Retrograde Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Goal and Game Over
• Gameplay
  • 1 - Start the Round
  • 2 - Roll Dice
  • 3 - Blast Droids
    • Trophies
  • 4 - End the Round
  • Gameplay Example
• Game Over
• Coins
  • Getting Coins
  • Using Coins
• Comets
  • Getting Comets
  • Using Comets
• Bosses
  • Getting Bosses
• Power-Ups
  • Getting Power-Ups
  • Using Power-Ups
• Solo Mode
• Power-Up Glossary
• FAQs
  • Do Droids need to be touching on my sheet?
  • What happens if my dice fall off the table?
  • Can I use my Power-Ups immediately?
  • Do I unlock 1 Power-Up per row I cross off?
  • Can I unlock multiple of the same Power-Up?
  • Do Power-Ups let me blast any color Droid?
  • Can I use a Comet to blast a Boss?
• Round Summary

Components

• 26 Dice
• 45 Target Cards
• 1 Pad (100 Sheets)
• 4 Pens

Game Setup

1. Give each player 1 sheet from the Pad
2. Give each player 6 Dice
3. Give each player a pen
4. Shuffle the Target Cards
5. Discard a number of Target Cards face down to the box according to the number of players:

2 Players	3 Players	4 Players
Discard 21 cards	Discard 13 cards	Discard 5 cards

Table layout: Flipped Target Cards and the Target Card Deck go in the center (with spaces for 2, 3 or 4 players' worth of cards). Each player has their sheet and their dice in front of them.

The sheet has Bosses (3 points each), Droids (1 point each), Trophies (1 point each, +3 for all of them) and Coins.

The six Droid types are colored and correspond to the pips on the dice: Yellow = 1 pip, Orange = 2, Pink = 3, Green = 4, Red = 5, Blue = 6. Names of the Astro-Droids: Flan Solo, Tu-Tu, Triangel, Foar, High Five, SsSsSsix.

Goal and Game Over

The game is over at the end of the 8th round, the round where the card deck is empty.

You get points by blasting (crossing off) Astro-Droids from your sheet and earning trophies. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner!

Gameplay

Each round is split into 4 parts: 1 - Start the Round, 2 - Roll Dice, 3 - Blast Droids, and 4 - End the Round.

1 - Start the Round

Flip a number of Target Cards face up to the center of the table according to the number of players:

2 Players	3 Players	4 Players
3 cards per round	4 cards per round	5 cards per round

In a moment you're going to move on to 2 - Roll Dice. You'll roll your dice multiple times, as fast as you can, and then claim a card.

The card you will claim tells you the 2 colors of Droid you're allowed to blast this turn.

Before you roll, you may wish to plan for which card you hope to claim. Then pick up all your dice and shake them to show you are ready.

"Be sure to shake your dice loudly at anyone who's still planning to help them think"

2 - Roll Dice

Once everyone is shaking their dice, count "3-2-1" aloud, then roll all your dice. Keep as many dice as you want and reroll the rest. There are no turns!

Continue rolling until you're happy with what your dice are showing, then grab a Target Card and put it in front of you to claim it. That card is yours and you cannot roll your dice anymore.

Be quick! If everyone else grabs a card before you, the other players say "Stop" and you have to stop early. Then:

1. You get 2 more chances to reroll any number of your dice
2. You must claim 1 of the two remaining Target Cards

You'll be able to blast 1 Droid on your sheet per pair of matching dice you roll! If you roll enough pairs of the colors on your card, you can blast multiple Droids of the first color, multiple of the other color, or some of each!

3 - Blast Droids

Starting with the last player to claim a card and going around the table, announce which pairs of dice you are spending to blast (cross off) which Droids on your sheet.

If you're blasting more than 1 Droid this turn, they have to be neighboring each other in a chain (diagonal counts).

Remember: it costs 1 pair of dice to blast a Droid. The pair needs to match one of the Droids on your card. The Droid you blast must match both the color on the dice and the card.

