Planet of the Apes Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Your Objective
• Components
  • 1 Game Board
  • 48 Encounter Cards
  • 3 Discovery Cards
  • 8 Intro Cards
  • 4 Standees
  • 60 Action Cards
  • 24 Special Cards
  • 16 Planet of the Apes Cards
  • 16 Six-Sided Dice
  • 4 Character Cards
  • 1 Day Track Token
  • 1 Active Character Token
  • 21 Skill Tokens
  • 19 Damage Tokens
  • 4 Action Guide Cards
• Setup
• Playing the Game
• Start Scene Phase
  • Minor Scenes (1, 3, 5)
  • Major Scenes (2, 4, 6, 7)
• Action Phase (Major Scenes only: 2, 4, 6, 7)
  • 1. Perform 3 Actions
    • Actions
    • Free Actions
  • 2. Check End of Scene / Game Loss
  • 3. Advance the Day Track
  • 4. Pass the Active Character Token
  • 5. Sunrise?
• End of Scene Phase
• Adventure: Resolve an Encounter
  • 1. Choose an Encounter
  • 2. Succeed with Action Cards
  • 3. Gather Encounter Dice
  • 4. Gain Dice
  • 5. Roll Dice
  • 6. Reward or Penalty
  • Fate Track Hazards
  • 7. Bonus Section
  • 8. Refresh
• The Discovery Scene
• Winning or Losing
• Solitaire Rules
• Easier Game
• Harder Game
• Symbol Glossary
• Credits & Thanks

Your Objective

In Planet of the Apes, 1 to 4 Players cooperatively take on the various personality characteristics of Colonel George Taylor, each a part of the same character collectively guiding the Commander of the crashed Liberty spaceship through the key scenes of the Planet of the Apes movie. Together, the Players must overcome obstacles, survive a harsh and deadly planet, and ultimately discover Taylor's fate as well as the fate of the planet that Taylor left behind. Each major scene will be a race between humanity and the Ape society, all the while the truth of Taylor's past looms ever closer. Meanwhile, the Statue of Liberty standee advances down the Fate Track bringing doom if reaching the zero space prior to the Players advancing the Sinking Ship standee to the final Scene with at least 1 undefeated character and successfully resolving 1 Discovery Encounter. If the Players collectively win, they send Taylor to venture on into the Forbidden Zone to discover even more about the humanity that dwells Beneath the Planet of the Apes and complete his destiny.

Components

1 Game Board

The game board represents the exciting storyline of Planet of the Apes that the Players will navigate through, to ultimately learn the horrible truth of humanity and their own past. The game board helps you organize the various decks of cards in the game, particularly the Encounter cards, which will create the main challenges that you will face.

One main feature of the board is the Fate Track. The Fate Track is where the Taylor and Ape standees will race during the major Scenes of the game; you will always want Taylor to reach the zero space first! The Statue of Liberty standee will also travel down the Fate Track over the course of the game, bringing doom ever closer as it approaches the end of the track.

Another important area of the board is the Day Track. Each time a Player finishes a turn, the Day Track token proceeds clockwise; when Sunrise is reached, negative Sunrise Effects on the Encounter cards are triggered, and a Planet of the Apes card will reveal itself and activate. Watch out!

The board also carries: a Special Deck space; an Action Deck space with two Available Action spaces; the Active Scene slot; four Active Encounter slots; the Encounter Discard slot; Scene spaces (numbered 1 through 8, the eighth being the Discovery Scene space); the Planet of the Apes Deck space and Planet of the Apes Discard space; and the Day Track (Sun and Moon icons).

48 Encounter Cards

Encounter cards create the adventures that Players will face in the four Major Scenes; there are 12 cards in each of the four decks. Each card tells a unique part of their chapter of the story, and presents a challenge that the Players must overcome through dice rolling or card play. The cards share a lot of common features:

• Name and Story text at the top of the card.
• Asset Bar — the dice, character, and resource icons needed to attempt the card, along with the Discard value.
• Challenge — the dice roll (or totals) required to succeed.
• Success Rewards — shown to the left under the check mark.
• Failure Penalties — shown to the right under the X mark.
• Bonus section — an optional bonus condition and its reward, shown at the bottom.
• Sunrise Effects — shown at the bottom of some cards, these trigger when the Day Track reaches Sunrise while the card is active.

