DOWNLOAD QUICK START MANUAL FOR FAST STARTING YOUR GAME HERE
1. Introduction
In Digital Marketing Masters, you step into the world of SEO to build powerful websites, optimize them, and outsmart your opponents.
Your goal: be the first player to generate conversions through your digital channels.
- Standard win condition: 1 conversion.
- For longer games: agree on 2, 3, or even 5 conversions before starting.
2. Components
- Deck: Each player builds their own deck of 40–60 cards.
- No card can appear more than once in a deck.
- Recommended: Dice & Counters:
- 1 six-sided die (D6) for Time Experience.
- Additional dice or markers for:
- Channel stats (Reach, CTR, CVR)
- Marketing Integrity
- Expert duration
3. Setup
- Each player shuffles their deck.
- Place your Time Experience die at 0 (put it to the side).
- Decide the win condition (1, 2, 3, or 5 conversions).
- Draw 5 cards to form your starting hand.
- For faster gameplay, a player may instead choose one Channel card from their deck and draw 2 additional cards, starting the game with 3 cards in total instead of 5.
4. Turn Structure
Each turn follows these steps:
- Gain Time Experience
- Increase your Time die by +1 (max 6).
- Untap Phase
- Ready (untap) all tapped Experience cards.
- Play Phase
- Play Experience, Channel, Enhancement, or Expert cards from your hand.
- Pay for cards using Time Experience (reduce your die) or by tapping Experience cards.
- You may play multiple cards if you have enough Experience.
- Event Responses
- You or your opponent may play Event cards when allowed.
- End Phase
- Reduce the die on each Expert card by 1.
- Discard Expert cards that reach 0.
5. Card Types
Experience Cards
- Provide SEO Experience when tapped.
- Played from hand during your turn.
- The more you play, the more powerful cards you can afford.
The more you gain, the faster and more advanced your plays become. Experience fuels your strategic growth.
Channel Cards (Websites)
- Represent your digital platforms.
- Require Experience points to play.
- Show:
- CTR (Click-Through Rate) – starts at 1%.
- CVR (Conversion Rate) – starts at 1%.
- Marketing Integrity – starts at 4 (first White Hat enhancement card played) or 3 (first Black Hat enhancement card played).
- Track stat changes with counters or dice.
Your foundation—like a Website, YouTube channel, or Social Media Page. This is the marketing channel you’ll grow.
Enhancement Cards
- Attach to a specific Channel.
- Modify Reach, CTR or CVR, and Integrity of a Channel.
- Play order matters — stack them clearly.
- Many include special rules.
Tools, tech, and tactics that improve your marketing performance (Technical & UX upgrades (e.g., CMS, responsive design, Meta Tags, CRO, Backlinks, …)
Event Cards
- Can be played in your turn or your opponent’s.
- Represent algorithm updates, hacks, or defensive measures.
- Effects are written on the card.
Expert Cards
- Cost: you decide how much Experience to invest (X).
- Place a die on the card showing X.
- Reduce by 1 at the end of each turn. When it hits 0, discard the card.
- Only one Expert card may be active per player (if you play another one, discard the previous)
- Provide ongoing strategic effects.
Expert cards add a new level of disruptive strategy to your game. They stay in play only for a limited number of rounds (up to 6) depending on the amount of experience points to play them.
There are additional Expert cards in existence. With the exception of a few, such as Qing He and seoClarity for SEO Split Testing, which are part of the first-edition base sets, all other Expert cards are owned by the experts they represent. Each expert receives 100 cards, which they are free to distribute as they wish.
Some experts may choose not to participate—either because they do not want to be involved, or because they are not happy with the card created for them. That is entirely their decision, and we fully respect it.
For those experts who do appreciate their cards and choose to share them with friends or fellow SEOs, we will include them in the list here. Until then, only the Expert cards shown above are displayed.
6. Winning the Game
Conversions are calculated as:
Visitors = Reach × CTR
Conversions = Visitors × CVR
- Reach: how many people see your site.
- CTR: percentage who click.
- CVR: percentage who convert.
The first player to reach the agreed number of conversions wins.
7. Appendix / Glossary
Symbols
- ⏳ Hourglass = Time Experience
- 🔍 Magnifying Glass = SEO Experience
- Mouse Pointer = SEA / PPC Experience
- Speech Bubbles = Social Media Experience
- AI Stars = GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) Experience
- Split symbol = either type of Experience that is shown
Marketing Integrity
- Ranges 1–6.
- White Hat Enhancements increase Integrity.
- Black Hat Enhancements decrease Integrity.
- Some Events (e.g. Algorithm Updates) require you to roll against Integrity.
Gameplay Tips
- Build Experience early to unlock stronger cards.
- Balance between quick growth (Black Hat) and stability (White Hat).
- Use Events and Experts to disrupt your opponent’s strategy.