Quasar Search Almanac

This is a work in progress; it will be woefully incomplete for some time!

This is the Space Game Almanac; it contains the full, fiddly rules text for everything in the game. It is not helpful to learn how to play (use this instead), and it is not helpful to read in its entirety! This almanac should be used to quickly look up the specific rules if you encounter a new keyword you don't know, or have an unclear interaction conflict between two rules. These rulings tend to be excessively wordy, not because the rules are very complex, but to try and cover edge cases that may be introduced by some cards.

1. Boons
2. Box
3. Draw
4. Demand
5. Each Player
6. Game Effects and Triggers
7. Game Phases
8. Goal
9. In Play / Out of Play
10. Hand Size
11. Lost in Space
12. Morale
13. Ownership
14. Player Card Mechanics
    1. Adrenaline
    2. Energy
    3. Glory
    4. Lessons
    5. Overcommit
    6. Project
    7. Sensors
    8. Shift
    9. Stockpile
    10. Warp
15. Rank
16. Result
17. Ship Phase
18. Singling Out a Player
19. Target
20. Team Leader
21. You
22. Zones

Boons

Boons are a bonus granted by some game effects. A Boon represents a variety of helpful outcomes, and players who receive them choose which outcome they receive.

A Boon is granted to a player by a card with "Grant ". Boons can be granted by both player cards and scenario cards. Here is an example of a Challenge Result that grants a Boon:

Grant to players with the highest value.

When a player is granted a Boon, they immediately choose and perform one available outcome. In the base game, the available outcomes are: * Learn 1 Lesson * Start a Project * Gain 1 Glory

Future game mechanics may also have associated Boon outcomes to choose from; additionally, some player cards and scenario cards may declare additional Boon outcomes while in play, like so:

: Draw 2 cards

If the card declaring this outcome is in a Personal Zone, it is only available to that zone's owner. If the card declaring the outcome is in an Unowned Zone, it is available to all players.

Box

"The box" is where game components are held when they are not part of your current game. The box is not a defined part of the game, like a Zone, and is mostly only referenced by the base game rules, and not game card effects. The box also has no physical requirements, and you can designate any container or area in your place space to represent the box.

Game components that are not in any Zone are "in the box", and vice versa. Some rules and cleanup effects instruct you to put components "in the box"; these components leave their Zone. This is frequently done to game cards you no longer need, like completed Acts and Challenges, or to tokens and components that have been spent or used up.

Draw

To Draw, move the specified number of Player Cards from the top of your Deck into your Hand. A Draw effect that move more than one card (like "Draw 3 Cards") is always a single Draw effect, no matter how many cards are moved.

Some game effects may allow you to Draw "from" other Zones.

*"ACT START | You Draw 1 card from your Discard Zone"

In this case, move the specified number of Player Cards from the specified Zone into your Hand. This is still a Draw effect. If the Zone is ordered, like the Discard Zone or Deck, take cards from the "top" or "front" of the order; if the Zone is unordered, like a Personal Zone, you may take any card.

If a rule or Constant Effect allows you to Draw from other Zones in addition to your Deck, you may split up your Drawn cards between any of the available Zones, and you may choose the Zones as you Draw: for example, if you are allowed to Draw from a Warp Zone as well as your Deck, and then an effect allows you to Draw 3, you may take one card from your Deck (and look at it), then decide whether to take the next card from your Deck or Warp Zone, then decide again for the final card.

You must always Draw the full amount of cards specified; If the Zone(s) you are Drawing from have fewer total Player Cards than the Draw amount, take all the Player Cards from that Zone or Zones to complete the Draw.

Each Player

Some game effects will apply not just to one player, but to each player. They will refer to "each player" in their game text, like this:

"CHALLENGE START | Each player draws a card"

When this effect occurs, resolve it as if it were multiple personal effects, one for each player, such as:

"CHALLENGE START | Player 1 draws a card"

"CHALLENGE START | Player 2 draws a card"

"CHALLENGE START | Player 3 draws a card"

Each effect is separate, and can be resolved in any order. Any further effects that modify this one will apply only to an individual effect, and will not modify the others; there is no way to modify the original "each player" effect.

See also: "you" and Singling Out a Player for situations where not all players may act.

Game Effects and Triggers

Space Game has many cards that allow players to make changes to the game, like moving cards between their deck and hand, or changing the values of confronting cards; there are also some scenario cards that make changes like these as well. All of these changes are called Effects.

