Great Scott! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Aim of the Game
• Inventions
  • Asset Cards
  • Concept Cards
• How to Play
  • 1. Setup
  • 2. Turn Order
  • 3. Presentations
  • 4. Scoring
• Scoring Example

Components

1. 60 Asset cards: 20 each of Animal, Mineral, and Vegetable.
2. 90 Concept cards: 30 each of Productive, Destructive, and Transportive, split into three decks: Primary (I), Central (II), Final (III).
3. 30 Commendation mini cards - 15 one point cards, and 15 two point cards.
4. 24 Commission expansion cards and 1 rules card.
5. 5 Player Aid cards.

Aim of the Game

The goal of Great Scott! is to amass the highest number of points at the end of three rounds. A game consists of three rounds, with five turns in each round. Players draft cards to build and score one invention each per round.

Inventions

Each invention is made up of three Concept and two Asset cards, which must end up in the correct order. Cards can be played in any order but must end up in the following formation. The diagram shows a finished invention: a Colossal Cactus Burning Bee Booster!

Cards in an invention will be different every time, but the card positions must always follow this structure: Primary Concept, Asset, Secondary Concept, Asset, Final Concept.

Asset Cards

The three important things to know about Asset cards are their name, type, and value. Asset cards have visual reminders of their type: all Assets have an illustration and one of three distinct border colours and icons.

1. Border colour: Animal - red. Mineral - blue. Vegetable - green.
2. Card name.
3. Illustration.
4. Asset icon (Animal, Mineral, Vegetable).
5. Card value (1 - 3).

Concept Cards

Instead of an illustration, Concept cards have a Roman numeral from I - III. These indicate the position the card takes in an invention. Concept cards also have distinct border colours and icons.

1. Border colour. Destructive: purple. Productive: yellow. Transportive: orange.
2. Card name.
3. Concept position.
4. Concept icon (Destructive, Productive, Transportive).
5. Card value (1 - 3).

How to Play

1. Setup

1. Separate the cards into decks based on their backs: Assets, Primary, Central, and Final Concepts.
2. Split the Asset cards in half and place the resulting five decks face down in this order: Primary Concept, Asset, Central Concept, Asset, Final Concept.
3. Each player takes one Player Aid card and six Commendation cards: three one point cards and three two point cards.
4. Each player places their Commendation cards face up next to the "Commendations Out" area of their Player Aid card.
5. Each player draws a hand of ten cards, two from each deck.
6. The player who owns the oldest mobile telephone becomes the start player.

2. Turn Order

1. Each player draws one card from any deck.
2. All players select one card from their hand and play it face down in front of them.
3. When everyone has played a card, all cards are revealed simultaneously and left face up in front of their owner.
4. Each inventor passes their hand of 10 cards to the player on their left and goes back to step 1. At the end of turn five, when all players have constructed a five-card invention, proceed to the Presentations step.

3. Presentations

1. Beginning with the start player, each player has approximately one minute to read out the name of their finished invention and explain to the group what it does and how it works.
2. After all players have presented their inventions, each player privately decides on their first and second favourite invention. After a count of three, each inventor must give the owner of their favourite and second favourite invention one face down Commendation card from their supply. A two point card must go to each player's favourite, and a one point card to their second favourite. A player may not give themself a commendation card, nor may they give more than one card to another player.

Awarded Commendation cards are kept face down next to the "Commendations In" area of the Player Aid card, and are used in the final round of Scoring.

4. Scoring

The start player should note down the score for each invention. Each invention is scored as follows:

1. Value. Total of the value of cards in the invention.
2. Assets. Add 2 points if both Asset cards share the same type. e.g., both Animal.
3. Concepts. Add 2 points for a pair of matching Concept types, or 4 points for three matching Concepts.
4. Alliteration. Points are added for consecutive cards with names that begin with the same letter: Add 2 points for two matching, 4 points for three, 6 points for four, and 8 points for all five.
5. After scoring rounds one and two, each player discards their hand and draws a new hand of ten cards, two from each deck. If necessary, shuffle discarded cards to form new draw decks.
6. After scoring round three, total each player's score for all three of their inventions. Then, each player reveals any Commendation cards they were awarded during the game and adds the points to their total. This gives a grand total and determines who takes the title of Royal Inventor and wins the game. In the case of a tie, the player who was awarded the most points from Commendation cards is the winner. If the game is still tied, the player with the oldest mobile telephone is the winner.

Scoring Example

The invention on page 2 of this document scores as follows:

1. Add values: 3 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 10 points.
2. Matching Assets (none) + 0 = 10 points.
3. Matching Concepts (two Productive) + 2 = 12 points.
4. Alliteration (one pair, one trio) + 2 + 4 = 18 points.

Invention Total: 18 points.

5. Points from Commendation cards awarded over the course of the game are added to each player's points total after scoring round three.