A.I.Pokalypse
A.I.Pokalypse Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Contents
- Game Overview
- Card Anatomy
- Game Setup
- Game Start
- Phase 1: Recruitment
- Phase 2: Battle
- End of Game & Sudden Death
- The A.I.Pokalypse (Sudden Death Trigger)
- Total Strength
- Expert Variant
- 5-8 Player Variant
- Solo / Cooperative Mode
- Good to Know
- Tips for Advanced Players
- Basic Units (Card Notes)
- Special Units (Card Notes)
- Factions
- A Word from the Creators
Contents
201 cards:
- 102 basic units
- 64 special units
- 30 factions or ammo
- 5 player aid cards
Game Overview
In A.I.Pokalypse, you take control of a faction, recruit units, enhance them, and engage them in automated battles in combat zones against your fellow competitors. To do this, you create slots where you can place your units, and these slots indicate the power of your units.
There are basic unit types, including Humans (blue), Mechs (red), and Mutants (yellow). Additionally, you might come across rare Rogues (purple) during your journey. However, you might also be tempted to seek the aid of the embodiment of Artificial Intelligence, the A.I.Lien (green).
With countless synergy effects, you can prepare and upgrade your units for battle.
The twist: All players recruit and upgrade at once, without having to wait for the fellow players' turns. After each recruitment phase, all players engage in battles simultaneously, pitting their units against each other.
Players who do not emerge as the victor in a battle, lose health points. However, losing a health point means to reveal a particularly powerful Special Unit only you have access to!
Managing the limited space, choosing which units to play and discard and when to recruit the unique Special Units to potentially turn the tide in your favor in the next battle, this is A.I.Pokalypse.
After all other players have lost all their health points and wasted their last chance, the last remaining player wins the game.
Card Anatomy
A basic unit card shows a card value in the top left corner, its color (Human/blue, Mech/red, Mutant/yellow, Rogue/purple), an effect, and a strength scale printed along the right edge running from 1 up to 15 (used to track the unit's current strength once it is placed on a slot).
A special unit card shows its name, its effect, and its difficulty rating (Easy, Medium, or Hard — shown as a row of dots). It is recommended for beginners to play without faction cards, or to use only factions with an easy difficulty.
A faction card shows an effect.
Ammo cards show a strength bonus value (such as +2) and a maximum storage amount (max 6).
A health point is represented by a red slot: as you lose health points, you reveal cards from your health point stack.
Game Setup
Each player should have enough table space in front of them for 6 unit slots, health points, and faction card.
- Shuffle the faction cards and place them with the ammo side facing up in the center of the table as the ammo supply. (A)
- Each player draws 2 cards from this deck as their faction cards, which they place face down in front of them, with the Ammo icon showing. (B)
- Shuffle the special units and place them with the red side facing up as a deck in the center of the table. Each player receives 6 special units face down, which they place as a stack for their health points in front of them. (C)
- Shuffle all the basic units and also place them face down as a deck in the center of the table. This is the common draw pile. Each player draws 6 cards for their hand. These are your starting cards. (D)
- Each player decides which one of the 2 factions they want to play with. The other faction card is returned under the ammo deck. If the faction has an ability that triggers at the start of the game, you can execute it now. (B)
You are now fully equipped and ready for battle. May the strongest faction emerge victorious!
Game Start
The game is divided into the Recruitment Phase and the Battle Phase, which players play alternately until only one player remains or a player ends the game. All players always play the current phase simultaneously. When all players are ready, the next phase begins.
Phase 1: Recruitment
At the beginning of the Recruitment Phase, all players draw cards from the common draw pile until each player has 6 cards in hand. (This step is skipped in the first round as you have already drawn 6 cards for game setup.)
When the common draw pile ever becomes empty, shuffle the discard pile and place it as a new draw pile.
Slots & Recruitment
Since you don't have any open slots at the start of the game, you must first create a slot. To do this, take a basic unit card from your hand and place it face down on the table in front of you so that you can read the numbers 1-6. Place your first slot on the far left, and each additional slot is placed to the right of the previous one.
You can have a maximum of 6 slots. Slots cannot be removed or moved. They can only be exchanged by Red Slots and vice versa (see Red Slots). Now, you can recruit units from your hand.
To recruit a unit, you can place a card from your hand onto an available slot. All new units are always placed on a slot so that the "1" is visible underneath the unit. This number represents from now on the unit's strength. Only one unit can be in each slot at a time.
You can create additional slots and play more units into those slots at any time as long as you still have cards in your hand. During the Recruit Phase there is no hand card limit.
