Out Of This World Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What's All This Stuff?
• Check Out the Cards!
  • Adventure Cards
  • Item Card
  • Foe Card
• What's Going On Here?
• No Cellphones?
• Getting Ready
  • Patrol the Block / Generic Adventures
• Let's Ride!
• Gear Up!
• Go For It!
  • Take 1 Card
  • Take 1 Action
    • Pass
    • Equip
    • Defeat
    • Spend
  • Legging It
• Taking Care of Things

What's All This Stuff?

Deck of 110 cards, including:

• 64 Item cards
  • 4 normal suits × 15 cards (three 3s, three 4s, three 5s, three 6s, two 7s, one 8)
  • 4 "wild" cards (one 5, one 6, one 7 and one 8)
• 11 Foe cards
• 4 Difficult Foe cards
• 5 Adventures (2 cards for each)
• 21 Adventure-specific Item and Foe cards
• 5 Character cards (you can choose which side to play)
• 1 Time Tracker card
• 8 Time tokens
• 1 First player token
• These rules

Check Out the Cards!

Adventure Cards

Example — Chapter 1. Birthday Bash: "What is happening!? All sorts of objects are starting to come alive, people are acting super weird. You need to get out of here. Let's grab some gear and go!" Starting time tokens: 8. Starting cards: 2× "Enthralled Friend" foe shuffled into deck. When deck runs out, add: 1× "Enthralled Friend" foe (only the first time). 1 random Difficult Foe. Win condition: Equip enough items (30/25/21 pts each).

• Card Name. This side of the card is placed face-up on the table next to the Time Tracker after reading the flavor text on the back of the card.
• Special Rules. Setup and special rules for this adventure are described here.
• Win Condition. This is what you have to do in order to succeed in this adventure. When a condition states "Equip enough items (30/25/21 pts. each)", it refers to the equipped points per player depending on the number of players: 30 points if you are 3 players, 25 for 4 players and 21 points for 5 players.
• Code. This code appears on all the adventure-specific cards you need for this adventure.

Adventure codes: 1. Birthday Bash; 2. Hit the Books; 3. Night School; 4. Stained Glass; 5. Confrontation.

Item Card

Example: School keys (4) — SPEND: Remove one of your "Escaped Equipment" Foes from the game.

• Card Name
• Item Value (number) and Type (icon and colour). Values range from 3 to 8, with the higher values being less common. The four cards with star icons are wild cards. They may be played in sets as if they were any colour. Types: Toys, Music, Gaming, Hardware, Wild.
• Ability. A special benefit you can use once the Item is equipped. Not all Item cards have an Ability.
• Spend Abilities: These Abilities can only be used once (see the Spend Action under Go for It! on page 12).
• Adventure Code. Cards with a code like this one are specific to a particular adventure and are only used when playing that adventure.

Foe Card

Example: Escaped Equipment (Difficult Foe) — ROAMING: At end of turn, move this Foe to the player on your left. When defeating this Foe, you may play its set twice to remove it from the game.

• Card Name
• Vulnerability. The specific set of Item cards that you must play from your hand to defeat (and discard) this Foe. In this example, you need any one Toy card, one Gaming card plus one other card from any suit.
• Effect. Some Foes trigger a one-time negative effect (e.g., when taken or when defeated), while others impose a penalty for as long as they remain on the table.
• Code. Cards with a code like this one are specific to a particular adventure and are only used when playing that adventure.
• Difficult foe. Those enemies which are specially tough can be identified by this alert icon.

What's Going On Here?

Out Of This World is a cooperative game in which you all must work together to survive and overcome a supernatural threat. At the beginning of the game, you will choose an adventure, which determines what you have to do to win (as a group) – you can even play the adventures in order to follow the complete Out of this World storyline!

An adventure is played in rounds, and each round is divided into three phases: Gear Up!, Go For It!, and Taking Care of Things. During the round, you will collect Item cards and you can play matching sets to equip yourself, share cards with your friends, and defeat Foes: Foes will turn up from time to time, making you lose valuable time and hindering you in other ways. You can dispatch them only by playing the right combination of Items.

The goal for each adventure can vary, but usually you will need to equip a certain value of Item cards so you can execute a big invasion-stopping ritual. If you can do this, you win!

But, facing the supernatural isn't easy, and you're going to have to split up if you're going to find all the stuff you need. To represent this in the game, there will be certain times when you cannot communicate freely with the other players. You can discuss normally during the Gear Up! and Taking Care of Things phases, but during the main Go For It! phase, only the Vocal Player is allowed to talk.

At the end of each round, you will lose some of your precious Time tokens depending on how many active Foes you face. If you run out of Time tokens before you solve the adventure, you lose the game!

No Cellphones?

Remember – this is the early 90's... You and your friends will spend much of the game on your own, searching for clues and valuable gear to face the supernatural. Unfortunately, that means your ability to communicate is limited!

