Time 'n' Space Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object of the Game
• Introductory Game or Full Game
• Setup for the Introductory Game
• Setup for the Full Game
• Playing the Game
  • General rules for placing and using the sandtimers
  • 1. Your spaceship
  • 2. Production plant
  • 3. Beam station
  • 4. Trading center
  • 5. Research plant
  • Upgrading stage II buildings
• End of the Game
• Final Scoring
• A Few Words of Advice

Components

• 1 double-sided main board (1 side for 4 players, 1 side for 3 players), showing planets, wormholes, and moons
• 4 control centers (1 in each player color)
• 4 spaceships (1 in each player color)
• 48 goods cubes (12 in 4 colors)
• 96 order counters (24 in each of the 4 goods colors)
• 4 bonus order counters
• 24 building tiles (production plants, beam stations, trading centers), front showing stage II, back showing stage III
• 8 sandtimers (1 min.)

You also need a 30-minute timer (12-minute for the INTRODUCTORY game) which is not included (any regular watch or mobile phone will suffice).

There are 4 types of order counters (of which each player has a few):

• Technology order (gray)
• Luxury order (yellow)
• Medicine order (blue)
• Raw materials order (brown)

The player symbol above the number indicates to which player the order counter belongs. The number indicates the number of goods required to fulfill the order counter as well as its value in the final scoring.

Object of the Game

Fulfill as many orders from as many players as possible by visiting their planets with your spaceship. Whenever you arrive at another player's planet, you can fulfill one or more of the order counters currently displayed on his control center.

For each order you want to fulfill, simply surrender goods cubes that match that order counter in number and color. As a reward you receive the fulfilled order counter.

At the end of the game, you score points for your collected order counters of each type separately. For this, your total value of each type is multiplied by the number of different players you collected that type from.

For example: order counters worth 2 + 1 + 2 = 5, collected from 2 different players, score 5 x 2 = 10 points.

However, you can only score for a certain type at all if you also brought all of your own order counters of that type into play. So you have to find a good balance between fulfilling the orders of the other players and providing them with orders of your own.

Introductory Game or Full Game

TIME 'N' SPACE is rather an unusual gaming experience. In your first game and for introducing new players to the game, we recommend that you start with the INTRODUCTORY GAME. This way, everybody can get to know the basic mechanics. After you have played the INTRODUCTORY GAME once or twice and got a feel for its dynamics, switch to the FULL GAME.

To play the INTRODUCTORY GAME, start with the "Setup for the INTRODUCTORY GAME". Then continue reading everything that is not in a yellow-black box. Simply ignore those boxes for now, as those regard the further rules for the FULL GAME.

As soon as you want to play the FULL GAME, start with the "Setup for the FULL GAME" and ignore the "Setup for the INTRODUCTORY GAME". All other rules of the INTRODUCTORY GAME also apply to the FULL GAME but are supplemented by the rules in the yellow-black boxes.

Setup for the Introductory Game

Before the first game, carefully detach the building tiles, order counters, and spaceships from the punch boards. Then assemble the spaceships.

1. Put the main board in the middle of the table. In a 3-player game, use the side with 3 planets. In a 4-player game, use the side with 4 planets.
2. Put the goods cubes next to the main board, so that each player can reach them easily.
3. Each player takes the control center of the planet closest to him on the main board and places it in front of him. Each planet has a specific symbol in its color.
4. Each player receives the spaceship of his colored symbol and places it onto his planet on the main board.
5. Each player receives 2 sandtimers and places them upright in front of him. The sandtimers may not be flipped before the game starts.
6. Return the bonus order counters and all order counters that show either a 2 or a 3 to the box. They are not needed. Sort the remaining order counters according to the colored symbol above the number. Then give each player the 12 counters of his colored symbol. These are placed above his control center. (In a 3-player game, return the counters, control center, and spaceship of the purple player to the box.)
7. Take the 24 building tiles and give each player one white tile of stage III and one black tile of stage III. Use these to cover the 2 lowest buildings on each control center. Also give each player one random ocher tile of stage III that he uses to cover the white building on the right of his control center. Return the remaining building tiles to the box. They are not needed.
8. Depending on his colored symbol, each player places 2 of his order counters and 2 goods cubes from the supply onto his control center. Do this exactly as shown in the setup example.
9. Set the main timer to 12 minutes. Go through the rules and make sure that everyone has an idea of how the game works. As soon as everybody is ready, start the timer and the game begins.

