There are two phases of the game, a planning and combat phase.

1. In the planning phase, the Investigators activate cards in their hand, research new cards at the Miskatonic University and then ready themselves for final preparation.


2. In the combat phase, the Elder God and his minions attack the Investigators' health and sanity. Investigators may go crazy or die out right, however, they have a chance to fight back. The Investigators use Moxie to push back the waves of the occult and supernatural.

Building your personal library by researching in the Miskatonic University makes you stronger and is your only hope against the Elders. Keep in mind, every bit of resource used to research is a bit not used to fight off the Mythos. It is a balance you must solve to defeat the Elder Gods.

Good luck...

The following are clarification on specific cards or card combinations not covered in the Instruction Journal.

For questions not covered here please join us in our official forum over on BoardGameGeek.

1. When directed to "Draw a Card", is that always from the Personal Library, rather than the General Library?
   
   
   Yes it always refers to the personal library



2. The boxer says to double the effectiveness of Action cards, does that mean double all numbers? Or only beneficial numbers?
   
   
   All numbers, beneficial and detrimenal



3. When the Librarian borrows from the Miskatonic Library, do you only refill it to 4 after she goes to account for this?
   
   
   That is correct. She returns the card to the library during clean up.



4. At the end of the round, the rules suggest discarding unwanted cards from the Miskatonic Library, is this actually whatever cards the players don't want to obtain in the future, leaving whatever is desired?
   
   
   That is correct, you would basically destroy them and then replace them with new cards.



5. It would seem that if both Cthugha and the Voodoo Doll are in play there would be an infinite loop.
   
   
   It does not create an infinite loop. The damage done to the Investigator will also be done to the Elder Gods. If Cthugha is one of the Elder Gods that damage is also done back to the Investigator. That damage is NOT reflected back again.



6. Mystic Binding lets me take control of Minion so they fight for me, but how exactly do they do that?
   
   
   In the text of the Minion replace the word "Investigator" with "Elder God." The captured Minion activates when the minions activate.



7. Incorporeal Daemon reduces the cards I get to draw in the planning phase. If there are five of them active is my game effectively over?
   
   
   In this case the Investigators always get to draw a minimum of one card despite their effect.



8. For the Doctor Investigator, what are considered bladed implements for my special ability?
   
   
   The bladed implements are considered the following library cards: Katto, Dagger, and Shank.



9. The Unholy Abomination indicates half of the damage is reflected back to the Investigators in Sanity damage. What if I do an odd amount of damage?
   
   
   Always round up. For example, if you attack the Abomination with 3 moxie, he takes 2 Health damage and 2 Sanity damage is reflected back to the Investigator.



10. For the card R'lyeh do all Investigators get the +2 Moxie and -2 Sanity or only the Investigator playing the card?
    
    
    An Investigator will gain 2 Moxie and lose 2 Sanity for each card they played. It wasn't intended to go to everyone.



11. When a card calls for a source to declare to avoid damage, what are the sources I can declare?
    
    
    You can declare: Elder God, Mythos, or Minions as your source. This applies to all of the cards played of that type in that round.

The following are corrections to the cards and instruction journal for the 1st printing of the game. These have been corrected in the 2nd printing.

1. Consume
   
   
   The description reads, "Spawn 1 Beh'moth the Devourer."
   It should read, "If not already active spawn 1 Beh'moth the Devourer."



2. Necronomicon
   
   
   Has a cost of 5. It should be a cost of 8.



3. Time Traveler
   
   
   The Time Traveler has a special ability that reads, "Gains a +1 effectiveness on all Starter cards" This should read, "Gains +1 Moxie on all Starter cards."



4. Loathing
   
   
   This card should be treated as "Permanent."



5. Green Jade Amulet
   
   
   This card should be treated as "Permanent." The text on the card should read, "Each Investigator loses their Special Abilities.



6. End of Days
   
   
   The description on this card reads, "The next Elder God activates and both are active at one time."
   It should read, "Another Elder God is activated. This Elder God must also be defeated to win."



7. Investigator Healing
   
   
   In the Instruction Journal page 10 under the section labeled Healing it reads, "All Investigators have the power to heal both Health or Sanity during the Preparation phase. Investigators may use two Moxie to heal one Health or Sanity."
   It should instead read, "All Investigators have the power to heal both Health or Sanity during any phase. Investigators may use two Moxie to heal one Health or Sanity."