Smash Up: Disney Edition
Smash Up: Disney Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Objective
- Game Contents
- Growing On You
- Get to Know the Equipment!
- Setup
- Setup (Continued)
- The Phases of a Turn
- Resolving Cards and Abilities
- The Big Score
- Me First!
- Awarding VPs
- Untangling Ties
- Back to Your Corners
- Scoring Order
- Declaring Victory
- Power Counters
- Game Terms and Restrictions
- Game Terms and Restrictions (Continued)
- Clarifications
- Clarifications (Continued)
- A Few Provisos
- Suggested Matchups and Tips for Play
- Roll Credits
- The Factions
Objective
Your goal is to have the happiest ending! Use your characters to exert control at bases to earn Victory Points. The first player to have 15 or more VPs at the end of a turn wins!
Game Contents
This set contains:
- 160 Game Cards (8 Factions with 20 cards each)
- 16 Base Cards
- 8 Card Dividers
- 5 Base Mats
- 2 Token Sheets
- Rulebook
Growing On You
Smash Up: Disney Edition is a stand-alone game, that is also fully compatible with the original Smash Up and all its expansions.
Get to Know the Equipment!
Characters
A Character card shows, from top left: its Power, then its Name. Below the art is the Character Identifier, and below the text box is the card's Faction Symbol. The text box holds the card's Ability — this is what the card does. For more about Character and Action abilities, see Play Cards, p. 5.
Example: Jack Skellington — Power 5. Ability: "Place a character modifier from your discard pile into your hand. Ongoing: After you play a character modifier, you may place a +1 power counter on a character, OR you may draw a card."
Actions
An Action card shows its Name at the top, then the Action Identifier, then its Ability text, then its Faction Symbol.
Example: I'm Gonna Wreck It! Ability: "Base modifier. Ongoing: This base's breakpoint is reduced by 3. Talent: This base's abilities are cancelled until the start of your next turn."
Bases
A Base card shows its Breakpoint and Name at the top. Below that are three numbers: the Winner Victory Points (VPs), the Runner Up VPs (middle), and the Third Place VPs (right). Below the art is the base's Ability. A Base's ability always operates while the base is in play. It's sort of a combination of Ongoing, Special, and Awesome.
Example: Sultan's Palace — Breakpoint 18. Winner VPs 3, Runner Up VPs 2, Third Place VPs 1. Ability: "After the first time you play a character here each turn, draw a card."
Base Mats
New! To help you keep track of the status of each base. Each base mat has a Number Line running around its border — this is where you keep track of the base's breakpoint and the total power on it — and a Space for Base Card in the middle. Each player plays their cards on the same side of each base mat (marked Player A, Player B, Player C, Player D on the mat's edges).
VP / Power Counter Tokens
The round tokens are double-sided: one side shows VP values (1s and 5s), the other side shows Power Counter values (+1s and +3s). New! The Power Counter side is marked clearly to make the tokens' use as power counters clear.
Base Mat Tokens
Two small marker tokens accompany the base mats: a "P" token (Total Current Power Token) and a "B" token (Breakpoint Token).
Setup
Each player selects two different factions to play with, and is considered the owner of the cards they choose, for game play purposes. Shuffle together your two factions to make a 40-card deck.
Who's On Your Side? For formal play, put at least 2 factions per player in the middle of the table. Randomly determine who goes first. The first player chooses one faction. Choice continues clockwise. When everyone has chosen one faction, the last player chooses a second faction. Choice continues in reverse order.
Example: Mulan and Frozen combine into one 40-card deck.
Set out a base mat for each player, plus one (e.g., four mats for three players), all facing the same direction, and with enough space between them for cards played around their sides. Each player chooses a side they will play their cards on: A, B, C, or D. The first player doesn't have to be player A. The full rules on how to use the base mats are found on the back of each mat.
Grab the bases from the sets the chosen factions come from, and shuffle all the base cards together. Draw and place a base card on each mat, then place the mat tokens on its number line.
Each player draws five cards from their deck. If you have no characters in your opening hand, you may show it, draw a new hand, and shuffle the old hand into your deck; you must keep the second hand.
Whoever most recently watched a Disney animated film goes first. (If tied, choose who goes first as you wish.) Play continues clockwise.
Setup (Continued)
Base cards - amount of players plus one. Grab the base card deck, shuffle it, and draw one base card per base mat (players plus one). Set the VP / power counter tokens within reach of all players as a shared supply. Each player keeps their own deck and hand of cards face-down (shown face-up in the diagram for illustration).
The Phases of a Turn
1. Start Turn
Some abilities talk about "the start of your turn." This is the phase when they all can happen — not just the first one. Abilities which last until the start of your turn end, and then any abilities which happen at the start of your turn are resolved in whatever order the current player wants.
