Planet Rush
Planet Rush Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 8 Structure Mats (double-sided: under construction and completed)
- 60 Resource Cards (15 each of Power, Materials, Robotics, Research)
- 5 Faction Negotiation Cards
- 100 Colored Markers (20 each in 5 faction colors)
- 5 Faction Mats
- 18 Bonus Counters (9 with a star symbol, 2 with $2, 3 with $3, 4 with a half-moon symbol)
- 1 Launch Pad Counter
- 1 Rocket Ship
Setup
- Display the eight structures in the center of the playing area with their "under construction" sides up. Each structure consists of one to four segments. Each segment requires a number of Resource cards of one specific type to complete. Each circle on the segment represents one required card. Shuffle the Bonus counters and randomly place one face-up on every segment of each structure.
- Each player chooses a faction mat, along with the corresponding colored markers, and places one colored marker to the side of their mat (marking a score of zero — move this marker along the track any time points are scored). Each player also receives one Faction Negotiation card into their hand (cards are hidden from the other players). Any unused faction components are returned to the box.
- Shuffle the Resource cards and deal four to each player (these are added to the Faction Negotiation card in their hand, making a total of five cards). The remaining Resource cards are placed face down to form a Resource deck, which should then be placed within easy reach of all of the players. Resource cards show the different types of Resources that are required to complete the various segments of the structures.
Setup diagram: the eight structures are laid out in two rows with their segments facing up. Each player receives a faction mat, colored markers and a Faction Negotiation card with four Resource cards. The Active Player receives the Launch Pad counter and the Rocket Ship.
How to Play
Select one player to start and place the Rocket Ship and Launch Pad in front of them. This player becomes the Active Player.
A turn consists of a Build phase and a Resource phase. After a turn is complete, play proceeds clockwise with the next player becoming the Active Player.
Build Phase
The Active Player may draw one card from the Resource deck, which gives them a card advantage for later. The turn then proceeds to the Resource phase.
-OR-
The Active Player may place the Rocket Ship on one of the segments on any of the eight structures that has not yet been constructed and announce the building Resource requirement, e.g., "six Robotics."
All other players then select one or more cards from their hands and place them face down in front of them (this is their bid). Players may cover their selected cards with their hand to conceal how many cards they are bidding. When all the players are ready, everyone reveals their bids simultaneously. Any Resource cards that do not show the required type are immediately returned back into their owner's hand. A Faction Negotiation card without any accompanying Resource cards of the required type is also immediately returned back into the player's hand.
The Active Player then analyzes the bids and accepts or rejects each one of them in any order.
If the Active Player rejects a bid, the Bidding Player returns their cards back into their hand without further consequences.
If the Active Player accepts a bid without a Faction Negotiation card, the Bidding Player places the corresponding number of their markers onto empty circles on the selected structure's segment, one for each Resource card that was bid.
If the Active Player accepts a bid with a Faction Negotiation card, the Active Player places the corresponding number of their colored markers onto empty circles on the selected structure's segment, one for each Resource that was bid. The Bidding Player then collects the Bonus counter that corresponds to that segment (directly below it).
The Active Player may only approve bids if they succeed in raising the exact total number of Resource cards required to complete the segment. A segment cannot be partially completed. The cards may come from accepted bids or from the Active Player's own hand. For each card from the Active Player's own hand, they place one of their markers on an empty circle in the segment. (Points are awarded to bidders as explained under Scoring a Structure and Game End & Scoring.)
If the Active Player does not accept any bids containing a Faction Negotiation card, they receive the Bonus counter. The Active Player cannot accept more than one bid containing a Faction Negotiation card, as there is only one Bonus counter available per segment. Each bid accepted must be accepted in full; bids cannot be reduced. The Active Player cannot accept more cards than required, as they are limited to the number of spaces in the segment being built.
All Resource cards that contributed to the construction of the segment are discarded onto a face-up discard pile. Faction Negotiation cards, however, are never discarded; they are always returned to the player's hand. When the Resource deck runs out, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
If the Active Player is unable or unwilling to raise the required number of Resource cards, all bids must be rejected. In this case, the segment remains empty and all cards are returned to the owner's hands. An Active Player only has one building attempt per turn.
Whether or not a segment was completed, the turn then proceeds to the Resource phase.
Players should track their score as they collect Bonus counters as follows:
Bonus counters with a value on them score that many points. Every second half-moon counter collected scores 7 points. A single half-moon counter does not add anything to your score. The star counters are scored in the following way: The first is worth 1 point, the second is worth 2 points, the third is worth 3 points, the fourth is worth 4 points, and so on. (i.e., if four were collected then they would be worth: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 Points)
Figure note: the Building this section illustration shows one structure with the middle segment of a column boxed in red and labelled "Building this section."
Bidding example: The Active Player attempts to construct the middle segment of the agriculture structure, which requires seven Resources, in this case, Materials. The four other players make the following bids:
- Yellow: 3 Materials
- Red: Faction Negotiation card +1 Material
- Green: Faction Negotiation card +2 Materials
- Blue: No bid
Since the Active Player can only accept one bid containing a Faction Negotiation card, they will most likely reject the Red bid, as the Green bid is better. The Active Player plays 2 Materials cards from their hand and accepts the Yellow and Green bids to complete the segment (2+3+2=7). Yellow places 3 of their markers and the Active Player places 4 markers on the segment (2 for the Material cards they played and 2 more due to Green's Negotiation card), while Green only receives the Bonus counter.
(If the Active Player played 4 Materials from their hand, they would only need to accept the Yellow bid and would thus receive the Bonus counter. If they played 5 Materials from their hand, they would only need to accept the Green bid and could then place all 7 markers. If the Active Player played 7 Materials, they could complete the segment on their own, placing all 7 markers and receiving the Bonus counter.)
Resource Phase
Deal one new card from the Resource deck to each player (including the Active Player). Then pass the Rocket Ship and Launch Pad to the next player, who then becomes the Active Player and starts a new turn.
The Alien Ruins
This structure does not indicate a specific type of Resource.
You may only attempt to construct the Alien Ruins with Resources that are no longer needed in the other seven structures (i.e., all sections in all structures that require the Resource have been built).
If there are two or more types of Resources that can be selected, the Active Player must choose one of them when announcing the building Resource requirement.
Scoring a Structure
When all segments of a structure have been completed, the structure is scored.
Place all markers on the structure to the side of that structure's tile (Important: Do not return these to the players just yet!). Flip the tile over to show its completed side.
The players then tally up the markers that were placed to the side to see who had the most. The player(s) with the most markers then places one of them next to the first place location (left-most) on the completed structure tile and moves his score marker the indicated amount of points. The player(s) with next highest amount of markers places one of their markers next to the second place location and so on until all players that contributed to the structure have placed a marker. In the case of a tie, all involved players receive the higher point score. If the location of a player's marker reads "0," that player scores no points for the structure (but that marker is still placed for Game End scoring).
Players then collect the markers that were put to the side and return them to their supply.
Game End and Scoring
The game ends after the seventh structure has been scored. The eighth structure will always remain incomplete and is not scored.
At game end, each player adds a bonus score to their current score for the number of different completed structures they have markers on as follows:
7 Structures - 15 points | 6 Structures - 10 points | 5 Structures - 5 points
(It pays to have at least one marker on each structure. These bonuses are not cumulative.)
The player with the highest total number of points wins the game.