You can also discard cards from your hand or slots onto the discard pile at any time.
Improving Units
The strength symbol indicates that you can permanently improve a unit's strength by the shown value. To do this, slide the selected unit in its battle slot upwards by as many spaces as the effect allows. If the strength of your unit exceeds the value of "6", you flip the battle slot 180° and use values from 7 to 15. To make it clear to other players that this unit is exceptionally strong, push the battle slot a little further forward. A unit can never have more than 15 strength (except through temporary effects, see Temporary Strength).
The effects of your units allow you to improve the units in your slots, acquire ammo, and prepare yourself for battle.
At the upper end of the strength scale, there are larger increments (10-12-15). Note that you always move the chosen unit up by the number of spaces corresponding to the value by which you are improving it. This means that a unit could gain 6 strength, even if you were only to improve it by 3 (9-10-12-15).
Recruitment Effects
Passive effect — This effect is permanently active (even in the Battle Phase) as long as this unit is on a slot.
Recruit effect — This effect is executed once when you recruit this unit onto an available slot.
Discard effect — This effect is executed once when you discard this unit from a slot or from your hand.
Round bonus effect — This effect is executed at the beginning of the Recruitment Phase after you draw your hand cards. The unit must, of course, be on a slot. If you have multiple round bonus effects, they are executed from left to right, with your faction being last.
Playing a card: Playing a card means recruiting a unit from your hand onto an available slot, or discarding a card from your hand or a battle slot.
When you play a card with an effect, you must resolve that effect completely before playing a new card. If executing an effect triggers another effect, you must resolve the other effect immediately and then continue with the original effect.
Ammo
Ammunition can permanently improve your units or assist you in battle once. When a card effect instructs you to take ammo, place the indicated number of ammo on your faction card. You can store a maximum of 6 ammo there. When the ammo deck is exhausted, you can no longer obtain ammo. When you spend ammo, return it to the top of the ammo deck.
In the Recruitment Phase, you can spend ammo to permanently enhance your units. Each ammo permanently improves any unit by 1 strength.
In the Battle Phase, you can spend ammo to temporarily boost your units for that one battle only. Each ammo temporarily strengthens any unit by 2 strength (see Battle Phase). However, unlike in the Recruitment Phase, you do not benefit from a permanent effect in this case.
Special Units and Triples
Special Units are legendary, unique, and especially powerful units that can bring you significant advantages in recruitment and battle. You've probably noticed the numbers on the top left of the Basic Units. In the Recruitment Phase these card values are only used to acquire Special Units.
If you have at least 3 units of the same color and number in your hand and/or in your slots, this is called a Triple. You can put these 3 units together on the discard pile to recruit a Special Unit. It's important to note that the Triple doesn't count as "discarding," so no discard effects of any kind can be triggered.
To recruit a Special Unit, you can either take one from your pool (see Battle Result) or draw up to 2 Special Units from your health point stack. In this case, you must choose one and place the other Special Unit face down back under the stack.
Special Units do not need to have the same color as any of the 3 cards discarded for the Triple!
All strengths of the units used in the Triple are added together and given to the Special Unit. Accordingly, you must immediately play the Special Unit into an available slot. If all cards for the Triple came from your hand, you take the Special Unit into your hand. You may play it like any other unit or as a Red Slot (see Red Slots).
If you ever discard Special Units, they always go back under the main deck of Special Units.
Red Slots
During the Recruitment Phase, you can also obtain Red Slots through card effects. These are special slots that give you powerful bonuses when improving your units.
If you obtain a Red Slot through an effect and have not yet 6 slots, place the Red Slot as a new slot. If you already have 6 slots, replace any empty slot with the Red Slot. If you have no empty slots left, you can place the Red Slot under any unit. Take the Red Slot from the deck of Special Units.
When you reach a new symbol on the strength scale of a Red Slot, you immediately gain the newly revealed bonus. If the unit on the Red Slot reaches the end of the scale (at 15 strength), you exchange the Red Slot for a normal slot (you take a card from the main deck) and the unit remains at 15 strength, and you receive a new Special Unit to your hand!
If a unit with already increased strength is placed on a Red Slot, you do not gain the previously revealed bonuses.
Only when the unit has already reached 15 strength, you can immediately take the bonus Special Unit and must then exchange the Red Slot.
Temporary Strength
Temporary strength is not displayed in the strength scale in the unit's slot. You only add it to the strength during a point in battle (see Battle Phase).
Attaching
When a card allows you to attach it to another card, you place the card to be attached behind the other card in such a way that only the effect of the attached card is visible. When a unit with attached cards gets moved somehow, the attached cards move with it.
