Wireless
Wireless Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Common Components
- 1 game board
- 28 Tycoon tiles (12 x level 1, 8 x level 2, 4 x level 3, 4 x level 4)
- 24 double-sided Patent tiles
- 24 Technology tiles (6 of each type)
- 8 Super Technology tiles (2 of each type)
- 15 double-sided Personal Objective tiles (5 of each type)
- 4 Tycoon Starting tiles
- 30 banknotes (20x $1, 8x $5, 2x $10)
- 4 Action Starting tiles
- 20 Location tiles (5 of each type)
- 40 Contract tiles (10 of each type)
- 1 pad with scoring sheets
- 4 double-sided Location Starting tiles (American side / European side)
- 1 First Player marker
Individual Player Components
- 8 player boards (2 per player color)
- 48 Action tiles (12 of each player color on the back)
- 48 Flag tiles (12 of each player color on the back). Note: the flags show the national flags used during that period. In particular, the flags of Germany, Italy, China, South Africa, and India differ significantly from their present-day versions.
- 36 double-sided Wireless Stations (9 per player color) — Unmodulated side / Modulated side
- 120 Signal tokens (30 per player color)
- 28 Credit tokens (7 per player color)
- 4 Permanent Link markers (1 per player)
Setup
Common Setup
Unfold the gameboard in the center of the table. The 52 large spaces represent different locations around the world.
Shuffle the 20 Location tiles face down, then place them randomly on all empty, unprinted spaces in the upper left corner of the Location spaces. Next, turn them all face up so that the icon side is visible. (No tiles are left over.)
Sort the Tycoon tiles into 4 levels according to their backs (number of hats = level). Shuffle the tiles of each level separately face down (the hats are visible), then stack them above (i.e. outside of the game board) the corresponding spaces of the Tycoon area along the top edge of the game board. Draw 2 tiles from each stack and place them face up on the dedicated spaces below the corresponding stack.
Sort the Contract tiles into 4 stacks according to their backs. Shuffle each stack separately face down, then place it to the left of the corresponding space outside the Contract area in the lower left corner of the game board. Draw 1 tile from each stack and place it face up on the dedicated space on the gameboard next to each stack.
Sort the Patent tiles by type according to their front sides and place them in 6 separate stacks next to the game board, where all players can easily reach them.
Sort the Technology tiles by type and place them face up in four stacks next to the game board (4 stacks). Do the same with the Super Technology tiles. Essentially Technology and Super Technology tiles act as Action tiles. Sort the banknotes as well by value and place them in separate stacks next to the game board. All tiles next to the game board form the general supply.
Please note: Many Location spaces in the following illustrations do not show Location tiles. This is done deliberately in order to avoid confusion by too many icons in the illustrations.
Individual Player Setup
Each player takes the 2 player boards of a color of their choice and places them in front of them.
Then each player takes all components of their chosen color:
- 12 Action tiles – First, sort these by the action type shown on the front. Then each player places 1 tile of each type on the starting space of the corresponding column. This is always the bottom space, either marked with $5 or with a black Tycoon hat icon next to it. Keep the other 2 tiles of each type as your personal supply below the corresponding column.
- 7 Credit tokens – Place them in the dedicated spaces on the right edge of the right player board.
- 9 Wireless Stations – Place 8 of them on the spaces numbered 2–9 on the right player board. Place the last Wireless Station below this area next to your player board. During this step it is not relevant which side of the Wireless Stations is visible.
- 30 Signal tokens – Place 2 of them in the rectangular "Ready" area above the Wireless Stations and Credit tokens. Place the remaining 28 tokens in the designated spaces of the Progress column on the right player board, in 4 columns with 7 tokens each.
- 12 Flag tiles – Put them next to your player board in any order you like.
- Give each player $8 from the common supply. This is each player's personal supply, next to their player board.
- Sort the 15 Personal Objective tiles by their backs into types "A," "B," and "C," and each player takes 1 random tile of each type. Each player places their 3 Objective tiles face up (Flag side visible) in the slots at the bottom right of their player board, in any order they prefer. Players should keep in mind that these provide Victory Points (VP) at the end of the game based on the number of Credit tokens you still have (see VPs from Personal Objective Tiles). Also see the variant for experienced players below. Put the remaining Objective tiles back in the game box.
- 1 Permanent Link marker – Place the marker on the "0" space of the Permanent Links track at the bottom edge of the game board.
Starting Player
Determine randomly the first player and give them the First Player marker.
Starting Positions
Randomly take a number of Location Starting tiles equal to the number of players, then flip all of them to the same side (Europe or America, by mutual agreement of all players). If playing with fewer than 4 players, return any remaining tiles to the game box.
These Starting tiles determine the 4 Starting Locations that surround the US Flag respectively the German Flag. The icon on each tile matches the icon in the top left corner of the corresponding Starting Location.
