CoLab
CoLab Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Game Length: 90-120 min | Ages: 8+ | Players: 1-4
In CoLab, you compete to gain the most renown (points) through building a collection of devices, potions, and monsters. Each of these come with abilities and renown based on where they are added to your collection. To build your collection, put your minions to work gathering supplies. Your minions will climb the towers of CoLab to take an action on that tower as well as bring valuable resources to the adjacent labs. However, your opponents can utilize your minions and benefit from what they bring into the lab.
Players build their collection until one player has built their 12th card, and the player with the most points wins.
There are three card types (monster, device, and potion) which are indicated by the symbol on their back as well as in the top right corner of the front of the card. They each have a cost, point value, ability, and distribution (how many copies are in the game). You can build cards from your hand into your grid by using a build action on the board and paying the cost displayed on the card. Costs can be paid with dice and/or tokens that you collect, as well as any dice held by minions adjacent to the lab you are using.
Supplies are collected by placing or removing minions from the board as well as putting minions to work with collect actions.
Gather supplies and benefit from what other players leave behind to build up your collection and become the most renowned scientist in CoLab.
Supply List
- Laboratory Location (6)
- Tower (6), Tower Insert (6)
- Starter Upgrade (6), Tier 1 Upgrade (12), Tier 2 Upgrade (14), Tier 3 Upgrade (8)
- Starter Dice (16)
- Resource Dice (20 each, 80 total)
- Resource Tokens (12 each, 36 total)
- Research Tokens (20, 16)
- Scientists (1 each, 4 total)
- Minions (3 each, 12 total)
- Board Center (1)
- Scoreboard (1)
- Upgrade Token (8)
- Research Points (12)
- Trigger Token (40)
- Potion Token (30)
- Score Tracker Token (4)
- Research Tracker (4)
- Player Board (4)
- Research Board (4)
- Monsters (52), Devices (52), Potions (52), Bonuses (11)
- Solo supplies: Doomsday cards (36), Solo Bag (1), Enemy Dice (2 each, 8 total), Active Enemy Token (1), Damage/Freeze Token (15), Power Token (24), Criteria Token (28)
Each card has a cost (top left), a type (monster, device, or potion, shown by the symbol in the top right and on the card back), an action, a points value, and a distribution (how many copies of that card exist).
Game Set Up
Set up the supplies
- Shuffle the 3 main decks of cards (monsters - purple, devices - red, and potions - blue) and place them in an accessible space.
- Place the resource tray nearby which includes resource dice, resource tokens, wild resource tokens, potion tokens, trigger tokens, and research tokens.
- Mix up the upgrade tiles and place them organized by tier in facedown stacks nearby.
- Place the research points tokens nearby.
- Return any upgrade round tokens that do not match your player count to the box, and place all the remaining tokens on their matching spaces on the scoreboard.
Set up the board
If this is your first time playing: set the board up as shown in the picture placing lab spaces, towers, tower inserts, and starting upgrade tiles in the displayed locations.
If this is not your first time playing: mix the lab spaces, towers, tower inserts, and starting upgrade tiles in piles by their type. Place the board center at the center of the table then randomly attach 1 tower to each side of the board center. Place 1 random tower insert into each tower and then place each lab randomly into the empty triangular space between each tower. Place the starter upgrades ("S" on the back) with resource dice icons and gray dice icons in the center above each lab randomly.
Basic player setup
Each player receives a player board with its matching scientist figure and 3 minion figures. Take a research board and place it next to the player board. Once this is done, place a research point tracker token on the 0 space on the research board.
Each player starts with 4 white starter dice.
Take each player's score tracker token, mix them up, and randomly select 1 to determine the first player. Then place all of these tokens on the scoreboard at 0.
2 player additional set up
In a two-player game, all of the rules are the same except the following setup additions:
A. Draw additional upgrade tiles adding 1 above each lab space. This should result in each lab space having 2 upgrade tiles.
B. Next, take all remaining minions not chosen by players and place one on each of the topmost tower windows on each tower. These will give additional minions to utilize throughout the game.
First game setup
If this is your first time playing, use these quick play setup instructions.
Skip the Normal Game Setup and use the following steps instead.
Add 6 additional tier 1 tiles to the board distributed evenly across all labs.
