About these rules

These are the ZUTOMAYO CARD ground rules, version 1.0.1, last updated 8 August 2026. The official rules are in Japanese, and this English version is an unofficial translation: if they differ, the Japanese is correct. The official rules are on the official site.

These rules apply to events that say so in their details. They're for events and tournaments where games are played strictly and fairly as a competition, such as the ZUTOMAYO CARD CHAMPIONSHIP and other official tournaments. They set out rules for organisers and players, so everyone can enjoy ZUTOMAYO CARD as a competitive game.

Winning isn't everything: aim for games where both players play with respect and good manners.

For how tournaments are run, see the tournament rules. Numbers like 5.2.1 can be clicked to link to that rule, and rules explained by the Q&A link to it.

1. Game overview

1.1

Number of players

1.1.1

This is a competitive trading card game played by two players.

1.2

Winning the game

1.2.1

Both players start the game with 100 HP.

1.2.2

Players play cards from their hand and battle. The player who loses a battle reduces their HP by the difference in attack, as damage.

1.2.3

The game ends the moment either player's HP becomes 0, and the player with HP remaining at that moment wins.
Q&A: Q41

1.2.4

A player who can't draw a card at the end of a turn because their deck has run out loses.
Q&A: Q70, Q92

1.3

Fundamental principles

1.3.1

If a card's text contradicts these rules, the card's text takes priority.

1.3.2

If a player is asked to do something they can't do for some reason, it isn't done. Likewise, if an effect asks for a certain amount of an action and only part of it can't be done, as much of it as possible is done.

1.3.2.1

If something is asked to be put into a state it's already in, it isn't put into that state again, and the action isn't done at all.

1.3.2.2

If an action is asked to be done 0 or a negative number of times for some reason, it isn't done. A negative number doesn't mean doing the opposite.

1.3.3

If a card's effect says to do something while another effect prohibits it, the prohibiting effect always takes priority and the action isn't done.

1.3.4

If both players are asked to make a choice at the same time for some reason, the priority player (the player whose side the medal on the Chronos is on) chooses first, then the other player.

1.3.5

When choosing a number for a card or the rules, unless specified otherwise, you must choose a whole number of 0 or more. You can't choose fractions or negative numbers.

1.3.5.1

When a card or the rules give an upper limit, such as "up to ○ cards", for public information you can choose any number from 1 to that number.
Q&A: Q79

1.3.5.2

When a card or the rules give an upper limit, such as "up to ○ cards", for hidden information you can choose any number from 0 to that number.

2. Card information

2.1

Card name

2.1.1

The card's own name.

2.1.2

Different cards can have the same name.
Q&A: Q50

2.1.3

Some card names include brackets (). This shows that the card has a song.

2.1.3.4

Some text names a song in brackets. This refers to cards whose name includes the words in the brackets.
Q&A: Q47

2.2

Card types
Cards are one of three types: "Character", "Enchant" and "Area Enchant".

2.2.1

"Character": cards with attack and effects, which battle the opponent's character.

2.2.2

"Enchant": cards with effects that temporarily give a character effects, or affect players.

2.2.3

"Area Enchant": unlike enchants, cards whose effects keep taking effect from turn to turn, affecting characters and players.
Q&A: Q3

2.3

Parts of a card

2.3.1

Card name: the card's name.

2.3.2

Element: the card's element. There are five: "darkness", "flame", "electric", "wind" and "chaos".

2.3.3

Clock: the number that moves the Chronos forward.

2.3.4

Attack: a character's attack. There are two, "NIGHT" and "DAY", and which applies depends on the time shown on the Chronos.

2.3.5

Effect: the card's special ability.

2.3.6

POWER COST: the total power needed for the card's attack and effect. A character without enough power has 0 attack, and its effect doesn't take effect.
Q&A: Q40, Q44

2.3.7

SEND TO POWER: a value some cards have, which is a source of power.

2.3.8

Rarity: the card's rarity. This has no meaning in the game.

2.3.9

Pack: the pack the card is from.

2.3.10

Card number: the card's number in its pack.

2.3.10.1

A deck can have at most 2 cards with the same pack and the same number.

2.3.11

Illustration: the card's artwork. This has no meaning in the game.

2.3.12

Illustrator: the name of the illustrator of the card's artwork. This has no meaning in the game.

3. The field

3.1

The field

3.1.1

The game's field means the "battle zone", "set zone", "power charger", "deck zone", "abyss", "HP meter", "Chronos" and "hand".

3.1.2

Each player has their own "battle zone", "set zone", "power charger", "deck zone", "abyss", "HP meter" and "hand".

3.1.3

Both players use one shared "Chronos".

3.2

Battle zone: where the character that battles is put.