Then randomly take a number of Tycoon Starting tiles equal to the number of players and reveal them all (icon side visible). If playing with fewer than 4 players, return any remaining tiles to the game box.
Finally take randomly a number of Action Starting tiles equal to the number of players and reveal them all (icon side visible). If playing with fewer than 4 players, return any remaining tiles to the game box.
Create random groups of 3 tiles from the chosen tiles (1 tile of each type in each group).
Starting with the last player in turn order (the player to the right of the Starting Player) and continuing counterclockwise, each player chooses 1 group:
- The player places the Wireless Station from next to their player board on the location determined by their Location Starting tile, with the Unmodulated side face up.
- Then they take 3 Signal tokens from the column matching the location icon of their starting location and place them in their "Ready" area (corresponding to the Installation action).
- Finally they place the Tycoon Starting tile and the Action Starting tile on the lowest available space of the corresponding column on their player board.
Once all players have completed their starting setup, this setup step is finished.
Example: The player places their Wireless Station on the location with a given icon and moves 3 Signal tokens from their Progress column with the matching icon to their "Ready" area.
Final Steps for a 2-Player or 3-Player Game
In a 2-player game, place 1 Signal token of an unused color on each location that has either a Flag icon in the bottom left corner or a Contract icon in the bottom left corner.
In a 3-player game, place 1 Signal token of an unused color on each location that has a Technology or Super Technology icon in the bottom left corner.
Variant for Experienced Players
This step replaces the Personal Objective tile step in Individual Player Setup.
Lay out a number of Personal Objective tiles of each type (A, B, C) equal to the number of players in columns, with 1 column for each type. Then reveal these tiles with their Flag sides face up.
Starting from the player on the right of the First Player and proceeding counterclockwise, each player chooses 1 tile. Then starting from the First Player and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses a second tile.
Finally starting again from the player on the right of the First Player and proceeding counterclockwise, each player chooses a third tile.
Important: players must make their choices so that each player ends up with exactly 1 tile of each type: 1 A, 1 B and 1 C.
General Overview
The game is played over a variable number of rounds. In each round, each player performs 1 turn in player order.
During their turn, the active player must remove one Action tile from one of the columns on their player board as a cost, then perform that action. Often, they must also pay money as an additional cost. (Exception: Supply.)
Having many Action tiles allows a player to perform stronger actions at lower costs; however, each action they perform reduces the future availability of those same tiles.
The individual actions will be explained in detail later. Among other things, they allow players to gain additional money or Action tiles.
During the game you will have many opportunities to obtain one-shot effects or to improve your game engine with permanent effects such as Factories, Tycoons, Scientists, and different Patents which, by modifying some actions, will lead to different strategies.
Each player tracks their achievements (reached Nations, Permanent Links and completed Contracts) continuously on their own player board and on the game board.
During final scoring, a player's expansion across the world map plays an important role. Each player must decide which of the 4 possible strategies they want to focus on (the 4 columns of the Progress column on their right player board):
- Reach certain Nations (shown by flags),
- establish Permanent Links,
- obtain Patents,
- reach the Target positions on their player board.
Additionally each player gains VPs for their Personal Objective tiles.
At the end of the game the player with the most VPs will be the winner. In the rare case of a tie for the most VPs the tied players will share the victory (as for the Nobel prize shared by Marconi and Braun).
Basic Concepts
Money / Banknotes
If you need to pay money, put banknotes from your personal supply in the general supply.
Vice versa, when you gain money, take it from the common supply and put it in your personal supply.
Note: You may change banknotes anytime.
Player Tokens
Wireless Stations represent the transmitting stations, from where the radio signal is radiated. A station transmits an Unmodulated signal, a station transmits a Modulated signal.
Signal tokens represent the transmitted signal radiated (Unmodulated or Modulated) from the Wireless Stations.
Credit tokens represent the promise of new scientific discoveries. They are "spent" when asking for support (i.e., during the actions Supply and Funding).
Anatomy of Player Boards
The player boards consist of a total of 8 columns and 3 additional areas. From left to right, the columns are:
- The columns Installation, Transmission, and Modulation are used during the game to perform actions on the game board.
- The column Funding gives you money by performing an action.
- Supply – You use this action to replenish Action tiles in your columns and acquire Patents. This action is not associated to a column.
- The Contracts column is dedicated to the storage of Contract tiles you will take as a bonus.
- In the Nations column you will place flags of the countries (Locations) you have reached with your wireless network.
- The Progress column tracks your progress in certain aspects of the game and awards VPs during final scoring, indicated by removed Signal tokens. The more Signal tokens you remove, the greater is your progress and the more VPs you will score. This column consists of 4 separate tracks and is not associated with a separate action.
