Neuroriders Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Objective
• Set Up
• How to Play
  • Exploration
• Action Cards
• Crystallization
• End of the Game
• Scoring
• Credits

Contents

• 4 Neurorider meeples (orange, green, white, and pink)
• 4 Memory counters (orange, green, white, and pink)
• 4 Crystallization counters (black)
• 12 Hidden Agenda cards
• 12 Action cards (3 per player)
• 1 Score pad
• 1 Starting Room tile — multicolored doors count as all colors
• 1 First-player marker
• 1 Memory board
• 28 Memory Room tiles — each tile contains coordinates in the center of the room and doors of different colors along the edge

Objective

Compete against your opponents by increasing the Memory sections that match the colors on your Hidden Agenda card to obtain Victory Points (VPs). To do so, make the Neuroriders explore by playing Memory Room tiles, requiring them to pass through doors that match the colors you're looking for. Get as many memories as you can before the mind's Crystallization wipes them out… and the Neuroriders!

Set Up

1. Shuffle and stack all the Memory Room tiles face down.
2. Draw and place 4 Rooms face up near the Room pile to form the Room lineup.
3. Place the Starting Room face up in the center of the table, so that a corner is pointing at each player. Place the 4 Neurorider meeples on it.
4. Place the Memory board within reach of all players. Place each of the 4 Memory Counters near the section matching its color. Place 1 Crystallization counter near each section of the Memory board.
5. Give each player a set of the three different Action cards (see Action Cards), and randomly deal 1 Room face down to each player. Take the Hidden Agenda cards, shuffle them, and deal 1 card face down to each player. Players shouldn't show their Hidden Agenda to anyone!
6. The player with the best long-term memory in real life receives the First-player marker.

How to Play

Neuroriders is played over consecutive rounds until the end of the game is triggered (see End of the Game). Each round has 2 phases: 1) Exploration and 2) Crystallization.

Exploration

1. On your turn, choose 1 Room from the Room lineup and add it to your hand. You should have 2 Rooms in your hand.

2. Before playing a Room, you may choose to play 1 (and only 1) Action card (see Action Cards). After that, play 1 Room from your hand. You must connect it to at least another Room already in play through at least 1 of its Doors.

3. Check the coordinates in the center of the Room that you placed. These show which Neuroriders must move toward this Room. Count the number of Rooms connected by Doors a Neurorider must move in order to reach the new Room. If it must move 1 or 2 Rooms, it moves. If it must move more than 2 Rooms, it does not move. A Neurorider must always take the shortest route to a newly placed Room. If multiple routes are tied for the shortest, you choose whichever you prefer.

   Example: the recently placed Room connects 2 orange Doors and a white and pink Door. It also has the white's and orange's Neuroriders Coordinates. This means that, if they're in range, the orange and white Neuroriders will move into the new Room.

4. Move the activated Neuroriders, and check if any of them pass through connected Doors of the same color. If so, increase the Memory section on the Memory board that matches the color of the connected Doors by 1 each time this happens for each activated Neurorider. If the color of the connected Doors matches the Neurorider's color as well, increase the appropriate Memory section by 2 instead. Passing through connected Doors that don't match in color doesn't generate any Memories.

   Note: If, at any time, a Memory counter reaches 20 Memories on the Memory board, that section is decreased to 10 Memories, and the game ends immediately (see End of the Game).

   Now the player to your left takes their turn. When the Room lineup runs out, the Crystallization phase will take place after that turn (see Crystallization).

   Note: The Doors of the Starting Room are considered multicolored. They always match the color of the Door connected to them.

   Example: the white and orange Neuroriders move to the recently placed Room. The first one passes through a white Door, increasing the white Memory section by 2, then passes through an orange Door increasing the orange Memory section by 1. The orange Neurorider passes through a mismatching Door, so this doesn't increase any Memory section.

Action Cards

The Crystallization of the mind is detrimental to your objectives. Luckily, you have a few tools at your disposal to help you. On your turn, before placing a Room, you may activate 1 Action card by discarding it.

Move (A) — Move a Neurorider to an adjacent Room. This doesn't generate any Memories. No connected Doors are needed for this movement.