An Effect can change almost any rule of the game, or create new rules, or interact with defined Mechanics. An Effect will always have written text that explains what the game rules now are, or it will reference a Mechanic whose rules can be read in this almanac

If an Effect uses a personal pronoun like "you" or "your" in its text, it is referring to a player, depending on which Zone the card is in: In an Owned Zone, like a Hand, Deck, or Personal Zone, "you" refers to the player who controls that zone; in a non-player zone, like the Confrontation Zone or the Mission Zone, "you" refers to the player who placed the card in that Zone. Scenario cards that are placed by game setup and not a player will avoid using "you", but may have effects that single out a player.

There are 3 styles of how Effects apply: "Constant Effects", "Required Effects", and "Triggered Effects". A typical game may contain cards with all 3 styles active simultaneously; in case of a conflict between different Effects and/or the base game rules, Constant Effects have the highest precedence, followed by Required Effects, then Triggered Effects, then the base game rules.

• "Constant Effects" are prefaced with the word "Constant", and represent an Effect that always applies, as long as the card creating the Effect is in play. Constant Effects do not cause changes to the game state on their own, but are rules modifications that affect other actions of the game. An example of a Constant Effect looks like this:

  "CONSTANT | Players may not draw cards from their decks."

  While a card with this Constant Effect is in play, players may not draw cards from their decks; since Constant Effect rules take precedence over other Effects and game rules, players can not draw cards, even if other rules or Effects would normally cause players to draw cards.

• "Required Effects" are Effects the player must perform when a specified Game Phase starts. A Required Effect is prefaced with the name of the Game Phase(s) where action needs to be taken, and then explain what action should occur. Frequently, this will involve changing the game state in some way. Required Effects will happen each time the players reach a specified Game Phase of that Effect, so the same Required Effect may happen multiple times over the course of play. An example of a Required Effect looks like this:

  "CHALLENGE START | You Produce 1 Energy"

  While a card with this Required Effect is in play, when the Challenge Start phase begins, somebody ("you") will produce 1 Energy, depending on what Zone the card is in. This is not optional, and the action must be done, even if it is detrimental!

  When there are multiple Required Effects (and/or Triggered Effects) that happen at the same time, and the order of resolution would affect the final game state, the players may choose to resolve the Effects in any order (if your group can't agree, the Team Leader has the final say).

• "Triggered Effects" are Effects the player may perform during a specified Game Phase, if they choose to perform the Trigger. A Triggered Effect is prefaced with the name of the Game Phase(s) where action may be taken, a description of the Trigger action, and finally the action that will be taken if a player fully performs the Trigger action. An example of a Triggered Effect looks like this:

  "PRE RESOLUTION | Spend 1 Glory: Shift 2"

  While a card with this Triggered Effect is in play, when the Pre Resolution phase begins, "you" may spend 1 Glory to let yourself Shift 2. Triggered Effects are always personal, so there is always an implied "you" before both the Trigger and the action (i.e., "You spend 1 Glory" and "You Shift 2"). You must first choose whether to perform the Trigger, "You spend 1 Glory". If you choose not to, or cannot, then no action is taken, and this Effect is considered resolved for this phase; it will happen again the next time this phase occurs, and the choice can be made again then. If you do perform the Trigger, then you must also perform the next listed action (you may not spend 1 Glory but then skip the Shift 2). Then the Effect is resolved for this phase.

  Triggered Effects are always optional; a player may choose to skip the Trigger (and thus, also skip the action) for any reason.

  Triggered Effects are personal by default; usually, only "you" may perform the Trigger, and only "you" may perform the next listed action. In rare cases where other players may perform actions due to your Triggered Effect, the Effect will specify who those players are, and what actions to take (e.g., your Triggered Effect written as "The player on your left takes 1 Crew Damage: Gain 1 Glory" happens; since the Trigger singles out the player on your left, and not "you", that player decides whether or not to perform the Trigger action. If they do, then "you" gain 1 Glory, since "you" are the default player to perform Triggered Effects.)

  When there are multiple Triggered Effects (and/or Required Effects) that could happen at the same time, and the order of resolution would affect the final game state, the players may choose to resolve the Effects in any order (if your group can't agree, the Team Leader has the final say; note that this only affects the resolution order, the Team Leader does not get to decide whether or not another player performs a Trigger action or not).

