Pocket Ops Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• General Setup
• Specialist Setup
• Gameplay
• Draws
• Round End
• Specialists
  • Sniper
  • Courier
  • Mole
  • Hacker
  • Grappler
  • Ninja
  • Pusher
  • Assassin
• Credits

Components

• 1 Facility Board
• 1 Doomsday Device
• 2 Power Crystals
• 18 Blueprint Cards (9 red, 9 blue)
• 14 Spy Tokens (7 red, 7 blue)
• 16 Specialists (8 red, 8 blue)
• 1 Keycard

General Setup

1. Place the Facility centrally, with the Power Crystals and Doomsday Device nearby.
2. Players pick their color. Each player takes all 7 Spies, all 9 Blueprint cards, and all Specialists of their color.
3. Randomly give one player the Keycard. (The player with the Keycard will be the Placer in the first turn of the round; the other player will be the Predictor.)

Specialist Setup

At the start of every round, both players shuffle all their own Specialists face down, then peek at two of their own; each player picks one of those two Specialists to be active this round. Once both players have chosen, they reveal their choice to each other and add it to their stockpile of Spy tokens for this round. (See Specialists to learn how they work.)

Gameplay

Each round is made up of a number of turns. Each turn, the Predictor will predict which room the Placer will place a unit (Spy or Specialist) into, by choosing the corresponding Blueprint card from their hand and placing it face down on the table. (Your Blueprint cards should be kept secret in your hand in random order, to avoid giving your opponent any clues about your predictions.) Then the Placer (the player with the Keycard if this is the first turn of the round) will either:

• Place a Spy in the facility in an empty room OR
• Play their active Specialist into the facility according to its own rules (usually an empty room).

When the Placer has made their move, the Predictor reveals their played Blueprint card.

If the prediction was correct, the move was blocked. A blocked Spy is returned to the owning player's supply. A blocked Specialist is removed from the game.

If the prediction was incorrect, the placed unit holds its position; it gets to stay in the room where it was placed. (Specialist abilities often activate now.)

The Predictor retrieves their Blueprint card and becomes the new Placer, and the Placer becomes the new Predictor. Then the next turn begins. Turns continue in this fashion with players alternating placing and predicting until one player wins the round by getting 3 units in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, or if there is a draw.

Example: You are the (Blue) Predictor, and you suspect the (Red) Placer is going to play into room H; the Hangar. You find your Hangar card and play it face down, making sure your opponent doesn't see which card it is.

Example: Your opponent has indeed played into room H! You reveal your correct prediction... and the placed Spy is removed back to its owner's supply. Nice work!

Example: Your opponent has played into room A. You reveal your incorrect prediction... and the placed Spy stays where it is. Drat!

Draws

A draw occurs when it becomes clear that neither player can win, or if both players win at once due to a Specialist's ability, or if both players have only one room in which to place a unit (meaning the Predictor would be able to endlessly predict correctly). Some Specialists can foil these draw conditions; don't call a draw unless you are certain! In the event of a draw, the player with the Keycard loses the round (making the other player the winner of the round).

Round End

The first time you win a round, take a Power Crystal from the supply. Both players discard their active Specialists from the game (whether they entered play or not), and retrieve all of their Spy tokens. Pass the Keycard from one player to the other, and begin a new round. (Remember to select new Specialists from your now-smaller pool.)

If you already have a Power Crystal and win a round, take the Doomsday Device from the supply and plug your Power Crystal into it; you have won the game, and saved the world from villainy!

Specialists

Each Specialist has a different ability, described below. Specialists may not affect (push, remove, displace, etc.) other Specialists with their abilities. Any Spy removed from the board for any reason is returned to its owner. The action of a Specialist may cause a round to end if it creates a win or draw condition.

Sniper

Play the Sniper into an empty room. If it holds position, you may remove 1 enemy Spy from any room along an orthogonal path from the Sniper. This attack may travel through an occupied or empty room to reach its target.

Courier

Play the Courier into the same room as a friendly Spy with an empty orthogonally adjacent room. If it holds position, move that Spy into that room.

Mole

Play the Mole into an empty room. If it holds position, swap positions of one enemy and one friendly Spy that are both orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to the Mole.

Hacker

Play the Hacker into an empty room. If it holds position, on your later turns as the Predictor, play 2 Blueprint cards instead of 1 as normal. This ability stays active until you successfully block a placement.

Grappler

Play the Grappler into an empty room. If it holds position, you may swap the Grappler with an enemy Spy in an orthogonally adjacent room.

Ninja

Play the Ninja into an empty room. If it holds position, you may remove 1 enemy Spy from an orthogonally or diagonally adjacent room.

Pusher

Play the Pusher into an empty room. If it holds position, you may move the Pusher into an orthogonally adjacent room containing any Spy, pushing that Spy one room in that direction (or off the board). If the Spy is pushed into a room containing a Spy, it pushes that Spy in the same way. Any Spy pushed off the board is removed.

Assassin

Play the Assassin into the same room as an enemy Spy. If it holds position, remove that Spy from the board.

Credits

Game Design: Brandon Beran

Graphic Design: Joshua Cappel

Development: Marc Specter & Heather Newton

Grand Gamers Guild: Thanks to the entire GGG team for all of the hard work, Jon Mietling for the eye-popping campaign video, Joe Codling for bringing this game to our attention, and all of our supporters for making this project possible!

Brandon Beran: I want to thank Karen, my family, my friends, and anyone else who has helped me along the way.

Published with pride by Grand Gamers Guild, LLC. All rights reserved ©2017 • grandgamersguild.com