Ruins of Mars

Ruins of Mars Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

5 Character cards
1 Planet board
12 Solo AI Tech cards
1 Oxygen cost track
4 Player boards
48 Tech cards (3 16-card decks)
20 Language markers
16 Resource markers + 4 Scoring markers
11 Action tiles (+ 11 cardboard backups)
1 Rover
4 Tech boards
1 Language board
20 Hourglass tokens
30 Radiation tokens
1 six-sided Wasteland die

Setup

Set Up Central Area: Place the Planet board and Language Board in the middle of the playing area. Place the six-sided die on the Wasteland space of the Planet board.
Prepare Action Tiles: Shuffle the 11 Action tiles together. At each Site on the Planet board, reveal 2 random Action tiles and place them face-up in a column below the Site. Place the leftover Action tile as a 3rd tile below the Wasteland.
Take Player Materials: Each player chooses a color and takes the 4 Resource markers and Language markers of that color. Each player also takes a Tech board and Player board.
Prepare Player Materials: Place your Player board and Tech board in front of you. Place 1 Resource marker in the "0" slot of each Resource track on your Player board (Fuel, Parts, Plans, and Oxygen).
Place Language Markers: Each player places 1 of their Language markers on the starting space of each of the 5 Language tracks. The markers may be stacked in any order.
Create the Tech display: a. Separate the Tech cards into 3 decks by Level (each Level has a different card back). Shuffle each deck. b. Place the 3 Tech decks in a row in the central game area as shown. For each Tech deck, reveal the top 4 cards and place them in a face-up column below the deck. Place the Oxygen cost track next to the leftmost column, so that "+4 Oxygen [SEARCH DECK]" is next to the row of decks.
Choose Characters: Each player chooses a Character card (or is dealt one randomly, if you prefer). Place your Character face-up in your play area.

(The "4 Players Setup Example" image on page 5 is not reproduced here.)

Overview

In Ruins of Mars, you play as expert researchers investigating ancient ruins discovered on Mars. Decipher alien languages and use your newfound knowledge to invent powerful technology!

The winner is the player with the most Prestige Points (PP) at the end of the game. You can earn PP by progressing on the Language tracks and completing Tech cards. Just be careful not to expose yourself to too much Radiation – each Radiation token you have at the end of the game is worth -1PP, or -2PP if you have the most!

The game ends at the end of a turn on which a player has completed their 9th Tech card, or has caused a 4th Language to be Mastered. Each other player gets one final turn before final scores are counted.

Gameplay

Players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the player who took the Rover in setup.

Each turn is divided into 8 steps:

Place the Rover
Transfer 1 Action Tile (optional)
Take Radiation
Use Wrench Bonus
Take 1 Action
Replicate 1 Tech (optional)
Reallocate All Action Tiles
Pass the Rover

Action Tiles

The Action tiles at each Site tell you which Resources, Languages, and bonuses are available at that Site this turn, depending on which Action you take there. When you take an Action at a Site, you always count the icons on all Action tiles below that Site. (In other words, the more tiles are on a Site, the stronger the Action you can take there!)

There must always be at least 1 tile below each Site. However, there is no maximum number of Action tiles that can be below a single Site (as long as each other Site has 1 Action tile).

At the end of each turn, all Action tiles at the Active Site shift to present new options for the next player. (See "Step 7: Reallocate All Action Tiles" below.)

Action Tile Icons

Icon	Bonus
Wrench	Use Active Site Wrench Bonus
Red (Fuel)	+1 Fuel or +1 on red Language
Orange (Parts)	+1 Parts or +1 on orange Language
Green (Plans)	+1 Plans or +1 on green Language
Blue (Oxygen)	+1 Oxygen or +1 on blue Language
Star	+1 of any Resource or +1 on star Language

Step 1: Place the Rover

At the start of the turn, choose any of the 5 Sites to become the Active Site by placing the Rover there. You may place the Rover on the same Site as the previous player.

Note: Some Tech abilities take place at the "start" of your turn. These should be resolved before placing the Rover.

Step 2: Transfer 1 Action Tile (Optional)

After you choose the Active Site, you may spend 2 Hourglass tokens OR 2 Oxygen to move any 1 Action tile from an adjacent Site to the Active Site. Place the new tile at the bottom of the Action tile column at the Active Site.

If there is only 1 Action tile on an adjacent Site, you may NOT transfer it (since every Site must always have at least 1 Action tile).

Note: You must pay the entire cost to transfer a tile with either Hourglass tokens or Oxygen, not a mix of both.

Step 3: Take Radiation

If there are any Radiation icons on the Active Site or on Action tiles at the Active Site, add 1 Radiation token per icon to the Radiation area of your Player board.

