Roles

Before the game begins, each player randomly draws a Role card. Keep this secret from everyone else! Some players are on the same team, while others want to defeat each other.

Roles are broken down into four categories: Heroines, Partners, Stage Bosses, and Extra Bosses. When the game begins, the Heroine reveals her role, but all of the other players keep their role secret. It’s up to the players to figure out who is on their team and take out their opponents!

There are a total of eleven different possible roles in Danmaku!!. See the Roles page for more details on each of the possible roles.

Basics of Play

Danmaku!! is played in a circular, turn-based fashion. Each player has a hand of cards drawn from the Battle Deck. Players play these cards on their turn to try to attack other players. The most common of these is Shoot!.

Shoot! allows a player to attack another player in range. A player who is attacked has a chance to avoid the attack by playing a Graze! card; otherwise, they lose one life. A player that loses all of their life is defeated.

So what does “in range” mean? All players start out the game with a Range of 1. This means you can attack a player whose Distance is 1 away. Cards such as Power can increase your Range, allowing you to attack further players.

Your distance to another player is the number of seats to the player, plus any Distance modifiers they have. Players sitting next to each other start at a distance of 1, but cards such as Focus increase your Distance modifier. This only makes you harder to hit – you don’t count your own Distance modifiers when counting to another player. Also, defeated players don’t count, so as players are defeated, everyone gets closer.

The above chart shows the distance from A in a hypothetical game. Players F and G both have +1 distance. Note that distance modifiers other players have aren’t counted, so the distance from A to E is still only 3, even going through F and G

Characters and Spell Cards

In addition to choosing a role, at the start of the game, each player chooses a character from the Touhou universe to play as. Danmaku!! comes with dozens of characters to play as, each with their own unique Abilities and Spell Cards.

A character’s Ability allows them to bend the normal rules in their favor. These benefits are in effect throughout the game. In addition, each character has access to a Spell Card. Spell Cards are attacks that come with an additional powerful effect.

Players can activate their Spell Card by playing a Bomb or Spiritual Attack card. Bombs can also be used to perform a “Bomb Cancel,” countering a Shoot! or Bomb played by another player. This makes Bombs one of the most powerful and versatile cards in the Battle Deck.

And more

This is just a small sample of the cards found in Danmaku!!. For more detailed rules, check out the Rulebook, or print your own copy of Danmaku!! and try it yourself!