2. Play Cards
This is when you play your cards. You can play one character, one action, or both, but you don't have to play any cards. You may also have abilities on cards you've already played that you can activate during this phase. All of this can be done in any order.
Character
To play a character, choose a base and put the character card beside it, facing toward you. Then do what the card says. A character's main job is to add its power to its controller's total power on a base.
Actions
To play an action, show the card and do what it says. If it's a modifier it is played next to a base or character, and it stays there; otherwise you discard the action after using it.
Abilities
Each set of instructions on a card is called an ability. Most cards only have one, but some have more. Abilities come in different types:
Unless an ability has one of the labels below, it is an On-play ability and is resolved immediately after the card is played — but not after it is moved.
Ongoing: Ongoing abilities either are always taking effect as long as their conditions are met — which may start once the card is in play — or they are resolved after a particular trigger. (p. 11.)
Special: Special abilities are resolved at unusual times, as the card itself explains. (p. 12.)
Talent: A Talent can be activated once during each of your turns, during the Play Cards phase only. (p. 12.)
Base abilities are handled differently. They act like Ongoing and/or Special abilities, but they have no label and are treated by faction cards as if they have no ability type.
3. Score Bases
After you are done playing cards, check to see whether any bases are ready to score. If any are ready, you must start scoring. See the Big Score, pp. 8-9.
4. Draw 2 Cards
Do what it says: draw two cards from your deck.
If your hand is empty at other times of the game, you don't get an automatic draw; you have to wait for this phase of your turn.
If a deck is empty when you need to start drawing, searching for, revealing, or looking at cards from it, then shuffle its discard pile to make the new deck, and keep going. You also shuffle the discard pile if the deck runs out in the middle of drawing, revealing, or looking for cards.
Exception: If you are revealing cards until a condition is fulfilled (e.g. until an action is revealed), then if the deck runs out first, stop revealing and move on with the rest of the ability. You also don't shuffle the discard pile if you are searching the deck but can't find what you want.
After drawing, the maximum number of cards you can have in your hand is 10. If you have more, discard down to 10. If your hand is bigger than 10 at other times of the game, that's OK; you wait until now to discard down.
5. End Turn
Just like the start, there's a phase for the end of the turn. Things that happen now (like destroying a character or drawing a card) happen first; if there is more than one, the current player chooses their order. After that, all abilities that expire now (like "+1 power until the end of the turn") expire at the same time.
Finally, check to see if any players have 15 or more Victory Points. If so, see Declaring Victory on p. 9. Otherwise the turn is over and play passes to the player on the left.
If a player has 15 or more Victory Points in the middle of a turn, the game does not end yet, but continues until playing, scoring, and drawing are completed for that turn. It is only in the End Turn phase that a winner is determined.
Resolving Cards and Abilities
Sometimes it can be difficult to decide what order to do things in. For example, if more than one player has a card that triggers before a base scores, which one goes first? Let's lay it all out.
A newly played card's On-play ability is resolved before any abilities on other cards, followed by any Ongoing ability it has that is immediately triggered (e.g. "Ongoing: This character has +3 power").
If an ability has multiple effects, they are resolved in the order they appear on the card.
- If the effects are ordered in a dependent way — e.g. "Do X to do Y", "You may do X; if you do, do Y" — then if X is not resolved for any reason, Y is not resolved. (For example, if you play a base modifier on a base with a Sugar Rush Racer but do not move the Sugar Rush Racer away, you cannot give it +1 power.)
- If the effects are ordered in an independent way — e.g. "Do X and then do Y", "Do X. Do Y" — then later effects are resolved even if the earlier effects cannot be. (For example, if you play Prepare to Fight and there are no characters in play, you still draw a card.)
After an ability is resolved, all abilities that are triggered by its effects are resolved. After a card is played, all abilities triggered by playing a card are resolved, along with those triggered by its On-play ability if it has one. If more than one ability is triggered, see "Me First" to figure out their order.
For an ability to respond to a trigger, its card needs to be in play when the triggering event happens. It also needs to be in play when the event finishes resolving, unless the trigger itself made the card go out of play.
If one card (A) causes another card (B) to be played immediately, B's resolution takes precedence, and the resolution of A pauses until B is finished resolving.
The Big Score
Each character on a base adds its power to the total power on the base. During the Score Bases Phase of any turn, if the total power on a base equals or exceeds that base's breakpoint (p. 3), the base will score. If more than one base is ready to score, the player whose turn it is decides which one to score first.
After a base has been chosen to score, abilities that happen "before" the base scores are triggered and resolved (e.g. Rajah, Lock, Shock & Barrel).
Once a base has been chosen to score, nothing can stop it. Even if the total power is reduced to below the base's breakpoint, you still keep scoring.
For example, before a base scores, one player plays Escape Pod to move one of their characters away from that base. Even if the total power goes below its breakpoint, the base still scores.
