The Artemis Odyssey Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• How to Win
• Components
• Setup
• The Game Round
  • Planning Phase
  • Action Phase
• The Actions
  • Produce
  • Travel
  • Discovering a Planet
  • Trade
  • Build
  • Score
  • Scoring Options
• Alien Artifacts
  • Reaching 42
• End of the Round
• Endgame
• Team Play for Six or Eight Players
• Two-Player Rules
  • Setup
  • Planning Phase
  • Action Phase
  • Trade Action
  • Alien Planets
• Solo Rules
  • Setup
  • Gameplay Changes
  • Special Rules
  • Winning the Game

Game Overview

Your goal is to be the most successful trailblazer in the galaxy, by exploring new planets and establishing productive presence there. Your efforts are accomplished through a clever system of hidden planning on a shared board. When the planning board is full, it is resolved in sequence… with all players benefiting from each others' plans! By anticipating what your opponents want to do next, where they want to go, and how they want to score, you'll be able to squeeze the most out of your efforts, and ensure that your faction builds the greatest star-spanning network of them all! Get ready, because the Artemis Odyssey begins now!

How to Win

Your achievements in developing your civilization are turned into Victory points (VP) by means of Score actions taken during the game. The game ends when one player reaches a score of 77 VP, or when all planets have been discovered. At the end of the round when either condition is fulfilled, the game ends and the player with the most VP is the winner!

Components

• 1 Planning board
• 55 Action cards. Eleven in each player color. Each player's Action cards are slightly different.
• 20 Starships, 20 Colonies, 20 Factories, 20 Terraformers (4 per player of each), and 5 Score markers (1 per player). Collectively, Starships, Colonies, Factories, and Terraformers are considered Assets.
• 9 Star tokens
• 17 Alien Artifact cards
• 13 Singularity cards (for Solo and 2-player modes only)
• 42 Planet tokens: 6 each of Water, Food, Energy, Xanthium, Yoyodium, Zozodium, and Alien. All planets have the same back. All planets except Alien planets are considered Production planets. Production planets generate the Resource that is displayed on them.
• 1 First Player marker
• 1 Singularity token (for Solo and 2-player modes only)
• 150 Resource cards: 25 each of Water, Food, Energy, Xanthium, Yoyodium, and Zozodium. Xanthium, Yoyodium, and Zozodium belong to a sub-category of Resource called Ores.
• 5 Mission cards (for Solo mode only)

Setup

Setup variations for two-player games, Solo play, and Team Play with six or eight players can be found at the end of the rulebook.

1. Player Components: Each player chooses one color and takes all of the components in that color (11 action cards, 4 Starships, 4 Colonies, 4 Factories, 4 Terraformers, 1 Score marker).

2. Alien Planets: With three players, remove two Alien planets from the game and place them back in the box. With four players, remove one Alien planet. With five players, all six Alien planets are used.

3. Stars: Place all nine stars face up on the table. Their relative position and distance from each other does not matter. Make sure there is enough space around each star for a number of planets, so that it will be clear which planets belong to which star. Eight of the stars have different astrological symbols. The last one is our sun, representing our solar system where the players start the game.

4. Starting Planets: Shuffle one planet of each type except Alien (Water, Food, Energy, Xanthium, Yoyodium, Zozodium) and place them face down around the sun. This is the Starting system (each individual star with the planets surrounding it is called a system). Each player (turn order does not matter) chooses a planet at random around the sun, reveals it by flipping it face up, and places one of their Factories and one of their Starships on it. Unrevealed planets are returned to the planet supply.

   Notice that this Factory and Starship are the only Assets of yours that begin the game in play; the rest of your Assets are not in play until you Build them during the game.

5. Planets: Shuffle all of the remaining planets in the supply face down, then distribute them randomly (keeping them face down) around the other eight stars. Each star must have from three to seven planets around it, but other than that there are no limits.

6. Resource Supply: Sort the Resource cards by type and place them face up in separate decks. This group of decks is called the bank.

7. Alien Artifacts: Shuffle the Alien Artifact cards and place them in a face down deck.

8. Starting Resources: Each player draws one Resource card of each type into their hand.

9. Planning Board: Place the Planning board where all players will be able to reach it. Some card slots indicate that they are not used for certain player counts; place Terraformer pieces of an unused player color in the slots appropriate for your player count, as a reminder.