Setup for the Full Game

1. Put the main board in the middle of the table. In a 3-player game, use the side with 3 planets. In a 4-player game, use the side with 4 planets.
2. Put the goods cubes next to the main board, so that each player can easily access them.
3. Each player takes the control center of the planet closest to him on the main board and places it in front of him.
4. Each player receives the spaceship of his colored symbol and places it onto his planet on the main board.
5. Each player receives 2 sandtimers and places them upright in front of him. The sandtimers may not be flipped before the game starts.
6. Shuffle the 24 building tiles with stage II facing up. Then form a number of random piles equal to the number of players. Make sure that all piles are of identical height and that all buildings have stage II facing up. Finally place one pile at each moon on the main board.
7. Take the 4 white bonus order counters and place one on each planet on the main board. (In a 3-player game, return the remaining bonus order counter to the box.)
8. Sort the remaining 96 order counters according to the colored symbols above each number. Then give each player the 24 counters of his colored symbol. These are placed above his control center. (In a 3-player game, return the counters, control center, and spaceship of the purple player to the box.)
9. In secret, each player picks 2 of his order counters (for example, by using one hand as a screen). Then all players reveal their picked counters simultaneously. Afterward, each player places his 2 counters onto any 2 order spaces on his control center. Order spaces are all free production spots and beaming spots on your control center (indicated by the "silver" border surrounding each of them).
10. Set the main timer to 30 minutes. As soon as everybody is ready, start the timer and the game begins.

Playing the Game

Unlike most games, in TIME 'N' SPACE players do not take their turns in a certain order one after another. Instead, all players play simultaneously, taking their actions by placing sandtimers on the time symbols of the components.

When the main timer starts (12 or 30 minutes), each player takes his 2 sandtimers, flips them, and places each on an appropriate time symbol.

As soon as the sand in one of your sandtimers has run through, you may lift the sandtimer up and immediately execute the action that corresponds to the time symbol where the sandtimer was placed. Then you may flip the sandtimer and immediately place it on the same or another time symbol.

General rules for placing and using the sandtimers

• You may only place a sandtimer on a free time symbol located on your own control center or your spaceship, never on those of other players.
• Each time symbol can only be occupied by one sandtimer at a time.
• The sand of a sandtimer that you placed on a time symbol must always have run through completely before you are allowed to lift that sandtimer up, even if you do not want to or cannot execute the corresponding action.
• You may only execute the action the very moment you lift your sandtimer up after the sand has run through. If you want to delay the corresponding action, you may leave the finished sandtimer standing on the time symbol as long as you want. However, as soon as you lift it up you must either execute the action or forfeit it.
• You may "park" a sandtimer (of which the sand has run through) in front of you if you do not have any use for it. However, you may never start the sandtimer unless you immediately place it on a time symbol.

You can place a sandtimer on each of the following kinds of time symbols:

On the main board:

1. Your spaceship

On your control center: 2. Production plant (ocher) 3. Beam station (black) 4. Trading center (white) 5. Research plant (player color)

Production plants, beam stations and trading centers are called buildings. The 8 buildings printed on your control center are stage I buildings. These buildings are not very efficient. With the help of the research plant, however, you can build over stage I buildings with stage II building tiles. Stage II buildings can then be upgraded to stage III.

