Our step-by-step guide to the rules of how to play Dinn TCG. This is a showdown game that could take lots of back and forth or be over in an instant. A custom deck of cards is filled with heroes and boosters for them. Through simultaneous actions and piece-by-piece information reveals, you have just a few opportunities to stack the greatest power in a fight against your opponent. This is a trading card game, so while there are starter decks that give you everything you need, additional cards let you change and customize decks to bring into a showdown. The game is for 2 players at ages 13+. The rules for how to play Dinn are decently straightforward, but mastering the different combos and how each card can work together will take you some time.
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HOW TO PLAY DINN – WHAT IS IT?
Dinn is a fast-paced action card game where you harness legends and myths from all of human history and literature. You must use strategy, and luck to defeat your opponent.
Each player begins the game with three Heart cards. Play takes place over a series of rounds. During each round, both players reveal one Hero and up to two Equipment or Action cards. In addition to various game-changing effects, these cards contribute to the Heroes’ Power. After all cards are resolved, the player with the weaker Hero must shatter a number of their Heart cards. When your opponent’s last Heart card is shattered, you are victorious!
In addition to the core Trading Card game, which is an experience that can stand on its own, there is a completely different puzzle game within. In the world’s first action ARTCG, you are introduced to a media-rich puzzle and journey through it. Each new season will have new cards that don’t just supplement the TCG game, but also introduce new characters, settings and story for you to be taken through.
HOW TO PLAY DINN – STEP BY STEP
Time Needed: Approximately 15 – 30 minutes.
This is a step by step guide for how to play Dinn the strategic stacking showdown trading card game. Additional notions and special rules can be found below the list. These will be referenced for your convenience.
1. SETUP | Form Starting Deck
Everything you need is in the core starting pack. You need a 36 card deck of your own to play with. The game comes with two starting decks that have everything you need to play. This is a TCG (or CCG) which means that there is a big card pool out there that would allow you to create brand new decks or just make an adjustment here and there. As you will see, cards do work together, so you need to put strategic thought into how this is crafted. There are restrictions so see Building a Deck below.
2. SETUP | Put Out Game Mat
The game comes with a black game mat that has all the spaces you need to easily conduct a two player game. The first step to how to play Dinn setup is to lay this mat out in the center of the play area.
3. SETUP | Place Starting Health Hearts
Each player places 3x heart cards on the corresponding gameplay spaces in front of them marked “heart”.
4. SETUP | Place Starting Deck
Each player shuffles their 36 card deck and then places it in the “deck” spot on their side of the player mat.
5. SETUP | Players Draw 8 Card Starting Hand
Each player draws 8 cards from their personal deck to form their starting hands. There are three different types of cards (1) heroes, (2) actions and (3) equipment. If your starting hand does not include at least one “Hero” card, shuffle your cards into your deck and draw a new hand. You need to have a hero to play in each round, and if for some effect you do not within the game, you need to take a random one from your deck.
6. GAMEPLAY | Phase 1 | Draw 2 Cards
At the beginning of every turn, except for the very first one, each player draws two cards from their individual deck and adds them to their current hand. This is done regardless of how many cards are in each player’s hand.
7. GAMEPLAY | Phase 2 | Players Choose Hero
Each player secretly chooses one of the heroes from their hand to play and puts it face down in the “hero” spot on the playmat. Heroes have 1 – 3 hearts (under the name), a base power (middle left number in the circle), abilities that trigger or affect overall stats (text in bottom middle), and “attributes” that correspond to what action/equipment can be played with it (the symbols along the bottom left). At the end of the round, the hero in play with the highest power (base plus whatever actions and equipment) wins. Whoever loses, removes hearts equal to the heart total of the hero from their total. After both players have chosen their hero, they simultaneously flip them up to reveal them.
8. GAMEPLAY | Phase 3 | Players Reveal Action or Equipment
Once players both have a hero in play, you move on to the second reveal. Each player chooses an action or equipment card from their hand, and places it face down in the corresponding spot on the play mat. For a card to be used on your active hero, it must have all the necessary “attributes” that match. These are the symbols inside the small circles on both cards. Once ready, both players flip their chose cards up. Resolve any text that the card says as needed (it may happen right away or it might setup something for the future). This first chose is mandatory unlike the next (2nd) choice which is optional.
9. GAMEPLAY | Phase 4 | Players Reveal 2nd Action or Equipment
Just like the phase before this, players get to now chose a 2nd action of equipment card from their hand to lay down and enhance their hero. The same need for matching attributes is necessary. Each player simultaneously reveals their card when ready. Since this 3rd card revel (the 2nd action/equipment) is optional, a player can “pass”. If a player does this, a player that did not can repick their card if they would like. Both players flip up their chosen cards and resolve their effects.
