Steven Universe: Beach-A-Palooza Card Battling Game
Steven Universe: Beach-A-Palooza Card Battling Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 3 Act Decks (54 Character Cards each)
- 30 Party Crasher Cards
- 6 VP Overflow +50/100 Cards (in 6 different colors)
- 6 Steven Cards (in 6 different colors)
- 6 VP-Tracking Tokens (in 6 different colors)
- 1 Cookie Cat Scoreboard
- 11 Fusion Cards
- 1 First Player Card
- 6 Round Sequence Reminder Cards (1 per player)
- 70 Light Pink Gems (1 ENERGY unit)
- 20 Dark Pink Gems (3 ENERGY units)
Object of the Game
Be the Steven that recruits the best band and audience at Beach-a-Palooza, defend against the Party Crashers that are looking to ruin everything, and gain the most Victory Points (VP) to win the game!
Types of Cards
- Party Crashers
- Audience Characters
- Stage Characters
Fusions can be created and added to the Stage.
Set-Up
First, give each player:
- A Steven Card (each Steven is unique and has its own special ability)
- 10 Energy (and set the rest aside within reach of all players to create the supply)
- A VP-Tracking Token that matches their Steven (and set it on the 0 space on the Beach-a-Palooza Scoreboard)
Then:
- Shuffle all of the Act 1 Cards and deal nine cards to each player.
- Set all shown Fusion Cards beside the Beach-a-Palooza Scoreboard for all players to see.
- Note: If you are playing with 2-4 players, there should be only one of each Fusion available. If you are playing with 5-6 players, there should be doubles of each Fusion available except Alexandrite. Set aside the Stevonnie and Smoky Quartz Fusions for the next Acts.
- Shuffle the Party Crasher Cards and place three of them face up beside the Scoreboard. The rest of the cards will create a draw pile next to the face-up cards.
- Shuffle and set aside the Act 2 and Act 3 decks for now. The next Act deck will come into play when the previous Act completes its three Rounds.
Next, each player will set up their Stage, placing their Steven in the center. Above Steven and the Stage is the Audience area, where you will be adding any number of Audience Characters during the game.
- Audience Area (above)
- Stage Area (below, with Steven in the center)
Last, place your 10 Energy on top of your Steven (indicated by the 10 Gem symbol on the top-right of his card). You have space for three more Stage Characters that you will draft into your band (directly below and to the left and right of Steven) by paying for them with the Energy on your Steven Card. After you recruit Stage Characters, you will spend the Energy placed on them to use their abilities to attack the Party Crashers that are terrorizing Beach-a-Palooza.
The player who most recently watched an episode of Steven Universe takes the First Player Card.
How to Play
The game takes place over three Acts, with each Act lasting three Rounds, giving you a chance to create the best band and bubble Party Crashers in order to earn the most Victory Points.
Each Act consists of:
- A new Act deck that will have new Stage and Audience Character Cards.
- Three Rounds of gameplay in which each player can play a total of nine cards.
Each Round consists of:
- Choosing three cards from your hand.
- Paying Energy to place Stage Characters on Stage.
- Adding Audience members in the Audience area (beside your Stage) and using their effects.
- Adding one card to the Common Area to represent kidnapped Boardies/Gems.
- An option to create a Fusion.
- Attacking Corrupted Gems and Homeworld Gems to earn Victory Points during an Attack Phase.
(Note: There will be Rounds in which not all of the above is possible/available.)
Playing a Round
After set-up, all players can now look at their hand of nine cards. The next steps are done simultaneously for all players.
First, choose three cards from your hand and place the remaining six cards in a pile next to the player on your left. Do not look at the six cards that are placed next to you.
Then, from the three cards you chose, you may play up to two cards to your Stage and/or Audience.
- Playing a Stage Character Card: Each has its own cost that must come from your Steven's Energy supply in order to be played. The Energy cost is shown in the top-right corner of the card. Place that amount of Energy from Steven onto the Stage Character Card when it is played. In the coming Attack Phase, you will be able to spend this Energy (returning it to general supply) to use the Character's 1-2 attacks to cause damage to the Party Crashers and/or create Fusions.
- You can only have three other Stage cards besides Steven.
- If you do not have enough Energy to pay for a Stage Character Card, you cannot play it. It will have to be added to the Common Area or discarded (described on page 4).
