Four Planets Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal
• Components
• Setup
• Round Sequence
  • 1. Dispatch Spaceships
  • 2. Recruit Specialists
  • 3. Play Specialists
    • Costs and Buying Power
• Specialist Abilities
• Preparing the Next Round
• End of Game and Scoring
• Professional Mode
• Mini-Campaign
• The Boost Tiles

Goal

The goal of the game is to have the most victory points (VP) at the end of the game.

Components

70 cards

• 50 specialists in 5 colours (10 each):
  • 10 red moles (Spaceflight)
  • 10 yellow giraffes (Economy)
  • 10 green toucans (Botany)
  • 10 purple tapirs (Science)
  • 10 blue seals (Exploration)
• 5 overview sheets: 2 per player, plus 1 card-distribution overview (Übersicht zur Kartenverteilung)
• 15 buildings (professional mode only)
• 10 boost tiles
• 14 wooden spaceship parts: 7 white and 7 black
• 1 game board
• 6 coins
• 1 start tile
• 2 exploration markers

Building cards (professional mode only)

The effect text of each building is printed on its card. The manual's component page shows the buildings Observatorium, Tower, Greenhouse (Gewächshaus), Tech-Tornillo and Galactic Bank, but their texts overlap in the illustration, so only fragments are legible there. The fragments that can be read are given below, translated. They are not a complete transcription of the building cards; check the cards themselves for the full wording.

• Observatorium (partly legible, setup): "Setup: Reveal the colour bonus card closest to your opponent. Now you both know it."
• Tower (legible): "Each round: After all spaceships have been dispatched, you decide on which side of the game board the selection of specialists begins (that is, starting with the planet on the far left or the far right)."
• Greenhouse (partly legible, after setup): "Take the top card of the deck that shows ... and place it face up in front of you." The rest of this text is not legible in the manual.
• Tech-Tornillo (partly legible): "Whenever you take a boost tile, instead of using it you may place it on the Tech-Tornillo. At scoring, each boost tile on the Tech-Tornillo is worth 5 VP."
• Galactic Bank (legible): "Once per game: use the Galactic Bank as 1 coin."

Game board

The board shows four planets along a strip, laid out lengthwise between the two players, with a marker showing the planet on the far left from which recruiting may begin.

Coins

Coins form a general supply at the edge of the play area. A coin is yellow on the front and grey on the back.

Setup

1. Sit opposite each other and place the game board lengthwise between you. Place the deck of cards at the edge of the play area and leave room next to it for a discard pile.

2. Black plays against White. Each player takes 4 spaceship parts in the chosen colour. Place the remaining spaceship parts together with the coins as a general supply at the edge of the play area. Each player takes two overview sheets, and the card-distribution overview is placed at the edge of the play area.

3. Shuffle the 50 specialist cards. Place 4 of them face down next to the game board at random. These 4 cards form the secret colour bonus. Each player looks at one colour bonus card: only the one closest to themselves. Do not tell your opponent what the front side shows; place it face down again. Then place your exploration marker in your colour on the card you just looked at. You do not need to memorise this card; you may look at it again at any time.

4. Place 2 specialists face up under each of the 4 planets shown on the game board. Place the remaining specialists face down as a draw deck at the edge of the play area, and leave room next to it for a discard pile.

5. Shuffle the 10 boost tiles face down. Place 5 of them face up. Return the rest to the game box.

   If this is your first game, play with the following five tiles, which are shown in the manual: the tile worth 4 VP, the tile worth 3 VP per own column of 5 or more specialists, the tile worth 3 VP per own set of 5 specialists in 5 different colours, the tile worth 1 VP for the 13th and each further specialist played, and the tile worth 2 VP per own specialist with a buying power of 3 coins.

6. Determine the orientation of the start tile at random and place it lengthwise between you, so that it is clear which player faces the spaceship symbol and which player faces the card symbol.

The building cards are only needed for the professional mode (see page 6).

Round Sequence

The game lasts 5 rounds. Each round consists of the following phases:

1. Dispatch spaceships
2. Recruit specialists
3. Play specialists
4. Prepare the next round (skipped in round 5)

1. Dispatch Spaceships

Starting with the player who faces the spaceship symbol on the start tile, you alternately dispatch your spaceships to the planets. When it is your turn, you dispatch exactly 1 spaceship to 1 planet. To do so, place it below the two specialists assigned to that planet.

You may dispatch a simple spaceship or a built-up spaceship that consists of several spaceship parts. Built-up spaceships are faster and can overtake the less developed spaceships of your opponent. To dispatch a built-up spaceship, place several spaceship parts in your colour next to each other.

You always dispatch exactly 1 spaceship at a time, alternating, until neither of you has any spaceship in front of you. If one player has no spaceship parts left, the other player continues alone until they have none left either.

You may only fly to a planet on which none of your own spaceships is already located. In other words, you may visit each of the four planets only once per round. If an opponent's spaceship is already on the planet, place your own spaceship below it.

It is not allowed to change spaceships that have already been dispatched. For example, you may not later turn a simple spaceship into a built-up spaceship.

