Witness is a card game. There are two main types of cards: events and policies.
Each Distrikt has their own unique way of dealing with events:
Event Cards
These represent the adverse events that the players are about to face. Each is printed with a set of negative values and a corresponding indicator. When an Event Card is played, their printed value is the damage they do to a player’s distrikt, that turn.
Not every event a distrikt faces is a hazard to be overcome. Some events are bad for you: these are Crisis Cards. Some events are fortuitous, but these are few and far in between: these are Bonus Cards.
Distrikt Cards
Each distrikt has a set of cards. Each card carries the description of a policy. Policies are used to counter the effect of Crisis Cards. All come at the cost, or can only be used in specific conditions. Players must decide which policies they want to use, and weigh the costs and benefits of using them.
Static Cards
These are Distrikt Cards which, once played from the player’s hand and placed face-up on the table, can be activated every turn.
Once a card has been played faceup on the table, it is “in play.”
Unless specified on the cards description, every face-up Static Card “in play” can be used once per turn, after that after that turn’s Event Card has been played.
One-Time Cards
These are Distrikt Cards that can only be played once. After one has been played, and its effects applied, discard it.
Health Indicators
These measure the the success or failure of a player’s distrikt. The indicators are:
Economy
Infrastructure
Public Opinion
All events and policies have some effect on one or all of these indicators.
At the start of the game, each indicator begins at the strength of five. Players should write this down, or keep track of it using tokens.
If any indicator reaches zero, the player has until the end of the turn to raise it. If they do not, and the turn ends with an indicator at zero, the distrikt has failed and the player is out of the game