Rogues & A.I.Lien
In addition to Humans, Mechs, and Mutants, you may occasionally encounter these types of units:
Rogues are loners that you can recruit during the recruitment phase just like other units. They can fight with any color in battle. However, it's important to note that there are very few Rogues, making them challenging to improve through synergies.
A.I.Lien units represent artificial intelligence and are particularly powerful units. These units cannot be played into your battle slots until Sudden Death (see End of Game & Sudden Death). You can only play them during battle and they can fight with any other color. (see Battle Phase)
If you have units left that you don't want or can't play during the Recruitment Phase (e.g., the A.I.Lien), you can keep them in your hand and use them optionally during battle. Once all players have played all the cards they want to play, phase 2 begins: The battle!
Phase 2: Battle
In battle your units face off against units of your opponents. If your units have the highest battle strength, you earn a point. The player who collects the most points wins the battle.
Preparation effect — This preparation effect is executed at the beginning of the battle phase, even before you reveal your first battle card. The unit must be in a slot to trigger this effect. If you have multiple preparation effects, they are executed from left to right, with your faction being last.
Battle effect — This effect is active during battle. If the effect says that the unit needs to be fighting, it is only triggered when the unit fights with a matching battle card.
Before the Battle
Each player draws as many cards from the common draw pile as the number of units (not slots) of the player with the most units and you place them face down in front of you. This is your battle card stack.
Battle Cards
Now all players simultaneously reveal the top card of their battle card stack. The revealed card is placed above your unit with the same color farthest to the left. Note that Rogues and A.I.Lien can fight with any color and that also counts for battle cards. Now, add the battle card's value to the strength of your unit. This is your battle strength for this point.
All players simultaneously announce their total battle strength. The player with the highest battle strength scores the point. In the case of a tie, all players with the highest battle strength score a point.
To indicate that you have scored a point, place the battle card face up and rotate it 180 degrees to the top edge of the fighting unit. All players who have lost the point must place their battle card face down.
All units with a battle card at the top edge are considered exhausted and cannot fight again in this Battle Phase.
If you no longer have an active (not yet exhausted) unit in the color of your battle card, only the card value of the drawn battle card counts as your battle strength for this point. In this case, you can choose whether to place the battle card on the top edge of an empty slot or an active unit. (This unit is then exhausted.)
If a unit that has not fought yet is exhausted by an effect, draw a card from the draw pile and place it face down above the unit, as if you lost a point with that unit.
After the first point is resolved, all players reveal another battle card until the battle card stacks are empty.
If all your slots already have a battle card, you can still fight with the card values of the revealed battle cards. If you manage to score a point this way, place the revealed battle card next to your slots so you don't forget you scored a point.
If you can reactivate a unit during battle through an effect, you can place the battle card of the exhausted unit you want to reactivate to the unit that triggered the effect. (There can be more than one battle card above a unit.)
Increasing Battle Strength
If, after flipping a battle card, you don't have the highest battle strength among all players, you can increase your battle strength. To do this, you can play cards from your hand (those you haven't played during the Recruitment Phase) and replace your current battle card. You can play cards with higher card values than the revealed battle card, or even a card of a different color so that a different unit fights for you. The replaced battle card goes immediately to the discard pile.
Important note: You can only play cards that would increase your battle strength so that you have the (tied) highest strength.
To increase your battle strength, you can also spend as much ammo as you'd like. Each spent ammo increases your battle strength by 2. Put the spent ammo on your current battle card to display this.
Your opponents can react at any time and play cards themselves to increase their battle strength.
Battle Result
When all battle cards have been drawn, you determine your score by counting all of your face up cards (your points). Now, all players lose health points in an amount equal to the difference between their score and the score of the player with the most points. If all players have the same score, each player loses one health point.
Loss of Health Points & Pool
You lose health points by revealing cards from your health point stack and placing them into your pool. All special units placed in your pool belong to you and are available for recruit (see Special Units and Triples).
Once the battle is resolved, the next Recruitment Phase begins. Discard all battle cards and ammo played during battle. You can keep any hand cards you didn't use in battle for the next Recruitment Phase. Keep in mind that you'll draw fewer cards then!
End of Game & Sudden Death
If one or more players have lost all their health points for the first time, all remaining damage is nullified. This automatically triggers Sudden Death for all players. Sudden Death lasts until the end of the game.
Any player who would lose a health point in Sudden Death and has no cards left on their health point stack is eliminated from the game and loses.
If all players except one are eliminated, the remaining player wins the game and thus the battle in the zone!
