“The Dung Beetle, rolling, said nothing...

Contents
64 game cards 12 Karmic Rings
• 19 red cards 1 Karmic Ladder
• 19 green cards 4 player tokens
• 19 blue cards Bonus: dual-card
• 7 mosaic cards portable Ladder
4 reference cards ...and these rules.

2-4 Players Ages 14+ 30-60 Minutes

 Overview
Welcome to Karmaka, a competitive card game that plays out over multiple lives.
You each begin the game as a Dung Beetle, with cards in hand and a small, personal deck.
When you run out of cards, your life ends and you reincarnate to a new life, hopefully one
rung higher up the Karmic Ladder. Make sure you score enough points in each life, or you’ll
have to repeat it. But don’t linger too long in each life, or your rivals may pull ahead. The
first player to achieve Transcendence wins!
Score points, sow the seeds of your next life, and – if necessary – sabotage your rivals. But
remember: What goes around comes around, and your actions have consequences in this
life . . . and the next.

The Transcendence
Karmic
Ladder

Points needed
to ascend to
the next level

Dung Beetle

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 Cards
All cards are worth between 1 and 3 points of a given color. The color of a card conveys its
personality: Red cards are nihilistic and destructive; Green cards are bountiful and swift;
Blue cards are wily and sly. Some cards are “Mosaic,” or wild, and are worth points of any
color.
All cards have an ability, listed at the bottom of the card.
Cards can be played either for points or for their ability, but never for both.

Name

Mosaic
Points Card

Red
Card

Green
Card

Blue
Card

Ability

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 Play Area
In the center of play are two areas shared by all players:
•• The Well: a facedown deck – the main source of cards.
•• The Ruins: a faceup discard pile.
Each player has four personal areas:
•• A Hand of cards (not shown), which only they can view.
•• A Deck of cards, distinct from the Well. It is not unusual for a
player’s Deck to be empty.
•• Future Life: a facedown deck which players may play cards
to. Players may look through (but not reorder) their
own Future Life. At the beginning of each new life,
a player’s Future Life is empty. Karmic Rings
•• Deeds: cards a player has scored this life. Deeds
are arranged faceup so that newer cards partially
cover older ones. They may not be reordered.
When a card refers to an “Exposed Deed,” it
means the newest/topmost one.
The
Well

Deck
Player A

Deeds
Player A

Future Life
Player A

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Future Life
Player B
Deeds
Player B
Deck
Player B

Karmic
Ladder

The
Ruins

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 Set Up
1. Populate the Karmic Ladder: Each player places their token at the Dung Beetle level.
2. Karmic Rings: Keep these handy, near the center of the play area.
3. Create the Well: Shuffle all the cards together to form the Well.
4. Create opening Decks and Hands: Deal 4 cards facedown from the Well to each player,
forming their opening Hand for the first life. Then deal 2 more cards facedown from the
Well to each player, forming their opening Deck. (Future Lives begin empty.)
5. Decide who goes first: The player with the worst luck takes the first turn.

Turn Structure
Players take turns in clockwise order. Each player’s turn consists of drawing a card and playing
a card. (The exception to this is when a player is Reincarnated, described in the next section.)
1. Draw a card from your personal Deck. (Skip this if your Deck is empty.)
2. Play a card from your Hand in one of 3 ways (or pass, see below):

A. For points: Place the card faceup onto your layered stack of Deeds. Your Deeds are
stacked in the order they were played, and are all visible.

B. For its ability: Place the card faceup in the center of the table and apply its ability,
making any relevant decisions. Then, offer the card to your rival (see Karmic Cost,
below).

C. To your future: Place the card facedown onto your Future Life without revealing it.

Or pass: You may skip playing a card if you wish, but only if your Deck has cards in it. In
other words, if your Deck is empty, you must play a card.

Karmic Cost: Playing a card for its ability comes at a price; after resolving the ability,
you must offer the card to your rival. If they want it, they place the card facedown on
their Future Life; if not, the card is sent faceup to the Ruins. So, what goes around comes
around; these cards may come back at you in a future life — be prepared! (For 3-4 players,
see the Multiplayer section.)

It is then the next player’s turn.

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 Turn Structure (continued)

Ways to play a card The

Well
B

A Future Life

Deck Deeds

Hand C

Strategy Tip: Some cards you will score as Deeds or play for abilities in your current life,
while some you will pass forward to your next life. How to choose? As described in the
next section, you only get points for your best-colored Deeds. So new players may want
to begin with the following simple strategy: look at your opening Hand and pick a color
to score this life — one that gives you enough points to ascend. Pass cards of a second
color to your Future Life (to score them next life), and play cards of the third color
for their abilities. Tactical situations will soon have you thinking on your feet, but this
approach should help you get started.

