Wicked The Game Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Objective

The objective of Wicked The Game is to complete all of the chapters of the story before the Wizard Track reaches 13.

Setup

Place the gameboard in the middle of the table.
Assemble the Emerald City Card Holder and place it in the center of the gameboard.
Shuffle all of the Wizard Cards and place them inside the Emerald City Card Holder so the backs of the cards are facing the players.
Each player chooses a Character Board and places it in front of themselves. The side you will place face up depends on the number of players.
- 2 Players: Place the side with 3 collection areas face up.
- 3-4 Players: Place the side with the 2 collection areas face up.
Shuffle all of the Story Cards and place them face down in a pile next to the board.
Place the Thrillifying Magic Tokens in the spaces along the outside of the Emerald City Card Holder.
Find the Chapter Cards that match your number of players. Place them in order starting with the Introduction card and ending with the Chapter 5 card. Once you have assembled the deck of cards, place them on the storybook section of the gameboard.
Place the Wizard Track Mover on the 1 space on the gameboard.
Whichever player first says “Welcome to Oz!” becomes the first player. They will take the First Player Marker.

How to Play Wicked The Game

Wicked The Game is a cooperative game. All of the players are playing together. They are trying to complete the story before the Wizard Track Mover reaches the 13 space. You will play the game over a number of rounds.

To start the first round, the first player takes the Introduction Chapter Card and flips it over. They will read the card out loud. This is only done in the first round.

Turn over Introduction Card — The first player has turned over the Introduction Chapter Card which starts the game.

The first player then draws eight Story Cards from the deck. This creates a hand that all of the players will share.

Drawing the initial hand — The first player has drawn eight cards to form the initial hand.

On each of your turns you will start by drawing one Story Card from the draw pile and adding it to the hand.

Next you will choose two cards from the hand to play. You can play cards in a number of different ways. See the Playing Cards section below for more details.

Playing cards in Wicked The Game — This player has decided to play both Shiz University cards from the hand.

After you have played two cards, your turn ends. You will pass the hand of cards to the player on your left. They will then take the next turn. They will draw one additional card, and then choose two cards to play. The player then passes the remaining cards in the hand to the player on their left.

Starting a New Round

Players will keep passing cards at the end of their turn. This continues until a player is only passed one card. For their turn they will draw one card and play the remaining two cards. The round then ends.

The First Player Marker is passed one player to the left. The player who now has the marker starts the next round. They will draw eight new cards in order to start the next round.

Anatomy of a Card

Each Story card has a number of key important pieces of information that will be used in play.

The title of the card basically just says what type of card it is, and is used when determining what set the card will be placed in.

In the top right corner there is a number. This number indicates how many of the card there is in the deck.

Along the bottom there are a number of boxes with numbers next to Thrillifying Magic Tokens. The number indicates how many of the card you need in a set. The number of Thrillifying Magic Tokens next to the number indicate how many tokens you will collect when you turn in the set of the card.

Outlining all of the important information on a card — This card’s title is “You’ve Been Glinda-Fied”. Based on the number in the top right corner there are 24 of the cards in the deck. Along the bottom of the card are the amount of cards of this type you need in order to collect tokens. You need at least four of the cards in a set before you can turn them in for two Thrillifying Magic Tokens. If you have at least seven of the cards, you will receive three tokens. Finally if you have ten of the cards, you will receive four tokens.

Some cards in the deck have a Wizard Stamp on them. When you turn in a set of cards with this symbol on them, you will move the Wizard Track Mover forward one space on the track.

A card with the Wizard Stamp on it — Along the left side of this card is the Wizard Stamp. When you turn in a set with this symbol on it, you will move the Wizard Track Mover forward one space.

The game also includes Wild Cards. These cards can count as any other type of card. They will become whatever type of card they are played with. If they start a set, they will match the first card added to the set that is not Wild.

Playing Cards

When choosing which two cards you want to play on your turn, you have a couple of options for how you can play a card.

The objective of Wicked The Game is to create sets of cards. A set is a series of cards that are the same type that are played together.

First look at the types of cards currently on your Character Board. On your turn you may have between zero and three sets already started on your Character Board. If one or more of the cards in the hand match one of the sets on your Character Board, you likely want to play that card(s) to the corresponding set on your board. Simply place the card on/by the other matching cards on your board. If there is a card in your hand that matches one of your sets, you don’t have to play the card to your set if you don’t want to.

Adding a card to a set — This player has decided to play a Shiz University card to the set they already started.

Your second option is to create a new set on your Character Board. You can only choose this option if you have an empty space on your board. When you choose this option, choose one of the cards from the hand and place it face up on the empty space. This will create a new set.

If you can’t do either of the above, you will choose one of the cards from the hand and add it to one of the Emerald City Spaces on the board. You must place the card on a space that doesn’t already have a card on it. Usually you want to avoid doing this whenever possible as it will help move the Wizard Track Mover quicker around the board.

Placing a card on an Emerald City Space — The current player either couldn’t or didn’t want to play any of the cards from the hand to their Character Board. They chose one of the cards and added it to one of the Emerald City Spaces.

You must play two cards on your turn. You can either play two cards in the same way, or you can play one card in two different ways. If you choose to play both cards to your sets, you can play two cards to the same set or one card to two different sets. You could also choose to create two different new sets on your turn as long as you have two empty spaces on your board.