Step 4: Use Wrench Bonus

Next, if there are any Wrench icons on the Action tiles below the Active Site (or on abilities of your cards), you may use the Wrench Bonus of the Active Site. If there are multiple Wrenches on the Site's Action tiles (or your cards), you may use the Wrench Bonus once per icon.

The Wrench Bonus for each Site is shown in the top left of the Site.

Site Bonuses

Laboratory: Gain 1 Fuel, 1 Parts, 1 Plans or 1 Oxygen (your choice).
Workshop: Advance 1 space on any 1 Language track.
Dormitory: Gain 1 Hourglass token.
Infirmary: Remove 1 Radiation from your Player board and return it to the supply.
Wasteland: No Wrench bonus. Instead, roll the Wasteland die and gain Hourglass tokens based on the result.

Wasteland die results

Die result	Bonus
1 or 2	1 Hourglass token
3 or 4	2 Hourglass tokens
5 or 6	3 Hourglass tokens

(The rulebook prints this table with die faces; the faces are paired as 1 or 2, 3 or 4, and 5 or 6.)

Step 5: Take the Site's Action

Next, perform the Action printed on the Active Site. Each Site provides one of the following actions:

Discover Action
Decipher Action

Discover Action

Use the Discover Action to collect the resources to replicate Techs.

For each red, orange, blue, or green icon on the Active Site's Action tiles, collect 1 Resource of the matching color and icon. Track the Resources you gain by advancing the Resource markers on the corresponding tracks of your Player board. You cannot hold more than 7 of any resource; any resources you cannot hold immediately upon receiving them, are lost.

For each star icon on the Active Site's Action tiles, you may take 1 of any Resource.

Example: Using the Discover Action at the Workshop with these tiles gains you 1 Fuel and 2 Parts.

Decipher Action

Use the Decipher Action to learn more of the mysterious ancient languages in the Ruins.

For each colored icon on Action tiles at the Active Site, advance your Language marker 1 space on the Language track with the matching color and icon.

In order to advance your marker to the Capstone space on a Language track, you must meet the requirements for mastering a language (see "Mastering a Language" below). If you cannot advance on a track because you or another player have already reached the Capstone space, any further movement is lost.

Note: PP printed on the Language tracks are only scored at the end of the game.

Example: Using the Decipher action at the Dormitory with these tiles advances your knowledge of the Language by 1 blue, by 2 red, and by 2 star.

Mastering a Language

Advancing a Language marker to the Capstone space on a Language track is known as mastering that Language. Only 1 player can master each Language – once a Language has been mastered, no other player can master it!

In order to master a Language, you must have replicated enough Level 3 Techs. You may never master more Languages than the number of Level 3 Techs you have completed.

For example, in order to master your first Language, you must have at least 1 Level 3 Tech on your Tech board. If you have already mastered 1 Language, and you would like to master a second, then you need at least 2 Level 3 Techs.

Note: Since you cannot have more than 3 Level 3 Techs, you can never master more than 3 Languages.

If you cannot master a Language because you do not have enough Level 3 Techs, or another player has already mastered it, then you may not advance past the second-to-last space on the track (by any means).

Using Abilities

Abilities on Character cards, as well as some abilities on Tech cards, are activated by spending Hourglass tokens. You may spend 1 Hourglass at any time on your turn to activate an ability, even that of a Tech you replicated this turn.

Each Hourglass ability may only be used once per turn.

Step 6: Replicate 1 Tech (Optional)

After you have taken your Action, you may replicate 1 Tech by paying its Resource cost and placing it on your Tech board.

You may choose a Tech from one of the face-up columns in the central area or from a Tech deck. You may replicate only a single Tech each turn.

Paying for Tech

To complete a face-up Tech, you must pay its Resource cost plus the Oxygen cost on the track. To complete a Tech from one of the decks, first pay 4 Oxygen, then search one deck for a Tech of your choice. Reveal the card and pay its Resource cost. Shuffle the Tech deck afterward.

After Replicating, if there is an empty space in the Tech card display, shift all Tech of that column down and reveal a new Tech card from that Level's deck into the "+3 Oxygen" space of that column.

Note: You can look at the Tech reference, or search the Tech decks (shuffling them afterward) at any time to see which Techs are left in each deck.

Tech Level and Language Requirements

You may only replicate Level 2 and 3 Techs once you have made enough progress on the Language tracks.

Level 1: You may always complete Level 1 Techs.
Level 2: You may complete Level 2 Techs only if you have reached the "A" space on at least 2 Language tracks.
Level 3: You may complete Level 3 Techs only if you have reached the "A" space on at least 2 Language tracks AND the "B" space on at least 1 Language track.

Note: If you meet the requirements to replicate higher level Techs, you can replicate them even if you haven't actually replicated any lower level Techs yet.

