Raising Robots: Friends Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Components
• Before Playing
• Robots & Inventors
  • Changes to Setup
  • Robot Cards That Can Be Assembled in Any Phase Row
  • Game End Ability
• New Actions
  • Search
  • Run a Phase Row (Energy Action)
  • Finite Loops Example
  • Search Example
  • Game End Icons
• Competitions & Friendships
  • Changes to Setup
  • Competition Card and Tile Overview
  • New Class Objectives
  • How to Complete Competitions
  • Completion Cost and Rewards Layout
  • Competition Example
  • Completion Rewards
  • Completion Criteria
  • Solo / 2P Gameplay Changes
  • Friendships
  • Friendship Ability Clarifications
  • Friendship Example
• Friends Inventor Explanations
  • Charlotte (Complexity: Medium)
  • Confucius (Complexity: Hard)
  • Johannes (Complexity: Medium)
  • Sacagawea (Complexity: Medium)
  • Susan (Complexity: Hard)
  • William (Complexity: Hard)

Introduction

The Friends Expansion introduces 3 new modules that may be added in separately or together in any combination:

1. More Robots
2. More Inventors
3. Competitions & Friendships

Components

• 32 Robot Cards
• 6 Inventor Cards
• 26 Friendship Cards
• 2 Class Cards (1 replacement)
• 16 Competition Cards
• 4 Competition Tiles
• 24 Achievement Tokens
• 6 Player Board Stickers
• 40 Inventor Components

Friends cards are marked with a rosette badge icon if you wish to separate them later.

40 Inventor Components. These are the pieces for the new Friends inventors, shown pictorially on the components page of the printed rulebook (including 4 each of two Energy Card values, 24 check-mark tokens, and 2 copies of the Friends Inventor Explanations sheet). See the Friends Inventor Explanations section below for how each inventor works.

Before Playing

Owners of the first edition of Raising Robots should use the stickers to cover the first action in the Design Phase of each Player Board as shown. The stickers allow for easier robot card drawing, which helps in the base game and with this expansion.

Robots & Inventors

More robots and inventors can now be mixed in with those from the base game and Pets expansion, enhancing the diversity and richness of the gameplay experience. For a detailed list of the new inventors, see the Friends Inventor Explanations Sheet.

Changes to Setup

1. Add New Cards: Shuffle the new Robot Cards and/or Inventor Cards into their respective decks. Do not add any additional cards or content unless playing with the Competitions & Friendships module.

Robot Cards That Can Be Assembled in Any Phase Row

IMPORTANT: Robot Cards with this symbol (a stacked multicolour bar icon on the card) can be assembled in any Phase Row.

When assembled, these robots now count as a part of that Phase Row for activating the Robot and determining any effects or Class Objectives.

Game End Ability

This symbol (a pink hourglass) indicates an effect that is resolved only at the end of the game. A robot with a Game End Ability for its Upgraded Robot Action must be upgraded to use this ability.

When calculating your total score from robots at the end of the game, add VPs from these abilities.

New Actions

Search

Search the deck to find a Robot Card that matches criteria you select:

• Choose a Phase Row (Design, Fabricate, or Recycle); AND
• Choose an Energy Requirement for the Basic Robot Action (NOT the Upgraded Robot Action). The Energy Requirement can be a single number (7) or any range of numbers (1-7).

Then, reveal cards from the top of the deck until you reveal a card that matches both of your criteria. Take this card into your hand and place any revealed cards on the bottom of the deck without changing their order.

Robot Cards that may be placed into any Phase Row count as matching all Phase Row criteria. In the rare event that no remaining cards in the deck match your criteria, then take the last revealed card and shuffle the rest of the revealed cards to form a new deck.

Run a Phase Row (Energy Action)

You may run the depicted Phase Row with energy shown, performing Player Board actions and activating Robots. You may get additional energy from unlocked upgrades, but you may NOT spend Batteries NOR benefit from Energy Cubes to increase the energy provided by this action.

IMPORTANT: These actions may trigger inventors abilities that apply when running a Phase Row (e.g., Albert, Temple).

IMPORTANT: Each robot may only be activated once as part of the same robot activation. Infinite loops are not allowed.

