Catalyst
Catalyst Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 80 cards:
- 60 Catalyst cards (15 each of 4 colors)
- 16 Building cards (4 sets of 4 colors)
- 4 Goal cards
- 1 playing board (to be assembled)
- 32 coins
- 30 Military Power tokens
- 5 Chain Activation tokens
- 1 Starting Player marker
- 1 Final Round token
- 1 scoring pad
- This rulebook
Anatomy of a Catalyst Card
"Catalyst" is the title given to those who can harness the power of the catalytic energy. Each Catalyst card shows:
- Cost and Victory Points (VP) — the cost to recruit the card, which is also its value in VP.
- Color and Symbol.
- Illustration.
- Effects when activated.
- A small icon in the lower left corner that is only used with 3 or 4 players.
Anatomy of a Building Card
These Key-Buildings are focal points where the Catalyst can best exploit their powers. Each Building card shows:
- Cost.
- Illustration.
- Symbol and Color.
- Effects when activated.
Preparation
Before the first game carefully remove the pieces from their frames.
Assemble the playing board and lay it in the middle of the table.
Separate the cards by the back: Catalyst cards, Building cards, and Goal cards.
Prepare the Catalyst deck: Depending on the number of players, remove all the Catalyst cards that show in their lower left corner a number higher than the player count from the deck and return them to the box. (That is, remove all cards with 3 and 4 if you're playing with 2. With 4 players, use all the cards.)
Shuffle the remaining cards and deal 10 cards face down in a stack. Place the "Final Round" token on top of this stack of 10 cards and set it aside. Place the rest of the deck on the left side of the board, then draw the top 5 cards and lay them face up on the spaces of the playing board.
Next, take the Building cards: Sort them by color and make 4 stacks to one side, one stack for each color, with the cards in each stack arranged in cost order (i.e., with the "1" Building on top, followed by the "2", etc.). For a 3-player game, only use the "1", "2", and "3" Buildings; for 2 players, use only Buildings "1" and "3"—remove the others from the game.
Then, shuffle the Goal cards and place one face up near the board. This Goal card applies to all players, and shows how the Buildings can score VP at the end of the game. Remove the rest of the Goal cards from the game.
Choose a starting player at random and give them the Starting Player marker. Give each player a starting number of coins based on their position in turn order, as shown below:
| Player Order | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Coins | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
Keep the rest of the coins, the Military Power tokens, and the Chain Activation tokens nearby as a "supply" (each time you must take or spend something, use the supply). Keep the scoring pad handy—you won't need it until the end of the game. All tokens are meant to be unlimited: in the unlikely event that you run out, use any suitable substitute.
Playing the Game
The game is played in turns, in clockwise order. The starting player takes the first turn.
On your turn, you must choose and perform only one of the following actions:
- Collect Contributions
- Recruit a Catalyst
- Activate a Catalyst
1. Collect Contributions
Take a number of coins equal to the highest cost visible on the Catalyst cards on the board.
Example: If the visible Catalyst cards show costs of 3, 1, 2, 1, and 2, you take 3 coins.
Always keep your coins in front of you, visible to all players.
Note: Costs or discounts based on the card positions are not applied.
2. Recruit a Catalyst
Choose one Catalyst card on the board: Pay the Catalyst's cost and place the card in front of you.
To pay a Catalyst's cost, you must discard the number of coins shown on the Catalyst card, counting any additional costs or discounts based on the position of the card on the board (+1, 0, -1 as stated in the yellow circle under the card).
Example: If the underlying costs shown on the cards are 3, 0, 1, -1, and 1 relative to their base costs, the actual costs of the cards, from left to right, are 4, 1, 2, 1, and 2.
If you have an empty Building in front of you (a Building is empty if no Catalyst occupies it), you must occupy the Building with the Catalyst card you just recruited. Place the Catalyst card directly above the Building, as shown below—this shows that the Catalyst is on a mission in that Building. If you have several empty Buildings, you choose which one to occupy. Each Building may only host one Catalyst at a time. A Catalyst in a Building cannot move to another Building (see The Buildings).