- Playing an Audience Character Card: It costs nothing to add one to your Audience area. They each have their own abilities that will usually allow you to either:
- Take Energy from the general supply and add it to your supply, or
- Move any amount of Energy from your supply onto one of your Stage Characters.
You can have any number of Audience members. Audience Character Cards also have symbols in the upper-right of the card that show the set they belong to. The more you collect of a set, the more VP you can earn.
To differentiate your Stage and Audience Character Cards in your play area, we suggest putting all Audience Character Cards above your Steven Card in sets that match their symbols.
Next, take your third card and place it FACE UP in the Common Area next to the Scoreboard to represent Boardies/Gems that have been grabbed by the Party Crashers and will be available to rescue when you attack Party Crashers during the Attack Phase.
Last, before the Attack Phase, discard any cards that you didn't want to use or couldn't afford to because you didn't have enough Energy. You can discard these next to the Act draw deck.
Attack Phase
Now that your Stage and Audience Characters are recruited, it is time to attack the Party Crashers! Starting with the player with the First Player Card and continuing clockwise, you will now get to spend the Energy you have on your Stage Character Cards in order to use their attacks.
On each player's turn of the Attack Phase:
First, choose if you want to create a Fusion. Fusions are special Characters that can be played if you have the right Characters on Stage (as indicated on each Fusion Card). They will temporarily replace the Stage Characters that create that Fusion. Before you make your first attack, you can use any unclaimed Fusions as long as your Stage Characters have enough Energy on them combined to match or beat the recruitment cost on the top-right of the Fusion Card. The Fusion will collect all the Energy that was present on the Characters that form the Fusion. The Characters that form the Fusion are not discarded, but instead kept under the Fusion. After forming a Fusion, you are free to make your first attack for the Round as normal.
For example, if you want to claim Opal as a Fusion for an Attack Phase, you first need to have Pearl and Amethyst on Stage, with a minimum of 6 Energy combined between the two Characters. Fusions are unique in that they are available to be used for one Attack Phase for a Round of play.
Note: Fusions only have the Energy that was provided by the Characters that formed the Fusion and cannot be "recharged" in any way. Regardless of Energy remaining, ALL Fusions on Stages must be returned to the Fusion Card area at the end of each Round, available for players to claim in the next Round.
Then, you can activate one attack ability for each of your Stage Characters. Each of your Stage Characters may spend Energy they possess on them (not from your supply) to use one of their abilities for an attack. Each spot on the Party Crashers requires an attack of a particular value, ranging from 1 to 5. A Character can spend the full value of their attack on only one Party Crasher, allowing them to hit more than one spot on that Party Crasher and gaining the bonuses. For example, if a Character has an attack value of 4, they could attack two hit spots on one Party Crasher if those spots total less than or equal to 4. Check to see if your Stage Characters have an advantage or a disadvantage with the Party Crasher they are attacking.
Note: Stage Characters cannot combine their attacks, but can each take a turn attacking the same Party Crasher.
You will mark the spot(s) that you hit by taking the Energy you spent using the attack and placing it on the corresponding spot(s).
Next, collect the bonus that is shown on the hit spot of the Party Crasher.
- If you gain Energy, take it from the general supply and add it to your own.
- If you gain VP, move your VP-Tracking Token on the Scoreboard accordingly.
- If you gain a card, take one of the available cards from the Common Area to rescue one Audience or Stage Character.
- If you rescue an Audience Character, you add the card to your Audience area and immediately use the Energy effect (if it has one).
- If you rescue a Stage Character, you add the card to your Stage in an available spot if you have enough Energy in your pool to use it, just like you would in the first phase. If there is no available spot, you can either discard one of your Stage Characters and replace it, or discard the rescued card.
If you mark the last hit spot on a Party Crasher, the Crystal Gems will bubble them. If it's a Corrupted Gem, you'll keep them safe until the Crystal Gems can find a way to turn them back into their former Gem selves. If it's a Homeworld Gem, you'll stop them from attacking the Stevens and the Gems. If you hit the last available spot(s) on a Party Crasher, you defeat it, and claim a bubble bonus of either 3 VP or an available Common Area Character. If your score passes the 49th spot on the Cookie Cat Scoreboard, continue counting from the 0 space and place your VP Overflow +50/100 Card next to the Scoreboard.
