How to Play

How to Play

Two Ways to Collect Joypoints

There are two ways to collect Joypoints to win the game:

• ▸One is by Bummering.
• ▸Two is by creating Euphoria.

You create Euphoria by sharing joy together by Connecting 5 Cards for true Happiness™. A Euphoria happens when four adjacent Cards Connect to one Card on all of its four sides. Those five Cards together create a Euphoria, and the player who Connected the five sweeps them off the surface to collect all of the Joypoints at the end of the game. (Some Cards may be stranded like islands, which is normal.)

Simple Summary to Start Playing

• 1️⃣Deal 5 Cards to each player from the sorted 60 deck
• 2️⃣Elder starts & Shares; other players Listen & Connect… and possibly BUMMER
• 3️⃣Create Euphoria

Game Overview

• Goal: score the most Joy Points (JP). Every point in this game is measured in JP.
• Score tracking: use pen & paper, or the Happiness scorekeeper app.

Setup

1. Build the deck. Select cards based on player count:

2. Shuffle and deal 5 cards to each player. The remaining cards form the community deck.

3. Eldest player goes first.

What's On a Card

• 4 Triangles on each edge of the card (Top, Right, Bottom, Left).
• 5 Triangle Colors: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Silver. Silver is a wildcard — it matches any color.
• Word: the concept shown on the card.
• Joy Points (JP): 1–4 for Happiness cards, none for Bummers.

Your Turn

1. PLAY one card from your hand onto the playing area.
2. TELL a brief story about the word on your card.
3. DRAW one card from the community deck (if available).

Card Placement

• The first card is placed in the center of the playing area.
• Every card after must be placed adjacent to an existing card (sharing an edge — not diagonal).
• Where two cards touch, their triangles must match colors. Silver matches any color.
• If no legal placement exists adjacent to existing cards, you may place anywhere — separated cards can be connected later as play continues.

Scoring: Playing Happiness Cards

When you play a Happiness card, score its JP value. A 3 JP card = +3 JP to your score.

Euphoria (Plus Pattern)

When you play a card that completes a plus shape — a center card surrounded on all 4 sides — AND all touching triangles match:

The Euphoria bonus is in addition to the JP you scored for playing the completing card.

Bummering

On your turn, you may play a Bummer card instead of a Happiness card. Place it following normal rules (adjacent, all touching triangles must match). Then tell a story.

All adjacent Happiness cards are now bummed out — removed from the playing area and placed in your Bummer Pile along with the Bummer card. (Adjacent means sharing an edge, not diagonal.)

Bummed Out JP = the total Joy Points of all cards bummed out.

You cannot make a 0-bummer play if any other legal play exists.

Game End

The game ends at the end of the round in which the last community card is drawn (so all players have equal turns).

Highest score wins.

Tiebreaker

1. Most Joy Points wins.
2. If tied: most cards in Euphoria Pile.
3. If still tied: most cards in Bummer Pile.
4. If still tied: shared victory.

Quick Reference

Game Overview

• Goal: score the most Joy Points (JP).
• Score tracking: pen & paper, or the Happiness scorekeeper app.
• Two difficulty modes — Easy and Hard — change Silver behavior and whether scores can go negative.

Difficulty Modes

Setup

• Deck: fixed 60 cards — 15× 1JP, 15× 2JP, 15× 3JP, 5× 4JP, 10× Bummers.
• Starting hand: deal 5 cards to each player.
• Board: 7×7 grid. First card goes in the center.
• Each player begins with 1 Echo token (charged).

What's On a Card

• 4 Triangles on each edge (Top, Right, Bottom, Left).
• 5 Triangle Colors: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Silver. Silver's behavior depends on difficulty mode (see above).
• Word: the concept shown on the card — the subject of your story.
• Joy Points (JP): 1–4 for Happiness cards, 0 for Bummers.

Placement Rules

• Cards must be placed adjacent (orthogonal) to existing cards.
• All adjacent triangles must match colors (per the current difficulty mode's Silver rule).
• Bummers cannot start new islands.
• New islands are only allowed when no legal adjacent play exists for any card in your hand.

Turn Flow

1. PLAY — select a card and place it (60-second play window in the online portal).
2. STORY — tell a brief story about the card's word (30-second window online).
3. ECHO WINDOW — for 5 seconds, any other player may spend an Echo token. Bummer plays skip this window.
4. DRAW — automatically draw one card from the deck.

Echo Tokens

When a Happiness card is played, the 5-second Echo Window opens. Any other player may spend their Echo token to echo the storyteller's word — adding their own brief story or insight.

Bummer plays do not open an Echo Window.

Euphoria (Plus Pattern)

When you play a card that completes a plus shape — center card surrounded on all 4 sides, all triangles matching:

• Score: (Total JP of all 5 cards) × 2.
• All 5 cards move to your Euphoria Pile.
• Echo tokens: if any of your tokens are discharged, recharge them. If all your tokens are already charged, gain 1 token (maximum of 3).

Islands (Reconnection Bonus)

If a Bummer play splits the playing area into separate islands (groups of connected cards), play continues normally. When a later card placement reconnects two islands:

• +5 JP per reconnection.
• One placement that joins multiple separated islands scores per island bridged.

Bummering

Bummers require all adjacent triangles to match. When played, all adjacent cards are bummed out — both the Bummer and the bummed-out cards go to your Bummer Pile.

Bummed Out JP = total Joy Points of the cards bummed out.

A 0-bummer play is only legal if no other play exists for any card in your hand — including cross-card checks against existing islands.

Game End & Final Hand Scoring

The game ends when the deck is empty and every player has drawn down to 3 cards. The final hand is then scored:

Echo token reckoning: −1 JP per still-charged token at game end; +3 JP bonus if you have zero charged tokens.

Scoring Summary

Tiebreakers (in order)

1. Most Joy Points wins.
2. If tied: most cards in Euphoria Pile.
3. If still tied: most cards in Bummer Pile.
4. If still tied: most Bummers in final hand.
5. If still tied: shared victory.