3.3

Set zone: where cards played from the hand are put. There are zones A, B and C, and set zone C is used for area enchants whose effects have taken effect.
Q&A: Q3, Q11

3.4

Power charger: cards with "SEND TO POWER" go here when they leave the battle zone or set zone. The total SEND TO POWER of the cards here is that player's total power.
Q&A: Q6, Q7

3.4.1

The power charger is public information. Cards here are stacked face up with their SEND TO POWER showing, and either player can look at them at any time. As a rule, cards are put on top of those already there.

3.4.2

Card effects can put cards without SEND TO POWER in the power charger.
Q&A: Q46, Q57

3.5

Deck zone: where the deck is put.

3.5.1

The deck zone is hidden information. The deck is stacked face down, and unless specified otherwise, neither player can look at its contents or order, or change the order.

3.6

Abyss: cards without "SEND TO POWER" go here when they leave the battle zone or set zone.

3.6.1

The abyss is public information. Cards here are stacked face up, and either player can look at them at any time. As a rule, cards are put on top of those already there.

3.6.2

Card effects can put cards with SEND TO POWER in the abyss.
Q&A: Q104

3.7

HP meter: where a player's remaining HP is shown.

3.7.1

The HP meter goes up to 100, and HP can't go above 100, even through effects.
Q&A: Q59

3.8

Chronos: where the time in the game is shown, by the position of the "Chronos medal" (the medal).

3.8.1

There are "moon" and "sun" marks. The "full moon" means "midnight", and the sun opposite it means "noon".

3.8.2

There are 18 marks in total, going clockwise from "midnight".

3.8.3

The player on the side with the "moon" is on the "night side", and the player on the side with the "sun" is on the "day side".

3.8.4

When the Chronos medal is on the moon side it's "NIGHT", and when it's on the sun side it's "DAY".

3.10

Hand

3.10.1

A player's hand is the cards they've drawn from their deck.

3.10.2

The hand is hidden information, but players can look at the cards in their own hand whenever they like, and change their order however they like.
Q&A: Q103

3.10.3

Unless specified otherwise, players can't look at other players' hands.

4. Preparing for the game

4.1

Building a deck

4.1.1

Each player prepares a deck of exactly 20 cards.
Q&A: Q14

4.1.2

A deck can have at most 2 cards with the same pack and the same card number.

4.2

Getting ready to play

4.2.1

Play rock-paper-scissors. The winner is the "night side" player, and the loser is the "day side" player.

4.2.2

Put the medal on "midnight" on the Chronos, and set the HP counters to 100.

4.2.3

Shuffle both decks well face down, swap them with your opponent and shuffle again, then put your deck face down in your deck zone.

4.2.4

Draw 5 cards from the top of your deck as your hand.

4.2.5

After drawing your first hand, you can redraw any number of cards, once.

4.2.5.1

Choose any number of cards in your hand, and tell your opponent how many you're redrawing.

4.2.5.2

Put the chosen cards face down somewhere easy to see on the field.

4.2.5.3

Draw that many cards from the top of your deck, then put the face down cards back in your deck and shuffle it well again.

4.2.6

When you're ready, choose a card from your hand and put it face down in your battle zone.
Q&A: Q1, Q42

4.2.7

Say "嫌 (やぁ, yaa)", turn the set cards over at the same time, and start the game.

4.2.7.1

If a turned over card isn't a character, it's put straight in the power charger or abyss, depending on whether it has SEND TO POWER.

4.2.7.2

If a turned over card isn't a character, its effect doesn't take effect even if its power cost is 0, and that player's attack on the first turn counts as 0.

5. Playing the game

5.1

The first turn

5.1.1

Time moves forward

5.1.1.1

Add up the clocks on the cards each player played from their hand this turn, and move the medal on the Chronos clockwise by that many.

5.1.1.2

This includes the clocks of cards that weren't characters when turned over at the start, and were put in the power charger or abyss.

5.1.2

Characters' effects

5.1.2.1

Check whether the time moved to is "night" or "day", and resolve each card's effects, starting with the priority player.

5.1.2.2

If a card's power cost isn't met, its effect doesn't take effect.

5.1.3

Battle: deciding attack (NIGHT/DAY)

5.1.3.1

Check where the medal is on the Chronos. If it's "night", characters use their "NIGHT" attack, and if it's "day", their "DAY" attack.

5.1.3.2

If a character's power cost isn't met, its attack counts as 0.

5.1.4

Battle: calculating damage

5.1.4.1

Compare the attack of the characters in the battle zones. The player whose character has the lower attack loses.

5.1.4.2

The player who loses the battle reduces their HP meter by the difference in attack, as damage.