In each of the 3 first columns (Installation, Transmission and Modulation) there are 6 spaces for Action tiles and 2 Action Boxes (a Box for Basic Action and a Box for Advanced Action). You have to fill the columns with Action tiles from bottom to top.
In order to perform an action in one of the first 4 columns, you must remove 1 Action tile from that column after resolving the action and return it to your personal supply below the column.
All spaces up to the chosen Action Box must be covered either physically by an Action tile or virtually by paying the amount of money shown on any empty spaces.
Example: To perform a Basic Action, the player must pay $2. If they wanted to perform the Advanced Action, they would have to pay $7. In both cases, the Action tile is returned to the personal supply after the action.
Performing an action in columns 1-4 is done in 4 steps:
- Choose an action and flip the top action tile in that column, so all players can see which action is taken. The tiles in a column can be rearranged anytime.
- Pay any money required by empty spaces up to the chosen Action Box.
- Perform the action of the chosen Action Box.
- Put the Action tile back in your personal supply below that column, face up.
Important: Each action (with the exception of Supply) has its specific Action tiles. You cannot move Action tiles from a column to another one (the colors and icons indicate this clearly).
The tiles in the columns Contracts and Nations remain where they are placed. They will never be moved or removed.
To the left of the Nations and Funding columns are various icons: Tycoon, Factory, Scientist, Target position. These icons are active only if there is a tile to their right. Icons on tiles in a column are always active.
Using Action, Super Technology and Technology Tiles
All of these tiles serve the same purpose when performing actions. In addition to their starting Action tiles, players can gain Technology tiles and Super Technology tiles during the game. These function the same way as Action tiles, except that a Super Technology tile covers 2 spaces (both of which are considered "paid").
Common Supply of Technology, Super Technology, Tycoon and Contract Tiles
As soon as a Contract or Tycoon tile is taken, reveal another one from the corresponding pile.
Technology tiles and Super Technology tiles are always available as long as you are eligible to take them (you may always choose from 4 types as long as they are still available).
Note: These tiles are intentionally limited. If a certain tile is no longer available, you simply can't get it.
The Game Board
Most of the game board consists of spaces representing Locations in countries around the world. The investors and residents at each location reward progress in certain aspects of the game. The reward appears in the top left corner of each Location space, and the 4 reward types correspond to the 4 tracks in the Progress column on the right player board. (The numbers in certain Location spaces are relevant only for the solo game.)
- Network Expansion (Target positions)
- Network Presence in Different Nations (Flags)
- Innovation (Patents)
- Network Integration (Permanent Links)
Location Bonuses
Whenever you place a token on a Location space with a Contract, Technology, Super Technology, Flag, or increase-Permanent-Links icon in the bottom left corner, immediately gain the corresponding Location Bonus (place the appropriate tile on your player board or advance your marker 1 space on the Permanent Links track).
Each player gains the bonus from a Location space only once, when they place their first token there. Placing a second token of their own on the same location does not grant the bonus again.
The bonuses in detail:
- Contract tile: Take the Contract tile with the reward icon matching the location space where you placed your token. Immediately refill the display. Example: the location space where the player placed their token shows a matching icon in the top left corner; they take the matching Contract tile from the display (if available). Then they flip the tile, place it face up on the lowest available space of their Contracts column, and gain the immediate bonus shown on that space (see Contract Column Icons).
- Technology Tile: Take 1 Technology tile of your choice from the general supply and place it face up on the lowest available space of the corresponding column on your player board.
- Super Technology Tile: The same rules apply as for Technology tiles. You may rearrange the tiles in a column at any time — for example, to make room for the Super Technology tile.
- Flag: Take the matching Flag from your personal supply and place it face up on the lowest available space of your Nations column.
- Advance on the Permanent Links track: Move your marker 1 space forward on the Permanent Links track and immediately gain the immediate bonus shown above the new space (see Permanent Links Track Icons).
Adjacent Location Spaces
Adjacent Location spaces are connected by white dotted vertical lines or black horizontal lines. Location spaces that are at a greater distance from each other but connected by a line also count as adjacent. To determine adjacency, always follow the same line between the spaces.
These directions apply in general, but there are some exceptions, such as the northern connection around the globe (from one side of the game board to the other). There is no connection around the globe in the south.
Game Flow & Actions
Starting with the starting player and continuing clockwise, each player performs 1 action during their turn. Continue this until the end of the game; the starting player does not change.
When the end of the game is triggered (see End of the Game & Final Scoring), continue playing until the last player (the player to the right of the starting player) has finished their turn, then play 1 final complete round. This way, all players take the same number of turns.
During their turn, the active player performs exactly 1 of the following 5 actions:
- Installation
- Transmission
- Modulation
- Funding
- Supply
Don't forget: To perform an action in columns 1–4, a tile must be removed from the column. In simple words, the GOLDEN RULE is: No tile, no action!