If you have no empty Buildings, place the Catalyst by itself in your playing area.
3. Activate a Catalyst
Choose one Catalyst in front of you to activate. Turn the card sideways, then resolve any or all of the effects shown on the card, in any order you choose. You are not forced to use all of the effects shown: you may execute only some, or even none of them. For more information about the effects, see The Catalysts.
If you activate a Catalyst in a Building, after you resolve all of the effects of the Catalyst card you may also use the Building's effects (see The Buildings).
At the end of your turn (after you used any Chain Activation Token, see box), place the activated Catalyst card (or cards) face down in your own Scoring Pile. At the end of the game, those cards will be worth their value in VP. If you now have one or more empty Buildings and Catalysts that are not in Buildings, you must move those Catalysts into your empty Buildings until all of your Buildings are occupied. If you have fewer Buildings than Catalysts, some Catalysts will remain separate (and vice versa). Remember that a Catalyst in a Building may not be moved!
Chain Activation Tokens
(To learn how to get these tokens, see The Catalysts and The Buildings.)
After taking your action for your turn, you may spend one of your Chain Activation tokens (if you have any) to activate one of your Catalyst cards which has not yet been activated this turn (i.e. they are not sideways). You may repeat this any number of times, as long as you have Chain Activation tokens left. At the end of your turn, you must always discard any unused Chain Activation tokens you have left—you cannot save them for a later turn.
The End of Your Turn
After you have chosen and performed one action (and possibly played any Chain Activation tokens), your turn is over. If you recruited any Catalysts from the board, slide the other cards to the right until there are no gaps, then draw new cards from the deck to fill the board back up to 5 cards.
If you now have more than 8 coins, you must discard down to 8. This limit applies only at the end of your turn; going above this limit during your turn is fine.
Then the player on your left takes their turn.
The End of the Game
When the deck of Catalyst cards runs out, discard the Final Round token from the stack of cards you set aside at the beginning of the game, and use that stack to continue playing as normal. When the current round is finished (with the player to the right of the starting player taking the last turn so that each player has had the same number of turns), the Final Round begins. Each player takes one last turn, and then the game ends.
Add up your score with the help of the scoring pad:
- Each Catalyst card in your Scoring Pile is worth its value in VP. Any Catalysts you have in play that are not in your Scoring Pile are worth 0 VP.
- Each Building you own may give you additional VP (as shown on the Goal card). Cards in your Scoring Pile may be used to score for multiple Buildings.
- You score 1 VP for every two Military Power tokens you have. Also, the player who has the most Military Power tokens scores an additional 6 VP, the second most scores 3 VP, and the third most scores 1 VP. Ties are scored by adding the next position and dividing the result equally among the tied players. (In order to be ranked, you need to have at least 1 token.)
- You score 1 VP for every 3 coins you have.
The player with the most VP wins! In case of a tie, the winner among the tied players is the one who has the highest number of VP in their Scoring Pile. If they are still tied, the victory is shared.
The Catalysts
On your turn, you may choose to activate one of the Catalyst cards in front of you. The effects of activating a Catalyst are shown on the card as symbols. Each Catalyst can only be activated once. At the end of your turn, you must place in your Scoring Pile all Catalysts that you have activated during the turn (You will score points for those at game end).
- Take 1 coin.
- Recruit 1 Catalyst. You still need to pay the costs.
- Take 1 Chain Activation token.
- Acquire 1 Building: see The Buildings, below.
- Take 1 Military Power token. Keep your Military Power tokens in front of you, visible to all players. These tokens are never discarded.
- A slash means "or". So, if a card shows coin / Chain Activation token, you can either take 1 coin or 1 Chain Activation token.
