Spirit Island is among the most enjoyable cooperative board games.🧔 One of the most captivating aspects of the game is its theme, where players control different Spirits to fend off Invaders. This gives the game its unique Settler-Destruction genre. Additionally, with the Power Cards you acquire throughout the game, it also incorporates the Deck Builder genre.

Another appealing featurཧe is the game's massive replayability. With Spirits, Power Cards, Invader actions,ꦛ Adversaries, and Scenarios, no two games are ever the same. Despite being such a beautiful and captivating game, it might seem daunting to learn at first. But don’t worry, with this detailed guide, you’ll be able to learn the game.

How To Setup Spirit Island

Invader Board Setup

First, place the Invader Board on the table. Add four Fear Tokens to the Fear Pool for each player.

Create The Fear Deck

Next, create the Fear Deck by shuffling the Fear cards. Select nine cards and return the rest to the box. Take three of these cards and place the Terror Level III divider on top. Then, take three more cards and place them on top of🎐 the Terror Level II divider.

Finally, place the remaining three cards on top of the Terror Level II divider. Place the completed Fear Deck in the Victory section at the top left of the Invader Board.

Create The Invader Deck

First, separate the Invader cards by stage. Shuffle each stage separately face down. Remove one card from each stage and return them to the box without looking at them. Stack the Stage III cards on the bottom, Stage II cards in the middle, and Stage I cards on top. Never shuffle the stages together. P𝓰lace ♏the Invader Deck in the Explore action space on the Invader Board.

Prepare Blight Card / Blight Pool

Take a random Blight Card and place it in the Blight section of the Invader Board with the Healthy side face up. Do not look at the back. Add the numওber of Blight Tokens indicated on the Healthy side of the Blight Card to the card.

If this is your firs🐟t game, you may want to skip using the Blight Card to simplify the game. Instead, use the printed Blight amount on the Invader Board.

Setting Up the Island and Supply

Set up the Island by taking the appropriate number of Island Boards for the number of players and connecting them. Populate the Island Boards with components based on their terrain: Invader Pieces (Towns and Cities), Dahan, and Blight. Add Blight from the box, not from the Invader Board.

Shuffle the Minor and Major Power decks separately and place them within reach of all players, along with designated discard areas for each deck. Place Energy, Cities, Towns, Explorers, and 𝄹Daha🐲n in a supply area accessible to everyone.

Player Component Setup

Each player chooses a Spirit and takes its Spirit Panel, along with the corresponding Unique Power cards fo🤡r their starting hand. Then, select a color and take the Spirit Presence tokens and Single-Turn Effect Markers in that color.

If you are playing the game for the first time, ch🐭oose a low-complexity Spirit. These are the easiest Sp💦irits to play:

• Lightning’s Swift Strike
• Vital Strength of the Earth
• River Surges in Sunlight
• Shadows Flicker Like Flame.

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You may also use the Power Progression card for your chosen Spirit, placing the listed Minor and Major Power cards nearby. When you gain a new card, follow the Power Progressi🃏on order instead 🌊of drawing randomly.

When choosing a Spirit, be sure to consider their Complexity. Additionally, in the Play Style🏅 section, you can see the initial playstyle of that Spirit, but keep in mind that this playstyle may change as you acquire more Power Cards.

Do not include any Adversaries or Scenarios if꧒ this is your first game.

Each player must start on a different Island Board. Follow the Setup section on the back of your Spirit Panel to place your Presence tokens on the Island Board. After setup, turn the Spirit Panel to the front and place the remaining Presence tokens on the dashed circles of the Presence Tracks, from right to left, leavi🌱ng the solid🍸 circles with numbers uncovered.

Invader’s Starting Action

After setup, the Invaders perform an Initial Action. Reveal the top card of the Invader Deck. The Invaders will Explore the land type shown on the card. Slide this Invader card left to the Buil💞d action space.

Your game setup is�🅰� now complete, and you are ready to play Spirit Island!

Island Boards And Lands

At the start of the game, each player’s Presence begins on separate boards. However, as the game progresses, you may encounter effects or powers that allow you to move🍨 to or target other💎 players’ boards.