Action: Installation
Purpose: The player places a Wireless Station on a Location space, thus gaining the right for a Transmission or Modulation.
Action Cost: Return 1 tile from the Installation column to your personal supply below the column, plus the dollar amount shown on empty spaces up to the chosen Action Box, if any.
Effect: The player places 1 Wireless Station on a Location space orthogonally adjacent to a Location space with one of their own tokens. The Wireless Station shows its Unmodulated side if the player chooses the Basic Action (lower box). The Wireless Station shows its Modulated side if the player chooses the Advanced Action (upper box). The player must take the first available Wireless Station from their player board, from bottom to top. Each player can have only 1 Wireless Station on each Location space.
Important: You cannot install a Wireless Station on ocean spaces!
Follow-up effects:
- The player gains the Location Bonus if the Location space shows a corresponding icon (see Location Bonuses) and they have no Signal token there.
- The player takes 2 Signal tokens from the track of the Progress column matching the reward icon of the location space and places them in their Ready area. In case there are fewer than 2 Signal tokens in that track, the player simply takes what is available.
- If the location space contains no other tokens, the player takes 1 additional Signal token from the same track and places it in their Ready area.
Example: Henning (yellow) performs the Basic Action Installation and places his second Wireless Station with the Unmodulated side face up on a Location space. Since he is not the first player to reach this space (there is already a token on it), he places 2 Signal tokens from the matching track in his Ready area. He also gains a Contract tile and places it face up on the lowest available space of his Contracts column.
Existing Own Signal Token
If a player wants to, they may install a Wireless Station on a space that already contains one of their Signal tokens. Since the space is not empty in this case, they only take 2 Signal tokens from the track matching the reward icon shown on the space (top left) and place them in their Ready area.
Important: They do not gain the Location Bonus, if any (they already gained it when they placed their Signal token there).
Action: Transmission
Purpose: The player transmits Unmodulated signals from one of their Wireless Stations to reach strategically important Locations.
Action Cost: Return 1 tile from the Transmission column to your personal supply below the column, plus the dollar amount shown on empty spaces up to the chosen Action Box, if any.
Effect: The player places 2 Signal tokens from their Ready Area onto Location spaces orthogonally adjacent to the selected Wireless Station, following the same line.
Special Case: If only 1 token can be placed because the line does not continue, the second Signal token is discarded and removed from the game. Even in this case, the player must have at least 2 Signal tokens in the Ready Area and must place respectively discard both.
The player gains the Location Bonus of each space if the Location space shows the corresponding icon (see Location Bonuses) and the player does not already have another token there.
Don't forget: Each player may have a maximum of 2 tokens on any Location space (1 Wireless Station and 1 Signal token).
If both spaces are empty (they contain no Wireless Station or Signal token), the player may perform either the Basic Action or the Advanced Action (by paying the corresponding cost).
However, if at least one of these two spaces is not empty, the player must perform the Advanced Action.
Example: Henning has the Action tiles on his player board as shown and decides to perform a Transmission action. One of the two spaces he wants to reach is not empty, so he must perform the Advanced Action and pay $3 additionally. He flips the top tile, pays the money, and places 2 Signal tokens from his Ready Area onto the Location spaces south of his Wireless Station, following the same line. He receives the Italian Flag for his Nations column and a Contract for his Contracts column.
Placing Signal Tokens
In general, Signal tokens must be placed in a straight line extending from the Wireless Station, either horizontally or vertically. For graphic design reasons, the line is not always visually "straight", but the player must always follow the same line. They may not turn a corner or place one token in one direction and the other in a different direction.
Lost Signal
In some cases, a Signal token cannot be placed because there are no additional spaces in that direction. An icon indicates that the signal leaves the usable area (i.e., the area in which it could be received). In this case, the signal is lost. The Signal token that cannot be placed is simply discarded and is no longer available. (See the Special Case above.)
Location Spaces with a "V" Connection
In some cases, the same line type enters and leaves the same side of a Location space. In these cases, during a Transmission, it is not allowed to enter and leave the Location space through that same side in the same turn (i.e., no "zigzag" move).
Action: Modulation
Purpose: The player transmits Modulated signals from a Modulated Wireless Station to reach strategically important locations.
Action Cost: Return 1 tile from the Transmission column to your personal supply below the column, plus the dollar amount shown on empty spaces up to the chosen Action Box, if any.
Effect: The effect and procedure are essentially the same as for the Transmission Action; see that section for details. The only difference is that the player also advances their marker 1 space on the Permanent Links track and receives the corresponding Immediate Bonus.
Action: Funding
Purpose: Gain money and, if possible, attract Tycoons.