1. Your spaceship

When you place a sandtimer on your spaceship, you travel from one planet or moon to an adjacent planet or moon (connected by a wormhole). To do this, you place your spaceship on the wormhole between these two locations, with the tip of the spaceship pointing clearly towards the destination. (Any wormhole or location can be used by multiple spaceships at the same time.)

When the sand has run through, your spaceship has arrived at its destination planet or moon.

As soon as you lift the finished sandtimer up, you must move your spaceship onto the destination and may then execute the corresponding action immediately:

Example: Starting at a moon, Red travels through the respective wormhole to the green planet. When the sand has run through, he may lift the sandtimer up. As soon as he does, he moves the spaceship onto the planet (and may execute the corresponding action immediately).

Important: When placing a sandtimer on your spaceship, you can choose to leave it on its current location, instead of moving it onto a wormhole (and travelling somewhere else). This way, as soon as the sandtimer is finished and you lift it up, you may execute an action at the same location.

At a moon:

In the INTRODUCTORY GAME, there is nothing to do at a moon.

In the FULL GAME, you must take the top building tile of the pile located at this moon and either: a) place it at the bottom of its pile, or b) place it in your research plant on your control center (with stage II facing up).

• If your research plant is occupied by another building tile, you are not allowed to pick option b.
• You are only allowed to forfeit this action if there is only one or no upgrade tile left at that particular moon.

At another player's planet:

If the owner of the planet that you arrived on has any order counters placed on his control center, you may fulfill as many of these orders as you can and want.

Each order counter shows how many units of a certain good you have to deliver to fulfill that order. (In the INTRODUCTORY GAME, all order counters show a 1).

You can only deliver goods that are currently located in the beam stations on your own control center. (These goods are beamed virtually onto the planet that your spaceship is on.) To make the delivery, remove the needed goods cubes from your beam stations and hand them to the planet's owner. In return, this player removes the fulfilled order counters from his control center and hands them to you.

Important: The planet's owner does not keep the goods cubes handed to him, but must return them to the supply next to the main board.

Place the order counters that you acquired beneath your control center.

• The planet's owner may not deny you any of his displayed order counters that you can and want to fulfill. However, if you fulfill an order counter of which he has several identical on his control center, he may decide which one of those to give to you.
• If 2 or more players arrive at a planet and lift up their sandtimers at the exact same moment, the planet's owner decides which of those players may fulfill orders first.

Note: If you return to your own planet, nothing happens. (So there is no need to return to your planet during the game.)

Example: After Red has arrived at the green planet and lifted up his sandtimer, he wants to fulfill the gray and one of the blue order counters on Green's control center. He hands the gray and the blue good from his beam stations to Green. In exchange, Green gives Red the gray and one of the blue order counters.

Note: Red cannot fulfill the yellow order counter since his yellow good is not located in a beam station.

If you are the player to fulfill the very first order on a specific planet, you also take the white bonus order counter from that planet and place it beneath your control center.

2. Production plant

Production plants are used for producing goods which you need to fulfill the orders of other players.

When you lift a finished sandtimer up from a production plant, do the following: For each free spot on that production plant you may take one matching goods cube from the supply and place it onto that free spot.

• Spots that are occupied by either another cube or an order counter are not considered free and therefore do not produce a good.
• Goods that are currently not available in the supply are also not produced.

3. Beam station

Beam stations are used for loading produced goods so that they can be beamed to your spaceship to fulfill orders.

When you lift a finished sandtimer up from a beam station, do the following: For each free spot on that beam station you may take one goods cube from any of your production plants and place it onto that free spot. The cube can be of any color.

• Spots that are occupied by either another cube or an order counter are not considered free and therefore do not accept a good.

4. Trading center

Trading centers are used for placing orders.

When you lift a finished sandtimer up from a trading center, do the following: Take as many order counters as the number on this particular trading center indicates from the ones above your control center (regardless of their type and value). If you want, you can take fewer. Place each of these counters onto a free order space. Order spaces are all free production spots and beaming spots on your control center (indicated by the "silver" border surrounding each of them).

