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RULE BOOK

INTRODUCTION
It’s so hard to feel seen as a Cryptid these days. In this easy-to-learn strategy game, you’ll navigate your love-hate relationship
with humans and outwit your fellow Cryptids to earn your status as a true legend. As hikers, hunters, and researchers scatter
across the wilderness hoping to catch a glimpse of you, you’ll stage elaborate hoaxes, plant perfect decoys, and lurk discreetly in
the shadows to build up your myth. You might even expose your true self once in a while, but be warned: vulnerability can come
at a price.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX

The Kickstarter Exclusive Edition includes the Ness is More Expansion, in addition to the Twisted Cryptids base game.

6 Cryptid meeples
18 Hiding Spot
tokens

6 tarot-sized 54 Sighting 82 Action 18 Event 14 Hidden

Cryptid cards cards cards cards Trait cards

1 First Player 18 double-sided

token Myth tokens

1 Sinkhole
token
36 Human
tokens

The Wilderness board

Setup

Start by removing the board from the game box, unfolding it, and placing it in the center of the play area within reach of all
players. The board consists of the Myth Track 1 and The Wilderness 2 which is composed of 6 Sites. Next, place the Myth
tokens 3 next to the Myth Track. Myth represents your score in the game, and you’ll use the Myth Track and Myth tokens to
track your score.

Place the Human tokens in 3 Rest Areas 4 (one corresponding to each Flavor of Human) next to The Wilderness, then place
Hiker tokens, Hunter tokens, and Researcher tokens on each Site with a corresponding , , or symbol 5 .

Shuffle the Action deck 6 (including all base game and any expansion cards) and place it face down within reach of all players,
leaving space near it for a discard pile 7 . Then shuffle the Event deck 8 (including all base game and any expansion cards) and
place it face down within reach of all players, leaving space near it for a Current Event pile 9 .

6 7 8 9

discard Current
pile Event pile

Have each player choose a Cryptid and take the corresponding components: 1 Cryptid card 10 , 1 Cryptid meeple 11 ,
9 Sighting cards 12 , and 3 Hiding Spot tokens 13 .

10 11 12

13

After choosing your Cryptid, place your Cryptid card face up in front of you, then place your Cryptid meeple on the Myth Track at 5
Myth (which represents your starting score). Return any remaining Cryptids (with their corresponding components) to the game box.

Next, shuffle the Hidden Trait cards (including all base game and any expansion cards) and deal two to each player. Have each
player choose one of them and place it face down above their Cryptid card 14 , then return any remaining Hidden Trait cards to the
game box.

Now you are ready to form your 3 Stacks. To create a Stack, secretly choose three of your Sighting cards and place them face down
in a pile in the order you choose, then repeat this process with your remaining Sighting cards until you have formed all three of your
Stacks (each with 3 Sighting cards). Note: The top face-down Sighting card on each Stack will be the first one revealed from that Stack.

After you have formed your Stacks, place each Stack in a row to the right of your Cryptid card 15 . Each Stack will correspond to one
of your numbered Hiding Spot tokens: the left Stack being Hiding Spot token number 1, the middle Stack Hiding Spot token number
2, and the right Stack Hiding Spot token number 3.

Give the First Player token 16 to the player who last visited a park. They start the game as the First Player.

14

15

16

In player order (starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise), place one of your Hiding Spot tokens on a Site in The
Wilderness. Once all players have placed a Hiding Spot token, the First Player will pass the First Player token to the player on
their left. Then, in player order (starting with the new First Player), place a second Hiding Spot token. After each player has placed
their second Hiding Spot token, the First Player will pass the First Player token to the player on their left. One final time, in player
order, place your last Hiding Spot token. After each player has placed all of their Hiding Spot tokens, the First Player will pass the
First Player token to the player on their left.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when placing your Hiding Spot tokens:
• You may not place a Hiding Spot token on a Site that already has one of your Hiding Spot tokens.

• When playing with 4 players, no more than 3 players may have a Hiding Spot token at any one Site. When playing with 5 or 6
players, no more than 4 players may have a Hiding Spot token at any one Site.

Finally, deal 5 cards from the Action deck to each player. These cards will form your hand. Now you are ready to play! Gameplay
starts with the First Player and proceeds in player order.