Cost: Remove 1 Action tile from the Funding column as usual, and place 1 Credit token of your choice from the player board onto an empty space in the Credit area of the game board (from left to right, in any row). The 3+ spaces are available only in 3- and 4-player games, and the 4 spaces only in 4-player games. The tile is removed and handled just as it is for any other action.
1st Effect: If the player has one or more active Tycoons, the player gains 1 Tycoon tile from the display on the game board. If desired, the player may also take a face-down tile from the stack, but then must keep it. This is usually not a good choice. If the player has only 1 active Tycoon, they may only take a level 1 Tycoon tile. If they have 2 active Tycoons, they may choose to take either a level 1 or level 2 Tycoon tile, and so on.
The player places the chosen Tycoon tile face up in the bottom space of the corresponding column and moves any already existing tiles upward.
Important: Once placed in a column, Tycoon tiles can never be removed. This means they cannot be used to perform an action!
2nd Effect: The player gains $2 + $1 for each active Tycoon on their player board.
Important: The Tycoon tile gained with this action contributes immediately by increasing the number of Dollars the player receives.
Example: Henning has 2 active Tycoons on his player board and 1 in the Credit area of the game board. He may therefore take a level 3 Tycoon tile (or a level 1 or level 2 tile, if he wishes). He chooses a tile and places it in his Modulation column. He then gains $8 (the new tile is taken into account immediately).
Don't forget: The tiles in each column may be rearranged at any time during the game.
Action: Supply
Purpose: Place Action tiles on the player board and gain Patents.
Cost: Place 1 Credit token from the player board onto an empty space in the Credit area of the game board (from left to right, in any row). The 3+ spaces are available only in 3- and 4-player games, and the 4 spaces only in 4-player games.
Important: In the same way as for Funding, the player may choose any of their credit tokens for this; there is no required order!
1st Effect: The player takes any 2 Action tiles from their personal supply (including Technology and Super Technology tiles, if available) and places them in the corresponding column(s) of their player board.
In addition, the player takes 1 additional Action tile (including Technology and Super Technology tiles, if available) for each active Factory:
- Factories on Tycoon tiles on the player board.
- Factories in the Nations column of the player board that have a Flag next to them.
- Factories in the Credit area of the game board (as many as the player's own Credit tokens in that row).
Example: Henning performs the Supply Action and places 1 Credit token from the second space of his player board into a row in the Credit area of the game board. Since he has no other active Factories, he takes a total of 3 Action tiles (2+1) of his choice from his personal supply and places them in the corresponding columns of his player board.
2nd Effect: Depending on the number of active Scientists (the same rules as for Factories apply), the player takes one of the available Patent tiles and places it outside their player board above the corresponding column. At this moment it is not relevant which side of the Patent tile is visible.
There can always only be 1 Patent tile above a column at a time. Each player may have only 1 tile of each Patent type per level.
In order to take their first Patent, the player must have 1 active Scientist, for their second they must have 2 active Scientists and so on.
Example: A player already has 3 Patents. They need 4 active Scientists to be able to take their fourth Patent.
Using Patents
Patents are used to improve the effectiveness of actions.
When gained (see Action: Supply), they are placed above the corresponding column next to the player board. As long as a Patent tile is located above the column outside the player board, it acts as a third Action Box. The player may perform the action according to the usual rules (i.e., by filling the spaces up to that point either with tiles or virtually by paying the total cost shown in the empty spaces).
Example: the player can perform the Patent action by paying $8.
When using the Patent tile for the first time, the player decides which side they will use (A or B), and thus activates the tile. They cannot change the side later on. (Basic Action if the tile shows the basic icon, Advanced Action if it shows the advanced icon). From this point on, it is used as a normal action.
Furthermore, each activated Patent provides one or two icons for final scoring.
A more detailed explanation of the Patent tiles can be found under Patent Tiles below.
Contract Tiles
Completed Contract tiles are a way to gain icons for final scoring.
Each Contract tile shows a condition on its front side. The number to the left of the tile on the player board indicates how many times this condition must be completed to turn the tile to its back.
Example: the player must have 2 active Factories to complete a given Contract.
As soon as the player completes the condition of a Contract tile, they flip it to its back side (see Contract Tile Conditions).
End of the Game & Final Scoring
End of Game Conditions
The end of the game is triggered as soon as at least one of the following End Game Conditions is met. When this happens, the game continues as normal until the last player (to the right of the starting player) has finished their turn.
Then one final round is played in which each player takes 1 turn as usual. After that the Final Scoring then takes place.
End Game Conditions are:
- A player has installed their eighth Wireless Station.
- A player has placed their eighth Flag in the Nations column of their player board.
- A player has placed their seventh Contract tile in the Contracts column of their player board.
- A player has reached the seventh space on the Permanent Links track.
- Another End Game Condition is when the Credit area is completely filled with Credit tokens (the available spaces are 2+ in a 2-player game, 2+ and 3+ in a 3-player game, and 2+, 3+, and 4 in a 4-player game).
