ARKA V Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Overview
  • Objective
• Game Setup
• Card Description
  • Traveler Cards
  • Command Cards
• Gameplay
  • Actions
    • Take 1 Card
    • Establish 1 Destination
    • Play 1 Card From Your Hand
  • Traveler Abilities
• End of the Game and Final Score
• Scoring Example
• Command Cards
  • Command Cards That Count as Travelers

Components

• 40 Credit tokens: 23 with value 1, 12 with value 2, and 5 with value 3.
• 5 Destination Reward tokens.
• 1 Prestige Reward token.
• 1 Reward token for the fastest player.
• 25 Destination tokens (in 5 different colors).
• 13 Command cards (plus 13 additional cards in Spanish in case you prefer to play in this language).
• 55 Traveler cards (11 of each color).

Game Overview

ARKA V is a card game that can be played by 2 to 5 players set in a rich space fiction universe. In it, you play as one of the stellar recovery Controllers of the last ship to abandon the planet's orbit, the last resort for those leaving the Earth: the ARKA V.

Compete to be the one who recovers the most alien travelers and sends them back to their preferred planet. Become the most famous employee of Central Command!

Objective

Your goal as an ARKA V Controller is to collect the most Credits. The player who earns the most Credits wins the game and earns the title of the most famous Controller of Central Command.

There are different ways to earn Credits in ARKA V:

• During the game, you earn Credits:
  • For playing certain Traveler cards. The cards with the highest Prestige earn you Credits automatically... and some even allow you to steal them!
  • For being the first player to establish 4 destinations with at least 1 traveler in each.
• At the end of the game, you earn Credits:
  • For having the most travelers per destination color.
  • For having the destination with the highest Prestige from its travelers.

In a game of ARKA V, you take turns establishing new destinations to other planets, collecting travelers to send them back to their preferred destinations, earning Credits, and applying effects to sabotage the progress of your opponents.

Game Setup

1. Give each player 5 Destination tokens, 1 of each color. They represent the planets you can take the travelers to.
2. Set the Reward tokens aside.
3. Create a general supply of Credit tokens. Place them face down to keep them secret.
4. Shuffle the Traveler and Command cards together and place them face down, within reach of all players, to form the Travel Deck. Leave enough space next to it for the discard pile (which is empty at the beginning of the game). In a 2-player game, remove 10 cards at random without looking at them and return them to the box; in a 3-player game, remove 5 cards.
5. The player who has seen a UFO most recently is the starting player (if nobody has seen a UFO, choose the starting player at random).
6. Deal the cards to start the game. Begin with the player sitting to the right of the starting player. Deal 5 cards to that player and then deal 1 card less to each of the following players going counter clockwise, with a minimum of 2 cards per player.

Example: In a 4-player game, the player sitting to the right of the starting player will get 5 cards, the player to their right 4, the following player 3, and the last one 2 (the starting player).

The following table summarizes how many cards are dealt depending on the number of players. A dash (—) means no cards are dealt to that player.

No. of players	5	4	3	2
Starting player	2x	2x	3x	4x
2nd player	2x	3x	4x	5x
3rd player	3x	4x	5x	—
4th player	4x	5x	—	—
5th player	5x	—	—	—

7. You are now ready to start playing!

Card Description

There are 2 types of cards in ARKA V: Traveler cards, which are assigned to established destinations and provide abilities and options to earn Credits, and Command cards, which allow you to gain benefits or sabotage your opponents.

Traveler Cards

Traveler cards represent those fleeing the planet who need your services to reach their preferred destination.

• Prestige value: There are 11 cards of each color (5 with 0-4 Prestige, 1 with 5 Prestige, and 5 more with 6-10 Prestige). The Prestige value represents the notoriety of their civilization and the space the traveler occupies when playing it in a destination.
• Ability: It represents the effect resolved after playing the traveler in a destination. All cards with the same Prestige value belong to the same civilization and share the same ability, regardless of their color.
• Preferred destination: There are 55 Traveler cards in 5 different colors (yellow, blue, purple, red, and green) that match the colors of the Destination tokens. They represent each traveler's preferred destination.

Command Cards

Command cards represent artifacts, events, and travelers of your ARKA V. Each Command card activates a unique effect which will give you an advantage or will hinder the progress of your opponents.

There are 2 types of Command cards:

• Permanent: These are placed on the location indicated in the card text and will remain in play until the end of the game or until another effect forces you to discard them.
• Instant: These are played directly onto the discard pile to immediately resolve the effect described in the card text.

(In the printed rulebook, the Permanent and Instant types are marked with a card-type icon next to their names.)

Gameplay

ARKA V is played in turns in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player.

During your turn, you must take 3 actions. You can take the same action more than once... or even repeat the same action 3 times if you want!

There are the 3 available actions:

• Take 1 card.
• Establish 1 destination.
• Play 1 card from your hand.

