KNOCKBACK a TIL THEY CROAK card game, is a grid-placement card battling game.
Each player places their pack of 3 cards face-up in front of them. The game is most fun when players have different sets of cards.
Find a small item to act as a score token and place it in the middle of the play area.
KNOCKBACK is broken into two phases: Placement and Battle.
Randomly select the first player, and alternate play between players until the round is over.
The first person to win a round with the score token in front of them wins the game (see the Game End section).
On a player's turn, they select one of their cards and add it to the grid. Placement will continue until both players have played all three of their cards.
The first card establishes the grid and is placed into the centre of the table. Every other card added must be orthogonally adjacent (no diagonals) to at least one other card (see the Adjacent section).
On a player’s turn, they can either Activate a Card or Rest.
When activating a card, select one of your unexhausted cards. You may take any or all of the actions shown in the top-left corner, and then exhaust the selected card. The actions must be taken in the order shown on the card, and are one of the following three actions:
For example, if a card has a move symbol and then an attack, you must move, then attack. You cannot attack, then move, unless the card's actions are ordered as such.
SINGLE ARROW: Move 1 grid space per symbol in any cardinal direction. While moving, you do not need to remain adjacent, but you must end your turn adjacent to at least one other card.
POW SYMBOL: Pick an adjacent card (enemy or friendly) to punch. To determine the result of the punch, use your attack value and compare it with the target’s heart value. The edge touching between the attacking and defending card shows the values being compared, unless the target is exhausted, in which case you may pick any free edge (see punching exhausted cards).
If your attack value is higher than their heart value, that card is KNOCKED OUT and removed from the grid. No matter the result of the hit, impart KNOCKBACK (see the Knockback section).
ARROW SLASH POW: Take your choice of Move or Punch action.
Once all actions are resolved or skipped, flip the card used for the attack to its exhausted side.
Instead of attacking with a card, flip all of your exhausted cards to their rested side.
Once you have either attacked or rested, it is now your opponent's turn. Play continues until 1 player has had all of their cards removed from the grid (see the Game End section).
Each card has a special ability and has text that describes how the ability works.
There are three kinds of special abilities: punching, moving and passive. Punching and moving activate when those actions are taken. Passive abilities are a constant effect.
The game ends once a player wins a round with the score token in front of them. The score token starts in the centre of the table and will be moved to whoever wins the round. If a player wins a round with the score token in front of their opponent, it is instead returned to the centre of the table (see the Optinal/Advnaced Rules section for more scoring modes).
The grid is boundless, and each cell is exactly one card wide and tall. When moving or knocking back a grid space, it is 1 card space. Cards should always be at least diagonally adjacent, so there should be enough context to make a clear decision on how wide or tall a grid space is; if not, make the best judgment together.
A card is considered adjacent orthogonally, meaning up, down, left, right; diagonals are not considered adjacent. #Add diagram
If punching an exhausted card, you may choose to hit any free edge. You must still use your attack value on the touching edge but can select any edge to take that hit. The edge must be free, as in no card is adjacent to it.
KNOCKBACK happens after any punch. Using the punch direction, move all cards in that corresponding row or column 1 space.
For example, if punching a target card on the top edge of your card, you will move all cards in that vertical column upwards 1 space; if you were punching the card on the south edge, move the same cards in the column but downwards instead.
Make sure to maintain any gaps between cards.
There are loads of ways to keep score in a round-based game like this. Feel free to come up with your own, but here are a few extra:
Speed Round: Simply consider a round the game; whoever wins the round wins the game.
Best-of: Select your preferred best-of length and play until a player has won enough rounds, i.e. best of 3 requires 2 wins.
If you’ve got a few packs of cards and want to try some alternate lineups, try drafting your hand. Shuffle two packs of 3 cards and hand each player a random hand of three. Both players will select one card to keep and will pass the remaining cards to their opponent. Repeat until both players have 3 kept cards.
You can expand the initial pool, shuffle 4 packs of cards and stop the drafting with 3 cards still left in hand.