Arcs Scoring & Ambitions: Power, Chapter End and Victory
Arcs does not score every category automatically. During each chapter, players declare which Ambitions will matter. At chapter end, only ambitions with one or more ambition markers are scored, and every player can compete for first and second place.
The five base-game ambitions
- Tycoon: most total Fuel and Material icons from resources and Guild cards.
- Tyrant: most Captives on your player board.
- Warlord: most Trophies on your player board.
- Keeper: most Relic icons from resources and Guild cards.
- Empath: most Psionic icons from resources and Guild cards.
Declaring an ambition makes it score for everyone
The player with initiative may declare the ambition shown on the qualifying action card they lead. Put the appropriate ambition marker in that ambition’s box. The player who declared it receives no ownership advantage at scoring; all players compare their holdings normally.
First and second place score the values on the markers
At chapter end, each declared ambition awards its higher shown Power to first place and its lower shown Power to second place. If more than one ambition marker is in the same ambition box, the values on all of those markers contribute to that ambition’s award as specified by the rules.
Ambition-marker values increase over the course of the game, so the same category can be worth substantially more Power in later chapters.
Warlord and Tyrant reset their scoring pieces after scoring
After a chapter in which Warlord scores, return Trophies according to cleanup. After Tyrant scores, return Captives. This means those two ambitions do not simply accumulate unchanged across the entire game.
Game-end Power thresholds
- 4 players: at least 27 Power.
- 3 players: at least 30 Power.
- 2 players: at least 33 Power.
After scoring a chapter, the game ends if any player has reached the appropriate threshold. It also ends if the chapter marker is on Chapter 5.
Reaching the threshold does not guarantee victory
The threshold triggers the end check. If the game ends, compare all players’ Power totals; the player with the most Power wins. It is therefore possible for one player to cross the threshold while another player finishes that same chapter with more Power.
Tie rule: earliest in turn order wins
If final Power totals are tied, the tied player earliest in turn order wins.
Continue learning
Publisher reference: Leder Games: How to Play Arcs. Base-game scoring checked September 20, 2026; The Blighted Reach uses additional campaign scoring rules.