Me First!
When resolving abilities while scoring a base, just as when responding to any trigger, you first resolve abilities of cards in play that do not say "may" (e.g. Baymax), or that say "each player may" (e.g. The Dump). These abilities are mandatory. They are resolved in the order chosen by the current player.
Then you resolve optional abilities, which includes cards in play that say a single player "may" do something (e.g. Hyenas' Den), as well as all triggered Special abilities in the hand (e.g. Shan Yu). If more than one player wants to use an optional ability, then each player, starting with the current player and going clockwise, uses one such ability (in-play or from the hand) or passes. You can use an ability each time it comes around to you, and you can use one after passing, but once all players pass in sequence, that ends it.
If, while resolving optional abilities, a card with a mandatory Ongoing or Special ability enters play, it is resolved immediately before continuing with the next player.
Awarding VPs
The players with the highest, 2nd highest, and 3rd highest power on a base are the winner, runner up, and third place! They get victory points equal to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd number on the base card, respectively (p. 3).
Anyone with the 4th highest power or lower gets nothing. If there are fewer than 3 players on a base, no one gets the VPs for the unclaimed spots. Dispense VP tokens in the appropriate amounts to everyone who scored. Abilities that happen "when" a base scores may change how this happens, or add to it (e.g. Zombie Duck Toy). You must have at least one character or 1 power on a base to get victory points. A character with 0 power can earn VPs if 0 is one of the three highest power totals (e.g. a solitary character with Oogie Boogie on it).
Untangling Ties
If players are tied on a base, all involved players get points for the best position they tied for. So, if three players had 10, 10, and 5 power on a base when it scores, the winners with 10 power each get first place points! The player with 5 power then gets third place, not second. If two players tie for runner up, no one gets third place. Harsh.
If players tie for use of a base's ability, they each get to use it, starting with the current player and going clockwise. If using it twice doesn't make sense, then only the first player gets to use it.
Back to Your Corners
After awarding points, players can use abilities that happen "after" a base scores, in the same order described under "Me First" (e.g. Baymax, Zero). They are carried out immediately if possible, but they may need to wait until conditions allow it (e.g. if it affects what happens to cards on the base).
Then all cards still on that base go to their respective discard piles simultaneously. Going to the discard pile after scoring is not the same as being destroyed; however, it still might trigger other abilities (e.g. Lion Cub, Mufasa).
Put the scored base on the base discard pile. Replace it with the top card of the base deck; shuffle the base discard pile if the deck ran out. Check to see if another base is ready to be scored. If so, score it too, the same way.
Scoring Order
- Bases are checked to see if any are ready to score. If none are, go to the Draw 2 Cards phase.
- The current player chooses a base that is ready.
- Players may play and/or invoke any "Before scoring" abilities.
- VPs are awarded according to the current power totals. "When scoring" abilities trigger now.
- Players may play and/or invoke any "After scoring" abilities. This may affect steps 6-8.
- All cards on the base are discarded.
- The base is discarded.
- A new base is chosen to replace it.
- Go to step 1.
Declaring Victory
Check for a game winner at the end of each turn: if at least one person has 15 or more VPs, the player with the most victory points wins! But if there is a tie for the most, everyone keeps playing until there is no tie. No sharing! Except for your two factions. Those two factions are BFFs.
Once one player gets a winning VP total, you should still play until the end of the turn — unless everyone agrees that there is no chance for anyone else to catch up.
Power Counters
Power counters are used to give enduring power to characters. They are found on the back side of VP tokens, the side that says "+1" or "+3". Power counters can only be placed on cards, moved between cards, and removed from cards when an ability says to do so. When a card leaves play, remove all power counters from it.
Each power counter on a character increases the character's power by the number on it, for as long as it is on that character. For example, a 2-power character with two +1 power counters on it is treated as a 4-power character. If a power counter is moved, the counter stops affecting the card it used to be on, and starts affecting the new one.
Do not use power counters to stand for power directly granted by abilities, whether for a limited time (e.g. Zazu) or unlimited (e.g. Family Sword). Do not take power counters off if an ability reduces a character's power (e.g. Monster Garland). Those abilities' power changes are calculated in addition to printed power and power counters.
Because power counters affect the character they are on, abilities that protect characters from effects also protect against placing power counters on them, as well as moving or removing them.
As with VP tokens, power counters are treated like money: a +3 counter can be exchanged for three +1 counters, and vice versa.
Abilities triggered by the presence of +1 power counters are also triggered by the presence of +3 counters. Exchanging one size of counters for another does not count as placing a counter and does not trigger any abilities.
Game Terms and Restrictions
Affect: A card is affected if it is moved, or removed from play (i.e. destroyed, returned, shuffled, or placed), changed in power or controller, or has a modifier attached to it, or its ability cancelled.
