Disney Lorcana is a trading card game for two players from Ravensburger. You build a team of Disney characters, known in the game as glimmers, and send them on quests to collect lore. The first player to reach 20 lore wins. To play cards you need ink, which comes from cards you place face down in your inkwell, one per turn.
You can learn it with a ready-made starter set at home, then bring your deck along to a Lorcana night at a local shop, where players are happy to teach newcomers.
Find shops near you on our Lorcana page.
What you need to play
Each player needs a deck and a way to track lore and damage. A starter set includes all of this. When you build your own deck for events, the rules are:
- At least 60 cards.
- No more than two inks. There are six ink colours, Amber, Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire and Steel, and each has its own style of play.
- Up to four copies of any card with the same full name.
The card types
- Characters: your main cards. They quest for lore and challenge other characters. Each shows a strength (damage it deals), willpower (damage it can take) and lore value.
- Actions: one-off effects that go to the discard pile once used.
- Songs: a kind of action. Instead of paying ink, you can often have one of your characters sing the song for you.
- Items: cards that stay in play and give ongoing or repeatable effects.
- Locations: places your characters can move to. Many give you lore at the start of your turn.
Setting up a game
- Shuffle your deck and decide who goes first.
- Both players start on 0 lore and draw 7 cards.
- Each player may alter their hand once: put any number of cards on the bottom of the deck, then draw back up to 7.
- The first player begins. They skip their draw on the very first turn, which keeps things fair.
How a turn works
Each turn starts with three quick steps, often remembered as “Ready, Set, Draw”:
- Ready: turn all your exerted (sideways) cards upright again.
- Set: your characters finish drying, and your locations give you any lore they show.
- Draw: draw 1 card.
Then comes your main phase, where you can do any of these in any order:
- Ink a card (once per turn). Choose a card with the inkwell symbol around its cost, show it to your opponent and place it face down in your inkwell. Your inkwell grows by one each turn, so you can afford bigger cards as the game goes on.
- Play cards by exerting ink equal to their cost.
- Quest by exerting a character to gain its lore.
- Challenge by exerting a character to fight one of your opponent’s exerted characters. Both deal damage equal to their strength, and a character with damage equal to or more than its willpower is banished. Damage stays on a character from turn to turn.
- Move a character to one of your locations, and use abilities on your cards.
Drying, and why timing matters
A character you play this turn is still drying. It must be in play from the start of your turn before it can quest, challenge or exert to use an ability, so new characters usually wait a turn. Characters with Rush can challenge straight away.
Because questing and challenging both exert your characters, every quest also leaves that character open to a challenge on your opponent’s turn. Choosing which characters to send questing and which to keep back is the heart of the game.
Ink drops
Hyperia City, the newest set, adds ink drops: temporary ink that some cards create as you play. Each ink drop counts as 1 ink, and once you spend it, it leaves the game. Some cards also gain extra effects when you use an ink drop to play them.
Winning
You win as soon as you have 20 or more lore. A player who ends their turn with no cards left in their deck loses, so very long games have a natural end too. The Quick Start Rules and full Comprehensive Rules are free to download from the official resources page.
What to buy first
A 2-Player Starter Set is the simplest way in: two ready-to-play 60-card decks built for new players, so you and a friend can learn together. Prices we found in October 2026:
| Product | What you get | UK price |
|---|---|---|
| Hyperia City 2-Player Starter Set | Two ready-to-play decks from the newest set, released 23 October 2026 | £24.99 RRP |
| Wilds Unknown 2-Player Starter Set | Two 60-card decks, a learn-to-play rulebook, two deck boxes, a lore tracker and damage tokens | £24.99 RRP, often around £20 in shops |
| Disney Lorcana Gateway | A guided learning box with two 30-card starting decks, four reward packs, a game board and guidebook | £22.99 RRP |
Gateway teaches the game step by step at the kitchen table. Its cards come from older sets, so pick a starter set when you want a deck for Core Constructed events. Most shops on our listings stock these, so ask locally first, and the staff can often show you a game before you buy.
