Last Modified: March 11, 2002

Kory's Icehouse Games  Kory's Home At Wunderland  www.wunderland.com

card1.gif (5574 bytes)Pantopia (v2.1)
An IceQuarius Game by Kory Heath


Introduction
Pantopia is a game of territorial struggle, shifting fortune, and elemental magic. It may be played with 2-5 players; it requires a set of Icehouse pieces and two decks of Aquarius cards.

Overview
Each player controls a single-colored set of Icehouse pieces, which is gradually played out onto a growing field of Aquarius cards. On your turn, you generate "mana" (by playing cards, and by using pieces which are on the board), which you use to perform "actions", such as adding cards to the board, putting new pieces into play, growing pieces, moving pieces from territory to territory, and attacking other players, in order to protect your own territories and conquer those belonging to others. Your goal is to be the first player to position a large-sized piece in each of the five elemental territory types.

Basic Concepts

The Setup
Separate out and set aside all of the goal and action cards from two Aquarius decks; only the remaining 80 element cards are used when playing Pantopia. Shuffle all the element cards thoroughly, and deal five cards to each player. Place the deck face down within reach of all players; this will be the "draw pile". Keep a space next to it clear for a discard pile.

To begin the game, turn up a single card from the deck and place it in the center of the playing area. Then play begins, starting with the player to the left of the dealer and moving clockwise around the table.

The Play
If, at the beginning of your turn, you have no pieces on the board (as is true at the beginning of the game), you may add a card from your hand to the board and then place a single small piece, tapped, onto any panel of any unoccupied territory on the board. You don't have to do both of these things; you may choose to do only one of them, or you may simply pass.

If, at the beginning of your turn, you have one or more pieces on the board, untap all of them, and then perform as many "card-drawing" actions and "magical" actions that you'd like (and are able to perform).

Drawing Cards
At any time during your turn, you may tap any one of your untapped pieces on the board in order to draw a single card from the draw pile.

Magical Actions
There are five types of magical actions that you may perform on your turn, each type corresponding to one of the five elements. In order to perform an action, you must first generate one or more units of that element's mana. You may generate as many units of mana as you'd like, but you may only generate one type of mana at a time. There are two ways to generate mana: you may play a card from your hand to generate one unit of mana matching any one of the elements displayed on it, or you may tap one of your untapped pieces on the board to generate one unit of mana matching the element that the piece sits on. When you're done generating mana, you must select one of your upright (untapped) pieces to serve as the "minion" for the action. The minion is the piece through which the magical energy of your mana will be channeled. After your minion performs the action, tap it. That piece cannot perform another action during this turn.

ether.gif (3108 bytes) Ether - Create a Piece
For each unit of ether mana channeled through your minion, you may place a small-sized piece from your stash into any panel of your minion's territory, abiding by the normal population restrictions. The new small pieces come into play tapped. If all of your small pieces are already in play, or if there is no legal place to add one in the territory, you cannot perform this action. When you've used all of your ether mana, tap your minion.

water.gif (3006 bytes) Water - Grow a Piece
Each unit of water mana channeled into your minion will cause it to grow by one size. A small minion may receive either one or two units of water mana; a medium-sized minion may receive only a single unit of water mana. A large-sized minion cannot be grown. If all of your pieces of the target size are already in play, you cannot perform this action. When you've used all of your water mana, tap your minion.

air.gif (2571 bytes) Air - Move a Piece
For each unit of air mana channeled into your minion, move it into any panel of an adjacent territory, abiding by the normal population restrictions. An adjacent territory is one which has at least one panel next to one of the current territory's panels (diagonal connections don't count). When you've used all of your air mana, tap your minion.

fire.gif (2791 bytes) Fire - Attack
For each unit of fire mana channeled through your minion, you may shrink any one of the pieces (tapped or untapped) in that minion's territory by one size. If all of the victim's pieces of the target size are already in play, you cannot perform this action. When you've used all of your fire mana, tap your minion.

earth.gif (3106 bytes) Earth - Alter a Territory
For each unit of earth mana channeled through your minion, remove a card from your hand, or draw a card from the draw pile, and add it to the board so that it changes the number of panels in your minion's territory. You may connect the card to an open edge of the existing board, or you may use the card to replace an existing unoccupied card on the board, as long as you follow the standard card placement rules, and as long you cause the number of panels in the minion's territory to change. (It is legal for this action to affect the sizes of other territories as well.) If you choose to replace one of the cards on the board, discard the card which was previously there. If you draw your card from the draw pile, you may choose to discard it, unused. When you've used all of your earth mana, tap your minion. 

Winning The Game
If, at the end of your turn, you have a large-sized piece in each of the five elemental territory types, you win.

Credits
Game design - Kory Heath
Written Rules - Kory Heath
Playtesters - David Bender, Steve Solebeck, Jacob Davenport, Kristin Matherly, John Cooper, Andrew Looney


All material at www.wunderland.com/WTS/Kory has been created by Kory Heath

earth.gif (3106 bytes) air.gif (2571 bytes) fire.gif (2791 bytes) water.gif (3006 bytes) ether.gif (3108 bytes)