After: "After X do Y", means that X is completely resolved before Y is done (unless X is "a base scores", p. 9), and that Y is done right after X.
Before: "Before a base scores" means after a base is chosen to score but before VPs are awarded. "Before the end of the turn" means during the Play 2 Cards phase.
The box: A card that is put in the box is out of play for the rest of the game. No ability can either prevent going to the box or retrieve a card that is there.
Cancel: Cancelling an ability means the ability is treated as if it does not exist.
Character: "Character" is exactly synonymous to the term "minion" in other sets. Everything that refers to a "character" also refers to a "minion" and vice versa.
Control: By default, each card you play is controlled by you. If you gain control of a card, it is as if you had played it: characters add to your power total, abilities on the card apply to you and you can use them, etc. Controlling a character does not mean you control any modifiers on it, although their abilities apply normally. When a card leaves play, it goes to the hand, deck, or discard pile of its owner, not its current controller. To "have" a card or power at a base means you control it. "Your" cards are the ones you control.
Destroy: This lets you remove a card that's in play and put it in the discard pile.
Discard: This lets you put a card that is not in play, or that is on a base that has just been scored, into the discard pile. It comes from your hand unless it says otherwise.
During a turn: At any point of a turn, in any phase. (Compare to "On your turn".)
Extra: An extra character or action is one that is not counted against your normal limit of one per type per turn. Extra cards are optional.
You may always play an extra card immediately. If an ability gives you an extra card during the Play Cards phase, you may choose to wait and play it later in that phase, unless it was given by a Special ability, or a later part of the ability depends on playing the card (e.g. giving +1 power to an extra character), or if it refers to a specific card (e.g. a card revealed from the top of the deck). An extra card with constraints (e.g. a character of power 2 or less) is not a specific card and can be played later.
In play: Cards in play are in the middle of the table, i.e. an active base or any card on it. Cards in the hand, deck, or discard pile, or set aside, or in the box, are not in play.
Modifier: An action that is played on a card of a specified type, (e.g. base or character). The modifier stays with the card it is attached to until that card leaves play or the modifier is moved or removed from play. The modifier is controlled by the person who played it, even if it is played on or moved to a character with a different controller. You don't need any characters at a base to play a base modifier there or use its ability, unless the card says otherwise.
Instead of "Base/Character modifier", cards in older sets would say "Play on a base/minion". A card that refers to actions played on bases or minions also refers to modifiers, and vice versa.
Move: This lets you relocate a character, modifier, or power counter from one card to another. A character that is moved takes all cards and counters on it along with it. Moving a card does not count as playing it, and doesn't change its controller. On-play abilities do not trigger when you move a card, but Ongoing, Special, and Talent abilities still have their effects.
On your turn: This means during the normal Play Cards phase of your turn. You can only do it once per turn unless it says otherwise.
Ongoing: Ongoing abilities are active for as long as they're in play, having either a continuous effect or a repeatable trigger. They do not work from the hand, deck or discard pile.
Game Terms and Restrictions (Continued)
Owner: The player who had the card at the start of the game.
Place: This lets you put a power counter on a card, or relocate a card in a way not covered by other terms (play, move, return), such as from a base to the bottom of your deck, or from the discard pile to your hand.
Play: You play a card when it's one of the free cards you get in the Play Cards phase, or any time an ability specifically says that you're playing it. A card's on-play (i.e. unlabeled) ability happens when you play it. When cards are moved, placed, or returned, they're not being played, and their on-play abilities don't happen.
Return: This means that a card goes back where it came from. When a card returns from a base, discard attachments on that card, and put it in its owner's hand.
Special: Special abilities happen at unusual times or in unusual ways, triggering in your hand or discard pile, or while in play for special events, even during other players' turns. A card's ability will describe how it can be used. If you use a Special ability to play a card on your turn, it doesn't count as one of your free cards for that turn.
Talent: This is an ability that you may use once during the Play Cards phase of each of your turns. You don't have to use it if you don't want to.
To: Some cards say, "Do X to do Y" (e.g. "Discard cards equal to a character's power to destroy it.") With these cards, if X gets thwarted for any reason (e.g., you don't have enough cards in hand), then you can't do any of X, or Y, either. If you do X for one card, it does not count for a different card that requires X; you have to do X a separate time for each "to" ability.
When: "When scoring" means when VPs are awarded. Otherwise "When X do Y" means as X starts to happen, often because Y changes how X works.
Clarifications
A Friend Like Me, Aladdin: Even if there is nothing to shuffle into the deck, shuffle it anyway.
Aladdin: If your deck is empty before you reveal any cards, shuffle your discard pile to make a new deck. If your deck runs out before you find an action, stop revealing and continue with the rest of the instructions.