Example: Black has already dispatched a simple spaceship to one of the planets in an earlier turn. White now wants to dispatch a simple spaceship there too, and places it below the black spaceship.

2. Recruit Specialists

From each planet on which one of your spaceships is located, you recruit 1 specialist by taking the card into your hand.

Begin with the planet on the far left of the game board (marked on the board) and check which player may choose first there:

• If both players dispatched a spaceship of the same size (for example, both simple spaceships), the player whose spaceship was there first, i.e. the one higher up, chooses first.
• If the spaceships differ in size, the player with the faster spaceship begins. A spaceship made of 3 spaceship parts is faster than one made of 2 parts, which is faster than a simple spaceship, and so on.

After the superior player has taken a specialist, the remaining specialist goes to the inferior player, but only if that player had at least one spaceship dispatched to this planet. You do not receive any specialists from planets to which you did not dispatch spaceships.

You can never receive more than 1 specialist per planet.

Go through the planets one by one. All specialists that remain unclaimed are placed face down on the discard pile.

Example: On the planet on the left, White was there first. Black, however, dispatched a faster spaceship and therefore chooses first from the two specialists; White must take the remaining specialist. On the second planet, Black is also ahead: both dispatched a simple spaceship, but Black was there first. On the third planet, White chooses first. From the planet on the far right, White may choose one of the two specialists. The remaining specialist goes face down onto the discard pile.

3. Play Specialists

The player who faces the card symbol on the start tile now plays specialist cards from their hand in any order. Lay the specialists out in front of you, overlapping and separated by colour into columns. This means there are at most five colour columns in front of each player.

You may keep at most 1 specialist in your hand to take into the next round.

Then the other player plays their specialists.

Costs and Buying Power

Each specialist has a cost of 0, 1 or 2 coins, which you must pay in order to be allowed to play it:

• Cost 0: no payment is needed.
• Cost 1 or 2: you must discard one or more other specialists from your hand whose buying power is equal to or higher than the cost of the specialist you want to play.

Each specialist also has a buying power of 1, 2 or 3 coins. The buying power of a card is always 1 higher than its cost.

You can use the buying power of one discarded specialist to pay the costs of several other specialists, and you can also do the reverse: use the buying power of several discarded specialists to pay the cost of one specialist. Any combination is possible, as long as your buying power covers or exceeds the cost.

Discarded cards are placed face down on the discard pile. You may only discard specialists from your hand, never specialists that have already been played. The buying power is also shown on the back of each card, and it is open information.

Transcription note: the manual's cost-and-buying-power diagram (card front and card back) is illustrative and is described in the text above.

Specialist Abilities

To use the abilities of your played specialists, you form symbol pairs. In most cases you need two specialists of one colour to do so. A few specialists show two symbols on their own. Whenever you form a symbol pair while playing specialists, you immediately trigger the corresponding ability. Only then do you play your further specialists from your hand.

The five symbol pairs and their abilities are:

• Two red spaceship symbols (Spaceflight): Take one spaceship part in your colour from the general supply. You may use it in all following rounds.
• Two yellow coin symbols (Economy): Take one coin from the general supply. Each coin raises your buying power by 1. Whenever you use a coin, turn it over to its grey back side. You may use the coin immediately and in all following rounds. At the end of each round, turn all your coins back to their yellow front side.
• Two green card symbols (Botany): Draw the top card of the deck, look at it without showing it, and place it face down in any colour column in front of you. It may not be placed in an empty column. The face-down card counts as a specialist with 1 symbol of that column's colour. If you form a symbol pair with it, its ability is triggered immediately. The face-down card also counts as a specialist of this colour in final scoring.
• Two purple boost symbols (Science): Take any one face-up boost tile. Some boost tiles give an immediate boost, others give victory points at the end of the game. An explanation of all boost tiles is on page 8 of the manual (see "The Boost Tiles" below).
• Two blue exploration symbols (Exploration): Move your exploration marker one colour bonus card further away from yourself. Look at this card. From now on you may look at all colour bonus cards that your exploration marker has already reached, at any time.

In the rare case that you form a symbol pair and no components of that kind remain, the ability has no effect.

You may own at most 7 spaceships in your colour, and you may move your exploration marker at most 3 times. You may take coins and boost tiles as long as they are available, and you may draw face-down cards from the deck as long as the deck is not completely used up. The discard pile, from which a new deck is formed when needed, also counts for this.

Example: Michael has just played the green specialist, which cost 2 coins. To pay the cost, he discarded a card with buying power 1 and used 1 coin, which he turned over to its grey back side. He had received that coin in an earlier round through a yellow symbol pair.

Because the green specialist shows 2 green symbols, Michael draws a card from the deck and places it face down in the blue column. Because the face-down card now counts as 1 blue symbol, a blue symbol pair is formed, and the blue ability is triggered: he moves his exploration marker forward and looks at the second colour bonus card from his side.

Michael still has a valuable card with cost 2 (buying power 3) in his hand, but he cannot play it because he cannot pay the cost. He keeps it in his hand to play in a future round.

