GemPacked Cards
GemPacked Cards Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
The objective of GemPacked Cards is to be the player with the most victory points at the end of the game by leveling up and saving the Geminos. Mix and match their colors to gather as many as you can and load them up in their rocket ships to the stars.
Components
- 110 Cards (2 decks of 49, 12 Goal Cards)
- 100 tokens (2 packs)
- Instructions
Lexicon
- Gemino Pip
- Gemino Square
- Gemino Diamond
Game Play
Players collect Gemino Pips (2) to buy Gemino Squares (1).
Players use Pips, Squares and/or Diamonds to buy Rocket Cards, Sun, Red Dwarf and/or Nova Cards.
Players can even sell their Squares to get Pips of different colors to buy new Squares.
Set Up 2-3 Players
Select GemPacked Cards gold deck. See diagram on page 3.
- Shuffle the Rocket Cards - draw two more than the total number of players and place as shown.
- For 2 players, place the Sun Card and the Nova Card face up (open mouth) on the table. For 3 players, add the Red Dwarf Card.
- Select the gold-backed Gemino Pip Tokens and put them face down on the table in a Gemino Pip Pile. For a 3 player game, add 10 random blue-backed tokens. Each player then draws 2 tokens out of the pile.
- Shuffle the GemPacked Cards gold deck and deal out 9 cards, face up in a 3x3 grid on the table.
- If an Action Card is dealt, ignore and remove from the grid. Replace the card immediately. If more than three Diamonds are dealt, remove the excess from the grid and replace with new cards.
- Afterwards, reshuffle the GemPacked Cards gold deck and place this Draw Deck next to the Sun and Nova Cards.
- Played or sold cards are placed in the Discard Pile.
- If all cards are used, this pile is reshuffled and becomes a new Draw Deck.
- Played are placed face up in a . The starts empty.
(Setup diagram: Rocket Cards above, then Sun, Red Dwarf (3-player only) and Nova Cards, the 3x3 grid of cards, the Draw Deck, the Discard Pile, the Gemino Pip Pile and the Common Pool.)
Set Up 4-5 Players
Setup is the same as 2-3 players, with the following adjustments:
- Select GemPacked Cards gold AND blue decks. Shuffle all these cards together as one deck.
- Deal out a 4x3 grid of cards instead of 3x3.
- If more than four Diamonds are dealt, remove the excess from the grid and replace with new cards.
- During the game, players may only refresh the grid when there are 9 or more Gemino Diamonds showing (see Turn Actions on pg 6).
- Remember, the number of Rocket Cards are equal to the total amount of players plus two.
- Place Sun/Nova Cards as follows:
- 4 Players: 2 Sun, 1 Red Dwarf, 2 Nova
- 5 Players: 2 Sun, 2 Red Dwarf, 2 Nova
- Add random blue-backed tokens:
- 4 Players: 30 tokens
- 5 Players: 50 tokens (all tokens used)
Playing the Game
The cutest player goes first.
Players will be buying Squares, Diamonds, or the Sun, Red Dwarf, Nova, and Rocket cards (all worth victory points). All cards and tokens are played face up. When the last Pip Token is drawn, each player has one remaining turn before the game ends and players tally up the score.
Turn Actions
- At the start of a player's turn, if 7 or more of the cards on the board are Diamonds (or if 9 are Diamonds for a 4-5 player game), the player may refresh the whole grid from the Draw Deck. If an Action Card is dealt, ignore and remove from the grid.
- At the start of each player's turn, that player draws 2 Gemino Pip Tokens from the table and places them face up in front of them.
They may perform any of the following actions, in any order, as many times as they choose:
- Buy a Square from the card grid by paying 2 Pips that could create that Square's color to the Common Pool. See page 8.
- Buy a Diamond from the card grid by paying 2 Squares that could create that Diamond's color to the Discard Pile. See page 8.
- Sell a Square for 2 Pips that could create that Square's color. Pips are drawn from the Common Pool. Pips must be available and drawn from the Common Pool. Squares go to the Discard Pile.
- Buy a Sun Card or Red Dwarf Card using 3 Pips or 5 Pips (respectively) of any combination of colors. Buy a Nova Card using 3 Squares of any combination of colors. Buy a Rocket Card using the geminos shown on the card face.