Notice that the Encounter card backs have white borders. This will help you distinguish them from the Intro cards.

3 Discovery Cards

Discovery cards are similar to the Encounter cards but each one presents a single challenge that the Players must overcome in order to win the game, if they ever manage to make it to the final Scene of the game alive.

Each Discovery card explains clearly how to resolve it; to save the surprise, we won't show you any fronts here. Try not to peek at them!

8 Intro Cards

There is one Intro card for each Minor Scene, Major Scene, and the final Discovery Scene. The Intro cards describe the rules and setup for each scene; you will reveal the Intro card if and when you arrive at the scene.

The Intro card backs have colored borders. This will help you tell them apart from the Encounter cards.

4 Standees

The Sinking Ship is used to mark the current Scene, while the Taylor, Ape, and Statue of Liberty standees move on the Fate Track to determine your current progress in the Scene and the game. Affix their plastic bases before use.

• Sinking Ship
• Taylor
• Ape
• Statue of Liberty

60 Action Cards

Each character holds a hand of Action cards (Hand limit of 7 cards). They will be useful during Encounter attempts, and sets of them can be played to trigger certain Actions. There are six different suits: Taylor, Nova, Gorilla, Dr. Zaius, Dodge & Landon, and Cornelius & Zira. Each Action card displays its suit and the ability that it can be used for during an Encounter attempt.

Throughout the game, when an Action card of any type is "played" for any purpose (whether singly or as part of a set or combination), it is discarded into a face-up Discard pile near the board.

24 Special Cards

Special cards grant powerful abilities; each one tells you when it can be used and what it does when you use it. Special cards do not count towards your hand limit; you can hold any number of them at once. Special cards do not cost actions to use.

Examples: Quick Thinking (play when a die has been rolled for any reason; the active character gains 1 re-roll of 1 die), Filthy Apes (play when six Apes and/or Statue of Liberty standees is supposed to advance on the Fate Track roll 1 die; if you roll 4 or more it does not advance that token), Human Ingenuity (play at any time; draw 4 Action cards and distribute them between characters however you wish), Survival Training (play during any Encounter; raise or lower the value of any one die by 1).

16 Planet of the Apes Cards

A Planet of the Apes card is revealed when the Day Track token reaches the Sunrise space of the Day Track. Each card has two events on it; some are beneficial and some are problematic, and both of them are triggered in order.

16 Six-Sided Dice

6 White, 6 Gray, 4 Red. The dice are chiefly used during your attempts to complete Encounters.

4 Character Cards

The character cards represent the different aspects of Taylor's personality: Clever, Commander, Cynical, and Defiant. Each Player is acting as one (or more) of these characters during the game. Your character grants you a unique persistent power, and also a powerful Skill that you can trigger by spending a Skill token.

If a character ever has 5 Damage tokens at once, it is Defeated. Flip the Character card over. The character remains in the game taking turns as usual, but its abilities are curtailed as described on the card.

Important: any Damage a Defeated character receives must be assigned to other characters. If all characters are Defeated, the Players lose the game.

1 Day Track Token

This token moves on the Day Track.

1 Active Character Token

This token indicates the current Active Character.

21 Skill Tokens

Skill tokens are used to trigger character abilities. Players can get them as rewards from some Encounters, or by playing a set of 4 matching Action cards.

19 Damage Tokens

Damage tokens are gained by the characters when they get hurt by a wide variety of negative game effects. If your character has 5 Damage tokens at once, it is Defeated.

4 Action Guide Cards

Each Player gets an Action Guide card which reminds them of the Actions available to them on their turns, and the major Phases and Steps of the game.

