Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Zarcana is a game played with Icehouse Pieces on tarot cards. "Zarcana is a game of war, journeys, growth, life, and death.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Zarcana is a game played with Icehouse Pieces on tarot cards. "Zarcana is a game of war, journeys, growth, life, and death. Icehouse pieces are your minions, spreading out across a world composed of tarot cards. You move these minions across the board, trying to occupy valuable cards. The board can change, grow and shrink, so be prepared to defend your holdings, invade enemy territory, and colonize new lands. You will also have a hand of cards, drawn from the tarot deck. Each card has a power, and you can make use of the cards you occupy on the board in addition to the cards in your hand. Use them wisely. Whoever occupies the most valuable set of cards on the board will be the winner, when the end of the game is finally declared." Its rules were included in Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set. Zarcana was redeveloped into Gnostica. Zarcana has also been re-implemented by Zark City and Dectana. The former is much simpler and uses a poker deck, while the latter is more complex and uses the Decktet.