Turn End
- At the end of their turn, the active player refills any spaces on the board from the Draw Deck. If any Action Cards appear, those cards are resolved immediately, starting with the next player and going clockwise around the table. The used Action Card is then placed in the Discard Pile and a new card is drawn to refill the space on the board.
The End of the Game
When the last Gemino Pip is drawn, each player gets one remaining turn, starting with the active player (that player does not go again).
Players then score their cards (including Sun, Red Dwarf, Nova, and Rocket Cards). Victory Points are listed on each card, but you may also refer to the scoring chart on page 10.
The player with the most Victory Points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most Pips remaining wins. If there is still a tie, everyone rejoices!
Advanced Play
In this variant, you play 3 rounds instead of one. The winner has the most Victory Points in total from all 3 rounds.
The first player does not start with any Pips. The second player starts with 1 Pip and the remaining players start with 2 Pips. First player rotates each round.
- Round 1: Standard rules
- Round 2: When drawing Pips, place the first face down (only the player knows) and the rest face up on the table.
- Round 3: When drawing Pips, place all face down on the table. Any cards bought from the board are kept face down until they are sold or scored.
Combining Geminos
- Gemino Square is created by combining 2 Gemino Pips.
- Gemino Diamond is created by combining 2 Gemino Squares.
| Result | Made from |
|---|---|
| Blue Square | blue Pip + blue Pip |
| Red Square | red Pip + red Pip |
| Yellow Square | yellow Pip + yellow Pip |
| Purple Square | purple Pip + purple Pip, or red Pip + blue Pip |
| Orange Square | orange Pip + orange Pip, or yellow Pip + red Pip |
| Green Square | green Pip + green Pip, or blue Pip + yellow Pip |
| Blue Diamond | blue Square + blue Square |
| Red Diamond | red Square + red Square |
| Yellow Diamond | yellow Square + yellow Square |
| Purple Diamond | purple Square + purple Square, or red Square + blue Square |
| Orange Diamond | orange Square + orange Square, or yellow Square + red Square |
- Wild Gemino Pips and Squares may be used in the place of another Pip or Square when buying a normal color (not when selling).
- Wild Gemino Squares and Diamonds can be bought as pictured below. Non-wild Pips/Squares must be unique colors (you can't trade for 2 red and a wild). Ths is also true when selling a wild Square.
- Wild Square = wild Pip + wild Pip, or wild Pip + any 2 different Pips, or any 4 different Pips
- Wild Diamond = wild Square + wild Square, or wild Square + any 2 different Squares, or any 4 different Squares
- A player can only get a wild Pip from the Gemino Pip Pile or from selling a wild Square. A player may not get a wild Pip by selling any other color.
Action Cards
Chomet
Each player MUST select 1 card adjacent or diagonal to the Chomet and place it in the Discard Pile, then remove the Chomet.
(If no cards are available, the Chomet is removed.)
Small Asteroid
Each player draws 1 random Pip from the Gemino Pip Pile.
Medium Asteroid
Each player draws 2 random Pips from the Gemino Pip Pile. Players alternate drawing Pips one at a time.
Large Asteroid
Each player draws 3 random Pips from the Gemino Pip Pile. Players alternate drawing Pips one at a time.
Sun
One player may buy the Sun Card for 3 Pips of any color. The player then flips the card over and places it in her hand. It is worth 1 Victory Point.
Red Dwarf
One player may buy the Red Dwarf Card for 5 Pips of any color. The player then flips the card over and places it in her hand. It is worth 2 Victory Points.
Nova
One player may buy the Nova Card for 3 Squares of any color. The player then flips the card over and places it in her hand. It is worth 6 Victory Points.
Rocket Cards
A player may buy a Rocket Card using only the specific Geminos listed, paying all at once (a wild Pip/Square may be substituted). The player then flips the card over and places it in her hand. Rocket Cards are worth 9 or 11 Victory Points.
Scoring
| Victory Points | Cards |
|---|---|
| 11 | Rocket Card (11) |
| 9 | Rocket Card (9) |
| 8 | Wild Diamond |
| 6 | Nova |
| 5 | Red, Yellow or Blue Diamond |
| 3 | Orange, Purple or Green Diamond |
| 2 | Red Dwarf |
| 1 | Any Square (orange, green, purple, red, blue, yellow, wild) and Sun |