Big Bang 13.7 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• I. The Game
  • Components
  • Gameplay modes
• Cosmic Mode
  • Setting up the game
  • Player's Turns
  • 1. Play one of the four available pieces
  • 2. Moving the Cosmic Clock forward
  • 3. Determining whose turn it is
  • End of the game and points scoring
• II. The Pieces
  • The celestial body tiles
  • The Earth
  • Astronomic Phenomena
    • Black Hole
    • Supernova
    • Worm Hole
  • Special Actions
    • Hyperspace
    • Orbit
    • Eclipse
    • Dark Energy
• III. Other Game Modes
  • Simple Mode
    • Objective
    • Equipment
    • Setting up the game
    • Players' turns
    • End of game and point scoring
  • Solitary Mode
    • Objective
    • Equipment
    • Setting up the game
    • Turns
    • End of game

I. The Game

Components

• 1 initial hexagonal "Big Bang" piece
• 1 reversible board: Cosmic Clock and Scoreboard
• 48 hexagonal celestial body pieces:
  • With various shapes: 12 planets, 12 suns, 12 comets, 12 asteroids.
  • Of various colors: 12 blue, 12 yellow, 12 orange, 12 red.
  • With various backgrounds: 16 of empty space, 16 starry backgrounds, 16 galactic backgrounds.
• 1 hexagonal Earth piece
• 4 hexagonal astronomic phenomena pieces: (blue frame) 1 Black Hole, 1 Supernova, 2 Worm Holes
• 4 hexagonal special actions pieces: (green background) 1 Hyperspace, 1 Orbit, 1 Eclipse, 1 Dark Energy.
• 4 cards with celestial body objective: comet, asteroid, planet and sun
• 4 cards with color objective: red, orange, yellow and blue
• 4 counters of the elements: earth, air, fire and water
• 4 cards identifying the 4 elements
• Reference cards
• 1 rulebook

Gameplay modes

There are two main ways of playing the game, depending on the age of players, the duration of the game, and the complexity desired.

Cosmic Mode: The complete mode, with Astronomic Phenomena, Special Actions and the Cosmic Clock, tailored for more experienced players.

• Players: from 2 to 4
• Age: from 12 years onwards
• Duration: 45 minutes

Simple Mode: A simplified version of the game with only celestial body pieces, aimed at children and the family. See Section III for details.

• Players: from 2 to 4
• Age: from 8 years onwards
• Duration: 25 minutes

Simple, solitary and mini game modes are described in Section III.

Cosmic Mode

Setting up the game

Take the initial Big Bang piece and place it in the middle of the table, and then place the Cosmic Clock beside it. Mix up the rest of the hexagonal pieces and place them face down in one or in several piles. Take the first four hexagonal pieces and place them face up next to the clock. These are the pieces available to be played at each player's turn.

Shuffle the four cards of heavenly body objectives (planet, asteroid, comet and sun) and deal one to each player without revealing the card. Do the same thing with the four cards of color objectives (red, orange, yellow and blue). Each player will add up the points from their alignment of tiles at the end of the game, in line with the two above mentioned objectives which will remain secret until the end.

Each player chooses a counter of one of the four elements (earth, water, air and fire) and places it in front of them to represent them during the game.

The starting order of the first round will be down to chance, with the counters of the four elements placed in the initial box of the clock ("0"). The counters will be placed on top of each other, in such a way that the counter which is on top of all the others is the player who goes first, while the player whose counter is at the bottom of the pile will go last.

Player's Turns

Each player's turn will see the following take place:

1. Play one of the four available pieces.
2. Moving the Cosmic Clock forward.
3. Determining whose turn it is.

1. Play one of the four available pieces

At their turn, each player will choose and play one of the four available pieces. Of the three remaining pieces, the one which is furthest to the right is discarded and added to the used pile, face up. The two remaining pieces are moved to the right, in line with the positions indicated on the bottom of the Cosmic Clock, and two new pieces are added so that there are always four pieces for each player to choose from. When the pile of new pieces runs out, the pile of discarded pieces will be turned upside down without mixing them up, and will be used as a new pile of tiles.

Note: In the rare case that none of the four pieces can be placed somewhere in the universe, all four pieces will be discarded and will be replaced with 4 new tiles.

The pieces to be played are: Celestial bodies; Phenomena / Earth (see Section II); Actions (see Section II).

To place a celestial body in the Universe, two rules must be followed:

• Two Piece Rule: The piece placed must be adjacent to at least two other pieces, and at least one of them has to be a celestial body.
• Common Features Rule: The piece which is played must have at least one feature in common with each adjoining celestial body (shape, color or background).

