2 - Turn Phases:

Every turn of Little Troubles consists of 3 phases that occur in the following order: 

1. The Build Phase
2. The Fight Phase
3. The Resource Phase

2.1 - The Build Phase:

A player’s turn will always begin at the start of the Build Phase. The Build Phase is when the turn player will be able to play any Character, Action, Field, Toy, Scene, and/or Goal cards. Many Character, Field, and Toy cards also have abilities that can be activated during the Build Phase when the card is on the Playground. The turn player is allowed to play both non-Quick and Quick cards/abilities during their Build Phase. 

The non-turn player is also able to activate cards and abilities during an opponent’s Build Phase, but they can only play or activate “Quick” cards and abilities.

-       Quick Action cards have a star symbol with streaks in the upper left hand corner of the card (  or  ), and Quick Action abilities are denoted by a Symbol

The general requirements for a player to activate cards and abilities are: being able to pay the associated Cookie cost, meeting the activation requirements (if any) for the card, and being able to resolve all public information that will be affected (ie, you cannot play a card to Restore a Character if no Regressed Characters are currently on the Playground). Sections 6.6 “Public and Private Information” and 6.7 “Illegal Activations/Failed to Find” give more information on these requirements.

Each player can play or activate up to four cards or abilities in total during each Build Phase.

• Note that One-Time Text Adjustment abilities are NOT included in the total. Please see the below section 6.2 titled “One-Time Text Alteration (OTTA) Effects” which covers these types of abilities in more detail.

The turn player can choose to end their Build Phase at any point. At this time, the non-turn player is allowed to play a card or activate an ability if they have not already reached their limit of 4 cards/abilities played. If the non-turn player does elect to make an additional action, the turn player will have the option to continue their Build phase and resume playing cards or abilities, up to their limit of 4. See the section titled “General Turn Priority” below for a more in-depth explanation on the order in which players can play cards/abilities.

Once both players have played 4 cards/abilities in this phase, or both players have elected to not play an additional card or ability, the Build Phase ends. 

2.2 - The Fight Phase:

The Fight Phase starts immediately after the Build Phase ends. The Fight Phase is broken into three steps: Pre-Fight, Fight, and Rewards.

Players can activate a total of 4 cards or abilities for the entirety of the three steps of the Fight Phase. The order for playing cards and abilities during this phase follows the same priority of the Build Phase and is outlined in the section “General Turn Priority” below.

• One-Time Text Adjustment abilities are again NOT included in the total. Please see the below section 6.2 titled “One-Time Text Alteration (OTTA) Effects” for further information.

Any cards or abilities activated during previous phases that instruct players to skip the Fight Phase causes the turn to progress directly from the start of the Pre-Fight Step to the end of the Rewards Step. Players will not be allowed to activate any cards or abilities during this phase if the Fight Phase is skipped in this way.

2.2.1 - The Pre-Fight Step:

The Pre-Fight Step is similar to the Build Phase with one major difference; during this Step, players may only activate cards or abilities with the “Quick” designation. This means players will not be able to play Character, Field, Toy, Scene, or Goal cards, but they will be able to activate Quick abilities (indicated by a  symbol) on any type of card that is already in play.

2.2.2 - The Fight Step:

At the start of the Fight Step, the turn player may choose one Character they control to Pick a Fight with another Character they do not control. If the turn player declines to choose 2 characters to Fight, the turn proceeds directly to the Resource Phase and no more cards/abilities can be activated during the Fight Phase by either player.

 If the turn player Picks a Fight, the characters Picked are now Fighting. If a character has an ability like “when this character is Picked for a Fight”, that ability happens immediately when they are Picked before any other cards or abilities can be played. Players are allowed to play cards and abilities during the Fight Step when characters are Fighting, but like the Pre-Fight Step, they can only play cards or abilities with the “Quick” designation. 

• The only ways a Fight can be stopped once 2 characters are Fighting is if an effect is resolved that ends the current fight, or if at least 1 of the 2 characters Fighting leaves the Playground.
•  If a Character is Regressed/Restored while Fighting, the new Adult/Regressed Character will still be Fighting.

2.2.3 - The Rewards Step:

Once the Rewards Step starts, players can no longer play any cards or abilities. However, One-Time Text Adjustment abilities that trigger in the Rewards Step do still occur.

