Space Race (2021)
Space Race (2021) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How to Win
Upgrade your ship and outmaneuver dangers as you travel through space. Whoever has the most Victory Points (VP) at the end of the game, wins.
Setup
- Each player starts by choosing 1 Cockpit and 1 Engine.
- Shuffle the Danger, Damage and Space decks separately and place them face-down in the center of the table.
How to Play
Gameplay lasts for three rounds, and each round contains two phases: the Upgrade Phase and the Danger Phase. After three rounds, player scores are counted and the winner is announced.
Upgrade Phase
Deal 6 Space cards to each player. Flip the Navigation Coin to determine the direction in which cards are passed. Each player selects a Space card from their hand that they want to keep, making sure it's hidden from the other players, and sets aside the rest of their hand. When all players are ready, play your selected card at the same time, in one of two ways:
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FACE UP: this means the card will be placed so it is connected to the ship or somewhere around it (see the example below). If you already have a card of the same type connected to your ship, the new card is placed on top of it, so that the number of VP on the card below is still visible.
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FACE DOWN: the card will be placed behind the Engine and represents collected Fuel. Any text on the card front is ignored.
After this, pick up and pass on the rest of your hand in the direction indicated on the Navigation Coin. Players pick up their new hand, which now contains fewer cards to choose from. When there are no cards left to pass along, continue to the Danger Phase.
Where to Place Cards
Example layout of a ship. Caption printed on the sheet:
Fuel behind Engine. Crystal, Robot Part, Scanner & Damage in ship. Crew in front of Cockpit. Power Sources are connected to Engine or Cockpit. Alien Drone somewhere above ship. Loot Carrier somewhere below ship.
Danger Phase
The top Danger card is drawn from the Danger deck. There are two types of Danger cards – FIGHT and FLIGHT. Fight means you have to defend your ship, using your collected Crew, and flight means you have to escape using your Fuel.
If the revealed danger is a flight card, pick up all your collected Fuel and then, in secret, decide how many cards you want to bid. When everyone is ready, all players reveal their bid at the same time by placing that number of cards on the table. (A player is allowed to bid zero cards.) A player's ranking is decided by the size of their bid. In a tie, all players involved get the same ranking. This same procedure is applied when a fight card is revealed, but then you bid with your collected Crew instead.
Three icons can be found on the Danger card positions:
- X icon: You leave undamaged.
- Wrench icon: Instantly removes damage from your ship equal to the number of wrenches on your ranking.
- Damage card icon (2): Draw the same number of Damage cards as your ranking and put them into your spaceship.
Discard any used Fuel and Crew and return all that are left back to your ship. The used Danger card is also discarded. The next round can now begin, starting with the Upgrade Phase.
Bidding Example
Caption printed on the sheet, with a diagram of the four ranking tiles (1st: two wrench icons; 2nd: 1; 3rd: 2; 4th: 3) connected to the players' ships:
- PLAYER 1 (highest bidder) removes 2 Damage cards from ship.
- PLAYER 2 and PLAYER 3 (2nd place bidders) gain 1 Damage card each.
- PLAYER 4 (3rd place bidder) gains 2 Damage cards.
Scoring
After all three rounds have been played, players' scores are calculated as shown below. Some cards are worth VP on their own, indicated by the corner-VP icon (a filled or outlined octagon) in the top left corner. In addition, some cards award extra VP if the card condition is fulfilled. The player with the most Fuel receives a 5VP bonus and the same applies to whoever has the most Crew left. In case of a tie both players are awarded bonus VP. Players also receive negative VP for every Damage card they have collected, indicated by the red octagon icon in the top left corner.
Calculate Score
Worked example printed on the sheet, headed "Calculate Score" (legend: filled octagon = corner VP, outlined octagon = conditional VP). The example ship is totalled at 40 VP ("YOUR SHIP – TOTAL: 40 VP"), with the opponents' cards shown separately below it ("OPPONENT'S CARDS").
The Space Cards
Reference panel printed on the sheet, titled "The Space Cards".
Ship Components
Scanners, Robot Parts and Crystals come in three color variations (orange, green and purple) and are placed somewhere in your ship between the Cockpit and Engine. All ship components of the same type are stacked on top of each other when placed in the ship.
- Scanners: You receive 2 VP for each Scanner in your ship. When played, a Scanner lets you immediately look at the top Danger deck card.
- Robot Parts: You receive 2 VP for each Robot Part in your ship. You also receive an additional 3 VP for each complete robot (three unique pieces) that you assemble.
- Crystals: You receive 1 VP for each Crystal in your ship. You gain an additional 9 VP for every set of four crystals.
Power Sources
A Power Source is connected to the top of the Cockpit or the Engine. Multiple Power Sources are stacked.
Each Power Source is worth 1 VP and you are awarded an additional 2 VP for every top Scanner, Robot Part or Crystal in your ship that matches the color of the Power Source.
Add-ons
Alien Drones and Loot Carriers are add-ons that award VP depending on what your opponents have chosen to collect. To determine their score, you need to check who has the most of each type at the end of the game.
- Loot Carriers (placed under ship): Loot Carriers award 6 VP if you have the most, and 2 VP if you have the second most. In case of a tie, both players are awarded the same number of VP.
- Alien Drones (placed above ship): You receive 3 VP for every player that has fewer drones than you.
Crew and Fuel
Crew and Fuel are used during the Danger Phase, and can also give VP at the end of the game.
- Crew (placed in front of ship): Crew can be deployed in a Fight during the Danger Phase. The player with the most Crew left at the end of the game is awarded 5 VP.
- Fuel (placed behind ship): Fuel is on the flip side of the Space cards and can be spent in a Flight during the Danger Phase. The player with the most Fuel left at the end of the game is awarded 5 VP.
Game Components
As listed on the sheet:
- 1 × Rules
- 1 × Navigation Coin
- 8 × Starting ship components: 4 × Cockpits, 4 × Engines
A total of 108 cards, divided as follows:
- 72 × Space cards: 9 × Alien Drones, 9 × Loot Carriers, 9 × Crystals, 9 × Scanners, 9 × Robot Parts, 18 × Crew, 9 × Power Sources
- 8 × Danger cards: 4 × Flight cards, 4 × Fight cards
- 28 × Damage cards: 7 × Alien Invasion, 14 × Fire Onboard, 7 × Hull Breach
Factions
The back of the sheet is headed "Choose your faction!" and shows four factions: the Wolves, the Vultures, the Jackals and the Ravens. Each has artwork and flavour text only; the sheet prints no rules for them.