Dream Cycle is a race across a great, colorful board of square tiles known as the Dreamscape. Players travel cyclically through the five phases of sleep, seeking to be the first to awaken at the far end. Unlike in other racing games, players do not move their tokens directly. Instead, they assign directional meanings (or "interpretations") to the various colors on the board. As in a dream, players can plan ahead, but ultimately must leave it to fate to see where they are taken.

50 Dreamscape tiles (10 each of Phases 1 through 5)

58 Directional tiles

44 Inspiration tiles

5 Interpretation tiles

5 bicycle tokens

65 chi counters

1 sand timer

1 colored die

1 compass tile

1 rulebook

The playing board, or Dreamscape, is constructed out of square tiles, each comprising nine smaller squares. Each player manipulates a bicycle token across the Dreamscape by assigning directional meanings to the colors found there. This is done by placing Directional Tiles on an Interpretation tile containing seven colored fields. The Directional Tiles represent either absolute directions—North, West, East and South—or relative directions—Left, Right, Forward and Back. Each player’s turn is divided into a Trading Phase and a Movement Phase. The Trading Phase is used for buying and selling Directional Tiles and placing them on the Interpretation Tile. During the Movement Phase, the player’s bicycle token is moved along the Dreamscape in accordance with his or her Interpretation Tile.

The money used to buy and sell Directional tiles is called chi, after the bio-energetic concept from traditional Chinese healing and mysticism. Chi is represented here by blue glass counters. These counters represent the power of the dreamer and are regained gradually.

Some spaces on the Dreamscape have special effects. Blue spaces give players extra chi, black squares halt movement, and yellow squares do a variety of things, such allowing players to draw Inspiration Tiles, which confer any of a number of special powers.

Turn the Dreamscape tiles face down and separate them into stacks by their respective Phases. Orient the compass tile on the playing surface so that its north point is pointing in the direction you want the board to extend. For the purposes of Dream Cycle and these rules, the four absolute directions are as shown on the compass tile, regardless of their location in reality.

The board will consist of ten rows of three tiles each, progressing from south to north. Each row will consist of three tiles from a single Phase, selected and oriented randomly. The rows will progress in a staircase shape to the east and then back to the west, all the while progressing twice through the five phases (see diagram). Ten rows will be placed over the course of the game, using a total of six tiles from each of the five Phases.

Some tiles contain black squares. These operate the same way as fringe spaces. Collectively, black squares and fringe spaces are known as doldrum spaces.

To begin the game, lay out the first two rows at the south end of the playing surface in accordance with the diagram. Sort the Directional tiles by type into piles or stacks and put them where all players can reach them. Likewise, put the chi counters in an accessible place. Give each player a bicycle token and an Interpretation Tile.

Choose a starting player. Beginning with the person to that player’s right, each player, in counter-clockwise order, chooses a starting space for his or her bicycle token. The tokens begin off the board in any of the nine spaces just south of the first row. (The starting player chooses last to minimize the advantage of going first.) No player may choose a starting space already chosen by another player.

From here, the players take turns buying and selling Directional Tiles and moving their bicycle tokens. Each turn consists of a Buying Phase and a Moving Phase.

BUYING PHASE:

At the beginning of your first turn, take sixteen chi counters. At the beginning of each of your subsequent turns, take one chi counter.

During this phase, you may buy and sell as many Directional Tiles as you like. When you buy a Directional Tile, you keep it until you either sell it or trade it to another player. The price of each tile and its resale value are listed on your interpretation tile, as well as in the following table:

In addition, you may trade Directional Tiles, chi counters, and Inspiration Tiles (see below) with other players whose bicycle tokens occupy the same row of tiles as your own. Any player whose bicycle token is currently in a doldrum space is not allowed to trade with other players.

If you end your Buying Phase with more than ten chi, you must return the excess to the general supply. This keeps the chi from running out. In the unlikely event that a particular type of Directional Tile runs out, it can no longer be purchased until someone sells one.

In addition to buying and selling, the other thing you must do during the Buying Phase is to assign meanings to the colors on your Interpretation Tile by putting Directional Tiles in the colored fields. You may put up to two tiles on each colored field. You do not need to place all of your Directional Tiles on your Interpretation Tile if you not wish to do so.

NOTE: You are allowed to reposition your Directional Tiles and to trade with other players during anyone’s turn, not just your own. However, you may only buy and sell tiles during your Buying Phase. You may not reposition Directional Tiles or trade with other players during your own Movement Phase.

If you like, you may place two or three chi counters on any field of your Interpretation Tile that also contains a single Directional Tile. The effect of doing this is to make that color more powerful for one turn: you will move two or three spaces when leaving squares of that color, instead of only one. At the end of your turn, chi counters used in this fashion will be lost.

