ODIN’S RAVENS



OBJECTIVE OF ODIN’S RAVENS: The objective of Odin’s Ravens is to be the first player to fly to the end of the world and back.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 Players

MATERIALS: 40 Land Cards, 16 Loki Cards, 50 Flight Cards, 2 Wooden Ravens, and Instructions

TYPE OF GAME: Party Card Game

AUDIENCE: Ages 10 and Up


OVERVIEW OF ODIN’S RAVENS

Odin sends his ravens, Muninn and Huginn, across the world to update him about life on Earth. After thousands of years of flying the same paths, they have gotten slightly competitive. The players, acting as the ravens, will race in opposite directions to see who will reach Odin first. Loki, the god of mischief, can create shortcuts or hinder the other raven. You can’t be certain that Loki won’t help your opponent instead. Try it, and see!

SETUP

To begin setup, the land cards are shuffled, and sixteen of the cards are placed between the two players. Each card consists of two spaces, and these spaces create the paths that the ravens will fly across. No two spaces in a row should match. The players will then orient their ravens at different ends of the land cards.

If a raven gets to the final land card, then it goes to the other side and flies back by way of the second route. Each player is given 25 flight cards and 8 Loki cards that match their chosen color. The cars are shuffled separately and placed face down, creating draw piles. Each player will draw five cards of whichever cards they like. The game is then ready to begin.

GAMEPLAY

Players may choose how many cards they want to play during their turn. Each card allows the players to take different actions, and they can take as many as they would like, as long as they have the required cards. If they choose to use a flight card, then it will move their raven along the path, but if they choose to use a trickery card, then they will take the action found on the card.

In order to play a flight card, the player must use a card that has matching land as the next space the raven must travel to. If there are numerous matching land spaces in front of the raven, then the matching flight card can be used to move it over all of the spaces. If the player has no matching cards in their hand, they may use two matching cards to move their raven one space.

Each Loki card consists of two actions, giving the players options. Players must choose their action and remove the card from the game, ensuring that it cannot be used again. Players should read the cards before the game to understand them.

When a player has completed their turn, they will draw three cards, ending their turn. If the player has more than seven cards, then they must discard them until they have only seven remaining. The game continues in this manner, with players taking turns, until the game comes to an end.

END OF GAME

The game comes to an end when a player relocates their raven into the last space found on their opponent’s side. This player is declared the winner! If this player was the first one to make a move, then the other player will have one final move to relocate their raven to the finish point. If they are able to, then the winner will be the player with the most cards in their hand.

Nakoa Davis