  A Triggered Effect may only occur once each Phase, even if you are able to pay the cost multiple times. In our example trigger above, you may only spend 1 Glory, even if you have more in your Personal Zone; thus, you may only Shift 2 a single time with this trigger. This limit only applies to the trigger itself, and not the cost or resulting action: if you had another Triggered Effect from a different source that also allowed you to spend Glory to Shift, you would be able to perform that effect as well.

  Triggered Effects do not need to be present at the start of the phase in order to be triggered; if a card is put into play during a phase that it has a Triggered Effect for, you may choose to trigger that Effect during that phase.

As mentioned, effects are only active if their card is in play; cards that are out of play, like those in your Hand or Discard Zone, usually do not have active effects.

Game Phases

Space Game games consist of one Mission, which is broken up into multiple Acts, which is broken up into multiple Challenges.

Most of the phases have specific rules that describe what happens during that phase, which are listed below. Some phases, mostly in the Challenge Loop, do not have any specific rules associated with them, but exist so they can referenced by card effects. These phases with no rules are written like this in the list below, and can be skipped if there is no effect that references that phase.

Here is every phase in a game, in the order they are performed:

1. Mission Setup

2. Player Setup

   Then, for each Act, perform

3. An Act Loop, aka an Act:

   1. Act Setup

   2. Act Start

      Then, for each Challenge, perform

   3. A Challenge Loop, aka a Round:

      1. Challenge Setup
      2. Challenge Start
      3. Pre-Confrontation
      4. Confrontation
      5. Pre-Resolution
      6. Resolution
      7. Pre-Cleanup
      8. Cleanup

   4. Act Resolution

   If there's another Act, perform

   1. Ship Phase
   2. Act Cleanup

4. Mission Resolution

Here are the (wip) rules for each phase:

• Mission Setup

  Put the Mission Card in the Mission Zone and read the front of it; you may read the back of the Mission Card at any time. Find the Sequence 1 Act Card, put it in the Mission Zone, and read the front of it.

• Player Setup

  Each player puts their Faction Card into their Personal Zone; it is now in play, and its effects are active. Each player shuffles their Player Deck and puts it into their Deck Zone, facedown. If you have any cards in play that have effects during Player Setup, you perform them now.

• Act Setup

  Find all the Challenge Cards associated with the current Act Card and build the Challenge Deck; this is normally done by selecting 10 of the associated Challenge Cards at random, shuffling them into a stack, and placing that stack faceup in the Mission Zone. Is the stack in play? Maybe!

  Each player Draws cards until their Hand contains a number of Player Cards equal to their Hand Size, which is usually 10.

  Each player chooses one of their available Rank cards and puts it faceup in their Personal Zone.

  Remove all Morale tokens from the Mission Zone. Then, each player puts a number of Morale tokens equal to their Faction's Morale Number into the Mission Zone.

• Challenge Setup

  Put the top card of the Challenge Deck into the Challenge Zone; it is in play, and its effects are active.

• Confrontation Phase

  Each player now confronts the Challenge by placing a card in the Confrontation Zone. Each player must confront with exactly one card, unless there is an effect that says otherwise (you may not voluntarily pass, or use multiple cards to confront). Players may use cards in their Hand to confront, and some mechanics like Projects or Overcommit allow players to confront with cards from other Zones as well.

  It is very possible for a player to find themselves without a valid card to confront with. This most commonly happens because their Hand is empty, but this could to apply to any situation where the rules and active effects on the table declare that none of a player's current cards are valid for confronting. Whenever a player cannot provide a card to confront with, they must confront with a new Lost in Space card.

• Resolution

  Compare the set of player cards in the Confrontation Zone (now called the "Confrontation") to the Target on the Challenge Card. Each Target has its own rules to follow, but commonly, players will look at the values of all the played cards and see if they meet some requirement set by the Target; if so, read and perform the result(s) in the Success box of the Challenge Card; otherwise, read and perform the result(s) in the Failure box.

  See also: the Target and result rules.

• Cleanup

  Put each card remaining in the Confrontation into its owner's Discard Zone (some special cards, like Lost in Space, will go back in the game box). If the Challenge Card is still in the Confrontation Zone, put it back in the game box.

• Act Resolution

  Read the back of the current Act Card and follow its instructions, making sure to identify the next Sequence Number. Once you're done, find the Act Card with the matching Sequence Number and put it into the Mission Zone; then put the other (old) Act Card back in the game box.

  If the Act Card does not have a Sequence Number, but instead has an Ending Letter, skip immediately to the Mission Resolution phase.