Placing Tech

Once you have paid for a Tech, place the card face-up on your Tech board.

You may place the Tech in any empty slot in the appropriate column of your board. Level 1 Techs go in the first column, Level 2 in the second column, and Level 3 in the third column. Once you have placed a Tech, it cannot be moved later by any means.

You do not need to complete a lower-level Tech in order to place a higher-level Tech in the same row. For example, you may complete a Level 2 Tech and place it in your first row (in the second column), even if you do not have a Level 1 Tech in that row.

Once a column of your Tech board is full, you may not complete any more Techs of that level. This means you may have a maximum of 3 Techs at each level.

Note: Where you place Techs is important! At the end of the game, you score bonus PP for each complete row of your Tech board that has 3 Techs of the same Classification (A/B/C/D) or 3 Techs of different Classifications (see Final Scoring below).

Tech Rewards

When you replicate a Tech, you may gain immediate rewards or ongoing abilities:

One Time: Immediately gain the Hourglass tokens, or Language track progress shown.
End Game: Score additional PP at the end of the game.
Free Ability: You may use this once per turn at the indicated time (for example, gain a Resource at the start of your turn).
Ability: You may use this once per turn, at any time on your turn, by spending 1 Hourglass.

Step 7: Reallocate All Action Tiles

After you have taken your Action, the Action tiles at the Active Site must be reallocated to the other Sites on the board, using the following procedure:

Turn all the tiles from the Active Site facedown and shuffle them.
Randomly choose one of these facedown tiles, turn it face-up, and place it below the Active Site.
Then, randomly choose another face-down tile and place it face-up at the Site to the immediate right of the Active Site. If there are other tiles at the new Site, place the new tile at the bottom of the column.
Repeat step 3 for each other face-down tile, placing each tile at the next Site to the right of the Site you placed the previous tile, until all tiles have been reallocated.

Note: If you need to place another tile after placing the previous tile at the Infirmary, that next tile will be placed at the Wasteland (wrapping around the planet), and continuing right from there if need be.

Example (the five panels, in order):

After taking an Action at the Dormitory, you must reallocate the tiles there.
First, turn the 3 tiles there face-down and shuffle them.
Place a random tile face-up at the Dormitory.
Place the next random tile face-up at the Infirmary.
Since the Infirmary is at the end of the row, the final tile is placed face-up on the left-most Site (the Wasteland). You are now finished reallocating.

Step 8: Pass the Rover

When you have finished your turn, pass the Rover token to the player on your left. It is now the start of their turn.

End of the Game

The end of the game is triggered when EITHER of the following occurs:

A player has 9 completed Tech cards (filling up their Tech board)
4 Languages in total have been mastered (there is a player marker on the Capstone space of any 4 of the 5 tracks)

After the turn ends on which a player triggers the end of the game by completing their 9th Tech or mastering the 4th Language, each other player gets one final turn. Then the game ends, and players tally their final scores.

Final Scoring

First, players earn PP for their progress on each Language track:

On each of the 5 Language tracks, each player scores the printed PP on the space their marker occupies or has passed, whichever is greater.

Next, players earn bonuses based on complete rows on their Tech board. Note: You only score bonuses for rows on your Tech board, NOT columns.

Each player scores 9 PP per row of their Tech board with 3 Tech of the same Classification (A/B/C/D).
Each player scores 6 PP per row of their Tech board with Techs of 3 different Classifications (A/B/C/D).
Each player scores 3 PP per complete row of their Tech board that did not score either of the previous 2 bonuses.
Then, players earn any PP listed on their Tech cards.

Lastly, players lose PP for the amount of Radiation tokens they have:

The player (or players, if tied) with the most Radiation on their Player board loses -2PP per Radiation token on their Player board. Each other player loses -1PP per Radiation token on their Player board.

Tiebreakers

In the case of a tie, the tied player with the least Radiation is the winner. If there is still a tie, the tied player with more total PP from progress on all Language tracks is the winner.

Character Abilities

Doctor: Once per turn, you may spend 1 Hourglass to remove 1 Radiation from your Player board.

Miner: Once per turn, you may spend 1 Hourglass to take any 2 of the following resources: Fuel, Parts, or Plans. You may take 2 of the same resource, or 2 different resources.

Trader: You may spend 1 Hourglass to use the Wrench Bonus on the Active Site. You may do this up to twice per turn, at any time on your turn (not just during the "Use Wrench Bonus" step).

Professor: Once per turn, you may spend 1 Hourglass and 1 resource of your choice to advance 1 space on the Language track where you have the most progress.

If you are tied for the most progress on two or more Language tracks, choose 1 of them. Ignore Language tracks where you cannot advance (because you have already mastered the Language, or because you do not meet the requirements for mastering it).

