Sentient Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Setting Up the Round
• Gameplay
• How to Play
  • A. Procure a Bot
  • B. Pass/Discard Bots
• End of Round
  • 1. Score Cards
  • 2. Earning Investors
  • 3. Refresh
• End of Game and Final Scoring
• Cards and Icons
  • Information Bots
  • Service Bots
  • Transport Bots
  • Military Bots
  • Industry Bots
  • Calibration Icons
• Credits

Components

• 60 Cards
• 20 Dice
• 16 Agent Pawns (4 in each player color)
• 20 Assistant Pawns (5 in each player color)
• 15 Investor Tokens
• 81 VP Chips
• 8 Turn Order Markers (2 in each player color)
• 9 Player Board Sections (a Left Side and a Right Side for each player, which combine into a Complete Player Board)
• 1 Turn Order Board

Specifications: Ages 12+, 2-4 Players, 30-60 Minutes

Each Complete Player Board shows a starting Investor and the player's company name (formed from the Left Side and randomly-dealt Right Side), and has 5 colored marks for dice.

Setup

1. Give each player 4 Agent pawns, 5 Assistant pawns, and 2 turn order markers in their player color.
2. Give each player 5 dice, one in each color.
3. Place the Turn Order board in the center of the table.
4. Organize the Investor tokens into 3 stacks of the same number (on the back side of the tiles). Each stack will contain five different investor types. Place the stacks face-down next to the turn order board.
5. Shuffle the card deck and place it face down near the turn order board.
6. Give each player a left side player board, and randomly deal each player a right side, which shows your starting investor and completes your company name.
7. Take 1 turn order marker from each player and randomly create a stack on the first circle of the player order track. The player on top is the start player, the 2nd from the top is the 2nd player, and so on.

Setting Up the Round

(These steps will be followed at the beginning of each round):

1. Set up the factory: Draw 4 cards from the deck and place them in a row in view of all players. These are the Bots available to take by your Agents. It is easiest if all players can read the cards face up.
2. Place an investor token between each of the cards and on each end. Use the 5 investor tokens corresponding the the round you are about to begin.
3. Roll your 5 dice and place them on the associated colored marks on your player board.
4. (2nd and 3rd round only) Take the turn order markers from previous round and distribute them back to the players. To start a round players will always have 1 turn order marker in their possession, and 1 in the stack on the turn order board showing where in the turn order they fall.

Gameplay

Summary: Sentient is played over 3 rounds. Each round, players will plug 4 new Bots into their network, which will be scored at the end of the round. Each player has 5 dice in their network. Bots plugged into your network will calibrate the adjacent dice up or down, and will also score based on the adjacent dice at the end of the round (some Bots score for having the same number, or having low numbers, or having even numbers, and so on). Players can also earn investor tokens based on where they placed their Agents when taking cards from the factory. Investor tokens score for one of the 5 types of Bots, and will earn 1 point per Bot of that type that you collected at the end of the game. At the end of three rounds, the player with the most points is the winner.

Players have two types of pawns, Agents and Assistants. Agents have only one use — to claim a card. Assistants have two possible uses — they can be used to add to your influence when placing an Agent, or they can be used to prevent a + or - effect of a card.

How to Play

Each round begins with the player who is on the top of the player order stack. Play proceeds down the stack and then repeats until the end of the round. Turn order will stay the same throughout the round.

On your turn you will do one of the following:

A. Procure a Bot or B. Pass/Discard Bots (once per round)

A. Procure a Bot

Procure a Bot has 3 steps:

1. Place Agent: Place Agent and optionally Assistants above a card in the factory.
2. Plug Into Network: Place the card between two dice in your network.
3. Calibrate: Adjust adjacent dice based on card (or optionally cover up +/- with Assistant).

(1) Place Agent: Place your Agent above the card you would like to place in your network. You may optionally choose to place any number of Assistants in the same location as you placed your Agent to increase your influence in an attempt to win over the adjacent investors. Each Agent and Assistant is worth 1 influence. Take the card into your possession and replace it with a card from the top of the deck. If there are no cards remaining in the deck, reshuffle the discard pile to create a draw deck.