Finite Loops Example

A player is performing the Design Phase at a Total Energy of 5 (see picture on the printed page), so they perform the following actions:

1. Gain a Program or a Robot Card.
2. Discard X Robot Cards and draw X+1 Robot Cards and gain a Robot Card and a Battery.
3. Activate Hallyu. Spend a Gear to run Fabricate at 4 Total Energy (including +1 energy from the unlocked upgrade), which allows them to do the following actions now:
   • A. Gain a Microchip or a Gear.
   • B. Gain a Gear or a Sensor.
   • C. Activate Bingo. This activates an adjacent robot. The player may NOT choose Hallyu since it has already been activated (earlier in #3). Instead, they activate Zeus, which runs Design at 2 Total Energy, including +1 from the unlocked upgrade. This gives a Program or a Robot Card from the Player Board and a Battery from Sir Kit. This ends Hallyu's activation.
4. Finally, gain a Battery by activating Sir Kit. Since this is a separate robot activation from Hallyu, it may be performed now.

To avoid confusion when performing these types of actions, we recommend leaving your Meeple on the starting Robot until the action is complete. As you go through the action, use an Arrow Token to track your progress.

Search Example

When performing a search action, a player chooses to specify the following criteria: Phase Row (Design) and Basic Action Energy (4-5 Energy).

• Not a match: Only matches 1 criteria (Design). The Basic Action doesn't meet the criteria, and the Upgraded Action doesn't count.
• Not a match: Only matches 1 criteria because the Basic Action Energy is 4, but it does not match the correct Phase Row.
• Match: Meets both criteria because a Robot Card that can be placed into any Phase Row counts as matching all Phase Row criteria.

Game End Icons

Each of these Game End effects is shown on the printed page with a pink hourglass (the Game End symbol):

• A = 3 VPs: Gain 3 VPs for each A-grade that you earn on Class Cards (after applying Extra Credit).
• 2 Microchip-robot = 3 VPs: Gain 3 VPs for every 2 assembled robots (rounded down) that require a Microchip in any column of its Assembly Cost.
• 2 Gear = 1 VP: Gain VPs for every 2 resources (rounded down) of the matching type in your Inventory. Do not spend the resources. (The icon shows a Gear and a single pink star, so this is 1 VP per 2 Gears.)
• 2 robot 5-6 VPs = 3 VPs: Gain 3 VPs for every 2 assembled robots (rounded down) that award the depicted number of VPs (5 or 6 VPs).
• Column = 4 VPs: Gain 4 VPs for every column in your Play Area that is completely filled with assembled robots.

Competitions & Friendships

Competitions introduce new objectives that all players can complete to earn reputation and powerful Friendship abilities.

Changes to Setup

1. Competition Tiles: Place the 4 Competition Tiles next to the Central Board (A-side face-up).
2. Competition Cards: Sort the Competition Cards into 4 groups by type. Shuffle each group and deal 1 Competition Card of each type face-up next to the matching Competition Tile. Return the rest of the Competition Cards to the Game Box.
3. Achievement Tokens: Give each player 4 Achievement Tokens in their player color.
4. Friendship Cards: After Inventor Cards have been chosen, remove any Friendship Cards that match the Inventor Cards in play to avoid duplicate abilities. Shuffle the remaining Friendship Cards and place them facedown next to the Central Board.
5. Class Cards: Add the 2 new Class Cards to the Class Card deck. Since 1 card is a replacement (marked with a shuffle symbol), be sure to remove the matching older card before shuffling the deck.

IMPORTANT: Friendship Cards with a paw symbol should be removed when not playing with the Pets expansion.

IMPORTANT: Both Class Cards should only be used when playing with the Competitions & Friendships module.

6. SOLO/2P ONLY: Take 4 spare Upgrade Tokens (1 of each type) and randomly place the Upgrade Tokens onto the Round Tracker of the Central Board, covering the 4, 5, 6, and 7 spots (for Solo) or spots 5 and 7 (for 2P).

Competition Card and Tile Overview

• Competition Name: shown at the top of the Competition Card.
• Completion Criteria: the minimum condition(s) necessary to be eligible to complete a Competition Card.
• Completion Cost: each player chooses which cost to pay to complete a competition.
• Completion Rewards: each player who completes a competition chooses which reward to receive.

IMPORTANT: On the A-side of the Competition Tile, an Upgrade Token paid must match the Upgrade Type shown. On the B-side, any Upgrade Token may be used.

The B-side of the Competition Tile reduces both the Completion Cost and Rewards for other players who complete the same competition in future rounds.

New Class Objectives

• New: The number of completed competitions by you at the end of the game.
• Replacement: The number of VPs in your Inventory at the end of the game.

The replacement Class Card was adjusted to account for the additional VPs awarded by competitions.

