Overview

Gain 8 Tentacles and summon the Cosmoctopus first!

Turn

On your turn, move the Cosmoctopus, optionally play a card, discard down to 8 cards, then direct the Cosmoctopus towards the next player

First, move the Cosmoctopus orthogonally and gain the bonus of the space it lands on. Additionally, you MAY spend any resource of your choice to move it one space more for each resource spent, only the final landing space will generate rewards though

After which, pick a card from your hand to play if desired, this may result in further cards being played via previous card effects, but usually you can only play 1 card. To play a card you must be able to afford it, most cards show in the top left banner a specific amount of one resource type plus a specific amount of any combination of resources required to pay. You have the option to discard cards from your hand, these then count as resources of the same type, e.g. red cards discard for the red resource.

Make sure you have no more than 8 Cards and 8 of each unique resource at end of turn, discarding the excess

If at any point you are unlucky enough to have 13 of a resource, discard them all and gain two Tentacles along with the matching Forbidden Knowledge of that resource

When you gain your first Tentacle, you can take a First Contact card of your choosing from those still available

Cards

Scriptures (Black) - These give you a permanent resource to continuously use, however they cannot be used for the Wild cost unless it is a Permanent Wild resource. If the Scripture has the Submerge icon, discard Scriptures (Black) & Relics (Yellow) from the Market and move the Cosmoctopus once for each card discarded this way, resolve the effect of EACH space entered in this way.

Relics (Yellow) - These give you a permanent ability going forward, also if it contains the Devotee symbol then once only you draw a card from the Devotee deck

Hallucinations (Red) - These give one off effects then are discarded, if the purple lightning bolt is shown you can play a second card if you can afford to

Constellations (Green) - These do nothing when played, and have no ongoing effect, instead when you gain resources rather than taking them into your supply you can choose to add to an active Constellation. You always start from the top left, then follow the arrows to see what resource the Constellation desires next. Once all spaces are filled, the effect resolves and the resources and the card are discarded. Note: You have to fill it at the moment resources are gained, resources already in your supply CANNOT be used to complete a Constellation.

Game End

The game ends as soon as a player has 8 Tentacles, they win!

Private Investigator (Co-Op Mode)

The PI can be used to turn this into a co-operative game

The players are trying to ALL gain 8 Tentacles before the PI

Each PI card that can be used will occupy but not block a certain type of resource space

If you move onto an Investigated space, the PI also gains the depicted resource

If you move through an Investigated space to finish your turn on a different location, the PI does NOT gain anything

The PI also has special effects when they gain a Tentacle, gain a Forbidden Knowledge, and they reveal a permanent effect when they gain their 5th Tentacle

In addition to gaining resources for the above reasons, the PI also has their own turn which is taken at the end of all player turns

During this turn, the PI gains a resource matching each card in the card display

If the PI now has at least 13 of one resource, and the Forbidden Knowledge has not been claimed by a player, the PI takes it for themself (which triggers a special effect on their card) and they gain 2 Tentacles then discard the 13 resources

After the previous check, if the PI has 8 of one resource and the associated Forbidden Knowledge has already been claimed, they gain 1 Tentacle (which triggers a special effect on their card)

If the PI gained at least 1 Tentacle by either of the previous means, discard the PI card then draw a fresh one, relocating the Magnifying Glasses if applicable

The PI will win if they gain 8 Tentacles before all the players do, which results in a Loss for you