Baymax, Chien Po: Any modifiers on the protected characters are destroyed, since having a modifier counts as affecting them. The protection against effects extends to characters played after the protecting card, and follows the protecting card if it is moved.
Be Our Guest, Mulan: These only work once per your turn, no matter how often you fulfill the conditions.
Break the Curse, Discover the Library, Enchanted Objects, Ever a Surprise: Each of these can play itself if discarded from the hand for any reason, whether another ability requires a discard from the hand, or because the hand is too large in the Draw 2 Cards phase. They are not triggered after being discarded from a scoring base or the deck.
Carpet, Escape Pod, Go Go Tomago, Sugar Rush: All the characters must start on the same base and must be moved to the same base.
Circle of Life, Lion Cub, Mufasa, Simba: "Goes to the discard pile" is triggered after the character is destroyed, or after its base scores. If two or more of these cards trigger at the same time, the current player chooses their order: Simba can place itself in the deck and then a Lion Cub can fetch it right back; a Lion Cub can go to the discard pile and then Circle of Life on another character can play it from there; Circle of Life can play a character and Mufasa can place power counters on it.
Christmas Will Be Ours!: In most cases the action played will be either in play or in a discard pile at the end of the turn, but it is returned to the owner's hand in either case, or even if it's in another hand or deck.
Cy-Bug Infestation, Mints Eruption: Swapping or destroying a base doesn't score it.
Dr. Finkelstein: You can move any character modifier between any two characters, even if they are on different bases or controlled by different players.
Fix-It Felix Jr., Avalanche, The Dump, Halloween Town, Pride Rock, Sandy Claws Costume, Spiral Hill: These say "the owner's" instead of "your" because some abilities let you play cards you don't own, so the controller isn't always the owner.
Frozen Port: Some cards require that characters be played on a certain base; if so, Frozen Port does not prevent it. If other players play more than one character per turn, the later characters can be played at Frozen Port's base whether they are regular or extra characters.
Gaston: The increase to the breakpoint only lasts while Gaston is on the base.
Clarifications (Continued)
Gaston's Tavern, Lumiere: You can just discard a card without playing the extra character, since extra plays are optional.
Ghostly Presents: This card is immediately destroyed (and an extra character played) if it is played on a character you control, or moved there from a character you don't control.
Hans Westergaard, Cy-Bug Infestation, The Dump, Halloween Town, Jafar, Spiral Hill: Each player does what the card says in turn order, starting with the current player unless the card says otherwise.
Hiro Hamada: The counters moved all have to start on the same character and all end on the same character. The two characters can be on different bases.
Hyenas' Den, Arendelle, Jack Skellington, Petals of the Rose, Sugar Rush Racer: These are resolved each time their trigger happens, not just once per turn.
Jack-O'-Lantern-in-the-Box: If you control its character you draw an extra card in your Draw 2 Cards phase. Otherwise its controller cannot draw, return, or place any cards in their hand during their turn except for the two cards in the Draw 2 Cards phase. Any cards that an ability tries to send to their hand in that time are discarded instead.
Jafar, Street Rat: If the action you play is a modifier, you control it until it leaves play, at which point it goes to its owner's discard pile.
King Candy: If you choose not to move King Candy, you can still have it affect a character at its base. The targeted character still counts as having power counters on it even though they don't add to its power (e.g. it can get +1 power from SFIT Robotics Lab).
Krei Tech, The Dump, Gaston's Tavern, The Power Strip: You don't have to have a card on these bases to use their abilities.
Kristoff: If Anna and Sven are both at its base, it still just gets +2 power.
Ling, Chien Po, Forbidden City, Jungle Paradise, Sultan's Palace, Yao: Though their abilities work only once per turn, they can work during other players' turns.
Microbot Maker, Microbot Swarm: You can use Microbot Maker's talent the turn you play it, so it can place two power counters on one of your characters that turn. Microbot Swarm counts as a Microbot for the Robots faction in the core set; the action Microbot Maker does not. Robots' minions do not count as Microbot Swarms.
Mints Eruption: Cards remaining onto the new base aren't played again and their on-play abilities are not triggered. Modifiers and counters on the characters are not affected.
Oogie Boogie: The character's power is 0, ignoring the character's printed power and any modifications from abilities or power counters. Abilities of other modifiers on the character are not affected by Oogie Boogie.
Palace Guard, Agrabah Bazaar, Avalanche, Beast, Big Summer Blowout, Cogsworth, Gaston, Gaston's Tavern, Jasmine, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts and Chip, Rajah, This Provincial Town: Discarding a card for one of these cards does not count toward any other card's prerequisites; a separate card must be discarded for each one. But even one discarded card triggers all cards that trigger from a discard (e.g. Be Our Guest, Enchanted Castle).
Rajah: You may use its talent before its base scores even if it was used earlier that same turn.
