1961 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Object of the Game
• Game Set-Up
• Gameplay
• Playing and Stacking Cards
• Buildings
• Actions
• Ending the Game
• Two Player Set-Up
• Missiles
• First Playthrough
• Cards: Buildings
• Cards: Actions
• Actions not Played to the Discard Pile
• Cards Upgraded by Agency
• Note on Sabotage and Espionage
• Additional Information
• Quick Reference Guide

Contents

• This instructional guide.
• 6 Moon Lander Cards
• 54 Building/Action Cards
• 6 Reference Cards
• 66 Total Cards
• House Fish Balloon Pack containing: Volume I House, Volume I Fish, Volume I Balloon, Additional Instructions Cards

Players: 2-6. Ages 14+. Playtime: 15 minutes.

Object of the Game

To outlast or out perform your opponents in any of three ways:

1. Be the first player to complete a space project and make it to the moon using your Moon Lander,
2. Build enough Embassies to declare world peace, or
3. Be the last survivor of nuclear holocaust. (If you run out of cards on the board in front of you, you'll be eliminated)

Throughout the game, you'll be constructing buildings and playing actions to further any or all of those three goals.

Game Set-Up

Place a Moon Lander in front of each player and set any extra Moon Landers aside. Shuffle the remaining cards and deal 3 to each player. Everyone should choose 1 card to stack face down on their Moon Lander to act as a buffer against nuclear holocaust (see Stacking Cards, p. 03). For two players, see Two Player Set-Up (p. 05).

For a rules video from the game creators, use the QR code at the back of this booklet.

Open your sealed pack of House and Fish and Balloon cards. Play a round to determine who will go first in 1961!

Gameplay

This is a turn based game. Each turn, each player will:

1. First: Draw a card. This signals the start of the turn, and nothing may happen on a player's turn before this action is completed.
2. Second: Play one card (see below) and perform any free abilities granted by buildings (see Buildings, p. 04).

Note: Abilities may occur before or after playing the card per turn. The turn is only completed when the player chooses to pass it. Upon passing the turn, play continues clockwise.

Playing and Stacking Cards

There are 6 different cards in the deck, with 9 copies each. Each card has two sides, the building side (white) and the action side (red). Cards may be played in one of three ways:

1. Face up in the discard pile as an action (see Actions, p. 05),
2. Face up in front of you as a building (see Buildings, p. 04), or
3. Face down on any building's stack. This card is said to be stacked.

Place stacked cards as shown in the booklet's illustration. They should cover the action side of the card but not the building side, since everyone needs to read what the building can do. The illustration shows 2 stacked cards.

Stacked cards act as a shield. Before a building is destroyed, all cards stacked on it will have to be removed. Remember, each turn you only play 1 card. You may play it face up as a building or action, or face down on any building's stack.

Note: Nothing prevents you from placing a card face down on another player's building stack if you choose.

Buildings

There are 6 different buildings in the game, each paired with a unique action. Unlike actions, which are played into the discard pile, buildings are constructed in front of you and remain until destroyed.

When you play buildings, they are played in a single row in front of you. Once they have been placed, their order may not be adjusted. However, when you place new buildings, you may always place them in between buildings you have already built. The illustration shows buildings accumulated in a row. There is no limit to the number of buildings you have. When you construct a new building, you can place it on the left, the right, or in the middle.

Buildings accumulate stacks of cards on top of them which act as buffers from nuclear missiles, but most importantly, some buildings have additional abilities that require stacked cards to use. To add to a building's stack, simply play your card per turn directly onto a building face down as explained in Playing and Stacking Cards (p. 03).

Building Abilities are written on each building. They may be used any number of times unless otherwise stated. They can be used at any time during your turn except while a missile is being resolved. Sometimes it can be beneficial to skip using a building's ability, instead saving it for a later turn. Since you can use as many abilities as you want in a turn, your turn does not end until you have passed to the next player.

Note: Nothing prevents you from constructing buildings in front of other players! While not recommended most of the time, it may be useful to force other players to deal with threats that you create on someone else's board.

Actions

There are 6 different actions in the game. To play most of them, place them face up in the discard pile in the center of the table. (See Actions not Played to the Discard Pile, p. 10.) There is detailed information about each card in the Cards section of this booklet (p. 07-11).

Ending the Game

A player is eliminated if their last building is destroyed. A player remains in the game when they lose their Moon Lander as long as they still have at least one other building. Do not discard Moon Landers when they are destroyed, but instead remove them from the game entirely.

If the 5th card is placed onto a Moon Lander, the owner immediately wins, no matter who placed the final card. Cards produced by Factories can also be used to win the game. You can not win this way if your Moon Lander is Embargoed.

Similarly, if a player places their 3rd Embassy, they immediately win. Embargoed Embassies do not count toward your Embassy total.

