Metrorunner Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Winning the Game
• Components
• Setup
• Runner Boards
• Character Cards
• How to Play
  • 1. Move
  • 2. Action
  • 3. Cleanup
• Actions
  • Location Actions
  • District Actions
  • District Resources
• Boosts
• Acquire Jobs
• Complete Jobs
  • Starting Jobs
  • Freelance Jobs
  • District Majority
• Rewards & Bonuses
• Ongoing Abilities
• Climb the Tracks
  • Influence Upgrades
• Hack the Network
  • Manipulations
  • Character Manipulations
  • The Skull Tile
  • Brute Force Tokens
  • Hack Rewards
  • District Assets
• Fulfill Contracts
• Game End
• Final Scoring
• Solo Mode
  • Solo Setup
  • Solo How to Play
  • Solo — Resolving an A.I. Card
  • Solo — End Game and Final Scoring
• Credits

Winning the Game

Players earn points by completing jobs, fulfilling contracts, and advancing on both the influence and the notoriety tracks. Earn the most points by the end of the game to be declared the winner of Metrorunner.

Components

• 1 game board (double-sided)
• 5 runner boards
• 5 runner figures
• 5 influence markers
• 5 notoriety markers
• 100 resource cubes (20 each in black, blue, orange, purple, and red)
• 20 credit tokens
• 9 PANOP tiles
• 10 brute force tokens
• 1 start player token
• 10 double-sided upgrade tokens (5 Alpha/triangle, 5 Beta/diamond) — unlocked side and locked side
• 11 character cards, each showing: ongoing abilities, rewards, manipulations, and free actions
• 5 reference cards
• 40 job cards
• 30 network cards
• 1 score pad
• 20 A.I. cards (solo mode)
• 5 starting job cards (1 each in black, blue, orange, purple, and red)
• 4 contract cards
• 10 contract tokens
• 2 rogue tokens (solo mode)

Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the table with the appropriate side up for the player count (1-3 players or 4-5 players).
2. Place all cubes and credit tokens near the board to create a supply.
3. Shuffle the job cards and place them face down above the board to create the job deck.
4. Reveal four cards from the job deck. These cards are called the offer.
5. Place the contract cards face up above the job cards. Place the ten contract tokens randomly on each empty space on the contract cards.
6. Shuffle the network cards. Split them evenly and place the two stacks face up on the spaces in the center of the board.
7. Each player selects a runner board.
8. Each player places the two upgrade tokens matching their player color on the appropriate spaces of their runner boards, locked side up.
9. Each player takes a random character card and places it face up near their runner board.
10. Each player takes their starting cubes as shown on their runner board:
    • Three specific cubes
    • One credit token
    • One starting job card matching their color
    • One random job card from the job deck
11. Each player places the runner figure matching their player color on the hack action space in the district matching their player color.
12. Place the nine PANOP tiles face up randomly on the nine spaces in the middle of the board.
13. Stack the influence markers matching the players' colors in any order on the start space of the influence track.
14. Stack the notoriety markers matching the players' colors in any order on the start space of the notoriety track.
15. The last person to ride a train is the start player. They take the start player token and take the first turn. The marker does not move during the game, as it simply reminds players who took the first turn.

Return any components for unused player colors to the box. The game is ready to begin!

For solo mode, see the Solo Mode section for additional setup.

Runner Boards

Each runner board shows: home district, turn sequence summary, alpha hack upgrade slot, beta hack upgrade slot, boosts reference, cube storage space, completed job slots, and slot bonuses.

Character Cards

Each character card shows a character name, a character manipulation diagram, a character manipulation name, a character manipulation description, and a character backstory, printed on the front and back of the card.

How to Play

Metrorunner is played over a series of turns. Each turn, the player completes a move step, an action step, and a cleanup step.

At any point during their turn, the player may spend credits to purchase boosts (see Boosts).

Play continues until one of the three end-game conditions is triggered.

1. Move

On their turn, the player must advance their runner figure at least one space clockwise on the game board along the metro route, following the arrows. Moving one or two spaces has no cost. The player may advance their figure any number of additional spaces by returning one cube of any color to the supply for each additional space.

Once per move step, a job card may be discarded in place of a single cube. Discard the card to the bottom of the job deck.