Rotate 180° (B) — Rotate a previously placed Room by 180°.

Relocate (C) — Move a Room to a new location. You must be able to connect at least 1 of its Doors to a Door on another Room. Any Neuroriders on the Room relocate with it. You cannot leave a Room completely disconnected from others, even if it is already Crystallized.

Crystallization

The Crystallization phase occurs at the end of the player's turn when the last Room is taken from the Room lineup.

1. In the first Crystallization phase, the Starting Room and all Rooms adjacent to it are flipped face down. If any black Rooms are adjacent to any of the Rooms that were flipped face down, flip them face down as well; this could cause a chain reaction if multiple black Rooms are adjacent to each other. In future Crystallization phases, all Rooms adjacent to the Starting Room or to any already Crystallized Rooms are flipped face down.

   Example: the neighboring Rooms to the Starting Room and to already Crystallized Rooms will be Crystallized (flipped face down). The black Room gets Crystallized as well, since the Room adjacent to it was Crystallized.

2. Next, whoever has the First-player marker places the Starting Room adjacent to at least 1 non-Crystallized Room. You cannot leave a Room completely disconnected from others, even if it is already Crystallized, otherwise you can't move it.

   Example: you can see a few possible, valid locations for the Starting Room.

3. If there are any Neuroriders in a Crystallized Room, rescue them by moving them to the nearest non-Crystallized Room, ignoring Doors. If there are multiple Rooms tied for the nearest, the player with the First-player marker chooses where to move them. Then, you must increase the appropriate Crystallization on the Memory board. To do so, place a Crystallization counter on the Memory board section that matches the color of each rescued Neurorider. For each Crystallized Room that a Neurorider moved through, increase the Crystallization of their Memory's color by 1.

   Example: the pink Neurorider is in a Crystallized Room. They must move to the nearest non-Crystallized Room. On the Memory board, increase the Crystallization level of the pink Memory section by 2.

4. Form a new Room lineup by revealing 4 new Rooms from the Room pile. Lastly, the player with the First-player marker passes the marker to the player to their left. After this, the next round starts.

End of the Game

The mind is a dangerous place. There are 3 conditions that trigger the end of the game. When any one of these occur, the game is over immediately, and the players should proceed to Scoring:

a) It's not possible to form a new lineup of 4 Rooms.

b) A Memory counter reaches 20 Memories on the Memory board. If it does, that section is decreased to 10 Memories, and any remaining Memories that were yet to be increased to that section are lost. Any players that hadn't taken their turn yet that round can increase or decrease by 1 any other Memory section of the Memory board (can't reach 20 this way).

c) All of the Rooms on the board become Crystallized.

Example: the pink section has reached 20 Memories, so it must decrease to 10 Memories. Anyone that hasn't taken their turn this round can increase or decrease by 1 the white, orange, or green sections, in turn order.

Scoring

1. In each section on the Memory board, subtract its Crystallization level from its Memories.
2. Then, count your Victory Points (VPs):
   1. Reveal your Hidden Agenda and gain or lose VPs per Memories as shown on the card.
   2. Finally, gain 1 VP for each Action card you didn't play.

If you scored more VP than the rest, you win! You are the new manager of the Neuroriders project!

In the case of a tie, whoever gained more VPs with the first color listed on their Hidden Agenda wins. If the tie persists, whoever used fewer Action cards wins. If the tie still persists, whoever lost fewer VPs with the third color of their Hidden Agenda wins. If there is still a tie, whoever is furthest from receiving the First-player marker wins.

Example: for their Hidden Agenda, a player gains 32 VPs for orange (2 VPs per Memory) and 12 VPs for green (1 VP per Memory), and loses 8 VPs for pink (-1 VP per Memory). For their single unplayed Action card, they gain 1 VP. Their total score is 37 VPs.

Credits

Game design: Miguel Suárez Olivares Art: Gianfranco Giordano Graphic design: Prior Card Development: Pepe Macba Producer: William Burgos Community: Pamela Forzán Logistics: Gabriel Viveros Translation: Alice Rodríguez Publishing: Draco Studios

Version 1.0. ©2023 Draco Gaming Inc. All rights reserved.