Example (diagram): Tile (A) with the yellow sun it matches in color, with the orange it matches in background, and with the asteroid it matches in shape. Tile (B) with the comet it matches in shape, with the asteroids in terms of the background. The comet (1) does not lie adjacent to two other pieces, and the comet below (2) does not meet the rules of common features with all adjacent pieces (it matches with the orange comet in terms of shape, but not with the red sun either in shape, color or background). The positions on the board marked in green do satisfy the two rules.

The two adjacent pieces rule can only be broken in two cases:

• At the start of the game, when any tile played can only be adjacent to the Big Bang piece for obvious reasons.
• When using "Dark Energy", which is explained later.

Note: the description of all the celestial body pieces can be found in Section II.

2. Moving the Cosmic Clock forward

The Cosmic Clock records the passing of time in millions of years and each player's turn. Each piece which is placed in the universe has a duration and a cost in "millions of years" in line with the graph on the clock.

The more material, the greater the cost in years, so that the empty background costs us one million years, the starry background two million, and the galactic one three. The Worm Hole, the Earth and Orbit and Eclipse will make us move forward four positions on the Cosmic Clock, while the Black Hole, the Supernova, Hyperspace and Dark Energy will come at the highest possible price - five million years.

Once a piece has been played, each player will move their counter forward on the Cosmic Clock by as many squares in millions of years as is indicated on the tile.

If another player's counter is already in the box, the last player to arrive will go on top of that player's counter, and be given priority on the next turn with respect to the player under them.

In the case of Black Energy [Dark Energy], only the years of the special action itself will be counted, not those of the two celestial body tiles played. The bonus celestial body tiles which are won thanks to the Supernova will also not count on the Cosmic Clock.

3. Determining whose turn it is

It is always the turn of the player whose counter is furthest back according to the Cosmic Clock. In the case of a tie (pieces piled on top of each other), the turn will fall to the player who is on top of the pile.

Example: It's the turn of the player with the "fire" counter and he chooses a tile with a starry background, and so at a price of two million years, meaning he or she will advance two positions on the Cosmic Clock. The next turn will be for the player with the "water" counter. However, if "fire" had played a tile with an empty background, the player would have advanced just one position (a cost of one), and his tile would have ended up ON TOP OF the "water" counter, in which case "fire" would get another turn.

End of the game and points scoring

The game ends when the pile of available pieces runs out and the last four celestial body tiles are played (there is no need to use all of the special actions if these are the only pieces available). When this occurs, the tallying of points takes place. Each player now shows his two objectives (one for shape and for color) and looks for the alignment of celestial body tiles created independently for each shape and each color.

For each objective of every player, a celestial body tile can only be counted once. If in the same objective there was more than one valid alignment, the alignment scoring most points shall be counted. The player with most points wins the game. In the case of a tie, the player whose turn falls last wins.

The alignments which score points are formed by three or more celestial body tiles in a straight, uninterrupted line. Each piece which forms part of an alignment will score the following victory points:

Empty background	Starry background	Galactic background	Earth
1 point	2 points	3 points	1 point

Before counting points, the players will collect their pieces in the order which they ended up on the Cosmic Clock, the board will be turned upside down, and points will be tallied, beginning with the player who was furthest forward on the Clock, and ending with the one furthest back (the one who invested fewest "millions of years"). In the event of a tie, the counter of the player furthest back will be placed on top of the previous player, thus deciding who holds the advantage.

Example: Before adding up points, we can see that the yellow planet is in two possible yellow alignments, but we can only count the one which yields most points: a celestial body tile can only be counted once for each type of objective.

Example: First of all, we add up the points of one of the objectives, color for example: we get seven victory points in the alignment marked on the left, where each celestial body with a starry background is worth two and a black background is worth one point (2+2+2+1). Then we add up the points for the celestial body objectives, in this case the planets, which would see another six points added: 2+2+2 (all of them have a starry background). So, in total, the score would be 7+6= 13 victory points.

II. The Pieces

The celestial body tiles

Each celestial body piece combines three features:

• 4 shapes (asteroid, planet, sun and comet)
• 4 colors (blue, red, orange and yellow)
• 3 backgrounds (empty space, starry background, galactic background)

This gives rise to 48 different pieces all together. To place a celestial body tile in the universe, you must comply with the two rules mentioned in the previous section (Two Piece Rule and Common Features Rule).

The Earth

The Earth piece is a wild card for any shape, color or background. Consequently, it behaves as such even with the effects of an astronomic phenomenon or a special action.

