Back to the Future: An Adventure Through Time Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• STORY
• GOAL
• COMPONENTS
• SETUP
• OVERVIEW
  • On Your Turn
• SELECT A ROLE
• TAKE ACTIONS
  • Time Travel with the DeLorean
  • Play a Character
  • Complete an Event
• DRAW CARDS
• GAME END
• SCORING
• CLOCK TOWER TOKENS
• ROUND END
• "B" SIDE OF EVENTS
  • 1955 Event Effects
  • 1985 Event Effects
  • 2015 Event Effects
• DESCRIPTION OF ROLES
• ANATOMY OF A CHARACTER CARD

STORY

In the 1980s movie classic Back to the Future, small-town California teen Marty McFly is thrown back into the '50s when an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend, Doc Brown, goes awry. Traveling through time in a modified DeLorean car, Marty encounters young versions of his parents and must make sure they fall in love, or he'll cease to exist. Even more daunting, Marty has to return to his own time and save the life of Doc Brown.

GOAL

In Back to the Future: An Adventure Through Time, the space-time continuum is a mess. Your goal is to earn points by completing events involving the Back to the Future characters—who are displaced from their proper timelines—thereby balancing the continuum. To do so, you'll send the DeLorean back and forth in time and play characters in their correct year, using the cards in your hand as Characters, Power, and Time. Whoever scores the most points wins.

COMPONENTS

• 4 Player mats
• 8 Clock Tower tokens
• 9 Victory Point tokens
• 4 Ripple Pile tokens
• 1 Start Player marker
• 1 DeLorean tracker
• 3 Year tiles (1955, 1985, 2015)
• 80 Character cards
• 12 Event cards
• 6 Role tiles

SETUP

• Place the 3 Year tiles (1955, 1985, 2015) in the center of the play area.
• Place the DeLorean on the 1985 tile.
• Randomly select 3 Event cards from each year, and place them with their "A" side face-up in stacks above their corresponding Year tiles. Put unused Event cards back in the box.
  • For Two-Person Play: Only place TWO Event cards above 1955.
  • Experienced players may choose to use the "B" side of the events.
• Stack the Victory Point tokens in face-up descending order next to the corresponding Year tiles.
• Place the Clock Tower tokens in a pile near the play area.
• Place the 6 Role tiles face-up near the play area.
• Give each player 1 Player mat and 1 Ripple Pile token.
• Shuffle the Character cards into a facedown deck, and deal four cards to each player. Place the deck facedown in the center of the play area, leaving space next to it for a discard pile.
• Randomly determine who will be the starting player (we suggest the person born closest to October 26th, naturally), and give them the Start Player marker.

Beginner game: For an easier game experience, players may treat all characters as Infinity characters. Ignore the year on the Character cards when playing characters.

OVERVIEW

The game is played in a series of rounds. In each round, players take their turns in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player. When all players have taken a turn, the round is over; reset for the next round by putting all selected Role tiles back into the available pool. For each new round, pass the Start Player marker to the left.

On Your Turn

1. Select a Role
2. Take Actions
   • Time Travel
   • Play a Character
   • Complete an Event
3. Draw Cards

SELECT A ROLE

To select a role, take one of the Role tiles from the available pool, and place it in front of you. That role will not be available to other players for this round, and all roles are returned to the pool at round end. Each role contains a special ability and also defines which Character cards you may play this round.

There are six roles: Marty, Doc, George, Lorraine, Biff, and Jennifer.

Two-Player Rules: The starting player selects a second Role tile and takes another turn after the other player has selected a role and taken their turn. Then the round ends. Thus, with two players, three of the six roles are chosen each round: starting player, opponent, starting player.

TAKE ACTIONS

After you have selected your role, you may take any of the following actions, in any order, and as many times as you are able:

Time Travel with the DeLorean

You have to time travel (i.e., move the DeLorean) between the different years in order to play characters and complete events. Each move costs three Power. To make a move, discard any combination of Character cards that equal three Power, and then move the DeLorean to any year: 1955, 1985, or 2015.

