Game Rules

These are not the official rules, but are actually a modified and reinforced version of the original rules made for the purpose of clearly defining how the game should work in the stand-alone version.

Objective
Each player attempts to win points by completing goals. The first player to reach or exceed the required number of points wins.

Setup

 * 1) Remove the Fanfic Author Twilight card from the deck and place it face up in the middle of the shipping grid.
 * 2) Separate the three decks - Pony, Ship, and Goals - and make sure all cards in those decks are face-down. Shuffle the three decks individually. Place the separated decks off of the shipping grid. There should be room next to the Pony and Ship decks for their respected discard piles, and room near the Goal Deck for the public goals.
 * 3) Remove the top 3 Goal cards from the Goal Deck and place them off of the shipping grid near the Goal Deck, face-up, and separately. These are the starting public goals.
 * 4) Deal each player a hand of 4 Pony cards and 3 Ship cards from the top of the Pony and Ship decks. Players do not reveal cards from their hand to anyone else, but may look at the cards in their own hand.

Starting a Game

 * The player whose turn is first is the one immediately left of the dealer (or the player left of the previous game’s winner).
 * Alternate House Rule: Players can roll a die to determine whose turn is first.
 * Each player starts with a hand-limit of 7 cards.

Taking Turns
Players may decide which order they will take turns before the game starts, but it’s typically done in clockwise order. That order does not change once the game has started.

These are the events the current player must follow on their turn:

1. Check Can Play
If the current player doesn’t have any cards in their hand that can be played / played by use of its power: Otherwise, continue to step 2...
 * then they must show their hand to the other players before discarding those cards face-up into their respective discard piles. The player must then draw exactly up to their hand-limit from the Pony and Ship decks. They get to decide how much they draw from either deck, but they must draw at least one card from both decks.
 * Go back and repeat step 1…

2. Play or Pass
The current player must play a card from their hand unless they’ve already played at least one card on this current turn, in which case they may choose to either play a card from their hand or decide to end their turn now. If the current player decides to play a card: Otherwise, the player has decided to end their turn. Skip to step 4…
 * then play that card. They must make sure to follow instructions on any affected cards and follow the rules of the game.
 * Continue to step 3…

3. Hand Check
If the current player doesn’t have any cards in their hand or they don’t have any playable cards / cards that can be played by use of its power: Otherwise, go back and repeat step 2...
 * then their turn is now over.
 * Continue to step 4…

4. End Turn
The player’s turn has ended. Any turn-specific goals that are now completed can be awarded to the current player. If any cards in their hand have the condition that they must be discarded if still in the player’s hand at the end of their turn, discard those cards face-up into their respective discard piles now.

Continue to step 5...

5. Balance Hand
If the current player’s hand isn’t the size of their hand-limit:
 * if their hand size is bigger than their hand-limit:
 * then they must discard a card of their choice from their hand face-up to its respective discard pile. They can not discard a card that is the only one of its type in the current player’s hand.
 * Go back and repeat step 5…
 * else if their hand size is smaller than their hand-limit:
 * then they must choose either the Pony Deck or the Ship Deck to draw one card off the top of. However, if their hand is missing a particular type of card (Pony or Ship), then they must draw for that type of card. That card is then added face-down to their hand.
 * Go back and repeat step 5…
 * Otherwise, flip any face-down cards in the current player’s hand so they are now face-up.
 * Continue to step 6...

6. Next Player
If the public goals are not a size of 3, then remove goal cards off of the top of the Goal Deck and add them to the public goals until it is. The current player is now done, and the next player may now start their turn.