• Ship Phase

  The Ship Phase is explained in its own rules section; it describes the "downtime" between Acts, where players can recover from damage, train their crew, and prepare for the next Act.

• Act Cleanup

  Each player with an in-play Rank card puts that Rank card back in the box.

  All Player Cards in each player's Personal Zone are moved to that player's Discard Zone.

  All Scenario Cards in Personal Zones go in the box.

  All Player Cards in each player's Hand are shuffled and placed on the bottom of that player's Deck.

• Mission Resolution

  In the game box for this Mission, find the text or item associated with the Ending Letter you got, and read/use it. Enjoy your success or failure! The Mission is now complete, and all game components may be put away where they belong. Any changes to a player's collection of cards or Deck are not permanent; the player may start a next Mission with the exact same set of cards they brought to this Mission, or any other valid Deck.

Goal

TODO

Hand Size

TODO

In Play / Out of Play

TODO

Lost in Space

The "Lost in Space" cards are special player cards that may not be brought in a Deck, but may be introduced during gameplay.

The "Lost in Space" card is unique in that it has no value at all; confronting with this card could be a significant hindrance to your team, and should generally be avoided when possible. Having "no value" means the following: * When totaling the value of the Confrontation, this card neither adds nor subtracts any value to the total (like a card with value 0). * This card's value is never equal to another card's value (even other cards with no value!). * This card's value is always lower than all other card's values. This card's value is never higher than any other card's value. Yes, this can lead to non-transitive weirdness! * This card always has the "lowest value" in any Confrontation. This card never has the "highest value" in any Confrontation. * This card's value is not even, not odd, and not zero. * This card's value cannot be changed, increased, or decreased. * If this card is part of a Confrontation, it still counts as a card, so Targets that refer to "all cards" or "average value" still include this card. This makes it impossible to succeed at some Targets (like a Stand Together Target) while this card is confronting!

All the "Lost in Space" cards start the game out of play. If a game effect instructs you to put a "new" Lost in Space card into a Zone, find an out-of-play copy of Lost in Space and put it in that Zone. Most game effects will reference a "new" card, but rare effects may apply to Lost in Space cards already in play.

Oh, did you run out of Lost in Space cards? Guess we'll have to deal with that TODO.

Morale

TODO

Ownership

Players may be said to "own" certain cards and Zones within a game; some game rules and effects may check ownership, such as the rules for "you" applying to the owner of an effect.

Most of the time, this is intuitive and obvious, as most cards spend the whole game in owned Personal Zones, and if they leave to enter the Confrontation Zone, it is easy to remember who put it there; however, there are some cases that get more complicated.

In-game "ownership" is completely detached from all "out-of-game" meaning; i.e., in-game ownership is not concerned with who physically brought the cards to your table, or who paid for them, or who stores them when not playing the game. It is also detached from which player's Deck the card may have originated in(!), and players may find themselves "owning" cards that were not in their starting Deck! This does mean that there is potential for players' Decks to have gained or lost cards during a game; if out-of-game ownership is important to track at your table, I recommend sleeving your Deck so it's easy to sort the cards out afterwards.

Zones are either Owned or Unowned, and their ownership is determined when that Zone is created. Zones cannot change ownership.

If a card is in an Owned Zone, it is always owned by that Zone's owner; cards in a player's Hand, Deck, and Personal Zone are always owned by that player.

If a card is in an Unowned Zone, it is owned by the player that put the card in that Zone; this commonly happens in the Confrontation Zone during Confrontation.

If a card was placed in an Unowned Zone by a game setup effect or (result)[#result], that card is unowned; examples include the Mission Card, or a Challenge Card in the Sensors Zone.

Some card effects may allow players to move cards they do not own, which may make tracking ownership challenging; if you play with cards that commonly cause these situations, consider putting a personal marker on cards you own in Unowned Zones to help track ownership (most games will not have these situations).

Player Card Mechanics

• Adrenaline

  1. In the Pre-Cleanup Phase, if the Challenge is successful, Draw X cards.

  Sure, this isn't really complex enough to be its own mechanic, but it's flavorful!

• Energy

  Energy is a countable, collectable resource that is shared between the whole crew. If the Mission Team can find ways to gain Energy, some other effects will let them spend it to trigger a variety of beneficial effects. Some effects will tell players to "produce" or "consume" Energy, always with a specified amount.

  Energy is tracked with physical counters, like tokens or dice, and is stored on the table in the Energy Zone (if you need a zone that doesn't exist yet, just designate a space for it on the table). If Energy is spent or otherwise removed, it goes in the box.

