In Via Magica you try to complete "portal" cards for special powers and ultimately victory points. Each card has 2 to 6 elements (such as: earth, air, water, fire.) These elements are drawn from the bag one by one.

All players place a crystal on one corresponding element to complete portals. But the bag contains more of some elements than others. The strategy is to choose which three portals you start the game with (you get six), weighing the difficulty against the value of the reward.

An opened portal gives various rewards such as: extra points, crystals or portals. Additional point cards can also be obtained depending on the number of opened portals. The player with the most points is the winner.