Slip Strike
Slip Strike Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Setup
- Each player chooses a color and takes the 2 meeples and 10 cards in their color into their hand: Blade, Pistol, Rifle, Left, Right, and 5 Teleports.
- SKIP THIS STEP IN YOUR FIRST GAME. Each player adds 1 random Asset card to their hand, keeping it secret. Or add 2 if you want a more chaotic game!
- Place the 5 Locations randomly in a circle to create the playing area.
- Each player then secretly chooses a Teleport card and reveals it simultaneously. Agents are placed onto the corresponding locations, with the other Agent in front of the player as a reminder during gameplay. The revealed Teleport card is returned to your hand.
Gameplay
Each turn players will simultaneously complete these steps in order:
- Program Actions
- Resolve First Action
- Resolve Second Action
- Manage Cooldowns & End Turn
Program Actions
Each player secretly chooses 2 cards from their hand and places them facedown in front of them, clearly setting one as the first action and the other as the second. These actions will be the actions you take this round. You may choose any two cards from your hand.
Resolve Actions
Each player flips up the first Action they selected simultaneously and takes the action.
When played:
- Left and Right Movement: moves your Agent token one Location to the left or right.
- Teleport: moves your Agent directly to the Location indicated.
- Weapon: Strikes in the Location(s) indicated by the text. (ex. The Rifle ONLY strikes the Locations two locations away).
Each action is resolved in the following order:
- Movement - all movement (Left, Right, Teleport, etc.) happens simultaneously.
- Strike - all strikes (blade, pistol, rifle, etc. happen simultaneously AFTER movement has been resolved.
- Slip - If a player strikes into a Location that their opponent is in, then the opponent must permanently discard a Teleport card from their hand to "Slip" out of the Strike. The player moves their Agent to the location indicated. If both players need to Slip during the same Action, then both players reveal their discarded Teleport card at the same time.
If your opponent cannot discard a Teleport card to Slip, then they take a Strike and are knocked out the dimension. YOU WIN THE GAME.
If both players take a Strike during the same Action then both players are knocked out, resulting in a tied game.
After resolving the first Action, players then resolve the second Action in the same way.
Example Action
In this example, Orange has played Rifle which strikes two locations away. Black will take a Strike (losing the game) unless Black Slips by permanently discarding a Teleport card that will put Black out of range - in this case, Park, Mansion or Warehouse.
Black decides to permanently discard the Warehouse Teleport card. Black's Agent is moved to the Warehouse location and play continues.
Manage Cooldowns & End Turn
The cards played by each player will then go into Cooldown as indicated on the card.
- Cooldown 0 - Returns to your hand.
- Cooldown 1 - Set it aside faceup & return it to your hand at the end of the next turn.
- Cooldown 2 - Set it aside facedown and flip it faceup to Cooldown 1 at the end of the next turn. (Note: Players may look at facedown cards at any time).
- Critical Cooldown - This card is removed from play until you Slip out of a Strike, and then it is added on Cooldown 2 during Manage Cooldowns.
Begin a new turn, programming Actions as before.
Additional Asset Rules
- Reaction - Play this card from your hand. The card will tell you when it may be played. This card is then permanently discarded.
- Shield - You are immune to strikes this Action.
- Advantage - Your weapon attacks first, negating a weapon of the same type used against you this Action.
4-Player Rules
Note: Blue and Orange editions of Slip Strike must be combined to play 4-player.
4-player games are 2v2, with one team playing both the Black Agents and the other team playing the Orange and Blue Agents. The game ends once one team is eliminated. When a player takes a Strike knocking them out of the dimension, they are eliminated and their teammate continues.
During setup, remove the Factory, Hotel, Mansion and Tower from the available Locations. Also remove the corresponding Teleport cards from each player's hand. Remaining Location tiles are placed in a circle alternating Location colors.
Agents on the same team cannot indicate to each other which two cards they are playing each turn. Strategic conversations must happen in front of the other team.
Weapons strike every opponent in a Location(s) you are striking into. There is no friendly fire - you can not Strike your teammate.
If both opponents Strike a player during the same Action, that player may choose which Strike to Slip.
When programming actions, a player may not select weapons and assets (or a combination of weapons and assets) for BOTH of their actions. If they do, the second card is ignored (they do nothing) when resolving actions but the card will still go on its cooldown. This rule is ignored if your teammate has been eliminated.