How to Complete Competitions

1. Meeting Criteria: Any time a player meets or exceeds the Completion Criteria of a Competition Card, they may pay the cost to complete it.
2. Paying the Cost: The player decides how to pay the Completion Cost currently showing on the matching Competition Tile. The cost may be paid using an Upgrade Token, Resources or Batteries.
3. Gaining Rewards: After paying the cost, the player immediately gains their chosen Completion Reward (VPs and/or Friendship Cards).
4. Place Achievement Token: All players may complete and gain the rewards from the four competitions exactly once. Place an Achievement Token onto the completed Competition Card as a reminder.
5. Flip Competition Tile: At the end of the round (after all Round End abilities have been performed), flip any Competition Tiles with an Achievement Token on the matching card so that the B-side is face-up.

IMPORTANT:

• All players may complete each Competition Card only once.
• A Competition Card may be completed in the middle of a phase, but not in the middle of an action. To do this, finish performing your current action and then pay the Completion Cost. Immediately gain your chosen Completion Rewards and continue performing the rest of the phase.
• If multiple players complete a Competition Card during the same round, they all use the same side of the Competition Tile to pay the costs and gain rewards.
• It is possible to meet the Completion Criteria for multiple Competition Cards at the same time. When achieving them in this way, complete one competition at a time, checking that you satisfy the Completion Criteria for each subsequent competition after paying the relevant Completion Costs.

Completion Cost and Rewards Layout

The Completion Cost on a Competition Tile lists three alternatives, separated by slashes: an Upgrade Token icon (1 Upgrade Token, which must match the Upgrade Type shown on the A-side), a multicolour icon with a number (that many Resources of any type), and a Battery icon with a number (that many Batteries). The Completion Rewards list two alternatives, one per option, separated by a slash.

Reading note: the printed tile shows these costs and rewards as icons. The layout above was read from the printed icons; the printed text of the rules gives the same three payment types (Upgrade Token, Resources or Batteries).

Competition Example

This Competition Card requires 10 Robot Cards in hand.

1. Suppose Player 1 draws their 10th Robot Card in the middle of the Design Phase of the 2nd round. They decide to pay the cost immediately, choosing between an Upgrade Token, Resources, or Batteries. Player 1 chooses to pay in Resources, spending 3 Robot Cards and 1 Sensor. Then, Player 1 places an Achievement Token on the Competition Tile and chooses their reward. They elect to gain 2 VPs and draw 3 Friendship Cards, keeping 1.
2. Later that same round during Round End, Player 2 gains a Wild. They opt to gain a Robot Card, so they can complete this competition in time to gain the A-side rewards. They place an unlocked pink (Efficiency) Upgrade Token and Achievement Token on the Competition Card.
3. Once all players have finished their Round End abilities, the pink Competition Tile is flipped to its B-side. Any remaining players may still complete this competition, paying the costs and gaining the rewards shown on the B-side.

Completion Rewards

Choose either:

• Draw 3 Friendship Cards and keep 1, and gain 2 VPs; or
• Gain 7 VPs.

Choose either:

• Draw 2 Friendship Cards and keep 1; or
• Gain 4 VPs.

Discard any used Friendship Cards next to the deck. If you need to draw Friendship Cards and the deck is empty, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new deck. See Friendships below for how these cards work.

Competitions are the only way to earn Friendship Cards. These can provide powerful advantages, so strategize to achieve Competitions early!

Completion Criteria

Engineering Expo

• Have 9+ of one resource shown (Microchip, Program, Gear, or Sensor). Duct Tape does not count.
• Have 5+ of any two resources shown. Duct Tape does not count.
• Have 3+ sets of Sensors, Gears, Programs, and Microchips. Duct Tape does not count.

Mech Masters

• Have 13+ Batteries in your Inventory.
• Have 10+ Robot Cards in your hand.
• Have 7+ Duct Tape in your Inventory.

Think Tank

• Have 2+ Class Cards where you are currently meeting the D grade criteria, excluding Extra Credit.
• Have 1+ Class Card where you are currently meeting the C grade criteria, excluding Extra Credit.
• Have 3+ Upgrade Tokens of the same type placed.
• Have 3+ Upgrade Tokens of different types placed.

IMPORTANT: Criteria that require resources or Class Grades must only be met at the time when you go to achieve them. After paying for the Competition Cost, it is possible that you may no longer meet the Completion Criteria.