10. First Player: Randomly determine a First player, and give them the First Player marker.

11. Score Markers: All players stack their Score marker on the Score track of the Planning board, on the 7 space.

You are ready to begin!

The Game Round

The game is played in rounds. Each round starts with the Planning phase (where players plot out their upcoming actions) followed by the Action phase (where those plotted actions are resolved). Then there is a little upkeep at the end of the round, and (unless the game has ended) a new round begins.

Planning Phase

Take turns beginning with the First player and proceeding clockwise. On your turn, play one of your Action cards from your hand face down into any empty slot of the Planning board; this continues until all slots are full.

Slots do not need to be filled in any order, but be aware that Action cards will be resolved in numerical order from left to right on the planning board during the Action phase; this might influence your strategy about which cards will work well in which slots!

For example, it is Yellow's turn. Red and Blue have already gone, playing one card each into the slots as shown. Yellow now must choose a card from their hand to go face down into any one of the remaining slots.

Action Phase

Reveal the Action card in the leftmost slot of the Planning board and resolve it fully. While each Action can be resolved by all players regardless of who played it, the player who played the card (the Planner) always gets some sort of special benefit—often a choice that affects everyone's resolution. When the Action has been fully resolved, proceed to the next slot in order, and so on. Each Action must be completed by all players that want to use it before you proceed to the next slot. See The Actions section below for details on each Action.

After the final Action card in sequence is resolved, the Action phase is over and the round ends.

To start the Action phase, we reveal the first card on the Planning board; it is Blue's, and it turns out to be their Build card. The group resolves the card (see The Actions section for details), and then we move on to reveal the next card in order (which is one of Yellow's). We proceed through each card like this until they are all done.

The Actions

Produce

The Planner chooses one of the two resource types displayed on the card. The Planner's choice is binding for all players. Check all of the revealed Production planets of that type. Each player receives (from the bank) one resource of the chosen type for each Colony and/or Starship they have on those planets, and two resources for each Factory they have on those planets.

• If there are not enough Resource cards in the relevant deck, the Planner decides in which order players receive their cards, until the bank is empty.
• Notice that Starships, Colonies, and Factories on Alien planets never produce resources. Terraformers never produce resources, even if they are on Production planets.

Blue is the Planner and chooses Water. We check all of the currently-revealed Water planets:

• Blue gets three Water from the bank for the Water planet with their Starship and Factory, and two for the planet with a Starship and Colony.
• Yellow gets two Water for the planet with their Factory.
• Red gets one Water for the planet with their Starship; their Terraformer there produces nothing.

Travel

The Planner may move one of their Starships (from anywhere, even the same system) onto a planet in one of the three systems shown on the card. Then, each of the other players may also move one of their Starships into the same system. A player (even the Planner) may only travel to the system if there is at least one available planet (see below). The Planner determines the order in which the players Travel, calling the players one after the other.

Notice that the Starting system is not represented on the Travel cards; it is impossible through usual methods to move back into it. Also notice that you have only six systems represented on your Travel cards; you will have to rely on the action cards of other players to move to the two remaining systems. Take note of the ones you can't reach on your own!

You may never Travel to a planet which has any Assets belonging to another player; in fact no planet may ever have Assets belonging to more than one player on it at once. A planet is therefore only available to you if:

• It is undiscovered (face down).
• It is discovered (face up) but has no Assets belonging to any player.
• It is discovered and has one or more of your own Assets.

If there are no available planets in a system when it is your turn to move there, you may not Travel during this Action.

When Traveling, you may first peek at all of the undiscovered planets in the destination system. Then, you may either place your moving Starship on an available discovered planet, or (more usually) reveal one of the undiscovered Planets and place your moving Starship on it; this is known as discovering a planet (see below).

• You may choose to not Travel, even if there are available planets; however, peeking is part of Traveling; if you peek, you are committed to Traveling to the system.

Yellow is the Planner and chooses the indicated system. There are three planets there; two undiscovered and one Xanthium planet with a Yellow Factory on it. All three planets are available for Yellow to Travel to at this point. Yellow peeks at both undiscovered planets, and decides to move a Starship to the Energy planet they find; Yellow gains an Energy from the bank for discovering the planet (see Discovering a Planet, below).

