In Nessos, embody Greek heroes who imprison mythological creatures into sacred amphoras in order to offer them to the gods. If you capture enough, you will reach the rank of gods chosen One! But beware... Charon the terrible roams and will by all means try to make you take a one way trip to Hell!
Components
- 55 Amphora Cards
- 40 Creature cards
- 15 Charon cards
- 1 first player pawn
- Instructions
Object of the Game
During the whole game, the players must bluff in order to win the Amphora cards which represent the most interesting Creatures.
When your turn comes, offer an Amphora card to another player. He can accept it, or refuse it by offering it to another player.
Collect Amphora cards in order to be the first to reach the number of points required. But be careful, if you get 3 Charon card, you lose the round.
Game Elements
Creature Cards
The Creature cards present the illustration of a creature stemming from the Greek mythology on a red background, and a number from 1 to 10. Every number is associated to a creature, and there are 4 of each.
Charon Cards
The Charon cards present an illustration of the character on a green background. "These cards bear no number.
First Player Pawn
The first player pawn shows which player starts the current round. This pawn moves clockwise from player to player at the end of each round.
Setup
Depending on the number of players, take the following cards out of the pack of Amphora cards:
- In a round with 3 players, leave out cards number 4 , 6 and 8, and 4 Charon cards.
- In a round with 4 players, leave out card number 6, and 1 Charon card.
- In a round with 5 or 6 players, play with all 55 cards.
Shuffle all Amphora cards and give 5 cards to each player.
Put the rest of the Amphora cards in a pack, face down, in the center of the table, as the draw.
Select at random the first player, and place the First player pawn in front of him.
Game Play
The game takes place in a undetermined number of rounds, until one of the three game-end conditions is met.
The player who has the First player pawn chooses a card in his hand of cards and offers it by putting it face down in front of another player of his choice.
There are then several possibilities:
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If the card offered is a Creature card, you must say out loud the number of the card without lying.
For example, if you offer another player a Nemean Lion, you must say "3" out loud.
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If the card offered is a Charon card, you can (and should) lie by saying out loud any number you wish.
For example, you offer a Charon card to another player. You can say "7" out loud.
The player who gets the card has 3 choices :
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He accepts the card before looking at it, and then places it face up in front of him.
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He refuses the card without looking at it. It returns to the player who offered it, and he places it face up in front of himself.
-
He adds a card from his hand, face down, and offers the two cards to another player. He is only allowed to lie about the Charon cards by announcing the number he chooses
In this third case, the player who receives the two cards has the same choices:
-
He accepts the cards before looking at them, and then places them face up in front of him.
-
He refuses the cards without looking at them. They return to the player who offered them (the two cards), and he places them face up in front of himself.
He adds a card from his hand, face down, and offers the three cards to another player. He is only allowed to lie about the Charon cards by announcing the number he chooses.
You cannot offer the cards to a player who has already been offered cards in this round, nor can you offer them to the player with the First player pawn.
In the third case, the player who receives the cards only has two choices:
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He accepts the cards before looking at them, and then places them face up in front of him.
-
He refuses the cards without looking at them. They returns to the player who offered them (the three cards), and he places W them face up in front of himself.
End of the Round
As soon as a player turns the cards face up in front of him, it ends the round.
It is possible to turn over 1, 2 or 3 cards at the same time, depending on the situation.
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The Creature cards in front of you face up bring you closer to victory.
Add their value to the ones you won before. If you get the number of points required according to the number of players, go to End of the game.
Number of players Number of points 3 40 4 40 5 35 6 30 -
The Charon cards in front of you bring you closer to defeat.
If you have three Charon cards in front of you, you are sent to Hell. You loose immediately (even before the possibility of claiming the victory) and are eliminated. Leave the cards face up in front of you.
If there remains only one player, or if a total number of 9 Charon cards are turned face up in front of all players, go to End of game.
Bonus Cards 1, 2 and 3
Cards 1, 2, and 3 may seem insignificant because their value is low. However, having a 1 card, a 2 card and a 3 card in front of you gives you 10 bonus points. You may use this bonus several times if you own several sets of these cards.
Example: you have these cards face up in front of you . You have a total of 29 points (19 points for the sum of the card values , and 10 points for the 1, 2 and 3 cards).
If no game-end conditions emerge, take the following steps:
All players with less than 5 cards in their hand draw as many cards as necessary to reach 5 cards.
Pass on the First player pawn to the player on the left-hand side of the first player. "The new First player starts a new round.
End of the Game
The game may end three different ways:
The the card values for one player reaches or exceeds the number of points required. He is the gods chosen One, and will remain forever the most famous of men. This player is the winner of the game.
After a player is eliminated, there is only one player remaining in the game. This player wins the game.
When a total number of 9 Charon cards are face-up on the table, the game ends. ^e player who has the higher number of points wins the game. If there is a draw among the leading players, the winner is the one who owns the higher number of cards in front of him. If there still is a draw, the two-player share the victory.
History and Mythology
Nessos is freely inspired by the Greek mythology, the cards represent iconic creatures.
Here is the list:
The name of the game, Nessos, comes from an amphora representing combat between Heracles and the Centaur Nessos.
This amphora dates from the end of 7th century B.C. and is so famous that the artist who created it, still unknown to this day, is called the painter of Nessos
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