Each Island Board contains a total of eight lands and one Ocean. Ea🅷ch Island Board has two of each land type: Jungle, Wetlanဣd, Sands, and Mountain. Unless otherwise stated, pieces in the same land type affect other pieces within that land.

Two lands that touch each other are considered adjacent. Even if lands from different Island Boards touch, they are still adjacent. All lands adjacent to the Ocean are referred to as ‘Coastal’ lands. Lands that are not adjacent to the Ocean are considered ‘Inland.’ The Ocean itself is not considered a land and is not in play.

The back of each board features a themaꦿtic version with more realistic illustrations. Once you are familiar with the game, you can try playing on the Thematic Board for an added challenge, as it is slightly more difficult than the standard game.

Presence And Sacred Sites

If the game mentions ‘your lands’ at any point, you must choose a land that contains your Presence. Throughout the game, various effects, suc🅺h as a Power or Blight, might remove yourᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ Presence. In such cases, place the removed Presence next to the Island.

If any player loses all their Presence on the game board, the players lose the game.

There is no restriction on the number of🙈 Presence tokens that can be in a single land. Ter♛ms like ‘Move’ or ‘Destroy’ refer to your Presence on the island unless stated otherwise.

What Is A Sacred Site?

If a player has more than one Presence in a land, it becomes a Sacred Site. R🍌emember, some Powers require them to originate from a Sacred Site.

Since lands are small, you can stack y🌄our Presence tokens to save space and remind yourself that it’s a Sacred Site. The Sacred🐟 Site symbol in the game also represents stacked Presence tokens.

Range And Target Land

In the game, you will encounter the term range in Growth and Powers, indicated by a horizontal arrow. When you use a Growth option or Power that requires range, you must first choose a Presence from which the range will originate.

Next, based on the range value, you select a land. An action with 'Range 0' must target the land with your Presence. If you select an action with 'Range 1', you can choose lands up to one space away from the chosen Presence. The number on the range is the maximum value.

For example, with an action of Range 1, you don’t necessarily have to choose an adjacent land; you can use it as if🐠 it were 'Range 0'. Similarly, for an action with 'Range 2', you can choose a land up to two spaces away from your Presence. This is a maximum value, so you can use a Range 2 action as if it were 'Range 1' or 'Range 0'.

In addition, there may be symbols next to the range icon, indicating that the action must originate from a specific type of Presence or a Sacred Site. Pay attention to these requirements.

For example, if there is a symbol of Sand or Wetland next to the arrow, your chosen Presence must be in that type of land. If there is a Blight symbol next to the range, the Presen𝐆ce you choose must be in a landꦓ with Blight.

Target Land

On Power Cards or Innate Powers, you will see a section called Target Land. This defines the limitat❀๊ions of the target land for the chosen range originating from your Presence:

Gaining A Power Card

Yu will gain new Power Cards through Growth actions. Additionally, some other Powers may also allow you to gain Power Cards. When you gain a Power Card, it is added to your hand. When gaining a Power Card, you must first decide whether to take a Minor or Major Power Card.

Minor Power Cards are generally inexpensive to use and have smaller effects. Major Power Cards tend tꦆo be more expensive but offer greater effects.

After deciding, draw four cards from the chosen Minor or Major Power deck. If there are no cards left to draw, shuffle the relevant discard pile to create a new deck. Select one of the four cards and add it to your hand, d൩i🧜scarding the remaining three cards.

If you choose a Major Power Card, you must Forget one of your cards. Forgetting a card means it is permanently removed from your hand. Place the forgotten card in the appropriate discard pile. If you Forget one of your Spirit's Unique Powers, place it under your Spirit Panel to keep it hidden.

When you Forget a card, it can be from your hand, discard pile, or in-play area. You can even choose to Forget the Major Power Card you just selected if you change your mind. Remember that you will lose the elements of the Forgotte𓄧n card, which may affect your ability to use Innate Powers.

If you are ⛎playing with Power Progression, instead of selecting one of the four drawn cards, you should gain the next card in the listed order.

How Power Cards And Innate Powers Work

Differences Between Power Cards And Innate Powers

The tools your Spirits will use to defeat the Invaders are Power Cards and Innate Powers. These are quite similar, but the key difference is that Innate Powers are printed directly on your Spirit Panel. Innate Powers are free and they can be used every turn if you can trigger them with the requ🤡ired elements, whereas Powe🧜r Cards require energy to use.

