How to Play Unstable Unicorns

Co-authored by Hunter Rising

Last Updated: April 11, 2022 References

If you want to spice up your game night, Unstable Unicorns is a fun and strategic card game for up to 8 people. During the game, you’ll try to be the first player to play 7 Unicorns into your play area, but your opponents can play cards to block you. Whether it’s your first time playing or you just need a quick rules refresher, keep reading for everything you need to know so you can start playing!

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Basic Rules and Objective

1
Play the game with 2–8 players. Unstable Unicorns plays better if you have more friends since you get to use all of the cards in the deck. If you play with 2 players, you just have to remove some of the cards from the deck to help balance out the effects.^{[1]
X
Research source}
- If you’re only playing with 2 players, give a “Neigh” card to each player. Then, remove the following cards before shuffling and dealing hands: All Basic Unicorns, Queen Bee Unicorn Seductive Unicorn, Rainbow Unicorn, Mother Goose Unicorn, Necromancer Unicorn, Nanny Cam, Sadistic Ritual, Slowdown, and Yay!
2
Stick with players that are age 8 and up. Teenagers and adults will have the most fun playing the game, but you can play with kids that are 8 or older. Since there are a lot of cards with unique powers and effects, the game might be confusing for children who are any younger.^{[2]
X
Research source}
- Expansions add new cards to the game, but some of them may be inappropriate for children.
Advertisement
3
Win the game when you play 7 Unicorns in front of you. Every Unicorn card you play counts as 1 towards your goal Unicorn unless other cards are affecting them. As soon as a player plays their 7th Unicorn card, they win automatically!^{[3]
X
Research source}
- If you’re playing with 6–8 players, then you only need 6 Unicorns to win.
- If there’s a tie, count the number of letters in the names of all of the Unicorn cards you played. Whoever has the most letters wins. If there’s still a tie, then no one wins.

Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Setup

1
Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards to each player. Take all of the cards with the black backs and shuffle them until they’re mixed up. Then, deal the cards to all of the players face-down. You can look at your own hand of cards, but you should keep them secret from everyone else. Set the rest of the cards face-down in the middle of the table to start the draw pile.^{[4]
X
Research source}
2
Give each player a Baby Unicorn and a reference card. Each player starts the game with a cute Baby Unicorn card with a purple icon in the top left corner and a white back. It doesn’t matter which Baby Unicorn card each player uses since they all have the same effect. Place your Baby Unicorn card face-up in front of you, which is the area known as your Stable. Your reference card reminds you of keywords and card effects, so keep it nearby.^{[5]
X
Research source}
- Place the rest of the Baby Unicorn cards face-up in the middle of the table. The stack of Baby Unicorn cards is known as the Nursery.
3
Choose whoever is wearing the most colors as the first player. Obviously, the person who’s dressed the most colorful is the unicorniest, so they should go first. Otherwise, you can just choose a starting player randomly.^{[6]
X
Research source}

Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

How to Take Your Turn

1
Activate effects on cards you’ve played if they trigger at the start of your turn. If it’s the first turn of the game, you won’t have any cards to activate yet, but you may play one on a future turn. If one of the cards in your Stable has the phrase, “If this card is in your Stable at the beginning of your turn…” then you can use those effects right away.^{[7]
X
Research source}
- An effect might be playing a Unicorn from your hand, drawing extra cards, or stealing cards from another player.
- Card effects that have the word “may” are optional. Otherwise, the effect is mandatory.
- If you have multiple cards with abilities that trigger at the beginning of your turn, their effects happen all at the same time. If a card tells you to end your turn after activating it, you can still use the effects on other cards in your Stable.
2
Draw a card from the deck. Take the top card of the deck and simply add it to your hand. Keep it hidden from the other players so they can’t see what you’re holding.^{[8]
X
Research source}
- If you ever run out of cards in the deck, the game also ends automatically. Whoever had the most Unicorn cards is the winner.
3
Take one action of the 5 available actions on your turn. You can only take one action each turn, so choose what you want to do wisely. While you usually want to play more Unicorns in your Stable, you may want to choose an action that affects your opponent instead if they’re getting close to winning. We’ll go over what different types of cards do later, but the actions you can take are:^{[9]
X
Research source}
- Playing a Unicorn card
- Playing a Magic card
- Playing a Downgrade card
- Playing an Upgrade card
- Drawing a card from the deck
4
Discard down to 7 cards if you have more cards in your hand. On your first turn, you won’t have to discard. As you play more rounds, you’ll gain more cards but can’t end your turn with more than 7. If you’re over the hand limit, choose the cards you don’t want to keep and set them face-up next to the deck in a discard pile.^{[10]
X
Research source}
- After you finish your turn, the player to your left takes the next turn.

Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Types of Cards

1
Unicorn cards. Every Unicorn card has a horn symbol in the top left corner of the card. When you play a Unicorn card to your Stable, it stays there until it’s sacrificed or destroyed by another card. There are 3 kinds of Unicorn cards.^{[11]
X
Research source}
- Baby Unicorn cards have a purple horn icon. Each player starts with 1 Baby Unicorn in their Stable, but you can never put Baby Unicorn cards directly into your hand. You’ll have to play another card from your hand to move a Baby Unicorn from the Nursery to your Stable.
- Basic Unicorn cards have an indigo icon. They don’t have any special effects when you play them, but they still count towards the number of cards you need to win.
- Magical Unicorn cards have a light blue icon. Magical Unicorn cards have extra effects that may trigger when you play them or at the beginning of your turn to help give you a big advantage.
2
Magic cards. Magic cards have a green star icon in the top left corner. When you play a Magic card, you can activate the effect listed on the card. After you finish resolving the Magic card, set it in the discard pile.^{[12]
X
Research source}
- Magic cards might have you draw new cards, play Unicorns, or steal cards from another player.
3
Downgrade cards. A Downgrade card has a yellow arrow pointing down as its symbol. Downgrade cards have negative effects that you can play on another player to put them at a disadvantage. The card stays in the player’s Stable until it’s destroyed or sacrificed.^{[13]
X
Research source}
- Downgrade cards may prevent you from using abilities on your cards or restrict what you can play on your turn.
- If the card says “Any player,” you can target one player including yourself.
- If the card says “Another player,” you can target anyone except yourself.
- If the card has “Each player” on it, then target every player including yourself.
4
Upgrade cards. Upgrade cards have an orange arrow symbol pointing up in the corner. These cards give strong bonuses that can help you win. Keep the Upgrade card until it’s either destroyed or sacrificed.^{[14]
X
Research source}
- Upgrade card effects may let you draw more cards, destroy another player’s cards, or give you bonus actions.
- You can play an Upgrade card on any player you want, including yourself.
5
Instant cards. Instant cards have a red exclamation point in the top corner. Since these are the only cards that you can play on another player’s turn, they can help you prevent other players from taking an action.^{[15]
X
Research source}
- If another player plays a card that lets them take another action, you may play an Instant card to cancel the effect and make them lose their turn.
- You can play any number of Instant cards during a single turn.

Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Keywords

1
Discard. When a card tells you to discard, take 1 card from your hand and set it face-up in the discard pile.^{[16]
X
Research source}
2
Sacrifice. When you need to sacrifice a card, take a card out of your Stable and put it in the discard pile. ^{[17]
X
Research source}
3
Destroy. Destroying lets you discard a card from another player’s Stable. When you play a card that says destroy, choose a player and the card you want them to discard.^{[18]
X
Research source}
4
Steal. If a card tells you to steal, choose another player and take a card from their Stable. Then, put the card in your Stable instead.^{[19]
X
Research source}