(2) Plug Card Into Your Network: After placing your Agent, take the card you chose and place it between two dice in your network. You must place it in a location where you have not yet placed this round (in other words, each of the 4 cards you take in a round will go in the 4 different 'slots' in your network).

(3) Calibrate: Once placed, adjust the adjacent dice based on the + or - in the corners of the card. If there is a +, increase the adjacent die by 1. If there is a -, decrease the die by one. An = sign means the die does not change.

• (a) Using Assistants: If you do not want to adjust a die, you may place an Assistant on top of the +/- on the card to ignore its effect. You may place two Assistants on the same card if you choose. Assistants can only block the effect of a card, not adjust individual dice to your choosing. Assistants stay on the card until the end of the round and then are returned to you.
• (b) Note: When a die with a 6 is calibrated with a +, it will change to a 1. When a 1 is calibrated with a -, it will change to a 6.

B. Pass/Discard Bots

Once per round, you may choose not to take a Bot card on your turn and instead place your turn order marker on the space for the upcoming round. If there is already a marker in the space, place your marker on top of it.

If you have at least 1 agent remaining in your possession, discard all available Bot cards in the factory and replace with four new cards from the deck. This ends your turn.

After your turn, play proceeds with the next player in the turn order stack. The round ends when all players have placed all 4 of their Agents and collected 4 cards, and all players have passed once.

Note: If you have no remaining Agents but still have your turn order marker, you will pass your last turn. Do not discard and replace the bots.

End of Round

At the end of each round players will:

1. Score Cards
2. Earn Investors
3. Refresh

1. Score Cards

Each player scores each of the 4 cards they took this round. Each card is scored based on the adjacent dice. Only cards taken in the current round are scored. Take victory point chips for the total amount you scored. Remove all the cards from your network and place them in a stack next to your player board — these may earn you points at the end of the game from your investors.

There are 5 types of cards which score in different ways:

• Information Bots have a single number on them. You will score 2 points if one of the adjacent dice matches this number, and 7 points if both do.
• Transport Bots score points based on the relationship between the dice, e.g. one is greater than the other, or both are equal.
• Industry Bots score for different combinations of even and odd dice.
• Military Bots score for the difference or sum of the dice, e.g. both dice add to 9 or greater.
• Service Bots score a variable amount depending on the value of one or both adjacent dice.

Example: Scoring the cards from left to right: (1) The Service card scores points equal to the sum of the two dice, minus 6. The sum of the two dice is 11 (6+5), so this card earns 5 points. (2) The Industry card earns 3 points if both dice are odd. They are, so this card earns 3 points. (3) The Information card earns 2 points if one die is a four, and 7 points if both dice are fours. Only one of the adjacent dice is a four, so this card earns 2 points. (4) The Transport card earns 4 points if the left die is greater than the right die. It is, so this card earns 4 points. In total, the player earns 5 + 3 + 2 + 4 = 14 points.

2. Earning Investors

Once cards are scored, the investor tokens are evaluated. Each Agent and Assistant is worth 1 influence. The player with the most influence combined in the card slots adjacent to each investor token will earn the investor token (the investor tokens on the ends only have 1 adjacent card slot). The player with the second most influence earns the 1 VP chip. If there is a tie, the player with the most Agents is the winner. If there is still a tie, the player highest in the player order stack for the current (not next) round is the winner. Place all won investor tokens above your player board — they will be scored at the end of the game, earning 1 point per card of the associated type you have.

Example: Scoring investor tokens from left to right (Red is start player, White is 2nd, Yellow is 3rd):

1. Information — Yellow has the majority — four — adjacent to the Information investor and takes the investor. Red earns 1 VP.
2. Industry — All 3 players have 4 influence adjacent to the Industry token, and an equal number of Agents, considering the influence on either side. Red is the start player, so Red wins. White is next in turn order, so White earns 1 VP.
3. Military — Red has the majority of influence surrounding the Military investor and takes it. White and Yellow are tied, but White is earlier in turn order and earns 1 VP.
4. Service — Yellow has the most influence surrounding the Service investor. Red and White are tied, so Red earns 1 VP based on turn order.
5. Transport — Yellow and White both have 3 influence adjacent to the Transport investor, but White has more Agents, winning the Transport investor. Yellow earns 1 VP.