Each player takes the supplies listed in the table below and then places their minions. Roll 2 of your white starter dice and place them on 2 of your minions. Have a look at the row for your character in the table below, which tells you on which towers you place your minions. Place them on the towers' windows.
- Luciana: 2 red dice, 2 red cards, 3 red tokens. Place minions with one on each of the 2 red (diamond) towers.
- Ivy: 2 blue dice, 2 blue cards, 3 blue tokens. Place minions with one on each of the 2 blue (triangle) towers.
- Victor: 2 purple dice, 2 purple cards, 3 purple tokens. Place minions with one on each of the 2 purple (circle) towers.
- Elias: 1 die of each color, 1 card of each color, 1 wild resource token. Place minions on the towers that have the icon matching each minion's die.
Once all players have their starting supplies and have placed their minions, all players roll their dice and begin the game starting with the first player.
Normal game setup
Each player gets 2 end of game bonus cards. Players will choose either the top or the bottom of one of these cards to use. This decision can be made at any time during the game (some may have ongoing effects) or save it until the end of the game and use the end of game scoring section B. These cards do not count against your hand size limit.
- Each player takes 3 cards of their choice.
- Each player takes 2 dice of their choice.
- Each player takes 1 resource token of their choice.
In player order, each player rolls 2 white starter dice, places each in one of their minions, and places that minion with the die on a window space of the tower with the symbol matching the die. If a tower is full (3 minions already occupy all 3 windows), re-roll the die. Then all players roll all of their remaining dice and add them to their pool. Begin the game starting with the first player.
Express mode
If this is not your first time playing and you are looking for a shortened game, use these rules in addition to normal setup. All of the rules for a normal game stay the same except the following:
- After Normal Game Setup, add 6 additional tier 1 tiles to the board distributed evenly across all labs.
- Game end is initiated when a player builds their 10th card instead of their 12th.
Turns
Turns start by first choosing one of two turn types:
- Take an Action Turn: An action turn will send or retrieve minions to gain supplies and move your scientist to build or collect.
- Take a Rest Turn: A rest turn refreshes all of your resource dice as well as gives you some supplies of your choice.
Dice are your main resource and are placed in one of two areas in front of you. Your bowl is where dice go when they are gained, spent, or discarded. Your pool is any unused dice you have in front of you outside of your bowl. Dice that are not in your bowl can be used as resources.
Action Turn
On an Action Turn, you will send or retrieve a minion and move your scientist to a new space.
Step 1: Send or Retrieve Minions
Send: On an action turn if you have a minion in your play area, you must send it.
Place a die from your pool on that minion, and place that minion on an empty tower window on the board.
When you do this, take either the top or bottom row of actions listed on that tower.
Retrieve: On an action turn if all three of your minions are already on the board, you must remove one of your minions from a tower window.
Return the minion to your play area and discard the die to your playerboard.
When you do this, take either the top or bottom row of actions listed on that tower.
IMPORTANT: You must always have either two or three minions on the board.
Step 2: Move Your Scientist
Move your scientist to a new lab space on the board.
You may move to a lab occupied by another player's scientist.
When you place your scientist, you may choose one of the following actions for that lab:
- Build: Use resources in your pool and on minions adjacent to your lab to build cards.
- Collect: Use minions adjacent to your lab to take collect actions.
IMPORTANT: Your scientist must move to a new space each turn and cannot remain in the same space they are currently in.
Collect
Taking the Collect action allows you to put all of the minions that are adjacent to this lab to work! The collect actions are listed on the upgrade tiles above each lab space.
Collect action costs are paid for by a minion or minions located on the towers adjacent to the lab, regardless of who owns them.
Upgrade tiles may be used as many times as you have minions to pay their cost. Each minion may only be used for a collect action cost once per turn.
Example: 3 minions could activate a 2 minion cost and a one minion cost once each collecting their benefits or 3 minions could activate a one minion cost 3 times.
Collect Actions
- Gain a Die: Gain a die of the type shown by placing it on your player board. If the icon is a gray die, you may choose to gain a purple, red, or blue die.
- Gain a Card: Gain a card of the type shown placing it in your hand. If the icon is a gray card, you may choose to gain either a purple, red, or blue card.