Research Lab Beacon: All characters of the named faction are moved to there, no matter who controls them.
Sandy Claws Costume: You get +1 for each character modifier you control (including this one), no matter which base they are on.
Sergeant Calhoun, Break the Curse, Version 2.0: Only characters on the base when the ability is resolved get the +1; those played or moved there later do not.
Spiral Hill, Pride Rock: The modifier or character added to the hand can either be one that was just at the base, or one that was already in the discard pile.
Sugar Rush Racer, I'm Gonna Wreck It, Monster Garland, Palace Guard, Sergeant Calhoun: If there are multiple copies of a card in play at the same time, their abilities work for each of them, (e.g. all Sugar Rush Racers can move from one base modifier play; each Sergeant Calhouns can give +1 power, even if at the same base).
The Dump, Halloween Town, Spiral Hill: Although these say "may", they apply to multiple players, so treat them as mandatory abilities when considering the order of resolving abilities (see Me First p. 8).
Upgrades, Agrabah Bazaar, Mufasa: The power counters can all be placed on just one character, but don't have to be.
Wasabi: If the number of power counters on it changes during the turn, so does the additional power.
Wish: If Genie is not in play or not controlled by you when you play Wish, it has no effect and you just discard it. For placing it in the box, see "The box", p. 10.
Yao, Ling, Chien Po, Mulan: These only work when a +1 power counter is placed on them. Moving counters to them doesn't count.
Yokai: The power counters moved after scoring may go to the same or different characters.
Zazu: If Mufasa is in the discard pile, you don't have to draw; you may still choose the +2 power option.
Zero, The Mayor of Halloween Town, Sandy Claws Costume: The modifiers you control don't have to be on characters you control to count for these cards.
A Few Provisos
Sometimes, card text and rules text will conflict. When there's a fight, card text wins. So there's an invisible "unless stated otherwise" with every rule in this book. Exception: Character power and base breakpoint are never reduced below zero.
If cards conflict, the one that says you can't do something beats the one that says you can.
If multiple effects would happen at the same time, the player whose turn it is chooses the order.
You can play a card even if its ability can't or doesn't happen. For example, you can play an action that destroys a character even if no characters are in play, or if the character you choose is immune to destruction.
You must follow a card's ability, even if it's bad for you. Exceptions: Talents and extra cards are optional, as are abilities that say you "may" do something.
If an ability says "any number" you may choose one, or even zero. You may play a card that says "all" even if there are no targets.
If you get to play extra characters or actions outside the Play Cards phase of your turn, you must play those extra cards immediately or not at all.
Anyone may look through any discard pile at any time. If you take a card out of the discard pile, show it to everyone.
"A character" or "an action" means any character/action in play, unless stated otherwise. Exception: "Play a character/action" means one from the hand.
When a card that others can see goes to the hand, deck, or discard pile, it goes to the one belonging to the card's owner (i.e. the player whose deck the card came from), no matter who played or controlled it.
When a card leaves play, any cards or counters on it are discarded.
Specials may be played at any time they are applicable, even on other players' turns.
The power of a character not in play is only the number printed on it, but once in play its power includes all modifications.
"You" on a character or action means the controller of the card; on a base it means any player it describes, often the current player. "Other players" means everyone except "you". "Your" cards are those you control, whether or not you own them.
"Here" means the base the card is at; "there" means the location just referred to on the card.
If you "look" at a card, show it to no one else. If you "reveal" it, show it to everyone else. If you "search" your deck for a card, or choose a card to take from the discard pile, you must reveal the card chosen. After searching a deck, it must be shuffled.
Suggested Matchups and Tips for Play
General Advice
Don't worry if you don't know which card to play or how to use it well. Avoid long decisions while others wait; just try anything and see how it goes! The early games are mainly about learning how to play, so have fun learning, including the mistakes.
After your first game or two, re-read the rule book carefully. You may find some things you missed, and you'll definitely understand the rules better.
Aladdin
Good beginning partner factions: Beauty and the Beast, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tips for play:
- Be wise but bold in using your precious Wish cards. They can help you break and win bases, but don't be afraid to use one to fill out a weak hand if needed.
- Several cards require discarding an action to work. Wish cards are great for that since Genie can fetch them back.
- A Friend Like Me and other cards can help restock your hand.
Beauty and the Beast
Good beginning partner factions: Big Hero 6, Frozen
Tips for play:
- When you discard a card to activate an ability, discard one that then plays itself, if you can.
- Belle, Mrs. Potts and Chip, and Be Our Guest can replenish your hand.
- Belle and Beast help each other, but their talents are useful enough that you shouldn't hesitate to use them alone.
