From the introduction: The game is played with two to four players, some paper and pencils and a deck of cards. Give each player one suit from the deck and they turn their ace face-up and leave it in front of them. ... The game starts by each player choosing a card from their cards, and placing it face-down. If it’s a number, the player will be playing an captive elemental. If it’s a face-card, they’ll play a human scientist. Elementals [try to] figure out what they are, figure the world out, attain freedom. Scientists try to figure elementals out.