Note: Even if the Credit area is completely filled, the Supply and Funding actions can still be performed. The Credit tokens used for these actions are simply placed next to the game board outside this area and do not provide any additional icons.
Final Scoring
After the end of the game, Final Scoring takes place as explained below.
Use the scoring pad to record each player's Victory Points for:
- Flags
- Permanent Links
- Patents
- Target positions
- Personal Objective tiles
- Signal tokens in the Ready area (negative VPs)
In each individual track of their Progress column, each player first counts the VPs below the Signal tokens in that track and then multiplies this number by the number of corresponding icons on their player boards.
If all tokens have been removed from a track, the top Victory Point icon also counts!
Each player counts the number of Flags in their Nations column and all matching icons on their completed Contract tiles and Tycoon tiles.
Each player counts the number of steps they have taken on the Permanent Links track, plus all matching icons on their completed Contract tiles and Tycoon tiles.
Each player counts all Patent icons on their active Patent tiles (those outside the player board do not count), their completed Contract tiles, and their Tycoon tiles.
Each player counts all Target-position icons they have reached on their Installation, Transmission, and Modulation columns, either actually through tiles or virtually by having paid the required amounts of Dollars.
Each player counts all icons they have reached on their Funding, Nations and Contracts columns, as well as on the Permanent Links track.
Each player also counts all matching icons on their completed Contract tiles and their Tycoon tiles.
Each player also counts the icons they have reached by installing their sixth and ninth Wireless Station.
VPs from Personal Objective Tiles
For each completed Personal Objective tile, each player gains the VPs shown on it multiplied by the number of Credit tokens to its left.
Each printed Credit token on the player board counts as a full-fledged Credit token.
A Personal Objective tile is considered completed if the player has reached all countries whose Flags are shown on it (the player then has these Flags in their Nations column).
Example: Henning has completed his first and second Personal Objective tiles. He gains 9 VPs (3 VPs × 3) for the first tile and 20 VPs for the second one (5 VPs × 4). He gains no VPs for the third tile because he has not reached Brazil.
VPs from Signal Tokens in the Ready Area (Penalty Points)
Each player loses 1 VP for each Signal token that is still in their Ready Area.
Example of Final Scoring (Henning)
- 2 x (6 flags in the Nations column + 1 Tycoon icon + 1 Contract icon) = 16
- 4 x (5 steps on Permanent Links track + 1 Tycoon icon + 2 Contract icons) = 32
- 3 x (3 icons on active Patent tiles) = 9
- 2 x (1 by paying $5 in the Installation column + 1 from Wireless Stations + 2 from Nations column and Permanent Links track + 1 on Contract tiles) = 10
- 7 x (4 for the completed second, middle, Personal Objective tile) = 28
- −2 (Signal tokens in the Ready area)
- Total: 93
Appendix
Tycoon Tiles
In general, all Tycoon tiles have a Tycoon icon. Furthermore, the level 2, level 3, level 4, and Tycoon Starting tiles have different effects:
- These tiles provide the corresponding icons for Final Scoring.
- This tile provides one active Scientist.
- This tile provides one active Factory.
- The tile provides two additional icons.
Patent Tiles
Each Patent tile provides a Patent icon (2 icons for the Basic Patent and 1 icon for the Advanced Patent). In general, Patents expand the possibilities for placing tokens. Rewards such as being the first player on a Location or advancing a Credit token remain unchanged. Some Patents allow placing Action tiles from the personal supply in the corresponding column. Examples:
- Installation: When installing the station, 1 space may be skipped, as shown.
- Transmission, Modulation: 2 Signal tokens may be placed on any of the indicated spaces (1 per space, as usual).
- Transmission, Modulation: 2 Signal tokens may be placed on any of the indicated spaces (1 per space, as usual). Only the respective space where the token is placed must be empty; the other spaces shown in the pattern may be empty or occupied.
- Installation, Transmission, Modulation: The player also takes the depicted Action tile from their personal supply (including Technology and Super Technology tiles, if available) and places it in the corresponding column of their player board.
Note: As with normal actions, the depicted pattern does not indicate the direction, only adjacency. The pattern may be rotated or mirrored as desired.
Contract Column Icons
- The player takes the depicted Action tile from their personal supply (including Technology and Super Technology tiles, if available) and places it in the corresponding column of their player board.
- The player discards 1 Signal token from their player board (either from a track of their Progress column, thus unlocking potential VPs, or from the Ready area). The token is put back in the game box.
- The player flips 1 of their installed Wireless Stations to the Modulated side.
Contract Tile Conditions
- The player must have 1 token on a Location space of the type shown.
- The player must have 2 Signal tokens on Location spaces.