Elements & Innate Powers

When you play Power Cards, you will see elements on the left side of the cards. While the cards are in play, they grant you these elements. Some Power Cards have extra effects if you possess specific elements. Once the player's turn ends and the 'Time Passes' phase is complete, the cards are removed and discarded, and the elements do not carry over to the next turn.

The elements required for Innate Powers are never spent; they serve as thresholds. Innate Powers check if you have the required number of elements but do not use them up. For example, if an Innate Power requires one Water element and you have two, you can use the Innate Power without losing any elements.

You must apply Innate Powers from top to bottom, checking each elemental threshold to see if you can activate the next level. If a threshold section says 'Instead', it replaces the effects of the previous sections.

If you take Presence from your Spirit Panel and it has an 🔴elemental icon underneath, i💟t will now permanently benefit you.

Fast & Slow Powers

The timing of your powers is crucial. Powers are divided into Fast and Slow based on their timing. Fast Powers occur immediately after the Spirit Phase and before the Invader Phase. Slow Powers occur after the Invader Phase.

Be mindful when playing Slow Powers as the board state may change after the Invader Phase, potentially disrupting your plans. Carefully consider you🎀r strategy beforeౠ using Slow Powers.

The speed of the powers is indicated on the Power Cards and Innate Powers. You can also identify them by the color of the circle around the energy cost: red for Fast Powers and blue for Slow Powers.

Power Card Effects

Each Power Card has unique effects. Unless otherwise stated, a Power Card's effect applies only to the targeted land. For example, if a Power Card says 'Destroy all towns', it means all towns in the selected land will be destroyed, not all towns on the board.

You must resolve the effects of the cards in the order they are listed, and you cannot skip any part of the effects. If an effect states, 'Invaders do not Build in the target land', this eff⛎ect lasts until the 'Time Passes', phase is completed.

General Principles

Knowing these general concepts will help you apply the 💙rules more easily:

Use Reminder Tokens

If you have effects lasting throughout the turn, such as 'Invaders skip all Actions' use Reminder Tokens to keep track of these effects. However, make sure to remove these tokens at the end of the turn during the 'Time Passes' phase.

Fear And Terror

Throughout the game, Spirits generate Fear using their powers. Each power specifies how much Fear it generates. Additionally, if you destroy a Town or a City, you also gain Fear:

For each Fear generated, place a Fear Token from the Fear Pool on the Generated Fear area of the Invader Board. If you move all Fear Tokens from the Fear Pool to the Generated Fear area, without any left in the pool, take the top card from the Fear Deck of the Invader Board and place it face down in the Earned Fear Cards area.

After moving a card, if you reveal a Terror Level Divider, place it on the Terror track printed on the right side of the board. As you reveal Terror Di🐼viders, 🌠it will become easier to win the game:

After gaining a Fear Card, return all Fear tokens from the Generated Fear area back to the Fear Pool. If you are still gaining Fear tokens after gainin🎉g a card, don’t forget to move them back to the Gene😼rated Fear area.

You will open and resolve Fear Cards not immediately upon gaining them, but during the Invader Phase. The effects of Fear Cards last only for the current turn and do not carry over to subsequent turns. After resolving Fear Cards, discard them facꦐe up into the Fear Discard area.

If you acquire all Fear Cards, you will reveal the Victory section beneath the Fear Cards and win the game immediately.

When resolving a Fe🥀ar card, if you have earned a Fear card, place it𝄹 in the Earned Fear Cards section. Once you finish resolving the current card, proceed to resolve the newly earned Fear card.

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If a Fear card instructs each player to do something, players apply these effects to the specified locations as indicated by the card. Additionally, players execute this effect sequ🎃entially, waiting for each other in turn.

Invaders

Invaders are the only obstacle in the game that you need to eliminate. The further you advance the Terror Level, the fewer types of Invaders you need to destroy, making it easier to win the game.

Invaders cannot directly harm your Presence in the game. They inflict damage on two things: Lands and Dahan, typically during the Ravage phase. There are three types of Invader﷽s: Explorer, Town, and City. What sets them a꧅part are their Health and Damage:

To destroy an Invader, you must inflict more damage than its current Health in a single turn. Some effects allow you to destroy or remove Invaders without considering their Health.

