2024 · Card Game

Tranquility: The Ascent

Players cooperate to build a pyramid-shaped mountain grid from a wide nine-card base up to a single summit card. On a turn, a player either plays one numbered terrain card into the next open spot or discards two cards; placed cards must be supported by the two cards beneath and cannot touch adjacent cards of the same terrain type. Playing a card adjacent to existing cards requires discarding a number of cards equal to the differences in values. Numbers range 1–12 and each row has a minimum value equal to its row number (1s only in the base, 8–12 playable anywhere). Rows fill left-to-right and a new row can begin once at least the first two cards of the row below are placed. The group wins by completing the full grid and placing the summit card; if a player cannot take a legal action, the game is lost. Three optional modules add variants: a continuous-path objective, specific-number sequences to collect, and a module involving herding goats to the summit.

groupPlayers

1–5 best 2

schedulePlaying time

15–30 min

cakeAge

8+

psychologyComplexity

2 / 5