Big Hero 6
Good beginning partner factions: Mulan, Beauty and the Beast
Tips for play:
- Try to get power counters on your hero characters if you can, both for the power and the extra abilities. If you can't, their abilities are still a set of tools you can adapt to many situations.
- Microbot Swarms are a source of steady growth in power counters, that you can move to other characters if needed.
- Use Microbot Swarms carefully to bring each other back from the discard pile and play again.
Frozen
Good beginning partner factions: The Lion King, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tips for play:
- Get familiar with which characters and actions can find which characters, so that you can quickly find and play them again and again. Elsa is especially useful to get out early and often.
- It's okay to send characters to the discard pile, especially Snowgies, since they can be retrieved and even played from there.
- Frozen Port can help you score a base by yourself.
The Lion King
Good beginning partner factions: Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph
Tips for play:
- Do what you can to get Mufasa in play early -- Wildebeest Stampede helps -- to both use him in play and to support you from the discard pile.
- If any of Lion Cub, Simba, Mufasa, or Circle of Life trigger at the same time, their order of resolving can be chosen to get multiple benefits for the same character.
- Lion Cub can help quickly bring out Simba, Nala, or powerful characters from your partner faction.
Mulan
Good beginning partner factions: Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6
Tips for play:
- Power counter use is straight-forward, but you can also leverage it for extra card draw with Yao, Ling and Chien Po.
- Plan ahead for the use of Shan Yu by making a character at least as strong as the character you want to eliminate before scoring.
- Also plan for the use of Avalanche by not having weaker characters on the target base.
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
Good beginning partner factions: Aladdin, Mulan
Tips for play:
- Most of your cards either are character modifiers, or search for, or react to character modifiers. Use them together to get more out of each play.
- Your modifiers are a great toolbox. Usually you'll use them opportunistically, but sometimes you'll want to carefully set them up. Lock, Shock & Barrel can help pull off surprise wins of bases.
- Halloween Town Folks help you sort your deck, placing the more useful cards on top.
Wreck-It Ralph
Good beginning partner factions: Aladdin, The Lion King
Tips for play:
- Be clever in your use of your base modifiers, both for their direct effects, and the advantages they give your characters.
- Time your movements to build up characters' power (Sugar Rush Racer, Vanellope von Schweetz, Sugar Rush), break or flee bases (Research Lab Beacon, Escape Pod), and save cards to remain after a base scores (Escape Pod).
- You can use Cy-Bug Infestation and Mints Eruption to destroy or replace bases where your opponents are doing well.
Roll Credits
AEG Team: Game Design: Paul Peterson. Development: Bryan Stout. Brand Management: Todd Rowland. Playtesting Director: Bryan Stout.
The Op Team: Development: Sean "Fletch" Fletcher. Product Management: Carol Johnston. Graphic Design: Rick Hutchinson, Delaney Mamer. Cover Art: Francisco Rico Torres. Creative Direction: Jed Lomahan.
AEG Playtesting: Jimmy Adams, Pat Alpers, Lauren Anderson, Michael Anderson, Myles Anderson, Wesley Anderson, Nyk Andrusiak, Zac Bally, Don Barber, Camila Bergeson, Darica Bevis, Major Bevis, Max Beyer, John Boecker, Seth Bowling, Shawn Brayfield, Elijah Buswell, Lara Carrión, Hannah Carrol, Coy Christensen, Janalyn Christensen, Lydia Christensen, McKay Christensen, Rebekah Christensen, Seth Christensen, Debra Coleman, Zachary Coleman, Joschka Cors, Cole Corwin, Mike Czerniewski, Bryan Daly, Carlos de la Cruz, Grata de Utrilla, Katharina Degode, Kyle Dennis, Denise Edmonds, Heather Edmonds, Wesley Edmonds, Jannis Eisenmenger, Kayla Elliot, Kinnear Elliot, Mark Fehr, Emily Fernandes, Matt Flemming, Jared Frail, BriAnne Friesen, Jordan Garcia, Evan Giesbrecht, Mike Giesbrecht, Pablo Gil, Andraž Gorišek, Žan Gostenčnik, Óscar Guasch, Alexander Guilmette, Ariana Gysin, Michael Gysin, Maurice Haedrich, Stephen Harms, Dean Harris, Jessica Harrison, Tim Harrison, Tim Helms, Emily Henry, Jordan Henry, Kassie Henry, Martin Hernandez-Gamez, AJ Hildebrandt, Lawrence Holm, Zachary Hughes, Pablo Huisa, Tupak Huisa, Wes Jarmusch, Josiah Killam, Alex Kirkeeng, Lucas Knudsen, Magnus Knudsen, Jan Kotnik, Urban Kotnik, Mark Kozamernik, Anne Kuhns, Mark Kuhns, Ben