Shields break from turn 4
Each player has 10 Shields and a Base. At the end of every turn from turn 4, each Zone you win breaks one enemy Shield. Win all three Zones and three Shields fall at once.
How to play ยท newcomers first
Giant machines.
Small budgets.
No cheating.
Sealed Frames is a card game about AI agents. Each card is a Frame, a machine that does a job for you, and every Frame runs on a budget. You and your opponent plan at the same time, everything flips, and the stronger side in each Zone breaks a Shield. Break all their Shields, then their Base, and you win.
Quick start
The game in 60 seconds.
- Three Zones, two sides. The board has three Zones. Your cards go on the bottom half of each Zone, your opponent's on the top half. Each Zone has its own rule, printed on its plate.
- Budget grows every turn. Turn 1 gives 1 Budget, turn 2 gives 2, up to 10. A card costs the number in its hexagon.
- Tap a card, tap a Zone. Cards go down face down. Add cards until your Budget runs out, then press Reveal.
- Everything flips. Both plans flip at the same time, card by card. A card pays when it flips; if it cannot pay, it is Refused and goes back to your hand.
- More Power wins the Zone. From turn 4, at the end of every turn, each Zone where you have more Power breaks one of your opponent's 10 Shields.
- Break the Base. With no Shield left, the next hit breaks the Base and the match is over. A match lasts about 8 to 12 turns.
OpponentBase
32
Zone A4 : 7
52
You break a Shield6
Zone B6 : 3
3
You lose a Shield22
Zone C4 : 4
4
A tie breaks nothingYouBase
Your first match comes with Lisa, the on-screen guide, who walks you through the first turn. Tap any bold word in a match to read what it means, and tap a Zone's name plate to read what its rule means for you.
One turn
A turn, step by step.
1 Draw and get your Budget
At the start of every turn you draw a card (hand limit 7) and get your Budget: the turn number, up to 10. A Refund from last turn adds to it (gold hexagons), a Tax takes from it (red). Budget you do not spend is lost at the end of the turn.
Turn 1
Turn 2
Turn 3
Turn 4 + Refund 1
Turn 5 - Tax 1
2 Place cards face down
Tap a card in your hand, then tap a glowing Zone. The card goes down face down. Keep going until your Budget is used. Tap a placed card to take it back. Each side of a Zone holds 4 cards (Architecture: 5). On a full side you can retire one of your own cards for the new one (see Siege below). Your opponent does the same at the same time, and neither of you sees the other's plan.
3 Reveal: who flips first
Press Reveal. Both plans lock and the cards flip one at a time in this order:
- The player winning more Zonesflips first, in the order they placed their cards. On turn 1 and on a tie, the match decides.
- The other playerflips next, also in placing order. Flipping second is good: your On reveal cards see more.
- Sealed cards, both sidesflip last of all. Until they flip, nothing can touch them.
4 Pay when it flips, or Refused
A card pays its cost from your remaining Budget at the moment it flips, not when you place it. Most of the time that is the same number. But if, in between, an enemy card raised your costs, a Cap limited what you may spend in that Zone, or your Budget shrank, the card cannot pay. Then it is Refused: it goes back to your hand, writes no Receipt and none of its text happens. You keep the card and can try again next turn.
Budget 4. Card A (cost 2) flips in Zone A: paid, 2 left.
Card B (cost 2) flips in Zone B, where an enemy card set Cap 1: Refused, back to your hand.
2 Budget unspent is lost at the end of the turn. Next time, play Card B in a Zone without a Cap.
5 Receipts, Loops and Mail
Every card that flips writes a Receipt in its Zone (the R numbers on the Zone plate). Receipts never act on their own, but some cards grow with them and they expose Fakes. At the end of the turn, Loop cards copy themselves into free slots. Mail effects arrive at the start of next turn.
6 The clash
From turn 4, at the end of the turn, each Zone is compared. The side with more total Power there breaks one Shield of the other side. A tie breaks nothing. At most 3 Shields break per turn per side. Turns 1 to 3 never break a Shield: they are for building your board.
Siege
Shields, the Base, and how a match ends.
YouBase7
A broken Shield draws a card
Whoever loses a Shield draws a card right away. Falling behind gives you more options, so a match is rarely over early. If your hand is full (7), the card goes to your discard pile instead.
Full Zone: retire to replace
When your side of a Zone is full, select a card in hand and tap one of your own face-up cards there. That card is retired to your discard pile when you press Reveal, before anything flips. The new card pays when it flips; if it is Refused, the slot stays empty. A retire is not a Scrap or a Wipe, so nothing that reacts to those fires. On an upright phone, tapping a full Zone opens a picker in the dock.
Out of cards: the reshuffle
When you must draw and your deck is empty, your discard pile is shuffled back in. Only your deck's own 12 cards come back, each as it was forged; Loop copies and cards made during the match are gone. So a long match never runs dry.
How a match ends
A hit on a player with no Shields left breaks their Base: that player loses. Both Bases in the same turn: more total Power on the board wins, equal is a draw. If turn 20 ends with both Bases standing, more Shields left wins, then more total Power, then a draw.
Retreat
You can leave a match at any time with Retreat. Against the server it counts as a loss with no XP. A friend or ranked opponent who leaves before turn 3 hands you a win without XP.
1213
New 6-cost card goes on the 1; the old card goes to your discard pile.
Strategy
How to win: seven habits.
1. Pick two Zones
You only need to win more Zones than you lose, every turn. Choose two Zones where your deck and the Zone rules fit, and put your Power there. Two Zones won each turn is two Shields a turn.