Astronomic Phenomena

The astronomic phenomena are the other kind of piece which are placed in the universe and have to lie adjacent to a minimum of two other pieces.

These pieces have a blue border and cannot lie adjacent to one and other, or with the Big Bang piece. In terms of their features, they can act as a wild card, so they can be placed freely without having to follow the rule of common features with the adjoining piece. The Astronomic Phenomena come in the shape of Black Hole, Supernova, and the two ends of the Worm Hole.

The astronomic phenomena pieces, the Big Bang piece, and the pieces which are overturned due to the effects of the Black Hole do not have any of the three features and so do not need to satisfy the common features rule.

Black Hole

The absorption of material due to the collapse of a massive star. This phenomenon absorbs each and every one of the six potentially adjacent celestial body tiles. When a Black Hole is placed on the board, the six adjacent pieces are turned upside down to indicate that they have disappeared and will not count in the final points tally.

In subsequent turns, a celestial body tile can be placed adjacent to the Black Hole if the idea is to see it automatically absorbed and turned over. This piece must have at least one celestial body tile adjacent to it and some common feature.

Example: On the left, we see how a Black Hole is played (1), absorbing the stars around it. On the right, we see the effect of that, the two yellow pieces have been overturned and now are black. When placing a new celestial body piece in subsequent turns, these overturned pieces have no features, but the new celestial body must be placed so it is touching at least one other celestial body with a common feature, like the example of the orange star (2) which we can see on the right: it has the same shape as the red star. Once placed, it will be overturned due to the effect of the Black Hole.

Supernova

The explosion of stellar material due to the collapse of a medium sized star. This astronomic phenomenon allows players to place additional celestial body tiles without the Cosmic Clock being moved forward, giving the player in question an extra turn. Once the Supernova appears on the board, a new piece will be added to the four available pieces and the player gets to play again.

The Supernova allows us to place additional celestial body tiles, but not astronomic phenomena or special actions. After placing the Supernova, the player gets an extra turn, playing another celestial body tile.

In the same turn or in the turn of subsequent players, for each celestial body tile which is placed adjacent to the Supernova, the player gets an extra turn and so can place an additional tile. The same player who placed the Supernova can even get a run of extra turns, placing the new tiles around the Supernova until completely surrounding it.

Note: Tiles placed in "bonus" turns do not have to pay any cost in years on the Cosmic Clock.

Example: In this example we play three turns: the player uses their turn to place the Supernova (1). This gives them the right to another turn, and he or she places a celestial body tile touching the Supernova (2). This gives him or her the right to yet another turn, and the player decides to play the comet (3) which, as it is not in contact with the Supernova, sees the turn come to an end.

Worm Hole

A space-time connection between two points of the universe. This astronomic phenomenon is the only one which allows players to connect pieces and make alignments from two different points in the universe. There are two pieces which represent the two ends of the Worm Hole. Any celestial body tile, or alignment of tiles, which is adjacent or aligned to the Worm Hole, is automatically connected with the tiles or alignments of the same shape or color on the other side of the board.

The celestial body tiles connected through the Worm Hole can have a different position on each side of the board, but they must be aligned to the Worm Hole piece.

Example: On the left, we can see a valid alignment of suns through a Worm Hole, because they are aligned with it. In the image on the right there is no valid alignment through the Worm Hole. The two suns below are not aligned through the Worm Hole, and so can't connect through it.

Special Actions

The pieces denoting special actions have a green background and these are NOT placed in the universe. Instead, the special action is carried out via other celestial body tiles (also Earth) and the action piece is discarded once it has been used. The Special Actions are Hyperspace, Orbit, Eclipse and Dark Energy.

Note: The effect of a Special Action allows for one piece of the Universe to remain adjacent to just one other tile. However, all the pieces of the universe must be connected to each other at all times.

Hyperspace

Movements through space at the speed of light. This action allows a celestial body tile to move to any point in the perimeter of the Universe. The tile must be on the perimeter of the Universe, and can be moved from its place without being blocked by other pieces around it. The position of the piece's final destination has to follow the rule of "common features" and lie adjacent to at least two other pieces.

Example: In this example, we play Hyperspace and we move a piece, the red comet with the starry background, from the lower position to another point of the perimeter where it satisfies the placement rules. If the piece cannot be moved with your finger, this means it is in a blocked position and cannot move. If instead of moving the comet we had wanted to move the asteroids, it wouldn't have been possible because the piece is blocked (it can't get out of there without bumping into other pieces).