5-CARD HAND LIMIT: If you have more than 5 cards in your hand at the end of your turn, you must discard down to 5 cards. All discarded cards must be placed face up on the discard pile, one by one.

Actions

Take 1 Card

Take the top card of the Travel Deck and add it to your hand without letting anyone see it.

Remember that you can have more than 5 cards in your hand while playing your turn, but at the end of it you must discard down to 5.

Establish 1 Destination

Choose 1 card from your hand and place it in front of you face down and horizontally. The illustration on the back of the cards shows an empty circle in deep space. Choose 1 of your unused Destination tokens and place it on the circle. This way, you have established a new destination for your ARKA V. From then on, you can play there travelers who share the same color as that new destination.

The fastest player! The first player who establishes 4 destinations with at least 1 traveler in each of them will immediately receive the Reward token for the fastest player (which will be added to their score at the end of the game).

Play 1 Card From Your Hand

Choose and play 1 card from your hand. To play a card, place it face up on its corresponding location and immediately resolve its effect (if any). The location where each card is placed depends on its type.

• If it is a Permanent Command card, place it where the card text indicates.
• If it is an Instant Command card, place it face up on top of the discard pile, next to the Travel Deck.
• If it is a Traveler card, play it in one of your established destinations of the same color as the card. Its specific location within the destination depends on its Prestige value:
  • Travelers with 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 Prestige are placed below the destination card, overlapping each other as shown in the image. They must be placed in descending order, although their Prestige values do not need to be consecutive.
    • Example: Arthur plays a traveler with 2 Prestige in his blue destination and then plays a traveler with 1 Prestige. He can no longer play travelers with 3 and 4 Prestige in that destination, but he could play a traveler with 0 Prestige.
  • Travelers with 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 Prestige are placed above the Destination card, overlapping each other as shown in the image on the left. They must be placed in ascending order, although their Prestige values do not need to be consecutive.
    • Example: Elsa plays a traveler with 7 Prestige in her green destination and then plays a traveler with 9 Prestige. She can no longer play travelers with 6 and 8 Prestige in that destination, but she could play a traveler with 10 Prestige.
  • Travelers with 5 Prestige may be placed above or below the Destination card, but only if no other Traveler card has been placed on the chosen location.
    • Example: Elsa plays a traveler with 5 Prestige in her red destination. Since she previously placed a traveler with 3 Prestige below the card, she can only place it above.

Once the card is placed (either on the table or on the discard pile), resolve its effect (if any):

• If it is a Command card, follow the indications in the text.
• If it is a Traveler card, follow the indications of its ability. There are 10 different abilities, each associated with the same Prestige value. Travelers with 5 Prestige do not have a specific ability within the destination.

Traveler Abilities

• 0 Prestige: From now on, you can no longer play Command cards or abilities affecting cards or Credit tokens in this traveler's destination (no matter if those Command cards or abilities are yours or another player's). Obviously, you can still place travelers on it, as long as you follow the regular traveler placement rules.
• 1 Prestige: Choose 1 Traveler card from a destination (yours or another player's) and place it on top of the discard pile. You can use this ability on Command cards that count as travelers.
• 2 Prestige: Choose 1 destination from another player with Credit tokens on it, take 1 of the tokens at random, without looking at it, and place it face down on the destination where you played this traveler.
• 3 Prestige: Choose another player to discard 1 of their cards in hand at random.
• 4 Prestige: From now on, you can also play travelers of 1 single additional color of your choice in this traveler's destination. You can choose the color later on, when you play a traveler of another color in the destination.
• 5 Prestige: No specific ability.
• 6 Prestige: Take 1 Credit token from the general supply at random and place it face down (without looking at it) on this traveler's destination.
• 7 Prestige: Take 2 Credit tokens from the general supply at random (without looking at them) and place them face down on this traveler's destination.
• 8 Prestige: Take 1 Credit token from the general supply at random and place it face down (without looking at it) on this traveler's destination. Additionally, take the top card of the Travel Deck and place it in your hand (this does not count as a "take 1 card" action).

End of the Game and Final Score

The game ends when somebody is unable to draw a card from the Travel Deck because there are no cards left, or in the unlikely case that somebody is unable to take a Credit token from the general supply because there are no more left.

At that point, the game ends immediately and the final score is calculated.

In this phase, you will add up the Credits you earned during the game to determine who the winner is.

Follow these steps:

1. Give the corresponding players the 5 Destination Reward tokens.
   • Each Reward token is associated with a color: yellow, blue, purple, red, or green.
   • For each color, give the corresponding token to the player who has the most travelers in the destination of the matching color.
   • In case of a tie, give the corresponding token to the player who has the destination with the highest total Prestige among the tied destinations (by adding the Prestige of all the travelers in that destination).
   • In case of a second tie, nobody gets the token.
2. Give the Prestige Reward token.
   • Give the token to the person who has the destination with the highest total Prestige (by adding the Prestige of all travelers in that destination), regardless of its color.
   • In case of a tie, nobody gets the token.
3. Each player adds up all their Credits.
   • Each Credit token in their own destination scores 1, 2, or 3 Credits, depending on what is marked on the front side of the token.
   • Each Reward token (the fastest player, Destination, and Prestige) scores 5 Credits.
   • Each established destination with no travelers on it at the end of the game subtracts 3 Credits.