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 Reincarnation
Play continues in clockwise order, with each player drawing and playing a card during their
turn. But from time to time a player will “die” and be reincarnated; this occurs when the
player begins their turn with an empty Hand and an empty Deck. They have nothing to
draw and nothing to play, so instead of taking a normal turn, they Score their Deeds and
are then Reborn, possibly one rung higher up the Karmic Ladder.

Scoring
Players may claim points for only one color of Deed per life. To tally your score when dying,
simply add up the points in your best color. Mosaic cards are “wild” and are always added.
In addition, if you have accumulated any Karmic Rings from previous lives, you may trade
in as many as you wish at this time for 1 point apiece. Then, if you have achieved enough
points to advance up the Karmic Ladder – 4 for Dung Beetle, 5 for Snake, 6 for Wolf, and
7 for Ape – move your player token up to the next rung; otherwise, you don’t move up the
ladder and instead receive a Karmic Ring.

Example
Anna has no cards in her hand or deck, so instead
of taking a normal turn, she dies and scores the
Deeds of her outgoing life. She is currently a
Wolf on the Karmic Ladder and needs 6 points
to ascend to Ape. Her strongest color is red at 5
points, so she spends one of her Karmic Rings to
get the 6th point, then moves her token up to Ape.

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 Reincarnation (continued)

Strategy Tip: Protect Your Deeds! Scoring just enough Deeds in a life is risky. Other
players may tamper with your exposed (topmost) Deed via cards like Vengeance and
Thievery, preventing you from moving up the ladder. So it’s often a good idea to score an
extra Deed to cover yourself. Covering your Deeds with an off-color 1-pointer can be a
great play near the end of a life!

Rebirth
If you’ve just moved up to Transcendence, you win! Otherwise, you are reborn:
1. Move your Deeds to the Ruins.
2. Draw all cards from your Future Life to form your new Hand.
3. Create a new Deck. If you have fewer than 6 cards in your new Hand, deal cards from
the Well to your Deck (not your Hand, so no peeking!) so you have 6 cards total in
your Deck and Hand together. For example, if your new Hand has 3 cards in it, deal
3 cards from the Well to form a new Deck. If your new Hand has 6 or more cards in
it, leave your Deck empty.
Your turn is now over! Play continues on with the next player.

“Limbo Turn”: Note that death and reincarnation consume a player’s entire turn – they
neither draw nor play a card (because, you know, transmigration of the soul takes time).
This “Limbo Turn” is a window of opportunity during which your rival(s) can play with
impunity, perhaps scoring a valuable card while you’re unable to affect it, or something...
less pleasant. Protect your Deeds!

The next player to play may be beginning a new life, in the middle of a life, or about to reincar-
nate. Generally speaking, players will reincarnate at different times! For example, Player A
may finish their second life and reincarnate while Player B is in the middle of their fourth life;
a little later, Player A may be in the middle of their third life as Player B finishes their fourth.
Ultimately what matters is: Who will achieve Transcendence first?

Good luck!

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 Multiplayer (games with 3 or more players)

When playing a card for its ability in a multiplayer game (where you have more than one
rival), the rival on whom the ability was played is the one who gets the card in their Future
Life. For example, if you play Vengeance to ruin a rival’s Deed, that rival may take the
Vengeance card into their Future if they want; otherwise, it goes to the Ruins. If you play a
card that affects only you, each rival gets an opportunity to take the card, beginning with the
player to your left and going around in turn order. If none of your rivals claim the card, it
goes to the Ruins; you cannot take it into your Future Life.
In a 4-player game, players may not play cards on the player sitting across from them –
only on their neighbours.

Variants
Team play: 2 vs. 2
A fun way to play 4-player Karmaka is to play in teams: 2 players vs. 2 players. Allies should
sit opposite one another, so that turn order alternates between the two teams. The first player
to achieve Transcendence wins for their team!
What’s more, this mode adds an additional (fourth) way to play cards each turn: You may play
a card to your teammate’s Future Life! You may also play card abilities on them, though they
are not your rival. (So for example, you can play Longevity on them, but not Thievery.)

“Big Bad Wolf ”: 2 vs. 1

This is an asymmetrical variant in which a team of 2 plays against a single player. The catch
is that the solo player begins the game as a Wolf, while the teammates both begin as Dung
Beetles (as per usual). The Wolf wins by transcending first, and the Beetles win if either of
them transcends first.
Players on the team of two are not considered rivals. As such, they cannot play cards like
Vengeance or Thievery on each other.