Setup

1. Game board. Place the game board in the center of the playing area. Leave table space near the slots on the left for cards to go later.

2. Skill tokens, Damage tokens, and Dice. Create supply piles of these components near the board.

3. Special cards, Planet of the Apes cards, and Action cards. Shuffle these card decks separately, then place each deck facedown in its marked space on the board. Then flip 2 Action cards from that deck face-up into the Available spaces next to it.

4. Day Track token. Place the Day Track token into the Sunrise space of the Day Track.

5. Encounter and Discovery decks. Shuffle all 4 Encounter decks and the Discovery deck separately, then place them facedown on the corresponding Scene space on the board (Example: the Forbidden Zone deck goes on the Forbidden Zone space).

6. Intro cards. Place each Intro card facedown on the corresponding spot on the board; the ones for the Major Scenes and the Discovery Scene will go on top of their Encounter deck, while the ones for Minor Scenes will sit right on the board.

7. Standees. Place the Sinking Ship standee on Scene 1. Place the Statue of Liberty standee on space 13 of the Fate Track. Place the Ape and Taylor standees near the board; you will be instructed where to place them at the start of each Major Scene.

8. Characters. Each Player takes 1 Character card and keeps it face-up in front of them. Each character also takes 2 Skill tokens from the supply, draws 1 Special card from the deck, and takes 1 Action Guide card.

   Unlike most adventure games where Players will play different characters, each character in the Planet of the Apes is actually a different personality aspect of the Liberty Commander, Colonel George Taylor. Collectively they all make up Taylor, and for the Players to lose the game to the Character Defeated rule, all of the characters in the game must be Defeated.

   Note: If playing solitaire, it is recommended that the Player use a minimum of 2 characters.

9. Active Player. Give the Active Character token to the Player who most recently saw a Planet of the Apes movie; whoever holds this token is the Active Player.

Major Scenes (2, 4, 6, 7): Encounter decks shuffled facedown in the Scene space, with Intro card facedown on top.

Minor Scenes (1, 3, 5): Intro card facedown in the Scene space.

Discovery Scene (8): Discovery deck shuffled facedown in the Scene space, with Intro card facedown on top.

Playing the Game

The game is totally cooperative, with all Players winning or losing as a group. The Players must work together to guide Taylor through the Scenes of the game. There are two different types of Scenes the Players will navigate. Minor Scenes give the Players a simple list of steps to carry out, while Major Scenes require the Players to resolve encounters with time passing between each turn. The game is played in the following Phases:

START SCENE PHASE ACTION PHASE END SCENE PHASE

Start Scene Phase

Flip the Intro card of the current Scene (indicated by the Sinking Ship standee) into the Scene Rules slot beside the board. The active Player reads the Scene story to the Players.

While this text has no effect on gameplay, the story of Planet of the Apes is iconic in movie history because of the exploration of the human condition, along with creative sets, costumes, and outstanding acting performances. Each Scene Story works to bring the Planet of the Apes world to life for the Players, and hopefully also makes the game a more immersive experience.

Minor Scenes (1, 3, 5)

Follow the instructions on the card step by step. Each Intro card is different. When you reach the End Scene step, proceed to the End Scene Phase.

Example: The first Scene of the game is the Sinking Ship Scene, a Minor Scene. You flip the Intro card into the Scene Rules slot, and read the story to the group. Then you follow the directions on the card step by step, until you reach the End Scene Phase.

Major Scenes (2, 4, 6, 7)

Setup the Scene by placing the Taylor and Ape standees on the indicated spaces of the Fate Track, and then place 3 Encounters from this Scene's deck face-up into the Active Encounter slots beside the board. Then begin the Action Phase.

Example: The second Scene of the game is The Forbidden Zone, a Major Scene. You flip the Intro card into the Scene Rules slot, and read the story to the group.

Next you place the Taylor and Ape standees on the Fate Track where indicated (Taylor 13, Ape 7).

