Original informations archived here: https://web.archive.org/web/20060206172431/http://www.digimon.channel.or.jp/city/card/hyper.html , here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11attJfiSYVsY6QZFi611X2ZchbBurI3h8sqLwgkpNQE/edit?usp=sharing , and here: https://wikimon.net/Digital_Monster_Card_Game as well as from various blog posts and tweets
Hyper Colosseum Basic Rules
Game end conditions
When a player reaches 0 points they have lost the game. In the event of a tie (both players reaching 0 at the same time or a time limit being reached) refer to the following tie breakers: The player with more points remaining wins (you cannot have less than 0 points), if the result is still a tie the player with more cards remaining in deck wins, if the result is still a tie the player with the higher level digimon wins (any card without a proper level, such as a hybrid or d-reaper, is treated as "0").
Game Zones
The game has the following zones:
"Net Ocean" - this is your deck. Cards here should be face-down and you cannot look at them unless a card effect tells you to
"Dark Area" - this is your discard. Cards here should be face-down and you cannot look at them unless a card effect tells you to
"Point Gauge" - this tracks your points, it cannot exceed 100 and cannot go below 0. Cards stacked onto this zone are face-down unless otherwise noted and you cannot look at them unless a card effect tells you to.
"Digimon box" - this is where your digimon that is battling goes. You can only have 1 digimon in your digimon box, but can stack cards on top of it when you evolve.
"Support box" - this is where any support digimon go, some other cards can also place themselves here. You can only have 1 support digimon in your support box, but cards placed here by other effects don't count against that limit.
"Evolution box" - this is where you put cards you intend to evolve into.
"Evolution requirements box" - this is where you put cards specified on the evolution requirements field of your card
"slots" - this is where you set option cards before using them.
Preparing the Game
1. To play you'll need a 30 card deck and a playsheet that outlines the correct zones
2. Choose one level 3 Digimon from your deck and place it face down in the Digimon Box. (Your deck must contain at least 1 level 3 digimon).
3. Place the remaining 29 cards face down as your deck. This is referred to in-game as your "net ocean"
4. Take the top card of your “net ocean” and place it facedown on your Point Gauge to mark your points throughout the game. You start with 100 points and your points cannot exceed 100. Do not look at this card.
5. Draw 6 cards from your net ocean. This is your starting hand.
6. Determine randomly which player will go first. The player going first is referred to in-game as "the player first to attack".
Preparation phase
The Preparation phase contains the following steps, which occur in the following order (all steps are to be completed by the the player who is going first, then all steps are to be completed by the player going second):
1. Discard down to 6 or less cards in hand. You may also send option cards in your slots to the dark area. Then draw cards from your net ocean until you have 6 cards in hand. If you run out of cards in your net ocean before you hit 6 simply move on with less than 6 cards in hand. This step is referred to as "hand adjustment"
2. If you wish to swap your level 3 digimon out for another in your hand, place the Level 3 Digimon in your hand face down on top of the Level 3 Digimon in the Digimon Box.
3. If you wish to evolve into another digimon from your hand place that digimon in the digimon box. You can digivolve multiple times in one turn by stacking multiple digimon in the digimon box. You must also place the cards mentioned in a digimon's "evolution requirements" field face-down in the evolution requirements box. This can include specifically named cards or it can include some number of Xs and Os which represent cards from the top of your deck. Os are placed length-wise and Xs are placed width-wise (rotated 90 degrees). Note that you cannot prepare an evolution unless you have the valid requirements.
4. You can activate set option cards that have the activation timing of "preparation phase", use digimon abilities that activate in the preparation phase, and use support digimon.
5. You can set option cards face down in your slots.
6. You can activate option cards that have the activation timing of "preparation phase" and an effect that lets you activate them the turn they are set (such as St-216 "Jyureimon's Mist")
Evolution Phase
The Evolution phase contains 2 steps. Option cards with the timing of "evolution phase" can activate in either of these steps:
Step 1: Carry out evolutions
If it's the first evolution phase of the game, turn the level 3s face-up.