Once you have completed setup, the play area should look something like this:

Player 3 Player 4

discard Current
pile Event pile

Player 2 Player 1 (First Player)

gameplay

You will play Twisted Cryptids over 5 rounds, and each round is divided into 4 phases: Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Night.
1 DAWN PHASE
At Dawn, Humans will leave from, arrive to, and move about The Wilderness of their own accord.

At the start of the round, the First Player will flip the top card of the Event deck, add it face up to the Current Event pile, and
resolve the listed effects from top to bottom (see the Components section for more details about Events).

Note: If you are ever unable to perform the full effect on a card - for example, if there are no Researchers in The Wilderness to Extract,
only one Hunter in the Rest Area to Attract, or only two Hikers on a Site when the effect says to move three - partially resolve that
effect to the extent you are able. This also applies to cards you play during the Day and Sightings you reveal at Dusk.
The round will then continue to the Day.
2 DAY PHASE
During the Day, you will use your Cryptid charm to move Humans around The Wilderness in an attempt to increase your Myth.
In player order, on your turn you will take one of the following Actions:

• Play an Action card from your hand (see the Components section for more details about Action cards).
• Discard an Action card to use your Cryptid Power. You only may do this once per round
(see the Components section for more details about Cryptid Powers).
• Pass the turn to the next player.
You will continue playing cards in this manner for three turns. Once each player has had three turns, the round will continue
to Dusk.
3 DUSK PHASE

At Dusk, an Encounter will occur at a Site in The Wilderness, revealing what each Cryptid is (or isn’t) doing at that Site. To
determine where the Encounter occurs, find the Site with the most Humans that has at least one Hiding Spot. If multiple Sites tie
for the most Humans, the First Player chooses at which of those Sites the Encounter occurs.

In player order, if you have a Hiding Spot at the Site of the Encounter you will reveal the top Sighting of your corresponding Stack.

When you reveal a Sighting, start by gaining (or losing) Myth depending on the distribution of Humans at the Site of the
Encounter as specified on the Sighting card. Next, resolve the effect of that Sighting, then set it aside face up next to you. Finally,
take your Hiding Spot from the Site of the Encounter and place it on its corresponding Stack, then the next player who has a
Hiding Spot at the Site of the Encounter will reveal their Sighting.

-2 Myth for Hikers 0 Myth for Hunters + 6 Myth for Researchers Example of gaining 4 Myth
Gain 4 Myth

If, during Dusk, you reveal the final Sighting in one of your Stacks and now that Stack is empty, return the corresponding Hiding
Spot token to the game box. You will not use this Hiding Spot for the remainder of the game.

After all players with Hiding Spots at the Site of the Encounter have revealed their Sightings, the round will continue to the Night.
4 NIGHT PHASE
During the Night, you will begin scheming in preparation for the next day.
In player order, take the following steps:
• If you do not have a Hiding Spot token on one of your Stacks, you may move one of your Hiding Spots in The Wilderness,
placing it on a new Site.

• If you have a Hiding Spot token on one of your Stacks from Dusk, place that Hiding Spot on a different Site than the Site at
which the Encounter occurred.

• You may choose to discard any number of cards, then draw from the Action deck until you have 5 cards in your hand. (If you
are in the fifth round, skip this step and discard any remaining cards in your hand.)

Note: If there are not enough cards in the deck to draw until you have 5 cards in your hand, draw any remaining cards in the Action
deck, then shuffle the discard pile and place it face down to form a new Action deck. Continue to draw until you have 5 cards in
your hand.

Once each player has drawn up to 5 cards, the First Player passes the First Player token to the player on their left, who now
becomes the First Player for the next round.

end game

Once you have completed 5 rounds, flip over the remaining Sightings in your Stacks and your Hidden Trait before determining the
winner of the game.
• Gain 7 Myth for each Real Deal that was not revealed during the game.
• Gain bonus Myth based on your level of completion of the objective on your Hidden Trait.

The player with the greatest total Myth wins the game and is deemed the True Legend, while the others scurry home before the
Humans catch them.

In the event of a tie, tally the number of Humans on the Sites where you have Hiding Spots. The tied player with the most Humans
is the winner. If that does not resolve the tie, then high five because you are both legends this time around (but you should
probably play again to determine who the True Legend is).

