01 · The goalBring your opponent's 8,000 Life Points to zero. You also win if they must draw from an empty deck. Each turn: draw, Main Phase 1, Battle Phase, Main Phase 2, End. The first player skips the first draw and cannot attack on turn 1.
02 · SummoningOnce per turn you may Normal Summon a figure in Attack Position or Set it face-down in Defense. Level 1–4 need nothing; Level 5–6 need 1 Tribute; Level 7–8 need 2. Some cards Special Summon, which doesn't use your Normal Summon.
03 · Face-down & positionsA Set figure hides its identity. Flip Summon it on a later turn — FLIP effects trigger when it turns face-up, even if it is attacked. Change a face-up figure's position once per turn, not the turn it arrives.
04 · BattleAttack Position against Attack: the weaker falls and its owner takes the difference. Against Defense: beat the DEF to destroy it, fall short and you take the difference. You can attack directly only when your opponent controls no figures. Quick way: double-tap one of your figures, then tap the enemy you want to hit (or their portrait for a direct attack).
05 · Events & SecretsSpells (Events) are played in your Main Phase: Normal, Continuous, Equip and Field. Quick-Play Spells and Traps (Secrets) are Set first and can answer during your opponent's turn — a Trap cannot be activated the turn it is Set.
06 · ChainsSummons, attacks and activations open a response window. Answer with a card fast enough: Quick-Play and Traps answer Spells and effects, and only Counter Traps can answer a Counter Trap. The last card played resolves first.
07 · Reading the duelBefore your opponent moves you see what they are about to do: a card lifting from their hand, an arrow towards their target. The chronicle at the top of the table narrates every step. When you choose a target, each enemy figure shows how the clash would end.
08 · PaceCinematic puts every clash on the big stage; Normal keeps the stage for the heavy blows; Swift stays on the table. Change it with the ⏱︎ button. In a hurry? The “Speed up” button (or Space) fast-forwards the scene that is playing.
09 · FieldsA Field Spell turns the battlefield into its place: the Great Wall, the Forum of the Pax Romana, Olympia, the mills of the Industrial Revolution, burning Pompeii, the golden hall of Valhalla, the Library of Alexandria. If both players hold one, the table splits: theirs above, yours below.
10 · Scrolls & rarityWin duels to earn scrolls, then unroll them in the Scriptorium: five cards each, Common, Rare, Legendary or the five ultra-rare Epics. Cards you already own become ink; ink inscribes missing cards (never Epics) and buys scrolls in the shop. The Obsidian Scroll — one a week — is the only sure way to an Epic.
11 · Paths & careerBeyond the campaign: Exhibitions against any of eighteen rivals with your own rules and arena, Tournaments of eight where every other match is really played out, and Turning Points — historic moments you must win in a single turn. Every duel earns experience, levels, Renown and progress on three daily quests; the Chronicler’s Hall keeps your titles, trophies and card backs.
12 · Fifteen schoolsEvery codex wins its own way. Heroes of Myth: legendary heroes like Achilles, who cannot fall in battle but dies when targeted. Power of the Masses: assembly lines and conscripts fill the field with Tokens. Fire & Siege: Greek fire, rockets and boiling oil burn Life Points without a battle. Ashes of Knowledge: burn your opponent’s Deck — whoever must draw from an empty Deck loses. Cloak & Dagger: spies read the hand, steal Spells and strike from the shadows. The Eagle’s Mountains: Skanderbeg and the Albanian highlanders, strongest when outnumbered. Age of Sail: navigators who send the enemy home. The Muses: artists who heal and return for an encore. Pirates: plunder in pairs. The Grand Alliance: peoples who fight harder side by side. Legacies: heroes who leave something behind when they fall. The Long Memory: fill your Graveyard, then turn history into power. The Crown: kings who never leave the throne empty. The People: rebels who grow fiercer the further behind they fall. Ages Entwined: gather every era in one collection. Pick one from “Your codex”, or let the ✦ Auto-build workshop make one from your own cards.
13 · KeywordsAlliance — races: a bonus while you control another face-up monster of one of those races. Formation N: N more ATK for each other face-up monster you control. Legacy: an effect when the card is destroyed (in battle or by an effect, not when Tributed). Chronicle N: works while your Graveyard holds at least N cards. Succession: when the card is sent from the field to the Graveyard (destroyed or Tributed), its strongest heir of the named Level comes from your Deck. Uprising N: N more ATK while your Life Points are lower than your opponent’s. Epoch N: works while your monsters on the field and in the Graveyard come from N or more different eras.
14 · The AgoraWith a free account the Agora opens (the speech-bubble button): the Square where every chronicler talks, a House of up to thirty friends with its own hall and banner, private letters between friends, and challenges that seat you both at an online table. Share a codex as a code (Copy code in the deck builder) and anyone can import it with one tap. In a duel, the 💬 button sends an emote across the table.
15 · RankedThe Ranked tile opens the Ladder of Ages: a rating from 1,000, seven ranks from Scribe to Grand Historian, monthly seasons with rewards for the highest rank you reach. Play a live chronicler of similar rating, or a Shade — the AI with a real chronicler’s codex — whenever you like.
16 · The archive keeps your cardsWith an account your collection, scrolls and ink live in the archive, not on the device: scrolls are unrolled there, and every duel is replayed move by move before its scrolls are paid. Duplicate Legendary and Epic cards are kept as spare copies: trade them with friends (⇄ in the Agora; from your account’s third day and tenth verified win, five trades a day, one Epic a week) or dissolve them into ink. You can also spend ink to inscribe a card a friend is missing. Without an account everything stays on this device, as before.
Original history-inspired rules in the spirit of Yu-Gi-Oh!, not an official product. Tap any card for its full text. Escape cancels a selection.