Sefirot - A Tarot Board Game tarotkortit ja lautapeli (Kickstarter)

It is the year 1562. Hidden in nebulas and surrounded by reefs off the Arabian coast lies the ancient island of Dioscoria. Founded by priestesses and sages cast out by the hierophants of their homelands, it is a safe haven for mystics, misfits, rebels, and outcasts from neighbouring and distant shores.

Sheltered from the wrath of the orthodoxies, this Discorian society favours empathy, playfulness, and prowess of the mind. To celebrate these traits, Dioscorians cherish one pastime as old as the island itself—Sefirot, a game of divination.

The game of Sefirot combines the worlds of Tarot divination and board gaming into an activity that is both meditative and playful. It is played in numerous variations on different playing fields, using a deck of specially designed Tarot cards.

The game includes 3 variations:

• solitaire mode (Know Thyself)
• cooperative 2-player mode (Lovers’ Discourse)
• competitive 2-player mode (Warring Planets)

As the players place their cards onto the playing fields, higher powers decide upon each player’s destiny, their triumph, or their downfall.

In addition to being the central component of the board game, the meticulously designed custom Sefirot Tarot deck also provides new journeys into the realms of Tarot.

Sefirot is suitable for an audience from 12 years onwards and has an average playing time from 30 to 60 minutes.

Very early in this project, game designer Georg Hobmeier and artists Eli Baum & Viv Tanner decided to venture beyond the well-trodden paths of the Rider-Waite-Smith and Marseille Tarot conventions to create a distinctive new kind of Tarot deck. This deck would become the centerpiece of the game of Sefirot.

For their inspiration, the creators chose the ancient island of Dioscoria. Based on esoteric tales, pieces of history, and many strands of yarn between, this mystical place would become the heart of their ongoing creation, while also drawing from traditions like the Judaic Kabbalah to which they have a personal connection.

This Dioscorian Sefirot deck provides novel ways to interact with Tarot cards, while also introducing the world of Tarot to an audience beyond those interested in the occult and divination.

Every card in the Sefirot Tarot deck has been designed from scratch, through a process that includes copious hours of reference collection and research. The deck draws inspiration from existing Tarot conventions while seeking its own path, to create a final design that challenges the status quo of existing Tarot orthodoxies.

The game of Sefirot may be played on two distinct fields, printed on a double-sided board. The Tree of Life is used for the solitaire mode, while the celestial Starfield is utilized for 2-player variations. Both fields have been developed with the same attention to detail as the Tarot deck, and the board comes crafted in the finest quality.

Richly decorated with elements of Dioscorian lore, the board not only serves as a play area for the game, but provides additional layers of meaning for those wishing to engage in the divination process.

This is one of the unique propositions of Sefirot—play the game on these fields as a simple leisure activity, or, use the cards to explore your inner-self or your relationship with another person. Explore the fields even deeper to discover the hidden meanings of their constellations and symbologies.