Introduction & Objectives
Udacha (ooh-DAH-cha) is a two-player competitive Expansible Card Game (ECG) with a fantasy theme. Once you know how to play, a game takes about 30-40 minutes. To win, you race your opponent to have your Heroes complete three Quests. A game of Udacha should feel a little bit like telling a good story, since your cards represent your Heroes doing things in accordance with their own interests and motivations. While direct, violent conflict with your “foe” (opponent) is an important aspect of the game, it is not the central focus.
Before a game starts, each player should prepare a deck of 50 cards (possibly one of the Starter Decks you can buy pre-assembled), and brings it to the game to use.
The way you win a game of Udacha is by the Hero cards in your deck completing three Quests before your foe’s Heroes can do the same.
Each time you complete a Quest, your foe reveals a Secret from their Secrets Vault. Your foe’s revealed Secrets thus track your score towards victory. If you complete a Quest when your foe already has two Secrets revealed, it means you’ve won.
The quick-and-dirty explanation of “how do I complete a Quest?” is “I Invest more cards.” At the start of each turn and when other cards allow it, you can move a card from the top of your main Deck to a pile called your Invested Zone. Doing this makes you more likely to complete a Quest.
To even try to complete a Quest, you must also have a Hero card in play (“Active”).
When you reach the part of your turn called your Questing Phase, if you have an Active Hero, reveal the top card of your Deck and see if the number of cards in your Invested Zone beats the Fortune Number in the top left of the revealed card. If it does, you complete a Quest.
(This process of comparing a number to a revealed Fortune Number is called “Venturing,” and is detailed more in a later Section of this Rulebook.)
When you complete a Quest, there are two consequences: your foe reveals a Secret, as mentioned earlier; and you put your whole Invested Zone back under your Deck, so you will start over on progress towards your next Quest.