E

A game of the supernatural, by Chris Eliott & Richard fdwards

Ottsid. th. thit.id. of Mlt stoad a tightna... A will start as th. Demon. Th. Demon play.r tak€s the
hrge bonv tdil tash.tt to drd Jto a.tuss th.1oo., l.dt- €ight Planet counl.rs and th. wizard tales the €ight
ing d tfti| oJ spdtks, atll th. .|aa.s on th. hind ].gs Alchemi.al .ounters B€lore you start playing .nsure
qaq.d d..p 3..dt.h6 i' th. JkFtones. Fo. d hon.nt both play.rs hale r.ad th€ rul€s lrom start to linish so
n t.st.d on ot. ta|o".d paa., a.hi|. i$ h.ad stuung th€y hav. at l.ast someidea ofNhat is goingon!
,on1 sid. to sid. dnd h'td.tous.r.s sta..d dt the
Jigute itsid. th. Jlo. paitted sta.. Th.n ns gdz. shiled TIII COUNIlF.s
ta the ane ttipod x'hi.h t.mdit.ll oJ tho that stood
at tit Jtr. pot '. ,t'.ndttdr rtti idtttd bu eto \ng
hist. A .laned fi'8.t stdbb.d out, and ttd.ed d fi8w.
oJ Jre nthi.h huq in th. dit fu d nah.rt L.J .
htttling into th. mist. As iI .earh.d th. tttpo!1, th .
ntas d suddet tush aJ a.i"d. Th. ivhl'ol Jkt.d into
,4,dddtr.4t b't3ht4^, and th?4 hu48 tn th? atr
abou the tipotl. with d snal of ttitnph, th. ho.tot
.ont.npttoudr snt.pt asid. th. litt of lt an th.
Jlao., and ted.h.d autJat theJigurt insid. . . .

It was a matt€rol regret to som€ in the prol€ssion ol
Magi. that th€ awesome struggl€ of a wizard to sum-
mon and bind a demon had .ver b.com. th. subiet
ol anything as trilial asa gambling gam.. B. that as it
may, the game of Sor.erels Ha2ard, or D.mondar. as
it was popularly know[ s..m.d to hold a sp..ial
fas.ination lor magi.ians, $'ith its .ombination ol lu.k
and logi.. And h'h.n €v€n th. Ar.hmag. hims.lf had
b.en lnoon to indulSe in a small wager Nho were
lessr moftals to turn th€ir nos.s up at a l.h, turns lor
This is a briel summary oI .a.h round ol th€ gam€:
Th. wizard ges first, laying all his.ount.rs la.e down
on rhe poinr\ ol rh. p.nra8'am,nd on rh..ir.l.\ in
the kiangl€ Th.se repr.sent th. material .omponents
ol the spell intend.d to bind th. demon that are pla.-
€d in the tripods at th.$ points, and s'hich lorm th.
wi2ard's d€lenc€s Th€ D.mon th.n plays its .ount€rs
on. at a time, in an €lfort lo .ountera.t th. \'izard's
defen.es Ther€ isonly on€ ruI., and itis a simpleone.