Note that there are also Special Units with alternative win conditions. These can end the game prematurely.
If the last remaining players are eliminated simultaneously or if multiple players achieve an alternative win condition in the same phase, the player with the highest total strength wins (see Total Strength).
The A.I.Pokalypse (Sudden Death Trigger)
A.I.Lien can be recruited during the Recruitment Phase of Sudden Death and their round bonus effect (at the beginning of the next Recruitment Phase) will trigger the A.I.Pokalypse.
When the A.I.Pokalypse is triggered, the game ends after the current Recruitment Phase. The player with the highest total strength wins. In the A.I.Pokalypse, A.I.Lien cards in players' hands also add up to their total strength!
Total Strength
When determining the total strength, you simply add up the strength (no temporary strength!) of all your units. In case of a tie, the player with more remaining health points wins.
Expert Variant
If you're experts at A.I.Pokalypse and want to enhance your synergies, try drafting your 6 Special Units for the health point stack at the beginning of the game.
To do this, each player receives 7 Special Units in hand. Each player sets one unit aside on their health point stack and passes the remaining 6 cards to their left neighbor. You repeat this process until each player has chosen 6 Special Units. The last card gets discarded. To create your health point stack, either each player shuffles these or each player puts them into their preferred order. You may, of course, consider your 2 faction options and hand cards while selecting the Special Units.
5-8 Player Variant
The game is perfect for accommodating larger player numbers. The fact that it is limited to 4 players is due to keeping the number of basic cards to a reasonable amount. (There are already a lot of cards!)
If you want to play the game with up to eight players, add the basic cards from a second copy of A.I.Pokalypse to the game and add the Ammo of the second copy after you have chosen your faction.
Solo / Cooperative Mode
If you want to play the game solo or cooperatively as a team of two, you can challenge the A.I.Toma, a simulated opponent. But be careful! If you don't defeat the A.I.Toma quickly enough, it will become so strong that you won't stand a chance!
Game Setup: A.I.Toma
The A.I.Toma starts with 6 health points and has space for 6 slots. Draw cards from the common draw pile according to the chosen difficulty level (see table below). Place the first card all the way to the left. If the next card is the same color, place it on top of the first card so that only the color and card value of the first card is visible. If a card has a different color, place it to the right (the A.I.Toma opens a new slot). Place cards of the same color on existing units and continue until all the cards are distributed. Ignore A.I.Lien for the setup and draw a new card. Rogues are considered as any color. These are the starting units of the A.I.Toma.
You can now start the game as usual with the Recruitment Phase. The A.I.Toma does not recruit.
A.I.Toma difficulty — starting cards:
- Handy-Man: 1
- Boss: 3
- Endboss: 5
- Untamed A.I.: 7
A.I.Toma Battle Phase
During the battle phase, A.I.Toma acts like any other player. The strength of its units is determined by the sum of all card values in a slot. A.I.Toma draws battle cards according to the rules, adds the card value to the strength of the corresponding unit, and places the battle card above its unit, face up or face down, based on whether it gains or loses the point. If A.I.Toma doesn't have an active unit for the revealed battle card, a new slot is opened. If all 6 slots are exhausted, the battle card is placed next to the units, and no additional strength is added to the card value.
In case of a tie in battle strength when determining a point, A.I.Toma always wins!
All battle cards remain with the respective unit and are placed on the unit as in A.I.Toma's setup. This way, A.I.Toma's units improve in each battle.
Rogues are considered as all colors for A.I.Toma, and A.I.Lien always fight with the first unit but get discarded after battle. Once a player plays an A.I.Lien during Sudden Death, all A.I.Lien remain with A.I.Toma's units.
When A.I.Toma must decide which of its units to exhaust or kill, it always takes its weakest unit from the right.
A.I.Toma Health Points and Game End
The A.I.Toma loses health points when it loses a battle, just like any other player. The game ends following the usual rules.
Special Units & Pool of A.I.Toma
If you reveal a card from A.I.Toma's health point stack, place it in its pool.
Place the Special Units in A.I.Toma's pool in a way that the action symbols revealed on the previous cards are still visible.
The A.I.Toma receives ammo. The A.I.Toma uses (multiple) ammo whenever it increases its battle strength enough to surpass that of the other players. The strength of the A.I.Toma's ammo is determined by the number of ammo-gain symbols revealed, but at least 1.
Move a card from A.I.Toma's leftmost unit that has more than one card, to the next appropriate unit to the right. Redo this move for every additional "move" symbol revealed on the Special Units further to the left. If there is no appropriate unit for this move, take the card from the next unit.