10. GAMEPLAY | Phase 5 | Showdown Resolution
After all the reveals have happened and all effects have been resolved, it is time to chose a winner of the battle. After all is said and done, the hero in play with the highest overall modded power is the winner. In the case of a tie, no hearts are shattered on either side, and you move on to the clean up phase. When a hero loses, that player “shatters” (discards them to the graveyard) a numbered of their heart cards equal to the heart total of the hero.
11. GAMEPLAY | Phase 6 | Clean Up
Move all played hero, equipment, and action cards to their owner’s graveyard. Check if the game is over or if you need to go another round.
12. GAMEPLAY | Repeat Rounds As Necessary
In a round, one of the players will lose and their hero will go down. The player who loses the round’s battle removes heart cards equal to their hero’s life from their total. If the player loses all three of their hearts, they lose, but if any hearts remain the game continues. If hearts are left over, players start a new round, repeating all the same steps.
13. WINNING | Whoever Survives
If a player runs out of hearts in play at any time, they lose. The last remaining player of the two wins.
HOW TO PLAY DINN – KEY INFORMATION
BUILDING A DECK
There are minimum requirements for creating your own deck:
- You may not have more than one copy of any card in your deck.
- Your deck must contain exactly 36 cards.
- You must have 12 Hero cards in your deck.
- You must have three (3) triple-heart heroes;
- You must have four (4) double-heart heroes; and
- You must have five (5) single-heart heroes.
- Your deck must contain 12 equipment cards.
- Your deck must contain 12 action cards.
TERMINOLOGY
NEGATE – In Dinn, to negate an ability means to treat a card as if it has no Card Ability text. Negating an ability does not affect base power on Hero cards, or base power increases on Equipment cards.
BATTLE – The final calculation of Total Power during the third reveal of a round is considered a “battle”. If a Hero references “defeating” or being “defeated” in its ability, it is referring to the third reveal Total Power calculation.
SHATTER(ED) – In Dinn, when a heart card is discarded from the field to the graveyard, it is “shattered”. If a card references shattering a heart, or a heart being shattered, it is in referring to the process of moving a heart from in play to the graveyard/discard pile.
CLARIFICATIONS
SEARCHING YOUR DECK – If a card ability requires that you search your deck for any reason, you must shuffle your deck afterward.
SHARING INFORMATION – If a card’s ability relies on the information your opponent cannot reasonably possess, you must share this information. For example, if a Hero increases their Power based on the number of Equipment cards in your hand, you must reveal your entire hand to your opponent.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T HAVE A HERO IN MY HAND? – if you do not have a Hero card in your hand after drawing from your deck at the beginning of a round, you may shuffle your hand back into your deck, and draw cards equal to the number of cards you shuffled back into your deck. If a player, through card abilities, does not draw from their deck at the beginning of the round, and they have no Heroes in their hand, they must randomly select a Hero card from their deck and add it to their hand. At the beginning of a round, if a player does not have any Hero cards in their hand OR their deck, they lose the game.
WHAT IS A “GRAVEYARD” – In Dinn, the graveyard is the discard pile. If you discard a card from your hand, it is sent to the graveyard. If a cards ability asks you to “discard” a card, it means you should send it to the graveyard. The cleanup phase has you send all the cards that were played during the round to the graveyard.
CARD OWNERSHIP – If a card ability would add a card that you do not own to your hand, deck or graveyard, that card is instead sent to the original owner’s graveyard. An example would be a card that exchanges ownership of two in-play equipment cards. If for any reason the equipment card you recently exchanged would be sent to your hand, it is instead sent to the original owner’s graveyard. This rule’s intent is to insure that the original owner of any card does not lose visual sight of the card.
SHATTERED HEARTS – Heart cards are placed in the graveyard when shattered. Additionally, a heart card in the graveyard is considered a “shattered heart”. Shattered hearts are not technically considered cards and do not count towards the number of cards in your graveyard. They cannot be added to your hand. They cannot be added to your deck. If an ability would have you interact with your graveyard or field in a random way, both Heart cards, and Shattered Hearts would be ignored by that ability.
CORE GAME CONTENTS
- 1x “Beast” Starter Deck (40 Cards)
- 1x “Sentient” Starter Deck (40 Cards)
- 1x 2 Player Playmat
HOW TO PLAY DINN – IN CLOSING
We hope you can now say you know how to play Dinn. While this game has everything you need to have a full experience, it is a trading card game meaning a wide variety of additional cards will be made available and can be slotted in to make custom decks. Unlike other games in the space, this title offers a quickfire strategy game that relies more on real time simultaneous action instead of players taking turns. Though gameplay is simple, the combo and stacking opportunities will offer you tons of options and paths to victory. Not only is there a satisfying TCG here, but there is also a second game hidden within that blends cards with digital media in an incredibly intricate, continuing, story.