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 Credits
Designed, developed, and directed by Eddy Boxerman and Dave Burke.
Art by Marco Bucci, Karmic Ladder and Rings by Lane Brown.
Graphic Design by Scott Nicely / JovialGraphics.com
A big thank-you to our families & friends!
Thanks to Nels Anderson, Aaron Barsky, Adam Beckmann, Alyssa Bistonath, Eric Brochu, Ryan Clark, Steven
Cretney, Brent Critchfield, Sarah Davignon, Ian Deane and family, Mark Dennis, Daniel Dranove, Nathan
Enkel, Andrew Federspiel, Ben Harris, Aaron Isaksen, Hendrik Kueck, Marco’s cottage-gaming group, Billy
Matthews, Andrew Patten, Lee Perry, John Ryan, Lisa Sawyer, Jamey Stegmaier, Miguel Sternberg, Max
Temkin, Jesse Turner, Mike Wohlwend, and all our advisors and playtesters.
© 2015 Hemisphere Games. All Rights Reserved.

Rules FAQ
When you play a card that allows you to play another card (e.g. Peek, Panic, etc.), your
rival(s) first decide whether or not they want the card in their Future Life before you play
your next card. You may then play the next card in any of the usual ways (described in the
Turn Structure section). You may “chain” together several such cards.
If a player needs to draw or look at a card from the Well, and the Well is empty, shuffle the
cards in the Ruins (except the top 3 cards, which remain in the Ruins) into a new Well; then
proceed to draw cards as needed.
Players are always allowed to know the number of cards in the Well and in any player’s per-
sonal area (Deck, Hand, Future Life).
When moving cards from one deck/pile to another (e.g. via Hell’s Heart, Longevity, or when
simply dealing cards from the Well to a player’s Deck), move them one at a time. The card
order will thus be reversed in the new pile. However, upon reincarnation, an old life’s Deeds
go to the Ruins in the order they were scored; simply collapse the overlapping Deeds pile
and place it on the Ruins.
You can always play a card for its ability, regardless of the specific ability text. For example,
you can play the card Transmigrate (“Take any card from your Future Life into your Hand.”)
even if your Future Life is empty. As another example, you can play Dwindle on a rival
(“The player of your choice ruins a card from their Hand.”) even if that rival’s Hand is empty.
In such cases that ability simply has no effect, and the card is then offered to your rival(s) or
ruined, as usual.

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 Card FAQ
Crisis: It is the rival who picks which Deed to ruin.
Denial: 1) In a game with 3 or more players, if you use Denial to play a card that targets a
specific rival (Thievery, for example), it is the targeted player who gets Denial in their Future
Life, if they want it. 2) The card copied by Denial is in the Ruins when its ability takes
effect. As such, a card like Salvage or Recycle can reclaim itself from the Ruins when played
via Denial. 3) You can chain Denial cards. That is, you can play a Denial to play a Denial
(etc.) to play another card. All played cards go to the Ruins except the first Denial.
Dwindle: You may play this on yourself. If you do, you pick which of your cards to ruin. If
you play it on a rival, it is the rival who picks which of their cards to ruin.
Embody: 1) You can play Embody for its ability even if you have no Deeds (or just another
Embody) on the table. It will, however, do nothing. 2) If one of your Deeds is a Mimic, you
can play Embody to copy the Mimic to subsequently copy a rival’s exposed Deed.
Mimic: 1) You can play Mimic for its ability to copy a rival’s Embody (if it’s their exposed
Deed) to then copy any of your own Deeds. 2) In a game with 3 or more players, if you use
Mimic to copy rival A’s Deed (Spite, for example) which you in turn use to target rival B, it
is rival B that gets the Mimic in their Future Life, if they want it. (That’s Karma: the victim
gets the card.) 3) In a 4-player game you may Mimic the Deed of the player sitting across
from you, but you may not play the copied Deed’s effect on them. 4) If a rival’s exposed
Deed is a Mimic, you can play Mimic to copy it, but nothing will happen (sorry, no loops).
Roulette: If you ruin 2 cards, you may draw up to 3. If you ruin zero cards, you may draw 1.
You may choose to draw fewer of course, and may look at each drawn card before choosing
whether or not to draw the next.
Spite: The rival shuffles and presents their Hand to you facedown. You select a card and
place it on the Ruins, then select another card and place it on the Ruins.
Swindle: The rival shuffles and presents their Hand to you facedown, and you select 3 cards.
You look at these cards, pick one to keep, and return the rest.
Transmigrate: You may not reorder the cards in your Future Life when selecting the card.
Your rival(s) may ask which card you selected (in terms of placement in the facedown pile).

Questions? Visit us at www.karmaka-game.com

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