Ships

 * A ship exists when two Pony cards are connected together by means of a Ship card.
 * A ship is broken when two Pony cards are no longer shipped together. This can be by removing one or both Pony cards, or by removing the ship card.
 * A ship is created when a player takes a Ship card and places one end of that card beneath a Pony card on the shipping grid. If, at the other end of the Ship card, another Pony card already exists, then those two Pony cards will have become shipped. Otherwise, the player who placed the Ship card will be required to play a Pony card from their hand at the other end of that Ship card.
 * A Ship card’s power is triggered immediately after the ship is created between two Pony cards, unless the card explicitly states that it’s power activates before then. If its power is mandatory, then this is also when it’s power will be activated.
 * If a new ship is created between two Pony cards that were already on the shipping grid, then the player must choose one of the two Pony cards and activate it’s power, so long as that Pony card allows it to be triggered in this way. This means that if only one of the two Pony card’s powers can be triggered in this way, then that Pony card’s power must be activated. If neither of the Pony card’s powers can be triggered in this way, then neither card’s power is activated.
 * If a new ship is created between an existing Pony card and a newly placed Pony card, then the newly placed Pony card’s power will be triggered immediately after the Ship card’s power has finished UNLESS that Pony card is a Changeling in which case the Pony card’s power will activate first and immediately. Otherwise, the player may choose to activate the Ship card’s power or the Pony card’s power once in either order if either can be triggered in this way. Their powers will remain idly-triggered until any of the following events occur:
 * That card’s power is activated (in which case, only that one card is no longer idly-triggered).
 * The ship between these three cards is broken.
 * The player activates the power of a card other than the one’s in this ship (the two Pony cards and the one Ship card).
 * The player plays another card.
 * The player’s turn ends.
 * Only one ship may exist at a time on any of the 4 sides of a Pony card, meaning any one Pony card may have up to 4 ships, but no less than one.
 * Similarly, any one Ship card can have only two Pony cards attached to it at any time, one on each end.
 * A ship can be counted as ‘created’ once between two Pony card’s for that single turn, regardless of the Ship card that is, will, or did create that ship between them. The same goes for breaking a ship - a ship between two Pony cards can be counted as ‘broken’ once per given turn, but only for that given turn. Click here for an example.
 * If a power makes two Pony card’s move in such a way that they end up being shipped once again, this does NOT count as breaking a ship nor as creating one.
 * In the event that a Pony card states it counts as more than one pony, any ship created between it and another Pony card counts as X number of ships, where X is the max number of ponies of those two Pony cards.
 * In terms of verbiage:
 * a ship (N) is different from shipping (V), but...
 * Shipping (V), creating a ship (V), and ship-creating (V) are all synonymous.
 * Similarly, a broken ship (N) is different from breaking a ship (V), but…
 * Breaking a ship (V) and ship-breaking (V) are synonymous.
 * A ship (N) is different from a created ship (N), and are both different from a broken ship (N).

Empty Deck Rule

 * In the event that a player needs to draw a card but the deck they want to draw from is empty, then the player must flip the respective discard pile so it’s face-down, shuffle it, then place it in the location of the old Deck to act as the new Deck. However…

Tearing Up Twilight’s Notes Rule

 * ...in the event that a player needs to draw from a deck, but that deck is empty and there doesn’t exist any cards in the discard pile of the same type of card, then the Tearing Up Twilight’s Notes Rule takes effect immediately.
 * When the Tearing Up Twilight’s Notes Rule takes effect, the current player may pick a single Ship card from the shipping grid to be discarded face-up to the Ship discard pile. Any card that is no longer attached to the shipping grid as a result will also need to be discarded face-up to their respective discard piles. After that, the Empty Deck Rule takes effect.

Points

 * Points are gained by winning goals. Each Goal card has a point value assigned to it, so the number of points a player was won is the total value of points of the Goal cards they’ve won.

Goals

 * A Goal card can be won by the player whose turn it is only.
 * If a Goal card’s goal is already completed when it is drawn, or it’s already completed at the beginning of a player’s turn, then that Goal card must be placed face-down at the bottom of the Goal Deck, and a new one must be drawn from the top of the Goal deck to take it’s place.
 * A Goal can be achieved at any moment so long as a Pony’s power is not currently active, and when it is achieved the player whose turn it is receives that Goal card to keep.
 * Some Goal cards have modifiers which are applied to the player who wins that goal.


 * Goal Redraw Rule: In the event that no Goal card can be drawn from the Goal deck without it already being complete, then no new Goal is added to the public goals.

Shipping Grid

 * The shipping grid is the area where Pony cards and Ship cards are played.
 * For the sake of sanity, any card that isn’t chained to the start card Fanfic Author Twilight doesn’t count as being on the shipping grid (this would be a broken grid), and must be discarded face-up to it’s respective discard pile immediately after the shipping grid has become broken.

