The Science and Seance Society (2020)

Overview

The Science and Seance Society is an asymmetric game for two players that plays in about 30 minutes.

You play members of The Science and Séance Society, a Victorian-era clandestine organization devoted to exploring the mysteries of reality. Each of you have chosen a completely unique method of dealing with a particularly nasty bit of chaos that has been summoned and vow to prove your methods are the best.

The player employing the mystic arts must manipulate a set of special double-faced tarot cards in hopes of arranging them correctly. Their goal is to arrange their cards in numeric (1/2/3/4/5) or alphabetical (A/B/C/D/E) order, from left to right. The very cards that they are arranging will also allow them to rotate, swap, and otherwise manipulate the order to their advantage. They win if they can properly align all of their cards before the Science player wins or their deck runs out.

The player committed to the scientific method must be meticulous in establishing order from chaos. They pull dice from a bag, roll them, and place them on engine cards, with specific dice needed for each. They win if they can complete all 5 of their engine cards before the Seance player wins or their dice are depleted.

It’s not always a genteel competition, however, as both players have options that allow them to slow down each other’s progress in this race to prove whose methodology is the most effective.