Summon rules

Summon is Charlie’s evolving homemade battle game made with interlocking pieces. Both players secretly choose a card, count down 3, 2, 1, reveal together, and resolve their effects. Reduce the opposing pet’s health to zero to win.

Sources

Recovered on 20 September 2026 from Codex session 01a0bea0-bdb8-7fb2-bb1f-70f968483e3e, the rules summary produced by that session, and the original explanation transcript. The source summary was /Users/hendry/Movies/Summon-edit/Summon-rules-summary.md; the transcript was /Users/hendry/Movies/Summon-edit/explanation-original-transcript.json.

Charlie’s direct follow-up answers take precedence over the earlier summary. This is a recovered working rulebook: some advanced interactions remain unspecified.

Starting a battle

Choose one pet at the start and keep it for every battle.
Computer opponents are chosen randomly each battle. When playing a friend, your opponent is your friend’s own pet.
An unevolved pet starts with 5 health. Evolving costs 25 gold, raises maximum health to 10, and adds 1 direct attack damage. Poison gets no bonus.
Players begin with tier-one Attack, Heal and Counter, with no cooldown.
Players can own more cards, but bring at most 10 cards to a battle.
Choices are simultaneous and secret until the reveal.

Starter cards

Card	Tier-one effect
Attack	Deals 1 damage. Against Heal, deals 2 damage and cancels healing.
Heal	Restores 1 health when not interrupted by Attack.
Counter	Against an eligible attack, blocks 1 damage and deals 2 damage back. Has no effect against Heal.

The transcript establishes Attack’s tier-one damage around 118 seconds, Counter around 153–249 seconds, and tier-one Heal plus Attack’s bonus against Heal around 249–320 seconds. Higher-tier Attack deals damage equal to its tier; Counter only blocks one point, so the remaining attack damage still gets through.

Attack punishes Heal; Heal avoids Counter; Counter punishes Attack.

Health and progression

Remove health pieces for damage. Zero health normally means defeat.
If simultaneous attacks remove both pets’ last health, the result is a draw.
Evolving a pet increases its health and improves its special wild card.
Healing at full health can create a limited reserve of white health pieces; the precise capacity and use of that reserve need confirmation.
An unevolved pet beating an evolved pet earns 5 gold. All other wins earn 1 gold. This applies to computer and friend battles. Draws and losses earn no gold.
Spend gold in the market: Sacrifice, Revive and Copycat cost 10 gold each; the other six market cards each cost 5 gold. Each purchase unlocks the card for your saved profile.
Bring three starter cards plus up to seven bought cards. My deck shows ten slots and lets you change your deck between battles; purchases during a battle are for the next one.
Pet evolution is a one-time 25 gold purchase between battles. It applies to future battles and does not use a deck slot. Starter-card tiers can also be upgraded in the market for 5 gold, then 10 gold.
Silver from agreed missions buys items such as potions.
Prices, rewards and some upgrade details change during the explanation and are not treated as a complete economy specification.

Special cards

Card	Recovered effect
Wild card	Each pet has a distinctive special ability: extra damage, damage over several turns, protection, etc. Improves with evolution. Once per game.
Poison	1 damage this turn and 1 next turn, applied after reveal. Costs 5 gold. Healing that turn cannot save a pet from lethal poison. Ordinary shielding does not cancel it; hiding does not remove existing poison.
Blind	Gives an opportunity to act while the opponent cannot take their usual turn; has a waiting period before reuse.
Revive	Returns a defeated pet with 1 health, but an attack when played can prevent revival. Charlie suggests combining it with Blind.
Sacrifice	The black card, separate from Blind. Choose how much health to spend and deal that much damage. First available on turn 5; after use on turn 5, next available on turn 8.
Shield	Take 1 less incoming damage this turn and the next turn. Costs 5 gold in the market.
Hide	Costs health to avoid damage on the turn played. On the next turn, cannot use Hide, Heal or Revive; other cards are allowed.
Refreshment	Boosts the next card’s effect.
Copycat	Copies the opponent’s card, with a waiting period before reuse.