+2 Myth on Myth Track

+30 Myth from Myth tokens

Sightings Not Revealed Revealed Sightings

HOAX

REAL DEAL REAL DEAL

+7 Myth from each Real +14 Myth from

Deal not revealed Hidden Trait objective

TOTAL: 32 + 7 + 7 + 14 = 60 MYTH

COMPONENTS

CRYPTID CARDS

As a Cryptid you have a unique Cryptid Power that will help you during the Day. Once per round, you may discard a card to use
that power on your turn.

Note: If your Cryptid Power includes two effects separated by an and, resolve both of these effects individually. That means you may
resolve them from the same or from different Hiding Spots.

HIDDEN TRAIT CARDS

Hidden Traits give you an objective that you’ll try to achieve by the end of the game in order to score bonus Myth. Each one has
three levels of completion; the higher your level of completion, the more Myth you will gain! You’ll keep your Hidden Trait secret
from other players until the end of the game, but you may look at it at any time.

SIGHTING CARDS

Sightings are kept in Stacks, hidden from other players, until they are revealed; however you may look at them at any time.
At Dusk, you’ll reveal Sightings from your Stacks. Sightings will cause you to either gain or lose Myth when revealed during an
Encounter based on the distribution of Humans at the Site of the Encounter. Each Sighting card also lists an effect you’ll resolve
after it’s revealed.
Sightings come in four types:

• Decoys: Decoys are objects arranged to look just like you! Use them to trick Hunters and earn Myth. (Hah! That’s just a pile of
sticks, dummies.)

• Hoaxes: Enlist the help of woodland creatures to devise Hoaxes and throw Humans off your trail. Reveal Hoaxes to Hikers to
increase your Myth. (Do they really think you look like three raccoons in a trench coat?)

• Silhouettes: A little goes a long way! Let Humans catch a glimpse of what they’re missing with Silhouettes. These shadowy
outlines get Researchers excited, earning you Myth with each Encounter. (Science journals are going to want to hear about you!)

• Real Deals: Being a Cryptid is hard. Sometimes you want to lift the veil and show the world who you really are… even if there
are consequences. Real Deal sightings are really you! Expose yourself attacking, sleeping, or engaged in your favorite activity
to the right Humans and get rewarded with Myth for your bravery. But beware! Sometimes being vulnerable comes at a cost.
(You’re not mean, just misunderstood… and maybe a little mean.)

DECOY HOAX SILHOUETTE REAL DEAL

Hint: The Real Deal Sightings are high risk, high reward; though you can gain a lot of Myth by revealing them, you could lose a lot of
Myth if the wrong Humans are at the Site of the Encounter; however, each one you do not reveal will allow you to gain 7 Myth at the
end of the game! Choose wisely when you arrange your Stacks during setup to keep your Real Deals close to the top or to bury them
to remain hidden throughout the game.

ACTION CARDS

These cards make up your hand, and you’ll play them during the Day. Each one specifies a number of Humans, a Flavor of
Humans, and a specific Function which will allow you to change the distribution of Humans in The Wilderness. When you play an
Action card, resolve the effect, then place it in the discard pile. Some cards have two effects separated by an OR; when you play
an OR card, choose one of the effects to resolve.

The Ness is More Expansion also includes AND cards. When you play an AND card, resolve each of the effects individually (in the
order of your choice); this means you can resolve them from the same or from different Hiding Spots.

Note: You may only partially resolve an Action card’s effect if it is not possible to fully resolve it. As an example, if you play a card that
would have you Lure 2 Researchers, and there are 2 Researchers on an adjacent Site, you must Lure both of them; however, if there is
only 1 Researcher on the adjacent Site, you may still play the card and only Lure the 1 Researcher.

Types of Functions
• Lure: Move a Human to the Site of one of your Hiding Spots from an adjacent Site.
(Must’ve been the melodic sound of your voice…)
• Scare: Move a Human from the Site of one of your Hiding Spots to an adjacent Site.(RAWRRRRRR!)
• Attract: Take a Human from the corresponding Rest Area and place it on the Site of one of your Hiding Spots. (You’re so
popular… you’re drawing a crowd!)
• Extract: Take a Human from the Site of one of your Hiding Spots or an adjacent Site and place it back in its corresponding
Rest Area. (Hey, sometimes a Cryptid gets hungry for a snack… no judgment.)
• Strong Lure: Move a Human to the Site of one of your Hiding Spots from a Site up to two Sites away. (That human call
really works!)
• Big Scare: Move a Human from the Site of one of your Hiding Spots to a Site up to two
Sites away. (RAAAAWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!)