Destroying Invaders earns you Fear. However, the effects that remove them will not earn you Fear.

Invaders are not limited by the number in the Supply. If they become scarce, use Energy tokens to indicate their numbers. Also, there can be an unlimited number of Invadeꦍrs in a land.

Tracking Invader Damage

To track the damage you've dealt to Invaders, use their models. If a City is at full Health, it remains upright. If it has two Health remaining, tilt it wi💯th two buildings raised above it. If it has one Health remaining, tilt it with one building raised. To track damage to 🦋Towns, a Town at full Health remains upright. If it has one Health remaining, tilt it.

At the end of the turn, during the 'Time Passes' phase, remember that any Invaders and Dahan that have not been destroyed will heal.

Blight

When adding Blight to a land, you take Blight from the Blight Card or, if not using the Blight Card, from the Invader Board. If the Blight on the Healthy side of the Blight Card runs out, flip it over to reveal the Blighted side, which has a negative effect. Once flipped, the Blight Card never flips back to the Healthy side.

If all Blight on the Blighted side of the Blight Card is used up, you lose the game. If playing without the Blight Card and all Blight 𝄹f🐭rom the Invader Board is used up, you also lose the game.

Presence Destruction

If Blight is added to a land with any Presence, each player with Presence in that land loses one Presence.

Remember, if any player has no Presence left on any island board, you lose the game.

Blight Cascade

If a land already has Blight and another Blight is added, choose an adjacent land and add one Blight to it.

If your map already has a lot of Blight, Blight cascades can cause a chain reaction, adding multiple Blight tokens to your map.

Remember to destroy Presence during Blight cascades as well. Also, Blight added🀅 during setup does not destroy Presence.

The Dahan

The Dahan are the island's natives and will aid you in destroying the Invaders. Each board starts with six Dahan, but increasing their numbers is not easy due to the♉ limited number of Powers that can affect them.

Under normal circumstances, Invaders damage both the land and the Dahan during the Ravage phase. Afterward, any surviving Dahan will attack the Invaders, with each Dahan dealing two damage to the Invaders.

Each Dahan has two Health. If a Dahan takes more than two damage, it is destroyed and removed from the board. To track damage to the Dahan, flip the Dahan over if it has taken one damage.

Remember that at the end of the turn, during the 'Time Passes' phase, both Invaders and Dahan will heal.

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Note that, unless specifically stated otherwise, the Spirits' damage does not harm the Dahan.

Power And Fear Effects

Power and ⛦Fear cards can produce various effects on Invaders or Dahan. Here are the eff🌳ects you might encounter:

Sequence Of Play

Spirit Island is a cooperative game divided into specific phases, with players acting simultaneously during these phases. Throughout the phases, players discuss and strategize together, which is eꦅssential for 🐭winning the game. The game phases are as follows:

1. Spirit Phase
   • Grow
   • Gain Energy
   • Play And Pay For Power Cards

2. Fast Power Phase
3. Invader Phase
   • Blighted Island
   • Fear
   • Invader Actions
   • Advance Invader Cards

4. Slow Power Phase
5. Time Passes

Decision Making

During the game, you will need to make certain decisions, and some actions will require you to add components to the board, such as blight cascades or Invaders causing dama🍸ge.

• If a Power Card requires a decision, the player who owns the Power Card makes that decision.
• For other situations, players should reach a consensus.
• If a consensus cannot be reached:
  • If the decision involves a land, the player who started on that game board should make the decision.
  • In other cases, the game owner or organizer makes the decision.

Spirit Phase

During the Spirit Phase, yo🍃u will perform three steps in order:

1. Grow
2. Gain Energy
3. Play and Pay for Cards

Remember that each spirit ha♔s its own Special Rules. Don't forget to play according to these rules while playing 🔯the game.

Grow

First, you must perform a Grow action. On the front side of the Spirit Panel, at the top, you will see the Growth section. Choose one option from this section. Some Spirits may allow you to choose more than one option, indicated in parentheses, but typically you will choose just one.