You lose one health point. Additionally, you draw one card for each revealed "draw" symbol on the Special Units to the left. You cannot die from this effect if Sudden Death was only triggered at the end of the same battle. If all players die with the A.I.Toma, total strength determines the winner.
As soon as you have 6 cards in your hand at the beginning of the Recruitment Phase, you must discard one card. Additionally, you must discard an extra card for each "discard" symbol on the Special Units further to the left.
All units of the A.I.Toma that have the same color as this Special Unit temporarily gain as much strength as the number of "passive" symbols revealed in A.I.Toma's pool. This effect is only active if it's on the last revealed Special Unit. If the last Special Unit is a Rogue, all units containing a Rogue receive the temporary bonus.
A.I.Toma Action Effects
The action symbols on a revealed Special Unit in A.I.Toma's pool determine action effects that A.I.Toma will handle. First, resolve all the effects of a Special Unit before revealing the next one.
The A.I.Toma draws a card from the common draw pile. He must always place the cards drawn in a way that matches the leftmost appropriate unit.
Cooperative Mode
The A.I.Toma's battle strength is doubled for every point, including temporary effects and ammo. The two players add up their battle strength to compete against A.I.Toma.
When determining total strength (game end), both players together must have more than double the strength of A.I.Toma.
If the game ends by alternate win conditions, both players must survive one more battle phase.
Once per game, when you recruit a Special Unit at the beginning of the Recruitment Phase, you may recruit it from your partner's pool. Once per game, one player may give 1 ammo to his partner.
Good to Know
- If you're ever unsure, just remember the number 6. You draw 6 cards in the Recruitment Phase, can have a maximum of 6 ammo, a maximum of 6 slots and start with 6 health points.
- "Discarding" a card can always happen either from your hand or from a battle slot.
- "Discarding" a card at the end of the battle phase, "drawing" a card at the start of the Recruitment Phase, and "discarding" a card during a Triple do not count for other card effects.
- Battle cards or cards discarded outside of the Recruitment Phase do not count as "discarding" a card for other card effects.
- You cannot switch a unit into another slot unless a card effect allows you to do so.
- When a unit receives "X strength" from an effect, this means you slide the unit up your slot by X spaces.
- When in battle all of your units and slots are exhausted, you still get the card value of your newly revealed battle card as battle strength.
- There is no hand card limit during Recruit Phase and you can play and discard as many units as you want.
Tips for Advanced Players
- Sometimes, it might be wise not to Triple if the Special Units in your pool don't benefit you significantly. Remember that Special Units have no card values and can't be Tripled anymore!
- Try to keep pairs of units with the same colors and numbers to increase your chances of Tripling at the right moment.
- Strive to place the best unit of a specific type as far to the left as possible. Otherwise, it may not get a chance to fight in battle.
- If your opponents have very strong units on the far left, it might be a good idea to position your strong units further to the right, so they don't face the stronger units of your opponents.
- Try to have at least one good unit of every color to increase your chances in battle.
- Keep cards of the colors for which you have good units in your hand to ensure they fight (at the right time).
- You can force Sudden Death by drawing from your health points stack when having a Triple.
- It can be worthwhile to fully exploit the synergies of a color for a while and have many units of one color. After that you may diversify your units quickly, for example by using three units of one color to obtain a Special Unit of another color.
- Try to make the most of your card effects before discarding or having a Triple. For example, it makes sense to play cards you Triple to increase the strength of the new Special Unit.
- At the beginning, it can be strategic to lose health points to have a larger selection of Special Units in your pool. This increases your tactical options, and you can come back stronger.
- In Sudden Death, it may be wise to keep cards in your hand. Your opponents will find it harder to assess your overall strength, and they might not force an A.I.Pokalypse, even if they could potentially be stronger than you.
- If an opponent has only a few units, you may also want to have few units to minimize the number of battle points and thus reduce your risk.
Basic Units (Card Notes)
The game has lots of combos and interactions between units. The following are explanations of selected effects to help clarify if rule uncertainties occur. Note that units you control may always count for their own effect if not stated "other".
Desert Rat (Rogue): When you play Desert Rat you may immediately swap positions with any other of your units. The slots remain in their respective positions, and the strength of both units remains unchanged.
Surrogate: This can Triple with all of its colors.
Humans
Berserker: You may discard 3 ammo to recruit a Special Unit in Recruit Phase. You can't mix ammo with other cards for a Triple.
Hacker: If you want to renew your pool, you must discard all Special Units in your pool and draw as many new ones from the main deck accordingly.
Medic: The Special Unit is recruited according to the usual rules. It comes with the same strength to the slot where Medic is discarded.