5.1.4.3

Even if neither player's HP goes down, for example because of damage reduction, the player whose character has the lower attack loses.
Q&A: Q37

5.1.4.4

If both characters have the same attack, it's a draw.
Q&A: Q25, Q53

5.1.5

End of the turn

5.1.5.1

Draw as many cards from your deck as you played from your hand this turn.

5.1.5.2

Then move on to the next turn.

5.2

Turns after the first

5.2.1

Setting cards: choose cards from your hand and put them face down in set zone A, or A and B.
Q&A: Q4

5.2.1.1

The player who won the battle in the previous turn can set "1" card from their hand this turn.

5.2.1.2

The player who lost the battle in the previous turn can set "2" cards from their hand this turn.

5.2.1.3

If the attacks were the same in the previous turn's battle, it's a draw, and both players can set "1" card from their hand this turn.

5.2.1.4

A player who can set "2" cards can choose to set "1" or "2".
Q&A: Q5

5.2.1.5

Neither player can choose to set "0" cards.

5.2.2

Revealing the set cards

5.2.2.1

Both players reveal the cards in their set zones at the same time.

5.2.3

Start of turn effects

5.2.3.1

Effects that say "at the start of the turn" are resolved.

5.2.3.2

If both players' effects take effect at the same time, the priority player's effects are resolved first.

5.2.4

Time moves forward

5.2.4.1

Add up the clocks on the cards each player played from their hand this turn, and move the medal on the Chronos clockwise by that many.

5.2.5

Character swap

5.2.5.1

If a card newly put in the set zone this turn is a character, it's put in the battle zone.

5.2.5.2

If there was already a character in the battle zone, that card is put in the power charger or abyss, depending on whether it has SEND TO POWER.

5.2.5.3

If two characters were put in the set zone, the one in set zone A is put in the battle zone.
Q&A: Q13

5.2.5.4

Whether in set zone A or B, if even one character was played, the characters are swapped.

5.2.5.5

If there was a character in the battle zone in the previous turn, that character counts as having been used, whether or not it attacked.
Q&A: Q23

5.2.6

Area enchant swap

5.2.6.1

If a card newly put in the set zone this turn is an area enchant, it's put in set zone C.

5.2.6.2

If there was already an area enchant in set zone C, that card is put in the power charger or abyss, depending on whether it has SEND TO POWER.
Q&A: Q3

5.2.6.3

If two area enchants were put in the set zone, the one in set zone A is put in set zone C.
Q&A: Q11

5.2.7

Character, enchant and area enchant effects

5.2.7.1

If characters, enchants or area enchants have effects, they take effect, starting with the priority player.
Q&A: Q2

5.2.7.2

If a card's power cost isn't met, its effect doesn't take effect.
Q&A: Q8

5.2.7.3

Players choose the order their own effects take effect in.

5.2.8

Battle: deciding attack (NIGHT/DAY)

5.2.9

Battle: calculating damage

5.2.10

End of turn effects

5.2.10.1

Effects that say "at the end of the turn" are resolved.

5.2.10.2

If both players' effects take effect at the same time, the priority player's effects are resolved first.

5.2.11

End of the turn

5.2.11.1

If cards played from the hand this turn are in set zone A or B, they're put in the power charger or abyss, depending on whether they have SEND TO POWER.

5.2.11.2

Draw as many cards from your deck as you played from your hand this turn.

5.3

Later turns repeat "Turns after the first", and battles continue until the game is won.

5.4

End of the game

5.4.1

The game ends the moment either player's HP becomes 0.
Q&A: Q41

5.4.2

At that moment, the player with HP remaining wins the game.

5.4.3

A player who can't draw a card at the end of a turn because their deck has run out loses the game.
Q&A: Q70, Q92

5.4.3.1

If both players' decks have run out at the end of a turn and neither can draw, the game is a draw.

6. Effects taking effect and resolving

6.1

Effects and taking effect

6.1.1

An effect is the action caused by a card's text, and its result.

6.1.2

Effects include the "effects" written on characters, enchants and area enchants.

6.1.3

Some effects take effect at a certain timing, and some keep taking effect from turn to turn.

6.1.3.1

An effect written on a character takes effect only on the turn the character was swapped from the set zone into the battle zone, and only for the card that was swapped in.
Q&A: Q13, Q91

6.1.3.2

An effect written on an enchant takes effect on the turn the card was set.

6.1.3.3

An effect written on an area enchant keeps taking effect from turn to turn, unless the end condition written on the card is met (e.g. "When a card is placed in the opponent's abyss, immediately place this card in the abyss").
Q&A: Q10, Q12

6.1.3.4

If an area enchant's power cost isn't met, its effect doesn't take effect, and it isn't put in the abyss or power charger even when its end condition is met.
Q&A: Q9

6.1.3.5

If an area enchant's end condition doesn't say "immediately", "at the end of the turn" or similar, it's carried out straight away.
Q&A: Q80

6.2

Effects taking effect or not

6.2.1

In some situations, an effect may or may not take effect even when its power cost is met. In that case, it's resolved as follows.