Laird, Isis Legrand, Kyle Lewis, Megan Lovelace, Kabanza Lumba, Nick Mahnke, Emily Mammel, Sam Martin, Cullen McComb, Guilhem Mercier, Clayton Moore, Aaron Moses, Daniel Moses, Marah Moses, Nathan Moses, Stephen Moses, Victoria Moses, Matt Nelson, Duc-Man Nguyen, Le-Thi Nguyen, Kyle Noel, Luke Noles, J. T. Northrop, Jon O'Brien, Gerrit Oestreich, Josh O'Horo, Mihael Pačnik, Annie Palmer, Chance Palmer, Tim Palmer, Robert Payne, Chrissey Petersen, Riley Petersen, Ron Petersen, Amalie Petterson, Benjamin Pimentel, Elizabeth Pimentel, John Pimentel, Lesley Pimentel, Michael Pimentel, Igor Pinheiro, Rick Pongonis, Jonathan Preston, Jason Rapelje, Michael Rapelje, Caleb Ray, Kevin Record, Lauren Reneau, Zach Reneau, Criso Renovell, Erica Rigaud, Philippe Rigaud, Nicholas Ritchie, Charles Ross, Xandra Russell, Tim Scheurich, Alyssa Schuette, Gerhardt Schuette, Laura Selke, Adrian Sierra, Eli Singh, Owen Singh, Rueben Singh, Alec Slovenec, Jan Šrajner, Bryan Stout, Meg Stout, Samuel Szendre, Ben Thomas, Karri Thomas, Mathew Thomas, Olivia Thomas, Renee Thompson, Alex Thorne, Kevin Thorne, Maureen Thorne, River Thorne, Jonathan Tyler, William Tyler, Fabien Vannier, Aiden Volp, Cora Volp, Megan Volp, Robert Volp, Marie Wanham, Kayleigh Watters, Jeremy Westerfield, Kathleen Whittome, Mike Winkler, Joshua Woodall, Marvin Zanardo, Robert Zollo.
The Op Playtesting: Lauren Hatcher, O'Neil Mabile, Paul May, Amanda McKee, David Nevin, Adam Sblendorio, Tony Serebriany.
The Factions
Smash Up: Disney Edition features eight factions, which combine to make 28 possible decks. Counting all the Smash Up sets, there are now over 4,000 possible faction combos! Mix and match factions to suit your play style.
Aladdin
The Aladdin deck can get the cards you need, whether from your own deck and discard pile, or from other players. Some cards give other kinds of help: extra plays from Jasmine, strength from Palace Guard, and movement from Carpet. But the card that helps the most is Genie, which can fetch three Wishes of phenomenal cosmic power!
Complexity: Medium-High
Beauty and the Beast
Enchantments abound in Beast's castle! Some cards discard other cards to do their effects, some cards can play themselves after being discarded, and some cards are triggered by discards. The Belle and Beast cards both help the discarding and help each other, and Petals of the Rose helps sort the deck.
Complexity: Low-Medium
Big Hero 6
The students at San Fransokyo Tech's robotics lab have become a team of heroes to fight the mysterious Yokai! This deck uses power counters as swarms of Microbots and gear upgrades, moving around and improving your characters' abilities. Use the talents of cards like Hiro Hamada to turn Baymax, Wasabi, and the rest into a formidable fighting force.
Complexity: Medium
Frozen
If you want to build a snowman, the Elsa card will help fetch and play the Olaf, Marshmallow, and Snowgies cards, and can often strengthen them. The Anna, Kristoff, and Sven cards will find each other, while many of your action cards assist in setting up your hand and discard pile for powerful and effective turns.
Complexity: Medium
The Lion King
The circle of life is strong in The Lion King deck. The departure of one character often leads to the arrival of new ones, with effects that allow you to search for or play extra characters. The Simba card can return to your deck after leaving play, and Mufasa's presence in your discard pile makes many of your other characters and actions better.
Complexity: Medium
Mulan
The Huns have invaded China, and the call for troops has gone out! Mulan, Li Shang, and other cards can build up their strength quickly with power counters, and can bolster your hand by drawing extra cards. Hinder your opponents' progress on bases by triggering an Avalanche, and ambush your foes with the Shan Yu card.
Complexity: Low
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
Jack Skellington and his Halloween Town cohorts are spreading their version of Christmas to everyone in the best way they know how. Their gifts come in the form of character modifiers that can be used to help you or hinder others. This deck is the gift that keeps on giving, with cards that can stick around or come back after bases have been scored.
Complexity: Medium-High
Wreck-It Ralph
Let the race commence! Vanellope von Schweetz and the other racers' cards can get stronger as they move from base to base, while King Candy disrupts others' plans. The Wreck-It Ralph, Fix-It Felix Jr., and Sergeant Calhoun cards can use Cy-Bug Infestation and many other base modifiers to set things up for yourself and wreck things for your opponents!
Complexity: Medium