  To produce Energy, add the specified amount of Energy to the Energy Zone; there is no limit on how much Energy you can store. To consume Energy, remove the specified amount of Energy from the Energy Zone. If a Trigger of a Triggered Effect requires you to consume Energy, the Trigger may only be performed if the full amount required by the Trigger is in the Energy Zone; otherwise, the Trigger may not be performed, and no Energy is consumed. For any other game action that consumes Energy, like a Required Effect or final action of a Triggered Effect, if the action calls to consume more Energy than is in the Energy Zone, then remove all Energy from the Energy Zone and consider the action resolved (you cannot have negative Energy).

  All players share the single Energy Zone, so any Energy produced or consumed will come from the same communal pool. Energy is not "owned" or controlled by any single player.

• Glory

  Glory is a countable, collectable resource that is held separately by each player. If a player can accumulate Glory through their accomplishments on the Mission, they may use it to trigger a variety of beneficial effects. Glory is typically earned through Boons or player card effects, but does nothing on its own; you'll have to find some way to turn it to your advantage!

  Glory is tracked with physical counters, like tokens or dice. Gained Glory is stored in a player's Personal Zone. If Glory is spent or otherwise removed, it goes in the box.

  Some effects will tell players to "gain" or "spend" Glory, always with a specified amount. To gain Glory, add the specified amount of Glory to your Personal Zone; there is no limit on how much Glory you can store. To spend Glory, remove the specified amount of Glory from your Personal Zone. If a Trigger of a Triggered Effect requires you to spend Glory, the Trigger may only be performed if the full amount required by the Trigger is in your Personal Zone; otherwise, the Trigger may not be performed, and no Glory is spent. For any other game action that spends Glory, like a Required Effect or final action of a Triggered Effect, if the action calls to spend more Glory than is in your Personal Zone, then remove all Glory from your Personal Zone and consider the action resolved (you cannot have negative Glory).

• Lessons

  TODO

• Overcommit

  A Player Card with Overcommit is generally quite strong when confronting Challenges, but comes with a drawback: the next time you confront, you must confront with the top card of your Deck!

  A card with the Overcommit keyword on it always has two Required Effects:

  1. In the Cleanup Phase, if this card is in your Personal Zone discard it; otherwise, put this card in your Personal Zone.
  2. In the Confront Phase, you may only confront with the top card of your Deck.

  Like other effects, these are only active while the card is in play.

  To summarize how these effects work together, imagine a card with Overcommit is used to confront. It is now in play, so its effects are now active. The Resolution Phase proceeds as normal, and the Cleanup Phase begins. Due to its effect, this card is not discarded, but instead placed in your Personal Zone, still in play. A new Challenge begins, and the players reach the Confront Phase. Due to the effect for this phase, you may only confront with the top card of your Deck; if you are required to confront as per the base rules, then you must take the top card of your Deck and place it faceup in the Confrontation Zone during this phase. Then, during the next Cleanup phase, in addition to cleaning up cards in the Confrontation Zone, you also discard the card with Overcommit from your Personal Zone, as per its first effect.

  Overcommit is only tracked by having an in-play card with the Overcommit keyword; once the effect is no longer active, the player may act normally. If you find a way to move a card with Overcommit out-of-play before the Confrontation Phase, then you may confront with any available card and not just the one on your Deck, since its effects will no longer be active.

• Project

  Projects are Player Cards that you can put directly into play in your Personal Zone, where they create a wide variety of effects to help you complete your Mission. TODO

• Sensors

  The Sensors mechanic gives your team an edge by allowing you to preview the upcoming Challenges from the Challenge Deck. Knowing what skills are in demand will let your team make informed choices about which cards to play now, and which to hold until later.

  Some effects may instruct the players to "Sensors", with an associated number, like:

  "ACT START | Sensors 2"

  To perform Sensors, take the top card of the Challenge Deck (not the card currently in the Challenge Zone!) and put it in the Sensors Zone. Do this a total number of times equal to the specified number (here, 2), making sure to keep the cards ordered in the Sensors Zone.

  The Sensors Zone has two special rules:

  • During the Challenge Start phase, if the Sensors Zone contains a Challenge Card, then move the first Challenge Card in the Sensors Zone to the Challenge Zone, instead of moving the top card of the Challenge Deck.
  • The Sensors Zone is ordered in a "first in, first out" order. The "first" Challenge Card in this Zone is the card that was here "first", i.e., the card that has been in this Zone the longest. The next card added to the Sensors Zone will be after this "first" card, and the next after that will be after this second card. When the first card is removed, then the card after it in order becomes "first".