INTRODUCTION
The rul.s whi.h follow are lor th. popular ts'o-player
version of th. game, as played in Sor..rels Cuilds
across all thre€ .ontin€nts As it is a Sambling game,
it is play.d in a number oI roads, ea.h of whi.h .on-
sists of on. challenS€ During a .hall.ng., on€ play.r
kies to break out ol a magi.al .ir.le and br€ak th.
deLn.es o! th. s..ond play.ls circle using pow.rful
sp.lls, symbolis.d in the gamebymaSi.al signs.
Th€ gam€.onsists ofa board marled with a hiangl.
within a.ir.l€, whi.h is wher€ the d€mon mat.rialises:
a p.ntagram hiithin a.ir.le, s'hi.h is wh.r. th€ wizard
stands, and 15 .ounters r€pres€nting lour oI ea.h o!
the lourmagical €lem.nts (Ak, Earth, Fir. and water).
STARTING PI.AY
B.for€ you start playing you should remove th€ c.ntr.
pages, 81u. th€m to som. .ard to ke.p th.m stid, and
then cut out the playing pi..es D.cid. how ma.y
rounds you ar€ Soing to play for Befor. you start the
lirst gam. you musl agr.e on th€ numb.rol rounds that
will b. play.d The s'izards of th€ sorcerels Cuild
usually w€nt to eight rounds, though gam€s sometimes
w€nt up to a hundr.d rounds if th.re was a lot oI 8o1d
.oinage or pr.stige riding on the outcom.! You should
lind that eight or ten are suffici.nt to d€t.rmine who
is th. better player; als'ays .nsur. that the numb€r of
roundsto b€ play.d is an€!.n numb€r
N.xt d&ide who will start as th€ wizard, a.d Nho
THE RUTD
\o oppo!n8 .l.mpnr" m,y b. pla..d on rh,
",me I'ne
lh.re. w" ,aid ir wa, ,implp, didn'l \'.) Oppo!n8
elements are those dire.tly opposit€ .ach other in the
diagram on th. board (i. Fire and wat€r Earth a.d Ai4.
For.$mple, the wizard.an't lay dNn Blood and Holy
waterontNo ofth€ points ofthe hiangle.
THE WIZARD SETS UP
B.lor€ h. gets down to the !€ry serious iob ol sum-
moning up his Demon, th. wi2ard must first oI all
prepar. his defen..s. Th€ wizard should lirst ol all
s..r.tly choos€ a. €lement - su.h as Fire, lor €xampl€
He th.n places two Fire .ount.re /d.. /oz,r on the
.ircl€s suiiounding the hiangle without r.lealing th.m
to his opponent This l€av.s on€ .omer empty
Be.aus. of the rule about not haling opposit.
€l.ments on th. sam. lin€, he is obliously limit€d to
only two of his thr€ remaining €lem.nts to lill th. r.-
maining spa.€ In our example, th€ wizard .an only
pl.y an Earth orAirpi&€; l.t's say h. choos€s Earth.
This no\' l€ares our wi2ard with two.omplet s.ts
ol .lem..ts, and one set with o.ly one €l.ment This
odd .lem€nt is th. k€ystone' to th€ pentagram (the
larger circl.) H. must pla.e this remaining €lem.nt on
on. ol rhp poinrs of rhe p.nr,8ram,' \r 14rl, rh..'r
.le H. then pla.es th. r€maining th,o elem.nts on
 adjoinin8 poinb, and linrlly th. othcr two p.inrs STRIKING A BLOW
h'
l.rding from th. odd.n. 50, ld.xrhpl., our $izird If rn.lchcnt is rttr.k.d br
pli..s th. rcniininE Errrh on onc point, rhcn (nov Dcnon plrttinij in.l.ncnr n.\t b it),
in8.1..k$is. rtuund th. board) rn Air, rh. tK) l\rt.rs, thinijs .rn o..ur lt mrl b. dcstrov.d, it
ind th. oth.r Air Hr\e a ldrk rt th. pr.tty.\inpl. th. rc.ond .lcn.nt, thcy mrt muturlly
drr$in8s rnd you 11s.. $ hrt $. n.rn! oth.r, or nothing mav hrpp.n
\ow th. $izrrd thinkr h.'s pr.prr.d L.r's brinij Th. dirijram on th. grn.bojrd showr how th,t