Finally you flip 3 Encounter cards from the Forbidden Zone Encounter deck into the Active Encounter spaces.

Then you are ready to proceed to the Action Phase!

Action Phase (Major Scenes only: 2, 4, 6, 7)

Starting with the Active Player and proceeding clockwise, Players take turns until the Scene ends. On your turn, follow these 5 Steps in order:

1. Perform 3 Actions
2. Check End of Scene / Game Loss
3. Advance the Day Track
4. Pass the Active Character Token
5. Sunrise?

1. Perform 3 Actions

Perform up to 3 Actions plus any number of Free Actions, in any order you choose; you may repeat the same Action/Free Action multiple times if you want and are able to. Some game effects might earn you more Actions on your turn.

Actions

Action Cards. Draw 1 Action card and add it to your hand. You may choose a facedown card from the deck, or you may take either of the face-up cards from the Available slots. If you take a face-up card, immediately flip a new one into its slot from the deck so that there are always 2 Available Action cards. If the deck is ever exhausted, reshuffle the Discard pile and form a new deck.

Each character has an Action card hand limit of 7 cards. You may exceed your hand limit during your turn, but if you exceed the limit at the end of your turn you must discard down to maximum hand size.

Example: You could take the facedown Action card, the face-up Dodge & Landon card, or the face-up Cornelius & Zira card.

Reset Action cards. Discard the 2 cards from the Available slots (into an Action Discard pile near the board), and flip 2 new cards from the deck into those slots.

Example: You discard the face-up cards from the Available slots, and flip 2 new cards from the deck into the slots.

Adventure. Choose 1 of the 3 Encounter cards in the Active Encounter slots and attempt to resolve it (See Adventure: Resolving an Encounter for greater details on this action).

Example: You think you will be able to succeed at the visible Desolate Trek Encounter, so you choose to Adventure.

Contemplate. Choose 1 Action card from your hand and give it to another character.

Example: You pass a Gorilla card to another character that is trying to put a set of Gorillas together.

Minor Healing. Play (discard) a set of 2 matching Action cards to Heal 1 Damage from yourself (discard 1 Damage token to the supply).

Example: You discard 2 Dr. Zaius cards, and heal 1 Damage from yourself.

Major Healing. Play a set of any 4 matching Action cards to Heal 3 Damage from yourself.

Example: You discard 4 Taylor cards, and heal 3 Damage from yourself.

Allies. Play 4 Nova and/or Zira & Cornelius cards in any combination to move the Ape standee back 1 space on the Fate Track.

Example: You discard 3 Cornelius & Zira plus 1 Nova card (making a mixed set of 4), and move the Ape standee back 1 space on the Fate Track.

Free Actions

Prepare. Play a set of any 3 matching Action cards to gain one Red die from the supply.

Example: You discard 3 Dodge & Landon cards, and gain one Red die.

Learn. Play a set of any 3 matching Action cards to gain 1 Skill token from the supply.

Example: You discard 3 Taylor cards, and gain 1 Skill token.

Adapt. Play a set of any 4 matching Action cards to draw 1 Special card from the deck.

Example: You discard 4 Nova cards, and gain 1 Special card

2. Check End of Scene / Game Loss

At any moment during any step of the Action Phase, if any standee reaches the zero space of the Fate Track, the Action Phase ends immediately (even if you have Actions left); skip the rest of the Action Phase and move to the End of Scene Phase.

Important! If the Statue of Liberty standee ever reaches the zero space of the Fate Track, the game immediately ends and the Players lose the game.

If no standee has reached the zero space of the Fate Track, continue the Action Phase with Steps 3-5.

You always want the Taylor standee to reach the zero space before the Ape standee... and you never want the Statue of Liberty standee to get there!

3. Advance the Day Track

Advance the Day token 1 space clockwise on the Day Track.

At this point, if you hold more than 7 Action cards, you must discard down to 7, or you may play Free Action sets (See above) if you can, until you have 7 or fewer.