  In short, the Sensors Zone acts as a "preview zone" where you can see more upcoming Challenges than just the one on top of the Challenge Deck. It functions as a natural extension of the Challenge Deck, and is the source of new Challenge Cards while it contains any, but is a separate Zone; thus, if a game effect instructs players to do something to the Challenge Deck, players will ignore the Sensors Zone for that effect.

  All cards in the Sensors Zone are faceup, but unlike the Challenge Deck, you may examine any of them at any time.

  You may not reorder the cards in the Sensors Zone unless an effect allows you to do so.

  Are they in play? I dunno yet! TODO!

• Shift

  An effect with Shift allows you to modify the value of a card during a Confrontation. Shift is a core mechanic of the game, and is the one referenced by the most cards.

  The most common use of Shift is as the result of a Triggered Effect in the Confrontation Phase, like this:

  "PRE RESOLUTION | Spend 1 Glory: Shift 2"

  If a player completes the trigger and gets to Shift, they may increase or decrease the value of one of their cards in the Confrontation Zone by any whole number up to the number specified in the Shift (here, that is 2). For example, if the player has a confronted card with value 4, then by Shifting 2, the player may choose to change the value to 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. This change applies only during the current confrontation, and stops applying after the next Resolution Phase or if the card leaves the Confrontation Zone. While Shifting does not use an explicit game component, players may feel free to track the changes to a card value using counters or dice, and remove those counters or dice when the Shift stops applying.

  Shifting is always optional, and a player may choose to not modify a value when resolving a Shift. However, if another card effect triggers "when you Shift", you must apply a non-zero value to the card to trigger this effect; Shifting by 0 will not trigger any effects that happen "when you Shift".

  The same card may be Shifted multiple times in the same Challenge; all Shifts are cumulative, so a player with a 4-value card may "Shift 3" up to a value of 7, then "Shift 2" down to 5, if they choose to.

  The maximum value of a card is 10; Shifting a value beyond this number has no effect, and will not trigger effects that happen "when you Shift". The minimum value of a card is -10 (negative values are allowed), and the same rule applies.

  Shift has an implied "you" in its rules: by default, you may only Shift cards in the Confrontation Zone that you own.

• Stockpile

  An effect with Stockpile lets players manage their Hand and Deck to better match the needs of the Mission. It allows you to put Player Cards from your Hand back into your Deck, drawing replacement cards from your Deck. This not only gives you more options in your current Act, but lets you put your best(?) cards back into your Deck to be used in a later Act, where they may be more impactful.

  If an effect allows you to Stockpile, it will have an associated number, like "Stockpile 2". To perform this action, first choose a number of cards in your Hand equal to the specified number (here, 2). Then, put those cards facedown on the bottom of your Deck, in any order. Finally, draw an equal number of cards from your Deck.

  When Stockpiling, you must exchange as many of the specified cards as you are able (i.e., with a Hand of 10 cards, if you Stockpile 3, you must put 3 cards in your Deck and draw 3, since that is the specified number and you have that many. You may not put just 2 back and draw 2.) If you have fewer cards in your Hand than specified, or if another effect prevents you from putting enough cards back in your Deck, put as many cards as you are able to back on the bottom of your Deck, and draw the same number of cards as you put on the bottom.

• Warp

  Warp lets you put cards from your Hand into the Warp Zone, a special owned Zone that you can Draw from instead of your Deck. This lets you not only save cards for future Acts, but also lets you Draw them precisely when you want them most! However, be warned that Warp does not replace the cards you stash, so make sure you don't end up Lost in Space!

  If an effect allows you to Warp, it will have an associated number, like "Warp 2". To perform this action, first choose a number of cards in your Hand equal to or less than the specified number (here, 2). Then, put those cards faceup in your Warp Zone.

  The Warp Zone is an owned Zone that is out of play, much like your Hand. When you Draw, you may Draw from your Warp Zone in addition to your Deck. Since the Warp Zone is unordered, you may choose any card(s) in the Zone to Draw.

  Cards in the Warp Zone are not cleaned up or moved between Acts, and are available to Draw during Act Setup.

Rank

Rank is a value that each player has during each Act and Ship Phase. On its own, Rank mostly serves as a tiebreaker for intraparty disputes; however, there are card effects and mechanics that will also reference Rank.