As the Planner, Yellow chooses who goes next. Since there is only one available planet left for other players, Yellow knows that whoever goes last will not be able to Travel. Yellow thinks Blue is a threat, so chooses Red to go next. Red can't go to either planet with Yellow Assets, so peeks at the remaining undiscovered planet; it is another Xanthium planet. Red moves a Starship there and gains one Xanthium from the bank.

As planned by Yellow, Blue may not Travel as there are no available planets remaining.

Discovering a Planet

Being the first one to land on a particular planet comes with a benefit:

• When you discover a Production planet, you immediately draw one Resource card of the planet's type from the bank.
• When you discover an Alien planet, you immediately draw a number of Alien Artifact cards from the deck equal to the number of Alien Planets where you currently have at least one Asset (including the one you just discovered). Choose one card to keep, and discard the rest to the bottom of the deck. If you don't have Assets on any other alien Planet, just draw one Alien Artifact and keep it. See Alien Artifacts, below, for details on their use.

Note: You only gain these benefits when you discover a planet, not when you Travel to an already-discovered planet.

Blue has discovered an Alien planet! Since Blue has assets on two other Alien planets (totalling three), Blue draws three Alien Artifact cards from the deck. Blue likes the Replicator, so keeps that card and returns the others to the bottom of the deck.

Trade

All players must display their Resource cards in front of them face up. The Planner may propose trades with any other player; trades may involve any number of Resources. If both players agree, the trade is immediately carried out.

The Planner may also trade with the bank. The first trade is one card from the Planner for any one card from the bank, the second trade is two identical cards for one from the bank, the third trade is three identical for one, etc.

• The Planner may make as many trades as they wish with other players and the bank, as long as they have the resources to continue.
• The other players may not trade between themselves, or with the bank.

When the Planner declares that they are done, all players take their Resource cards back in hand.

Red is the Planner. All players lay their Resource cards face up. Red may trade with any player or the bank. Red wants to build a Terraformer later, which needs two Food and two Water (Red currently holds FFFXEY).

• First, Red trades one Xanthium to the bank for one Water (FFFWEY).
• Yellow has a water but refuses to trade it to Red. Red doesn't have a non-Food pair to trade to the bank for one more Water. Red hatches a plan, and after some negotiation trades one Food and one Energy to Blue, for one Yoyodium (FFWYY).
• Red trades two Yoyodium to the bank for one Water (FFWW).

Red declares they are done, and everyone retrieves their cards.

Build

The Planner may first build at most two Assets (if they build two, the two may be different or both the same) and then each other player may build at most one Asset. When you build something, spend the appropriate Resource cards back into the bank (see each Asset's Build Cost, below). The Planner determines the order in which the players Build, calling the players one after the other.

• Each Asset type has rules about which planets it may be built on (see below). If there isn't planet that follows those rules, you may not build that Asset type.
• You may not build an Asset type if you have none left in your supply.

Blue is the Planner. Blue may build up to two Assets. They spend the Resources to build a Colony, adding it to a planet where they have a Starship. They have enough to also build a Factory, so they spend the Resources and replace the Colony they just built with a Factory.

Then Blue chooses Red to Build, followed by Yellow.

Colony — Build Cost: 1 Water, 1 Food and 1 Ore of any kind (X or Y or Z). You may only build a Colony on a planet where you currently have a Starship or a Terraformer. You may never build a Colony on a planet which already has a Colony or a Factory. Place a Colony from your supply on the planet.

• If you build a Colony on an Alien planet, score 3 VP.

Factory — Build Cost: 2 Energy and 1 Ore of any kind (X or Y or Z). You may only build a Factory on a planet where you currently have a Colony. Place a Factory from your supply on the planet, and return the Colony to your supply. The returned Colony is available to be Built again.

• If you build a Factory on an Alien planet, score 3 VP.

Starship — Build Cost: 1 Energy and 1 of each Ore (X and Y and Z). Place a Starship from your supply on any planet where you already have at least one Asset of any kind.

Terraformer — Build Cost: 2 Water and 2 Food. You may only build a Terraformer on a Water, Food or Alien planet, and you must have at least one Colony, Factory, or Starship on the planet. Place a Terraformer from your supply on the planet, and immediately score 3 VP.

