Shining Spirits

An era of Darkness is coming to your world. As the Shaman of your tribe, you turn to the Spirit World for help.

You’ve drawn the sacred Pentacle representing the 6 elements on the ground around you. You now stand at its center, scroll and candle in hands, in the highest part of the woods. You can already feel the Spirits above you, shadowy shapes between the branches, spiraling towards the night sky.

To push back against the Darkness, you need them to evolve into Shining Spirits, sources of Light. But that will take some convincing. You will first need to tame and trap them into your Pentacle, where they’ll listen to your commands. Then, their elemental powers will be at your disposal: Wind to attract more Spirits, Earth to tame them, Plant to push them to evolve, and Water to imitate any of the above.

If you use these with cunning and wisdom, you might just manage to produce enough Light to guide your tribe in the night to come. But you don’t have time to waste: dark clouds roll up on the horizon, and your candle is flickering…

The objective of this game is to produce as much Light as possible before your candle goes out. To achieve this, you will need to summon and tame elemental Spirits. Then, by releasing them, you’ll be able to use their effects to evolve them into Shining Spirits, which will emit the precious Light at the price of their helpful skills. Take special heed to their synergy conditions to make the most of their effects.

Shining Spirits is a 27-card game for one player designed by @Qu1rr3l . It is an entry in the 2026 In-Hand Game Design Contest.

No gutter fold files made by @Marcin Jachmann.