Portal: The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Overview
  • The Laboratory
• Setup and Winning
  • Starting the Game
  • Initial Test Subject and Portal Delivery
  • Winning the Game
• Taking a Turn
  • Taking a Turn: A Brief Summary
  • 1. Deploying Aperture Cards
  • 2. Moving Your Test Subjects
  • 3. Activating a Test Chamber
  • 4. Recycling the Test Chamber
  • A Typical Turn Sequence
• Additional Rules
  • Deploying a Portal Gun
  • Moving Through Portals
  • Earning a Free Test Subject or Aperture Card
  • Shuffling Aperture Cards
  • Carrying Cake
  • Incinerating Cake
  • Earning Companion Cube and Turret Rewards
  • Recycling Special Tokens
• Closing Notes
  • Tips and Strategies
  • Credits

Introduction

Overview

This is an uncooperative game for 2 to 4 players. The game plays out on a tile-constructed conveyor belt-like board collectively known as Aperture Laboratories.

Each player's goal is to move their Test Subjects through the Test Chambers of Aperture Laboratories to collect moist and delicious Cake. When a player is in the lead with the most Cake Slices, their goal is to end the game by destroying an opponent's (or their own) remaining Test Subjects.

If any player has no Test Subjects remaining in the Laboratory (in play), the game immediately ends and the player with the most Cake Slices in the Laboratory is declared the winner. (See Winning The Game, page 8)

After learning the rules, each game generally takes between 20 to 40 minutes to complete.

The Laboratory

The Laboratory is 3 rows of connected Test Chambers that changes shape throughout the game. At the start, each row is 5 Chambers wide, but can grow to any number of Chambers wide.

The right-most Test Chamber in each row is at the "old edge" of the Laboratory. Chambers at the old edge can be activated for rewards before being flipped over and 'recycled' to the other edge of the Laboratory.

The left-most Test Chamber in each row represents the "new edge" of the Laboratory. Any rewarded Test Subjects and Cake are 'delivered' in Chambers at the new edge of the Laboratory.

Setup and Winning

If this is your first time testing at Aperture Laboratories, prepare your pain receptors by cooperating with the following uncooperative pre-testing safety protocol.

Deploying familiarization brochure in 3... 2... 1...

Starting the Game

Randomly flip and shuffle the stack of Test Chamber Panels. Construct the Laboratory, 5 Test Chambers wide and 3 rows tall (See The Laboratory, page 5), by connecting Panels from the shuffled stack (left to right, top to bottom).

There will be 3 leftover Test Chambers that are unused in each game. Set them aside.

Shuffle the Aperture Cards and place them on the Playmat with the Aperture sides facing up so that players can see the next available reward.

Aperture Cards that are 'discarded' throughout the game are placed in the neighboring stack with the Character sides facing up. The top Character revealed in this stack will modify the rules for all players.

Each player chooses a colored Portal Gun Card and collects the Test Subject and Cake tokens of their color.

Initial Test Subject and Portal Delivery

Each player 'delivers' (4) Test Subjects into the Test Chambers at the new (left-hand) edge of the Laboratory:

• 1 Test Subject in the Top Chamber
• 2 Test Subjects in the Middle Chamber
• 1 Test Subject in the Bottom Chamber

Place the Portal tokens at the old (right hand) edge of the Laboratory in the top and bottom Chambers.

The player who most recently ate cake goes first. The first player takes their turn (see Taking a Turn on page 9) and play continues clockwise from the first player.

Winning the Game

Throughout the game, players will earn Cake Slices that are delivered into the Laboratory. Players must be careful to protect their Cake from being incinerated by other players or the steady march of progress.

The game immediately ends when any player has no remaining Test Subjects in the Laboratory. At this point, the player with the most Cake Slices in the Laboratory is declared the winner. Only Cake Slices currently occupying Chambers are in the Laboratory.

To settle a tie, the tied player with the most Test Subjects in the Laboratory is declared the winner.