Each Faction comes with a set of Rank Cards (usually 3 of them), and each Rank Card lists a Rank Value. Rank Values range from 1 to 5. During the Act Setup phase, each player chooses one Rank Card and puts it into their Personal Zone; this represents the Rank of the crew member participating in this Act. This card remains in play until the end of the Ship Phase, when it is put back in the box.

Rank order is determined by comparing the highest-value Rank Card in a player's Personal Zone; the player with the higher Rank Value has the higher Rank. Ties in Rank Value are broken by the "Rankbreaker" number found on a player's Faction Card, with the higher Rankbreaker having a higher Rank.

The player with the highest Rank is called the Team Leader, and may be referenced by some game effects.

The game may reference either "Rank" or "Rank Value". When referencing "Rank", players compare Rank Card values and use the Rankbreaker number, so there can be no ties; each player will always be higher or lower Rank than another player. When referencing "Rank Value", only the Rank Card values are used, so multiple players may have the same Rank Value.

*Player 1 and Player 2 both have a Rank Card with value 4 in their Personal Zone. Both players have a Rank Value of 4, but Player 2 has a higher rank because its Rankbreaker on its Faction Card is 24, while Player 1's is 17.

Result

TODO

Ship Phase

GIANT TODO! For now, just look at the Quick Start

Singling Out a Player

Some game effects will apply only to a specific player or players:

"PRE CLEANUP | The lowest-ranked player takes 1 Crew Damage"

When this effect occurs, determine which player(s) meet the specified condition (here, the lowest-ranked player), and treat the effect as if it were written to apply to them:

"PRE CLEANUP | Player 2 takes 1 Crew Damage"

If an effect applies to multiple players (usually by mentioning "players" in its condition):

"PRE CLEANUP | Players with an Active Project discard an Active Project"

Resolve it as if it were multiple personal effects, one for each player the condition applies to, such as:

"PRE CLEANUP | Player 1 discards an Active Project"

"PRE CLEANUP | Player 3 discards an Active Project"

Each effect is separate, and can be resolved in any order. Any further effects that modify this one will apply only to an individual effect, and will not modify the others; there is no way to modify the original effect that applied to multiple players.

See also: "you" and Each Player for situations where a set of players is not specified.

Target

A Target is a criterion set on a Challenge Card that the players must meet with a Confrontation. Players will build a Confrontation by playing cards, and the collective set of cards will be evaluated against the Challenge's Target.

All Targets are "pass/fail", i.e., the Confrontation either meets the required criterion and "succeeds" and is "successful", or it does not and therefore "fails" and is a "failure". It is possible for individual Challenge Cards to further define "tiers" of success or failure through their own custom rules.

Each Challenge Card may define its own Target, but there are some common Targets that will be reused across multiple Challenge Cards. They are:

• All-Out Challenge

  An All-Out Challenge has a specified number. If the total value of all cards in the Confrontation is at least the specified number, the challenge succeeds; otherwise, it fails.

  (A Confrontation containing values 2, 4, and 7 would succeed at an All-Out Challenge that specified 13, and fail at one specifying 14.)

• Nobody Left Behind Challenge

  A Nobody Left Behind Challenge has a specified number. Find a card in the Confrontation with the lowest value; if it is equal to or greater than the specified number, the challenge succeeds; otherwise, it fails. If any card in the Confrontation does not have a value, the challenge fails.

  (A Confrontation containing values 3, 3, and 8 would succeed at a Nobody Left Behind Challenge that specified 3, and fail at one specifying 4.)

• Thread the Needle Challenge

  A Thread the Needle Challenge has a specified number. If the total value of all cards in the Confrontation is exactly the specified number, the challenge succeeds; otherwise, it fails.

  (A Confrontation containing values 1, 3, and 8 would succeed at a Thread the Needle Challenge that specified 12, and fail at one specifying 11.)

• Stand Together Challenge

  If all cards in the Confrontation have the same value, the challenge succeeds; otherwise, it fails. If any card in the Confrontation does not have a value, the challenge fails.

  (A Confrontation containing values 4, 4, and 4 would succeed at a Stand Together Challenge, but a Confrontation containing 6, 6, and 7 would fail.)

• TODO some more?

Team Leader

The Team Leader is the player with the highest Rank.

See Rank.

You

Card effects will frequently refer to "you", or to "your" cards or Zones. In all cases, "you" refers to the owner of the card causing the effect. Effects that refer to "your" cards, Zones, and such are referring to the cards, Zones, and whatelse that are also owned by "you", the owner of the card with the effect.

