How to Play Star Trek: Captain's Chair – To Boldly Go

Objective of the Game

In Star Trek: Captain's Chair – To Boldly Go, you are an aspiring young cadet at Starfleet Academy in the last decade of the 32nd century. You're participating in a simulation of the past millennium, taking on the role of a famous captain and their crew. Your goal is to recruit new friends and allies, analyze strange lifeforms, survey or conquer neutral planets, and manage your resources.

The game is an asymmetric, thematic deck-building experience. At the end of the game, the player with the most VP (Victory Points) wins, usually. However, if the game ends due to "the Burn," the player with fewer INCIDENT cards (in hand, in play, Discard pile, Draw deck, or Captain’s Log—but not their Reserve deck) wins. In case of a tie during the Burn, final scoring determines the winner.

Preparation (Setup)

1. Place the Market strip in the middle of the table, perpendicularly between the two players.
2. Separate all common cards (those without a deck icon) into seven decks based on their suits: PERSON, CARGO, SHIP, ALLY, ENCOUNTER, INCIDENT, LOCATION.
3. Put the Location deck aside. Shuffle each of the other six decks. Place the four MARKET decks (PERSON, CARGO, SHIP, and ALLY) facedown on the four indicated spaces above the Market strip.
4. Place the Encounter deck facedown above the Market decks, rotated sideways.
5. Place the Incident deck facedown to one side of the Market strip.
6. Leave space on the other side of the Market strip to be used as the Junk pile.
7. Reveal one card from each of the four Market decks, and place them faceup below their corresponding decks, below the Market strip.
8. Separate the Location deck into STARTING LOCATIONS and ADVANCED LOCATIONS based on the position indicator at the bottom of each card. Shuffle all Advanced Locations and place them facedown below the Market, perpendicular to it.
9. Shuffle the Starting Locations. Without revealing it, place one card from the Starting Locations on top of the Advanced Locations; this will be referred to as the Location deck going forward.
10. Draw 3 more Starting Locations and reveal them. Create a faceup row of them, going outwards from the Location deck (away from the Market); this will be referred to as the Neutral Zone. Return all remaining Starting Locations to the box.
11. Find all Stardate cards appropriate for a two-player game (marked “2-PLAYER”), and sort them based on the sequence number (top-right), with the #1 card on top and the highest-numbered card on the bottom. Place this pile faceup near the Market. Return all other Stardate cards to the box.
12. Create a supply of Dilithium, Latinum, and Glory tokens within both players’ reach.
13. Place the indicated number of Glory tokens on the visible Stardate card.
14. Both players choose a Crew deck to play with and take all cards and the Crew board of that Crew deck.
15. Create a supply of all Ship tokens belonging to common ships and ships of both chosen Crew decks. Return all other Ship tokens belonging to unused captains to the box.
16. Give both players 3 Action tokens and 3 Mission Completion tokens. Place the remaining 3 Action tokens in the supply.
17. Randomly determine the starting player, and give them the Starting Player token.

Player Setup

1. Place your Crew board to the left side of your player area. Select whether you’ll be playing on the Basic or the Advanced side of your Crew board. Place 3 Specialty markers on the zero space of all of your Specialty tracks. If playing on the Basic side, return two of your three Mission Completion tokens to the box.
2. Separate your Crew deck based on the position indicator (or lack thereof) at the bottom of each card: INCIDENT DECK, DEPLOYED, CONTROLLED LOCATION, DEVELOPMENT, RESERVE, AVAILABLE, DISCARD. Your Captain card (and possibly a Status card) does not have a position indicator.
3. Place your Captain card to the right of your Crew board. Leave an empty space above this card (for your Duty Officer).
4. If you have a Status card, place it above your Crew board.
5. Shuffle all your AVAILABLE cards, and create a facedown deck of them; this is your Draw deck. Place the Draw deck below your Captain card.
6. Place all of your DEVELOPMENT cards in a faceup pile, above your Crew board (and to the left of your Status card, if any). These cards form your Development pile.
7. Shuffle all your RESERVE cards, and place them in a facedown deck on top of your Development pile, rotated sideways to it. This is your Reserve deck.
8. If you have one or more CONTROLLED LOCATION cards, place them faceup to the right of your Duty Officer space. This row of cards is known as your Location Area.
9. If you have one or more DEPLOYED cards, place them faceup to the right of your Captain. This row of cards is known as your Fleet Area. For deployed SHIP, find the corresponding Ship token from the supply, and place it on the card itself.
10. If you have one or more cards marked INCIDENT DECK, shuffle them into the Incident deck created during the Central setup.
11. If you have one or more cards marked DISCARD, place them in a pile faceup on the far side of your Staging Area. This is your Discard pile.
12. Take 1 Dilithium, 1 Latinum, and 1 Glory from the supply (not from the Stardate card), to form your personal resource pool. Place it near your Crew board (along with your action tokens).
13. Place the indicated number of Away Team tokens onto your Captain card. Return any remaining tokens to the box. Each player should use Away Team tokens of a different color.
14. Draw 5 cards from your Draw deck into your hand. This is your starting hand (and your default hand size).

The player with the Starting Player token takes the first turn.

Fluxo do Jogo

Play alternates between players, with each player completely resolving all four steps of their turn before passing play over to the other player. Players keep taking turns until the end of the game is triggered.

Turn Structure

A player’s turn has four steps in the following order:

1. RESUPPLY Step
2. CONTROL Step
3. ACTION Step
4. CLEAN-UP Step

Resources

There are three types of resources: Dilithium, Latinum, and Glory.

• When gaining resources, take the indicated number of tokens of the specified type and move them to your resource pool (or to the card in question).
• For Latinum or Dilithium tokens, take them from the supply. For Glory tokens, take them from the topmost Stardate card. Once a Resolution has been triggered, take Glory from the supply instead.
• When spending resources, return the indicated number of tokens of the specified type from your resource pool to the supply. You may not spend resources from cards you have in play. If you are unable to spend the required resources, you cannot resolve that operation.
• Glory tokens in your resource pool can be used to pay for costs:
  • When spending Dilithium, you may instead spend any amount of Glory as if each were worth 1 Dilithium.
  • When spending Latinum, you may instead spend any amount of Glory as if each were worth 2 Latinum. No change is given.
• You cannot convert between Dilithium or Latinum and spend resources in lieu of one another unless explicitly permitted by an effect.
• LOCATION cards are the usual source of resources.

Resupply Step

Some cards will have RESUPPLY operations. In the order of your choosing, trigger every RESUPPLY operation you have in play (excluding beamed cards). All effects are mandatory unless indicated otherwise. It is most likely you will have no RESUPPLY operations to resolve on your first turn.

Control Step

A neutral LOCATION is secured by you if you have at least 3 tokens there, and at least 2 more than your opponent. These tokens can be Ship tokens and Away Teams in any combination. If, during this step, you have one or more secured neutral LOCATION, you may take control of one of them. The procedure to take control is as follows:

1. Your opponent gains 1 Glory for each token (Away Team or Ship) they have at that LOCATION.
2. All Away Teams at that LOCATION (yours and theirs) are removed (returned to their respective CAPTAIN cards), and all Ships (yours and theirs) are dismissed (move their cards to the Discard pile and return their standees to the supply).
3. Move the Location card from the Neutral Zone to your Location Area, then immediately resolve its CONTROL operation.
4. Refill the Neutral Zone to three by drawing and revealing the next card from the Location deck, if possible.

Action Step

The bulk of gameplay revolves around resolving various card operations for their effects. The two most common types of operations you will be using during this Step are PLAY operations and ACTIVATION operations. You are not limited in the number of operations you can resolve, however you are limited to 3 actions you can take on a turn. If a chosen operation starts with an action icon, then resolving the operation requires you to spend one of your 3 available actions for the turn. When you spend an action, place one of your action tokens (with its spent side up) on the card as a reminder. If you do not have an available action token, you cannot resolve such an operation.

• All effects of a resolved operation are mandatory, unless preceded by “may.” If a cost cannot be paid, you cannot resolve that operation. If a non-cost effect cannot be resolved, skip it. Costs consist of spending resources or any effect “A” in a “do A to do B” sentence.
• Any operation preceded by the word ATTACK indicates that some part negatively affects your opponent. If an ATTACK operation forces your opponent to select an effect, they must choose one they can fully resolve. The presence of “ATTACK” does not change whether or not an operation requires you to spend an action.

Clean-Up Step

The Clean-up Step is broken into a few substeps:

1. CLEAN-UP OPERATIONS
2. STARDATE RESOLUTION
3. GLORY PLACEMENT
4. DISCARD, DRAW & REFRESH

Clean-Up Operations

Some cards will have CLEAN-UP operations. In the order of your choosing, trigger every CLEAN-UP operation you have in play (excluding beamed cards, but including cards in your Staging Area). All effects are mandatory unless indicated otherwise.

Emptying a Stardate Card

If gaining a Glory causes a Stardate card to empty, immediately execute any "When emptied" effect on the Stardate card, which usually instructs you to put the card in the inactive player's Staging Area. Then add the number of Glory tokens indicated to the new topmost Stardate card from the supply. Then, continue gaining Glory if necessary. The player who received the Stardate card places it in their Staging Area where it remains until the Stardate Resolution substep of their Clean-up Step. Exception: If the final Stardate card empties, do not refill it with Glory tokens. The final Stardate card being empty is a reminder that a Resolution has now been triggered. Continue gaining further Glory from the supply.

Stardate Resolution

If you have been given a Stardate card during the other player’s previous turn, resolve its “Stardate Resolution” effect now. Wiping the Market means returning all resource tokens from cards in the Market to the supply and then placing all 4 Market cards into the Junk pile. Reveal one replacement card for each wiped card, if possible. If the Stardate card instructs you to wipe the Neutral Zone as well, remove any neutral LOCATION with no tokens (no Ships, no Away Teams) on it from the game, and draw replacements. Any neutral LOCATION with one or more Ship tokens or Away Teams remains untouched. Return the resolved Stardate card to the box.

Glory Placement

Take a Glory token from the current Stardate card and place it on one of the four cards in the Market. Each card can have any number of tokens on it. If this empties the current Stardate, give it to the other player, the same way as you would if you emptied it by gaining Glory during your turn. If a Resolution has already been triggered, take the Glory token from the supply instead.

Discard Cards

Move all cards from your Staging Area to your Discard pile. You may discard any number of cards remaining in your hand. Cards in your Location and Fleet Areas remain in play, along with your Duty Officer(s).

Draw to Hand Size

Then, draw cards from your Draw deck until you have reached your current hand size (typically five). If you have equal or more cards in your hand than your hand size, you do not have to discard any of them, you simply don’t draw any. Hand size is not a hand limit.

Refresh Exhausted Cards, Reset Action Tokens

Finally, refresh all of your exhausted cards in play (your CAPTAIN, your Duty Officer(s), any deployed SHIP, controlled LOCATION, etc.). Reset your action tokens so that you have 3 of them—on the available side—in your personal pool. Return to the supply any excess tokens you might have gained during your turn.

Ações e Como Jogar

Play Operations

During your Action Step, you may play any number of cards from your hand. When you play a card, place it into your Staging Area, then resolve exactly one of its PLAY operations (shown on white background) entirely. If you cannot resolve any of its PLAY operations, you cannot play the card. Once you finish resolving a PLAY operation, the card in question stays in your Staging Area unless one of the card’s effects explicitly instructs you to move it somewhere else (e.g., deploy it, log it, or promote it).

• A small number of cards do not have PLAY operations, but instead show “THIS CARD CANNOT BE PLAYED.” This means you cannot put it from your hand to your Staging Area during your Action Step.

Table Operations

You can use table operations on cards such as a deployed SHIP, a deployed ONGOING, a controlled LOCATION, or a PERSON in the Duty Officer slot, if they are in play, but not in your Staging Area or beamed. There are three types of table operations:

• ACTIVATION