IMPORTANT: Upgrade Tokens needed for the above criteria must be placed onto a Robot Card, Class Card, Inventor Card, or a DIFFERENT Competition Tile (and not just be unlocked).

Robo Race

• Assemble 5+ robots, including one robot with each different Assembly Cost in energy.
• Assemble 5+ robots, including one robot with each different Assembly Cost in resources.
• Assemble 5+ robots, including one robot of each Action Energy Requirement range (1-2, 3-5, 6-7).
• Assemble 5+ robots, including one robot in each Phase Row.
• Assemble 4+ robots, including one robot with each VP amount shown (3, 4, 5, and 6 VPs).
• Assemble 4+ robots in the same Phase Row.

IMPORTANT: If the Action Energy Requirement on the Upgraded Robot Action is needed to count the robot, then that robot must be upgraded.

Solo / 2P Gameplay Changes

At the very end of the round when you move the Round Marker onto a space with an Upgrade Token, remove the Upgrade Token and flip the matching Competition Tile to its B-side (if it wasn't already flipped). This simulates a neutral player capturing these shared objectives before you can. Plan accordingly!

Game End Scoring. Increase the single game solo scoring thresholds by 20 points and the campaign mode by 50 points when playing with the Competitions & Friendships module.

Friendships

Friendships provide special abilities, in addition to Inventor abilities, that offer benefits for the rest of the game.

When a player completes a Competition Card, they may choose to draw new Friendship Cards and keep one. Place any chosen Friendship Cards beside your Inventor Card for easy reference.

Generally, Friendship abilities take effect immediately upon completing your current action and act similarly to the Inventor abilities that they're based on with minor exceptions. For details, please refer to the relevant Inventor Explanations Sheets. See clarifications below for Friendship abilities that differ from their Inventors.

IMPORTANT: Players may only ever have a maximum of 2 Friendship Cards, but they may still complete competitions to earn VPs.

IMPORTANT: With the Friends expansion, players may have multiple End of Round abilities. When this happens, you may choose the order in which they are performed.

Friendship Ability Clarifications

• Ada: Immediately lose 1 Battery (if you have one) when you choose this Friendship. You may still choose this Friendship even if you don't have a Battery to pay. However, you may NOT benefit from this ability during the round it is gained.
• Albert: Immediate: Run a Phase Row at 6 Energy. You may receive additional energy from unlocked upgrades, but you may NOT spend Batteries NOR benefit from Energy Cubes to increase the energy provided by this action.
• Charles: When gained, you may benefit from this ability after finishing the current phase. Remember: A Charles Token may only be used if it matches one of your Phase Cards for the round. When combining with other inventors that allow you to assign more than 2 Phase Cards (i.e., Ada, John), you may only use 2 Tokens per round.
• Confucius: When gained, immediately gain either 1 Wild or 2 Batteries per assembled robot. Choose the reward separately for each robot. For example, if you have 3 robots assembled, you can choose to gain 2 Wilds and 2 Batteries.
• Johannes: When gained, immediately gain 1 Sensor, Gear, Microchip, Program, Battery, Duct Tape, and VP.
• John: Same as Ada. It is possible to have Friendship Cards for both Ada and John and the abilities stack.
• Nikola: When gained, you may place Nikola's Token after finishing the current phase. However, you must wait until the next round to swap any Energy Cubes.
• Stephen: When gained, you may benefit from Stephen's Energy Cards after finishing the current phase.
• Temple: Round End: Gain 2 VPs for each column in your Play Area that is completely filled with assembled robots.

Friendship Example

During the Upgrade Phase, a player has 8 Total Energy.

A. They spend 7 energy and 1 Wild to unlock and place their third Upgrade Token of the same Upgrade Type.

B. They have now met the Completion Criteria for the Competition Card shown and decide to pay the Completion Cost with 7 Batteries, placing an Achievement Token.

IMPORTANT: The third Upgrade Token unlocked could NOT have been used to pay the Completion Cost because the criteria requires the Upgrade Tokens to have been unlocked and placed BEFORE paying the cost.

C. They choose to gain 2 VPs and draw 3 Friendship Cards, keeping 1 (Yo-Yo). This takes effect immediately upon completing the current action. However, the Upgrade action just performed does NOT retroactively trigger Yo-Yo's ability.

However, the player still has 1 energy left to spend during the same Upgrade Phase. They could decide to unlock another Upgrade Token by spending 1 energy and 4 Wilds, which would immediately trigger Yo-Yo's ability and provide 1 Battery and 2 VPs.