During this step you may activate option cards that have the timing of "evolution phase" or proceed with an evolution/swap that you prepared in the preparation phase. Repeat this step until you have both finished carrying out all evolutions/swaps and have finished activating option cards.
The player going first must carry out evolutions that were setup in preparation (unless it is impossible to meet the requirements, however you cannot attempt an evolution in preparation if you are unable to meet the requirements at the time you prepare it), the player going second may choose to not carry out their evoltion. In either case, send the cards used for evolution requirements to the dark area, if any cards from the top of the deck were used as evolution requirements they are not revealed to either player. In the case that the evolution failed or was canceled, send the card that was meant to be evolved into to the dark area as well.
Step 2: Activating digimon abilities
You can use digimon abilities and use support digimon here. You may also activate option cards with the timing of "evolution phase". Note that digimon abilities which activate when evolving or are constantly active will activate in step 1, this step is only for abilities that have to be declared.
Battle Phase
The battle phase contains the following steps, which occur in this order (unlike the previous phases, priority is passed back and forth during the battle phase, so be sure to check with your opponent at each step):
Start of Battle phase checks
1. The player who is going second may make any digimon that have "at the start of the battle phase" as the timing for their appearance requirements can appear. Resolve any effects that trigger from the appearance here as well.
2. The player who is going first may make any digimon that have "at the start of the battle phase" as the timing for their appearance requirements can appear. Resolve any effects that trigger from the appearance here as well.
3. Starting with the player who is going second, Any effects that activate at "the start of the battle phase" occur.
4. Starting with the player who is going first, Any effects that activate at "the start of the battle phase" occur.
Activating cards
1. The player who is going second may activate set option cards that have the activation timing of "Battle phase", use digimon abilities that activate in the battle phase, and use support digimon. They may activate as many as they want before passing priority.
2. The player going first may activate set option cards that have the activation timing of "Battle phase", use digimon abilities that activate in the battle phase, and use support digimon. They may activate as many as they want before passing priority. If the player going first did not activate any cards or abilities, proceed to the end of the battle phase, if they did the player going second gets another chance to activate cards and play continues in this way until one player passes without activating any effects.
Determining the winner of the battle
Check your opponent's battle type (A, B, or C) and use the attack on your digimon that corresponds to that battle type. Do the same for your opponent's digimon, selecting their attack based on your battle type. Now, compare the two numbers keeping in mind that C attacks reduce A attacks to 0. Once you've established that, apply any modifiers that may be active, such as bonuses from item cards or support digimon. Bonuses that multiply or divide are applied first, then bonuses that add or subtract. Multiple addition or subtraction bonuses can be applied at once, but only 1 multiplication or division bonus can be applied.
Point calculation Phase
The Point Calculation phase contains the following steps, which occur in the following order (similar to the battle phase, this phase has priority shift back and forth, so confirm with your opponent as you move through the steps):
1. Starting with the player going first, Any effects that activate at "the start of the point calculation phase" occur.
2. Starting with the player going first, they can activate set option cards that have the activation timing of "Point Calculation Phase", they may only activate 1 option card at a time and then must pass priority to the player going second who may activate their own option card before passing priority back. This continues until both players pass priority. Support digimon may also be used at this time.
3. The loser of the battle checks their digimon's loss points, finding the value corresponding to the wining digimon's level and subtracts that many points from their point total. In a draw, both players lose 10 points.
4.Starting with the player going first, they can now use any Digimon abilities that require to be used after point calculation.
5.The digimon that lost the battle sends all cards from their digimon box to the dark area except for their level 3 digimon. In the event of a draw neither player sends their digimon to the dark area.
6.Send any digimon in your support box to the dark area.
7.If a player's Net Ocean has run out of cards, regardless of whether they won or lost the battle, send all cards from their digimon box to the dark area except for their level 3 digimon (this is treated as the Digimon reaching its lifespan). After that, shuffle the Dark Area, and use it as the new Net Ocean. The cards in the hand and slots remain as is.
8.The turn now ends, send any options that have met their limit to the dark area and begin the next turn's preparation phase. The player that won the battle the previous turn will now be the one going first. In the event of a draw keep the turn priority the same.