Keep it beside the board
Tabletop quick reference
Compare each side’s actions, then check shield costs, Loyalty and victory. A compact, printable aid with official rulebook page links.
An editorial summary of MinaLima’s official rules, not an official player aid. Printed-page numbers open the matching PDF spread. Card-specific instructions still apply.
· Rules reviewed
01 / Turns & encounters
One main action per turn
- House: Explore / Learn / Replenish. Dark Arts: Explore / Replenish. Play clockwise; the House Player to the Dark Arts player’s left starts.
- Resolve applicable spaces and actions, discard played cards at turn end, then pass play left. Five is the Replenish target, not a general hand-size cap.
House vs Dark Arts
Action
House player
Dark Arts player
Play 1 hand card. Resolve its move and/or effect in either order; finish the first card before a granted second card.
The same move/effect ordering. White effects are available from the start; orange/red effects need their Path zone unlocked.
At least 1 own pawn must be outside all Protected Areas. Discard 1 hand card for an Acquire Row card or the Acquire Deck top card; discard 2 for an Advanced Row card and Loyalty +1. Put the new card face-down on your Draw Deck top.
Unavailable. The Dark Arts player chooses Explore or Replenish.
① Discard any number of hand cards, then draw until holding 5. ② Stand up all own stunned pawns. ③ Advance the Dark Arts Marker 1 space and resolve any resulting event.
① Stand up all own stunned pawns. ② Draw until holding 5. Keep existing hand cards: no discarding during this action.
House free actions still have costs
- Hogwarts Token: before or after your main action, return a token gained on an earlier turn, then immediately Explore with a matching-type card from your hand. A new token cannot be spent on the turn you gain it; it grants no Learn or Replenish.
- Parchment Scroll: have a pawn in each of 2 locations shown by your 3 Location Cards; reveal those 2 cards and return them to the deck bottom. After your first Scroll draw 2 new Location Cards; after the second, return the last card too.
- Do not mix costs: the Advanced Acquire bonus space costs 1 discarded card and gives Loyalty +1; the Learn main action’s Advanced Row choice costs 2.
Who lands determines the encounter
- House → Dark Arts: both pawns are stunned. The House player places the Dark Arts pawn in an adjacent space; both remain stunned. A stunned pawn cannot move by card movement or effect until recovered.
- Dark Arts → House: choose 1 House pawn if several are present; return it to the Great Hall and the Dark Arts pawn to its off-board pool. Take that House Marker if not already held. Holding all participating House Markers advances the Path 1 and returns them.
- After a bump, draw 2 Dark Arts Acquire cards: put 1 on your Draw Deck top and the other on the Acquire Deck bottom. Resolve this acquisition only once per turn, even after multiple bumps.
02 / Resources & winning
Shield checklist → collect 2 to win
- Land your pawn on a space with a Defence Shield and hand in all 3 required components: 1 Library Book Card + 1 Parchment Scroll + the Dark Detector OR 1 D.A. Coin, as depicted on that shield. The two third-item symbols are not interchangeable.
- Book: visit the Library and immediately resolve the chosen available book’s effect; hold at most 1. Scroll: satisfy 2 Location Cards. Coin: enter the revealed Room of Requirement; hold at most 1 coin.
- Gathering components alone claims no distant shield: a pawn must reach the matching shield space. When paying the Detector, also apply the Loyalty retreat and handover below.
Loyalty: room and Detector differ
- Room of Requirement opens when any House reaches space 5 or higher. It closes only when all House track pawns are below 5. A pawn already inside must stay there until the room reopens.
- Detector: reach space 5 or higher and ahead of the others. Ties use the first-to-reach priority. At the final Loyalty space, a new arrival takes it from an existing holder there; the previous holder drops back 1 and draws 1 card.
- Paying the Detector for a shield: move your Loyalty pawn back 3, then return the Detector to the Side Board or directly to another eligible House already at 5 or higher. Recheck whether every House is now below 5.
Dark Arts win and the final phase
- Win only with all 3 Progress Tokens AND the required pawns together at the Dark Arts Location Card’s destination. Taking the red Progress Token immediately draws the Location Card. When first taken at the first red event / next red event / final space, the printed requirements are 3 / 2 / 1 pawns.
- On an event space, resolve House effects first; the Dark Arts player then chooses the zone’s token or their event effect. Each zone’s token must be collected before moving into the next zone.
- At the Path end, further Replenish is forbidden; card effects and Draw Spaces can still draw cards. Reaching the end alone is no win. If all players run out of cards before a victory, the result is a draw.
- Unresolved printed wording: p.22 says draw “up to 5” at the end; p.23 says “5 final cards”. The rules also do not clearly reconcile an earlier Location Card requirement with the final-space statement. Check the linked case before choosing a table interpretation; this aid does not invent a ruling.