Example: You move the Day Track token clockwise from the Night space to the Sunrise space. You have 8 Action cards in your hand, so you discard 1 to bring yourself back down to 7.

4. Pass the Active Character Token

Pass the Active Character token to the next character clockwise. That character becomes the Active character.

5. Sunrise?

Check the Day Track. If the Day token is on the Sunrise space, perform the following steps in order:

1. Perform the Sunrise Effect for each Active Encounter card that has one. Resolve them from top to bottom if there are more than one in the slots.

   Sunrise Effects are found in an orange window on the Encounter card, with the Sunrise symbol on it.

   Check the Symbol Glossary on page 12 to learn what all the symbols mean.

   Beware! The Sunrise Effects are all negative; try to complete Encounters with Sunrise Effects before Sunrise approaches! Many Sunrise Effects will move standees on the Fate Track. If the Taylor or Ape standee is moved to zero on the Fate Track at this time, it triggers the End of Scene. If the Statue of Liberty standee is moved to zero, the Players lose the game as usual.

   Example: It is Sunrise, and two of your three Active Encounters have Sunrise Effects; you must resolve them.

   The Desolate Trek Sunrise Effect causes the Ape standee to advance 1 space on the Fate Track. Luckily for you, this doesn't take the Ape standee to zero, which would end the Scene negatively.

   The Lightning Strike Sunrise Effect forces each character to roll one die, and take 2 Damage if the number rolled is odd. Unhappily, three of your characters rolled odd numbers, and take 2 Damage each.

2. Draw the top card from the Planet of the Apes deck and place it face-up on the Planet of the Apes Discard pile, then resolve both sections of the card.

   Some of these effects will be negative, and some will be positive.

   Note: The bottom section of the card may create an ongoing effect that will be active until a new Planet of the Apes card is drawn. Sections that begin with "This day" are this type of effect.

   Example: It is Sunrise, so you flip a Planet of the Apes card into the Discard pile, and resolve both halves of it in order.

   The first section is Setback; you must choose to either move the Taylor standee back 2, or the Ape or Statue of Liberty standee forward 1 space; since the Ape is hot on your heels on the Fate Track, you decide to advance the Statue of Liberty standee.

   The second section is Never Give Up; a beneficial ongoing effect for a nice change! For the rest of the day, all characters can spend Taylor Action cards to raise or lower their dice results, which will make Encounters a lot easier to complete successfully.

End of Scene Phase

When the End of Scene conditions are met (in Minor Scenes this will be because you completed the Scene's other Steps, in Major Scenes this will be because the Taylor or Ape standee reached the zero space of the Fate Track), resolve the End of Scene section described on the Scene's Intro card.

In Major Scenes, the End of Scene process will come with penalties if the Ape standee reached the zero space of the Fate Track first; in fact in later Scenes, you can lose the game if this happens!

Check the Symbol Glossary on page 12 to learn what all the symbols mean.

In all Scenes except the final Discovery Scene, the final step of the End of Scene (unless the Players have lost the game) will be moving the Sinking Ship standee to the next Scene.

Return the Intro card and any/all Encounter cards from the Scene you just finished to the game box; you won't need them any more. After that, begin a new Start Scene Phase...

Example: The Forbidden Zone Intro card's End of Scene section reads:

• If the Ape standee advances to zero first, advance the Statue of Liberty standee 3 spaces and move to Scene 3.
• If the Taylor standee advances to zero first, move to Scene 3.

In the Forbidden Zone End of Scene section, we can see that if the Ape standee reached zero first, you'd advance the Statue of Liberty standee 3 spaces (a tremendous setback), then move to the next Scene. If the Taylor standee got there first, you'd simply move to the next scene. As you can see, it's very important to get Taylor there first!

Adventure: Resolve an Encounter

The Adventure action is where most of the gameplay will occur. Your goal in the Major Scenes is to successfully complete enough Encounters to drive the Taylor standee to the zero space of the Fate Track, before the Ape or Statue of Liberty standee get there first.

