Champ'd Up Slam Down

Rules

 

Champ’d Up: Slam Down is a unique two-player card game where each player takes the role of a trainer battling champs against their opponent until only one player is left standing/sitting!

Each turn you will recruit champs from your hand into the ring to fight your opponent’s champs. Deplete your opponent’s reserves and call them out to declare victory and win the game!

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Setup

Each pack of Champ’d Up: Slam Down! cards comes with 15 champs and 3 trainers, everything you need for a full 2-player game. Here’s how to set up the game:

  1. Each player picks a trainer they would like to play with from the available trainer cards.
  2. Shuffle the 15 champs (or more if you are using multiple decks) to form the deck and place it where both players can reach it; make room for the discard pile as well.
  3. Both players draw 4 cards from the deck, picking two of them to place face-down to form their reserves – the remaining 2 cards make up their starting hand.
  4. Choose who will go first; the player who will go second draws 1 more card into their hand.

Now you’re ready to play!

Feel free to mix, match and combine card packs, picking from a larger set of trainers or using more than 15 champs in the deck.

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Playing the Game

Players will take turns until a player wins the game. The player who is taking a turn is referred to as the “active player.”

1. Beginning a Turn

At the very start of their turn, the active player gets 3 energy. Energy does not carry over from turn to turn, so spend as much as you can!

Next, the active player must draw 1 card from the top of the deck and put it in their hand. 

Lastly, if the active player has any champs in the ring with “Survivor:” abilities, or “Ongoing:” abilities that reference the “start of your turn,” those abilities resolve now.

2. Actions

Now it’s time to take actions! The active player can perform the following actions in any order, as many times as they like:

  • Recruit – Spend energy to recruit champs into the ring.
  • Hype – Spend energy to hype up champs in the ring.
  • Fight – Fight opposing champs in the ring by comparing each champ’s power .
  • Special – Activate a readied trainer or readied champ’s “Special:” ability.
  • Call Out Their Opponent – (Once per turn) Call out an opponent and force them to use a champ from their reserves. If your opponent has no reserves left, you win the game!

The rules for taking all of these actions are a little further along, so keep reading!

THE FIRST TURN RULE: The first player to take a turn cannot fight, activate their trainer’s “Special:” ability, or call out an opponent

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3. Ending a Turn

When the active player is done with their actions, they end their turn as follows:

If the active player has any champs in the ring with “Ongoing:” abilities that reference the “end of your turn,” those abilities resolve now. 

Then, all champs that were exhausted are readied; and all champs that were hyped up are no longer hyped, reverting back to their natural power.

If the active player has more than three cards in their hand, they must discard champs of their choice until they only have three.

If you’d like, use tokens each to represent energy (these can be pennies, precious jewels, or whatever you have on hand). When you spend energy to hype up champs, you can use these tokens to keep track.

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Winning the Game

The goal is to empty your opponent’s reserves and have a champ deal the final blow. 

Each player begins the game with two champs in their reserves. When a player has one or more ready champs in the ring and their opponent has no champs in the ring, they can Call Out their opponent, removing a champ from their opponent’s reserves.

The first player to Call Out their opponent when that opponent’s reserves are empty, WINS THE GAME.

When the Deck Runs Out

During play, the deck of champs will run out. When that happens, simply take the face-up discard pile and flip it over so it is face-down, forming the new deck. Do not shuffle the deck. Continue play as usual.

Very rarely the deck might run out when the discard pile is empty, when this happens players will skip the draw phase and ignore any card abilities that utilize the deck or discard pile.

Champs

Champs each have an energy cost, power, and an ability. The energy cost displays how much energy the active player must spend to recruit that champ. A champ’s power is compared to an opposing champ’s power during a fight to determine the winner. A champ’s ability text explains any effects that champ might have on play.

Your champs in the ring are referred to as friendly champs, and your opponent’s champs in the ring are referred to as opposing champs.

Ready & Exhausted

While in the ring, a friendly champ can be ready (placed vertically) or exhausted (placed horizontally). Champs are exhausted when they attack another champ, call out an opponent or use their “Special:” ability. Whether or not a champ is ready or exhausted, their ability text must be followed. An exhausted champ cannot fight, use their “Special:” ability, or call out an opponent.

The small icons at the bottom of the champ cards identify if the champ was a winner (★), hero (♦), or underdog (▲) in the Champ’d Up game.

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Recruiting Champs

Recruiting a champ is the action of placing a champ in the ring. Champs can be recruited in two ways: 

  1. As an active player, you can recruit a champ from your hand into the ring. You do so by spending the energy indicated on that champ’s card and placing the champ in the ring in the ready position.
  2. Champs can also be recruited through an ability. When a champ or trainer’s ability instructs a player to recruit a champ, the player does not spend energy to recruit them.