Finally, if your bicycle token is currently on a doldrum space, you should position it in the direction you want it to move this turn. You may point your bicycle token in any of the four basic directions, so long as it is pointing either at a colored square or at another doldrum space, and not away from the Dreamscape entirely.

Most of the strategy of Dream Cycle takes place during the Buying Phase. The Movement Phase, like a dream that transpires before your eyes, is mostly automatic.

First, if your bicycle token is in a doldrum square, move it one square forward. (To move a bicycle token forward is to move it one space in the direction it is currently facing.)

Your bicycle token’s movement is now determined by the Directional tiles you have placed on your Interpretation tile. If you have a Directional Tile on the field of your Interpretation tile that matches the color of the square your token is on, turn your token in the appropriate direction and move it one space forward.

The appropriate direction in which to turn your token before moving it forward is as follows:

FORWARD: Do not turn your token.

LEFT: Turn your token a quarter turn to the left.

RIGHT: Turn your token a quarter turn to the right.

BACK: Turn your token completely around.

NORTH: Point your token north.

WEST: Point your token west.

EAST: Point your token east.

SOUTH: Point your token south.

LUCIDITY: Point your token in any of the four basic directions.

NOTE: Bicycle tokens always move in the direction they are facing. They never slide to one side or back up without turning in that direction first. The only exception is when they are pushed by other bicycle tokens (see below).

If you have placed two Directional Tiles on a single field of your Interpretation Tile, you choose which one to follow whenever your bicycle token is on a square of that color. You must choose to use one tile or the other, not both.

If you have placed two (or three) chi counters on one of your fields together with a Directional Tile, then when moving off of squares of that color, move your bicycle token two (or three) spaces forward instead of just one. The intervening spaces have no effect, and if there are other bicycle tokens on those spaces, you do not interact with them. If this move would take you more than one space away from the board (i.e. "beyond the fringe", and not onto a new row of tiles), stop in the last fringe space you pass through. At the end of your turn, return all chi counters used in this way to the general supply.

Continue to move your token in this fashion until one of seven things occurs:

If you do not have any Directional Tiles on the Interpretation Tile field corresponding to your token’s current color, your turn ends. Your token remains pointing the same way it was pointing when it last moved.

Your token remains pointing the same way it was pointing when it last moved, but you will be able to reorient it during the Buying Phase of your next turn, assuming it does not get not moved before then.

After moving your token off of any space (and before reorienting on the new space), you may pay two chi counters to brake, which ends your turn. If your token is in an endless loop, this is the only way you can end your turn. If you brake on a yellow or blue space, its effect still applies.

If your token becomes caught in an endless loop and you do not have two chi, nor enough Inspiration Tiles to obtain two chi, you are out of the game. Remove your token from the board. (Your token is in an endless loop if it comes to occupy the same space while pointing in the same direction twice in the same turn, so long as no Inspiration Tiles have been used, no other players’ tokens have been moved, no effects of yellow or blue spaces have occurred, and the die has not been rolled between these two instances. If the aforementioned conditions are met aside from the die being rolled, and if no outcome of the die roll would break the loop, then it is considered an endless loop regardless.)

If your move would put your token on a space occupied by another player’s token, the player with more Power tiles may decide to end your movement. (See Power tiles below.)

(See Psychic Drain spaces below.) If this occurs, you are out of the game. Remove your token from the board.

If this occurs, you win the game.

If you are about to move off of the north edge of the Dreamscape, you must immediately extend it by laying out a new row of tiles. Select three tiles randomly from the appropriate Phase and place them according to the diagram in random orientations. Then continue your move as normal. NOTE: You must place a new row of tiles even when you are moving off of the north edge in a location that would not put your token on any of the new tiles. You will end up in a fringe space instead.

If, after a player’s turn is over, all bicycle tokens have been moved northward of a row of Dreamscape tiles, that row of tiles is removed from the game. They should be set aside so that they will not be randomly chosen again.

If you move off of the north edge of the Dreamscape and there have already been ten rows placed, then you have won the game.

If during the Movement Phase your bicycle token is about to land on a square occupied by another player’s token, you have a conflict. There are three possible outcomes to a conflict:

You move onto the contested square and your token pushes the opponent’s token one square in the direction you are facing. This does not change its orientation, but if your opponent’s token lands on a yellow or blue square, it does take effect. If you also move onto a yellow or blue square, your square takes effect first.

Your token moves as normal, moving onto the same square as the opponent’s token.

The opponent’s token blocks your path and your token cannot enter the square. Your turn is over unless another Directional Tile on the field corresponding to the color your token occupies will allow you to move in another direction, or you decide to turn in a Zip Tile (see below).