Last, you will finish your Attack Phase by taking any of the negative effects caused by the Party Crashers. If a Party Crasher was bubbled, turn a new Party Crasher Card face up to replace it. Next, any Fusions you have on Stage must de-fuse and return to the Fusion area beside the Scoreboard for players to claim in subsequent Rounds. Any remaining Energy (if any) that is on them will go back to your Energy supply. The Characters that comprised the Fusion will then return to your Stage with NO Energy (exhausted from the effort of fusing).
Then pass the First Player Card to the next player clockwise to complete their Attack Phase. The Round ends when all players have completed their Attack Phase.
Playing the Next Two Rounds
In the second Round, each player will now pick up the pile of six cards that was placed beside them in the last Round and repeat all the same steps as the previous Round. There is a likely chance that you will be able to play Character Cards that you already have in front of you. You can only have one copy of each Character (of the same name) on your Stage or in your Audience EXCEPT Watermelon Steven. If you want to play a duplicate card, one of two things will happen:
- If you replace a Stage Character with another of the same name, you will be able to add it to your Stage to replace your current version for FREE and they will come fully charged with Energy from the general supply, not from your own! Discard the original.
- If you replace an Audience Card with another of the same name, you will be able to use their Energy effect again and discard the original.
Note: A few Characters (Greg and Connie) can be played either to Stage OR Audience, but not both. There is a cost to play them to the Stage, but (like all Audience Characters) they are free to play to the Audience area. If you have one Greg or Connie in your Audience, and want to play a new one to Stage, you can discard the one in your Audience and play the new one to your Stage, or vice versa.
Continuing with Act 2
Each player collects 10 Energy from the supply and places it on Steven as indicated by the "10" on his card. They also receive nine Act 2 Cards. Remove all remaining cards from the Act 1 deck that are in the discard and draw piles. Add the Stevonnie Fusion to the available Fusions for this Act (all Act 1 Fusions are available in Act 2). This new Fusion works just like the Fusions from Act 1, with the exception that the additional Energy the Fusion collects comes from your supply. For example, if you have Connie on Stage with 3 Energy, and wish to fuse with your Steven to form Stevonnie (who costs 5 Energy), you must add the additional 2 Energy needed from your personal supply. You are then free to attack just like with other Fusions and Stage Characters.
Continuing with Act 3
Each player collects 10 Energy from the supply and places it on Steven as indicated by the "10" on his card. They also receive nine Act 3 Cards. Remove all remaining cards from the Act 2 deck that are in the discard and draw piles. (Note: Make sure to separate out any Act 1 Cards that might have been removed during the prior Act and add them back to their deck.) Add the Smoky Quartz Fusion to the available Fusions for this Act (all Act 1 and Act 2 Fusions are available in Act 3). Smoky Quartz acts just like Stevonnie and requires any additional Energy to come from your own supply.
Winning
After three Acts of play, each player counts up their bonus points and moves their VP-Tracking Token accordingly. Players will get bonuses for both remaining Energy and number and size of the Audience sets they collected.
Scoring Remaining Energy
- Most remaining Energy: +10 VP
- Second most remaining Energy: +6 VP
- Third most remaining Energy: +3 VP
(In case of ties, all tied players get the bonus listed.)
Scoring for Audience Sets
- 2 matching symbols: +2 VP
- 3 matching symbols: +5 VP
- 4 matching symbols: +8 VP
- 5 matching symbols: +12 VP
For example, if you have Buck and Jenny (Cool Kids) in your Audience, you gain 2 VP, and if you have Buck, Jenny, and Sour Cream, you gain 5 VP.
Note: Some Characters have multiple group symbols, and count for each of those sets.
The player with the most VP at the end of the third Act wins Beach-a-Palooza!
In case of a tie, the player with the most Energy in their Steven Energy supply wins.
Symbols on Cards
- Energy
- Attack
- Victory Points
- Character Card
- Bonus for an Attack
- Negative effect from Party Crasher at end of Attack Phase (shown as -1)
- Gain displayed positive or negative effect if you have that Character in play
- Characters a Character can fuse with (Characters needed to form the Fusion on a Fusion Card, or Garnet Stage Character Card)