Charlie’s direct clarifications

Charlie’s source-session answers and later clarifications confirm:

Simultaneous lethal attacks result in a draw.
Counter blocks one damage: an upgraded attack still deals its damage minus one.
Poison happens after reveal, and healing cannot prevent a lethal poison knockout.
Starter cards have no cooldown; other cooldowns depend on power; wild cards are usable once per game.
The black card is Sacrifice, not Blind: choose how much health to spend and deal that much damage.
Sacrifice unlocks on turn 5 and has a three-turn interval between uses: use on turns 5, 8, 11…, if played whenever ready.
The market sells Sacrifice for 10 gold and Shield for 5 gold. Shield reduces incoming damage by 1 on the turn played and the following turn.
Poison costs 5 gold and deals 1 damage on the turn played and 1 next turn.
Hide protects on the turn played only. Hide, Heal and Revive cannot be used on the next turn; other cards can be played.

Repeating cards

Each player, including the computer, may choose the same card for at most 3 turns in a row. On the next turn that card is unavailable. Choose a different card to reset the streak and use the original card again. A forced Wait also breaks the streak. Copycat counts as choosing Copycat, regardless of which effect it copies. Existing cooldowns and once-per-battle limits still apply. The streak starts fresh each battle and advances only after both cards resolve.

Starter card tiers

Buy upgrades separately for Attack, Heal and Counter in the gold market, between battles. Tier 2 costs 5 gold; tier 3 costs 10 more gold and is the maximum.

Starter card	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3
Attack	Deal 1	Deal 2	Deal 3
Heal	Heal 1	Heal 2	Heal 3
Counter	Block 1, return 2	Block 2, return 2	Block 2, return 3

Attack still deals 1 extra against Heal and stops healing. Counter triggers only against an attacking card; it blocks up to the listed amount, then returns its damage. Healing stays capped at the pet’s maximum. Evolution adds its normal +1 to Attack and Counter damage; Refreshment adds its usual bonus. Starter tiers do not upgrade Wild powers or other special cards. Copycat uses the copying pet’s own starter tiers. Each upgraded card still occupies one deck slot. Upgrades are saved automatically; each battle keeps the tiers it started with. Computer rivals use tier 1 starters; friends bring their own purchased tiers.

First web version

Included: a one-time choice of six unevolved pets (Moss, Ember, Bloom, Tide, Pebble and Spark), each with 5 health and the same three tier-one starter cards; a gold market for all nine special cards listed above, pet evolution, a ten-card hand, simultaneous resolution, win/loss/draw, and a round-by-round log. Available modes: computer rival and two players on separate devices using an invite link. The computer commits a uniformly random legal choice at the start of each turn, excluding Heal at full health. Human choices stay hidden until both are locked in.

The following are prototype assumptions, not additional rules confirmed by Charlie:

Shield reduces the total incoming damage each turn, including Counter and an opponent’s Sacrifice, to a minimum of zero. It never reduces the health paid to use your own Sacrifice. Playing Shield again refreshes its two-turn duration without stacking the reduction. It has no separate cooldown.
Replaying Poison adds a new two-turn dose: the previous dose still deals its final point of damage. Poison has no separate cooldown in this version.
Computer rivals bring the same set of equipped cards as the human player, with their own pet’s Wild ability. They commit before seeing the human choice.
Healing is capped at the pet’s maximum: 5 health normally, 10 when evolved. White reserve health is omitted.
Evolution’s +1 direct damage applies to Attack, Counter retaliation, Sacrifice and attacking Wild powers, including copied effects. This attack bonus never increases poison, self-inflicted health costs, healing or shielding. Wild powers gain their own separate upgrades below. Revive still returns 1 health. Before each computer battle, choose an unevolved rival (5 health) or an evolved rival (10 health, +1 direct damage and upgraded Wild power). The pet species is still random. Friends bring their own evolution level.
Evolution changes your pet’s name and appearance, keeping its original colour and family features: Moss → Mosswood, Ember → Blaze, Bloom → Blossom, Tide → Tsunami, Pebble → Boulder and Spark → Thunder.
Evolved Wild powers still work once per battle. Mosswood heals 3 and blocks 2 this turn; Blaze attacks for 4 (2 more than its evolved tier 1 Attack); Blossom poisons for 1 each turn for 4 turns; Tsunami heals 4; Boulder blocks 3 this turn and next; Thunder attacks for 4 and blinds next turn. Attacking Wild totals already include the normal evolution attack bonus. Refreshment adds its usual +1. The ordinary Poison card stays at 1 damage this turn and 1 next turn.
Sacrifice unlocks on turn 5 and can be played on any later turn when ready. Its next use is three turns after actual use (e.g. 6 then 9).
Sacrifice’s damage bypasses Counter and does not interrupt Heal or gain Attack’s bonus against Heal. Counter retaliates only against Attack in this version.
Sacrifice allows a whole-number amount from 1 up to the pet’s current health. The computer chooses a random legal amount when committing its card.
Sacrifice may spend the pet’s last health. Any simultaneous knockout is a draw, including one involving Sacrifice.
Successful healing is capped before simultaneous damage is applied, so healing at full health does not absorb Sacrifice damage.

