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Zarcana

Zarcana 1996

Design John Cooper Publisher Looney Labs
6.7 /10
BGG rating
#17819
BGG rank
2.8
Weight
2–4
Players
3
Best at
45
Minutes
12
Age

Location

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My Prints for Zarcana

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Expansions & Promos

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About the Game

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.

Filed Under

Categories
Mechanics
Also known as
Arcana
BGG ratings
51 · geek rating 5.53
BGG data
refreshed Sep 7, 2026

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