EVENT CARDS

Each round at Dawn, a new Event will occur. These Events will result in Humans moving around The Wilderness.
Some effects may require you to move Humans “to” or “toward” a Site.
• TO: When moving a Human “to” a Site, you will move them directly onto that Site.

• TOWARD: When moving a Human “toward” a Site, you will move them in the direction of that Site to an adjacent Site. This
can result in the Human either moving onto the Site or moving one location closer to the Site. If two adjacent Sites are equally
close when moving “toward” a Site, choose which of those Sites to move the Human to.

Note: When you resolve the effect on an Event, if multiple Sites fit the effect’s requirements, choose one of those Sites and resolve the
effect from that Site. If an effect would require you to select a Site with the fewest Humans, this may result in selecting a Site with
zero Humans.

Some effects may require you to “distribute Humans” to adjacent Sites. To do so, take all the specified Humans off their current
Site, and place them on the adjacent Sites in as equal a distribution as possible. If you cannot distribute them equally, choose
which of those Sites will get an extra Human.

HIDING SPOT TOKENS

You will place your Hiding Spots on Sites during setup, and you’ll have the chance to move one of them each round during the
Night. Each Hiding Spot corresponds to one of your Stacks.

THE WILDERNESS

The Wilderness, which includes 6 different Sites, is the board on which you’ll hide throughout the game. The board also features
the Myth track, which you’ll use to keep track of your Myth.

HUMAN TOKENS
Humans are the meat and potatoes in Twisted Cryptids. (Delicious!)
Each round, you will lure them to certain Sites to increase your Myth or drive them away to prevent them from spotting you.
Humans come in three different Flavors:

Hikers are your standard fare Humans; they aren’t looking for you, but they might get curious if they happen upon you.
At Dawn, you’ll find them wandering through The Wilderness and seeing the sights. They are easily fooled by Hoaxes and
will usually leave you alone if they come across you sleeping.

Hunters are crafty Humans who are on your trail. At Dawn, they tend to move in packs as they look for you, and they can
move quite quickly. However, you can foil their plans with cleverly crafted Decoys, and they tend to be afraid when they
see you ready to pounce and attack.

Researchers are the most learned of Humans who want to prove you exist and study you. At Dawn, they might slowly
move between Sites, looking for you in less crowded areas. They are often excited by just a glimpse of your Silhouette,
but they are elated when they catch you in the act of something silly or mundane.

Note: Some effects do not specify a Flavor of Human. These effects utilize a symbol instead of one of the three Human Flavors
above. When resolving one of these effects, you may choose any Human.

CRYPTID MEEPLES

Your Cryptid meeple is used to note your score on the Myth Track. When you gain or lose Myth, you will move your Cryptid
meeple along the Myth Track an appropriate number of spaces.

MYTH TOKENS

To keep track of your current Myth you will use both the Myth Track and Myth tokens. At any time, if you would move
your Cryptid meeple past 9 on the Myth Track while gaining Myth, take a Myth token and continue on the Myth
Track from 0. Similarly, if you would move past 0 while losing Myth, return a Myth token (if you have any) and
continue backwards on the Myth Track from 9. Your Myth cannot drop below 0.

Example of gaining 7 Myth Example of losing 7 Myth

9 9

+ -

Each Myth token is double-sided, with one side representing 10 Myth and the other representing 30 Myth. When you have three
Myth tokens on the side, return two of them and flip one to the side.

FIRST PLAYER TOKEN

This token denotes who the First Player is. At the end of each Night, the First Player token will be passed
clockwise, changing who the First Player is in the next round. Player order always starts with the First Player
and proceeds clockwise.

SINKHOLE TOKEN (FOR 2-PLAYER ONLY)

When playing with 2 players, place the Sinkhole token on the Scenic Swamp at the beginning of setup. No Humans or
Hiding Spots may be placed on or moved to this Site.

You did it! You read the rules, and now you know everything you need to play Twisted Cryptids. Continue reading to get to
know the Cryptids on a more personal level. You’ll also find a quick reference section summarizing phases and key terms.

BigFoot
Height: 7 ft Weight: heavy
Hiking Loud noises
hair-care routines low-hanging branches
Bigfoot time urban development
Recognizable by his tall brooding stature, furrowed brow,
oot, 1958 dreamy eyes, and excessive body hair – you’ll often find
Bigf Bigfoot strolling through the tree line without a care in
the world.