3. Refresh

After scoring in the 1st and 2nd rounds:

• Remove the remaining cards and unclaimed investor tokens or VP chips (if any) in the factory.
• Remove the player order tokens from the round you just completed and distribute them back to the players.

The next round begins with the player on the top of the player order stack as the first player (and with turn order continuing down through the stack). Refer to the Setting Up the Round section to prepare the next round. After scoring in the 3rd round, proceed to final scoring and end of game.

End of Game and Final Scoring

Scoring Investor Tokens: Each investor token, including the one printed on the player board you started with, is worth 1 point per card of the corresponding type you've collected. Take VP chips and add them to those you collected throughout the game.

Example: You have 3 Industry investor tokens, and 4 Industry cards in your possession. Each Industry investor is worth 4 points each, for a total of 12 points. You also have 1 Information investor on your starting board and 2 Information cards for a total of 2 points. You have a Service investor but no Service cards so you do not receive any points for this type. Your 1 Military investor will let you score 1 point for each Military card, for a total of 3 points. You did not acquire any Transport investors during the game so your 3 Transport cards are worth no additional points.

Tally your scores. The player with the most points is the winner! If there is a tie, the player with the most investor tokens is the winner. If you are still tied, rejoice in your shared victory.

Cards and Icons

Each Bot card shows a Card Type, a Left Die Modifier and Right Die Modifier (the +/- calibration icons in the top corners), Scoring Conditions (the icon in the middle of the card), and Potential Victory Points (the number in the bottom corner).

Information Bots

Information Bots score 2 points if one of the adjacent dice is equal to the target number, or 7 points if both do. The target number for an Information Bot is printed on the card; score 2 points if one adjacent die matches this number, and 7 points if both adjacent dice match this number.

Service Bots

Service Bots score a calculated number of points based on the equation listed on the card:

• Score 8 points minus the sum of the two adjacent dice.
• Score 5 points minus the lower of the two adjacent dice.
• Score 7 points minus the higher of the two adjacent dice.
• Score points equal to the sum of the adjacent dice minus 6. You may not lose points, so if the result is less than 0, score 0 points.
• Score points equal to the higher of the two adjacent dice minus 2.
• Score points equal to the lower of the two adjacent dice minus 1.

Transport Bots

• Score if the left die is strictly less than the right die.
• Score if the left die is less than or equal to the right die.
• Score if the two adjacent dice are equal.

Military Bots

• Score if the sum of the two adjacent dice is less than or equal to 4 or greater than or equal to 10.
• Score if the sum of the two adjacent dice is equal to 7.
• Score if the difference between the two adjacent dice is equal to 1.
• Score if the difference between the two adjacent dice is equal to 2.
• Score if the sum of the two adjacent dice is less than or equal to 5.
• Score if the sum of the two adjacent dice is greater than or equal to 9.

Industry Bots

• Score if the die to the left is odd and the die to the right is even.
• Score if the sum of the two adjacent dice is odd.
• Score if both dice are odd.

Calibration Icons

• + Adjust the adjacent die up by 1.
• - Adjust the adjacent die down by 1.
• = No change.

Credits

Game Design: J. Alex Kevern Producer: Sara Erikson Illustration: Krzysztof Ostrowski Graphic Design: Anita Osburn Production Artist: Gordon Tucker

Renegade Game Studios: President & Publisher: Scott Gaeta Controller: Robyn Gaeta Director of Sales & Marketing: Sara Erickson Creative Director: Anita Osburn Customer Service: Jenni Kingma

Special Thanks: The game designer would like to thank: the playtesters, the trusted friends, and the development team who helped bring Sentient to life, to his family for their tireless support, and to his remarkable wife for her endless inspiration.

Renegade Game Studios would like to thank: UnPub, Lincoln Erickson, and Rook's Comics and Games. In memory of Phil DeKoning.

For additional information or support, visit www.renegadegames.com.