Unlike most games, in Out of this World, not everyone is allowed to talk all of the time. During the Go For It! phase each round, only the Vocal Player is allowed to communicate. This means no talking, but also no head-shaking, nodding, or other forms of signaling.

Thematically, this represents that fact that the players are splitting up to find all the stuff they need. But just as important, it ensures that each player has to make their own individual decisions – and the game can't be dominated by a single player who demands all the information and makes all the decisions! It rewards players who can effectively communicate their own needs and those who remember how to help their fellow players.

That being said, there are various reasons why you might want to ignore this rule. Maybe one of you has never played the game before, or you're playing with younger players, or you just love table talk and don't want to sacrifice that. Or maybe you just can't contain your excitement when that one card you need is revealed. That's fine! If allowing some chat suits your group better, feel free to play the game that way – it'll make the game a bit easier, but the most important thing is having fun!

Getting Ready

Let's set up the game: This is where you learn about the threat you're going to face, ready the Items you'll be using, and prep the Foes who oppose you.

1. Choose a difficulty level. For your first game the recommended choice is Easier.

Difficulty	Setup
Easier	11 Normal Foes, 0 Difficult Foes, everyone may communicate all the time.
Standard	11 Normal Foes, 0 Difficult Foes.
Tough	11 Normal Foes, 1 Difficult Foes.
Epic	11 Normal Foes, 2 Difficult Foes.

2. Give every player a Character card. Note that each Character has a unique ability that allows them to break the normal game rules in some way. Players may want to pick their preferred Characters, or you can distribute them at random. Also, each Character has two equal sides (male or female), and you can choose which side to play with.
3. Place the Time Tracker in the middle of the table and put the 8 Time tokens on it. The game is lost if these tokens run out.
4. Separate the cards by type: standard Items and Foes (64 + 11), Difficult Foes (4), Adventure cards (10), and adventure-specific Items and Foes (8 + 13).
5. Choose which adventure you will play and find its two cards. The remaining Adventure cards can be returned to the box. For your first game, the recommended choice is Birthday Bash, which is the simplest adventure. If you play the five adventures in order you will experience the whole Out of this World campaign. Read the flavor text on the back and place the Adventure cards next to the Time Tracker, one showing the image and right below it the one showing the special rules for that adventure. Alternatively, you can play a "Patrol the Block" adventure – see page 11.
6. Prepare the Adventure deck:
   • Find the adventure-specific cards for your chosen adventure: These can be identified by the icon (see page 4) on the card. (Note: there are no adventure-specific cards for the basic Patrol The Block adventure – see below.) Return the other adventure-specific cards to the box.
   • If the Adventure card says to, choose a player to equip any Item cards you begin the adventure with.
   • Create the Adventure deck by combining the basic Items, basic Foes, and the starting adventure-specific cards for your chosen adventure, as indicated on the Adventure card. If you are playing at the Tough or Epic difficulty, add 1 or 2 randomly selected Difficult Foes as well.
   • Set aside any cards that the Adventure card instructs you to add when the deck runs out.
   • Shuffle the rest of the deck and deal each player 2 cards. If any of your cards are Foes, you must immediately place them face-up next to your player board and draw more cards until you have 2 Item cards in your hand.
   • Place the remaining Adventure deck in the middle of the table. Save space for a discard pile next to the deck.

You are ready to start the first round.

Patrol the Block / Generic Adventures

This game really shines when you play the adventures that make up the campaign, but if you just want to put together a quick adventure or get a game going really quick you can play a Patrol the Block adventure: Simply add 1 Difficult Foe to the basic Adventure deck (or more for a harder game), use eight Time tokens (or less for a harder game), and get started! You win just by counting points (30/25/21 pts. per player). If you have some time before meeting your friends, you can even design your own adventures by combining different cards and writing a little introductory story!

Let's Ride!

The adventure is played over a series of rounds. Each round consists of the following 3 phases:

• Gear up! Ready 5 stacks of 4 face-down cards.
• Go for it! Players take turns collecting cards and taking actions until all 20 cards have been taken. Only the Vocal player is allowed to communicate during this phase.
• Taking care of things Check if you have won the game. If not, lose Time tokens and discard down to 5 cards.

Gear Up!

Take the Adventure deck and deal 5 stacks of 4 face-down cards each to the middle of the table, where all players can see and reach the cards. Leave the rest of the Adventure deck next to these stacks. Then flip all of those stacks, leaving all the cards visible on top.

Players will be taking these cards during the Go for it! phase game. Once all the 5 stacks run out the Go for it! phase is over and then you will move on to the Take care of things phase.

If the Adventure deck runs out of cards, add any cards that the Adventure card instructs you to add then thoroughly shuffle the discard pile and place it face-down on the table, creating a new Adventure deck. Continue dealing cards from this new deck until you have 5 stacks of 4 cards, as normal.

Go For It!

Starting with the Vocal Player, you will take turns (going clockwise around the table), until all 5 stacks of cards are empty.

REMEMBER: During this phase, you can only speak during your turn, when you are holding the Vocal Player token. When you finish your turn, pass the Vocal Player token to the player on your left, who will then play their turn and be the only one allowed to talk.

Your turn is broken down into two steps: first you MUST take 1 card, then you MAY take 1 action.

Alternatively, you can Leg It! and forgo your whole turn by discarding your entire hand of cards.

Take 1 Card

Take one of the top cards from the stacks.

Except: If there are any Foes visible on the stacks, you must take one of them and place it to the right of your Character card. In other words: Item cards can only be taken if there are no Foe cards on top of any of the stacks.

If you take an item card, put it into your hand. There is no hand limit during this phase of the game.

Take 1 Action

After you take a card, you may take one of the following actions:

• Pass: Play a set of 2 Item cards to pass the lowest-value one to another player (page 13).
• Equip: Play a set of 3 Item cards to equip the lowest-value one (page 14).
• Defeat: Play the set of Item cards listed on your Foe to defeat that Foe (page 14).
• Spend: Spend an equipped Item to activate its ability (page 15).

Pass

In order to pass an Item card to another player, you must play 2 Item cards from your hand that have the same value or the same type.

If both cards are the same type, you may give the lower-valued card to any other player of your choice.

If both cards have the same value, you choose which one to hand over.

The card you pass goes into the receiving player's hand. The other card is discarded.

Examples: playing 2 item cards of the same value (Toy soldiers 4 and Spray paints 4) — hand over the card you choose; playing 2 item cards of the same type (Yo-Yo 3 and Holy water pistol 7) — hand over the lower-valued card.

Equip

In order to equip an Item card, you must play 3 Item cards from your hand that have the same value or the same type.

This allows you to equip the lowest-valued card in the set. If multiple cards share the lowest value, you may choose which one to equip.

The equipped card is placed on the table to the left of your Character card. The other two cards are discarded.

Once you have equipped an Item, you can use the Item's ability (but see "Spend," below) and the value of the Item counts towards your goal for the adventure (see "Taking Care of Things").

Defeat

You can defeat a Foe and remove it from play by playing the specific set of item cards from your hand listed on that Foe. You can only defeat your own Foes (though note that Malala and Bart have Character Abilities that specifically allow them to defeat other players' Foes).

The Item cards you play to defeat a Foe are discarded, along with the Foe itself.

Spend

Some item cards contain an ability starting with the "SPEND:" keyword. These abilities can be used once during the game as long as the card has been previously equipped by one of the players. To use the ability, simply declare that you're using it and execute the effect.

After using the ability, tuck the Item under the character card to signify that it has been spent, but leave the item's value visible. It still contributes points towards winning the game (it is still equipped), but its ability can not be used again.

Example: Slingshot (5) — SPEND: Give all your hand cards to other players.

Legging It

Sometimes, you may not want to take a turn (for example, to avoid picking up a Foe), so, running away is always an option! You may choose to skip your turn by discarding your entire hand of cards. You can even run away if you don't have any cards in your hand. Don't worry: your equipped Items are safe.

Note that running away does not remove any Foes from the draw piles – the next player will have to pick them up instead (unless they run away, too...).

You'll be able to play again when your next turn comes around during this phase.

Character card turn summary: Take 1 card (Foes first), then optionally take one action: play a set of 2 item cards to PASS the lowest-value one to another player; play a set of 3 item cards to EQUIP the lowest-value one; DEFEAT one of your Foes by playing that Foe's set of cards; SPEND an equipped Item to activate its ability; or Leg it! (discard your hand and skip your turn).

Taking Care of Things

If, at the end of any players turn, all 5 stacks are empty, the Go For It! phase ends, and the last phase of the round is triggered. Follow these steps to complete this phase:

1. Check for victory. If you have met the victory conditions described on the Adventure card, you have won the game! Usually, this requires that you have a minimum value of Item cards equipped (counting both available and spent Items):

   • 3 players: Each player must have at least 30 points worth of equipped Items.
   • 4 players: Each player must have at least 25 points worth of equipped Items.
   • 5 players: Each player must have at least 21 points worth of equipped Items.

   If you have not won the game:

2. Reduce Time Tokens. Precious time slips away while you look for a way to confront the menace. Determine which player(s) currently has the most Foes in front of them. You must discard a number of Time tokens from the Time Tracker equal to the number of Foes they have. If you must discard the last Time token, you immediately lose the game!

   If not:

3. Discard down. At this point, each player who has more than 5 cards in their hand must discard until they only have 5 cards.

4. Pass the Vocal Player Token. The next round will begin with the player to the left of the current Vocal Player (who will act first during the next Go For It! phase).

5. Start the Next Round with the Gear Up! phase again.

Continue playing rounds until you either win or lose the adventure!