THE PLAYER WITH THE MOST CREDITS WINS!

Scoring Example

Elsa, Arthur, and Charles have just finished a game of ARKA V. They had a blast and this is how the table looks at the end of the game:

[The printed example shows a diagram of each player's three-dimensional tableau of destinations, travelers, and Command cards, with Prestige values and Credit tokens. The diagram is not reproducible as text and is omitted here; the example text that follows is transcribed in full.]

Then, they calculate their final score.

The distribution of the Reward tokens is as follows:

Destination Reward tokens:

• Yellow Reward: Elsa and Arthur are tied with 4 travelers in their yellow destinations (Arthur has the Bicephalous Crewmember, which counts as 2 travelers). When calculating the tie breaker, the sum of the Prestige values of Elsa's travelers (20) is higher than Arthur's (14). Therefore, Elsa gets the yellow Reward token.
• Blue Reward: Elsa and Charles are tied with 4 travelers in their blue destinations. When calculating the tie breaker, the sum of the Prestige values of Elsa's travelers (22) is higher than Arthur's (16). Therefore, Elsa gets the blue Reward token.
• Green Reward: Charles has more travelers than the rest of the players in his green destination (6, thanks to the traveler with 4 Prestige, which allowed him to play travelers of 1 additional color) and gets the green Reward token.
• Purple Reward: Arthur has more travelers than the rest of the players in his purple destination (5, thanks to the Experienced Shapeshifter, which also counts as a traveler) and gets the purple Reward token.
• Red Reward: Arthur has more travelers than the rest of the players in his red destination (4) and gets the red Reward token.

Prestige Reward token:

Charles gets it thanks to the 30 Prestige gained from his green destination.

The final Credit score is as follows:

• Arthur gets 10 Credits from his Destination Reward tokens and 21 additional Credits from his Credit tokens. His final score is 31 Credits.
• Elsa gets 10 Credits from her Destination Reward tokens and 18 additional Credits from her Credit tokens; she has to subtract 3 Credits because she has an established destination with 0 travelers (the red one). Her final score is 25 Credits.
• Charles gets 5 Credits from his green Destination Reward token, 5 Credits from his token for the fastest player, and 5 Credits from his Prestige Reward token, to which he adds 14 additional Credits from his Credit tokens. His final score is 29 Credits.

Arthur wins the game and becomes the most famous ARKA System Controller of Central Command... at least until they play another game.

Command Cards

Command cards represent artifacts, events, and travelers of your ARKA V. Each Command card activates a unique effect which will give you an advantage or will hinder the progress of your opponents.

• Trojan Virus. Take 1 card at random from another player and add it to your hand.
  • Remember that you only need to consider the 5-card hand limit at the end of your turn. The rest of the time you can have more cards in your hand!
• Stowaway in the Hold. Give this card to another player. That player cannot play this card, place it as an established destination, or discard it.
  • The chosen player must add this card to their hand.
  • This card counts towards the limit of cards in hand.
• System Reboot. Discard all the cards in your hand. Then, take as many cards from the Travel Deck as you have discarded. You can play 1 additional action.
  • This card allows you to play 1 additional action beyond the limit of 3 actions per turn.
  • If you have the Stowaway in the Hold card, discard all cards except that one.
• Portal to the Unknown. Place this card face up as if it were a new established destination. You can play travelers of any color in this destination.
  • Do not place a Destination token on this card.
  • This destination has no color and does not count towards the Reward score at the end of the game, but it does count when calculating the Prestige Reward... and also the Reward token for the fastest player!
• Overload. Place this card next to 1 of your destinations. Add +3 to the total Prestige value of this destination. You can play 1 additional action.

Command Cards That Count as Travelers

The Command cards that count as travelers follow these rules:

• They count towards giving the Destination Rewards... and also the Reward token for the fastest player!
• They are placed on an established destination as if they were travelers, overlapping another traveler or the destination card.
• As they do not have a Prestige value, they can be placed at either end of the destination, above or below, and they do not prevent players from placing other travelers on this destination.
• They are affected by cards played on travelers.

Example: Charles plays a Bicephalous Crewmember in his red destination. He could place it below the destination card, but he prefers to place it above the traveler with 6 Prestige (he says he likes it better that way). On a later turn, he plays a traveler with 7 Prestige in that same destination and places it above the Bicephalous Crewmember and the traveler with 6 Prestige. The Bicephalous Crewmember does not have any Prestige and does not block the traveler with 7 Prestige. At the end of the game, the red destination would be considered to have 4 travelers when granting Destination Rewards (because the Bicephalous Crewmember counts as 2 travelers— she has two heads!).