Gender

 * There are four genders:
 * genderless (for this wiki, it's ⚪)
 * male (♂)
 * female (♀)
 * multigender (⚤)
 * A card without a gender defined (⚪) counts as neither ♀ nor ♂, but a card defined as ⚤ counts as either/both. This means that if two ⚤ cards are shipped together (assuming they both have only one pony each), then it can be counted as one ship that is a ♀/♀ pair, a ♂/♂ pair, or a ♀/♂ pair. Furthermore, this effect is also true for each individual ship created with cards that have multiple ponies on it.
 * In general, Gender Change cards can only change a card's gender to the opposite gender. The effect is also applied to the entire card rather than individual ponies on that card, should it have more than one. This means that:
 * you CAN...
 * make any single gender card become the opposite gender as long as it's ♀ or ♂
 * ...but you can NOT...
 * change the gender of a ⚪ card (although Changelings can make an unusual exception, see Changelings below)
 * change the gender of a ⚤ card
 * change the gender of a card to the type ⚪.
 * change the gender of a card to the type ⚤
 * Most Changelings, when not imitating a card, count as genderless (⚪) unless their gender is explicitly defined on that card (see the card Queen Chrysalis).

"Play From Hand"

 * In most cases, a card counts as being "played from hand” if it was at any point during the current turn in the player’s hand, but was, at some point further on in the turn, placed onto the shipping grid. It no longer counts as being "played from hand" when their turn is over.
 * It is possible for a card to be counted as being "played from hand" more than once per turn.
 * Special conditions exist where a card can be counted as being "played from hand” even when the card didn’t originally come from that player's hand. For example, any card that is drawn from a discard pile, even if it’s required to be immediately played, counts as being "played from hand”.
 * Any card that has been played “from hand” can count towards goals that require a certain number of a type of card to be played “from hand” in their turn, even if that card has to have it’s attributes changed after it has been placed.

Swap

 * A swap is performed when X number of Pony cards are first removed from the shipping grid and then placed back onto it at the other card’s old location(s). Usually, this involves just two Pony cards switching locations, but this can sometimes include even more (see the card Discord).
 * Swapping does not activate a Pony card’s power unless it explicitly states that it does, such as the Changeling cards.
 * Swapping can count towards creating new ships and breaking existing ships.
 * Swapping does not trigger a Ship card’s power, and as such any effects done by a Ship card will remain on the affected Pony card, even after that Pony card is swapped.
 * Most Pony cards can be swapped, unless it explicitly states that it can not be moved. However, certain cards can overrule this (see the card Derpy Hooves).

Replace

 * A replace is performed when a Pony card on the shipping grid is first discarded and then replaced with another Pony card. Usually the replacement Pony card is the one that has the replace power.
 * When a Pony card replaces another card on the shipping grid, it is counted as a played card. This means that it’s power is triggered, but in most cases won’t matter since that card usually requires that the card be in a player’s hand for it’s power to be able to activate.
 * To replacing a Pony card counts only as one replacement, even if there’s more than one pony on either card.
 * Most Pony cards can be replaced, unless it explicitly states that it can not be moved. At the moment, a card that can can overrule this does not exist.

Race, Gender, and Keyword Changes

 * Some Ship cards allow you to temporarily change an attribute of a Pony card for a turn.
 * Any Change-type effects will remain on a Pony card for the duration of that player’s turn, even if that Pony card is moved or discarded.
 * Any Change-type effect will be applied to an entire card, as compared to individual ponies on that card if there is more than one.

Changelings

 * A Changeling is a type of Pony card that can imitate any Pony card that it allows, and will do so for the duration of a single turn. Once that turn is over, it goes back to being just a Changeling.
 * A Changeling card can only count as one pony. This means that if a Changeling card imitates another card that has more than one pony on it, the Changeling can only represent one of those ponies.
 * Whenever a Changeling isn’t imitating another card, it’s race will count as whatever type is indicated on the card.
 * Whenever a Changeling is moved or played, the player must immediately define which card that Changeling will be imitating for the remainder of their turn. This can happen more than once in a players turn.
 * Anytime a Changeling changes form, it loses any attributes it may have gained through Race Changes, Gender Changes, or Keyword Changes.
 * A Gender Change cannot affect a Changeling if it doesn’t already have an explicit gender defined for it UNLESS that Changeling is imitating another card that does have a gender defined for it.
 * A Race Change cannot affect a Changeling UNLESS that Changeling is imitating another card.