Objective of the Game

Welcome, aspiring adventurers, to the thrilling world of Clank!: Legacy – Acquisitions Incorporated! In this legacy deck-building game, you and your friends embark on an epic campaign, building your very own Acquisitions Incorporated franchise over at least 10 games. Your ultimate goal in each game is twofold:

• Retrieve an Artifact token and make a daring escape back to your franchise headquarters (HQ) without succumbing to the dragon's wrath!
• Outscore your fellow employees to be crowned the Most Valuable Employee of the game!

But it's not just about individual glory! This is a legacy game, meaning your choices and actions will permanently alter the game components and shape an ongoing story. You'll make decisions as a group, cooperate (or not!), and develop unique strategies as your decks evolve. Get ready for a truly unique adventure!

Preparation (Setup)

Alright, let's get you set up for your first delve into the dragon's lair. Follow these steps to prepare your game:

1. Read the Game Prologue and Contracts: Consult the Mission Reports document to identify the current game. Read the specified Prologue Passage from the Book of Secrets aloud. This will tell you which side of the board to use. If you have any Contract cards, place them in a Contracts row above the board and read them aloud.
2. Place Your Patron: If the Prologue Passage gave you a Patron card, read it aloud and place it in the Reserve next to the board.
3. Place Your Franchise Board: Set the Franchise Board below the game board. This board will gain permanent abilities throughout the campaign.
4. Create the Bank: Form a Bank next to the game board with the Gold tokens (valued 1 and 5). Shuffle the minor secret tokens face down and add them to the Bank.
5. Prepare the Dragon Bag and Rage Track: Place all 24 black cubes into the Dragon Bag. Set the Dragon Marker on the Rage Track:
   • 4-player game: first space.
   • 3-player game: second space.
   • 2-player game: third space.
6. Stock the Reserve and Adventure Row: Add the Cultist monster card to the Reserve row, along with piles of Mercenary, Explore, and Mysterious Tome cards. Shuffle the remaining cards to form the Adventure Deck. Deal six cards face up to create the Adventure Row. If you reveal any Event cards or cards with the Dragon Attack symbol, set them aside, replace them, then shuffle the set-aside cards back into the Adventure Deck. Leave space for an Adventure discard pile.
7. Place Remaining Tokens Around the Boards:
   • Place one Mug token per player near the HQ space.
   • Shuffle major secrets face down. Place one randomly on each major secret space, then put any extras face down in the Bank.
   • Place mystic fruit on their marked spaces, "unexpended" side up.
   • Place Artifacts face up on their corresponding value spaces.
   • Place market items in the Market Area of the Franchise Board.
8. Take Your Deck Box: Each player takes a deck box. Write your character's name on it if it's the first game. Take 30 Clank! cubes of your player color, forming a personal supply. Take your color disc, choose a player figure, attach the disc, and place the figure on the HQ space. Finally, take your 10-card starting deck (6 Burgles, 2 Stumbles, 1 Sidestep, 1 Scramble), shuffle it, and place it face down.
9. Determine Player Order and Add Starting Clank!: Randomly choose a first player. Play proceeds clockwise. The first player places 3 of their Clank! cubes in the Clank! Area. The second player places 2 Clank!, the third places 1 Clank!, and the fourth places none.
10. Draw Opening Hands: Each player draws five cards from their shuffled deck. The starting player begins their first turn!

The Turn of Play

Your turn is all about playing cards, gathering resources, and taking actions to explore and acquire riches (and maybe some trouble!).

Starting Your Turn

You begin each turn with five cards in your hand. You must play all cards from your hand before your turn ends, but you can play them in any order you choose. Cards you play go into your "play area" for easy reference.

Generating Resources

Most cards will generate one or more of these key resources:

• SKILL: Primarily used for the Acquire a Card action.
• SWORDS: Used for the Fight a Monster action.
• BOOTS: Primarily used for the Movement action.

These resources "pool" as you generate them, so you can play multiple cards to save up for a big action, or split resources from one card across several actions. Any unused Skill, Swords, or Boots are wasted at the end of your turn, so spend wisely!

Cards also often generate:

• GOLD: Take Gold from the Bank and place it in front of you. Gold is worth 1 point at the end of the game and can be used for actions like Buy From a Market.
• CLANK!: When you make Clank! (e.g., "+1 Clank!"), add that many cubes from your personal supply to the Clank! Area of the Franchise Board. You can also remove Clank! for negative Clank! effects.
• CARD DRAWS: Draw cards from your own deck. If your deck is empty, shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.

Card effects resolve regardless of play order. For example, if a card grants bonus Skill for having a mystic fruit, and you pick up a mystic fruit later in the turn, you still get that bonus!

Actions You Can Take

You can take any of these actions as many times as you like, as long as you have the resources:

1. Acquire a Card: Use Skill to buy cards with blue banners from the Adventure Row or yellow banners from the Reserve. The Skill Cost is in the lower right corner. Place acquired cards in your discard pile. They don't do anything immediately. Do not immediately replace cards taken from the Adventure Row.
2. Fight a Monster: Use Swords to defeat monsters (red banner cards) in the Adventure Row or the Cultist in the Reserve. The Swords required are in the lower right corner. You gain the reward listed in its DEFEAT text. Monsters from the Adventure Row go to the Adventure discard pile; the Cultist is not discarded and can be fought multiple times. Do not immediately replace monsters taken from the Adventure Row.
3. Movement: Each Boot lets you move along one path to an adjacent space.
   • Paths with Footprint icons require 2 or 3 Boots.
   • Paths with Monster icons deal 1 damage per icon, but you can spend 1 Sword per icon to prevent damage.
   • Paths across open water (Canoe icon) require a Canoe token.
   • One-way paths (arrow) can only be used in the direction of the arrow.
   • Entering a Forest space makes you exhausted, preventing further Boot movement this turn (though you can still Teleport).
   • If you're on a Coach space, you can Hire a Coach.
   • If you're on a Town space, you can Buy From a Market.
   • Some spaces offer Rewards when you enter them, such as Minor/Major Secrets, Mystic Fruit, Card Draws, Gold, or Healing.
   • Waypoints (numbered spaces) trigger a Passage in the Book of Secrets when entered.
4. Buy From a Market: If you're on a Town space, you can spend 7 Gold to buy a Market item from the Market Area of the Franchise Board. You can only possess one of each item type.
5. Hire a Coach: If you're on a Coach space, you can spend 1 Boot and Gold (equal to the combined Gold values of your departure and destination Coach spaces) to relocate to any other Coach space.
6. Take an Artifact: If you're on a space with an Artifact token, you can pick it up and place it in your play area. You can only carry one Artifact. Taking an Artifact advances the Dragon Marker one space on the Rage Track. Once you have an Artifact, your goal is to return to HQ!

Ending Your Turn and Dragon Attacks

Once you've played all your cards and taken all desired actions, declare the end of your turn. Then, perform these steps in order:

1. Resolve Contracts: If you've met the conditions for any Contracts that resolve at the end of a turn, carry out their instructions.
2. Clear Your Play Area and Draw a New Hand: Move all cards from your play area to your discard pile. Draw five new cards for your next turn.
3. Refill the Adventure Row: If there are fewer than six cards, refill the empty spaces from the Adventure Deck.
   • If you reveal an Event card, carry out its effects immediately, discard it, and continue refilling.
   • If the Adventure Deck runs out, shuffle the Adventure discard pile to form a new deck.
4. Check for a Dragon Attack: If any newly added cards to the Adventure Row have a Dragon Attack symbol, the dragon Malathrex attacks!
   • Take all cubes from the Clank! Area and put them into the Dragon Bag.
   • Shake the bag and draw a number of cubes equal to the number on the Dragon Marker's current space on the Rage Track.
   • Each black cube is set aside. Each colored cube drawn represents 1 damage dealt to that player.
   • If the Dragon Bag is empty after an attack, the game ends immediately, and all remaining players are knocked out!

Game End and Scoring

The game concludes when all players have gone "off the clock." There are two ways this can happen:

• You voluntarily escape: This occurs when you arrive at the HQ space with an Artifact. Finish your turn, then remove your figure from the board and all your Clank! cubes from the Clank! Area. Take a Mug token (worth 20 points!).
• You are involuntarily knocked out: Your Health Meter becomes completely filled with damage cubes. Lay your figure on its side. If you didn't pick up an Artifact, or if your figure is in the Danger Zone of the board, you score 0 points.

Once a player is off the clock, they stop taking regular turns and no longer add Clank! or take damage from the Dragon Bag. Instead, on their turn, they simply take all cubes from the Clank! area, put them in the Dragon Bag, shake it, and draw exactly four cubes (six in a 2-player game), dealing damage as usual.

Once all players are off the clock, scoring begins for those who weren't knocked out in the Danger Zone:

1. Card Points: Sum the points from cards in your deck (hand and discard pile), found in their top right corner.
2. Artifact Value: The value of your Artifact (you score 0 without one!).
3. Token Points: Points from any other tokens you acquired (including your Mug token if you escaped safely).
4. Gold Points: Points equal to the amount of Gold you accumulated.

The player with the most points is the Most Valuable Employee! In case of a tie, the tied player with the most valuable Artifact wins. If you're playing the campaign, there are additional steps for the End of a Campaign Game, including filling out your Mission Report, resolving Epilogue Passages, and conducting Employee Reviews to earn Checkmarks of Grudging Approval and promotions!

Tips for Winning

To become the most valuable employee (and survive the dragon!), keep these tips in mind:

1. Manage Your Clank! Wisely: Every Clank! cube you add to the Clank! Area increases your chances of taking damage during a Dragon Attack. While some Clank! is inevitable, try to acquire cards that remove Clank! or avoid unnecessary Clank!-generating actions, especially as the Dragon Marker advances on the Rage Track.
2. Deck-Building is Key: Your starting deck is basic. Focus on acquiring cards that synergize with your strategy. Do you want to be a monster-slaying machine, a swift explorer, or a shrewd gold collector? Build your deck to support that goal, and don't be afraid to Trash weak starting cards to streamline your draws.
3. Timing Your Artifact Grab: Don't rush to grab the first Artifact you see! Taking an Artifact immediately advances the Dragon Marker, making subsequent Dragon Attacks deadlier. Consider exploring deeper for a more valuable Artifact, but always be mindful of your path back to HQ and the escalating danger.