- The player must have 1 Modulated Wireless Station on a Location space.
- The player must have 1 active Scientist, respectively 1 active Factory.
- The player must have 2 active Tycoons.
- The player must have 1 Technology icon. Each Super Technology tile provides 2 icons.
Important: the number to the left of the tile on the Contracts column indicates how many times this condition must be completed (from 1 to 8 times) in order to flip the tile.
As soon as the player has completed the condition of a Contract tile the required number of times, they turn it to its back side.
Permanent Links Track Icons
- The player immediately gains $1.
- The player takes one of the available Patent tiles and places it above the corresponding column outside their player board. Each player may have only 1 tile of each Patent type per level. See also Action: Supply. In this case, the player does not have to meet the active Scientist requirement.
- The player places 1 Patent tile from above a column of their player board onto the corresponding Action Box (Basic Action if the tile shows the basic icon, Advanced Action if it shows the advanced icon). The Patent is now activated and is used as a normal action from now on.
- At the end of the game, the player takes 1 of their Credit tokens from the Credit area of the game board and places it next to one of their completed Personal Objective tiles, if there is an empty space available there.
Solo Play Rules
Overview
The Automa is a virtual opponent during the game and in Final Scoring. It plays differently from the human player. In these rules, "you" always refers to the human player — that is, you, the person playing the game.
- It does not use Dollars to perform actions.
- It does not use Action tiles on its player board to perform actions.
- It does not perform the Supply action.
- It can install Wireless Stations only on 14 predefined spaces on the game board, identified by numbers, without requiring adjacency. Most of these spaces correspond either to Flags or to positions from which Flags can be reached with a single Transmission or Modulation action.
- On its player board, it uses only Technology and Tycoon tiles. The purpose of these tiles is to reach Action Boxes. As soon as an Action Box is reached, the corresponding Patent tile is placed on it. For this reason, the Automa starts the game with a Patent on the Basic Action Box in the Transmission column.
The Automa scores in the same way as a human player, except that Signal tokens in its Ready Area are ignored.
Additional Components for the Solo Game
- 14 Installation tiles (7 of each type)
Setup
Common Setup
The common setup is the same as for a multiplayer game for 2 players.
Individual Player Setup
Set up the game for yourself as in the multiplayer game (except for the Personal Objective tile step; see Automa Setup below).
Automa Setup
Take two player boards of an unused color and place them within easy reach.
Then take the following game components of that color for the Automa:
- 7 Credit tokens – Place them on the corresponding spaces of the Automa's player board.
- 9 Wireless Stations – Put 7 of these on the dedicated spaces on Automa's player board, alternating the Modulated side and the Unmodulated side. Put the remaining 2 Wireless Stations below its player board, next to this area — one with the Modulated side and one with the Unmodulated side visible.
- 30 Signal tokens – Place 2 of them in the Ready Area. Place the remaining 28 tokens on the designated spaces of the Progress column (4 tracks with 7 tokens each).
- 12 Flag tiles – Place them in any arrangement next to Automa's player boards.
- Sort the 15 Personal Objective tiles according to their back ("A", "B", "C"), and randomly deal 1 of each type to each player (i.e., to you and to the Automa). Place your Personal Objective tiles face up (Flag side visible) in the slots at the bottom right of your player board, in any order you prefer. The Automa places them in order A, B, C, from top to bottom.
- 1 Permanent Link marker – Place Automa's marker on space "3" of the Permanent Links track at the bottom of the game board.
- 1 Patent tile – Place this Patent tile on the corresponding Action Box of Automa's player board. It does not matter which side of the Patent tile is visible.
Starting Player
Give the First Player marker to Automa; it begins the game.
Starting Positions
Take the following components as in a 2-player game:
- 2 Location Starting tiles
- 2 Tycoon Starting tiles
- 2 Action Starting tiles
Randomly form 2 sets, each consisting of 3 tiles (1 tile of each type). Choose 1 set according to the normal multiplayer rules. Discard the remaining Starting Location tile, and place the remaining Starting Tycoon tile and Starting Action tile in the corresponding columns of Automa's player board.
Neutral Signal Tokens
As in a 2-player game, place 1 Signal token of an unused color on each Contract location.
Note: if you want to play a slightly easier game, place the Signal tokens on Flag locations instead of Contract locations.
Automa's Starting Positions
Sort the 14 Installation tiles by type and form 2 face-down stacks of 7 tiles each.
Reveal the top tile of one stack and place it, together with the corresponding Wireless Station, on the game board. Move 3 Signal tokens from the track of the Progress column corresponding to the icon shown on that Location space into the Ready Area (move only 2 Signal markers if Automa's starting position is already occupied by a neutral Signal token).
Repeat this procedure for the other stack.
