Button Shy is proud to announce that the next game to hit Kickstarter in our Wallet Games series is Antinomy, a 2-player game designed by John Baluci (designer of Kamchatka and Urbs & Civitas). Antinomy is a noun that means a contradiction between two beliefs or conclusions that are in themselves reasonable; a paradox. That namesake sets the stage for the tense 2-player interactions as players vie to seek the power of the Paradox Crystals, and the first person to secure five Paradox Crystals will be declared the winner.

PREPARING YOUR TIME TRAVELING DEVICES THAT ARE DEFINITELY NOT A T.A.R.D.I.S.

Setup for the game is quick and easy: give each player one of the Sorcerer cards and shuffle the remaining 16 cards. Deal three of these Relic cards to each player and then place nine cards face-up in a straight line between the players. These cards construct what is referred to as the Continuum. The final card is placed at the end of the nine cards, face down and rotated 90 degrees. The back of this card is the Codex, which limits which Paradoxes can be formed, and a Paradox Crystal is placed on the Codex color matching the card at the other end of the Continuum.

Finally, players will place their Sorcerer below any card matching the covered Continuum color on the Codex with the tip of the Sorcerer’s staff pointing to the player’s right. This staff dictates the direction of the future for each player. Players may both begin with Sorcerers aligned on the same card, but this does not result in a Clash.

SEQUENCE OF ACTIONS IN A TURN

During a player’s turn they get to take four actions, and they must be completed in order:

1. Discard a card from your hand and declare how you will use it for movement (more on this below)
2. Move your Sorcerer to the chosen destination and take the destination card in the Continuum into your hand. Place your discarded card in the vacated space in the Continuum.
3. Declare the formation of a Paradox, if able.
4. If you moved to a space that your rival Sorcerer is occupying, you must engage in a Clash.

MOVEMENT ALONG THE CONTINUUM

Antinomy has three important pieces of information that are found on the cards: a numerical value in the top-left corner, a color, and an object. Depending on the direction your Sorcerer moves, you will use different parts of the card you discard to determine your movement. When moving to the right, known as the Future, you move a numerical value that matches the number shown on the discarded card. Therefore you can move 1, 2, 3, or 4 spaces along the Continuum depending on the card you discarded - and if there are not enough spaces to move then the card cannot be used for the movement.

Moving to the left is going backward into the Past, and with this movement you look at either the object or color on the discarded card. For instance, you could discard a Purple Feather card to move backward to a card in the Continuum that has either the color purple on it, or a feather of any color on it. Take note that the Continuum does not wrap around itself, so you can never move off one side and appear on the other side of the line. Therefore strategic planning of which cards to use, and when, will be essential to secure the cards you desire from the Continuum.

PARSING THE PARADOX

The key task in Antinomy is triggering a Paradox in the game, which is how you score points. A Paradox consists of the three cards in your hand either having matching numbers, colors, or objects. However, a Paradox cannot be made if it contains any card that has a color matching the Codex. If you feel you have a successful Paradox, reveal the three cards to your opponent for them to verify it is a valid Paradox. Then, take one Paradox Crystal from the common pool and advance the token on the Codex by one space in a clockwise direction.

Then take the three cards in your hand, shuffle them up, and exchange them with either the three cards immediately to the left or to the right of your Sorcerer. Should there be fewer than three cards on one side of your Sorcerer, then you must exchange them with the cards on the opposite side. The first player to earn their fifth Paradox Crystal will immediately win the game.

WHEN SORCERERS CLASH

A Clashing of Sorcerers is inevitable when dueling across time and space. A Clash is triggered any time (apart from setup) when the two Sorcerer cards are located at the same card in the Continuum, and happens after the Declaring a Paradox step. Players will tally the numerical value among all the cards in their hand, but with one small twist: cards matching the color on the Codex may not be used in a Clash (and are therefore equivalent to being a 0 for the purposes of the Clash).

Whomever has the higher total wins the Clash, but sometimes the players may have an equal value. In this case, both players set aside any cards matching the Codex and shuffle their remaining cards and place them face-down on the table. Simultaneously, players reveal the top card and compare the values, with the higher value being the winner of the Clash. Should this end in a tie, the Clash concludes without a winner.

The winner of the Clash steals a Paradox Crystal from their opponent, placing it into their own supply. Finally, the Codex is advanced one space after a successful Clash and play will continue as normal unless this gives a player their fifth Paradox Crystal, at which point that player would win the game.

WIBBLY-WOBBLY, TIMEY-WIMEY

Antinomy is launching on Kickstarter February 12th, 2019 and will be priced as low as $10 plus shipping and will come packaged in our standard vinyl wallet for maximum portability. Prepare your ancient tomes of magic for a Paradoxical adventure coming to a wallet near you.

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for some additional articles that will appear in the coming weeks. We’ll cover some basic strategies for Antinomy on February 13th, and then preview the solitaire play from the expansion that will be released during the Kickstarter campaign (and come included with the base game for all Kickstarter backers while the campaign is running) on February 20th.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUTTON SHY PROJECT STATUS

• Liberation - Almost 100% shipped. Expect the last packages to go out on Monday.
  
• Twin Stars: Adventure Series II - Partially here, waiting on deluxe content. Expect to start shipping in about 2 weeks.
• The Perfect Moment - Partially here. Expect to start shipping February.
• The Maiden In The Forest - Partially here. Expect to start shipping February.