Take Time: Mirage is a 2026 mini-expansion adding a four-clock chapter, a Sand Bird pawn with base, and a Rebirth token. Its tests add movement to the base game’s silent card placements. According to Libellud’s product page, the Take Time base game is required. You use its Solar and Lunar cards and standard rules alongside Mirage’s new components.
When to open Mirage
The publisher permits playing this chapter at any point in the base game’s progression and recommends completing Chapter 1 first. That is a sensible onboarding route: learn how to fill six segments, maintain nondecreasing totals and obey a clock’s printed restrictions before tracking a moving piece as well. Mirage is a separate four-test chapter; it does not replace or rewrite all 40 base tests.
Some storefront wording describes a “standalone expansion experience.” Treat that as a description of the chapter’s placement in the campaign, not as a claim that the small expansion box contains everything needed to play. The publisher’s compatibility statement explicitly requires the base game.
Place and move the Sand Bird
At the beginning of each Mirage clock, place the Sand Bird at the inner edge of the segment marked by that test. Its position belongs to a segment, not to a numbered card. When a player places a card in the segment where the bird currently stands, move the bird one segment clockwise. A printed movement icon can also tell you to move it clockwise or counterclockwise by the indicated number of segments. If a card placement triggers both the current-segment movement and a printed movement icon, apply the movements together as the Mirage rules specify; do not ignore one trigger.
For a simple illustration, if the bird is in segment A and a card placed there triggers only the default movement, it advances to the next segment clockwise. If the bird is elsewhere, that particular default trigger does not arise merely because a card was played. Printed symbols and the individual clock may introduce further movement or restrictions, so check the exact test before resolving the result.
What does crossing the hand mean?
Some Mirage clocks ask the bird to cross the clock hand; others forbid crossing it. Crossing means that the bird moves past the hand during its movement. It is not simply ending on a segment next to the hand, and you cannot decide whether the condition was met by looking only at the final location. Track the path of each movement as cards are placed. The four clocks use the bird differently; follow the requirement printed on the one in play.
The basic Take Time checks still matter: all six segments need a card, sums cannot decrease clockwise from the hand, the normal 24 cap applies unless a clock says otherwise, and any chapter-specific conditions must hold. A successful bird path does not excuse an invalid set of sums.
Mirage and Rebirth
Mirage includes an additional Rebirth token. After the group has attempted all four Mirage clocks, that token becomes available for replaying base clocks under the expansion’s instructions. This is distinct from the Rebirth sleeve already in the original box, which becomes available after the 40 base clocks have been attempted. “Attempted” does not mean “passed”: the team still needs to solve any clocks set aside in Regrets to complete the base campaign.
Is Mirage worth adding?
For a group that enjoys the silent coordination of the base game and wants a fresh constraint, the bird creates a different planning problem without replacing the core card puzzle. If the team is still learning to read clock hands, suit requirements and escalating sums, Chapter 1 offers a clearer starting point. Mirage is four new tests, so its value is in that focused twist, not a second full 40-clock campaign. There is no need to reveal the actual later puzzle solutions here.
Related Take Time guides
Sources: Libellud product information and official Mirage English rules, checked October 3, 2026.