Example: Advancing three spaces costs Maggie one cube — zero for the first and second spaces and one for the third.

A figure may not share a space with an opponent's figure. If an opponent's figure is on a space in front of a player's figure, that space is considered inaccessible and does NOT count towards their movement.

Example: An opponent's figure is on the space directly ahead of Maggie's figure, so she skips that space and advances to the next open space as one advancement.

2. Action

After the player completes the move step, they take one action.

3. Cleanup

The player may have at most 5 job cards and 10 cubes at the end of their turn. If they exceed either limit, they must discard cards to the bottom of the job deck and/or return cubes to the supply until they are within the limits.

Once a player's turn is complete, the next player in clockwise order takes their turn.

Actions

There are two types of actions: location and district.

Location Actions

Location actions are represented by the icon on the space occupied by the player's figure.

• Acquire Jobs — Draw two job cards. These cards may be from the offer, the top of the deck, or one from each.
• Collect Assets (4-5 player board only) — Gain two cubes matching the color of the cube depicted.
• Contact Agents (see Climb the Tracks) — Based on the position of the player's notoriety marker, gain one, two, or three cubes of the player's choice. They may be any combination of colors, including multiple cubes of the same color.
• Hack (see Hack the Network) — Attempt to solve a network card by manipulating the PANOP tiles.

District Actions

Instead of taking the location action of the space occupied by the player's figure, the player may choose to take a district action. A district consists of the action spaces and two border spaces that lie within a colored section of the game board.

If on a border location, the player is considered to be in both bordering districts, and may take a district action from either district.

• Collect District Asset — Gain one cube matching the current district's color.
• Complete a Job (see Complete Jobs) — Play a job card that matches the current district, paying its cost.

District Resources

After completing a district action (not a location action), the player then takes all cubes from the district's resource space.

Boosts

On their turn, a player may spend credits to purchase boosts. Boosts are special, immediate abilities that don't count as an action. Multiple boosts may be purchased in the same turn, but the same boost may not be purchased more than once per turn.

One credit boosts:

• Car Service — Instead of the player's move step, they may move to any unoccupied location. This ability may be used to stay in the same location.
• Crash Job Boards — The player returns all cards in the offer to the bottom of the job deck (in any order) and refills the offer with four new cards from the top of the job deck. This may be done before or after the Acquire Jobs action, but not in between taking two job cards.

Two credit boosts:

• Viral Marketing — Advance either the player's influence OR notoriety marker, whichever is lower, by one. If the player's influence and notoriety are at the same level, the player may choose which marker to advance.
• Strong Arm Locals — After taking an action, the player takes a second different available action. Available actions include the location action, and the two district actions. If on a border location, the same district action from two different districts are considered two different actions — for example, a player may use Strong Arm Locals to take the Collect District Asset action in both the purple and red districts, when on the border location between the purple and red districts.

Acquire Jobs

When drawing a job card for any reason, the player may take it from the top of the job deck or from the offer. Acquired job cards are added to the player's hand. Job cards in a player's hand may be completed by taking the Complete a Job district action, or may be discarded in place of a cube when moving, completing a job, or hacking the network. The offer is refilled only after the player has finished acquiring job cards.

Complete Jobs

The player may complete jobs to earn rewards and points, unlock ongoing abilities, and advance the position of their influence and notoriety markers.

Each job card shows a district icon, a job description, a resource cost, a reward, a track reward, a district icon reminder, an ongoing ability, and a point value.

To complete a job, the player's figure must be in the district matching the district of the job card, and the player must follow these steps:

1. Return the cubes indicated by the resource cost to the supply, taking into account any of their ongoing abilities already in play. Once per action, the player may discard one job card in place of a single cube; discard the card to the bottom of the job deck.
2. Gain all rewards listed in the reward section.
3. Advance influence and/or notoriety as shown in the track reward section.
4. Tuck the card under the player's runner board in one of the three completed job slots so that the bottom portion of the card is visible. Each slot may contain at most three completed jobs. A job card may never be moved or discarded from a completed job slot.
5. Gain the slot bonus indicated above the chosen slot.

Starting Jobs

Each player begins the game with a starting job in their color. When completed, it is tucked into one of the three slots below the player's runner board like any other job. If ever discarded, return starting jobs to the box instead of the job deck.

