my playing card collection
Via Vitae
This beautiful card game was designed by the talented French artist Dominic Ehrhard.
Maker:
Country:
Artist:
Year:
No of cards:
Suit:
My Ref:
Les Editions Face et Dos, et
La Ville d'Issy-les-Moulineaux
France
Dominic Ehrhard
2004
25
Special
#34
Dominique Ehrhard (born March 5, 1958) is a French game designer, artist, and writer of children's books from France. In 1986 he moved to Orléans and then to Meung-sur-Loire where he divides his time between painting, teaching, creating games and illustrating books. He created Via Vitae in 2004.
Via Vitae (the Road of Life) is a game for two players. It is very easy to play and suitable for all ages. Each players constructs a horizontal road of cards, if possible longer than his opponent, using the powers of observation and memory.
The symbols:
VIA VITAE is a game for two players. Each game is played in two rounds. The player who scores the most points at the end of the two rounds wins.
Each card has on the top right and left a symbol These are a target, a moon, a sun, a serpent and a star. Each symbol has a colour and a number. The number indicates the strength of the card.
The paintings represented on the cards have no effect on the progress of the game, but gradually create a frieze representing the lifeline of each player.
How to play:
First round:
Shuffle the 25 cards and deal them one by one to the two players. One player receives 13 cards and the other 12 cards. The one with 13 cards, player A, chooses one card and places it unseen face down in front of him, this card is not used in this round.
Player A then plays his first card face up on the table. In the example it is the yellow star number 3.
Player B must respond with a card of the same symbol or the same colour and places the card below the first card. In the example it is the yellow sun number 4.
Player B wins and plays the next card which must match the number of one of the cards on the table but must be a different symbol or colour than the preceding. In the example the blue star number 4 is placed by the side of the yellow sun number 4, forming the beginning of two horizontal rows.
les exemples:
Again the highest number card starts first. Player B leads with the blue target number 1.
The round is over when one of the players can not respond. His opponent wins the round.
In the example on the left, player A leads round 6 with the yellow target number 5. Player B has neither a target nor a yellow symbol left. Player A wins the first round.
SCORING:
Player A scores as many points as the value of the last card he played, multiplied by the rank where the end of the round occurred. In this case 5 x 6 =30 points.
If the 12 exchanges are made without a winner, neither player scores points.
Second round:
Each player adds the cards played by his opponent to the remainder of the cards in his hand. The player who had 12 cards in the first round also takes back in hand the card discarded by his opponent. In this case Player B.
The second round is played the same as the first round.
Player B places a card of his choice in front of him, unseen and face down. He begins the first exchange by placing a card of his choice on the table, as before ... The player who has the most points at the end of the two rounds wins the game.