Score

The Planner immediately takes the First Player marker, then chooses one of the scoring options displayed on the card (see below for details). The Planner's choice is binding for all players; all players score VP for the chosen option.

The player who scores the most VP in the resolution of this card gains a bonus of 3VP in addition to the VP they gained from the scoring. If multiple players tie for most, they all gain the bonus.

The player who scores the fewest VP in the resolution of this card (including 0) loses 2VP in addition to any VP they gained from the scoring. If multiple players tie for fewest, they all suffer the loss.

When scoring, advance or retreat your Score marker along the Score track as appropriate, to reflect the gain or loss.

Remember, unlike other Action cards, Score cards are not always reclaimed by their owners at the end of the round. You only retrieve your Score cards if all four of them are in your Score Discard pile at the end of the round.

Yellow is the Planner, so takes the First Player marker. Yellow chooses the Colonies/Factories option of their Score card. Yellow gains 4 VP total for their two Colonies and one Factory. Blue gains 3 VP total for their one Colony and one Factory. Red gains 2 VP for their one Factory. Since Yellow scored the most, Yellow gains a bonus 3 VP. Since Red scored the fewest, Red loses 2 VP. All scores are reflected on the Score track.

Scoring Options

• Colonies/Factories — Score 1VP for each Colony and 2VP for each Factory you have in play.
• Starships — Score 2 VP for each Starship you have in play.
• Alien Planets — Score 2VP for every Alien planet where you have at least one Asset.
• Terraformers — Score 3VP for every Terraformer you have in play.
• Concentration — Score 2VP for each Asset you have in the system where you have the most Assets.
• Systems — Score 1VP for each system (including the Starting system) where you have at least one Asset.
• Identical Resources — Each player may discard two or more matching Resources from their hand back to the bank, scoring 1VP per discarded card (up to a maximum of 9VP). Players do not have to discard the same resource type as each other. For this option, the Planner determines the order in which the players Score, calling the players one after the other.
• Different Resources — Each player may discard two or more different Resources from their hand back to the bank, scoring 2VP per discarded card. For this option, the Planner determines the order in which the players Score, calling the players one after the other.

Alien Artifacts

Alien Artifacts are gained when you discover Alien planets, and when any player reaches 42 VP on the Score track (see Reaching 42, below). Keep your Alien Artifacts hidden from the other players until you decide to use them during the game (each card describes when it may be used). Each Alien Artifact may be used only once; remove it from the game after it is resolved.

Reaching 42

The first time that any player's Score marker reaches or passes 42 VP, a great discovery of Alien Artifacts takes place. This happens only once per game. The player with the lowest VP score draws a number of cards from the Alien Artifacts deck equal to the number of players, keeping them hidden. That player peeks at them, chooses one to keep, gives the remaining cards to the player with the next-lowest score, and so on. The leading player (who reached or passed 42 VP), has no choice and keeps the last card.

If any players' scores are tied, the one who is first in clockwise order starting from the player with the First Player marker is considered to have the lower score for this purpose.

End of the Round

At the end of the round, each player performs the following steps in this order:

1. If you have more than ten Resource cards in your hand, discard cards of your choice back into the bank until you have only ten.
2. Check that the correct player has the First Player marker; it should be with the player who played the rightmost Score card onto the Planning board this round. If there are no Score cards on the Planning board, the marker stays with the current holder.
3. Remove your revealed Score cards from the Planning board (if any). Place them into your own Score discard pile next to the Planning board, adding to any cards that may remain there from previous rounds.
4. Take your revealed Action cards of all other types from the Planning board back into your hand.
5. If your Score discard pile has all four of your Score cards in it, take them all back into your hand. Otherwise they remain unavailable to you for now.

Unless either of the Endgame conditions were met during the round (see Endgame for details), begin a new round with a Planning phase as usual.

Everyone checks their hand to make sure they have ten or fewer Resource cards, discarding excess cards if necessary. We can see that Blue played the rightmost Score card, so Blue should have the First Player marker. The Score cards played by Yellow and Blue go into separate Score discard piles near the Planning board, adding to any cards there from earlier rounds. Everyone takes the rest of their own Action cards back from the board. Yellow's Score discard pile has all four of their Score cards in it, so Yellow gets them back. Red and Blue's Score discard piles have fewer than four, so those cards stay out of play for now.