ENTER THE DEMONI Both th.srn..l.n.nt -nothinE hrpp.nt

Th.r.'s r nrdl rumblin8 nois., i lrint sm.ll of
soh.thing \.rv disiju*inij, rll th..andl.r Eo out, rnd
ill ol i rudd.n th.r.'s r t.n l&n s.rh thin* in thc hid
dlc ol th. kirngl.l Thc Dcmon pht.r b.gins $ithin
th. .onfincs of thit kirngl., rnd hu* rttr.k ill thr..
p.ints b.fd. m.\inij on b blst his $ry insidc th. p.n
rrErjn rnd $in (in r.rl lil. thit would b. r..omplish
cd br cttin* th. $izrrdl)
Th. D.mon rttr.kt bv hying pi...s ilon8sid. thos.
lrid bt th. Wizird, rnd r.v.rlinij th. h\o symb.lr t.)
s.. $hi.h hrs won Th. lirrt .ount.r plrl.d bv th.
D.m.n must b. a gu.ss (nind rcrdinij ir .onsid.r.d
brd nrrm rmongst Diab.nrgi.rl phy.rs), but lr.m th.n
on r .1.\.r D.mon plrv.r sh.uld b. ibl. b ur. loiji.
b in.r.it. his.hjn.. of t.oring p.intt
P1.$. rcm.hb.r that th. Dcmon pliy.r d..snr
hi\. tu lollow th. sim. rul. .r nor hrvin8 .pposft.
.lrhcnr\.n th. \)nc lin.
Hint nrr th. D.hon plrt.r: On.c th. trirn8l. hit
b.cn btukcn, th. k.ystun. t. th. p.ntrgrrm ir rh. $.rk
poinr, sin.c findin8 that \fill r.v.al thc ori.ntrtbn of
th. p.ntrgrrn Th.r. ir. 5 posribl. positn'ns rd it;
trt rnd lo.rt. th. k.vsbn. $ qui.kly jr porsibl. in
ord.r nr s.or. th. hi8hest points
S..ond .l.mcnt h8 rr(rf froh it - s...nd .1.
Fn* .l.m.nt hrs rrrow lrom it - lirtt .l.mcnt
.l.h.ntt - both ir. d.strol.d
op positc
Not. thit th.r. ir n. 'sup.rnr' cl.h.nt, rs .r.h is
d.Lrtcd br rnoth.r lhcr.nrr. rou'll qui.klr lind thrt
hu,r , n .L L ,,u mrlhuL Lu. 1... 'nd hrl h n
ning rcquncs lu.k r\ w.ll js l.iji.
SCORING POINTS
F.r .\.n .ount.r thrt d.tttuvs on. of th. $izrrd s
.ountcrs, th. d.m.n s.or.s 1 P.int For .\.N .o,,nn,r
thrt d.*turs on. ol th. d.mons, th. wizird r.or.s 1
point \o points rr. s..r.d bv .ith.r plrt.r if nothin8
hrpp.ns, or th. ..unt.rs d.rtrot .r.h oth.r Wh.n rl1
th. d.mons.ount.rs hr\. b..n phy.d, th. plNc$ n.t.
th.ir s.or.r ind r.\.rs. (t.s Th. \fizird plrt.r
b..om.r th. d.mon plry.r, rnd \i.. v.rsr
WINNING THE GAME
On.. rl1 th. rgr..d nunb.r of tuunds hr\. b..n
plit.d, rh. plav.r $ith th. m.rt points is th. winn.r!

I oo t

6 o o
o a o
Oo o q)"oo o-
o 8% ,o o
Th. D.mon (i.! b b,..1 Nr lor rh. p.nu8lsi t .h
rhm3lr ih. klrd.'l &t ...t on lid b 6al.d b.foR rn.

t6t. bur iN. rhmi m frr rn

rh. Fnulm a Atr n1... ,i r
b. rtr' vl.r ti.(.! rn rhc
krl.al.. $ tu.th n 1r.fc rEr t th.rt Thr! 0or (or _ ld
rlfl natc.t<ooldlx !!r.. 4!
I rrE or [Mhl.ir) Nft.(n,nind o. €.dn ri. !3 Atr {rln ,ft1
s:r.r b.rr.ih.r or
6 Thirc!d yh. Alr q'h. ls
FiF ro *in r.dh.. Frfl'
T116 hu$ h. t!rn. an ron

a ]\ndrh lar6 !t.. rid