GOAL

Terraform a planet to preserve the future of humanity! Earn points for your corporation by laying the tetris-like infrastructure on your planet efficiently to advance your resource track and by rescuing lifepods, removing meteor debris and completing objectives. Whose will be the best? Planet Unknown.

Instructions are for a standard 3-6 player game, with variant descriptions at the end.

COMPONENTS and SETUP

The game consists mainly of:

- SPACE STATION ~ A 2-tier lazy susan filled with polyomino-shaped tiles.

- POLYOMINOS ~ Tetris-shaped tiles of varying sizes and shapes. All tiles have 2 colors on them.

- PLANET ~ Everyone receives an identical player board bearing a planet. The planet features a grid to be terraformed (filled) with tiles, 6 barrel-shaded lifepods to rescue, and blue water features to irrigate. Gold medallions around the planet show how much each row and column are worth if completely terraformed.

- RESOURCE TRACKS ~ The player board also shows 5 resource tracks on the right-hand side. Everyone's board is the same and their tracks all start at zero.

- OBJECTIVE CARDS ~ At the top of the player board are 3 objectives and everyone's progress toward them.

- STATION COMMANDER TOKEN ~ The golden commander wings rotate clockwise each round to indicate start player.

Additional elements are described below.

TURN

1. The start player may rotate the lazy susan space station until the polyomino depot of their choice is facing them.

2. Players simultaneously draft 1 of the 2 polyomino tiles available from the depot facing them.

3. Players simultaneously place their polyomino tile on their planet according to placement rules, adding a meteorite token if the corresponding symbol is present on their tile.

4. Players simultaneously advance resource track markers based on the colors of the polyomino tile they placed, receiving the benefit of their progress.

5. Start player marker moves clockwise and a new round begins.

POLYOMINO TILE PLACEMENT

The first polyomino tile of the game must be placed within the planet's grid so its edge touches the grid's border.

Additional tiles must be orthogonally adjacent to a pre-existing tile.

All tiles must be placed fully within the planet's grid and cannot overlap or cover other polyomino tiles.

Tiles can be rotated and flipped prior to placement.

Meteorites ~

Some polyomino tiles depict a meteor symbol. When placed on the planet, a meteorite token is placed with it. You must remove the meteorites with your rover in order to score points for the rows and columns you complete. The meteors can also be worth points at the end of the game.

Lifepods ~

Collecting the barrel-shaped lifepods with your rover earns you extra points, but be careful ~ placing a polyomino tile on a lifepod destroys it!

RESOURCE TRACKS/TILE COLORS

Every polyomino tile bears 2 colors. The colors correspond to those on the resource tracks. Everytime you place a polyomino tile on the planet, you get to move up the resource tracks that correspond in color.

Each of the 5 resource tracks provides a unique benefit, which you claim as soon as the marker reaches a milestone icon. Advance strategically to create synergistic combos!

BLACK Track / Tiles (Civ) ~

When you reach a DOME icon on the Civ track, select a Civ Card for an immediate or end of game bonus. You will receive the card after all players have placed a tile and moved their track markers.

If multiple players reach a Civ milestone in the same round, players select cards in clockwise order starting with the current start player.

BLUE Track / Tiles (Water) ~

The water track is only advanced when you lay the blue portion of a polyomino on a blue space on the planet. You can place blue tiles anywhere on the planet, but they only advance the water track when placed over the water squares on the planet.

Water does not provide a unique benefit but is worth the most points.

GREEN Track / Tiles (Biomass) ~

When you reach a TREE icon, gain a Biomass Patch to immediately place on the planet following normal placement rules.

• Biomass Patches do NOT advance the track when placed on the planet. They only help to fill in space.

RED Track / Tiles (Rover) ~

When you reach a VEHICLE ICON on the rover track, place a rover token onto the polyomino tile that triggered it.

• It may be placed on a meteorite if desired.

• It does not need to be placed on the red portion of the tile.

When you reach a NUMBER on the Rover track, move your rover(s) on the planet a combined amount equal to the track number.

• The movement can be split between multiple rovers, such as moving 1 rover 2 spaces and another 1 space instead of moving 1 rover 3 spaces.

• Rovers only move orthogonally (i.e. horizontal and vertical)

• Rovers can move anywhere on the planet. They are not restricted to moving only on polyomino tiles.

• When a Rover enters a space with either a Lifepod or Meteor, the component is collected.

If you reach the top of the Rover Track, you continue to be able to move the rover when red tiles are placed.

If a tile or biomass patch is placed on the rover, the rover is destroyed.

GRAY Track / Tiles (Tech) ~

Milestones on this track unlock permanent abilities that apply for the rest of the game:

LEVEL 1 ~ You don't have to place your tiles next to an existing tile. Place them anywhere on the board.

