In The Four Zoas, players draft a hand of cards representing the spiritual concepts in William Blake’s works. Players then pit their cards against each other in a quick trick-taking system. In later games; players use the captured cards they received in the tricks they won, as the spiritual battle for dominance rages on.

Set up

The cards come in four suits: Urthona, Urizen, Luvah, and Tharmas. Divide all cards into decks of their suit. Shuffle the decks and then add 3 face down cards from each deck per player to a common pile. Shuffle this pile and then deal the cards face down so that each player gets 12 cards.

Goal of the game

Using the cards from their hands, players will take tricks. The player who, at the end of the game, has taken the most tricks wins that game. In case of a tie, the player with the highest trump card among the tricks they won wins that game. The player who is first to win 3 games, wins the match.

Lets play!

The Four Zoas is divided into 3 phases: first players draft their starting cards, then players will play games until one player has enough accumulated tricks won to win the game. Finally players will collect the cards they won, determine if anyone has won the match, and if not, reform a hand of cards to play again.

Drafting

Players look at the 12 card they were dealt, and secretly select one face-down on the table to be among their starting cards. When all players have done this, they pass the remaining cards to the player on their left, and then select an additional card to add to their starting cards from the cards they received from the player on their right. This continues until all cards have been distributed, and each player has chosen 12 cards. Of those cards, each player secretly selects 7 that they want to play with in the first game, and the remaining cards are place, face up, in their discard pile in any order they wish.

Playing cards

Starting with the player who won the last game (whether it was The Four Zoas or another game), they select a card from their hand and play it, face-up, on the table. Play continues to their left with all players playing one card if they are able to.

The suit led by the first player each round is the Dominant suit. Players do not have to “follow suit”, and may play any card in their hand. When every player has played their card, any special abilities on the card resolve from the player who played the first card, and proceeding around the table again. After all abilities have resolved, the highest card remaining of the Dominant suit takes the trick. If a trump card was played, the highest trump card wins the trick. All cards played are collected by the player who won the trick and set aside. As multiple tricks are won, trick piles should be kept separate from each other to show an accurate count to all players of who has what total.

Play continues for exactly 7 rounds. A player may not have a card to play in a round if they have had to discard a card from their hand due to some game effects. Conversely, some players may have extra cards in their hand after 7 rounds, but only 7 rounds are ever played in a game.

Cleanup-and reset

Players count up the number of their trick piles, with the player with the highest amount winning that game. The player who won the game selects a card from their tricks won and sets it aside to mark that they won the game. Any player with 3 games won, wins the match. If the match is left un-won, players play an additional game. Players take the cards in their discard pile and add to that all the cards they won in the tricks they took. Using these cards, players secretly select 7 cards (or as many cards as they are able) to play the next game. Any unused cards get placed in the players discard pile, face up, in any order they choose.

That’s all there is to it! Have fun.