6.2.1.1

If an effect's prerequisite isn't met, or can't be met, the effect doesn't take effect.
Q&A: Q77

6.2.1.2

For effects that refer to other effects too, the effect doesn't take effect if its prerequisite isn't met.

6.2.1.3

If the condition for a character's effect isn't met, the effect doesn't take effect, but the character still attacks.

6.2.2

A card whose effect didn't take effect isn't treated as a "card without an effect".

6.3

When effects take effect

6.3.1

If both players' effects take effect at the same time, the priority player's effects are resolved first.
Q&A: Q32, Q54, Q82

6.3.2

Even if a card's effect changes the time while the priority player's effects are resolving, and night and day switch, the other player's effects aren't resolved until all of the priority player's effects have been resolved.
Q&A: Q19

6.3.3

Players choose the order their effects take effect in.
Q&A: Q27

7. Deciding attack and calculating damage

7.1

A character's attack is the attack written on the character card, plus any attack given by effects.

7.1.1

For effects that say "deal ○○ damage", that number isn't counted as attack.
Q&A: Q84

7.1.2

If a character's power cost isn't met when damage is calculated, its final attack is 0, even if effects like "Attack +○○" have added attack.
Q&A: Q40, Q73

8. Rule processing

8.1

Basics of rule processing

8.1.1

Rule processing is what the rules automatically carry out when certain things happen, or are happening, in the game.

8.1.2

Rule processing is carried out the moment it's needed, even in the middle of another action.

8.1.3

Rule processing with no stated timing is carried out at the end of the turn.

8.2

Losing the game

8.2.1

If a player can't draw the number of cards an effect says to, they lose the game the moment they can't draw.

8.2.2

If an effect like "Place ◯ cards from the top of your opponent's deck in your opponent's abyss" can't be carried out because the deck doesn't have enough cards, the player whose deck it is loses the game.
Q&A: Q70

8.2.3

If an effect says "Otherwise, you lose the game" and its prerequisite can't be met, the player who couldn't meet it loses the game at that point.

9. POWER COST and SEND TO POWER

9.1

Checking power costs

9.1.1

The total number of ✦ of the SEND TO POWER in the power charger is the total power.

9.1.2

Cards in the power charger aren't used up during the game.
Q&A: Q6

9.1.3

When a character battles, or a card's effect comes to be resolved, the card's attack or effect can take effect if the player's total SEND TO POWER is at least the power cost written on the card.
Q&A: Q74

9.1.4

When several cards are resolved at the same time, each card's power cost is checked separately.
Q&A: Q8

10. Other

10.1

Infinite loops

10.1.1

When carrying something out, it may become possible, or necessary, to keep doing an action forever.
This is called an "infinite loop", and the series of actions from the start of the loop until it returns to where it began is called the "loop".
In this case:

10.1.1.1

The player who started the loop shows the series of actions the loop actually involves, and says how many times to do it.
The opponent then chooses whether to accept doing it that many times, or to do it fewer times and then do an action that isn't part of the loop.
The actions are then carried out as chosen.

10.1.1.2

If, after carrying out the actions as chosen, the game reaches exactly the same state during that turn, the opponent can make the player who started the loop do an action that isn't part of the infinite loop.

10.1.1.3

If neither player has a way to stop the infinite loop, the game ends in a draw.

10.2

Priority player

10.2.1

The priority player is the player whose side the medal on the Chronos is on.
Q&A: Q2

10.2.2

Which side the medal is on is decided by which of the night and day sides, as decided when getting ready to play, it's on at the moment the priority player is needed.

10.2.3

If both players are asked to make a choice or do something at the same time for some reason, the priority player goes first.

10.2.4

The priority player is decided by where the medal is on the Chronos at the moment a choice or action is asked for.
Q&A: Q102

10.2

Public and hidden information

10.2.1

Public information is information both players can always check during the game.
Hidden information is information that isn't public.

10.2.2

Either player can check public information with their opponent at any time.

10.3

Revealing cards

10.3.1

For effects like "reveal your hand" that don't give a number, the whole hand is revealed. Once it's been checked, the cards go back to the opponent's hand.
Q&A: Q89, Q103

10.3.2

Effects like "reveal the top card of the deck" put things back as they were once the effect is done, unless specified otherwise.
Q&A: Q45

10.4

Looking at hidden information

10.4.1

A card's effect may let you look at cards that are hidden information. Unless specified otherwise, only the player whose effect it is can see them.

10.4.2

When looking at cards, unless specified otherwise, they mustn't be changed from how they were.

10.4.3

After looking at cards, if nothing says to do anything with them, they're put back as they were.