The Lunar Dial Review

The Lunar Dial is a game for 2-4 players ages 14 and up. The visual design of the game exudes a magic and supernatural energy, inviting you in. Inside, you’ll get the instructions, the triangular lunar dial, 4 helpful quick start guide cards, a unique fabric game mat, 12 zodiac cards, 12 moonstones, and 52 moon cards. Place the lunar dial in any orientation, give each celestial realm 4 cards face up from the shuffled moon deck, place 4 zodiac cards in each corner, disperse the moon stones on the perimeter of the board, then deal 3 moon cards to each player face down. Each side of the Lunar Dial restricts a suit from being played, so be sure to observe the rules. On each turn, a player must either ‘cast’ or ‘collect’ using one of the cards in their hand. Casting involves placing a card into a realm, following the rules of the lunar dial. This can be done for strategic purposes, but that’s hard to explain without first explaining collecting. Play a card to ‘collect’ by matching numbers with cards in a realm. If your played card matches numbers, collect the realm cards and add them to your cluster, or pile. You can also collect cards whose sums create your played card number. For example, If there are two sixes, a four and a two in a realm, and you play a six, then you can collect every card, since two and four make six. Regardless, if you clear the last card in a realm on your turn, you get a moonstone, and replenish the realm with four more cards from the draw pile. Play any full moon suited card and you can rotate the Lunar Dial to any direction you wish. The first to collect 13 and 26 cards can reveal a zodiac card, which reveals a required action, and awards a moonstone. Play continues, with each player drawing up to 3 cards after their turn, until the draw deck is depleted, and all playable cards have been used from player’s hands. Reward a moonstone from most cards collected and most full moon cards collected, then total the moonstones. Whoever collected the most wins!

At the end of the game, you can even receive a synastry reading based on the elements of your zodiac cards. The interpretation chart is in the back of the instructions. The Lunar Dial is a relatively simple game, mechanics wise, but the easy to pick up rules and presentation make it really fun, and a cool vibe. Plus, just because the rules are simple, doesn’t mean the game is easy. You can cast cards to set up collecting opportunities for yourself later, or to mess with another player’s flow! The dynamic nature of the lunar dial will keep you on your toes. The fabric game mat is very unique, and while we thought it might be troublesome and easy to wrinkle by accident, not only is that not the case, but even if you accidentally scrunch it, it’s also simple to fix!