Journalist: When one of your humans is fighting, you can decide how many more humans you want to exhaust. Add their strength to the battle strength of the fighting unit. The fighting unit then receives strength.
Priest: When recruiting a Special Unit, you can also draw 2 Special Units from the main deck, then you must choose one and place the other back face down under the deck.
Special Agent: If there are multiple Special Agents in the game, multiple fewer battle cards can be drawn. The effect applies to all players.
Mechs
Bartender: When you trigger the discard effect, the Mech does not need to be discarded.
Disintegrator: Only the unit on which you play the ammo receives the strength bonus.
Finisher: Only effects that are declared as such with a discard-effect symbol to the left of the text count. For example, if you discard 3 cards for one discard effect (e.g. Module), the Finisher bonus is 3 strength.
Goldfish: You get only one red slot, even if you triple multiple Fishes.
Grubber: Every attached card gives +2 temporarily to its unit.
Module: If you discard multiple Modules, you still need to discard two more cards for the second Module, to get a second Red Slot.
Nanobots: If you draw an A.I.Lien battle card and Nanobots is not exhausted yet, the A.I.Lien fights with Nanobots.
Rare Metal: When you replace a Special Unit, it gets discarded.
Scrap Collector: You cannot play other cards while resolving Scrap Collector's effect. If discard effects are triggered during Scrap Collector's effect, you must handle them immediately and then continue with the effect.
Mutants
Chain Reactor: The strength is swapped; the units do not switch places. This effect cannot be applied to units in Red Slots.
Were.Wolf: You receive the ammo when a fighting unit is under the influence of any temporary strength.
D.E.E.R.: Give your units the exact strength they would get through temporary effects in battle. Then discard the cards that granted these effects.
Lich Queen: You only receive the strength bonus when the mutant can fight with its matching battle card. You can reactivate a previously exhausted mutant. Put the battle card that was in this place to Lich Queen.
Outsider: This effect is not cumulative. You always draw only one card for each discarded ammo, no matter how many Outsiders you have.
Patient Zero: The effect is only triggered when it is explicitly a discard effect. Drawing cards at the beginning of the Recruitment Phase, for the selection of Special Units, or gaining ammo does not count.
Painkiller & Zombie: When you draw a card, you must also discard one immediately. You cannot execute other effects in between. You may discard Zombie immediately.
Special Units (Card Notes)
Humans (Special)
Big Benji: You can discard as many Special Units from your pool as you like. You receive one ammo for each unit. You can do this at any time, even during battle. When you win a point, you can choose a special unit from a neighboring player's pool, which you place in your pool.
Bombad General: The strength-gain effect includes the ammo you just spent.
Doc.: Doc can have over 15 strength due to its temporary strength.
Eagle Eye: Temporary effects must be taken into account. If your opponents have more than one unit of the declared color, they can decide which one to exhaust themselves.
Elder Commander: The unit that obtains 4 strength must also be a human. The new Red Slot is placed according to the normal rules.
Governor: You can never trigger effects from your hand.
Lieutenant Dan: Instead of giving a unit strength, you can also spend your ammo to give strength to all your humans.
Murderer: When Murderer fights, you can decide to discard an additional human from a slot to win the point. If multiple units have a "you win the point" effect in the same fight, you all win the point.
Neo: Subtract the remaining cards in your health point stack from 6. This is the strength bonus Neo receives. You win any tie. This includes battle points, battle results, and even the total strength at the alternative end of the game.
Outfitter Q: You can wait until all other players have completed their preparation-effect actions. The cards you don't choose are discarded. If your opponents have no hand cards, you can draw a card (also against A.I.Toma).
Queen of Elysium: If you have no Special Unit in your pool, you can't gain a health point. When you exchange your pool with the Hacker, you receive 2 strength for each card exchanged.
Seppuku: The Red Slot goes into the slot where Seppuku was. If you discard Seppuku from your hand, you get the slot according to normal rules.
Walter White: You can open another slot to the right of your slots. To do this, you take a card from the draw pile. The effect cannot be executed twice by any effects.
XxX: If you have guessed the correct score, you draw a card from the main deck of Special Units and place it face down on top your health point stack.
Mechs (Special)
Back.Up: If the unit you reactivate already scored a point, the face up battle card is added to Back.Up.'s battle card.
Disc Jockey: Every discarded Mech counts, regardless of whether it has a discard effect or not.
.Exe Suit: You should announce when you play .Exe Suit. This effect can end the game or trigger Sudden Death, so the game could be over after the next battle.
