How to Play

Mandala

2-2 players 20-20 min 7.4 Board Game Geek Rating

In Mandala, two players compete by playing colored cards into shared circular patterns and personal fields. Cards must follow color placement rules once established. When a mandala contains all six colors, players take turns claiming color groups, placing one card in their scoring river and others in their cup. Final scores depend on river position values multiplied by cup quantities.

Published 2019

Mandala

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Position the play mat
Place the mat in the center of the table with players sitting on opposite sides
2
Create the draw deck
Shuffle all sand cards thoroughly and place them face-down beside the mat as the deck
3
Designate discard area
Set aside a space next to the deck for the discard pile where cards will be placed face-up
4
Seed both mandalas
Draw 2 cards from the deck for each mandala and place them face-up on the mountains (center areas)
5
Distribute reference cards
Give each player 1 help card to keep in front of them
6
Deal starting hands
Each player draws 6 cards from the deck into their hand
7
Prepare the cups
Each player draws 2 cards and places them face-down in their cup area
8
Keep cards secret
Players may look at their hand and cup cards at any time but must not reveal them to their opponent
9
Determine first player
Decide who goes first using any method (such as oldest player)

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Choose one action
On your turn, you must perform exactly one of three possible actions
2
Play to mountain
Place exactly 1 card from your hand face-up onto either mountain, following the color uniqueness rule
3
Spread mountain cards
Arrange cards on the mountain so all are visible
4
Draw cards
Take 3 cards from the deck into your hand, respecting the 8-card hand limit
5
Check for completion
Determine if the mandala now contains all 6 colors
6
Play to your field
Place 1 or more cards of the same color from your hand onto one of your two fields, following the color uniqueness rule
7
Keep at least one card
You cannot end your turn with an empty hand
8
Spread field cards
Arrange cards on the field so all are visible
9
Do not draw
Skip drawing cards this turn
10
Check for completion
Determine if the mandala now contains all 6 colors
11
Discard matching colors
Place 1 or more cards of the same color from your hand onto the discard pile
12
Draw replacement cards
Take the same number of cards from the deck as you discarded
13
End turn immediately
Do not play cards to any mandala this turn
14
Maintain color separation
Each of the 6 colors may only appear in one of the three parts of a single mandala (mountain, your field, or opponent's field)
15
Cannot duplicate colors
You cannot play a color to the mountain if it exists on either field, nor play to your field if that color is on the mountain or opponent's field
16
Adding to existing colors
You may add more cards of a color to a field where that color already exists
17
Trigger completion
A mandala is complete when all 6 different colors are present across the mountain and both fields
18
Determine first picker
The player with more cards on their field picks first; if tied, the player who did not play the last card picks first
19
Take turns selecting
Players alternate choosing one color from the mountain and taking all cards of that color
20
Add new colors to river
If the chosen color is not in your river, place exactly 1 card face-up on the leftmost empty river space
21
Add remaining to cup
Place any extra cards of that color face-down in your cup
22
Existing colors go to cup
If the chosen color already exists in your river, place all taken cards in your cup
23
Empty field penalty
A player with no cards on their field must discard all cards they pick instead of adding them to river or cup
24
Clear the fields
After all mountain cards are claimed, discard all cards from both fields
25
Restart the mandala
Draw 2 cards from the deck and place them face-up on the destroyed mandala's mountain

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Trigger game end
The game enters its final phase when the deck runs out OR when any player places their 6th card in their river
2
Deck exhaustion procedure
When the deck empties, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck and continue until the next mandala is completed and destroyed
3
Sixth river card procedure
When a player adds their 6th river card, finish distributing the current mountain's cards, then end immediately
4
Discard unused cards
Remove all cards from hands and any incomplete mandala from the game
5
Reveal cup cards
Turn all cup cards face-up and sort them by color beneath matching river cards
6
Calculate points
Each cup card scores points equal to its matching river position (1-6 points based on the number under that river space)
7
Score unmatched cups
Cup cards without a matching color in your river score 0 points
8
River cards have no value
Only cup cards contribute to your score
9
Determine the winner
The player with the highest total points wins
10
Break ties
If scores are equal, the player with fewer cards in their cup wins

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

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