How to Play Race for the Galaxy: Expansion and Brinkmanship

Objective of the Game

In this solitaire game, you, the player, compete against an "adaptable robot" opponent. Your goal is to build the most prosperous galactic empire. The game uses the RFTG experienced 2-player rules, but without goals or takeovers. When using Set 3 cards and start worlds 12-15, the Prestige and Search rules are required. The game ends when certain conditions are met, and the player with the highest score wins.

Preparation (Setup)

Let's get everything ready to explore the galaxy!

1. First, carefully remove all counters and tiles from their frames.
2. Set out 24 VP chips.
3. Pick a difficulty level (easy, medium, or hard) from the chart. This determines the number of 6-cost development counters to place nearby: 1 for easy (worth 6 VPs), 2 for medium (worth 6 VPs each), or 3 for hard (worth 9 VPs each).
4. Shuffle the start worlds and deal one to yourself and one to the robot. Shuffle the remaining start worlds into the main deck.
5. Use the black-edged credit, economy size, and (2) player action markers.
6. Find any specific mat and "robot =" tiles (which might be on the reverse of other tiles) based on the robot's start world, as indicated on the back of the play or search mats. Return any unused robot tiles to the box.
7. Flip the play mat face up.
8. Place any special mat tiles on top of their corresponding mat areas, matching them by color.
9. Place the grey "robot =" tile on its designated space. If the robot's start world is Old Earth, set the x2 "robot =" tile nearby.
10. Place the credit marker on 1 (or 0 if the robot's start world is Ancient Race; or 2 if it's Alpha Centauri or Galactic Scavengers).
11. Place the economy size marker on 0 (or 1 if the robot's start world is Earth's Lost Colony or Epsilon Eridani).
12. Deal 4 cards face down (or 3 cards if the robot's start world is Ancient Race or Galactic Scavengers) to form the robot's initial draw stack.
13. After setting up the robot mat, deal six cards to yourself. Choose four of them to keep and discard the other two.
14. You are now ready to begin play!

Fluxo do Jogo

Each round of Race for the Galaxy consists of three main steps:

1. Player Selects Actions: You will select your 2 actions normally, but instead of using action cards, you'll mark them with your player action markers on the play mat.
2. Roll and Place Dice: Roll the two custom dice. These dice determine the robot's action selections. Place them on the play mat in the dice row.
   • If an Explore, Develop, or Settle die face is rolled, place it on the leftmost space of its respective pair of spaces on the play mat.
   • The grey Settle and Produce die faces match the colored Settle and Produce mat spaces.
   • If a "match" face is rolled, read it as the face shown on the "robot =" counter.
   • If "match" faces are rolled on both dice, place the dice below both player action markers.
   • If only one "match" face is rolled, place that die below the rightmost player action marker (unless that space is already occupied, in which case it goes below the other player marker).
   • If both player action markers occupy a pair of Explore, Develop, or Settle spaces, shift the die left so it is below the first of this pair of spaces (unless the other die is already there).
3. Resolve Actions: Resolve actions for each selected phase, from left to right on the play mat. The player always resolves their actions before the robot in each phase.
   • If you selected a phase, you perform both the phase's action and bonus.
   • If only the robot selected a phase (or you selected it and the robot also selected it), you perform just the phase's action.
   • The robot's actions are resolved as listed on the mat in the two rows below the dice row. Use the top row if a robot die is present (a robot action). Use the bottom row if no die is present and the action was selected by you (a robot response). Do not combine the rows if both you and the robot select the same phase.

Round End

At the end of each round, you must discard down to 10 cards (the robot has no hand limit). Then, check for game end. If the game has not ended, repeat steps 1-3 for the next round.

Ações e Como Jogar

Here's a breakdown of the actions and how the robot interacts with them:

Explore

• Explore action (robot): The robot draws 1 card and increases its credit by 1. If the robot selected both Explore actions, it draws 3 cards total and increases its credit by 1.
• Explore response (robot): The robot draws 1 card, even if you chose both Explore actions.
• Special start worlds like Separatist Colony, Uplift Mercenary Force, Imperium Warlord, Rebel Freedom Fighters, and Alien Research Team draw more cards on Explore, as shown on their special mat tiles.

Develop

• Develop action or response (robot, for each selected Develop phase):
  1. First, check if the robot has an unplaced 6-cost development counter and 2 or more credit (3 or more credit on response). If so, place this counter next to the robot's tableau stack (it counts as 1 card for game end), decrease the robot's credit by 2 (3 on response), and then skip the robot's regular Develop action or response.
  2. Otherwise, perform the robot's regular Develop action or response:
     • Develop action: The robot draws 1 card and then flips to find a development. If a non-6 development is found, it's placed. If a 6-cost development card is found and the robot has 1+ credit, it decreases its credit by 1 and places it; otherwise, it discards it and continues flipping cards.
     • Develop response: If the robot has no credit, it does nothing. Otherwise, it flips to find a development. If one is found, regardless of whether it's a 6-cost development, the robot decreases its credit by 1 and places it.
• Galactic Developers develops more efficiently and does not require credits on response to flip to find developments.
• Rebel Freedom Fighters gains 1 prestige each time it places a Rebel development but can never place (or match on) any IMPERIUM IMPERIUM cards.

Settle

• Settle action (robot, for each robot-selected Settle phase): The robot draws 3 cards and flips to find a non-military world, placing it if one is found.
• Settle response (robot, for each player-selected Settle phase): If the robot has no credit, it does nothing. Otherwise, it draws 2 cards and flips to find a non-military world. If one is found, it decreases its credit by 1 and places it.
• Special start worlds like Epsilon Eridani, New Sparta, Separatist Colony, Imperium Warlord, Uplift Mercenary Force, and Rebel Freedom Fighters flip to find military worlds instead. Except for Uplift Mercenary Force, they do not need positive credit to Settle on response.
• Uplift Mercenary Force receives draws based on the number of worlds in its tableau.
• Rebel Freedom Fighters gains 1 prestige each time it places a Rebel world but can never place (or match on) any IMPERIUM IMPERIUM cards.
• The Rebel Cantina flips to find either non-military or military worlds (whichever it finds first) when it settles.
• The Alien Research Team places only Alien worlds, either military or non-military, on its Settle action; on response, it places either an Alien military world or any non-military world, whichever it finds first.
• On response, Alpha Centauri does not need positive credit to Settle.
• On Doomed World's first Settle action: flip from the draw pile (not its draw stack) until a 3 or more VP non-military world is found, place it, and increase its credit by 2 and its economy size by 1. Discard this mat counter and the Doomed World start world from its tableau.

Consume

• Consume: Trade action (robot): Increases the robot's credit by 2 and gives it VP chips equal to its current economy size.
• Consume: 2x VPs action (robot): Gives the robot VP chips equal to twice its current economy size and then increases the robot's economy size by 1.
• Both Consume actions selected by robot: Gives the robot VP chips equal to twice its current economy size and then increases its credit by 2 and its economy size by 1.
• Consume response (robot, if any Consumes chosen were selected only by the player): Gives the robot VP chips equal to its current economy size.
• Old Earth, after its first Trade action: replaces its "robot =" counter with a new one and discards its mat counter.
• Damaged Alien Factory, after every Trade action, if its "robot =" counter is currently a specific symbol, flips it over to its other side.
• The Alien Research Team gains +1 credit on Trade and, if it has at least one Alien world in its tableau stack, 1 prestige on Consume 2x (but no increase to its economy size).

Produce

• Produce action (robot): Increases the robot's current economy size by 1.
• Produce response (robot): The robot does nothing.
• Damaged Alien Factory, after every Produce action, if its "robot =" counter is currently a specific symbol, flips it over to its other side.
• Rebel Cantina and Galactic Scavengers increase their credits by 1 on Produce.

Robot Mechanics

• Robot's Hand: Represented by a face-down stack of cards. Cards are flipped over during play and either added to its tableau stack or discarded.
• Robot's Tableau: A stack of face-up cards, initially containing just its start world. Only the number of cards in the stack and their VPs matter. 6 or 9 cost development counters gained during play also count as "cards" in this stack.
• Robot's Goods: The robot's tableau never holds any goods. Its credit and economy size tracks abstractly model its Trade and Consume actions.
• Robot Draws: To "draw" for the robot means to shift the specified number of cards from the draw pile to the robot's draw stack without looking at them.
• Tracks: The robot's credit and economy size are marked by tracks. Its maximum credit is 4 and its maximum economy size is 5; increases beyond these numbers have no effect.
• Flip to Find: Flip over cards one at a time from the robot's draw stack, discarding all non-matching cards, until either the desired type of card is found or the robot's draw stack is exhausted.
• Place: Put the matching card on top of the robot's tableau stack.

Prestige and the Robot

When using The Brink of War cards and prestige rules:

• The robot earns 1 prestige by placing a card with a prestige symbol.
• If the robot is either the Alien Research Team or Rebel Freedom Fighters, it can also gain prestige as shown on their tiles.
• The robot can tie for or become the Prestige Leader normally, gaining those benefits at the start of the round.
• If the robot is the Prestige Leader and earned prestige in the previous round, it gains 1 VP chip, 1 card (in its stack), and increases its credit by 1.
• Each prestige chip held by the robot is worth 1 VP at game end.
• The robot never chooses search or a prestige bonus action.

Fim de Jogo e Pontuação

The game ends normally at the end of a round if any of these conditions are met:

• Your or the robot's tableau contains 12 or more cards. Any placed 6-cost development counters count as 1 card each towards the robot's tableau total.
• The 24 VP chips are exhausted (use extra VP chips to finish out the round if needed).
• When using The Brink of War cards and prestige rules, if either you or the robot has 15 or more prestige.

Scoring

To determine the winner, add up the scores:

1. Add the robot's VP chips.
2. When using The Brink of War cards, add the robot's prestige chips.
3. Add the robot's tableau VPs.
4. Score each 6-cost development card or counter as either 6 or 9 VPs, depending on the selected game difficulty.

If a tie occurs, the robot's final credits plus its economy size is its tie-breaker value. Your tie-breaker value remains cards in hand plus goods (as in the standard game).

Dicas para Vencer

Consulte o manual para detalhes sobre esta seção.