Trophies

After you blast Droids, you may spend a single leftover die to claim (circle) one of your trophies that matches the number of pips (eyes on the Droid) on that die.

4 - End the Round

Once all players have blasted Droids, the round is over.

Now is when you can get Coins, get and unlock Power-Ups, and blast Bosses (see Coins, Comets, Bosses and Power-Ups below). If this is your first game, consider playing without Coins, Power-Ups, Bosses, and Comets for the first round; just ignore the third spot on each Target Card.

Discard the leftover Target Card from the center of the table, and then discard all claimed cards (unless they have Power-Ups). If the deck is empty, the game is over. Otherwise, the next round begins!

Gameplay Example

1 - Start the Round. Chloe and Josh flip 3 cards to the center of the table. Chloe hopes to blast 2 Blue and 1 Pink Droid on her sheet. In order to do so, she'll need to claim this card after rolling 2 Blue (pair), 2 Blue (pair) and 2 Pink (pair).

2 - Roll Dice. Chloe and Josh count "3-2-1" then begin rolling their dice. After several rerolls, Chloe has rolled 4 Blue dice and 2 Green dice. She doesn't want to risk Josh taking the card she wants, so she grabs it and stops rolling. Since Josh is now the only player without a card, Chloe yells "Stop!" Josh rerolls his dice twice and claims one of the remaining cards.

3 - Blast Droids. Chloe announces, "I'm spending my 2 pairs of Blue dice to cross off these 2 Blue Droids. Then I'm spending 1 of my leftover Green dice to circle my 4-pip trophy."

• Chloe can't blast any Pink, Orange, Yellow, or Red Droids because she didn't roll those colors.
• Chloe can't blast Green Droids because she didn't choose a Target Card that shows Green.
• Chloe couldn't blast two particular Droids because they are not neighbors. She could blast one or the other.

Game Over

The game ends at the end of the 8th round, the round when the card deck is empty.

Fold down the top of your sheet to add up your score:

• 1 point for each Droid you blasted
• 3 points for each Boss you blasted
• 1 point for each trophy you claimed, 3 extra points if you circled all of them

Whoever has the highest score, wins! In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most unspent Coins wins.

Coins

Getting Coins

During 4 - End the Round, if you claimed a card with a Coin on it this turn, fill in the heart in a Coin on your sheet.

Using Coins

In future rounds during 3 - Blast Droids, you can spend Coins by crossing them off. For each Coin you spend, pretend you have an extra die that is a copy of one of your other dice.

Comets

Getting Comets

If you claimed a card with a Comet, you can use that Comet during 3 - Blast Droids this round.

Using Comets

You may spend any 3 matching dice to blast any 1 color of Droid, even if it's not on your card.

Bosses

Getting Bosses

If you blast all the Droids in one of your vertical columns, during 4 - End the Round you blast the Boss at the top of that column for free.

Bosses are worth 3 points at the end of the game.

Power-Ups

Getting Power-Ups

During 4 - End the Round, if you claimed a card with a Power-Up on it, keep that card beside your sheet until you unlock it. Before you can use your Power-Up, you must unlock it by blasting all the Droids in any of your horizontal rows.

Using Power-Ups

When you blast all the Droids in one of your horizontal rows, during 4 - End the Round you can unlock a Power-Up. Tuck the Power-Up behind your sheet and permanently get its bonus in future rounds. See the Power-Up Glossary for the list of Power-Ups.

Example: the Frogger Power-Up card reads "1 of your Xs can be not adjacent."

Solo Mode

You can play by yourself if you don't have friends over! Keep track of your scores and try to achieve the ultimate high score: 49 points.

Solo mode plays just like the normal game, with these exceptions:

• Discard 13 cards at the start of the game
• Flip 4 cards each round
• Before you roll your dice, start a 25 second timer on your phone and turn the phone so you can't see the screen
• If the timer runs out before you claim a card, roll 2 dice from the box. Discard any cards that have either of the Droids shown on the dice. If all cards are eliminated, flip 1 more from the cards discarded at the start of the game. Then you can reroll your dice twice more. Finally claim one of the remaining cards.

