Widget's Workshop
Widget's Workshop Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview & Components
Widget's Workshop is a "drop-style," spatial set collection, card crafting board game. You start the game by dropping 80 part cards onto the table, creating a giant, messy pile of parts in the center. Players take turns pulling parts from the pile, using one finger only, attempting to find the best parts for their robots and golems under construction in their workshop bays. Once a bay contains each of the 5 required parts, the parts are combined to reveal a unique construct and its name.
You win the game by completing the most optimized set of constructs in your workshop!
Each part card shows three traits:
- Element: Fire, Air, Earth, Water
- Archetype: Strength, Speed
- Makeup: Mechanical, Organic
Components: 80 part cards, 15 bay cards.
Game Setup
- Give each player 3 bay cards to place in front of them, organized so that the scoring spaces at the top are in order: 5 → 10 → 15 → 20 → 25 → 30.
- Shuffle the deck of part cards, rotating and flipping about half the deck several times, so that the final deck is well shuffled in all possible directions.
- Deal 1 card to each player, face-up, to place on its matching space in any one of their 3 bays (each bay has spaces for left & right arms, left & right legs, and head/torso).
- Drop the remaining cards onto the table, spreading the cards out with your hands as needed to create a "messy pile" of parts that take up about a 2x2 foot area in the center of the table.
- The player who most recently dropped something (other than the cards in this game!) takes the first turn.
Turn Order
Players take turns as follows:
Either pull 1 face-up part card from the pile, or pull 2 face-down part cards, reveal them, keep 1, and drop the other back on the pile, face-up (if there's only 1 face-down card remaining, then that's all you can pull).
Then, score and move any completed constructs to the appropriate scoring area.
Pulling Cards
To pull a part card, whether face-up or face-down, use just one finger to carefully pull the card out from the pile by one of its visible edges. Once you touch the card you want to pull, you cannot change your mind. Other cards may be bumped and moved as you pull out your desired card – that's ok, and the other cards should be left exactly where they land. Try to pull the card in one general direction, toward one edge of the play area.
Once the card is clearly separated from the main pile, you may pick it up and place it in front of you in one of your 3 bays (see below), or you may drop it back onto the pile face-up.
If you pulled 2 face-down parts, you must first decide which one you will keep and drop the other back onto the pile face-up.
Bays & Part Placement Rules
Each player has 3 bays where part cards can be placed. Each bay can hold only one of each of the 5 types of parts (right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, head/torso). If you want to replace an existing part of the same type, you may drop the existing part onto the pile, face-up, freeing up that space in the bay for the new part.
You may not move part cards between your bays once they've been added.
Example of how to organize the part cards within each bay (some parts will overhang): (illustration in the printed rulebook)
As soon as one of your bays has all 5 part types in it, score it (see the Scoring Constructs section). Then combine and move the stack of 5 cards, representing a completed construct, to the appropriate scoring area above your bay cards. This frees up the bay it was in to begin working on a new construct.
Scoring Constructs
As soon as one of your bays has all 5 part types in it, it's time to score it. Calculate the value of the completed construct based on how many part cards have matching symbols for each of the three traits (element, archetype, and makeup). For each trait that has 4 matching parts, the construct scores 5 points. For each trait that has all 5 matching parts, it scores 10 points. Therefore, each construct can score between 0 and 30 points, in increments of 5.
Example:
- If only 3 parts show the fire element, the construct gains no points for its element.
- If 4 parts show the strength archetype, the construct gains 5 points for its archetype.
- If all 5 parts show the mechanical makeup, the construct gains 10 points for its makeup.
If you made this exact construct, it would score a total of 15 points.
Construct Scoring Table
| Trait | 4 parts matching | 5 parts matching |
|---|---|---|
| Element (Fire, Air, Earth, Water) | +5 points | +10 points |
| Archetype (Strength, Speed) | +5 points | +10 points |
| Makeup (Mechanical, Organic) | +5 points | +10 points |
Game End
Once any player has completed a certain number of constructs, based on the number of players, they trigger the end-game:
- 2 players: 4 completed constructs (play to 5 for an optional longer game)
- 3 players: 4 completed constructs (play to 5 for an optional longer game)
- 4 players: 3 completed constructs (play to 4 for an optional longer game)
- 5 players: 3 completed constructs
When the end-game is triggered, all other players have 3 final turns (following normal turn order) to build up to the same number of completed constructs (not more!). As soon as a player has the correct number of completed constructs, they must drop all parts remaining in their bays back onto the pile, face-up.
The game will also end immediately the moment there are no more part cards in the pile (this is rare).
The player who triggered the end of the game gets 5 bonus points. Add together the scores of each of your completed constructs, and the player with the highest score wins! If there's a tie, the tied player with the highest scoring construct(s) is the winner. If still tied, the tied players share the victory.
On Your Turn
Pull 1 face-up part, or pull 2 face-down parts, reveal them, and then keep 1 and drop the other back on the pile, face-up.
Then score and move completed constructs to the appropriate scoring area.