Starter effects for the new market cards

Charlie confirmed 5 gold each for Wild card, Blind, Hide and Refreshment, with Revive and Copycat updated to 10 gold each. The detailed effects below are prototype assumptions for making the recovered descriptions playable, rather than newly confirmed rules.

Card	Starter implementation
Wild card	Uses your pet’s ability below, once per battle, including when copied. Evolution adds 1 damage to attacking Wilds, but not poison Wilds.
Blind	Opponent must Wait next turn. Does not cancel their already-revealed card. Ready again three turns after use. Both players can be blinded together; poison and protection still tick while waiting.
Revive	If equipped, a pet at zero health gets one attempt per battle to return with 1 health on the next reveal. An Attack (including an attacking Wild) stops it; poison and other damage can also defeat it. Wins and gold wait until the attempt is resolved. A blinded opponent must Wait, allowing the suggested Blind/Revive combination.
Hide	Spend 1 health to avoid direct damage this turn only; requires at least 2 health. Next turn: no Hide, Heal or Revive (including copied effects and healing Wilds); other cards are allowed and incoming damage applies normally. All restrictions end the following turn. Prevents new poison but never removes an existing dose. A knocked-out pet with unused Revive must Wait through the restricted turn before attempting revival.
Refreshment	Adds 1 to the next damage, healing or shielding card, then expires. Does not stack. Wait, Blind, Hide, Revive and unsuccessful Copycat preserve the boost. Poison’s ticks are both boosted; Sacrifice’s damage rises without increasing its chosen health cost. Counter still blocks only 1 attack damage, but its retaliation rises to 3.
Copycat	Copies the opponent’s card from the same reveal without needing to own it. Ready again three turns after use. The copied effect obeys your own cooldowns, health requirements and once-per-battle limits, and uses your pet’s Wild. Copies of Sacrifice spend the opponent’s chosen amount capped at your health. Copycat against Copycat or Wait does nothing.

Pet	Once-per-battle Wild ability
Moss	Root Guard: heal 2 and block 1 direct damage this turn.
Ember	Flare: a fiery attack for 2 damage — 1 extra compared with a normal Attack.
Bloom	Spore Burst: poison for 1 damage on each of three turns.
Tide	Healing Wave: heal 3, capped at the pet’s maximum health.
Pebble	Stone Wall: block 2 direct damage this turn and next.
Spark	Flash Strike: attack for 2 and blind the opponent next turn.

Attacking Wild abilities gain Attack’s +1 against Heal, interrupt Heal, and can be Countered. Counter’s block and return damage depend on its starter tier. A copied Wild consumes your own one-use allowance. Healing Wild abilities are distinct from the Heal card.

Gold is awarded once to the winning player and belongs to their saved profile, shared across computer and online battles. Pet choice, gold, owned cards, equipped deck, starter tiers and evolution save automatically and survive idle sessions and server restarts. The Save page offers a manual save button and a recovery code for loading the same progress in another browser on the same game server. Keep the code private: anyone with it can use the save. A persistent cookie remembers the profile for 400 days, renewed on visits. Unfinished battles expire after two idle hours and do not survive a server restart.

Not yet implemented: special-card tiers, reserve health, silver, missions and items.

Questions for a fuller version

How much reserve health can a pet hold, and when is it consumed?
Can Counter retaliate against Sacrifice? Does Sacrifice interrupt Heal?
Can Sacrifice spend the pet’s last health? What is the knockout order with Heal?
What are the exact effects, durations, cooldowns and upgrade tables for each pet’s wild card and the other special cards?
Should the starter Revive, Copycat, Blind and Hide interactions above change?
What are the silver missions, prices and any later evolution levels?