Power-Up Glossary

• Remember: Power-Ups give you permanent special powers. But before you get the power, you must first Unlock the Power-Up!
• Unlocking Power-Ups happens during 4 - End the Round, so you don't get to use the power until the next round.

Power-Up	Effect
Super Coin	Whenever you spend a Coin, copy the die an additional time (so 1 Coin = 2 additional dice).
Rolypoly	Whenever you're the last player to claim a card, you get 4 rerolls instead of 2.
Cube Friend	Take an extra die from the box when you unlock this Power-Up. You get to use it for the rest of the game.
Frogger	Each round when you're blasting Droids, one of them doesn't need to be next to the others. (e.g. if you're blasting 3 Droids, 2 need to be next to each other and the 3rd can be anywhere)
Snake Eye	Each round when you're blasting Droids, you can count each 1 (Yellow die) you rolled as any type of Droid instead. You can still only blast Droids shown on your card.
2 Wild	Each round when you're blasting Droids, you can count each 2 (Orange die) you rolled as any type of Droid instead. You can still only blast Droids on your card.
Odd Eye	Each round when you're blasting Droids choose Yellow (1), Pink (3), or Red (5). Pretend you rolled an additional die showing that Droid type this round.
Even Steven	Each round when you're blasting Droids choose Orange (2), Green (4), or Blue (6). Pretend you rolled an additional die showing that Droid type this round.

• When you complete a row, you may skip unlocking a Power-Up if you wish (or if you don't have one in your hand)
• If you skip unlocking a Power-Up, you can unlock a Power-Up in a future round. You can even unlock multiple Power-Ups in the same round, so long as you never unlock more Power-Ups than the number of rows you've completed

FAQs

Do Droids need to be touching on my sheet?

When you blast Droids, you blast them in a chain. The 1st Droid you blast each turn can be anywhere on your sheet. The 2nd must touch the 1st. The 3rd must touch the 2nd, etc. It doesn't matter which Droids you blasted last turn, only this turn.

What happens if my dice fall off the table?

• If you bump or drop your dice, you have to reroll them
• If an opponent bumps or knocks your dice off the table, you can put the dice back the way they were

Can I use my Power-Ups immediately?

No. It takes some work to be able to use a power-up:

1. Claim a card with a power-up and add it to your hand
2. Cross off all the Droids in a horizontal row. At the end of the round, put the power-up card under your sheet, peeking out. It is now unlocked
3. You get the power-up's bonus in every future round

Do I unlock 1 Power-Up per row I cross off?

Yes. Each horizontal row of Droids you cross off gives you the ability to unlock 1 power-up card that you have collected. You don't need to unlock a power-up in the same round that you complete the row if you don't want to; you can wait.

Can I unlock multiple of the same Power-Up?

Yes! Each power-up you unlock gives you a bonus, and if you unlock multiple of the same power-up you get that bonus multiple times!

Do Power-Ups let me blast any color Droid?

No. No matter which power-ups you unlock, you can still only blast Droids that match the colors on your Target Card.

Can I use a Comet to blast a Boss?

No, Comets can only be use to blast normal Droids.

Round Summary

1. Start the Round - Flip Target Cards from the deck for the number of players (2 players: 3 cards; 3 players: 4 cards; 4 players: 5 cards). Think about which card you hope to claim.
2. Roll Dice - Roll and reroll your dice as fast as you can. When you're happy with what you rolled, grab a card. The last player without a card gets 2 more rerolls, then claims a card.
3. Blast Droids - Spend your dice to blast Droids on your sheet. Each Droid you want to blast costs a pair of matching dice, and its type must be on your Target Card.
4. End the Round - If your card has a Coin, mark a Coin. If your card has a Power-Up, keep it. If you completed a column, blast the Boss on top of that column. If you completed a row, unlock a Power-Up card from your hand.