• Order spaces that are already occupied by either a cube or another order counter are not considered free.
• You may never place order counters on trading centers.

Note: Placing orders is important for scoring at the end of the game. However, order counters on your control center occupy spots on your production plants and beam stations. So choose carefully how many and which spots to block. You are not allowed to remove a placed order counter from its spot, unless another player fulfills that order!

5. Research plant

By means of the research plant, you build the building tile of stage II that you placed here on an earlier visit to a moon. If the research plant is empty, you are not allowed to place a sandtimer here.

When you lift a finished sandtimer up from your research plant, do the following: Place the stage II building tile (never stage III) from your research plant face up onto any free stage I building on your control center.

• The stage II building does not have to be of the same type as the built-over stage I building (so you may place a stage II trading center onto a stage I beam station, for example).
• You can only build over stage I buildings that are free (i.e. not occupied by any goods cubes or order counters).
• You can never build over a stage II or stage III building with another building tile.
• Stage III buildings are never placed via the research center. They can only be upgraded from stage II buildings (see below "Upgrading stage II buildings").
• Once you have placed a stage II building on top of a stage I building, it must remain there for the rest of the game.
• You are not allowed to just remove a building from your research plant. You must build it in order to make room in the research plant.

Note: Since you can build over stage I buildings with stage II buildings of another type, at some point you may have no building of a certain type left on your control center. This is something you should really try to avoid!

Upgrading stage II buildings

If you lift a finished sandtimer up from a stage II building that is currently neither occupied by any goods cubes nor order counters, you may upgrade it to stage III. This means, instead of executing the usual action, you simply flip the tile to its back.

End of the Game

As soon as the main timer runs out (after 12 or 30 minutes), no one is allowed to place another sandtimer. However, the actions of any sandtimers that are still running at this point may be executed as soon as the sand has run through.

After all remaining sandtimers have been lifted up and the respective actions have been executed (or forfeited), the game ends and the final scoring takes place.

Final Scoring

Determine your score for your collected order counters as follows:

1. Check if you have any order counters left above your control center. For each type of order counter (gray, brown, yellow, blue) that you have left, you must remove all order counters of the same type from the ones collected beneath your control center. These do not give you any points. Important: Order counters that are already placed on your control center are considered "in play" and do not have any negative effect.
2. Sort the remaining order counters beneath your control center by type (color) in separate rows.
3. In each row, add up the value of the order counters (the printed number) and multiply the result by the number of different players that you collected them from.

If you collected any bonus order counters, add them to the row of one type, before you score that row. Bonus order counters are counted like regular order counters. However, they are neutral and therefore only increase the value of a row but not the player count.

Note: Your own order counters above and on your control center do not give you any points.

The player with the most points wins the game. In the case of a tie, the tied player who has scored the most single order counters (regardless of their individual values and including bonus order counters) wins. If this does not break the tie, the victory is shared.

A Few Words of Advice

• Communication is a very important part of TIME 'N' SPACE. So talk to the other players and bargain with them to make sure that you can deliver what you produce! Talking them into placing orders that you are able to fulfill is crucial. Also, if you want to get rid of your own order counters, make sure that you place ones that the other players are interested in. You must keep luring them to your planet!
• Coordinating the actions of the sandtimers is not always easy. Sometimes it is more effective to delay the action of one sandtimer by leaving it standing on its time space in order to wait for another sandtimer to finish.
• At the beginning of the game, after you have placed your 2 sandtimers for the first time, you might get the impression that the first minute takes forever. But don't let that fool you. The game will get hectic fast enough.
• Since all players play simultaneously, things can sometimes get a little chaotic: players accidentally tipping over sandtimers, talking all at once, confusing goods cubes, and so on. These kinds of situations are all part of the game and add to the fun and tension. So have fun and don't worry too much about every little incident, because believe us: you won't have time anyway.