Colossal Arena is a game of mythical gladiators and canny gambling. Players place bets on twelve distinctive monsters and play cards to guide them in combat. At the end of the game, only monsters still standing reward their backers with gold!

Players

2–5 players each take the role of wealthy backers at the Colossal Arena. They’ll be placing bets on monstrous creatures and guiding them to victory over the course of the game.

The Creatures

There are twelve unique creature in Colossal Arena, including the mighty Titan, the formidable Troll, the potent Magus, the agile Unicorn, and the destructive Wyrm. Each creature has its own special ability, and since in each game of Colossal Arena only eight of the twelve creatures is in play, the game is never the same twice!

Each creature has 11 combat cards dedicated to it, each ranging in strength from 0 to 10. Players will play combat cards for the creatures as each round progresses, and in each round the creature with the weakest combat strength is eliminated. A player who plays a creature’s combat card may activate its special power if he is that creature’s backer.

Bets and Backers

On each turn, players may choose to make a bet on a creature that has not been bet on this round. To do so, they place their bet token above the current row of combat cards, to indicate when the bet was placed — earlier bets are worth more. A player who has the most value of total bets on a given creature is that creature’s backer, and can activate special powers of that creature.

At the end of the game, bets placed on the surviving creatures pay off according to their value. If you are able to accurately pick the winner at the start of the game, you’ll get more reward than a backer who places a bet when a creature has already almost won.

Players may also place secret bets during the first round (and only the first round). A secret bet is worth more than any other kind of bet, but each player may only make one, and secret bets do not count towards being considered the backer of a given creature unless they have been revealed. Betting heavily on a monster may draw attention to it if you’ve bet publicly, but a well-placed secret bet can let your creature survive until the final round with none the wiser to the gold you’ll earn!

Combat and Rounds

Each player has a hand of eight combat cards, including creature cards, spectators, and referees. Each creature card can only be played on the appropriate creature, but spectators such as the Minotaur and the Goblins will leap into the ring to help anyone! Spectators also void the special powers of the creatures they are played on, so they can be played both offensively and defensively. Each combat card has a value of 0 to 10, and the combat value for a given creature is the last card played on it this round, so each card is equally valuable for its own purpose.

At the start of each round, no creature has a combat value. As cards are played, a creature’s combat value becomes equal to the last card played on it. Once each creature has a combat value, the round can end. If a creature has the lowest single combat value at the end of a turn, the round is over and that creature is eliminated — so watch out for 0s!

Victory

At the end of five rounds, only three creatures will be left! Each player who has a bet or bets on those creatures earns gold equal to the value of their bets — the older the bet, the more gold! The player who earns the most gold is the winner.