If it is ever unclear which player(s) a card effect is referring to, treat that effect as if it contains "you": for example, with a card saying

"PRE RESOLUTION | Spend 1 Glory: Shift 2"

It is not explicitly said which player may Spend 1 Glory, or which player may Shift 2, so treat the effect as

"PRE RESOLUTION | * (You) Spend 1 Glory*: (You) Shift 2"

This means that during the Pre Resolution phase, the owner of the card with this effect is the one who may spend Glory to Shift 2.

Some game mechanics use this "implied you" in their wording to save space.

See also: Each Player and Singling Out a Player for effects that apply to players without using "you".

Zones

Space Game makes many references to various "Zones" within the game, which "contain" various cards or components. The purpose of Zones is so the game rules can quickly reference certain sets of components in the game, and players will know which components to interact with and which ones to leave alone.

An important rule is that components may only be in one Zone at a time; if a component enters a Zone, it leaves the Zone it was previously in (if any). Zones may not contain other Zones.

While it's common that components in the same Zone will often be placed close together on the table, Zones have no real physical properties, and components can be arranged in whatever manner is most convenient at your table. No game rule will reference a physical aspect of your Zone, like a "width" or "color". Any arrangement is valid as long as it is clear to all players which Zone each component is contained in.

Some Zones, which are listed below, are present in every game and always exist; some Zones, however, are only relevant to specific mechanics or card effects. If a card references a Zone that does not currently exist, simply "create" that Zone somewhere on your table and remember that it is in play. No game rule will reference a Zone being created or removed, so your group can adjust your table layout at your convenience (don't remove Zones that still contain components, though!)

All Zones fall into one of two categories: Unowned Zones, and Owned Zones. * An Unowned Zone is a Zone not associated with any player. All Zones default to being Unowned unless specified. There can only be one instance of each Unowned Zone on the table: if an effect interacts with an unowned Zone and that Zone already exists on the table, always apply the effect to the existing Zone rather than making a new one. * An Owned Zone is associated with a specific player at the table, called its "owner". Cards in this Zone that reference "you" always refer to the Zone's owner, even if the card was placed in that Zone by a different player. Each player must have their own instance of an Owned Zone: if an effect interacts with "your <...> Zone" and there is no instance of that Zone that you own, create that Zone with you as the owner, regardless if any other instances of that Zone exist and are owned by other players. Unless stated, there are no other restrictions on Owned Zones: other players may still cause components to enter or leave a Zone you own, if a card effect allows it (there is no base rules effect that lets you interact with another player's Owned Zones).

A basic game of Space Game will always contain these core Zones:

• Mission Zone

  This Zone holds the cards that describe the current Mission: this is frequently the Mission Card, the active Act Card, and the Challenge Deck. Additional Cards that have effects for this Act or Mission may also go here.

• Challenge Zone

  This Zone holds the current Challenge Card, if any, as well as other cards that may have effects for this Challenge.

• Confrontation Zone

  This Zone holds cards that will be used when Resolving a Challenge.

and each player will have their own of the following Owned Zones:

• Personal Zone

  A catch-all Owned Zone for components that are in play, but are not specifically tied to the current Challenge, Act, or Mission. Cards like Projects that apply to multiple Challenges or future Challenges will go in this Zone.

• Hand

  An Owned Zone that holds Player Cards a player can use to interact with the game, often held in their hands (imagine that!). Cards in this Zone are out of play; it is otherwise quite similar to the Personal Zone. Players may choose to reveal cards in their Hand to other players, though they are not required to do so and may hide them.

• Deck Zone

  An Owned Zone that initially holds the player's Player Deck, though many cards will leave this Zone during the game. Cards in this Zone should be placed in a facedown stack by default, so that they have a clear order and players do not know the face of each card. Game rules that reference a player's "Deck" are referring to "the facedown stack of cards in the player's Deck Zone"

• Discard Zone

  An Owned Zone that holds a player's Player Cards that have been discarded. The most common way for cards to get here is when the the confrontation is discarded after Resolving a Challenge. Card in the Discard Zone are out of play and should be arranged in a faceup stack, where the most recently discarded card is on top.

Most games will likely feature additional Zones, like the Energy Zone or Sensors Zone, that are referenced by other mechanics or effects; by default, these new Zones:

1. May hold any type of component
2. Are Unowned
3. Cards entering them are placed faceup, and are in-play