Once a champ is recruited, if they are in the ring, they can immediately be used to fight, trigger their “Special:” ability, or call out an opponent. If that champ has a bold “Recruit:” ability, that ability resolves as soon as they are recruited.

A champ can only be recruited if there is room in the ring. Each player can have a maximum of three champs in the ring at a time.

If an ability would have you recruit a champ when you already have three champs in the ring and the ability doesn’t make a space by removing one of them, the champ doesn’t get recruited. If the champ would have come from your hand, it stays in your hand. If it would have come from the deck or discard pile, it moves to the discard pile.

Hyping Champs

The active player can hype friendly champs in the ring, which increases a champ’s power for the duration of the active player’s turn. 

To hype a champ as an action, the active player picks a friendly champ in the ready position and spends 1 energy to hype them. When an ability instructs a player to hype a champ, they do not pay energy to hype them.

Each time a champ is hyped, their power increases by 1. If that champ has a bold “Hype:” ability, that ability resolves each time they are hyped.

Players can hype as many times as they can afford, and in any combination – hyping the same champ multiple times or multiple champs. All champs that are hyped revert back to their standard power at the end of every turn and are no longer considered hyped.

Fighting

Fighting is how players remove opposing champs from the ring. To fight, the active player first chooses a friendly champ that isn’t exhausted to be the attacker and an opposing champ to be their opponent; these two champs are now fighting. Turn the attacker sideways to indicate that it is now exhausted. Both the attacker and their opponent then compare their current power

  • If the attacker’s power is higher, the opponent is defeated.
  • If the opponent’s power is higher, the attacker is defeated.
  • If both champs have equal power, they’re both defeated. 

If a defeated champ has a “Defeat:” ability, or a champ with an “Ongoing:” ability references “when a champ is defeated,” those abilities resolve now. If more than one champ would have an ability resolve, the active player chooses the order in which they resolve. The active player puts the defeated champs into the discard pile in their preferred order.

Champ Abilities

Champs each have abilities that affect play. These abilities might help you draw cards, boost friendly champs, defeat opposing champs, and more! 

The golden rule when attempting to resolve a champ or trainer’s ability is to do exactly what it says on the card, word for word. You might not understand why a card is helpful, or what sort of outcome might come from an ability. Regardless, perform it step by step. If there is ever more than one ability that would resolve at the same time, the active player chooses the order in which those abilities resolve.

Champ abilities each start with a bolded word followed by a colon – like “Recruit:” – this is called a trigger. Triggers signify when an ability will occur. When a champ’s ability is triggered, the champ’s owner must resolve that ability.

While resolving a champ or trainer’s ability, players must resolve as much as they can and ignore anything that they are unable to do. For example, the active player recruits a champ called Big Chungus with the ability “Recruit: Defeat an opposing champ, then draw a card.” If their opponent has no champs in the ring, they will ignore that part, then they will draw a card.

Untouchable

Abilities can often make champs untouchable. Champs that are untouchable cannot be defeated for any reason – by card abilities or in a fight. Untouchable champs can be fought, but they cannot be defeated as a result of a fight, regardless of their power.

Champ Ability Triggers

  • Recruit: abilities resolve immediately after that champ is recruited for any reason.
  • Defeat: abilities resolve immediately after that champ is defeated for any reason.
  • Hype: abilities resolve each time that champ is hyped.
  • Survivor: abilities resolve for friendly champs right before the active player starts taking actions on their turn.
  • Special: abilities on a friendly champ that isn’t exhausted can be triggered by the active player by exhausting the champ and resolving the ability immediately.
  • Ongoing: abilities are constantly in play. Carefully follow their instructions word for word.

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Trainer and Trainer Abilities

Each player has a trainer card with a “Special:” ability that can be activated as an action during the active player’s turn. To use a “Special:” ability, the active player exhausts their trainer (turning it vertically) and resolves the ability. You cannot use the Special ability move again until the trainer is readied. Trainers return to the ready state after getting called out, NOT when your turn ends.

Trainer Ability Triggers

  • Special: If the active player’s trainer is in the ready position, they can exhaust their trainer, then resolve their “Special:” ability.

Calling Out Trainers

If the active player has a champ in the ready position and their opponent has no players in the ring, the active player can call them out

To call out an opponent, the active player exhausts a friendly champ in the ready position, then razzes their opponent like a wrestler might. If the player who got called out has champs in their reserve, they reveal the champ of their choice and draw them into their hand and ready their trainer card if they are exhausted. If the active player calls out an opponent with no champs in their reserve, they win the game!

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