Freelance Jobs

Freelance jobs do not correspond to any single district. They may be completed using the Complete a Job district action in any district. At the end of the game, each completed freelance job card may be assigned to any single requirement on a contract card (see Fulfill Contracts). Freelance jobs do not count toward district majority.

District Majority

At end of game, the player with the most completed jobs matching their home district gains 5 points. Multiple players tied for most get 2 points each instead. Freelance jobs do not count toward district majority.

Example: The red player ends the game with three completed red jobs, while the blue player has two completed blue jobs. The red player earns 5 points.

Rewards & Bonuses

• Gain one cube of the player's choice.
• Gain one credit token.
• Gain one credit token OR two cubes of the player's choice (these may be the same or different colors).
• Gain one job card from the offer or the job deck.
• Gain one brute force token.
• Advance the player's influence marker one space on the influence track.
• Advance the player's notoriety marker one space on the notoriety track.

When gaining cubes for any reason, take advantage of any ongoing abilities already in play.

Ongoing Abilities

Once completed, some job cards grant an ongoing ability. An ongoing ability may only trigger once per action, and is active as soon as the card is placed in a slot. More than one of the same ability may stack, triggering independently.

• When gaining cubes for any reason, if at least one cube matches the depicted color, gain one additional cube of the depicted color from the supply.
• When paying a resource cost, the player may pay one of the depicted cubes in place of another cube.
• When paying a resource cost, pay one fewer cube of the depicted color.

Climb the Tracks

The player may advance their influence marker and notoriety marker to earn points and unlock new upgrades. The influence track represents the strength of the five districts, and the notoriety track represents the infamy of each runner. Multiple markers may occupy the same space; the order in which they are stacked does not matter.

• Point values — At the end of the game, players score points based on the position of each of their markers. If there are no points on the occupied space, score the previous space to the left.
• Influence upgrades — When a player's influence marker reaches or exceeds one of the upgrade spaces, flip over the corresponding upgrade token on the player's runner board, unlocking the associated upgrade.
• Notoriety upgrades — When a player's notoriety marker reaches or exceeds one of the upgrade spaces, they gain two or three cubes of their choice when taking the Contact Agents action.

Influence Upgrades

• Alpha Hack Upgrade — Once unlocked, the player is eligible to complete alpha hacks in addition to core hacks when taking a hack action.
• Beta Hack Upgrade — Once unlocked, the player is eligible to complete beta hacks in addition to core hacks and alpha hacks when taking a hack action.

If an action would cause either an influence or notoriety marker to advance beyond the end of the track, that marker does not advance past the final space.

Hack the Network

The player may hack a network card to earn rewards and advance the position of their notoriety marker.

Each network card has two core hack nodes with green circles and two bonus hack nodes with a blue diamond (alpha) and a pink triangle (beta). When hacking, the player manipulates the PANOP tiles to create a single continuous path that connects the two core hack nodes (in green) on one of the face-up network cards.

Each network card shows a hack target name, core hack nodes, a bonus hack node (alpha), a bonus hack node (beta), a core hack reward, a bonus hack (alpha) reward, a bonus hack (beta) reward, and a district cube placement.

To take a hack action:

1. Cycle a network card (optional) — Once per hack action, a player may cycle a network card: take one of the two visible network cards and place it on the bottom of its deck, revealing a new one.
2. Declare which visible network card to attempt.
3. Manipulate the PANOP tiles — The player may manipulate the tiles up to two times at no cost. If a player wishes to perform additional manipulations, they may do so by returning one cube of any color to the supply for each additional manipulation (see Manipulations). Once per action, the player may discard one job card in place of a single cube; discard the card to the bottom of the job deck.

The hack action ends when the player chooses to stop.

• The hack action is successful when the two green core hack nodes are connected via paths on the PANOP tiles. The player gains the core hack reward.
• If the player has one or both upgrades, they may also complete the alpha and/or beta bonus hacks by connecting these nodes to the core hack path. The player receives the corresponding rewards in addition to the core hack reward.
• The hack action is unsuccessful if the player is unable or chooses not to complete the core hack. No rewards are collected. Cycle the attempted network card, and place it on the bottom of its deck, revealing a new one.