If the Location contains a bonus icon, Automa gains the corresponding bonus:
- Take the corresponding Flag from Automa's personal supply and place it face up on the lowest empty space of its Nations column.
- Take the corresponding Contract tile and place it on the lowest empty space of the Contracts column on Automa's player board. Place the tile directly with its back side face up (completed), without checking its condition. Ignore any bonus.
- Take a random Technology/Super Technology tile and place it in the corresponding column of Automa's player board.
- Don't forget: whenever an Action Box is reached, take the corresponding Patent tile and place it on Automa's player board (regardless of which side is face up).
- Take the bottommost Tycoon tile from the game board and place it in the corresponding column of Automa's player board. Slide the other tile down to the bottom position. Reveal a new tile.
Example: a numbered tile is revealed. Place the tile on the corresponding Location space on the game board (India) together with a Wireless Station. Since there are no neutral tokens in India, move 3 Signal tokens from the matching Progress track into the Ready Area. Automa also gains the Indian Flag and places it in its Nations column.
Action Tiles
As already mentioned, Automa does not need Action tiles to perform actions. The Action tiles are only used to determine which action it performs.
For this purpose, take the 21 Action tiles and form Groups A, B, C, and D. Shuffle the tiles of each group and place them in 4 face-down stacks. The tiles from Group A are used first, followed by those from Group B, then those from Group C, and — if the game has not ended by then — finally those from Group D.
Note: the game will normally end before the Group D stack is exhausted. In the extremely rare case that the Group D stack is exhausted and one or more turns still need to be played, create the Group B stack again and use these tiles to finish the game.
Difficulty Levels
If you want to play a more difficult game, you can choose one or both of these options:
- Remove 3 specific Installation tiles from the game, and 1 random Installation tile with a black arrow (numbers 8–14).
- Take 3 random Technology tiles and place them on Automa's player board. If an Action Box space is reached, also take the corresponding Patent tile and place it on the player board. It does not matter which side of the Patent tile is face up.
For a medium difficulty game, remove tile 12 and 4 or 5.
Game Flow
Starting with Automa, you and Automa take turns alternating and perform 1 action during each turn until an End Game Condition is triggered.
The End Game Condition is triggered as soon as one of the conditions marked with the End Game icon is fulfilled.
When this happens, the game continues as normal until the end of your turn. After that, one final round is played in which Automa and you each take 1 more turn.
Your Turn
Your turn is the same as a normal turn in a multiplayer game.
Automa's Turn
Reveal the top Action tile of the leftmost stack (i.e., Group A at the start of the game) and perform the corresponding action. Then discard that tile.
Installation
If the revealed tile is an Installation Action tile, check the first (bottommost) Wireless Station on Automa's player board.
If it is Unmodulated, reveal the first Installation tile that refers to an Unmodulated Wireless Station (orange) and place the tile together with the station on the corresponding Location space of the game board. Move 3 Signal tokens from the Progress track corresponding to the icon shown on the Location space into the Ready Area (only 2 Signal tokens if the Location space is not empty). See also the example under Automa's Starting Positions.
If it is Modulated, reveal the first Station Installation tile that refers to a Modulated Wireless Station (purple) and perform the same procedure as described above.
Transmission
If the revealed tile is a Transmission Action tile, find the Unmodulated Installation tile on the game board (easily recognizable by the black horizontal arrow) with the lowest number. This tile determines both the transmitting Wireless Station and the direction in which the signal is transmitted.
Take 2 Signal tokens from Automa's Ready Area and place them on the 2 Location spaces indicated by the arrow. If these spaces show Flag, Contract, Technology, or Tycoon icons, Automa gains the corresponding bonus. Then discard the Installation tile.
Example: the signal is transmitted from a numbered space. Automa gains the Italian Flag and 1 Super Technology tile.
Modulation
If the revealed tile is a Modulation Action tile, find the Modulated Installation tile on the game board (easily recognizable by the white vertical arrow) with the lowest number. This tile determines both the transmitting Wireless Station and the direction in which the signal is transmitted.
The same rules as for Transmission apply. In addition, move Automa's Permanent Links marker 1 space forward on the Permanent Links track. Any bonuses are ignored.
Funding
If the revealed tile is a Funding Action tile, take the top Credit token from Automa's player board and place it on the topmost empty space in the Credit area of the game board.
Then check the number of active Tycoon icons on Automa's player board and in the Credit area. Take a Tycoon tile (the bottommost, or in the case of a tie the far-right one) corresponding to the number of icons. Place it in the corresponding column on Automa's player board. Move the other tile to the bottommost or far-right position and reveal a new one.
End of the Game & Final Scoring
End of Game Conditions
The end of the game is triggered in the same way as in the multiplayer game.
Scoring
Your scoring is performed in the same way as in the multiplayer game. Automa's scoring is also performed in the same way, except that its Ready Area is not taken into account.