Adding booster packs
Booster packs hold 12 random cards each and let you tune your deck. A new set arrives every few months: Hyperia City has prereleases from 16 October 2026 and goes on general sale on 23 October, and Ravensburger has named Into the Inkdark as the first set of 2027.
Formats you will meet
- Core Constructed: the main tournament format. Once a year the four oldest sets rotate out, and since Attack of the Vine! you can use cards from Fabled onwards. Reprints of older cards in newer sets stay legal.
- Infinity Constructed: you can use almost any card ever printed, apart from a short banned list.
- Sealed: the usual prerelease format. You open six booster packs and build a 40-card deck on the spot, using any inks you like.
- Pack Rush: a beginner-friendly format using just two booster packs. You draw 5 cards instead of 7 and race to 15 lore.
- Booster Draft: you pass packs around the table, picking one card at a time, and build a 40-card deck.
Playing Lorcana in the UK
Shops list their Lorcana events on the Ravensburger Play Hub, where you create a free account, search for nearby events and register. Shops can run Weekly Play, Prereleases, Set Championships, Core Constructed tournaments and Pack Rush nights, and Weekly Play often comes with promo cards from the store’s kit.
Across the Lorcana events we list, most start between 6pm and 7pm, Wednesday and Thursday are the busiest nights, and entry where shown is usually £5 to £7.50, with some free sessions. Each shop’s listing has its own details.
For a prerelease, a Hyperia City prerelease box contains six booster packs, four damage dice and a promo card, which covers everything you need to build a Sealed deck. Our prerelease guide explains how prerelease events work in other games too.
The UK also hosts bigger events. The Disney Lorcana Challenge comes to London from 13 to 15 November 2026, with Core Constructed main events and a Youth Division for ages 8 to 12 and 13 to 17. Challenge Championship Qualifiers follow in Paisley on 5 and 6 December 2026 and Wakefield on 16 and 17 January 2027.
Some good places to start are Manchester, Newcastle and Exeter, and the Manchester events calendar shows what is on each week.
Your first night checklist
- Play a practice game at home with a starter set, or watch the official how-to-play videos.
- Create a Ravensburger Play Hub account and register for the event.
- Bring your deck, card sleeves, a deck box and something to track lore and damage.
- Arrive a little early and tell the organiser it is your first Lorcana event.
- Say each action out loud as you take it, especially when you ink a card or challenge.
- Ask your opponent or a staff member whenever a rule is unclear. Everyone at the table was new once.
If you enjoy Lorcana, our guide on how to play the Pokémon TCG is another friendly game to try at the same shops.
Common questions
How many cards are in a Lorcana deck?
A constructed deck has at least 60 cards, uses no more than two ink colours and holds up to four cards with the same full name. Prerelease decks are smaller: Sealed decks need 40 cards and can use any inks.
How do you win a game of Lorcana?
The first player to reach 20 lore wins. You gain lore mainly by questing with your characters, and some locations add lore at the start of your turn. A player who ends their turn with no cards left in their deck loses.
Which Lorcana starter deck should I buy first?
A 2-Player Starter Set is the easiest start, because it gives you and a friend two ready-to-play 60-card decks. The Hyperia City set is the newest, and the Wilds Unknown set from May 2026 is also widely stocked.
Why can't my character quest on the turn I play it?
New characters are still drying. A character has to be in play from the start of your turn before it can quest, challenge or exert for an ability. Characters with Rush can challenge straight away.
What is the difference between Core and Infinity Constructed?
Core Constructed uses recent sets only, and since Attack of the Vine! that means cards from Fabled onwards. Infinity Constructed lets you use almost any card ever printed, apart from a short banned list.
How do I find Lorcana events near me in the UK?
Search the Ravensburger Play Hub, where shops list their Lorcana events and you register for them with a free account. Our city pages also list UK shops that run regular Lorcana nights.