Orbit

The rotation of a celestial body around another due to the effect of gravity. This action allows the player to follow with his celestial body tile the orbit of the adjacent celestial body tile. The piece has to be able to move from the perimeter of the Universe, without any other tile blocking it or acting as an obstacle.

Whatever its final destination, the tile has to follow the "common features" rule and lie adjacent to at least two other pieces at the end of the move.

Eclipse

One celestial body tile hides another celestial body tile. This action allows one tile to be placed on top of another one which lies adjacent to it.

The tile must be at the perimeter of the Universe, and be able move from its position without being blocked by any other pieces around it.

The final destination of the tile has to see it follow the "common features" rule and lie adjacent to at least two other pieces. The eclipsed tile will remain hidden for the rest of the game.

Example: The asteroid tile (1) is in the perimeter and can be moved without bumping into other pieces, and hence is valid to eclipse the celestial body above it (2) because once placed there, it will meet the compatibility rules.

Dark Energy

A mysterious energy which speeds up the expansion of the Universe. This Special Action allows two new celestial body tiles to be placed in the Universe, and for them to be placed adjacent to just one piece of the Universe - an exception to the rule.

Once the Dark Energy has been played, a new piece is placed among the four available tiles and the player takes one of these and plays it in the Universe. This piece is replaced with another one, and the player gets to choose a second celestial body tile and play it too.

Example: Players use Black Energy [Dark Energy] to create an alignment of planets without having to follow the usual common features rule.

III. Other Game Modes

Simple Mode

2 to 4 players, 25 minutes, 8 years and over

Objective

During the game you will create and expand the universe placing pieces around the Big Bang, with the objective of forming alignments of at least three celestial body tiles of the same shape or color, depending on the public objectives of each player, in a quest for the maximum points score at the end of the game.

Equipment

• 1 hexagonal "Big Bang" piece
• 32 hexagonal celestial body pieces (none with a galactic background)
• 4 celestial body objective cards (comet, asteroid, planet and sun)
• 4 color objective cards (red, orange, yellow and blue)
• 1 scoreboard (the back of the Cosmic Clock)
• 4 element counters for point scoring (earth, water, air and fire)

Setting up the game

Take the initial Big Bang piece and place it in the middle of the board, and then mix up the rest of the hexagonal pieces and place them face down in one or several piles. Take the first four hexagonal pieces and place them face up. These are the pieces available to be played at each player's turn.

Shuffle the four celestial body objective cards (planet, asteroid, comet and sun) and deal one to each player without showing the card. Do the same thing with the four color objective cards (red, orange, yellow and blue). In this mode of the game, each player's two objectives will be visible during the whole game. The order of whose turn it is first will be decided by chance.

Players' turns

At each player's turn, he or she chooses and places one of the four celestial body tiles available which is immediately replaced by another one so that four tiles are always available. The game proceeds in a clockwise direction. To be able to place a piece, the rule of a minimum of two adjacent pieces applies (except in the initial round).

End of game and point scoring

The game ends when the pile of available pieces runs out and the last four pieces have been played. After this, points are added up and each player looks for the alignments of celestial bodies created independently in terms of shape and color.

Alignments which score points are formed by three or more celestial body tiles in a straight, uninterrupted line. Each piece which forms part of an alignment will score one victory point.

For each objective of each player, a celestial body tile only be counted once. In the event that there is more than one possible alignment for the same objective, then the alignment with most points is counted (see example in the Cosmic Mode scoring). The player with most victory points wins the game; in the case of a tie, the player who started last is declared winner.

Solitary Mode

1 player, 25 minutes, 12+ years and over

Objective

To score the maximum points with your "positive" alignments while trying to avoid "negative" alignments at all times.

Equipment

The Cosmic Clock, the 48 hexagonal celestial body pieces (planets, suns, comets and asteroids), 1 counter for the board, and eight objective cards.

Setting up the game

Mix up the 48 hexagonal pieces and place four face up under the Cosmic Clock, just like in the normal game. Make a pile with the rest of the hexagonal pieces and put it down to the left of the Cosmic Clock. Place the Big Bang piece in the middle of the table. This will be the first piece. Mix up all of the objective cards and form a pile, laying them face down. Pick up one and place it to the left of the pile. This will be your game objective.

Turns

In solitary mode, the game will be played like it is in Cosmic Mode. You take one of the four pieces available and place it on the board, following the two key rules which apply in Cosmic Mode. Move around the Cosmic Clock paying the corresponding cost for each piece used in millions of years. Recycle the available pieces in the usual way, and repeat the process with each new piece used.

Note: During the game, positive objectives will appear on the left side of the pile of cards, and negative objectives on the right side of the pile.