Loveland Frog
Height: 4 ft Shape: round
Fresh flies Tadpoles
long walks in the bog dry skin
You can easily identify this bipedal amphibian by its
leathery skin, bulging eyes, and extremely bad posture. Loveland
Though the Loveland Frog loves to sing, it is quite shy, so Frog, 195
5
no one has ever heard it.

Jackalope
Height (w/o antlers): 2 ft 5 in
Height (with antlers): 5 ft 9 in
Carrots High beams
wide-open fields hats
competitive double dutch

32 If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a bunny and

pe, 19 a weird deer fell in love, look no further! The Jackalope is
Jackalo an extraordinarily agile creature – somehow those giant
antlers don’t slow it down one bit.

MOThMAN
Wingspan: 10 ft Eye Color: red
Lamp BUG ZAPPERS
5G TOWERS
BRIDGES
Searching for Mothman? Try looking up! This buglike Moth
man
humanoid can be spotted lurking around bridges and , 196
exceptionally bright street lamps. 6

Chupacabra
Height: 4 ft Quills: many
Farm animals Lawn ornaments
blood banks electric fences
With the body size of a small bear, Chupacabra spends
Chup most of the night on the prowl in search of food. If you’re
acabra close enough to tell it’s not just a coyote with mange and
, 1995
cool colored contacts, you’re probably too late…

Nessie
Length: 20 ft. . . allegedly Buoyancy: a lot
Moonlit swims Littering
sushi salt water
epic bagpipe solos social media influencers
The Loch Ness Monster, commonly referred to as
“Nessie,” is a long-necked creature frequently seen
peeking out above a still waterline. Is Nessie a sea , 1934
Nessie
serpent? An awkward turtle-giraffe hybrid? An overgrown
eel? The answer is yes.

Quick Reference

Player order begins with the First Player and proceeds clockwise.

DAWN
First Player flips a new Event and resolves it from top to bottom.
When finding the Site with the fewest Humans or Flavor, this will include Sites with zero.

DAY
In player order, you will have 3 turns.
During your turn, you may take one of the following Actions:
• Play a card from your hand.
• Discard a card to use your Cryptid Power (once per round).
• Pass the turn to the next player.

DUSK
The Encounter occurs at the Site that has the most Humans and at least one Hiding Spot.
In player order, if you have a Hiding Spot at the Encounter:
• Reveal the top Sighting of that Stack.
• Resolve it from top to bottom.
• Place your Hiding Spot on top of that Stack.

NIGHT
In player order, take the following steps:
• If you don’t have a Hiding Spot on a Stack, you may move a Hiding Spot.
• If you have a Hiding Spot on a Stack, place it on a Site (cannot be the Encounter).
• You may discard any cards in your hand, then draw back up to 5 cards (skip on Round 5).
Pass the First Player token clockwise, then start the next round.

The game will end after 5 rounds (see the End Game section for scoring).

RESOLVING EFFECTS:
If you are ever unable to perform the full effect on a card, partially resolve that effect to the extent you are able. If multiple Sites fit
the effect’s requirements, choose one of those Sites and resolve the effect from that Site.

WHEN MOVING HUMANS:

“To” means you will move them directly onto a Site.
“Toward” means you will move them one Site closer.

FUNCTIONS:
• Lure: From an adjacent Site to the Site of your Hiding Spot.
• Scare: From the Site of your Hiding Spot to an adjacent Site.
• Attract: From the corresponding Rest Area to the Site of your Hiding Spot.
• Extract: From the Site of your Hiding Spot or an adjacent Site to the corresponding Rest Area.
• Strong Lure: From a Site up to 2 Sites away to the Site of your Hiding Spot.
• Big Scare: From the Site of your Hiding Spot to a Site up to 2 Sites away.

MOVING YOUR HIDING SPOTS:

• You may not place a Hiding Spot token on a Site that already has one of your Hiding Spot tokens.
• For 4 players: No more than 3 players may have a Hiding Spot token at any one Site.
• For 5-6 players: No more than 4 players may have a Hiding Spot token at any one Site.

REFRESHING THE ACTION DECK:

If at any time the Action deck runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and place it face down to form a new Action deck.

TM