Between you and any players occupying the space onto which your token would move, whoever has the most Power Tiles decides which of the three outcomes occurs. It must be one of the three above possibilities and not a combination, e.g. one token gets pushed while your token is blocked. If there is a tie for the most Power Tiles, then the Pushing outcome occurs, unless this would push your opponent’s token beyond the fringe of the board, in which case the Passing outcome occurs.

If the Pushing outcome occurs and results in another conflict with a third player, then the player involved in that conflict with the most Power Tiles decides between the Pushing and Passing outcomes, but may not choose Blocking, as that would negate the Pushing outcome of the first conflict. Ties are handled as above.

The following list describes the various types of squares found in the Dreamscape, including what Phases they appear in and what special effects, if any, they incur.

Inspiration Tiles are bonus tiles which you collect by landing on the Inspiration Bonus spaces (yellow squares with thought balloons). They provide various useful abilities. When you collect an inspiration tile, you keep it until you either turn it in or trade it to another player on the same row of tiles as yourself. In a pinch, any Inspiration Tile can be turned in at any time for a single chi. Inspiration Tiles that are turned in are returned to the general supply and may be randomly picked again. Their abilities are as follows:

It is possible to be removed from the game before it ends. This can occur if you are forced to pay chi that you do not have and cannot acquire, either because of a Psychic Drain or because another player with more Power Tiles enters a conflict with you on his or her turn. You also lose if you get into an endless loop and cannot pay two chi to brake. If you are removed from the game for any reason, remove your token from the board and return your Directional Tiles, Inspiration Tiles, and chi counters to the general supply.

The first player to move his or her bicycle token off the far edge of the board after all ten rows have been placed wins the game.

For a more challenging game, use the one-minute sand timer to time each player’s Buying Phase. Make sure that the chi counters and Directional Tiles are sorted and easily accessible to all players. On your turn, after taking your free chi, you may begin buying and selling as soon as you turn over the sand timer, and you must stop when it runs out. Any Directional Tile or chi counter is considered to be on any field in which more than half of it rests at that point.

Sleep researchers have identified five phases of sleep that a healthy person passes through in the course of a night. The five phases in Dream Cycle are loosely inspired by the five phases in a cycle of sleep.

1. Also known as the hypnogogic state, this phase occurs while a sleeper is still semi-conscious. People in this phase experience scattered thoughts and images, and often also experience falling sensations and slight unexpected muscular contractions. Eye and muscle activity is low.

2. Eye movement ceases and heart-rate sinks during this phase. Sleepers in Stage 2 produce slow brain waves, but these are punctuated by rapid bursts of activity called ‘sleep spindles.’

3. This is the beginning of deep sleep, the state in which the body restores and maintains itself. The brain begins to produce delta waves, the slowest rhythm of brainwave.

4. In this, the ‘deepest’ phase of sleep, the brain produces delta waves almost exclusively. To be awakened at this stage leaves one groggy and disoriented.

5. Known as Rapid Eye Movement (or REM) sleep, this is the phase of dreams. In addition to rapid shifting of the eyes, REM sleep is characterized by paralysis of the skeletal muscles and a dramatic increase in heart rate. This type of sleep is vital to a person’s mental health.

This sequence of phases lasts 90-110 minutes and repeats in order throughout the night. As sleep progresses, the deep sleep phases become shorter in duration while phases 2 and 5 become longer. Even near the end of the night, the REM phase rarely lasts more than 25 minutes.

Color in dreams (or its absence) is one of the first elements a dream interpreter examines. First and foremost, as with all elements in dreams, the dreamer himself or herself is the first authority on what individual colors mean in any particular case. However, some patterns can be identified that seem to remain valid for the dreams of many individuals. Authorities assign a wide variety of interpretations to individual colors in dreams. The following are amalgams of common meanings that are generally agreed upon for the colors used in this game.

Green: The color of health and balance. Personal growth. Envy, wealth. Giving, sharing and taking.

White: Purity, innocence. Transformation, a blank slate. The end of one thing and the beginning of another.

Orange: The color of social interaction. Friendship and career. Aggression. The power of the new.

Yellow: The color of the intellect. Personal harmony. Hopefulness and a new direction. Good or bad health depending on the context.

Blue: This is probably the best color to see in your dreams. Blue represents essential life force, spirituality, communication with higher things, truth, eternity. It is the color of healing, and is associated by some with the concept of a spirit guide.

Black: Mourning or sadness. A lack of orientation or power. Hidden urges, desires, or sexuality.

Red: Sexuality, passion, anger, violence, humiliation.

Purple: There is little agreement on the meaning of purple. It may signify heroism, the elite, and royalty, or it may be a color of spiritual insight and understanding.

Fuschia: Emotional stability, understanding of the self, readiness for change.

Silver: Intuition. The presence of astral energy. A higher power, separate from yourself.