Last Updated on October 13, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Faraway is a strategic exploration card game by Pandasaurus Games where players venture into a mysterious land, playing cards in sequence to build paths—but scoring happens in reverse. Every choice shapes your journey and affects the final outcome.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see our disclosures here.

How to Play Faraway

---

OVERVIEW

Faraway blends tactical card placement and delayed scoring for a unique strategic experience as you embark on an expedition across the ever-shifting world of Alula. Beyond the Sea of Mists lies this mysterious continent whose landscapes constantly twist and reform, challenging every traveler. Roaming the land to list its wonders and meet its various inhabitants is the core task, accomplished by playing a row of eight Region cards. Every decision, from your first card to the moment you discover your final Sanctuary, shapes how your story unfolds, ensuring no two games are ever the same.

The true heart of the gameplay is the reverse-scoring mechanism, where the cards you play also set up new objectives for your return journey. You must fulfill quest requirements on earlier cards by using the resources and symbols found on the cards you play later. This necessitates a strategic foresight where you are constantly forced to plan in reverse, prioritizing your current card placement to set up the necessary conditions for success when you eventually backtrack and score. This unique approach turns a simple tableau-builder into a compelling, brain-bending puzzle!

SETUP

Region Cards

Shuffle the Region cards thoroughly. Deal three Region cards face down to each player. Players should look at their own cards but keep them hidden from others. Place the remaining Region card deck in the center of the playing area to form the Region Deck.

Revealing Center Cards

Reveal a number of cards from the top of the Region Deck equal to the number of players plus one. For example, in a 5-player game, reveal a total of six cards. Place these revealed cards face up in the center of the table, near the Region Deck.

Sanctuary Cards

Shuffle the Sanctuary cards to create a face-down Sanctuary Deck. Place this deck beside the Region Deck.

Advanced Variant

It is recommended that players have prior experience playing at least one game of Faraway before attempting this advanced variant.

Deal five Region cards to each player instead of the standard three.

Before the game begins, each player secretly selects three of their five Region cards and removes the other two from the game without showing them to the other players.

Shuffle the removed cards back into the Region Deck. Then, reveal cards from the top of the Region Deck according to the number of players (as described in step 2 of the standard setup).

---

AREAS

Each Region card represents a biome, identifiable by its color and a pattern in the frieze. During each turn, you play one such card.

The Exploration Duration

The number on the Region card indicates how many hours are needed to explore that specific region. These durations range from 1 to 68. Exploration can occur during either daytime (☀️) or nighttime (🌙). This information might be relevant for certain quests.

Clues and Sanctuaries

Some Region cards may provide you with Clues (🗺️​). These Clues can be helpful and may grant you access to better Sanctuaries.

Denizens and Fame

Each denizen depicted on a card gives you a specific amount of fame at the end of the game.

Wonders and Resources

Regions may contain Wonders of the animal kingdom (often stylized), the plant kingdom (often thistles), or the mineral kingdom (often stones). These Wonders are useful for fulfilling quests and are a prized sight for explorers. A resource may satisfy multiple quest requests and prerequisites. Stones are more common than animals and chimeras are more common than thistles.

Quests

Some quests might have a prerequisite that you need to meet in order to gain fame for that quest. Validation of prerequisites occurs at the end of the game, during the scoring phase. You need to have gathered the specified number of a certain type of item (animal, plant, or mineral) in the Region and/or Sanctuary cards in front of you.

This quest is always visible on the lower portion of the card. The different quest types are listed on the player aid.

---

SANCTUARIES

Sanctuaries can be acquired during the game and are added to your play area as you obtain them.

In the upper portion of a Sanctuary card, you’ll find bonuses that have an immediate impact during the game. These bonuses can include resources, nighttime explorations (🌙), or daytime explorations (☀️).

In the lower portion of some Sanctuary cards, there will be side quests, which grant extra fame.

Some Sanctuaries are linked to a specific Region type and its color. They count as a Region of that type and color when calculating fame for certain quests.

---

GAME FLOW

A game lasts for a total of 8 rounds. Each round is divided into three distinct phases:

1. EXPLORING A REGION
2. GAINING SANCTUARIES
3. END OF EXPLORATION

The game concludes after the 8th round. The player who has accumulated the most fame is declared the winner (see “Game End”).

1. EXPLORING A REGION

All players simultaneously choose one card from their hand and place it face down in front of them. Following this, everyone reveals the card they have chosen and adds it to their play area, positioning it to the right of the card they played in the previous turn.

Note: It is advised to play in a straight line, but you have the flexibility to decide another layout to best suit your available space and the organization of your play area. The key idea is that you should be able to distinguish the order in which you have played your cards.

---

2. FINDING SANCTUARIES

All players who have played a card with an exploration duration higher than the previous card they played find a Sanctuary.

Deal each player who has found a Sanctuary one Sanctuary card, plus one additional Clue (🗺️).

All Clues a player gains in a player area are taken into account together on Region cards or Sanctuary cards.

NOTE: From all the Sanctuary Cards a player receives on a turn, the player chooses one to add to their play area in the next phase.

NOTE: On the first round of the game, as no one has a Region card in play, no one can gain a Sanctuary.

---

3. END OF EXPLORATION

During this phase, players discard one of their Region cards, starting with the lowest exploration duration played during phase 1 of this round, and moving upwards.

The player who has played the smallest value starts, then the second lowest takes their turn, and so on until all players have played.

ON YOUR TURN, you first choose a Region card from those available in the center of the table. Add it to your hand to go back to 3 cards.  

If you have received one or more Sanctuary cards in the previous phase, choose one (and only one!) to add to the right of the cards in your play area. You now benefit from its abilities.

Then, if you have more than 3 cards in hand, put them all under the Sanctuary deck, face down.

NOTE: Region cards taken by players are not replaced; players who play last will have fewer choices significantly reduced.

On the 8th (and last) round of the game, do not take a new card, as you do not have the possibility of playing more Region or Sanctuary cards in the previous phase.

• Once everyone has played their turn, the remaining Region card in the center of the table is removed from the game.
• Then reveal as many new Region cards as there are players, plus one.
• If it is not the 8th round of the game, a new round begins. Otherwise, proceed to endgame scoring.

---

GAME END

The game concludes after the 8th round, when each player has played 8 Region cards. Add up all the fame for each player to determine the winner.

To simplify the scoring process, first flip all of your Region cards face down. Keep your Sanctuary cards face up.

• Reveal your Region cards one by one, starting with the last card you played, which will be at the rightmost space of your play area. Proceed card by card towards the leftmost Region card in your play area.
• For each Region card, calculate the fame the card awards you, taking into account all face-up Regions (counting itself) and all your Sanctuary cards. Note the scored fame on the score pad. The Region cards you have counted remain visible and will be taken into account for future revealed cards.

Sanctuaries: Once all Region cards have been scored, count the fame awarded by your Sanctuary cards. Note the fame you earned from your Sanctuaries on the score pad.

Sum up all the fame for each player. The player with the highest total fame score wins the game.

In the event of a tie for the first place, the tied player with the lowest total exploration duration in their tableau wins the game.

---

Faraway FAQ

---