LEVEL 2 ~ You can store Biomass Patches and place them at the end of the game.

LEVEL 3 ~ Rovers move 1 extra space.

LEVEL 4 ~ Move 2 spaces up the Water track everytime triggered by normal tile placement.

LEVEL 5 ~ No longer place meteorites on the board.

TAN Tiles (Energy) ~

There is no track for Energy. Instead, when you place a polyomino with a tan square, advance any one track whose color borders the tan squares on the tile you just placed.

• You may even advance the track of the other color on the polyomino tile you just placed. This effectively allows you to advance that track twice!

In addition to milestone icons, each resource track bears the following symbols:

• GOLD MEDALLIONS - Players receive points at the end of the game for the highest victory point medallion reached on EACH track.

• MULTI-COLOR SWIRLS - Immediately move a resource marker up one step on ANY resource track.

If your tile reaches the top of a track, you receive the maximum points for the track. Future tiles in that color have no effect (except for the red rover).

END OF GAME

The final round is triggered either when

• the last polyomino is taken from any of the depots on the lazy susan, leaving the depot empty -OR-

• a player cannot place a tile.

If your tile cannot be placed on the planet, you get to choose a tile anyway and advance track markers corresponding to the tile's colors.

After all players have advanced their track markers, any biomass patches should be placed and end game bonuses activated.

SCORING

• 1-3 points for COMPLETED ROWS AND COLUMNS on the planet that have NO METEORS in them. The amount of points earned is shown in the medallions around the perimeter of the planet.

• RESOURCE TRACK points for each track, equal to the highest-value medallion your marker covers or has passed.

• 1 point per LIFEPOD collected. Lifepods destroyed by tile placement are not scored.

• 1 point per 3 METEORITES collected.

• Points from End Game CIV CARDS.

• 5 points per OBJECTIVE CARD whose goal you met.

The player with the most points wins!

If tied, the player with the least empty spaces on their planet wins! If still tied, the player with the fewest meteorites left on their planet is the winner.

VARIANTS

2-PLAYER

• The space station rotates ONE SPACE CLOCKWISE each turn. All other rules are the same.

SOLO

• You have 3 private objects instead of 3 public objectives. During setup, choose 1 objective card to DISCARD.

• The space station rotates one space clockwise each turn.

• The preliminary target score for the solo game is 60 medals, and your final target score is adjusted based on the composition of the event deck.

PRIVATE OBJECTIVES

• Each player chooses one private objective card. On BGA, you are selecting the card to DISCARD. If you meet the card's goal, it'll earn you 5 points at the end of the game.

EVENT DECK

Each round a random event card is drawn, simulating the hardships and lucky breaks encountered in the course of terraforming a planet.

• Events must be executed by all players possible.

• All actions on the card must be carried out, if possible.

• When the last card in the event deck is played, that is the last round of the game. There are 20 event cards in the deck.

ASYMMETRIC CORPORATIONS

Player boards offer different player abilities that you can level up during the game. They also come with special limitations.

ASYMMETRIC PLANETS

Each player develops a unique planet:

• K-273 ~ It's unique challenge is its ice. Your tiles must be placed 100% on ice or 100% on land portions of the planet. The tile may not overlap both terrain types.

• GAIA ~ Score 2 points for each city on your planet that isn't covered by a tile, but score completed rows and columns per usual rules.

• PERSEPHONE ~ The planet is divided into 4 quadrants, each with one restricted resource. You must try not to place that resource type anywhere in that quadrant.

• ARASHI ~ The ringed planet. The ring covers the longest 2 rows on the planet. Every tile placed on the planet's ring must have at least one square outside the ring. Biomass patches can't be place on the ring.

• PETRA ~ Electrical currents run across the planet, but there is no ice anywhere. Treat the currents as energy terrain for tile placement.

• TARTARUS ~ An impassable chasm cuts across the planet. Rovers cannot move across it unless they have special diagonal movement tech.

• CHARYBDIS ~ Start your terraforming at the giant pit in the center of the grid instead of on the outer border.

• K'AAX ~ Toxic terrain dots the surface of the planet. The spaces must be terraformed before your rover can travel on them.

• PAJITNOV (The creator of Tetris, 1984) ~ Tiles must be able to slide into place, from any any direction, instead of being dropped onto the planet. Biomass patches, however, can be placed as normal.

• OBLIVION ~ Lay water tiles over the ice masses at the corners to advance the track. Treat areas outside of the grid as if they do not exist when scoring.

• CERBERUS ~ A cluster of 3 planets. Gain 2 bonus points for each planet that your tiles completely cover. Treat areas outside of the grid as if they do not exist, for scoring purposes.

• LACUNA ~ A fractured planet. You many not place tiles over the holes. Treat the holes as if they do not exist when scoring.