The Rewards Step begins with comparing the Confidence and Maturity of the Character that are fighting. Either player may ask for clarification of why a Character has its current Confidence or Maturity. 

Below is a list of the potential outcomes for a fight. A Character’s Fight Rewards are shown on the bottom of each Character card and are represented by the Cookie Reward and Draw Reward symbols.

• Neither Character’s Confidence is greater than or equal to the opposing Character’s Maturity: This Fight is a Tie. Neither Character is Regressed/sent to Timeout and no Cookies or Draw Rewards are given as a result of the Fight.
•  Only one Character’s Confidence is greater than or equal to the other Character’s Maturity: The fight is a Win for the player whose Character meets this description. Regress/send to Timeout (whichever is applicable) the opposing Character and reward the winner with the Cookie/Draw Reward listed on the losing Character
• Both Characters’ Confidences are greater than or equal to the opposing Character’s Maturity: This is considered a Win and a Loss for both players. Regress/send to Timeout (whichever is applicable) both Characters and reward Cookies/Draws equal to the opposing character’s Fight Reward to each player. 

Note that Fight Rewards/results (gaining Cookies, drawing cards, and Regressing or sending a Character to Timeout) are considered to occur simultaneously. Once all characters that lost the fight are determined and all Cookie Rewards have been verified, any OTTA abilities triggered off the Fight Win/Loss or its Rewards/results will resolve. Once these effects are applied, resolve the outcome of the fight – reward each player with any Fight Rewards and Regress or send to Timeout any Character that Lost the Fight.

• Any instance where a Character is Regressed or sent to Timeout due to losing a fight is considered a Fight Loss. Any card that triggers “When a/this character loses a fight” triggers at this time as well.

Reminder! A player winning 10 Fights is one of the standard ways to win a game of Little Troubles. If a player reaches 10 fight wins after the outcome and distribution of Fight Rewards in the Rewards Step, the game is considered over and no further abilities trigger. 

After all OTTA abilities and Fight Rewards have been resolved for the Rewards step, any OTTA abilities that trigger at the end of the Fight Phase will resolve. Once all these abilities have been resolved, the Fight Phase ends. 

2.3 - The Resource Phase:

Like the Rewards Step, players are not able to play any cards or abilities during the Resource Phase. One-Time Text Adjustment abilities that trigger in the Resource Phase do still occur.

The amount of Resources a player gains during this phase is determined by the cards currently on their Playground. Most Character cards and some other card types will provide Resources each turn in the form of card draws and Cookie generation. These are shown by a Draw Resource  and Cookie Resource that indicate the number of cards the turn player draws and Cookies the turn player gains, respectively, during their Resource Phase while the card is on their Playground. Other cards and abilities can also change the number of Resources a player gains, such as giving an extra card draw or doubling the number of Cookies gained from Character cards.

During the Resource Phase, the turn player will calculate the total number of cards to draw and Cookies to gain by adding/multiplying all Resources and applying all abilities/effects in play. The non-active player will confirm this total, then the active player will draw cards/gain Cookies equal to these totals.

• Each player will get 1 extra card draw each Resource Phase after their first turn. This draw is not affected by card abilities (ie. Professional Model), and a player receives this 1 card draw even if their total cards to draw from their resources in play is less than 1.
• Determining the total Draw and Cookie Resource values is done in the following order.
  • All addition and subtraction
  • Then all multiplication and division
  • As an example, if your total cookies Resources and effects are +3,+2,-1,-2, and x2: your total cookies for that turn will be 4. Think of it as being reverse PEMDAS. 

Any effects that resolve or abilities that trigger at the end of the turn will occur immediately after Resources have been gained. If multiple players have such effects/abilities to resolve, the turn player will resolve theirs first, then the other players will resolve their effects/abilities following the turn order. If a player has multiple such effects/abilities to resolve, they can choose the order in which to resolve them. Once all effects and abilities are resolved, the Resource Phase and Active Player’s Turn ends. 

At the end of the turn, the below mandatory events occur. During this time, no Cards/Abilities can be activated and no OTTA abilities are triggered.

• Any card that applies a continuous effect for the turn resets. An example is “(Behind) the Couch”; the number of action cards played this turn resets to zero.
• Any effect applied by an action card or ability that changes the confidence or Maturity of a character will revert, unless specifically stated on said card.
• If the turn player has over 9 cards in their hand, they must discard cards until they have exactly 9 cards left in hand.