The Buildings
In order to acquire a Building, you must activate a Catalyst with the Building symbol and pay the cost for the Building (in coins). The first Building card in each stack always costs 1 coin. Each subsequent Building of the same type costs 1 additional coin, as shown (except in a 2-player game: it costs 2 additional coins). You must also pay 1 additional coin for each Building you already own.
Example: To acquire the third Marketplace (cost: 3 coins) as her second Building (since she already acquired an Academy), Elizabeth must pay a total of 4 coins.
Once acquired, your Building stays in front of you until the game ends. You may only acquire one Building of each color (i.e., you may have a maximum of 4 Buildings in front of you, one per color). Each Building you acquire unlocks a way for you to score points, as shown on the Goal card that is in play, and gives you benefits each time a Catalyst that occupies that Building is activated.
Occupying Buildings
Each Building you have in play may be occupied by one Catalyst. The color of the Catalyst does not matter—it does not have to match the color of the Building. When you acquire a Building, you must immediately occupy it with any free Catalyst you have. An empty Building must be occupied by any new Catalyst you recruit.
When you activate a Catalyst in a Building, after all of the effects shown on that Catalyst have been fully resolved (or passed), you may use that Building's effects. Using a Building's effect is always optional. You may not take any other action between the Catalyst's effects and the Building's effects (such as spending a Chain Activation token): You must always fully resolve the Catalyst card and the Building it occupies before moving on.
A Sample Turn
- You have a Catalyst in play in your Cathedral, who you choose to activate. You use the Building symbol to acquire an Academy (cost: 1 + 1 for the Cathedral you have in play). You also take 1 Chain Activation token. Then you use the Cathedral effect to recruit Catalyst A by paying their cost and putting them in your new Academy.
- You then spend your Chain Activation token to activate the Catalyst you just recruited. You choose to recruit Catalyst B (paying the cost), which remains separate since all your Buildings are already occupied by other Catalysts.
- You then take 1 Chain Activation token thanks to your Academy, which you immediately spend to activate the new Catalyst. Thanks to their abilities, you recruit Catalyst C (they stay separate, too) and take a Military Power token.
- Since you're out of Chain Activation tokens, your turn is over: You move all the activated Catalysts into your Scoring Pile, then move the last Catalyst you have in play into one of your buildings.
The effects of the different Buildings are:
- Cathedral: Recruit 1 Catalyst. You still need to pay the costs.
- Academy: Take 1 Chain Activation token.
- Marketplace: Take 2 coins.
- Barracks: Take 1 Military Power token.
Unlike Catalysts, Buildings can be activated multiple times during the game, by different Catalysts. So do not place your Buildings in your Scoring Pile after you use them!
The Goal Cards
At the beginning of the game, you put one Goal card into play. This shows how you can score VP for the Buildings that you have acquired. Sometimes, Buildings will give you a fixed number of VP while others may award VP depending on which cards you have in your Scoring Pile. Each card in your Scoring Pile may be used to score for multiple Buildings.
- Score 1 VP for each "1"/"2"/"3" Catalyst card you have in your Scoring Pile.
- Score 1 VP for each green/yellow/red/blue Catalyst card you have in your Scoring Pile.
- Score 1 VP for each card in your Scoring Pile that shows at least one coin / recruit / Military Power / Building symbol. A card showing multiple symbols of the required type still awards only 1 VP.
- Score 4 VP.
- Score 1 VP for every coin you have (in addition to 1 VP for every 3 coins at game end).
Strategy Hints
All Buildings can be useful. Try different combinations and strategies. Of course, you can also win by focusing on Catalysts and spending little or nothing on Buildings. For your first few games, why not try these two strategies:
- Acquire 2 or 3 Buildings, then recruit Catalysts that combo well with them and that award VP from the Goal card.
- Ignore the Buildings. Recruit a lot of Catalysts, then activate them in great big chains, maximizing effects and VP. When the game is about to end, check your scoring pile and acquire the Building worth the most VP, according to the Goal.