Linear Collider: If Linear Collider, for example, has 5 strength, you may discard it and give for example one Mech 3 strength and another Mech 2 strength.
Mechatron: The card that you attach may come from your hand.
Homo Deus: Whenever this unit is enhanced by "X strength," it's increased by twice the amount.
Patchwork: Only effects declared with a discard-effect symbol to the left of the text count.
P3RF3C7ION: All Mechs must be attached. The strengths of all Mechs are added to Perfection. All Mechs are attached to Perfection.
Prof. Boom: You can choose which of your opponents' units to discard (kill).
Tokamak: Your opponents may not add the strength of their additionally discarded units to their battle strength. Only effects declared with a discard-effect symbol to the left of the text count (e.g. discard 3 cards for a discard effect [e.g. effect of unit "Module"], the bonus is 3 strength).
Trapperkeeper: Your opponents can decide for themselves which unit they want to discard (kill).
Mutants (Special)
Bookkeeper: You can execute the effect as many times as you want. The "discard" effect does neither trigger discard effects nor gain-ammo effects.
C.H.R.O.M.E.: If a unit has 3 strength temporarily, you can discard C.H.R.O.M.E. permanently to that unit. You can discard C.H.R.O.M.E. if you won the last battle to deal double damage to your opponents. If the end of the battle triggered Sudden Death, the effect cannot cause a player to be eliminated, because the damage is part of the battle outcome.
Dealer: If an effect from one of your units results in another of your units being exhausted or reactivated, then it receives 2 strength. When Dealer fights with a matching combat card, it can reactivate another unit. Put the battle card of the reactivated unit to Dealer's battle card.
Faceless T: This can copy the strength of your strongest Mutant, counting temporary effects.
Ghost Twin: When Ghost Twin wins a point, you can reactivate another unit that has already been exhausted. Put the battle card of the reactivated unit to Ghost Twin's battle card.
Hells Angel, Merowinger & Organ Grinder: During the Recruitment Phase, there is no card hand limit.
Invader: Add up all strength that your units with temporary effects provide and give it to Invader as permanent strength. It cannot receive more than 15 strength. For Invader's win condition, Rogues count only as purple, even though they can fight with all colors.
Riddickules: The effect is only triggered when it explicitly involves a gain-ammo effect. Drawing cards at the start of the Recruitment Phase, selecting Special Units, or gaining ammo does not apply. Your opponents can choose which unit to exhaust.
Postman: If multiple units have a "you win the point" effect in the same fight, you all win the point.
The Scream: The Scream never fights, but it still counts when determining the number of battle cards. In the battle, treat The Scream as if there was an empty slot.
Rogues (Special)
Alias Blanc: You cannot get a Special Unit since they should not be in the discard pile. You receive one ammo from the supply if no player has ammo.
Astronomer: If Astronomer fights with an A.I.Lien, slide the A.I.Lien card behind the Astronomer, revealing only the card value. The A.I.Lien's card value is added to Astronomer's combat strength temporarily. Remember that the added strength also counts in the A.I.Pokalypse!
Black Noise: You must place A.I.Lien cards you draw as battle cards or play from your hand above your units. As all your units can now fight with A.I.Liens, always fight with the unit farthest to the left.
Destiny: Only effects declared with a discard-effect symbol to the left of the text. Only effects of units you control apply. You don't have to discard the units for this effect.
Dreadator: Every ammo you expend in the Recruitment Phase to improve a unit increases the strength of that unit by an additional strength.
Lillith: The ability refers only to bonuses of Red Slots and not on other units with Red Slot effects.
Oracle: Only effects declared with a discard-effect symbol to the left of the text. You don't have to discard the units for this effect. The added strength is already added to the point that triggers this effect.
Roko's Basilisk: When searching for an A.I.Lien, draw cards from the draw pile and discard them until you find the A.I.Lien. Shuffle the discard pile if necessary.
Scammer: You can place Scammer in the pool of one of your neighboring opponents and take a Special Unit from that pool. This also works with A.I.Toma.
Stalker: You gain an additional faction. Faction effects that would be executed at the start of the game can no longer be used. Despite having multiple factions, you can still store a maximum of 6 ammo.
Factions
The passive and round-bonus effects of faction cards are always triggered after those of your units.
Desert Rats: If you play ammo in Recruitment Phase to receive strength, the ammo stays above the unit and gives it 2 strength in battle. Discard the ammo after the battle.
Droid Army: You may take back one ammo that you played on a Mech during battle to your supply. You can only take back ammo of units that didn't win their point.
Elysium: You can store up to 8 ammo instead of 6. You gain one ammo for each individual health point you lose.