Endgame

When the last Planet is discovered, or when a player reaches 77 VP or more, the game ends at the end of the current round. The player with the highest score has blazed the brightest trail across the galaxy, and wins the game! In case of a tie, all tied players are winners!

Team Play for Six or Eight Players

For a six-player game, set up as if for a three-player game. For an eight-player game, set up as if for four players. Divide the players into teams of two partners, facing each other around the table. For example, in a six-player game, partners sit in seats 1 & 4 / 2 & 5 / 3 & 6. Partners share all of their components, acting as one player for all purposes and following all other game rules except as described below.

At the beginning of every round, the available Action cards of each team are shuffled and dealt evenly to the partners. If your team has an uneven number of Action cards (which will occur in the first round, and later will depend on how many Score cards are in your team's Score discard pile), the partner who has the First Player marker (or who follows it earlier in clockwise order) receives the extra card.

During the Planning phase, play goes around the table as normal, beginning with the First player and proceeding clockwise until all of the slots are full (in a six-player game, this means that one partner on each team will play two cards in each round). Partners may not make any comments suggesting what card they are playing or what card their partner should play.

During the Action phase when a card is revealed, the partner who played that card is considered to be the Planner during that card's resolution (including making all Planner decisions, and receiving the First Player marker when a Score card is revealed). The Planner's partner may not offer any advice on how the Planner is to resolve their Action.

After the Planner has resolved their Action, the Planner chooses one partner from each other team (in whatever order they wish) to also resolve the Action. The chosen partner must act without any advice from their own partners.

Two-Player Rules

With two players there are a few small changes to setup and gameplay. Other than the changes described below, all other rules remain the same.

Setup

Set up as normal, removing two Alien planets from the Planet supply as in a three-player game. Shuffle the Singularity cards and set the deck near the Planning board, face down. Place the Singularity token in the marked slot of the Planning board as a reminder.

Planning Phase

Players may not play Actions into the slot with the Singularity token.

Action Phase

When the sequence of Actions reaches the Singularity token's slot, reveal the top Singularity card from the deck. Both players (beginning with the First player if turn order matters) may take advantage of the effect described on the Singularity card. Discard the Singularity card from the game once it is resolved.

Trade Action

After the Planner has traded with the bank and declared that they are finished, the other player may do the same, but at a higher cost. Their first card is traded at 2 identical cards for 1, the second at 3 for 1, etc…

Alien Planets

Whenever you Travel to an Alien planet (even to one that is already discovered), you may peek either at the Singularity card of the current round (if it has not yet been revealed), or at the top Singularity card of the deck, which will come in the next round.

Solo Rules

Setup

1. Choose a color and take all the corresponding components.
2. Create the galaxy using only four Planets of each type, the sun, and the six Stars that appear on your Travel Action cards. Place one random planet next to the sun, and the other ones around the six Stars, following the standard rules.
3. Place one Factory and one Starship on the Starting Planet.
4. Take one Resource card of each type into your hand.
5. Remove these Alien Artifacts from the game: Black Hole Grenade, Black Hole Bomb, Hypnotic Device, and Amnesia Beam.
6. Choose one Mission card, or shuffle them and draw one randomly.
7. Shuffle the Singularity cards and set the deck near the Planning board, face down. Place the Singularity token in the marked slot of the Planning board as a reminder.

Gameplay Changes

During the Planning phase, simply place your three desired Action cards from your hand into the empty slots of the Planning board; they do not need to be face down.

During the Action phase, resolve the Actions in order; when you reach the Singularity marker, apply the effect of the top Singularity card of the deck and then discard it.

Do not worry about any rules that involve the First Player marker.

Special Rules

All of the rules from the two-player game regarding Singularity cards and Alien planets are in effect.

Other than when you Travel to a system and peek at planets, you may not look at undiscovered planets that you've already peeked at; you must rely on memory.

Winning the Game

The game ends after the thirteenth round, which is the end of the round where the Singularity card deck is exhausted. You win if you have fulfilled all of the goals listed on your Mission card!