Overview

Carnuta is the annual druidic ritual where players compete in a potion contest to elect the druid of the year. Players take turns performing 2 actions per turn to collect ingredient cards, manage a set of double-sided Sun/Moon runes on their personal board, and play cards to build columns of ingredients in front of them. Each card is worth points based on the ingredients in the player’s potion. The game ends once one player plays an 11th card, and the player with the highest score wins.

Components

• 72 Ingredient cards (Day ingredients: Clover, Flower, Egg, Honey; Night ingredients: Skull, Butterfly, Berry, Mushroom)
• 8 Starting cards
• 22 double-sided runes (Sun on one side, Moon on the other)
• 4 player boards
• 4 counters (to track cards played)
• 8 Padlock tokens
• 8 Sickle tokens
• 8 Bonus Ingredient tokens
• 1 Ancestor token
• 1 score pad

Setup

For All Players (Center of the Table):

1. Sort Ingredient cards into Day and Night piles, shuffle each separately, and form 2 facedown decks.
2. Reveal the top 4 cards of each deck, placing them in a row faceup (8 visible cards total).
3. Leave space for a discard pile.
4. Create a reserve of runes based on player count: 2 players = 1 Sun + 1 Moon; 3 players = 2 Sun + 2 Moon; 4 players = 3 Sun + 3 Moon.
5. Place the 8 Bonus Ingredient tokens nearby.
6. Shuffle the 8 starting cards and deal 1 to each player (placed faceup in front of them).
7. Place the Ancestor token in front of a random player (they go first).

For Each Player:

1. Choose a board and place it in front of you.
2. Insert a counter in the window of your board on level “1.”
3. Place 4 runes on the first four spaces: 2 Sun side up and 2 Moon side up.
4. Place 2 Padlock tokens on the last two spaces of your board.
5. Place 2 Sickle tokens on your board.

Turn Structure

Play proceeds clockwise starting with the Ancestor. On your turn, take 2 actions (same or different, in any order) from the 4 available actions. You may also use a Sickle at any point during your turn as a free action.

After performing your 2 actions, end your turn by:

1. Discarding down to a maximum of 3 cards in hand.
2. Moving your counter to match the number of cards played in front of you.

When your counter reaches certain bonus spaces, immediately gain the corresponding effect:

• Padlock removal: Remove a Padlock from your board, gaining an extra rune space.
• Bonus Ingredient: Take a Bonus Ingredient token from the center; it counts as 1 extra ingredient of the type shown at end of game.

Actions

Take a Card: Take 1 of the 8 visible cards from the center of the table and add it to your hand. Immediately replace it with the top card of the corresponding deck (Day or Night). You may hold any number of cards during your turn but are limited to 3 at end of turn.

Play a Card: Choose a card from your hand and pay its rune cost as shown on the card. Costs require either flipping a rune to its other side or returning a rune to the reserve (without flipping). Place the card in front of you, forming columns by ingredient type. Stack cards so the ingredient reminder and points remain visible.

• Double cards: Count as 2 ingredients of the type shown at end of game.
• Salt cards (Wild): Stack on top of a card already played. Counts as 1 extra ingredient of that type. Once placed, Salt cannot be moved.

Take Runes: Fill empty (non-Padlocked) spaces on your board with runes from the reserve, without flipping them. You may take only Suns or only Moons in a single action, never both types.

Flip Runes: Flip all runes on your board so they show only one type: all Suns or all Moons.

Sickle (Free Action): At any time during your turn, discard a Sickle token to discard all 4 Day or all 4 Night cards from the center and reveal 4 new cards from the corresponding deck.

Empty Deck: If a deck runs out, shuffle all cards of that type from the discard pile to form a new deck.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Game End: The game is triggered when one player plays their 11th card. Finish the current round (until the player to the right of the Ancestor completes their turn), then each player takes one final turn. Players may play more than 11 cards even though the counter does not go beyond 11.

Scoring: Use the score pad to count points for each ingredient column. Point values on cards work as follows:

• 6 points for each set of 3 specific ingredients shown
• 4 points for each set of 2 specific ingredients shown
• 2 points for each of a specific ingredient shown
• 1 point per ingredient of each of two types shown
• 1 point per ingredient shown (including the card itself)
• 5 points flat
• 2 points flat

Add points from Bonus Ingredient tokens (each counts as 1 extra ingredient of its type).

Tiebreaker: Highest score wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most points in a single ingredient wins. If still tied, share the victory.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• You may perform the same action twice in a turn.
• Padlocked spaces cannot hold runes until the Padlock is removed by reaching the corresponding bonus space.
• At end of turn, you must discard down to 3 cards in hand; cards above this limit are discarded.
• Salt cards are permanently placed once stacked on a column and cannot be moved.
• Double cards count as 2 ingredients for scoring purposes.
• Bonus Ingredient tokens count as extra ingredients for scoring.

Player Reference

Action	Effect
Take a Card	Take 1 of 8 visible cards; replace immediately from deck
Play a Card	Pay rune cost (flip or return runes), add card to ingredient columns
Take Runes	Fill empty board spaces with runes of one type (Sun or Moon)
Flip Runes	Flip all runes to one side (all Sun or all Moon)
Sickle (free)	Discard 4 Day or Night cards from center; reveal 4 new

Card Costs: Flip icon = flip that rune to other side. Return icon = return that rune to reserve.

Game End Trigger: 11th card played by any player, then finish round + 1 final turn each.