Manipulations

• Rotate — Rotate one tile 90° in either direction.
• Swap — Swap the position of two adjacent tiles (vertically or horizontally).
• Shift — Remove one tile from either end of a row or column, and shift the remaining two tiles in that row or column to fill its space. Then, place the removed tile in the empty space on the opposite side.

Rotate, Swap, and Shift manipulations may be used more than once during a single hack action.

Character Manipulations

Each character has a unique manipulation that is detailed on their character card. Character manipulations count as one of the player's manipulations, but can only be used once per hack action.

The Skull Tile

The skull tile is unique among the PANOP tiles. Paths cannot pass through the skull tile. Players can manipulate it in the same way as other PANOP tiles, but brute force tokens may not be used to affect the skull tile.

Brute Force Tokens

A brute force token may be placed on any non-skull PANOP tile as a free action in order to temporarily turn the target tile into a 4-way intersection. Therefore, a PANOP tile with a brute force token can create a connection to all four adjacent tiles. Only one brute force token may be placed per hack action, and is returned to the supply after the hack action is completed.

Hack Rewards

After completing a successful network action, gain the indicated rewards for the core hack as well as any additional rewards for completed eligible bonus hacks: advance the player's notoriety by one, gain a credit token, or gain a cube of the player's choice, depending on the reward shown.

District Assets

After all rewards have been claimed, the player flips the network card over. Place cubes from the supply in the indicated resource spaces on the game board, then discard the network card to a discard pile. If either of the decks ever runs out, shuffle the discarded network cards and create a new deck.

Fulfill Contracts

The player may fulfill contracts by completing specific combinations of jobs to earn points at the end of the game. Each contract card has two or three contract tokens, placed during setup, that each represent a requirement of a single job.

Each contract card shows a name, token spaces, contract tokens (placed during setup), and a point value.

To fulfill a contract, a player needs to have one completed job matching each requirement on the contract in the same completed job slot.

• Any number of players may fulfill the same contract.
• Each completed job slot may only be used to fulfill a single contract.
• No contract may be fulfilled more than once by the same player.

A player may fulfill up to three of the four contracts, since the player's runner board has only three completed job slots.

Example: Ramona has completed seven jobs. Her first slot contains a blue job, a red job, and a freelance job. She uses the freelance job as a black job to claim five points from the military contract. Her second slot contains a purple job and an orange job, with which she claims three points from the espionage contract. Her third slot does not match any of the available contracts.

Game End

The game end is triggered when any of the following occurs:

1. An influence marker or notoriety marker crosses the highlighted end-game line.
2. A player completes their ninth job card.
3. The job deck (not the offer) is empty.

After the game end is triggered, the current player finishes their turn and play continues until all players have had an equal number of turns. Each player then takes one final turn, ending with the player to the right of the player with the start player token. Once all players have completed their final turn, proceed to final scoring.

Final Scoring

Using the scorepad, total each player's points:

• Completed Jobs — Earn points for each completed job card.
• Fulfilled Contracts — Earn points for each fulfilled contract.
• Influence Track — Earn points based on the position of the player's marker on the influence track.
• Notoriety Track — Earn points based on the position of the player's marker on the notoriety track.
• District Majority — Each player counts the number of jobs they have completed matching their home district. The player with the most completed jobs matching their home district earns 5 points. In the case of a tie, each tied player earns 2 points instead.
• Leftover Cubes/Job Cards/Tokens — Earn 1 point for every five of the following resources left in the player's area in any combination: cubes, credit tokens, brute force tokens, and unplayed job cards.

The player with the most points is the winner and is declared the greatest runner in Mirror City!

• If tied, the tied player whose influence marker is furthest to the right wins.
• If still tied, the tied player whose notoriety marker is furthest to the right wins.
• If still tied, the tied player with the most completed jobs wins.
• If still tied, the players share the victory.

Solo Mode

The corporations have heard rumblings of an underground network of runners attempting to disrupt their goals in Mirror City. In response, the corps have unleashed a Rogue A.I. to obstruct the runners' plans and short-circuit a potential uprising.

Solo Setup

Set up the game in the same way as a two-player game, with the following changes. The A.I. does not receive a runner board, character card, or starting cards/cubes.