Play a Character

You can only play a character in the year the DeLorean is currently in, and you can only play characters with a character symbol matching the role you selected this round.

Note: Jennifer allows you to play any character. Each character has a year listed on the card and can only be played in that particular year. Characters with the infinity symbol (∞) may be played in any year.

To play a character in a specific year, place the card from your hand face-up on the side of your Player mat corresponding to that year. You must be able to pay the associated costs:

• You must pay the amount of Time shown on the Character card you played by discarding other Character cards from your hand. Add the discarded cards to the Discard pile. You may pay more than shown if needed, but no change is given.
• You must pay the Ripple cost by placing your other Character cards from your hand facedown in a pile in front of you and placing the Ripple Pile token on top of the used cards.
  • Playing a character in 1955 has a Ripple cost of 2.
  • Playing a character in 1985 has a Ripple cost of 1.
  • Playing a character in 2015 has a Ripple cost of 0.

Each Character card placed under your Ripple Pile token to pay a Ripple cost will be worth points at the end of the game.

Example: Player 1 selected George as his role for this turn. The DeLorean is in 1985, so he pays three Power by discarding a Doc Character card and then moves the DeLorean to 1955. Player 1 plays a George/Lorraine Character card in 1955, paying the two Time by discarding a Marty Character card. Finally, he pays the Ripple cost by placing two cards under his Ripple Pile token.

Complete an Event

To complete an event, the DeLorean must be in the year that the event takes place. You also must have all characters required for the event played in that year. In addition, you must have at least one character played in all three years.

After completing an event, take the top Event card and Victory Point token from the corresponding stacks (revealing the next Event card and Victory Point token), and then discard all three Character cards you used to complete the event.

Example: The DeLorean is in 1955 and Player 1 has Marty, Lorraine, and George played in 1955, as well as at least one character in 1985 and one character in 2015. Therefore, Player 1 may claim the top Event card from 1955. Player 1 discards his Marty, Marty/Lorraine, and George/Lorraine Character cards from 1955 and takes the corresponding Event card and Victory Point token.

Discard these cards to complete the 1955 event shown.

DRAW CARDS

At the end of your turn, draw a number of Character cards based on which year the DeLorean is currently in:

• 1955 = 0 Character cards
• 1985 = 1 Character card
• 2015 = 2 Character cards

If the Draw deck runs out at any time, shuffle the Discard pile, and place it facedown to replenish the Draw deck.

GAME END

When any two stacks of Event cards are empty, the end of the game is triggered. Finish the current round. When that round is finished, the game is over.

In the unlikely situation the Draw deck AND Discard pile are exhausted, the game ends immediately.

SCORING

Each player totals the points they earned from Victory Point tokens (10-18 points each), Character cards still in play (1-3 points each), rippled Character cards placed under their Ripple Pile token (1-3 points each), and unspent Clock Tower tokens (1 point each). The player with the most total points wins!

If there is a tie, the tied player with the most points from completed events wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with the most Character cards still in play wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

CLOCK TOWER TOKENS

If you did not play a character or complete an event on your turn, you may take one Clock Tower token from the supply before ending your turn.

A Clock Tower token is worth either three Power or two Time and may be spent at any time on your turn (including the same turn you received it, but only to move the DeLorean). To spend a Clock Tower token, return it to the supply. Clock Tower tokens are worth one victory point at game end.

You may not use a Clock Tower token to play a Character card on the same turn in which you took it.

ROUND END

At round end, each player returns their role(s) to the supply, and the Start Player marker is passed to the left.

"B" SIDE OF EVENTS

If you choose to use the "B" side of the events, each event has an effect that applies to the year the event is in while the event is in play. The effect applies to you while you are in that year (i.e., the DeLorean is in that year).

The effect applies until the event is completed. When an event is completed and removed from play, the effect on the next event is immediately active.

1955 Event Effects

• Draw 1: At turn end, you draw one Character card instead of zero.
• All characters cost -2 Time: When paying the Time to play characters in 1955, they cost two Time less than the cost on the card. So a Character card that costs one or two Time would be free. A character that costs three Time would only cost one Time.
• You may take a Clock Tower token even if you played a character or completed an event: At turn end, you may still draw a Clock Tower token even if you played a character or completed an event this turn. This does NOT allow you to take two Clock Tower tokens.
• You may ignore the second Ripple when playing a character: After playing a character in 1955, you may choose to only pay the Ripple cost between 1955 and 1985, skipping the second Ripple card between 1985 and 2015. However, you may pay the second Ripple if you so choose.

1985 Event Effects

• No effect: No effect is active while this event is in play.
• You must draw your Ripple from the deck: Instead of playing a card from your hand to pay the Ripple cost between 1985 and 2015, you draw a card from the deck and use it instead.
• You may pay a second Ripple card: When playing a card from your hand to pay the Ripple cost between 1985 and 2015, you may choose to Ripple a second card as well.
• Draw 2, keep 1: At turn end, instead of drawing one card, you draw two cards and decide which to keep. The other card is discarded.

2015 Event Effects

• No effect: No effect is active while this event is in play.
• Draw 3, keep 2: At turn end, instead of drawing two cards, you draw three cards and decide which two to keep. The other card is discarded.
• When you play a character, you must pay a Ripple backwards in time: After playing a character in 2015, you must pay the Ripple cost between 2015 and 1985 (one card).
• After drawing cards, the DeLorean moves to 1955: At turn end, after you have drawn two cards, immediately move the DeLorean to 1955. Your turn is over, so the effect in 1955 is not applied to you, and no more actions can be taken.

DESCRIPTION OF ROLES

• Marty: If you choose Marty, you may play one Character card with a Marty symbol without paying the Time. You must still pay the Ripple as required. You may play additional Character cards as normal.
• Doc: If you choose Doc, you may move the DeLorean once during your turn without paying three Power. You may move the DeLorean additional times as needed but must pay three Power as normal.
• Lorraine: If you choose Lorraine, during your turn, you may move any one of your played Character cards between adjacent years. To do this, select any Character card you have in play, and move it around your Player mat from one year to another. You may move a card from either 1955 to 1985, 2015 to 1985, or 1985 to 2015 or 1955.
• George: If you choose George, immediately draw one Character card from the deck. You may then choose to discard any card from your hand, including the card just drawn, and draw another card.
• Biff: If you choose Biff, immediately steal one Character card from any other player.
• Jennifer: If you choose Jennifer, you may play any Character cards regardless of the character symbols on the card. The first character you play costs one less Time than shown on the card.

ANATOMY OF A CHARACTER CARD

• Clock icons: The Clock icons represent Time, both as a cost to play the card and as a resource to play OTHER cards. The cost to play this card is three Time, which you would pay by discarding any number of Character cards until you reach or exceed three.
• Name: Character cards will have one or two names on them. To play that Character card, you must have selected the corresponding role that matches one of the names on the card (unless you've selected the Jennifer role).
• Year: This shows which year you can play this Character card in. Character cards may only enter play in the year shown on the card; however, they may be moved during play.
• VP: The Victory Point icons show how many points you will earn if this Character card is in your Ripple deck. Cards used to pay the Ripple cost of another Character card are placed under your Ripple Pile token and are scored at the end of the game.
• Power: It takes three Power to move the DeLorean through time. The lit sections of the Flux Capacitor indicate how much Power a card is worth. To move the DeLorean, you may discard any number of Character cards to reach or exceed three Power.
• Ripple Cost: (see the example below)

Example of Ripple: Player 1 wants to play a Doc Character card in 1955. This causes a ripple through each timeline after 1955 (1985 and 2015 in this case). To offset playing the Doc Character card, Player 1 must also pay a ripple cost of one Character card per future timeline into his Ripple pile. To do this, Player 1 places two cards of his choice underneath his Ripple Pile token.