Two Player Set-Up

All rules are identical for two players except the initial set-up: Player One is dealt 3 cards and plays one face down on their Moon Lander, the same as usual. Player Two is instead dealt 4 cards, and plays 2 face down on their Moon Lander. This is important to counteract the first player advantage.

Player One then begins the game as normal by drawing a card.

Missiles

Launching a Missile is a targeted attack against a single player. If a player is targeted by a missile, the top card of each of their stacks is destroyed and discarded. If a building has no cards on its stack, the building itself is discarded.

When the cards are destroyed, flip them over before placing them in the discard pile. If any are Response Systems, a missile will be immediately launched for each one (see Response System, p. 10).

Note: Missiles destroy the top card of each stack. If the top card is an Embargo, the missile destroys the Embargo. If a building has no cards stacked on it, the missile destroys the building.

Callout on the page: This is the most fundamental mechanic of 1961. It is crucial that all new players understand this before playing the game.

Missile Launch, Response System, and Missile Silo all launch missiles.

First Playthrough

If this is your first time playing, we recommend you stop reading now and jump right in. If a player has a question regarding the specific rules of a card, each action and building is extensively explained in the following pages.

Without having the cards in your hand, it can be difficult to understand how they interact with each other. Your first playthrough should be devoted to helping each other learn the rules. Since there are only 6 cards, you'll start to remember them quickly.

Cards: Buildings

Missile Silo: Discard a card from this stack to launch a missile. Any number of missiles can be launched in this way on any given turn. However, each missile must resolve before the next is launched (see Missiles, p. 06). The Missile Silo itself can not be launched as a missile, only cards stacked on it. It can not launch Embargoes as missiles since it would be Embargoed.

Note: You may discard the same turn your Missile Silo becomes stacked.

Factory: If this is stacked, produce a card to a non-Factory each turn. To produce a card, draw a card from the deck without looking at it and stack it on any building. Stacking multiple cards on the same Factory does not increase the cards drawn, but you may have multiple Factories produce a card each turn.

You may not look at the card drawn by Factory. The card may be placed face down on any stack of any player, even if there is an Embargo on the stack. Playing a card over Embargo does not disable the Embargo. It protects it.

Note: You may produce the same turn your Factory becomes stacked.

Bunker: Adjacent non-Bunkers do not take damage from missiles. The Bunker itself takes normal damage from the top of its stack. You can stack cards on Bunkers just as you would any other building. If a Bunker has no stacked cards, a missile will destroy it. If two missiles are coming at the same time, the Bunker will defend the adjacent buildings from the first missile, get discarded, and then the adjacent buildings would get hit by the second missile.

You may slide Bunkers between two buildings as you play them. They needn't be placed on the left or the right.

Agency: For each card stacked on this, (X)* is increased by 1.

Agencies increase the numbers on your Espionages, Sabotages, and Researches by 1 for each card stacked on them. If you have multiple Agencies, add the stacked cards together when determining this value.

When playing multiple cards with Sabotage or Research, do not play the next one until the ones before it have completely finished. For example: If you Sabotage for 2, and the first card revealed is Missile Launch, that missile must completely resolve before choosing a second card to Sabotage. Otherwise you might Sabotage a card that should have been destroyed by the missile!

Note: Cards that are targeted by Sabotage or Research do not get upgraded by your Agencies. For example: if you use Sabotage to reveal another Sabotage, you may only flip 1 additional card and play it, regardless of how many cards you have stacked on Agencies. If you reveal an Espionage, you will only look at 2 additional cards and discard 1. The same thing happens when you replay cards from the discard pile using an upgraded Research.

Embassy: Win the game if you have 3 Embassies. Embargoed Embassies do not count toward the total. You can stack cards on Embassies just as you would any other building to protect them.

Secret Facility: At the start of your turn, this may swap with a building in your hand. Each turn you have a Secret Facility on the board, after you draw your card per turn, you have the option to swap the Secret Facility with any of the buildings in your hand. If you have multiple Secret Facilities on the board, you may swap all of them in this way, in any order you choose.

You can stack cards on Secret Facilities as you would any other building. If cards are stacked on them, they can still be swapped. The stacked cards are transferred to the new building. Since buildings can use their abilities on the same turn they are constructed, surprising your opponents with an already stacked Missile Silo, Factory, or Agency can be devastating!

Moon Lander: Win the game if 5 cards are stacked on this. If your Moon Lander is destroyed, it is not discarded, but is removed from the game entirely. If you lose your Moon Lander, you are still in the game (unless that was your last building). If your Moon Lander is Embargoed, you can not use it to win until the Embargo is removed. Each player always starts with a Moon Lander.

Cards: Actions

Missile Launch: Launch a missile. See Missiles (p. 06).