Each time you attain an objective, you will take that card to a personal area and pick up another card, so that another objective can be seen. You only fulfil an objective if you create an alignment from the moment in which the new objective is revealed (an earlier alignment already present in the Universe will not be valid).

Example: Above left we have a pile of objectives (1), from where the color objective red already appeared and we got it by forming a red alignment, so we have already won and reserved that one (2). Then, another objective to be attained (3) and a negative objective has appeared too (4) after the Cosmic Clock has gone around once. At this point, the game would be lost, because there is now an alignment on the board which corresponds to the negative objective (5).

Furthermore, each time you pass the "0" box of the clock, you will pick up an objective card which will remain at the right side of the pile. This new row shows negative objectives, which will accumulate as the game proceeds. If at any time, a negative alignment has been formed, the game ends and you lose (even if that alignment existed before finding out about the negative objective).

End of game

Once you have picked up the last available objective, keep an eye on the Cosmic Clock, because the game ends when you pass the "0" box two more times: once immediately after picking up the last objective, and after overcoming the zero, you will have one last round, in which you will turn your piece upside down in order to find out what the available last round is to attain your outstanding objectives.

At the end of the game, add up your points total of objectives attained and take note of it. Then try to do better the next time you play.

Mini game Hexidomino, the lineal Universe

2 to 6 players, 10 minutes, 8 years and over

Objective

Be the first to place all of your pieces on the board.

Equipment

The 48 hexagonal celestial body pieces (planets, suns, comets and asteroids).

Setting up the game

Mix up the 48 hexagonal pieces and give each player 7 hexagonal pieces face down.

Stack a pile with the rest of the hexagonal pieces and leave them at one side of the board. Take a piece from the pile, and place it face up in the middle of the board. This will be the starting piece. The last player to arrive gets to start the game.

Players' turns

The domino tiles will link up without interfering with each other. The tiles at either end of the chain can only be adjacent to one other single tile. Joining tiles together will see their common feature alternate, whether that be shape or color (background does not apply in this mode). Otherwise said, each domino tile will join with two adjacent pieces, one of these can be a matching color, while the other must match in terms of shape.

At each player's turn, he or she must do one of the two following things:

• Play a piece: place a tile from your hand at one of the two ends, alternating the common feature with respect to the previous tile (shape or color). At the start of the game, there is only one piece on the board, so the starting player can choose which common feature he wants to begin with.
• Turns. If a player cannot place one of the pieces on the board, then he must pick up another piece from the pile of hexagonal tiles and keep it (if tiles are still available).

Then the game moves on to the player on the left.

End of game

The game can end in two ways:

1. The player places his last tile and has none left in his hand. Automatically he is proclaimed the winner of the game.
2. The pile of tiles runs out, and no player can place any more tiles on the board.

In the second case, each player counts up the points he has according to the tiles which he has left in his hand: 3 points for tiles with a galactic background, 2 points for tiles with a starry background, and 1 point for tiles with an empty background.

The player with the fewest points wins the game. In the case of a tie, the player with fewer tiles left wins the game. If it is still a tie, then the game is declared a dead heat.

Mini game Parallel Universes

2 to 4 players, 15-20 minutes, 12 years and over

Objective

To score the highest number of points forming two universes at the same time.

Equipment

The 48 hexagonal celestial body tiles and the 8 hidden objective cards.

Setting up the game

Mix up the 48 hexagonal pieces and place them in a pile in the middle of the board. Place the first four pieces face up on the board around the pile. These will be the four pieces available at each player's turn.

Mix up the shape objective cards and deal them to each player, face down. Do the same thing with the color objective cards. The objectives will be hidden during the whole game.

The last player to arrive will begin the game.

Turns

As many universes will be built as there are players. The universes will be built between players, which is to say, one player will build a universe to his left and will share it with the player on his left, and also a universe to the right, which he will share with the player on his right.

At their turn, each player will pick up a tile from the four available ones faced up. The player places this tile in one of their two universes, the one on their right or the one on their left. This tile must follow the rules of common features and adjacency just like in the Cosmic Mode. If there are still tiles left to play, a new tile is picked up to replace the empty space left by the player. The game proceeds to the player on the left.

End of game

The game is over when there are no more tiles to be played. The players then reveal their objectives and each player adds up the points of each of the two universes separately, following the usual rules of Cosmic mode (straight, uninterrupted lines of at least three celestial bodies, with points tallied according to background: see Cosmic Mode scoring). Thus, each player will have two scores, one for each universe.

From the two resulting scores, each player's finally points tally is the lesser of these two numbers. The player with most points wins.