Trading In A Set

At any point in the game you can choose to trade in one of your sets. The only requirement is that you have at least as many cards as the minimum number in order to collect Thrillifying Magic. This can be found in the leftmost box along the left side on the bottom of the card. The only exception to this rule is if a Wizard Card or Chapter card gives you an ability to ignore this rule.

Minimum number of cards in a set to turn it in — For the Perfect Couple card you need at least four cards in order to turn in the set. This player has four cards in the set, so they could choose to turn it in. They could decide to keep it though in order to add more cards and earn more Thrillifying Magic Tokens.

When you decide to trade in a set of cards, count how many cards are in the set. Compare the number to the boxes at the bottom of the card. Find the highest valued box that you have at least as many cards as. You will collect as many Thrillifying Magic Tokens as the number of symbols in the box. Take the tokens from the Emerald City Card Holder and place them in front of yourself. The players will share the tokens.

Turning in a set of cards for Thrillifying Magic Tokens — This player has seven cards in their Perfect Couple set. They have decided to turn in the cards. They have enough cards to meet the middle box on the card which gives them three Thrillifying Magic Tokens. If they would have added one more card to the set, they would have received four tokens.

If the set of cards that you played match the color of your Character Board, you will collect one additional token.

Earning an extra Thrillifying Magic Token due to the cards matching the Character Board's color — This player has seven cards in their set when they decide to turn in the cards. They would normally receive three Thrillifying Magic Tokens. Since the cards match the color of the player’s Character Board though, they receive an extra Thrillifying Magic Token.

After you have collected the Thrillifying Magic Tokens, discard all of the cards from your set.

If you traded in a set of cards that have the Wizard Stamp on them, you will move the Wizard Track Mover forward one space.

Completing a Chapter

In order to win Wicked The Game you need to complete the five Chapter Cards on the storybook.

On each Chapter Card there is a number printed in the middle of the card. This is the amount of Thrillifying Magic Tokens that you need to spend in order to flip over the Chapter Card. In order to pay the cost to move onto the next chapter, all of the players can pool their tokens together.

The players can choose to complete a chapter whenever they have a combined total of Thrillifying Magic Tokens equal to or higher than the number on the current Chapter Card. When you choose to complete a chapter, you will return the corresponding amount to tokens to the Emerald City Card Holder. Then flip over the card from the right storybook space to the left space.

Turning in Thrillifying Magic Tokens in order to complete chapter one — To complete chapter one you need to use four Thrillifying Magic Tokens as shown by the number above the text at the bottom of the card. The players have turned in four tokens so they have completed the first chapter.

On the back of the card there is a number of Bonuses that your group can choose from. You can only pick one of them. After the group has chosen one of the bonuses, you will take the corresponding action.

Choosing a bonus after completing a chapter — The players completed chapter one, so they get to choose a bonus. They can either collect two Thrillifying Magic Tokens, or they can remove all of the cards from the Emerald City Spaces.

A new Chapter Card will now be on top of the stack. This new card requires more Thrillifying Magic Tokens than the previous card. Players will work to acquire tokens in order to complete this new Chapter Card.

Wizard Track

The goal of Wicked The Game is to complete the story before the Royal Ozness becomes too strong and convinces the people of Oz that you are wicked. There are 13 spaces on the track, and you must win the game before the Wizard Track Mover reaches the thirteenth space.

As mentioned above some of the sets of cards feature the Wizard Stamp. Whenever you turn in a set of these cards, you will move the marker forward one space. Because of this it is beneficial to maximize the amount of Thrillifying Magic you receive from the set before you turn them in.

Turning in a set of cards that have the Wizard's Mark on them — One of the players turned in this set of cards. Since the cards have the Wizard’s Stamp on them, they will move the Wizard Track Mover forward one space.

The other way the Wizard Track Mover moves forward is if all of the Emerald City Spaces have been covered on the board. When you are unable to play a card to your own Character Board, you must place it on one of the Emerald City Spaces. There are three of these spaces on the board. When all three spaces are covered by a card, you will take three actions.

All of the Emerald City Spaces are covered with cards — All three Emerald City Spaces have been covered with a card.

First you will move the Wizard Track Mover one space forward on the track.

Moving the Wizard Track Mover forward one space — Since all of the Emerald City Spaces were covered, the Wizard Track Mover is moved forward one space.

Next you will draw a Wizard Card and follow what is printed on the card. Sometimes these are helpful, and other times they hurt you. You must always follow the directions on the card exactly as they are printed.

Drawing a Wizard card — Since all of the Emerald City Spaces were covered, the players were forced to draw a Wizard Card. For this card each player has to discard the largest set of cards on their Character Board.

Finally you will discard the three cards that are on the Emerald City Spaces.

End of Game

Wicked The Game can end in one of two ways.

Should the players complete the last chapter (chapter 5) before the Wizard Track Mover reaches space 13, all of the players win the game.

Winning Wicked The Game — The players have completed the last chapter. They have won the game.

If the Wizard Track Mover ever reaches space 13, all of the players lose the game.

Losing Wicked The Game — The Wizard Track Mover has reached space thirteen. All of the players have lost the game.

Wicked The Game FAQ

If you have any questions about how to play the game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Components

Gameboard
4 Character Boards
170 Story Cards
15 Wizard Cards
12 Chapter Cards
20 Thrillifying Magic Tokens
First Player Maker
Wizard Track Mover
Emerald City Card Holder
Instructions

Year: 2024 | Publisher: Spin Master | Designer: Erica Bouyouris

Genres: Card, Cooperative, Family, Set Collection

Ages: 10+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 30-60 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light-Moderate | Luck: Moderate

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.