2. Do not spread thin
One card in each Zone usually wins none of them. If a Zone is lost by a lot, let it go for now and win the other two. You lose one Shield there, but you break two.
3. Curve your Budget
Spend all of it every turn. A good deck has a card that costs 1, a couple that cost 2 and 3, and only a few big ones. Then every turn has a sensible play.
4. Save big cards for turns 6 to 10
A Siege lasts long enough for your 5 and 6 cost cards. Land them when you have the Budget, often as a retire on a full side, into the Zone that decides the match.
5. Retire with a purpose
Retire spent cards: a 1-Power opener, a body whose On reveal already happened, a Fake that was caught. Keep cards whose Ongoing still helps, like a Cap or a card that lifts the others.
6. Read the Zone rules
Every match draws three of fourteen Zones, shown before turn 1. A Zone where cards cost 1 less is where your big card lands early; a Zone that is closed until turn 4 is where your late cards go. Tap a Zone plate in a match for a one-line tip.
7. Defend a Zone about to break a Shield
Before you press Reveal, look at each Zone's score. Where you are behind by a little, one more card stops a Shield from breaking. Where you are behind by a lot, win a different Zone instead to trade evenly.
Bonus: count Shields
When your opponent is down to their last one or two Shields, put everything into the Zones you already win. When you are low, defend first: a tie breaks nothing.
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2
3
4
5
6
The board
Fourteen Zones, and what each means for you.
Each match picks three Zones. Every Zone is a chapter of the Sable whitepaper, and its rule shows what that chapter is about.
Starter decks
Four starter decks, four plans.
New players pick one of these. Each is a full 12-card deck on a good curve. Learn its plan first, then change cards in the deck builder.
Practice opponents
The three bots, and how to beat each.
The bots plan the way you do: they try several plans each turn and keep the best one, without seeing your hand or your plan. Harder bots try more plans. Bots mirror the strength of your forged abilities, so they stay fair as your cards grow.
Avoid these
The most common newcomer mistakes.
- One card in every Zone. It feels safe and wins nothing. Stack two Zones.
- Unspent Budget. Budget does not carry over unless a card says Refund. Fill the turn.
- A big card into a Cap. If the opponent has a Cap in a Zone, a card that costs more is Refused there. Play it in another Zone.
- Ignoring the Zone rule. Conclusion is closed until turn 4, The Control Plane allows only 3 Budget a turn, Threat Model weakens Rogue cards. Read the plate.
- Playing a Proof card first. Proof needs Receipts already in that Zone. Play the cheap cards there first.
- Believing a big number. A 9 Power card for 4 Budget is often a Fake. Write more Receipts in that Zone or Verify it.
- Panicking on turns 1 to 3. No Shield breaks before turn 4. Build your two Zones calmly.
- Never retiring. Late in the match a full side of small cards loses to one big card. Retire the weakest.
- Chasing a Zone that is gone. If the gap is huge, win the other two Zones and trade Shields.
- Sealed cards against Leak. If the opponent shows Leak cards, your Sealed cards flip early and lose their edge. Spread them out or hold them back.
Keyword reference
Every keyword: the rule, how it works, when to use it.
The same text appears when you tap a bold word in a match, on a card's closeup and in Lisa's tips.
Reading a card
Everything a card tells you.
- Cost (top left). What it takes from your Budget. Above it: the faction.
- Type (the tab on the left). Frame: a machine with Power that stays. Protocol: an instruction that does its job and disappears.
- Number and rarity (top right). SF1-086 is card 86 of Set 1. C, U, R, SR and LR are Signal, Relay, Sigil, Prime and Sable; the rarer the card, the richer the metal of its frame.
- Name and rules. Coloured labels tell you when a rule works: On reveal once when it flips, Ongoing for as long as it stays, Mail next turn.
- What it means (the quote). The real idea behind the card: how Sable keeps AI agents honest.
- Faction, archetype and sigil (bottom bar). The rings are drawn from a fingerprint (sha256) of the card's own name and text.
- Power (bottom right). How much it adds to its Zone. A Fake shows a second square with its real Power.
Four factions
Three promises, and the threats they stop.
While you play, you learn what Sable promises about AI agents: it forgets what you told it, it cannot overspend your budget, and it hands you a receipt you can check. The Rogue faction plays the threats.
Nothing is safe
Every plan has an answer. If one strategy wins too often, another one beats it.
Questions
Things people ask.
Do I need a wallet or crypto to play?
No. Sealed Frames is free, there is nothing to buy, and cards have no money value. It uses ideas from Sable, not Sable itself.
What happens on a tie?
A Zone with equal Power breaks no Shield. If both Bases break in the same turn, the player with more total Power on the board wins; equal is a draw. After turn 20, more Shields left wins, then more Power.
Can I see what the opponent has?
You see every face-up card on the board, both Shield rows and how many cards are in the opponent's hand. You never see their hand or their plan before it reveals.
Why did my card come back to my hand?
It was Refused: when it flipped it could not pay, because a Cap, a cost rise or a Tax changed the numbers after you planned. You keep it and can play it again.
How do cards get stronger?
Every time one of your cards reveals in a signed-in match, it earns card XP. At card level 3, 6 and 9 the Blacksmith offers two abilities to choose from, each with how it works and when to use it.
Why "Sealed Frames"?
A Frame is the machine. Sealed is how Sable sends a request: closed, so nobody can read or change it on the way.
Ready?
The fastest way to learn is one match against The Runaway with Lisa's guide on screen.
Play a practice match