The Growth options are separated by vertical dividers on the Spirit Panel. You must perform all actions within the selected section, but you can do them in any order. Common Growth options you will encounter include:

Gain Energy

Gain Energy equal to the highest uncovered number on your Energy Presence Track. Place the Energy tokens near your Spirit Panel.

Unused ꦍenergy carries over to the next turn. Transferring energy between players is not allowed.

Play And Pay For Power Cards

After gaining Energy, you can play Power Cards. The number of Power Cards you can play is determined by the highest uncovered number on your Card Plays Track. You can play up to this number of cards. The chosen cards can be either Fast or Slow Power Cards. Pay the total Energy cost for the cards you play, which is indicated in the top left corner of each card.

The cards you play will provide you with Elements, shown on the left side of the cards. Do not resolve any of the pla🗹yed cards yet. This completes the Spirit Phase.

Fast Power Phase

After completing the Spirit Phase, players resolve their played Fast Powers. Powers can be resolved simultaneously with other players, but one power should not interrupt another during its resolution. Power Cards and Innate Powers can be resolved one by one in any order the players choose.

If players decide not to use a played Fast Power card, they can skip it entirely. In this case, they still retain the elements provided by that card. Remembe🐲r, you cannot use Fast Power during the Slo𒈔w Power Phase.

Invader Phase

The Invader Pha𓆉se is divided into four different steps as follows:

1. Blighted Island
2. Fear
3. Invader Actions
4. Advance Invader Cards

Blighted Island

During this step, if you are playing with a Blighted Island card and it has flipped, you must apply the effects. If the Blight Card says 'Immediately', apply its effects as soon as ꦅit flips, not during this step.

Fear

In this step, if you have earned a Fear Card, you must resolve the effects of the Fear Cards you have earned. When resolving the cards, remember to apply the effects according to your current Terror Level. This means you only༺ read and apply the text correspon𒊎ding to your Terror Level.

If you have multiple Fear Cards, resolve them one by one in sequence. Remember that the effects of Fear Cards only last for the current turn.

Invader Actions Overview

Invader actions on the Invader Board are carried out from left to right. The land types on the Invader Action cards indicate which type of land the 🐭Invader𝐆s will act upon. If there is no Invader Card on a space, that action will not occur this turn.

When performing Invader actions in multiple lands, you can resolve these lands in any order you prefer.

When you reveal Stage III Invader Cards, you will see two land types on them. This means that Invaders will now take action in every land of both types shown on the board, ꦜmaking the game more challenging for you.

Ravage Action

During this action, if there is an Invader Card in the Ravage space on the Invader Board, the Invaders wil🦂l attack the lands of the type shown on the card. For example, if the card shows Sands, all Sands on the game board will be subject to Ravage.

To calculate the Invaders' attack, sum their attack values, then the Invaders deal damage to both the land and the Dahan simultaneously. If any Dahan survives, they counterattack 🍬the Invaders.

For example, if the Invaders deal three damage, they deal three damage toꦅ both the Daha✤n and the land.

If a Defend action has been used, it will protect both the land and the Dahan. S෴ubtꦗract the Defend value from the Invaders' attack value.

If the land takes two or more damage, add a Blight to that land. For every two damage dealt to the Dahan by the Invaders, destroy one Dahan. You cannot split th🌃is damage, and you must destroy as many Dahan as possible. For example, if the Invaders deal two damage to two Dahan, you cannot split it as on✃e damage each; you must destroy one Dahan.

Remember that surviving Dahan deal two damage to the Invaders each. Even if the Dahan take no damage due to Defend, they will still counterattack since the Invaders performed a Ravage action. However, if the Ravage action is skipped, t🍎he Dahan will not counterattack. You can allocate the Dahan's dam♕age to the Invaders as you see fit.

Build Action

During this action, if there is an Invader Card in the Build space on the Invader Board, the Invaders will build on the land type shown on the card. There must be at least one Invader present♍ for this action to occur, resulting💧 in either a Town or a City being built:

Explore Action

Flip the top card of the Invader Deck. Invaders will explore all lands of the type shꦯown on the car𒀰d.

If the card has a flag icon, it relates to Adversaries. First, resolve the Escalation effect from th🎉e Adversary, then perform the Explore act⛎ion.