If any divisions are still tied, they may appeal their cases in 10 words or less to the other divisions (or anyone nearby) and put it up to a vote. None of these 10 words may contain the letter 'E'.

Good Luck!

If any player has had all 8 of their Cake Slices incinerated, this also immediately ends the game.

Taking a Turn

ATTENTION! Perform the following Actions in this order:

1. Deploy Aperture Cards
2. Move one Group of your Test Subjects
3. Activate a Test Chamber
4. Recycle the Test Chamber

Taking a Turn: A Brief Summary

1. If you have any Aperture Cards, you may choose to deploy any number of them. Take the special actions printed on each deployed Card and discard them to reveal a new Character (face-up on the discard pile). Characters modify the standard game rules for all players.

2. Choose a single Chamber containing one or more of your Test Subjects. Move some or all of your Test Subjects from that Chamber to a Chamber adjacent to the one you chose.

3. Activate any one Chamber on the old (right-hand) edge of the Laboratory by placing the GLaDOS token in it. The player with the majority of Test Subjects in the 'activated' Chamber earns that Chamber's rewards. 'Deliver' any newly rewarded Test Subjects to the new (left-hand) edge of the Laboratory (together or separate).

4. Recycle the 'activated' Test Chamber by flipping its Panel over (destroying all Test Subjects and Cake Slices in that Chamber in the process) and adding it to the new edge of the Laboratory. Place the GLaDOS token near the old edge of the Laboratory.

1. Deploying Aperture Cards

If you don't have any Aperture Cards, skip this turn action. Maximum hand size is 3 cards. If you have more than 3, you must discard down to 3.

Otherwise...you may deploy any number of the cards in your hand. You may freely look at both sides of your Cards and deploy them in any order.

For each 'deployed' Aperture Card, immediately take the special actions printed on the card and then discard it.

Discarded Cards are placed with the Character side face-up on top of the discard stack and they replace the current Character Card.

The Character at the top of the discard stack modifies and overrides the standard game rules for all players. They remain active until replaced by another Character.

Aperture Cards may alternatively be deployed to fire your Portal Gun (See Deploying a Portal Gun on page 16).

2. Moving Your Test Subjects

You must move some (or all) of your Test Subjects from a single Test Chamber to an adjacent Test Chamber destination.

For Example, if a Test Chamber contains 3 of your Test Subjects, you may move 1, 2, or 3 of them to an adjacent Chamber. However, you may not move 1 Test Subject to an adjacent Chamber and another Test Subject to a different adjacent Chamber.

If you only 'moved' 1 Test Subject, you automatically earn either a free Test Subject or Aperture Card. (See Earning a Free Test Subject or Aperture Card, page 17.)

There is no limit to the number of Test Subjects that can occupy a Test Chamber.

3. Activating a Test Chamber

On your turn you must choose 1 of the 3 Test Chambers on the old (right-hand) edge of the Laboratory and activate it by placing the GLaDOS token in it. The Chamber you choose doesn't need to contain your Test Subjects (or any Test Subjects).

The player with the majority of Test Subjects in the 'activated' Test Chamber earns the rewards displayed in that Panel. No players are rewarded if there are no Test Subjects in the 'activated' Chamber, or if there is a tie for majority.

Each Test Subject icon earns a Test Subject for the 'activated' Chamber's majority player. Rewarded Test Subjects are delivered into Test Chambers at the new edge of the Laboratory, and may be placed together or separate.

Each Cake Slice icon earns a Cake Slice for the 'activated' Chamber's majority player. Rewarded Cake is also delivered (together or separate) into Test Chambers at the new edge of the Laboratory.

Each Aperture icon earns an Aperture Card for the 'activated' Chamber's majority player. Players may have at most 3 cards in their hand. Once a player has 3 cards they cannot earn more. Cards may only be used during the 'deploy' action of that player's next turn.