Each Encounter card tells you the assets that you will have available to attempt the challenge, the challenge you must attempt (either a dice roll resolution or playing specific Action card sets), and the rewards or penalties for succeeding or failing. Some Encounters also have a special Bonus section that the group may take advantage of if the attempt is successful.

Check the Symbol Glossary on page 12 to learn what all the symbols mean.

An Encounter card carries these parts:

• A — The number and color of dice you automatically receive for your attempt.
• B — The suit(s) of Action cards that you are permitted to play to aid this Encounter.
• C — The total number of rolls of all your dice you are permitted during your attempt.
• D — The challenge you are trying to succeed at.
• E — The results of succeeding at this challenge.
• F — The results of failing this challenge.
• G — The Bonus Section; an extra opportunity for the group if you succeed at the challenge.

Resolve the Adventure action by performing the following steps in order:

1. Choose an Encounter

Select any one of the 3 Encounter cards in the Active Encounter slots to resolve.

Remember, many of the Encounters have Sunrise Effects which will trigger when the Day Track token reaches the Sunrise space... try to clear them before they are triggered.

Example: You could choose any of the 3 available Encounters to attempt. You decide to go for Forget the Past.

2. Succeed with Action Cards

Some Encounters require you to play a specific combination of Action cards from your hand to succeed, instead of a dice-rolling challenge. If you have the Action cards you need, play them now to succeed the challenge, and skip to Step 6.

Since you can't succeed at these types of Encounters without the correct cards in hand, don't choose them to resolve unless you are ready; it's just a waste of an action.

Example: The Only Man Destroys Encounter, for example, requires you to play 5 Dr. Zaius cards to succeed at it.

These types of Encounters stand out because there is nothing in the top Asset bar, and no Failure penalty.

3. Gather Encounter Dice

Each Encounter requiring a dice roll tells you the number and color of the dice that you are automatically provided; take these dice from the supply.

Example: The Forget the Past Encounter indicates that you get three White dice from the supply.

4. Gain Dice

If you want more dice for your attempt than you automatically receive, there are a few ways to get them now:

Action cards. You may play dice-granting Action cards that match the suits on the Asset bar of this Encounter.

Special cards. You may play Special cards that gain you dice (See Special Cards on page 3 for details).

Skills. You may trigger a dice-granting character Skill by spending a Skill token (See Character Cards on page 3 for details).

Some Encounters indicate a maximum number of dice that you may use for this challenge; you may not gain dice beyond this maximum.

There are three different colors of dice: White, Gray, and Red. The Encounter card and the various methods of gaining dice all tell you what color of dice you gain. When attempting a challenge, White and Gray dice can only count as themselves, while Red dice can count as either White or Gray dice.

Only Action cards of these suits may be played during this Encounter.

For your Forget the Past Encounter you want more dice; you play a Taylor card that gets you one White die from the supply.

You have a Dr. Zaius card, which is the correct suit, but it gains a Gray die... and Gray dice aren't needed for this challenge.

You play a Special card that gains you two Red dice; remember, Red dice can be used as any color.

5. Roll Dice

You may roll your dice a number of times equal to the total roll value of the card. The number shown here is the total number of rolls you may make, attempting to succeed at the challenge. You do not need to use all of your rolls. With each roll after the first, you may choose any number of dice to reroll, keeping any results you wish.

If you still haven't succeeded at the challenge after performing all of your allotted rolls, you may try any of the following techniques (one at a time) to add re-rolls or manipulate dice results.

Action cards. You may play reroll-granting Action cards that match the suits on the Asset bar of this Encounter.

Special cards. You may play Special cards that gain you rerolls or allow you to alter dice (See Special Cards on page 3 for details).

Skills. You may trigger character Skill that grants rerolls or allows you to manipulate dice results by spending a Skill token (See Character Cards on page 3 for details).

This type of reroll allows you to reroll all (or as many as you want to) of your dice.

This type of reroll allows you to choose and reroll a single one of your dice.

You are entitled to two rolls of all your dice for your attempt.

For your Forget the Past Encounter you have six dice to roll, and two rolls total. Your first roll is this:

Oh no! You did not get 3 results 5 or higher. You keep the 5 and roll all the rest for your second roll:

Wow, still no good. All out of automatic rolls, you keep the 5 and the 6 and play a Dodge & Landon card from your hand that has a single-die reroll action, hoping for a miracle:

Finally! You have three White dice showing 5 or higher (remember, Red dice count as any color you want), so the attempt is a success!

6. Reward or Penalty

After you have made all of your rolls and used any cards or Skills that you wish to, the Encounter will be either successful or failed.

If successful, the group applies the results shown in the success portion of the Encounter card. Note that the rewards do not need to go to you; they can be distributed amongst the characters however you wish.

If failed, the group applies the results shown in the failure portion of the Encounter card. Note that Damage gained from failure does not have to go to you; it can be distributed amongst the (undefeated) characters however you wish.

You succeeded at your challenge, so you must apply the results in the Success section; you advance the Ape standee space, and the Taylor standee 2 spaces.

If you had failed, you would have had to move both the Ape and Statue of Liberty standees 1 space each.

Fate Track Hazards

When you move the Taylor standee on the Fate Track as the result of an Encounter, there is an additional hazard that comes into play: If the Taylor standee ends its movement on a space with any printed symbol(s), the symbol(s) is/are immediately activated.

Check the Symbol Glossary on page 12 to learn what all the symbols mean.

As a result of the successful Encounter, you advance the Taylor standee 2 spaces on the Fate Track; this leaves you on space 9, which has a printed symbol.

It's a Damage symbol, so you receive a Damage token. As usual, you may assign it to whichever character you wish.

7. Bonus Section

Some Encounters have a Bonus section. If the Encounter was a success, the group may choose to resolve the action described in the Bonus Section, in exchange for the rewards described there. The Bonus section will describe how to resolve its action; some of these Bonuses allow each character to separately resolve the action, while others allow all characters together to participate as a group, contributing Action cards from their hands to meet its requirements.

"As a group" means that all willing characters may contribute resources (however unequally) to accomplish a shared goal.

You were successful, so you can choose to perform the Bonus. This Bonus allows you to move the Statue of Liberty standee back if the group discards 1 Gorilla card per character. Amongst the four characters in the game, one character holds 2 Gorillas and two other characters hold 1 each... you have enough! You all agree to play the cards, and move the Statue of Liberty back 1 space.

8. Refresh

If the attempt was a failure, leave the Encounter card in play; it can be attempted again later through another Adventure action. If the attempt was a success, discard it (facedown) into the Encounter Discard slot, and flip a new Encounter from the current Scene deck face-up into the empty Active Encounter slot.

After all of these steps, your Adventure action is over.

The Encounter was a success, so you discard it and flip a new one from the Scene deck into its slot.

The Discovery Scene

Eventually, with skill and a little luck, you just might move the Sinking Ship standee to the final Scene: The Discovery. The Discovery works differently from the Minor and Major Scenes. When you reach it, flip the Intro card into the Active Scene slot, and read the story.

The Intro card will instruct you to reveal a single card from the Discovery deck; this is your final challenge. The card will tell you exactly what you must do in order to win the game. If you succeed at this final challenge, the Players have won the game. If you fail, the Players lose the game.

Winning or Losing

The game can end in a number of ways; in all cases, either all Players will win, or all Players will lose.

All Players win the game if they successfully make it through all 8 scenes of the story including the final Discovery challenge.

All Players lose the game if one of these occurs:

• All characters in the game are Defeated at the same time (A character becomes Defeated when it has 5 Damage tokens at once; see Character cards on page 3 for details).
• The Statue of Liberty standee advances to the zero space of the Fate Track for any reason.
• The Ape standee reaches the zero space of the Fate Track before the Taylor standee in Scene 6 or 7, or if the Players fail their final Discovery challenge in Scene 8 (These failures are mentioned on the Intro cards for those Scenes).

Solitaire Rules

The Planet of the Apes Game can be played solitaire by a single Player using any number of characters, 1-4. The fewer characters in play, the more difficult the game will be as the Player will have fewer Skills to utilize, and fewer characters to absorb Damage. It is recommended to use at least 2 characters when playing solo, but it is possible to venture forth with just a single character. Make the following adjustments to solo play:

• Bonus Section Adjustment. Any Bonus opportunities that require the playing of a set of Action cards that is not based upon the number of characters in the game, are reduced by 1 to a minimum of 1.
• Health Adjustment. If playing solo with just a single character, the character only becomes Defeated (and loses the game) when it has 7 or more Damage tokens (instead of 5).

Easier Game

If you are finding the game too difficult, implement one or more of the following rules to give yourselves a better chance at victory:

• Players do not need to resolve a Discovery card; if you make it to Scene 8, you immediately win.
• Each character has 1 extra Action each turn.
• Start the Ape standee 1 space further back than instructed in each Major Scene.

Harder Game

If you are finding the game too easy, implement one or more of the following rules to raise the challenge level of the game to something more hazardous:

• Characters become Defeated at 4 Damage tokens (rather than at 5).
• Start the Ape standee 2 spaces closer to zero than instructed in each Major Scene.
• Each character begins the game with 1 Skill token (instead of 2).
• Each character begins the game without a Special card.

Symbol Glossary

• Taylor standee with a white number: Advance the Taylor standee on the Fate Track, towards the zero space. The number of spaces to move is indicated by the white number.
• Ape standee with a white number: Same as above, for the Ape standee.
• Statue of Liberty standee with a white number: Same as above, for the Statue of Liberty standee.
• Taylor standee with a backward arrow: Move the Taylor standee back on the Fate Track, away from the zero space. The number of spaces to move is indicated by the white number.
• Ape standee with a backward arrow: Same as above, for the Ape standee.
• Statue of Liberty standee with a backward arrow: Same as above, for the Statue of Liberty standee.
• Damage burst icon: Gain 1 Damage token. Unless specified, it can go to any character.
• Damage burst with an X: The specified character heals 1 Damage by discarding a Damage token.
• Damage burst with a group of people: Each character gains 1 Damage token.
• Hourglass icon: Advance the Day Track token 1 space clockwise immediately.
• Hourglass with an X: Do not advance the Day Track token in Step 3 as usual this turn.
• Eye icon: Gain 1 Skill token. Unless specified, it can go to any character.
• Action card icon: Gain 1 Action card. Unless specified, it can go to any character.
• Special card icon: Gain 1 Special card. Unless specified, it can go to any character.
• Card icon with a white number next to a damage/eye icon with a white number: Multiplier. The white number indicates the number of times to gain/lose the indicated item.
• Slash ( / ): OR indicator. The character chooses between the displayed options.
• Skull icon: Game over; you all lose.

Credits & Thanks

Game Design Richard Launius

Development Pete Shirey

Art Direction Jerry Bennington

Graphic Design Joshua Cappel and Peter Wocken

Box Illustration Jason Edmiston

Interior Artwork Leandro Lourenço

Editing Jerry Bennington, Spencer Reeve, Kyle Merkley, and Josh Cappel

Product Development Jerry Bennington and Spencer Reeve

Product Management Shauna Monteforte

Special Thanks To Ted Adams, Greg Goldstein, Chris Ryall, and Robbie Robbins

Playtesting Pete Shirey, Karen Kaufman, Jeremiah Kaufman, Jonathan Rogers, Brooke Rogers, Heather Riviera, and Josh Riviera

Planet of the Apes TM & © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

© 2017 Idea and Design Works, LLC. All Rights Reserved. IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. 2765 Truxtun Road, San Diego, CA 92106.