If there are no more cards to draw from the Invader Deck, time has run out, and you lose the game.

For the Explore action to occur, certain conditions must be met. If the lands of the type shown do not meet these conditions,ﷺ they are not explored:

No matter how many conditions a land meets, you only add one Explorer. Add Explorers from the supply, not by moving them from the board.

Advance Invader Cards

After the Explore action, shift all Invader cards one space to the left. The card in the Ravage space moves to discard, the card in the Build space moves to Ravage, a🙈nd the card in the Explore space moves to Build. This gives you insight into what the Invaders will do next turn.

Slow Power Phase

In this phase, players play their Slow Powers. Identify and resolve the Slow Powers from the Power Cards on the table or from your Innate Powers. This phase functions similarly to the Fast Power Phase.

Time Passes

At the end of each turn, the Time Passes phase occurs. During this phase, you need to do four things🎉:

1. Discard all the Power Cards you played this turn into your personal discard pile.
2. Since your cards are discarded, the Elements they provided also reset. There is nothing you need to do for this step, but be aware that the Elements are no longer available.
3. All Invaders and Dahan on the game board that have taken damage but have not been destroyed are healed. If you indicated damage by flipping or laying them down, return them to their upright positions.
4. If you placed Reminder Tokens on the board to remind you of single-turn effects, remove them from the board.

After the Time Passes phase, you will have completed the turn and the game will return to the Spirit Phase.

Victory And Defeat

To win the game, you need to fulfill the conditions of the current Terror Level. The moment you meet the conditions for your Terror Level, you win the game. The game starts at Terror Level I, and as you earn Fear Cards, you reveal Terror Level Dividers, progressing the Terror Level and making the conditions easier. If you obtain all Fear Cards, you automatically ꦑwin the game.

Sometimes the effects of Power Cards can lead to both losing and winning the game. If both conditions occur simultaneously, you achieve a Sacrifice Victory.

There are three conditions t⛦hat can cause you to lose the game:

Gameplay Options

Solo Mode

The only difference in solo mode is that you can target yourself with powers that usually target another Spirit. However, if a power grants an additional benefit when targeting another Spirit, you do not receive that benefit.

For example, the effect of the Gift of Constancy card is as follows: (Target Spirit gains two Energy. During Time Passes, target Spirit may Reclaim one Power Card instead of discarding it. If you target another Spirit, you may also Reclaim one Power Card instead of discarding it.)

When you use this card, you gain two Energy and may reclaim one Power Card instead of discarding it during the Time Passes phase. You do n🧜ot gain any other additional benefits.

Adversaries

If you want to play against specific nations, choose an Adversary before setup. When playing against Adversaries, the flag icon on Stage II Invader Cards triggers that nation's Escalation effect. Adꦰditionally, some Adversaries have Additional Loss Conditions. Pay attention to these while playing.

Each Adversary has a difficulty level, which might alter the setup based on the level you choose. If you don't want to play at a specific difficulty level, use the Base Level, which includes only the Escalation effects and Additional Loss Conditions.

Remember, the difficulty levels are cumulative. For example, if you play at Level Two, the effects from Level One and the Base Level are also in effect. Adversaries ﷽might have persistent effects, so use the Adversary's Reminder tiles to keep track of modified actio🌟ns.

Additionally, the Fear Cards section to the right of the current Adversary Level should be applied when setting up the Fear Deck. This makes reaching Ter𒐪ror Levels more challenging.

Scenarios

You can select a scenario to change the game rules and win conditions. The difficulty of each scenario is indicated in the upper right corner. You can combine scenarios with Adversaries for a varied gameplay experience. Scenario🍒 rules always take precedence over Adversary rules.

Thematic Board

You can play using the reverse side of the Island Boa🎃rds, which makes the game more challenging. If you want to play with definitive geo🌸graphy based on the number of players:

• One-player game: Use the Northeast board.
• Two-player game: Use the West and East boards, ensuring the oceans do not touch.
• Three-player game: Use the West and East boards, placing the Northeast board above the East board.
• Four-player game: Use the West, East, and Northeast boards as in the three-player game, adding the Northwest board above the West board.

Scoring

You can us♕e scoring to measure your performance in the game. Use the table below for scoring: