Race for the Galaxy Game Rules

Hey there! I’m here to tell you all about the exciting game called Race for the Galaxy. It’s a strategy game that challenges your decision-making skills and creativity. Let’s dive into the rules and discover how to play!

In Race for the Galaxy, you and your opponents are leaders of space-faring civilizations. The goal is to build a galactic empire and score the most victory points. Victory points are earned by developing planets, building technological advancements, settling alien worlds, and producing goods.

The game is played with a deck of cards that represent various actions and assets. At the start of each round, you’ll choose which action to take by secretly selecting a card from your hand. Then, all players simultaneously reveal their chosen card, and the actions are resolved in a specific order.

Some actions allow you to explore new cards, while others let you settle planets or produce goods. Each action has its own benefits and can help you gain an advantage over your opponents. You’ll need to carefully consider your options and plan ahead to ensure your civilization thrives.

One interesting mechanic in Race for the Galaxy is the concept of synergy between cards. Certain cards have special abilities that enhance the effects of other cards. This creates strategic opportunities for players to combine different cards and maximize their impact. Finding powerful card combos can give you a significant advantage in the race for victory!

To win the game, you’ll need to balance your focus between different strategies. You can choose to specialize in developing planets, building technological advancements, or settling alien worlds. Each approach has its own benefits and challenges, so it’s important to adapt your tactics based on the cards available and the actions taken by your opponents.

Race for the Galaxy offers endless replayability with its vast array of cards and possibilities. Every game is a new chance to explore the galaxy, make tough decisions, and outsmart your opponents. Can you lead your civilization to victory and become the true ruler of the galaxy?

Now that you know the basic rules of Race for the Galaxy, it’s time to gather your friends, set up the board, and embark on an epic space-faring adventure. May the best leader emerge victorious!

To begin the game, we need to prepare the victory point (VP) chips. Place 12 chips per player in 1 and 5 VP denominations nearby. Keep the 10 VP chips (and any leftover chips) aside for the final round.

Now, it’s time for each player to take their set of seven different action cards.

We also need to find and shuffle the five start worlds. Each player will receive one world, which will form their initial card tableau.

If this is your first game, it’s a little different. For two players, use start worlds 1 and 2. For three players, use start worlds 1-3. And for four players, use start worlds 1-4.

Next, shuffle the unused start worlds together with the game cards. Deal six face-down cards to each player. Take a look at these cards and choose two to discard face-down into the discard pile. The remaining cards will form the initial card supply.

So here’s the deal with your first game: instead of each player searching for cards, you already have a set of four game cards that match your starting world’s number. These are your initial, or preset, hand cards. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything.

Once you’ve got your hands on those preset cards, take all the leftover cards, including any start worlds and preset cards, and shuffle them together. Mix it up!

If Alpha Centauri is part of the game, just place a card from the card supply face down on top of it. This card will be its starting windfall good. Got it? Good.

How to Play the Game

Playing a game consists of multiple rounds, usually between 7 to 11. In each round, we all start by choosing an action card in secrecy and placing it face down in front of ourselves.

Once everyone has chosen, we reveal our action cards. Then, we follow the selected phases in order: Explore, Develop, Settle, Consume, and Produce. It’s important to note that we only perform the phases that have been chosen by at least one player.

Every phase has its own action, and all players perform that action. On top of that, the players who chose that specific phase receive extra benefits.

Here’s a crucial point to remember: if multiple players choose the same phase, we only perform the action once, but all the players who selected that phase will receive the bonus.

When you take an action, you can get a bonus that changes the action in some way. It might make it easier or more powerful, or it might give you an extra benefit after you’re done.

A good strategy is to flip over your action cards for each phase as you finish them. That way, you can keep track of what you’ve already done and plan your next moves.

If you’re new to the game, it can be helpful to put your action cards in the middle of the table in order. That way, you can see what options are available and learn the order of the phases.

At the end of each round, you have to discard down to ten cards in your hand. But don’t worry – you’ll get your action card back! Just make sure to remember which one you played.

The game continues like this, with each round following the same pattern, until the game ends.

Game cards have a variety of uses. First, you can add them to your collection of tableaus, which are like miniature game worlds. They can also be used as a form of currency, allowing you to discard them from your hand when you need to pay for something. Lastly, you can place them face down on a world as a valuable resource or commodity. This can happen when the world is settled or during its production phase.

I. Discover

Alright, here’s what happens when we decide to take the “Explore” action. First, each of us draws two cards. It’s like opening up a treasure chest and seeing what’s inside!

Now, pay close attention because this is where it gets interesting. We both have to pick one card from our draw pile to add to our hand, and the other card gets discarded face down in the middle. Don’t worry, no peeking allowed!

It’s important to note that we have to draw all our cards before we start discarding any. We want to make sure we have a good pool of options to choose from!

Now, let me show you the two possible bonuses we can get during the Explore action, depending on which card we choose:

1. If you chose the “Explore: +5” card, you’ll get to draw an additional five cards. That means you’ll have seven cards in total to pick from! After carefully considering all the options, you can only choose one card to add to your hand.

2. If you chose the “Explore: +1,+1” card, you’ll only draw one more card, but you get to keep two cards in total! That means you’ll draw three cards and choose two of them to add to your hand. It’s like having a mini-collection!

So, here’s the deal: when you choose to Explore, the bonus you pick determines how many cards you can choose from or how many extra cards you get to keep. It all depends on the powers of the cards in your tableau. These cards can change the rules, giving you more card draws or allowing you to hold onto even more cards.

II. Create

Alright, here’s what you need to do:

First, take a development card from your hand and place it face down. If you don’t intend to place a development, that’s fine, you don’t have to.

Once all players have done this, we all turn our cards face up and pay for them. Don’t worry, we’ll do this all at the same time, so no one gets an unfair advantage.

Now, each development card has a symbol that represents its cost. This cost can be anywhere from 1 to 6. To pay for a development card, you’ll need to discard cards from your hand. The number of cards you need to discard is the same as the cost of the development card. But here’s the catch: if you chose the Develop bonus, you only have to discard one card less than what the development card costs.

Oh, and if you have a special power that lets you discard no cards at all, you won’t get the bonus. Sorry about that.

One last thing: you can’t build a development card if you already have a copy of it in your tableau. So make sure you keep track of what you have!

Have you ever noticed a game’s diamond next to its victory points (VP)? Those victory points determine the player’s final score at the end of the game. The 6-cost developments have their victory point values clearly listed. These values can vary and will contribute to your total victory points at the end of the game. Keep in mind that certain cards can change these rules if they are part of your tableau before the development phase begins.

The Powers of Cards

Each development, as well as most worlds, has one or more powers. Some powers are standard and can be identified by icons without any text description. For more detailed powers, you’ll notice icons, highlighted phases, and text descriptions at the bottom of the card, starting with a corresponding phase number. The powers modify the game’s rules and can stack on top of each other. However, each power only affects the rules specifically mentioned in its description, while all other rules still apply.

When I draw a card, it means I add it to my hand. But during the Explore phase, drawing a card means I add it to the cards that I can choose from.

Let’s say a power reduces the cost of something below 0. In that case, the cost becomes 0. However, I don’t get any cards as a “refund”.

A power doesn’t take effect right when its card is placed. It starts taking effect in the next phase. So, for example, if I have the Public Works power, which allows me to draw a card after I build a development, that power doesn’t work for Public Works itself. And unless a power says “may”, I have to use it in the phase where it’s applicable. But I can choose the order in which I use my powers during the Consume phase.

If you need to place a development or world that you’ve chosen and revealed, you must use an optional power like a Colony Ship. Powers are resolved one after the other, even though their effects can add up. You can’t “interrupt” one power with another.

III. Settle

Action: each player puts a world card from their hand facedown, or no card if they don’t want to place a world. Once all players have done this, they simultaneously turn the cards face up and then pay for (or conquer) them. Many worlds have a black number in a black circle, ranging from 0 to 6 – this is the cost. To pay for these worlds, you discard cards face down from your hand that add up to this number.

When you choose the Settle action in this game, you get a bonus. You draw one card right after you place and pay for a world, or after you conquer it. Each world has a circle next to it, and inside that circle is a number – that’s its victory point value. When you add up all your victory points at the end of the game, these values will be included.

There are also special cards in the game that can change the rules for settling if you already have them in your tableau before the settle phase starts.

Windfalls: Some worlds have a special feature called a “halo.” This colored halo tells me that these are windfall worlds where I can find something valuable. When I first settle on one of these worlds, I get to put a good on it.

Here’s how it works: As I place the world into my tableau, I secretly take a card from the supply and put it face down on the lower right corner of the world. I don’t look at the card because it’s more fun to be surprised! This card represents a valuable item that matches the color of the world’s halo.

In the game, there are four different kinds of goods that I can find:

• I have always been fascinated by the idea of alien technology, remnants of an advanced civilization that mysteriously disappeared.
• Genes, the building blocks of life, hold immense value in the field of biological research.
• Rare elements, powerful energy sources like the transuranic elements, are the driving force behind the revolutionary JumpDrive technology.
• And let’s not forget about the wonderful world of novelty goods – exquisite pieces of artwork and captivating entertainment.

Military Conquest: Some worlds are marked with red circles, each enclosing a number from 1 to 7 – a representation of their defense strength. These worlds cannot be acquired through payment but must instead be conquered. To take control of a world, I need to make sure my Military strength matches or surpasses the defense value of that world. Once I do that, I can claim the planet as my own, along with any windfall goods it may offer (if it has a halo). The best part? No need to spend any resources – it’s free! Plus, if I chose the Settle action, I even get to draw a bonus card.

When it comes to the universe, military power is a force that different start worlds and developments grant. It remains in effect until the settle phase concludes. However, some worlds and developments, like the Empath World, actually subtract from a player’s total military strength.

There’s a neat trick to acquiring military worlds: the Contact Specialist. This individual allows you to place and pay for a military world (excluding an Alien military world) at a reduced cost. The cost will be one less than the world’s defense value.

But remember: this reduced cost is not further reduced by a player’s existing military strength. Military and payments never work together to lower the cost.

When it comes to placing military worlds, there are different factors to consider. One option is to take advantage of cost discounts from Replicant Robots, Mining Robots, and other sources. These discounts can be combined with the help of a Contact Specialist, resulting in a reduced cost for placing military worlds. On the other hand, if you have a Colony Ship, you can use a Contact Specialist to place a military world without any cost, as long as it is not an Alien world.

IV: Consume

In this game, we all have a special ability called a “consume power.” During a specific phase in the game, we get to use this power to discard goods and earn victory point chips or draw cards.

Now, each of our consume powers works a bit differently. Some of us can discard multiple goods at once, while others can only discard one specific type of good. There are even a few powers, like Deficit Spending, that allow us to discard cards instead of goods from our hand. And then there are powers like New Economy that don’t require us to discard anything at all; they simply activate during the Consume phase.

When we discard goods, we do it face down without looking at them. It’s important to remember that each good can only be used for one consume power. And it doesn’t matter if the good is on the world that’s being consumed or not.

Consuming is something we all have to do. It’s like a rule we can’t avoid. But the fun part is, we get to choose how we do it. We can mix and match, picking and choosing what to consume in any order we want. The only thing is, sometimes we might have a few leftovers that we could have consumed differently if we had known. It’s like having a puzzle and trying to fit all the pieces together. Each piece can only be used once, so we have to make sure we use it wisely. Some pieces are more powerful than others. They can let us get rid of multiple things at once. And each thing we get rid of has an effect. So we have to make sure we use these powerful pieces to their full potential. We don’t want to waste any of their power. So even if we have some extra things left over, we should still try to use all the power we have.

So here’s the deal: let’s say I have three cool things in my possession – let’s call them novelty goods. And I also have this awesome card called New Vinland, which has a power that lets me consume one of those goods in exchange for two cards. Seems pretty straightforward, right? But wait, there’s more! I also have another card called Free Trade Association (FTA), which lets me consume up to three novelty goods for one Victory Point (VP) and a card each. Now comes the tricky part.

I can’t just consume two goods using FTA’s power and then decide to consume the third novelty good using New Vinland’s power. Nope, it doesn’t work like that. The third novelty good has to be consumed by FTA. It’s like a rule or something. Sure, I could have done it the other way around, but once I use a power, I can’t switch gears and use another power. Once it’s in motion, it’s like an unstoppable force.

Now, there are actually two types of Consume bonuses that can happen, depending on which Consume action card I chose. It’s like a little bonus prize that I get to enjoy. Pretty cool, huh?

$: Trade: If you choose Consume: Trade, you’ll need to sell one of your goods. To do this, you discard the chosen good and draw a specific number of cards based on the type of good you sold. If you sold Alien technology, you’ll draw 5 cards; if you sold Genes, you’ll draw 4 cards; if you sold Rare elements, you’ll draw 3 cards; and if you sold Novelty, you’ll draw 2 cards. Selling goods is only allowed for players who chose Consume: Trade.

When you choose Consume: Trade, you also get to apply any special Trade powers associated with $ to your sale. These powers typically allow you to draw extra cards. However, if you chose Consume: 2x VPs, your victory point chips will be doubled, but none of the other effects from your consume powers will be affected by this doublin

It is important to note that the bonus does not apply to the victory points earned from discarding cards from your hand, such as those obtained through powers like Deficit Spending or Merchant World.

V. Produce

Action: I’ve got to put a good on each production world, the ones with colored, solid circles. But here’s the catch – I have to do it without knowing what the good is. I just take a card from the pile and place it face down on the lower right part of the world. That way, I don’t hide the world’s victory points or powers. Oh, and the good has to match the color of the world’s solid circle.

I can’t put more than one good on the same world. So, I need to make sure I put that good on the lower right part to keep everything visible. Some worlds, like Gem World, give me the bonus of drawing a card when I produce a good. But if there’s already a good on a world, I don’t get to draw any cards.

If I chose to Produce as my bonus action, I can put a good on one of my windfall worlds that doesn’t already have one. Gotta make those windfall worlds productive!

When it comes to cards in the game, there are a few that have special abilities. Take Genetics Lab, for example. This card can actually generate goods on windfall worlds, even without physical goods present. Another example is the Pan-Galactic League, which allows you to draw a card for each world of a specific kind that you have in your tableau. Specifically, it lets you draw cards for either Genes worlds with a green halo or Genes worlds with a green solid circle.

Round End, Cards and Chips

Once all of the phases have been completed, it’s important to discard down to 10 game cards before moving on to the next round. Put your discards face down, and try to keep the discard pile somewhat disorganized so it doesn’t get confused with the card supply.

If the card supply runs out, don’t worry. Simply reshuffle the discards right away to create a fresh card supply.

At the end of the game, all players’ VP chips and the number of game cards they hold are open for examination. Feel free to make change among VP chips as needed.

End of the game

The game comes to an end when the following conditions are met:

• I have 12 cards or more in my card tableau. (In the final round, it’s possible to have more than 12 cards if I place both a development and a world.)
• The last victory point chip is given out.

If there are no more victory point chips, we add 10 VP chips and make change so that we can use them to keep track of the victory points earned in the final consume phase.

We need to calculate the total victory points, including development and world VPs, VP chips, and any end-of-game VPs for 6-cost developments.

The player with the highest total is the winner.

If two or more players have the same highest total, the player with the most cards in hand (after discarding) and goods on worlds wins.

If there is still a tie, then all the tied players are declared winners.