 : Once all players have completed Step 1, all players will reveal their
selected card at the same time.

Next, they
will either
(1) Bond that Drafting Card to an
ion within their player area (only
cards with opposing charges are Bonded Ion Cards
capable of bonding).
-OR_
(2) Lay the card unbonded in their player area. Once a card has been placed,
bonded or unbonded, it may not be moved. (For more details see the Scoring
Section on page 6)

*At any point during the game you


may cho ose to use any of your Action
Tiles to modify your turn. See Action
Tiles section on page 5 for details.*
Non-Bonded Ion Cards
Step 3 : Now, all players should pass their remaining Drafting Cards to the player
on their left.

Step 4 : Repeat the selection process from Step 1 to Step 3 until all players hold
only two Drafting Cards, which they will then discard.

Step 5 : Score Points for that round (See Scoring Section on page 6).

Page 4
ACTION TILES
At any point during the game, a player may cho ose to play any
number of their Action Tiles.

The “Select Two” and the “Take From Center” Action Tiles will resolve immediately
(meaning that a player will perform the action described below right away).
However, the “RXN” Action Tile will not be resolved until all players have discarded
the last two Drafting Cards from their hands at the end of the round.

Drafting
Drafting
Drafting

Drafting
Drafting

By flipping the “RXN” Action Tile, a player may


rearrange any or all of the Drafting Cards in their player area
and/or take any one non-scoring Drafting Card from another
player’s area and play it in their own player area.
(see note below about non-scoring cards).
The “RXN” Action Tile may be flipped at any point during a
round and that player may rearrange the cards in their player area
immediately; however, a player may not take the non-scoring Drafting Cards from
an opposing player until that opposing player has discarded their last two cards.

* On the point side of these Action Tiles is a number from -1 to -4.


These are point values that will be subtracted from a player’s score at
the end of the game. Each trio of “Select Two”, “Take From Center”, and
“RXN” Action Tiles add up to -9.
* If multiple players flip RXN Action Tiles in the same round, then these
tiles are resolved in the order they were flipped.
* Cards that are part of scoring Compounds (neutral compounds) and
Noble Gas cards may not be taken. However, a +2 charged cation (Mg or
Ca), bonded to only one anion (ions with a negative charge) are both
non-scoring and thus susceptible to being taken.

Page 5
SCORING
End of Round Scoring
Points are scored only for Drafting Cards which are part of neutral compounds and
for all Noble Gas cards. All other cards with a charge score 0 points. Take the steps
below to calculate how many points a player scores from their cards. If this is the
end of the first or second round, collect and reshuffle all cards and then repeat
Steps 4 through 7 of the Game Setup section and then all steps from “What to do
during a Round” and “End of Round Scoring” for the next round(s) of game play.

(1) Score Neutral Compounds


A neutral compound consists of cards that have an equal number of positive and
negative charges so that they balance out.
For example, the +1 charge of a cation (positively
charged ion card) will be balanced out if bonded to
(or paired with) any anion (negatively charged ion
card) with a -1 charge. I.e. fluoride, chloride, or
hydroxide. However, a +2 charged cation will need
two of the same anions to balance out the +2 charge.
To count the points for a Neutral Compound, simply add the point value of each
card within that neutral compound.

(2) Score Noble Gases


Noble Gases have no charge; therefore,
they do not bond. Instead, Noble
Gas cards are scored individually and in
groups with other Noble Gas Cards. Any
single Noble Gas card scores 2 points, two different Noble Gas Cards score 5 points
and three different Noble Gas Cards score 9 points. The point values from Sets of
Noble Gas Cards are added together. See the examples above for more details.
(3) Score Compound Goal Cards
Neutral compounds within a player’s area, which are listed on
any of the Compound Goal Cards, will score additional points.
2/5 - If the bonus card has 2/5 listed, players earn
2 points for building one item on that Goal
Card and 5 points for building both items listed.
3/7 - If the bonus card has 3/7 listed, players earn
3 points for building one item on that Goal Card
and 7 points for building both items listed.
End of Game Scoring
If this is the end of the third round,
add points from all three rounds and
subtract points from Action Tiles used.
Subtract 6 points from your final score
The player with the most points wins!
Page 6
Transition Metal Cards
*To play with the Transition Metals Variance,
shuffle the Transition Metals cards into the
Drafting Deck.

Transition metal cards bear


two different charges.
Players may cho ose either
charge by rotating the
card 180 degrees. Once a
player has passed their
hand, they may not change the Transition
Metal’s charge. The charge in the upper left
corner of the card (like all other Drafting Cards)
will be the one counted for scoring.

* If a player uses the RXN Action Tile, they may also rotate any of their Transition
Metal Cards to change its charge.*

Polyatomic Ion Cards


To play with the Polyatomic Variance, shuffle the Polyatomic cards into the
Drafting Deck. Polyatomic Ion cards are played
and bonded just like all other ion cards, except
that a player may cho ose from two different
scoring options.

(1) Receive the number of points


shown on the card.

-OR_
(2) Refresh any one exhausted Action
Tile by flipping it back point side down.
If you cho ose to refresh an exhausted Action
Tile, it is not flipped point side down until
points are scored for that round.

Page 7
Radioactive Card Expansion (3 to 7 Players)
To play with the Radioactive Card Expansion, shuffle the Radioactive cards into the
Drafting Deck. Instead of dealing each player 8 cards, deal them 9 cards to start.
Continue with game setup and gameplay as indicated in the regular rules with the
following exceptions:
* Radioactive cards are NOT reshuffled after rounds, rather they stay in front of
each player.
Players score points from Radioactive cards in two ways:
(1) End of Round Scoring
Radioactive cards only score “End of Round” points for the round they were played.
They are then held until the end of the game for “End of Game Scoring”.
3-4 players: If a player is the only person to flip a Radioactive card that turn, keep
that Radioactive card face up, showing it is worth 2 points for that round. If two
or more players flip a Radioactive card that turn, each of them should turn that
Radioactive card 90 degrees, showing that these cards are worth 0 points that
round.
5-7 players: In a 5 to 7 player game, the following point structure is added. If three
players flip a Radioactive card that turn, all three players should flip that Radio-
active card face down. Radioactive cards score points based upon the number of
players according to the description below.
If 1 person plays a Radioactive card during a given turn: +3 points for that player
If 2 people play a Radioactive card on a given turn: +1 point for each of those players
If 3 people play a Radioactive card on a given turn: -2 points for each of those players
*A single player may cho ose to play multiple Radioactive cards from their hand
without negatively affecting their points gained for that round.

(2) End of Game Scoring


End of Game scoring is based upon the total
“Radioactive Decay” a player has accumulated
throughout the game. Each Radioactive
card has a number of Radioactive decay Radioactive
(from 2 to 5) noted on the card. Decay
Players will score points according to their
Radioactive Decay accumulated throughout the
game and according to the number of players in
the game, based upon the description below.
3-4 players: At the end of the game, the player with the most “Radioactive Decay”
receives +9 points, the player with the second most receives +3 points, and the
player with the least Radioactive Decay receives -3 points.
5-7 players: At the end of the game, the player with the most “Radioactive Decay”
receives +13 points, the player with the second most receives +9 points,
the player with the third most points receives +3 points and the player
with the least Radioactive Decay receives -3 points.
Page 8

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