In the next round, Michael could try to take a boost tile or a coin by playing a purple or yellow specialist, because in both cases he is only 1 symbol short.

Preparing the Next Round

The first four rounds end with preparing the next round:

• Prepare the planets: as described in the setup, place 2 face-up specialists under each of the 4 planets again.
• Rotate the start tile so that the spaceship symbol now faces the other player.
• Turn all your coins back to their yellow front side.

In round 5, skip this phase.

End of Game and Scoring

After the 5th round the game ends and scoring takes place.

Discard all cards remaining in your hand, and reveal all colour bonus cards. Now each player adds up their victory points (VP) as follows:

• VP on played cards.
• VP from certain boost tiles.
• Colour bonus: depending on how often a colour appears in the colour bonus, you receive the corresponding number of VP per specialist of that colour that you own:
  • 1 colour bonus card in that colour: 2 VP per specialist of this colour
  • 2 colour bonus cards in that colour: 3 VP per specialist of this colour
  • 3 colour bonus cards in that colour: 4 VP per specialist of this colour
  • 4 colour bonus cards in that colour: 5 VP per specialist of this colour

Example: 1 yellow, 1 blue and 2 green specialists were revealed as colour bonus. For each yellow specialist in front of you, you receive 2 VP; for each blue specialist, 2 VP; and for each green specialist, 3 VP.

The player with the most VP wins Four Planets and has brought fame and honour to their home planet in the galaxy. If both players have exactly the same number of VP, the player who scored more points from the colour bonus wins. If that is still tied, the players must share the victory, and play another game!

Tip: Turn your overview sheets over and take 2 of your spaceship parts. Place one on the 1 side and one on the 10 side to keep track of your victory points.

Professional Mode

If you want more tactical options and wish to focus on particular strategies even more, you can play with the 15 building cards, which grant certain improvements.

Before you set up the game, shuffle the building cards and deal each player 4 of them at random. Each player chooses 2 of these and returns the unchosen cards, together with all remaining building cards, to the game box. Reveal the chosen buildings and set up the game as usual.

Note that the effects of some buildings come into play directly during setup, while others give you permanent advantages or a one-time effect during the game. If a building gives you a one-time effect, turn it over to its back side after you have applied the effect.

Mini-Campaign

The mini-campaign is a series of three games in professional mode, with a number of building cards that increases from game to game. Add up the VP of all three games. After three games, the player with the most VP wins the campaign.

Before the first game: Shuffle the building cards and deal each player 3 of them. Each player chooses 1 of these, places it face up in front of them, and returns the other two face down to the game box. Keep these returned cards separate from the remaining building cards, as you need them for later games.

After the first game: The loser of the first game draws 3 building cards, keeps 1 of them, and passes the other 2 to the winner. The winner may choose 1 of the remaining 2 and returns the other to the game box.

Before the second game: Each player now has 2 buildings, which they place face up in front of them (whether or not they used the effect in the last game). Set up the game as usual, with random boost tiles. The loser of the first game decides in which direction the start tile points.

After the second game: Whoever currently has the lower total VP, i.e. the sum of the VP from the first and second games, draws 3 building cards and keeps 1 of them. The other 2 are passed to the leader, who may choose 1 of the remaining 2 and returns the other to the game box.

Before the third game: Set up as for the second game, but now each player has 3 buildings face up in front of them. Whoever has the lower total VP decides in which direction the start tile points.

After the third game: The player with the higher total VP wins the mini-campaign. In the event of a tie, the player who won the third game wins the mini-campaign.

Note: If you have a tie in total VP after a game, deal each player 3 building cards and let each keep 1 of them. The orientation of the start tile is then determined at random.

The Boost Tiles

Victory points at the end of the game

• 4 VP.
• 3 VP per own column with 5 or more specialists.
• 3 VP per own set of 5 specialists in 5 different colours.
• 1 VP for the 13th and each further specialist played. Example: You have played 17 specialists (including the face-down one from the green ability). You receive 5 victory points.
• 2 VP for each own specialist with a buying power of 3 coins.

Immediate boost

• Immediately search the discard pile and take 1 specialist from it into your hand.
• Immediately draw the top 5 specialists from the deck and look at them. Keep 1 specialist in your hand. Place the remaining 4 specialists back on the deck and shuffle it.
• Immediately attach this boost tile to a specialist column that is not empty. From now on, you pay 1 coin less for each specialist of this colour. (Specialists without a cost do not give back any coins.)
• Immediately place this boost tile on any colour bonus card. Place it so that you do not forget you put it there, and not your opponent (for example, on an edge of the card that faces you). You, and only you, receive 1 additional VP at the end of the game for each of your own specialists of this colour. Your opponent receives the normal colour bonus.
• Immediately attach this boost tile to another boost tile you own and copy its ability. (If by doing so you copy the coin-reduction tile or the colour bonus tile, you may also attach it to other colour bonus cards or columns.)
  • The manual shows the two tile types referred to in the last point as icons; the printed text reads "kopierst du damit [coin-reduction icon] oder [colour bonus icon]".