Note: There is nothing preventing you from launching a missile at yourself. If you reveal any of your own Response Systems, you may choose where each new missile is launched.

Actions not Played to the Discard Pile

Response System: If this card is Sabotaged or missiled, return a missile. Response System only triggers when it is revealed by an incoming missile or when it is Sabotaged. Upon being revealed, a missile is immediately launched at the player who provoked it. If multiple Response Systems are revealed by a single missile, each will return a missile.

A missile launched by a Response System can trigger Response Systems. It is entirely possible for two players to be eliminated on the same turn if one of them launches a single missile at the other.

Do not reveal your Response Systems when you play them face down. Treat them as you would any other stacked card. Much of the deception and diplomacy of 1961 comes from the threat of Response Systems and mutually assured destruction.

Note: If you reveal your own Response Systems via Sabotage or a missile, you may choose any target for each new missile.

Embargo: Replace a stacked card with this. Disables parent building. The replaced card is discarded. Response Systems discarded in this way are not triggered (similar to Espionage discarding them). All text on disabled buildings is ignored, including the building name. You can not win the game using an Embargoed Embassy.

Cards may still be played face down over Embargoes. The building is still Embargoed even if cards are played on top of it.

You can still play Embargo on a building with no stacked cards. In this case, no card would be replaced since none are there.

Note: Embargoes are still a card in the stack. They can be missiled, discarded by Espionages and Embargoes, and Sabotaged.

Cards Upgraded by Agency

The following cards (Research, Sabotage, and Espionage) can be upgraded by stacking cards on an Agency. They can still be played if you do not have an Agency (see Agency, p. 08).

Research: Play (1)* action from the discard pile. This card allows you to replay a card that has already been played. You can not construct buildings using Research, only replay the action side of the card.

Since cards targeted by Research do not get upgraded by Agencies (p. 08), replaying a Research with Research will never give you more actions than simply targeting the card you want to replay. If there are no cards in the discard pile, Research can not be played.

Note: If you replay Response System using Research, you must play it face down on a stack (since it can not be played to the discard pile).

Sabotage: Flip (1)* stacked card. Play its action. When a card is Sabotaged, it is immediately played. The player doing the Sabotaging gets to choose how that action is played, but they must use the action side, not the building side. If a Response System is flipped, the Response System immediately fires a missile at the player who Sabotaged it.

Note: As with missiling yourself, if you Sabotage your own Response System, you decide where that missile is launched.

Note: When a face up Embargo is targeted by Sabotage, the Embargo is replayed just as any other action card would be. It may be used to Embargo any stack (including the stack it started on), discarding the top card of that stack as normal.

Espionage: Look at (2)* stacked cards. Discard (1).* You may target opponents' cards, your cards, or a combination of the two. You can discard Embargoes using Espionage. Espionage safely discards the cards that it targets. Discarding a Response System does not trigger it.

Note on Sabotage and Espionage

Sabotage and Espionage both interact with stacked cards. When interacting with stacked cards, you may only target the very top card of a stack. Additionally, Sabotage and Espionage can only target cards stacked onto a building, not the building itself. Even if a building has no cards stacked on it, it still can not be targeted.

Note: You can target multiple cards from the same stack, but the card must be the top card of the stack at the time it is being targeted.

Additional Information

If the deck runs out of cards: shuffle the discard pile into a new deck to draw from. If there is no discard pile left to shuffle, and you try to draw a card from an empty deck, a missile is immediately launched at every player, starting with you. Yay! Now you have a discard pile to shuffle into a new deck to draw from!

If you are ever in disagreement about a card interaction and are unable to come to a consensus using this rulebook, play a game of House and Fish and Balloon. The winner determines the ruling.

Quick Reference Guide

Each turn, use a card in your hand to do 1 of the following:

• Play Building: in front of you (or another player).
• Play Action: to the discard pile.*
• Stack Card: face down onto any building.

*Actions you don't discard:

• Response System: Play this card face down. When it gets revealed, it launches a missile.
• Embargo: Play this on a building's stack. It replaces and discards the top card, and now that building is completely disabled.

Keywords:

• Launch a Missile: Discard the top card of every stack of one target player. Any revealed Response Systems launch back at you.
• Produce: Take a card from the deck and place it on any (non-Factory) stack without looking at it.

Agency Cards:

• Research: Play (1) action from the discard pile.
• Espionage: Look at (2) stacked cards. Discard (1).
• Sabotage: Flip (1) stacked card. Play its action.

Win Conditions:

• Moon Lander: Win the game if 5 cards are stacked on this.
• Embassy: Win the game if you have 3 Embassies.
• By Elimination: Be the last player destroyed by nukes!

Note on this transcription: the printed (X), (1) and (2) values are followed by an asterisk in the source, which marks the Agency-upgradable value on the card icons; the asterisk is kept as printed.