Stowaway: You may spend 1 Hourglass to activate a Tech card with an ability on another player's Tech board. (This counts as paying the cost of the ability.) You may not use another player's Character ability.

Kickstarter Exclusives

Engineer: You may spend 1 Hourglass to activate any ability on your Tech board that you've already used this turn. (This counts as paying the cost of the ability.) You may use this ability twice per turn, but you must choose a different ability each time; you may not use an ability 3 times in a turn.

Savant: After transferring an Action tile, you may spend 1 Hourglass plus the cost to transfer a tile (2 Hourglass or 2 Oxygen) to transfer a second Action tile. It must still come from an adjacent Site, and there must still be at least 1 tile at every Site.

Solo Variant

The following variant can be played with only 1 player against an "AI" opponent.

Setup

Set up a 2 player game, with the following changes:

No AI Character: The AI player does not receive a Character card or any starting Hourglass tokens.
AI Tech Cards: After setting up the central Tech display, set up the AI's Tech board as follows:
- Separate the AI Tech cards into 3 decks by Level (each Level has a different card back). Shuffle each deck.
- Deal 1 random Level 1 AI Tech face-down on each space in the first column of the AI's Tech board. Then deal 1 Level 2 card face-down on each space in the second column, and 1 Level 3 card face-down on each space in the third column.
- Return all unused AI Tech cards to the box, without looking at them.
First Player: The human player always receives the Rover on the first turn.

Gameplay

Human Turn: Play your turns as normal, following all standard game rules.

Extra Tile Reallocation: At the start of each AI turn, you must reallocate all Action tiles on 1 random Site. (This is in addition to the normal Step 7 of both your turns and the AI's turns.)

First, randomly select a Site by rolling the Wasteland die and counting from the Wasteland on the left (Site "1") to the Infirmary on the right (Site "5"). If a 6 is rolled, no Site is selected for reallocation.

Reallocate all Action tiles at the selected Site, as you would in Step 7 of a normal turn (see "Step 7: Reallocate All Action Tiles").

Note: Do this only at the start of the AI's turn, not at the start of your turn.

AI Turn: Once the extra tile reallocation is completed, the AI takes its turn. Resolve the AI's turn as you would a human player's, following these rules:

Place the Rover: The AI chooses the Site with the most Action tiles as the Active Site and places the Rover there. If there is a tie between Sites, it will choose the rightmost tied Site. However, if a 6 was rolled during the Extra Reallocation step, the AI will instead choose the leftmost tied Site.
Transfer 1 Action Tile: The AI never makes an optional tile transfer.
Take Radiation: If the AI ever has Radiation and Hourglass tokens at the same time, it will immediately spend all available Hourglass tokens to remove Radiation in a one to one ratio. If the AI has leftover Hourglass tokens, it will save them until it gains Radiation.
Use Wrench Bonus: The AI always uses all available Wrench bonuses.
Take the Site's Action: The AI takes the Site's Action as normal.
Replicate 1 Tech: Each AI Tech card has the cost to replicate it printed on the back of its card.
- During the Replicate Tech step, the AI replicates the most expensive unrevealed AI Tech card that it can afford and that it meets the Language track requirements for. If there is a tie, it will replicate the topmost unrevealed AI Tech card on its board of the highest possible Level. If the AI cannot replicate any of its Tech cards, it will not replicate a Tech.
- After paying the cost of a Tech, the AI reveals the card it replicated by flipping it face-up. If the card has a reward, the AI gains it immediately.
- If the AI successfully replicates a Tech, discard the bottom-most Tech card from the column of the central Tech display matching the Level of the Tech the AI replicated. Return this card to the box to remove it from the game, then refill the Tech display as normal.

AI's Resource and Language Choices

Whenever the AI gains resources "of its choice," it takes resources one at a time, always choosing the resource it has the least of. If there is a tie for least resources, it will choose to gain the tied resource which is topmost on its player board.

Whenever the AI advances on a Language Track "of its choice," it advances one space at a time, always choosing the track where it has the highest marker (that can still advance further). If there is a tie for its highest marker, it will choose to advance on the leftmost Language track.

End of the Game

Either the human or AI player can trigger game end by filling their Tech board or mastering the 4th Language. After either player triggers the end of the game, the other player gets one final turn, as normal.

Final Scoring

The AI scores the following points normally:

Language Tracks: The AI scores its printed PP on each Language track.
Radiation: The AI scores -1PP per Radiation token, or -2PP per Radiation token if it has the most.

The AI scores its revealed Tech cards as follows:

Tech Card PP: The AI scores any PP printed on Tech cards it has revealed.
Tech Rows: The AI scores 10 PP for each row of Techs it has completed (but does not score additional points based on Tech Classifications).

If you have more PP than the AI, you win!