1. Place the two rogue tokens on the two hack action locations in the districts adjacent to your starting district on the game board.
2. Choose an unused player color to represent the A.I. and place the matching influence marker and notoriety marker on the start spaces of their respective tracks.
3. Shuffle the 20 A.I. cards and place them face down near the game board to create the A.I. deck.

The start player token is not used when playing solo mode.

Solo How to Play

In solo mode, you alternate turns with the Rogue A.I. until the end of the game is triggered. The Rogue A.I. does not gain or complete jobs, nor do they collect resources or score points.

You take the first turn. Your turn is identical to that of the multiplayer game. Once your turn is complete, reveal the top card of the A.I. deck and complete the Rogue A.I.'s turn. There are four steps to the A.I.'s turn:

1. Move
2. Compare notoriety
3. Take actions
4. Advance tracks

Each A.I. card shows move instructions, a left notoriety comparison, a right notoriety comparison, a left set of actions, a right set of actions, a left track advancement, and a right track advancement.

Solo — Resolving an A.I. Card

1. Move. Complete the A.I.'s move step by moving both rogue tokens on the game board based on the icons on the A.I. card: the gold rogue token may move forward one space, the silver rogue token may move forward three spaces, or the rogue tokens may move to the spaces indicated, relative to your figure.

In some rare cases, one rogue token may move to a space occupied by the other token. When this happens, the token being moved skips to the next open space.

2. Compare notoriety. Compare the position of your notoriety marker to the A.I.'s on the notoriety track. If your marker is on the same space or to the left of the A.I.'s marker, execute the set of actions on the left side of the card. If your marker is to the right of the A.I.'s marker, execute the set of actions on the right side of the card.

Example: Ramona (blue) compares her notoriety with the A.I. and determines that, since she is to the right of the A.I., the A.I. executes the right side of the card.

3. Take actions. Execute the corresponding set of actions (left set or right set) on the A.I. card: discard the corresponding job card from the offer and refill it; cycle the corresponding network card to the bottom of its deck; carry out the indicated PANOP tile manipulation(s); place the indicated cube in the indicated district; or return all cubes to the supply from the district containing the depicted rogue token (if the rogue token is on a border location, both districts are affected).

4. Advance tracks. Advance the Rogue A.I.'s influence or notoriety markers according to the corresponding section (left set or right set) on the A.I. card.

Example: Ramona reveals the top card of the A.I. deck and resolves it. She moves the silver rogue token two spaces behind her figure, and then moves the gold rogue token to the space directly in front of her figure. Then she compares notoriety, and determines that the Rogue A.I. will take the right set of actions. She discards the third available job card from the offer and refills it, then discards all cubes from the district(s) occupied by the gold rogue token. Finally, she advances the Rogue A.I.'s influence marker two spaces.

Solo — End Game and Final Scoring

The end game is triggered by any of the same three conditions as the multiplayer game: an influence marker or notoriety marker crosses the end-game line, you complete a ninth job, or the job deck (not the offer) is empty.

• If this occurs while resolving an A.I. card, take one more turn without resolving another A.I. card.
• If this occurs during your turn, resolve a final A.I. card and take one final turn.

Calculate your final score as in the multiplayer game, with the following exception: instead of district majority, score 1 point for each completed job of your color.

Compare your score to the chart below to see how well you outmaneuvered the Rogue A.I. and how you rank among the elite hackers of Mirror City's underworld:

Score	Rank
76 or higher	Prime Runner
71-75	Alpha Replicant
66-70	Synth Scanner
61-65	L33t Sysop
51-60	Shadow User
41-50	Dystopian Noob
40 or lower	Corporate Punk

Credits

Game Design: Stephen Kerr. Development: Keith Matejka, Joe Pilkus. Illustration: Ignacio Bazan Lazcano, Ariel Anabitarte, Nicolas Zacaria & Matias Traberg. Graphic Design: Stephen Kerr, Luis Francisco & Shy Lev-Ari. Narrative: Seth Johnson & Stephen Kerr. Miniature Sculpting: Dan Cunningham. Tray and Token Design: Dan Cunningham. Editing: Jonathan Cox & Keith Matejka.

For additional information or support, visit thunderworksgames.com. © 2024 Thunderworks Games, LLC. All rights reserved.