Big*Bang
Big*Bang Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
A Big*Bang set includes:
- 1 board & 3 white victory tokens.
- 84 'particles', 21 of each of the 4 types:
- red = protons
- blue = neutrons
- black = antiprotons
- grey = antineutrons
The first two types (protons and neutrons) make up matter. The last two (antiprotons and antineutrons) make up antimatter.
The board represents an elongated and irregular hexagonal grid with 84 circles, on which the particles will be placed. The background picture evokes the cartography of the temperature difference in the "cosmic microwave background", the light flash that followed the annihilation of matter and antimatter, measured by the WMAP satellite.
Both players fill the board randomly with the 84 particles ∗, and then the younger one chooses to be:
- The player, using matter (red protons & blue neutrons).
- The antiplayer, using antimatter (black antiprotons & grey antineutrons).
Players sit on their respective side of the board (top for the antiplayer on the picture). You should avoid direct contact, if you don't want to annihilate! The elder player starts.
Both players alternate turns trying to: produce light by annihilating particles; fuse theirs into Helium stacks; and build the most massive star (group).
* We suggest to mix them all on the board, split them in four groups towards each corner, readjust the groups if needed, and then place them on the circles starting from each corner.
Particles & Nuclei
Particles start alone on a circle, but during the game they may Fuse to form nuclei (stacks), or Annihilate to disappear into light. The only stack combinations allowed by Physics are noted on the charts at each side of the board:
- With 0 protons, the neutron.
- With 1 proton, the three forms of Hydrogen (with 0, 1 or 2 neutrons), known as H1, H2 and H3.
- With 2 protons, two forms of Helium (with 1 or 2 neutrons), known as He3 and He4.
Exactly the same ones exist with antimatter (on the right), and are usually noted with "anti-" or a 'bar' over the symbol, but in the following we may use the same name for simplicity. All other combinations are forbidden! In short, you cannot have more than 2 protons or neutrons per stack, and not only 2 of them alone †.
† Two combinations are allowed but unstable (in yellow), the neutron and H3. They stabilize after a given time 'decaying' (one neutron becomes a proton) respectively into the corresponding H1 and He3. But in the base game you can forget about this and consider all of them stable!
Player Turn
Every turn you may choose one action:
-
Fusion. Move a stack of yours to an adjacent circle, or along a straight line of empty circles, in order to place it on top of another stack of yours. You cannot fuse into a forbidden combination, though. The manual's examples:
- two H2 stacks (one proton and one neutron each) fuse into He4 (four particles, two protons and two neutrons)
- two single protons fuse into a 2-proton stack → forbidden (He2 does not exist)
-
Annihilation. Move a stack of yours to an adjacent circle, or along a straight line of empty circles, towards exactly the 'mirror' (equivalent) stack from your opponent ‡. Remove both from the board and keep their particles in front of you as a reserve of light that you have produced. The manual's examples:
- an H2 stack moving onto the equivalent opposite-matter H2 stack → H2 annihilation: both stacks are removed and their four particles go to your reserve of light
- a three-particle stack moving toward a three-particle stack that is not its mirror → forbidden (He3/H3 are not mirror)
‡ In order to better distinguish the two possible stacks of 3 particles (He3 and H3), we suggest to always order them so that He3 has a proton on top and H3 has a neutron.
If you cannot or do not want to, you may pass. However, if both players pass consecutively, the game ends!
Game End
Once both players have passed consecutively, check the three victory conditions that are printed on each side of the board:
- Light. Count the number of particles on your reserve, that represent the light you have produced through annihilation. Place a victory token on your 'light' space if your number is higher.
- Helium. Count the number of He4 nuclei on the board. Place a victory token on your 'Helium' space if your number is higher. In case of a draw, count also the He3 nuclei.
- Star. A linked group of nuclei from one player is considered a star. At the endgame, count the maximum number of particles in one of your stars. Place a victory token on your 'star' space if you have built the most massive one (the one with more particles).
The player or antiplayer with more victory tokens wins! If you play a series of games, keep the token score.
However, there is an automatic victory condition. If at any time during the game you create a linked group of three contiguous He4 (in any shape), as shown in the manual for matter and for antimatter (antiHe4):
they are supposed to fuse into Carbon (a stack of 6 protons and neutrons) and you win! Carbon, the basis of life, is in fact created inside stars with this reaction, 3 He4 → C12. During a series of games, count this victory as 3-0.
Variants
These simple variants can be used together or individually to increase variety and introduce some new challenges.
1. SMALL*BANG
For a shorter Big*Bang experience, put 6 particles of each type back in the bag, and play thus with 15 protons and neutrons. Therefore, 24 circles will start empty.
2. MASS
The production of light is not a victory condition, only the production of Helium and of the most massive star are. Annihilation fills a common reserve beside the board.
3. GRAVITY
When you use Fusion, you can move both stacks towards each other, and choose the location of the fused stack along the line defined by the two initial circles. The manual's example starts from H2 + H1 with two empty circles between them, and prints the four possible outcomes. Each is shown as an arrow sequence (→ and ← give the direction of each step) with the resulting fused stack drawn on the line:
- →→→
- →→←
- →←←
- ←←←
4. DARKNESS
During setup, replace 1 particle of each type with any 4 tokens at hand (small cubes, coins...). They represent dark matter, that does not interact with the particles on the board. Treat those 4 tokens as fixed obstacles that cannot be crossed in the way to Fusion or Annihilation.
5. TIME
For a deeper (and closer to Physics) Big*Bang experience, you may consider the time dimension related to the unstable stacks (with yellow background) by adding a third option to your turn choice:
- Decay. If protons become available in your reserve, from previous annihilations, choose any one unstable stack (neutron or H3, yours or not) and replace a neutron with its corresponding proton:
- H3 decay: a three-particle H3 stack becomes He3 (the neutron is replaced by a proton)
- neutron decay: a single neutron becomes a single proton
The removed neutron goes to your reserve, so that its size does not change. Therefore, every turn you have now the choice between: Fusion, Annihilation, Decay, or pass.
We suggest to split your reserve into neutrons and protons (the manual's symbols: red & black), so that it is straightforward when the latter are available. Moreover, you should order the composite stacks so that the stable ones (H2, He3, He4) have a proton on top, and the unstable one (H3) has a neutron. In this way, the particle on top of the stack tells you at a glance which ones are unstable (the manual's symbols: blue & grey) and may decay.
Solitaire Puzzles
If you want to enjoy Big*Bang on your own, we propose the following puzzles. In all of them set up the game as usual, but now there are no matter and antimatter turns! Just keep choosing Fusion or Annihilation of any type of pieces, until you cannot or do not want to §.
These are the puzzles, by increasing difficulty:
- Universe of Light. Annihilate all the particles. The number of particles left is your (negative) score.
- Parallel Universes. Create stars of matter and antimatter separated by at least one empty space with the minimum Annihilation possible. The number of annihilated particles is your (negative) score.
- Universe of Life. Create Carbon and antiCarbon nuclei (groups of three contiguous He4 or antiHe4 in any shape). Their number is your score (maximum of 6).
§ You may also solve them as a cooperative exercise between two players, that would as usual alternate matter and antimatter turns.