Manual — Galaxy Trucker: Anniversary Edition

You know these types of players: They build quickly as hell, so your ship is just halfway finished when they turn the hourglass for the final countdown. Then they fly in the front, picking up every good opportunity and letting you enjoy nothing but meteoric swarms and combat zones. And their ships never fall apart, so it is up to you to provide all that ship-destruction fun. Or, another situation: Your group of skilled truckers wants to show how much fun this game is to a newbie, and that newbie seems to not be enjoying the ruins of his half-built ship as much as you expected.
And that’s where Even Steven cards may help.
Before the game, the player or players that know they are way more skilled at the game than others may voluntarily decide to take a handicap, just to give the others a chance.
Instead, or in addition, the entire group may agree to give an advantage to the player or players that have less experience with the game. These players have to agree, too.
Do not force anyone to take a handicap or advantage. Do not push an advantage on a player if others do not agree. The Even-Steven cards shift the balance of the game, so be sure to use them only in ways that improve the fun for everyone.
Before the first Round, randomly deal one Even-Steven card to each player who has to get a handicap or advantage. The players should put the card in front of themselves, corresponding side up: For players with a handicap, the dark side applies; for players with an advantage, the light side applies. The player should read it and announce to the others what his handicap or advantage is. The card applies for one Round.
Before every Round, shuffle all Even-Steven cards and deal again. The same players should get a random advantage or handicap again. Well, if you see it was a really bad idea after the first Round, you can change it, but generally, it is better if a player plays the entire game under the same conditions.
As you see, how you use these cards is up to you. It is up to you to decide whether to give handicaps to those who are better, or advantages to the weaker ones; you can even do both in the same game, if the differences are really big. On the other hand, do not overdo it. Give handicaps only to players who will still have a good chance of winning despite them (but it is a bigger challenge for them), and the advantages to those who will probably still not win (but will be at least a bit closer to winning).
We hope you have a good time with these cards; we sure did during playtesting.
EVEN STEVEN CARDS

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