Quick links:

Satori main PDF (print, cut out, put into sleeves, and play)

Satori rules PDF

Satori is a 2-player game that takes 20-40 minutes to play.

Satori is the game Fluxx wanted to be. How can you have a card called “Death” that does nothing?

Satori has the depth of play of a CCG without having to invest in boxes of cards.

Satori is like a wargame without the war.

Satori was born in 2004, before I even knew board games could be such an engrossing hobby. It was cut out with an X-Acto knife thumbtacked to some corrugated cardboard, the first game I ever designed. Its design and refinement was a labor of love.

I have pitched Satori and tried to get it published, but to no avail. Its rejectors are not without fair reasons. It is intricate and there is a lot of text to read. For a game consisting of nothing but a few cards, it has a steep learning curve. It is too abstract to put a theme on, and more complicated than an abstract game should be allowed to be.

But Satori is fun to play and I love it and I cannot stand to live the rest of my life with it sitting on my shelf. I offer the game here to you in the hopes that others enjoy it as much as I have.

Construction hints: The main PDF needs to be printed in color. If you lack a color printer, Kinko’s will do it for pretty cheap. Make sure to use the “fit to page” option when printing the PDF. I use a small rotary paper cutter to cut out cards; office supply and printing shops often have a large one you can use, or scissors work in a pinch. Then put 50 unused cards (playing or CCG or whatever) into card sleeves and slip the Satori cards in, similar to proxying cards in a CCG. Use a couple extra cards, preferably with different colored sleeves, for the quick reference/scoring cards.