For the Companion Cube and Turret icons: (See Earning Companion Cube and Turret Rewards on page 19.)

4. Recycling the Test Chamber

Aperture Science safety regulations require that all testing rewards have been carefully delivered prior to standard deconstruction and euthanization procedures. I will remain in each active Test Chamber until verifying that all reward deliveries have been completed.

After all rewards have been delivered you must recycle the Chamber that contains the GLaDOS token. Flip its Panel over and place it on the new edge of the Laboratory. The activated Chamber is always 'recycled', even when no players have earned a reward.

This destroys all Test Subjects in the 'recycled' Chamber. Destroyed Test Subjects tokens are collected by their owner for later use.

Any Cake that's left in a 'recycled' Test Chamber is then incinerated and must remain in the Playmat's Cake Incinerator. Unlike destroyed Test Subjects, incinerated Cake cannot be earned again.

Other tokens in the 'recycled' Chamber, such as Portals, remain in that Chamber. (See Recycling Special Tokens, Page 19.)

'Recycled' Test Chambers may be added to any row of your choosing on the new edge of the Laboratory. However, if a row is less than 3 Chambers wide the 'recycled' Chamber must be added to the new edge of that row.

Note: If picking up a 'recycled' Chamber would break the Laboratory into 2 chunks, you cannot activate that Chamber.

A Typical Turn Sequence

A typical turn sequence looks like this:

1. Blue Player has an Aperture Card, so he chooses to 'deploy' it. He takes the Card's special actions and 'discards' it to reveal a new Character face up on top of the discard stack. This Character is active for the rest of his turn and affects every player's turn until it is replaced.

2. Blue Player 'moves' 2 Blue Test Subjects from one Test Chamber to an adjacent Chamber. That Chamber contains 1 other Red Test Subject.

3. Blue Player places the GLaDOS token on a Chamber on the old edge of the Lab to 'activate' it. Since he owns the majority of Test Subjects in the Chamber, he earns the rewards printed on the Panel: 2 Test Subjects and 1 Cake Slice. Blue Player 'delivers' the newly earned Test Subjects and Cake by placing them into Chambers at the new left-hand edge of the Laboratory.

4. After delivering rewards, Blue Player 'recycles' the Test Chamber by flipping over the Panel, destroying all 3 Test Subjects in the process, and adding it to the new edge of the Laboratory.

Additional Rules

Now that you're confidently trained in the requested training needed, let's take a look at the vital testing apparatus used in standard testing procedures.

Deploying a Portal Gun

Any time a player 'deploys' an Aperture Card they may choose to ignore the actions printed on the Card and instead 'deploy' their Portal Gun. The card is still placed character-side up onto the discard stack.

This allows that player to place the 2 Portal tokens in 2 different Test Chambers. However, neither token may be placed into a Chamber on the old edge of the Laboratory. A Portal token may end up on the old edge, but may not be placed there when deploying Portal tokens.

Although the Portal Gun requires an Aperture Card to be deployed, there's no limit to how many times it can be deployed per game.

Moving Through Portals

When moving Test Subjects, the 2 Test Chambers that contain Portal tokens are considered adjacent.

This allows Test Subjects to move from one Chamber containing a Portal to the other Chamber containing a Portal.

Earning a Free Test Subject or Aperture Card

When a player only moves a single Test Subject during their 'move' action, they may choose to earn either a free Test Subject* or Aperture Card†.

*The free Test Subject is delivered at the new edge of the Laboratory.

†Players may have at most 3 cards in their hand.

Shuffling Aperture Cards

When the last Aperture Card is taken, shuffle all the discarded Aperture Cards (not including the top active Character of the discard stack) and have another player cut the deck to form a new stack.

Carrying Cake

Cake can be 'carried' by Test Subjects. For each Test Subject moved, they may carry 1 Cake Slice of any color with them.

