Unstable Unicorns

Gameplay

Unstable Unicorns is an entertaining turn-based strategy card game, complete with unicorns of all kinds, many of which have special powers that can help you defeat your opponents. Everyone has the same goal: get seven unicorns into your Stable. Seems simple, but with Magic cards, Upgrade and Downgrade cards, and mischievous Magical Unicorn cards, it’s a lot harder than you think.

In the game box you’ll find 114 black-backed cards, 13 Baby Unicorn cards, and eight rules reference cards. Each player may select a Baby Unicorn to begin their Stable. Next, deal five black-backed cards to each player, then place the remaining deck in the center of the play area. Place the unselected Baby Unicorns nearby, this is now the Nursery.

Now, the game can begin. Each turn consists of four phases.

• Phase 1: Beginning of Turn Phase
  • If you have a card in your Stable with an effect that states, “If this card is in your Stable at the beginning of your turn,” its effect is triggered in this phase.
• Phase 2: Draw Phase
  • Draw a card from the deck.
• Phase 3: Action Phase
  • Choose one of the following options:
    • Play a Unicorn card from your hand
      • There are Baby, Basic, and Magical Unicorn cards. Baby and Magical Unicorn cards have special effects that can help your gameplay (or harm other players’ gameplay!).
    • Play a Magic card from your hand
      • These have positive, one-time effects. After it’s played, move it to the discard pile.
    • Play a Downgrade card from your hand
      • These are added to other players’ Stables with negative effects. If, for some reason, you wanted to play it on your own Stable, you could. The only way to get these out of your Stable is to sacrifice or destroy it.
    • Play an Upgrade card from your hand
      • These can be added to any players’ Stable (including your own) with positive effects. The only way to get these out of your Stable is to sacrifice or destroy it.
    • Draw a card from the deck
  • Phase 4: End of Turn Phase
    • Discard until there are no more than 7 cards in your hand.

Terms to Remember:

• Stable: the area in front of you in which Unicorn, Upgrade, and Downgrade cards are played. There is no limit to how many cards can be in your Stable.
• Discard: move a card from your hand to the discard pile.
• Sacrifice: move a card from your Stable to the discard pile.
• Destroy: move a card from any other players’ Stable to the discard pile.
• Steal: move a card away from any other players’ Stable to your Stable.
• Instant Cards can be played when another player plays a card, allowing you to negate that card's effect.

The first player to get seven Unicorn cards into their Stable wins!

History

Tee Turtle was founded by Ramy Badie in 2022. What started out as a t-shirt company based in Baltimore has since grown to include plushies (the Moody Reversible Octopus!), games, and accessories.

In 2017, Unstable Unicorns launched via Kickstarter to great success, which paved the way for Unstable Games, which is Tee Turtle’s dedicated game studio. They’ve designed games like Here to Slay, Happy Little Dinosaurs, and Twisted Cryptids, among others.

Variations

There are a few different base games you can purchase, including Unstable Unicorns for Kids, Unstable Unicorns: Diamond Editions, and Unstable Unicorns: NSFW. There are also expansion packs you can shuffle into a base game for added fun. These include the Nightmares Expansion, Rainbow Apocalypse Expansion, Dragons Expansion, Adventures Expansion, Unicorns of Legend Expansion, and Christmas Expansion. There’s also a portable Travel Edition!

Reception & Awards

Since Unstable Unicorns launched on Kickstarter in 2017, it has earned over $1.8M in sales! Then, in 2019, it was awarded the People’s Choice Award from the Toy of the Year Awards. It was also nominated in 2020 for the Gra Roku Best Party Game and in 2024, it was nominated at the Bulgarian Board Game Awards for Game of the Year.