Gnostica
A territory-based war game. Tarot cards create the gameboard and give players special powers.
Downloadable Rules:
Designer:
John Cooper with Jake Davenport, Kory Heath, and Kristin Matherly
Year Created:
2001
Stuff You Need To Play:
5 Trios of a color for each player
A Tarot deck
Publication History
- The earliest version of this game was published in 1996, in More Icehouse Games, with the name Arcana.
- The name became Zarcana when the game was featured in 1999's Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set.
- After experimenting with numerous rules variations, a new version of the game emerged and was given the new name Gnostica.
- Rules for Gnostica first appeared in issue #14 of Hypothermia, July 2001.
- Gnostica was featured in Playing with Pyramids, published in 2002.
- Gnostica is mentioned in the back of the Pyramid Arcade rulebook, on the list of "22 Other Great Games" recommended by the pyramid community.
- Gnostica is one of 12 games for which special cards were created during the Pyramid Arcade Kickstarter campaign.
- A custom card deck for Gnostica is available at the Game Crafter.
Other Notes
- Gnostica Rules Reference: PDF of the one-page summary of the rules to Gnostica
- Gnostica Stickers: Add Gnostica icons to your tarot - print onto Avery 5353
- John's original version of the rules of the rules to Gnostica
- John's original version of the rules of the rules to Zarcana
- Jake wrote an article about the design history of this game, Zarcana to Gnostica.
- Andy still likes the original better. (His game Zark City was inspired by Zarcana.)
- Zarcana Stickers are also available for those who'd like to play the original game.
- Petra Mayer & Alison Frane made this medallion artwork for the Gnostica tournament at one of the Big Experiments:
