Planes
Planes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
The goal of the game is to have the most Victory Points (VP) at the end of the game. You gain Victory Points by boarding your party on your plane and by completing the goals on your cards.
In This Box
- 1 Double-sided airport board
- 60 Playing cards
- 4 Player aids
- 20 Party cubes (5 ea. of red, blue, green, yellow)
- 20 Neutral cubes
- 4 Plane tokens (1 ea. of red, blue, green, yellow)
- 44 Point of interest tokens (14 of the tokens are blanks)
- 6 Blockage cones
- 1 Boarding token
Card Basics
First, let's get to know the cards.
- Action – This is what happens when you play the card as an action.
- Action Icon – This icon is a handy reference that represents the action listed on the card.
- Goal – This section shows the condition you need to fulfill in order to score the goal.
- VP – The number in the star indicates how many Victory Points the goal is worth if you score it.
- VP Icon – The number of stars is a quick reminder when you are looking at the action part of the card, so you can see at a glance how many Victory Points the goal would be worth instead.
- Player Dot – This is used to separate decks when playing with the "Player Decks" optional rule and is not used in the standard game. See "Player Decks" under Optional Rules for details.
Setup
- Set Up Board: Decide which airport board to use for the game. If this is the first game for one or more of the players, it is recommended that the Flying Cloud Airport be used. Place the chosen board in the middle of the playing surface in reach of all players. Place the blockage cones next to the board. Place the boarding token on the '0' space on the track located on the board.
- Determine Starting Player: The player who most recently traveled by plane is the starting player.
- Set Up Party Cubes: Each player selects a color (red, blue, green or yellow) and takes the respective colored party cubes, plane token, and player aid. Players should place their player aid in front of them, while the rest of their pieces are placed on the board as follows. The starting player places all five of their party cubes in the space marked 'P1'. The next player clockwise then places all five of their party cubes in the space marked 'P2'. This continues with Player 3 and Player 4, if present. If there are fewer than four players playing, place each group of party cubes not chosen by players in a space not yet filled. This means that in every game all four colors of party cubes will be used, and all four 'P' spaces will be filled, regardless of the number of players playing.
- Set Up Neutral Cubes: Place two grey neutral cubes in all empty spaces of the airport (ignoring the gate spaces).
- Set Up Points of Interest (Optional) – Only used if customizing the airport (see "Point of Interest Tokens" under Optional Rules for details).
- Set Up Plane Tokens: Each starting space has a matching gate marked by the same number. For example, the matching gate for space 'P1' is 'G1'. Place each matching colored plane token at the gate that corresponds to the colored party cubes in each starting space. For example, if the blue player's party cubes start the game at 'P3', then place the blue plane token next to the gate 'G3'. Likewise, if the yellow player's party cubes start the game at 'P2', then place the yellow plane token next to the gate 'G2'. If the color is assigned to a player, the plane token is placed with the "5 Victory Points" symbols face up. If the color is not assigned to a player during games with fewer than four players, the plane token is placed with the "Draw 2 Cards" symbols face up.
- Deal Cards: Shuffle the deck of playing cards and deal each player three cards face down. These cards make up their hand and should be kept hidden from the other players until played. Each player may look at their own hand at any time. Place the rest of the cards face down as a draw deck next to the board. Make room next to the deck for a common discard pile.
The game is ready to play with the starting player taking the first turn!
How to Play
The game is played over several rounds. Each round consists of each player taking one turn in clockwise order. This continues until either all the planes of a color are full or 12 or more cubes have boarded onto planes.
Taking a Turn
During your turn you must take the following three phases in order:
- Action Phase: May Play 1 Action (Optional)
- Move Phase: Must Make 1 Move (Mandatory)
- Goal Phase: May Score 1 Goal (Optional)
Action Phase: May Play 1 Action (Optional)
If you choose, you may play one card from your hand as an action. Place the card face up in front of you and then carry out the instructions of the card. Some actions take effect immediately, while others may alter a future phase (for instance the Move Phase). At the end of your turn, you must discard the card face up to the discard pile.
Note that you can only play one action during the Action Phase. Also remember that a card played as an action is not worth victory points and cannot be used as a goal later during the turn.
Move Phase: Must Make 1 Move (Mandatory)
You must move at least one member of your party from one space to another in the airport.
In order to make a move, choose any space where you have at least one of your party cubes present. Pick up ALL of the cubes in that space (this includes your party cubes, other players' party cubes, and neutral cubes). These cubes are the active cubes for this move.
You must then decide how far you would like to move with these active cubes. Making sure to follow the arrows on the board, place one, and only one, of these active cubes in each space you wish to move into. This process starts with the first adjacent space to where the active cubes were originally picked up. This continues, still following the arrows on the board, leaving one active cube in each space that you want to move past. At any point you may decide to stop moving around the board and simply place all remaining active cubes into the space in which you wish to stop at (however, you must move a minimum of one space).
When you decide to stop, or if you are out of active cubes, your Move Phase is over.
Gates are special spaces on the board and may only be landed on with a single cube, specifically the last active cube in a movement. This single cube must match the color of the plane at the gate. If it does not match, the move is illegal and the cube must be placed in another space following the Move Phase rules. However, if the color does match the plane's gate, it may board the plane (see "Boarding a Plane" for details).
Example Move:
- The red player chooses a space with two red cubes and a neutral cube. The player picks up all of the cubes in the space and places one red cube in the adjacent space.
- The player could choose to stop moving and place all of the remaining active cubes in the space, but chooses to continue moving and places one neutral cube in the next space.
- The player chooses to continue moving and places the last remaining active cube in the next space, thus ending the Move Phase.
Moving Tip: New players who are still getting a feel for the game may want to redo a move before their Move Phase is finished. In order to accommodate this, the active cube that is placed in each space can be placed on the space's arrow icon. If the player wishes to redo a move, simply take back the active cubes placed on the arrow icons and reposition them on the spaces. After the Move Phase is finished, move the active cubes off the arrows and into the center of the space.
Boarding a Plane
When a player successfully arrives at a gate by landing on it with the last active cube of their Move Phase, they must board that plane (note that the cube must match the color of the plane's gate). Place the cube on any available slot of the respective plane.
If the cube boarding the plane belongs to one of the players at the table, it will score points at the end of the game. If the cube does not belong to a player at the table, especially if it is a grey neutral cube, the active player immediately draws two cards from the draw deck. Neutral planes have "Draw 2 Cards" symbols to remind players of this reward. Note that if there is no yellow player for example, then all yellow party cubes are considered neutral. Therefore, if a player boards a yellow party cube on the neutral yellow plane, then that player would draw two cards as a reward.
Each time a cube boards a plane, the boarding token must be moved forward one space along the boarding track. If the boarding token is moved to the last space on the track (the '12' space), it will trigger the end of the game (see "Winning the Game" for details).
Boarding Example:
- The blue player chooses a space with a blue cube, a red cube and a neutral cube. The player picks up all of the cubes in the space and places one neutral cube in the adjacent space.
- The red cube is placed in the next space.
- The last remaining active cube is blue and the next space is the blue plane's gate, so the player chooses to board by placing the blue cube on one of the plane's slots.
- The boarding token is then moved forward one space along the boarding track.
Blockages
Over the course of the game, several party cubes may accumulate in a single space. If at any time there are seven or more party cubes in a single space, it represents a blockage. A blockage can be pictured as some sort of security commotion, celebrity sighting or accident taking place in that area of the airport. There may be one or more blockages at any given point during the game.
When seven or more party cubes are in a single space, place a blockage cone on the board on that space. While a blockage cone is on a space, no party cubes may move past that space. Any number of party cubes may be added to that space, but none may move past it. Keep in mind that if a blockage occurs while a player is in the middle of their Move Phase, they may continue moving beyond the blockage, because the blockage occurred behind them.
A blockage cone is immediately removed when the space it occupies has fewer than seven party cubes present. Place the removed blockage cone off to the side of the board.
Example Blockage:
- A player has two yellow cubes and a blue cube as the active cubes during the Move Phase. The player places one blue cube in a space that already has six party cubes, taking the total to seven cubes and creating a blockage.
- A blockage cone is placed on the space.
- Then the player continues the move by placing the remaining active cubes in the next space.
Goal Phase: May Score 1 Goal (Optional)
If you choose, you may play one of your cards as a goal. Place this card face up in front of you. This card remains in front of you for the rest of the game, where it will score points equal to the number in the bottom right corner during end game scoring.
A card may only be played as a goal if the condition depicted on the card is currently present somewhere on the board. If that condition is not present, the card cannot be played.
After the Goal Phase, your turn is over. If you have no cards left in your hand, you may draw one card from the draw deck. If you have any cards remaining in hand, you do not draw any new cards.
The next player, in clockwise order, now begins their turn.
Note that you can only score one goal during the Goal Phase.
Example Goal: The red player has a goal with a condition requiring at least one red party cube at a Gift Shop, as well as another similar goal requiring at least one red party cube at a Restroom. The player chooses to play the Gift Shop goal since it's worth more Victory Points. Note that the red player can only play one goal during the Goal Phase, even though the conditions for both goals were present on the board.
Winning the Game
If any of the following conditions are met, the game ends after the current round is completed and each player has had the same number of turns:
- Any one color (including neutrals) has filled all of their respective planes.
- The boarding token is moved to the last space on the track (the '12' space). In other words, at least 12 cubes, in any combination of colors, are collectively present among all planes.
Each player then adds up their own sum of Victory Points for scored goals found on the cards played in front of them. To that number, add 5 points for each party cube that boarded on their own colored plane. The player with the most points wins! If two or more players tie for the most points, the tied player with the most party cubes boarded on his or her plane wins. In case a tie persists, the tied player with the most scored goals (quantity of cards) wins. If a tie is still present, play again to determine a winner!
Example Scoring: The red player has 7 VP from scored goals (1+1+2+3 = 7) and 20 VP from boarded party cubes (4 cubes x 5 VP each = 20 VP). The red player has a total of 27 VP at the end of the game.
Rule Clarifications
- Each plane features five slots in which cubes of the matching color may be boarded. If a neutral plane is filled with five cubes, it may no longer be boarded during the game.
- When a cube is moved onto a gate space, it must board the plane: You cannot leave a cube on a gate space.
- Planes are not considered spaces.
- When players make a move, they may choose a space with a blockage cone if they have at least one of their party cubes present. While cubes cannot move past a blockage cone during a move, they may be moved from the space if that is the chosen space for a move or due to a card action.
- If a space has more than one arrow, such as the center space on the Zephyr airport board, the player chooses which arrow to follow when moving to the next space.
- In order to score a goal, its condition does not have to be created during a player's turn with the active cubes. All that matters is that the goal's condition is present somewhere on the board when the card is played, it doesn't matter who or how the condition was created.
- Once a player scores a goal, it will award VP at the end of the game even if its condition is no longer present on the board.
- There is no hand limit: players may have any number of cards in their hand.
- In the rare event that the draw deck runs out of cards, simply shuffle the discards and place them face down to form a new draw deck.
- When a player boards a neutral plane and receives the "Draw 2 Cards" reward, the cards are drawn immediately. A newly drawn card may be used to score its goal during the Goal Phase.
- When playing with fewer than 4 players, any color not assigned to a player is considered neutral. While unassigned planes and party cubes are considered neutral, they still maintain their original color and are not considered to be grey. Therefore, you cannot board a red cube onto a grey plane, or a grey cube onto a red plane for example. Unassigned party cubes are still considered to be a unique color for the purpose of scoring goals.
Card Clarifications
General Notes: All actions and goals reference only the player that played them, and refer only to cubes that have not yet boarded onto planes. Therefore, only cubes that are still navigating the airport may be used for actions and/or scored for goals. Plane tokens are not considered spaces for actions and/or scored for goals.
The playing cards each show an Action side and a Goal side. The full set of card effects in the deck:
| Action | Goal |
|---|---|
| Draw 1 card from the draw deck and add it to your hand. | Any blank space with zero cubes scores 1 VP. Gate spaces do not count. |
| Collect all of your party cubes and place them together at a Fast Food Restaurant of your choice. | Any Fast Food Restaurant space with at least 1 cube of your color scores 1 VP. Other cubes may also be present. |
| Collect all of your party cubes and place them together at a Restroom of your choice. | Any Restroom space with at least 1 cube of your color scores 1 VP. Other cubes may also be present. |
| Choose one option to use: (1) You must ignore all blockages during your Move Phase. If you create new blockages during your move, you still place new blockage cones. OR (2) Immediately play an additional card from your hand as a goal (the goal's condition must be currently present somewhere on the board). This goal scores immediately instead of during your Goal Phase. You may also score 1 goal during your Goal Phase, if able. | Any space with exactly 1 cube of your color scores 1 VP. |
| Draw 2 cards from the draw deck and add them to your hand. Then choose 1 card from your hand to discard. | Any space with exactly 3 cubes, consisting of exactly 3 unique colors, scores 2 VP's. |
| Choose a space where you have at least 1 of your party cubes. Then collect all of your other party cubes and add them to that chosen space. | Any space with exactly 4 cubes, consisting of exactly 2 unique colors, scores 2 VP's. |
| Choose 1 of your party cubes and place it at a Gift Shop of your choice. | Any Gift Shop space with at least 1 cube of your color scores 2 VP's. Other cubes may also be present. |
| During your Move Phase, you must skip 1 space of your choice while moving. This means that 1 space along your path will not have a cube added to it. A space with a blockage cone cannot be skipped over. | Any space with exactly 1 neutral cube scores 1 VP. |
| Choose 1 of your party cubes and place it at a Help Desk of your choice. | Any Help Desk space with at least 1 cube of your color scores 2 VP's. Other cubes may also be present. |
| During your Move Phase, you must ignore all neutral cubes when selecting active cubes for this turn. This means that all neutral cubes will be left untouched during the move. Other players' cubes are considered active cubes as normal. | Any space with exactly 2 cubes, consisting of your color and exactly 1 other unique color (2 unique colors total), scores 2 VP's. |
| During your Move Phase, you must move the active cubes against the flow of the arrows on the board. This means over the course of the entire move, they will be moving the opposite direction of the arrows. |
Optional Rules
To create more variety in your games, there are a number of optional rules you can use. All rules of the standard game still apply, except as stated below.
Point of Interest Tokens
The standard points of interest are printed on each board. However, it's possible to customize each airport as players see fit. Firstly, players may decide to use the blank point of interest tokens to cover any unwanted points of interest on the board. This makes the game more challenging since it will be more difficult to complete goals that require that condition. Secondly, players may use any combination of the point of interest tokens to place on the board in any layout desired. Each little change can have great effects on the way the game plays.
To keep the game balanced, use the following suggestions:
- When creating new points of interest layouts, try to keep all four major gates equal. For example, if a Help Desk point of interest token is placed in front of G1, it is recommended that G2, G3 and G4 also have a Help Desk point of interest token placed in front.
- Players should strive to keep the hierarchy of availability for each point of interest token. This means Restrooms and Fast Food Restaurants should be the easiest to find, followed by Gift Shops & Help Desks, and finally the Fine Dining Restaurant spots should be the hardest to come by.
The points of interest tokens are: Restroom, Fast Food Restaurant, Gift Shop, Help Desk, Fine Dining Restaurant, and Blank.
Player Decks
Before starting the game, give each player one copy of each of the 15 unique cards. This means that each player will have the exact same 15 cards. The small colored dot located in the bottom left corner of each card can be used for easy sorting: the red player receives all 15 cards with the red dot, for example. If playing with fewer than four players, set aside any excess sets of 15 cards. These will not be needed.
Each player should shuffle their own deck and draw 3 cards to start the game. During the game, each player will only draw from their own deck. Additionally, each player will only discard to their own discard pile, next to their personal deck. In the rare case that a player's draw deck should run out of cards, he or she should shuffle their own discard pile to create a new personal draw pile.
Shorter Games
Instead of ending the game when the boarding token is moved to the last space on the track (the '12' space), you can shorten the game by having it end when it reaches an earlier space, such as the '8' space. The earlier the space, the faster the game will typically end. Players should agree on which space on the boarding track will end the game during setup, before the game begins. In order to help remember this, place a blank point of interest token on that space of the boarding track.
A Game Example
This is the standard setup for a 3-player game using the Flying Cloud airport board. Blue, Yellow, and Red are player colors while Green is neutral. Notice that the green plane has been flipped to its neutral side, represented by the "Draw 2 Cards" symbols.
Diagram Note: Images shown to the right of each turn represents the state of the game at the end of that player's turn.
Round 1
Red's Turn: Red chooses to not play an action, so she picks up all 5 of her party cubes and moves them. She also chooses to not play a goal this turn.
Yellow's Turn: Yellow plays a card from his hand as an action: Draw 3 Cards and Discard 1. He then discards the card to the discard pile and proceeds to the Move Phase. He chooses to not play a goal this turn.
Blue's Turn: Blue plays her Skip 1 Space card as an action. She notices that Red is in position to board her plane on her next turn. So, Blue uses her Move Phase to move her party cubes to disrupt Red's opportunity, skipping over the space next to gate N2. As a result of this movement, a blockage is created. Blue ends her turn by playing a card from her hand as a goal: A Blank Space.
Round 2
Red's Turn: Red chooses to not play an action. She proceeds with her move by moving 3 active cubes. Then she plays a card from her hand as a goal: 1 Single Red Cube.
Yellow's Turn: Yellow plays his Move Twice card as an action. For his first move, he moves 4 active cubes one space. This creates a blockage temporarily. For Yellow's second move, he picks up all 8 active cubes, removes the blockage, and moves them. Notice that he concludes the move with boarding a party cube. He moves the boarding token forward to space 1. He ends his turn by choosing to not play a goal this turn.
Blue's Turn: Blue chooses to not play an action. She removes the blockage and moves the 7 active cubes. This creates a new blockage in front of gate G1. Blue decides to also play a card from her hand as a goal: 5 Cubes (3 Colors). Blue's turn is over, but since she doesn't have any cards in hand, she draws 1 card.
Round 3
Red's Turn: Red plays her Skip 1 Space card as an action. She proceeds with her move by picking up 5 active cubes and moving them. By skipping the space next to gate G3 she succeeds in boarding a neutral cube. She immediately draws 2 cards and moves the boarding token forward to space 2. Coincidentally, she is able to score one of the newly drawn cards as a goal: Visited a Help Desk.
Yellow's Turn: Yellow spots an opportunity to both board his plane and score a goal card. So, he plays a card from his hand as an action: Move Backwards. He proceeds with moving against the arrows on the board. This move results in him boarding 1 party cube. He moves the boarding token to space 3. Then, he plays a card from his hand as a goal: 4 Cubes (4 Unique Colors).
Blue's Turn: Blue knows that Red and Yellow thought they had blocked her availability to score, but they didn't know that she had this action in her hand: Move Only Your Party. She moves her single Blue cube right into her gate G3. She gladly moves the boarding token to space 4. She is out of cards, so she doesn't play a goal this turn. Blue's turn is over, but since she doesn't have any cards in hand, she draws 1 card.
The game continues like this until one of the end game triggers has been reached...
Reference Sheet
Setup
- Set Up Board – Choose an airport. Place the blockage cones next to the board and the boarding token on '0' of the boarding track.
- Determine Starting Player – Player who most recently traveled by plane, or random.
- Set Up Party Cubes – The starting player places their 5 cubes at P1. Player 2 places their 5 cubes at P2. Player 3 places their 5 cubes at P3. Player 4 places their 5 cubes at P4. (If there are fewer than 4 players, still place cubes at each space marked with a 'P').
- Set Up Neutral Cubes – Place 2 grey neutral cubes at every space not marked with a 'P', except for the gates.
- Set Up Points of Interest (Optional) – Only used if customizing the airport.
- Set Up Plane Tokens – Each player places their colored plane token next to the 'G' gate that matches the number of their 'P' start space.
- Deal Cards – Deal 3 cards to each player as their private hand.
Game Turn
(Players take turns in clockwise order)
Action Phase: May Play 1 Card – Choose 1 card from your hand to play as an action. Resolve its action, then discard it to the discard pile at the end of your turn.
Move Phase: Must Make 1 Move – Choose active cubes from a space on the board where there is at least 1 of your party cubes. Make 1 move following the arrows on the board. Place a blockage cone if 7 or more cubes are in 1 space. Board a plane if the color of your last active cube matches the color of the plane at the gate you land on.
Goal Phase: May Score 1 Card – Choose 1 card from your hand to play as a goal. Leave it face up for scoring at the end of the game. If you have no cards left in your hand at the end of your turn, draw 1 card.
Game End
Game ends at the end of the round when all planes of 1 color are full OR when a total of 12 or more cubes have boarded onto planes. The player with the most Victory Points wins! If two or more players tie for the most points, the tied player with the most party cubes boarded on his or her plane wins. In case a tie persists, the tied player with the most scored goals (quantity of cards) wins.