Test Subjects can always carry a Cake Slice of any color when moving to another Chamber (even when being moved by force via an Aperture or Character Card). The player that owns each Test Subject chooses which Cake Slice to carry.

Incinerating Cake

Sometimes a Character presents a player with an opportunity to 'incinerate' their Cake for a reward. A player may choose any of their Cake Slices in the Laboratory to 'incinerate'.

When a Test Chamber is recycled, incinerate all Cake Slices on it. Remember that Cake Slices earned from the recycled Chamber are not placed upon that Chamber.

Incinerated Cake does not come back to a player like incinerated Test Subjects do.

Earning Companion Cube and Turret Rewards

A Companion Cube icon allows that Chamber's majority player to place the Companion Cube token in any Chamber. Because Test Subjects are distracted by the cube, no rewards can be earned from an activated Chamber that contains the Companion Cube token.

A Turret icon allows that Chamber's majority player to move the Turret token to an adjacent Chamber. If there's no Turret token currently in the Laboratory, the majority player must deliver it to a Chamber at the new edge of the Laboratory.

All Test Subjects in the same Test Chamber as the Turret token are immediately destroyed. The Turret has no effect on any Cake or other tokens in the Chamber.

You may be moved or delivered directly into a Test Chamber that contains a Turret. In your final moments it's recommended that you reflect on your division's swift victory, rather than your shattering bones.

Recycling Special Tokens

When a Test Chamber containing a Companion Cube, Turret, and/or Portal token is recycled, those tokens are re-placed in the newly recycled Chamber (the flipped Panel) at the new edge of the Laboratory.

Closing Notes

Aperture Science would like to thank you for cooperating in this uncooperative testing initiative. The most effective color for science has been duly noted and assigned to all remaining Test Subjects as their new favorite color.

Tips and Strategies

• When you're leading with the most Cake it's time to start looking for opportunities to kill off Test Subjects and prevent players from gaining more. Remember, your own Test Subjects are the easiest targets.
• If you're low on Test Subjects, don't forget that moving a single Test Subject earns a free Test Subject or Aperture Card.
• Deliver your Cake to a wide row with undesirable Test Chambers to keep it in the Laboratory longer.
• Remember, you can carry another player's Cake towards its incineration at the old edge of the Laboratory.
• Keep an eye on the next available Aperture Card. They can be powerful enough to make or break a winning turn.
• Be careful of the order you deploy your Aperture Cards. The last character revealed often has no effect on your turn while creating opportunities for the next player.

Credits

Valve credits the entire company on every product it ships, as a long-standing studio tradition; the printed rulebook lists several hundred Valve staff members under the heading "Valve Is:".

Cryptozoic Entertainment

Co-CEO and Founder: John Nee Co-CEO and Founder: John Sepenuk

Game Development: Matt Hyra (Lead), Richard Brady, Marcos Payan, Nathaniel Yamaguchi

Graphic Design: John Vineyard, Nancy Valdez, Erin Roach VP, Operations: Leisha Cummins VP, Brand & Product Development: Erika Conway VP, Creative: Adam Sblendorio VP, New Business Development: Bill Schanes

Playtesters: Spencer Bateman, Michael B-V, Tom Driver, Ryan Dromgoole, Robert Gasio III, Russ Greenwald, Herb Haneke, Kent Heidelman, Adam Hensch, Cory Jones, Adam May, Tom Twedell, and many, many others.

Cryptozoic Special Thanks: Rumi Asai, William Brinkman, Phil Cape, Javier Casillas, Alex Charsky, Dan Clark, Matt Dunn, Kyle Heuer, Matt Hoffman, Vanessa Jimenez, Michael Kirchhoff, Erik Larsen, Lacy Lodes, Sara Miguel, George Nadeau, Matthias Nagy, Jeff Parker, Ryan Skinner, Yasmine Smith, Ben Stoll, Lisa Villaire, MaryCarmen Wilber, Chris Woods

© 2015 Valve / © 2015 CZE