Friends Inventor Explanations

The Friends Inventor Explanations sheet is the official companion sheet for the new inventors. Its text is transcribed here.

Charlotte (Complexity: Medium)

Immediate: Begin the game with 1 fewer Duct Tape.

Round End: Each round, you may pay 2 Wilds to do one of the following special actions:

• Assemble a robot by paying its cheaper Assembly Cost (the one with the fewest resources). You must also pay any Extra Resource Costs shown on your Player Board.
• Unlock an Upgrade Token.

When Upgraded — Round End: Gain 1 Wild and 1 VP. This is in addition to your other Round End ability.

Confucius (Complexity: Hard)

Immediate: Begin the game with 1 fewer Battery and 2 fewer Duct Tape. Also take Confucius's Scroll Board and 16 Confucius Tokens from the Game Box and place them beside your Player Board.

Ongoing: Each time you Assemble a robot or unlock an Upgrade Token that meets an objective shown on your Scroll Board (including the starting robots and upgrade), place a Confucius Token on top of that objective and gain 1 Wild or 2 Batteries. Each objective may be completed only once, and each robot may be used to complete only 1 objective.

In addition, each time you complete a row or column on your Scroll Board, gain 1 Battery and 1 Duct Tape or gain 2 VPs.

IMPORTANT: Confucius may NOT be upgraded.

Johannes (Complexity: Medium)

Immediate: Begin the game with 3 additional Wilds and 1 fewer Duct Tape.

Round End: If you have 5 or more of any single resource (Batteries, Duct Tape, Gears, Sensors, Microchips, or Programs) in your Inventory, gain 1 more of that same type. Place Johannes's Resource Token on the 5 spot in your Inventory as a reminder.

Example: Johannes ends the round with 10 Batteries, 7 Microchips and 5 Sensors in his Inventory. He gains 1 Battery, 1 Microchip, 1 Sensor, and then he gains 2 VPs because he now has 11 Batteries and 8 Microchips.

When Upgraded — Round End: If you have 8 or more of any single resource (Batteries, Duct Tape, Gears, Sensors, Microchips, or Programs) in your Inventory, gain 1 VP for each type you have 8 or more of. Place Johannes's VP Token on the 8 spot in your Inventory as a reminder. This is in addition to your other Round End ability.

Sacagawea (Complexity: Medium)

Ongoing: Robot Cards act as if they were Duct Tape, except they do not count for Class Cards requiring Duct Tape.

Immediate: During Setup, you may perform 1 Robot Search action.

Round End: You may perform 1 Robot Search action.

When Upgraded — Round End: Gain 1 Battery and 1 Robot Card. Alternatively, gain 2 VPs. This is in addition to your abilities above.

Susan (Complexity: Hard)

Immediate: During Setup, take Susan's 3 Tokens. Choose 1 Player Board action in each Phase Row, covering them with Susan's Tokens (A-side face-up) and placing any Upgrade Tokens on top of Susan's tokens.

Ongoing: Susan's Tokens effectively replace the covered Player Board actions, whenever you perform the Design, Fabricate, and Recycle phases. You must still perform your Player Board actions from top to bottom.

IMPORTANT: You may place Susan's Tokens on top of any Player Board action in Design, Fabricate, or Recycle, so long as there is exactly 1 Token in each Phase Row.

When Upgraded — Immediate: Flip over all of Susan's Tokens (B-side face-up), placing any remaining Upgrade Tokens on top once again.

William (Complexity: Hard)

Immediate: Take William's 8 Energy Cards from the Game Box and place them beside you. During Setup, replace the 4 Energy Cards shown below with William's Energy Cards that have an Energy Value of 2. Then, shuffle your Energy Deck. The 4 removed Energy Cards will not be used for the rest of the game.

Ongoing: Any phase assigned to your special Energy Cards may be performed twice. To perform the phase twice, repeat each action as you do them in order. Do NOT run the Phase Row completely and then run it all again.

IMPORTANT: When performing a phase twice, you may NOT spend Batteries to increase your Total Energy. However, additional energy gained from Energy Cubes and unlocked upgrades still applies.

When Upgraded — Immediate: Gain 1 VP. Replace William's Energy Cards, so they all have an Energy Value of 3. During the round that this ability is upgraded, you may benefit from the extra energy this round as long as the assigned phase has not started. If you replace any Energy Cards still in your Energy Deck, be sure to shuffle it afterwards. Any Energy Cards replaced in your discard stay in your discard.