Enclave M87: If you don't find a human in the draw pile, you can shuffle the discard pile.
Engineer Guild: The "trash" effect does neither trigger discard effects nor gain-ammo effects.
Erit Lux: You can store two of your hand cards on this faction card. You cannot use them in battle. After drawing 6 hand cards at the beginning of a Recruitment Phase, take the stored cards into your hand.
Fallout Boyz: You can also trigger the discard effect of this card with other card effects or even discard it.
Illusionists: If a strong unit of yours is about to lose its point in battle, you can play a card of a different color that would activate a weaker unit of yours instead.
Kollektah: If you have cards left after the battle, you can place them under any Special Units in your pool. You get the cards back to your hand as soon as you recruit the respective Special Unit under which they are placed. If you discard or lose a Special Unit in your pool, you can swap the cards to another unit. If all Special Units are gone, you lose the stored cards.
Lightbringers: Two units can swap their position. They retain their strength.
Megagneto: You can discard a card to take a Basic Unit from a slot back to your hand and put a card from your hand into the slot. The strength remains the same, and no recruit effects are triggered. A card that you take back on hand does not trigger discard effects.
Megaton (Tribute to Fallout): You can no longer access the cards except for Megaton's Boom effect.
Outer Wilds (best video game ever!): You can give 2 strength to one unit whose adjacent units are stronger than themselves. Temporary effects do not count. If a unit does not have two direct adjacent units on the slots next to it, it cannot receive the bonus.
Prayers of Elex (Greetings to Piranha Bytes): You can only execute this effect at the beginning of the Recruitment Phase, immediately after drawing cards. You have to discard the cards from your hand and no discard effects are triggered. You can search for any card from the Special Units deck, then shuffle the deck.
Shadow Fortress: When you get an A.I.Lien, draw from the draw pile until you find an A.I.Lien, and add it to your hand. Shuffle the discard pile if necessary and discard the remaining drawn cards. If there is no A.I.Lien, you don't get one.
Sic Mundus: The card stored here does not count towards your limit when you draw 6 cards at the start of the Recruitment Phase.
The Corporation: The strength bonus is received only by the unit onto which you also play the ammo.
Vault A.F.K.: You receive 6 cards normally at the start of the game. However, in the first Recruitment Phase, you can not do anything but decide which of the 6 cards you want to keep for the second Recruitment Phase. At the beginning of Recruitment Phase 2 and 3 you can recruit a Special Unit for free.
Venus Colony: Draw from the draw pile until you find an A.I.Lien and take it to your hand. Put all other drawn cards on the discard pile. Place the A.I.Lien on Venus Colony. You can use the A.I.Lien as a battle card in every battle and return it after the battle. You also can play it for A.I.Pokalypse.
W4TCHM3N: You only need 2 cards with the same card value and color and one ammo to triple them and recruit a Special Unit.
A Word from the Creators
Since randomness can be a factor in an Auto Battler, we'd like to encourage you to play fast. A.I.Pokalypse is full of little twists and tweaks how you can optimize your play and you will still improve after hundreds of games.
The game can play so short (15-20 minutes), when you're familiar with the basic units, that you should be able to play multiple games in a row. For every single game it might look like there is a lot of luck involved, but we can assure you that over a couple of games, the better player always wins. So never give up and turn the tide in the next one!
Variant: Force the Luck
If you get quickly discouraged by a bad draw, we suggest you try the following rules variant:
Search the Engineer Guild Faction and put it in the middle of the table. Its effect may be used by all players.
Players who wait to play their Recruitment Phase after everybody is finished or wait to place their unmatching battle card, just to get a slight advantage, could be cursed to play single player Monopoly until the rest of the evening. ;-)
To make the rules crystal clear: In the above mentioned case, we'd say that it is not allowed to look at other players' board state in these phases. Though for our testing and common sense of gameplay, it was totally fine to play the Recruit Phase while sneak peeking at other players setups, unless nobody is really going serious with this.
Just play like everybody on the table has the most fun!
A.I.Pokalypse is a project by heart. It is our gaming groups' imagination of an expert game, that plays really fast, has tons of replayability and is small enough to be always with you. It might look daunting in the first play, but once you're familiar with the basic effects, you will see the endless replayability that lies within.
We (Marian & Philip) are best pals, boardgamegeeks and fathers and created this vision as a hobby project, when our little ones were already in bed.
We tried to pack as much content into this small box as we could, since our dream always was to see other people play and enjoy our creation. We are very thankful that you help us making this dream become a reality and hope you enjoy the game as much as we do!