- Gain a Potion Token: Potion tokens may be used the same turn you gain them, but at the end of your turn, you must add any newly-gained potion tokens to a card or cards with a potion ability (limit 4 on each card) or to the potion token slot on your player board (limit 1). Once placed, these tokens cannot be moved.
- Gain a Resource Token: Gain either a purple, red, or blue resource token.
- Gain Research: Collect research tokens equal to the amount indicated. See Using Research (page 10) for more information.
- Trigger: Use the trigger ability of 1 card in your grid. See Trigger Action (page 8) for more information.
- Build Action: Immediately take a build action, building as many cards as allowed by the laboratory your scientist figure occupies, and then resume any remaining collect actions.
- Return Dice: Return 1 die from your player board, roll it, and add it to your pool or reroll one die in your pool.
Tower Actions
- Draw 2, Keep 1: Draw 2 cards of any color then choose 1 to add to your hand and the other to discard.
- Gain a card: Gain 1 card of the defined color.
- Gain a potion token: Gain 1 potion token.
- Return a die: Return 1 die from your player board, roll it, and add it to your pool or reroll one die in your pool.
- Gain a token: Gain 1 resource token of the depicted color.
Build
Taking the "Build" action allows you to build cards from your hand into your grid with the help of the adjacent minions! You can build one card of a given type for each build symbol of that type on your current lab or its upgrade tiles above that lab. (If there is a total of 2 monster, 1 potion and 1 device symbols, you can build up to 4 cards at most 2 monster, 1 potion, and 1 device.)
You will pay for and place cards one at a time into your grid. Use resources from dice in your pool, your tokens, or dice held by minions adjacent to your lab space. You may pay with a die that has 2 resources when you only need 1, but you will lose that extra resource. One die cannot be used to pay for more than one card, even if it has unused extra resources.
To pay for a card, spend resources equal to those listed on the top left of the card. There are 6 symbols in 3 colors: red = wrench or gear, purple = lightning bolt or gear (purple version), blue = potion flask or gear (blue version). Spend resources on a die, place the die from your pool into your bowl. Dice adjacent minions are holding can only be used once per turn. These dice stay in place on their minion. If you need to track which minions have been used this turn, place them above or below the window spaces on their tower and return them to a window space at the end of your turn. To spend resource tokens, discard them by moving them from your play area to the supply.
Note on resource symbols: Dice and tokens may have a colored sides or shape (triangle, circle, or diamond) without a symbol. This can be used for either of the 2 symbols that appear in that shape.
Once the card is paid for, place it in front of you. If this is not your first card, place it orthogonally adjacent to another card you have already built creating a grid. Repeat this process for any additional cards you can build this turn. Note: Only orthogonally adjacent cards are considered to be "adjacent."
When building cards into your grid, you may not build wider than 4 cards or taller than 4 cards.
After a card is built, move your score marker up on the scoreboard by the number of points marked on the card and by any points the placement of this card enables from text on itself and other cards (i.e. cards that state "+2 (vp icon) for each adjacent card"). See Scoreboard and Gaining Victory Points (p.10) for more information.
Card Build Actions
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Trigger Action: When you build a card with this symbol, immediately place a trigger token on that card faceup. The trigger ability is available to be triggered right away after it is built.
If you build a card orthogonally adjacent to a card that has a facedown trigger token, this will trigger its ability. Cards may also be triggered through other card abilities or board upgrade actions.
When triggered, flip its trigger token to the active side and take that card's action. You may trigger multiple cards with a single build or ability. When you do this, you may choose the order in which they are triggered. You may choose to not trigger a card when an action or ability would cause it to be triggered. If you do this, leave its trigger token facedown and available to be triggered by a later action or ability. You may trigger a card by flipping its trigger token even if you are unable to complete its action (Example: Returning 2 dice when you have no die to return). At the end of your turn, flip all of your trigger tokens on your cards faceup so they are ready to be used on your next turn.
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When Built: When you build a card with this symbol, after adding its points to the scoreboard, take the action it states.
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Reaction: This action occurs when other actions are taken, such as when you take a rest turn.
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Potion Ability: Discard potion tokens from this card and/or your storage equal to the number on the icon to activate this ability and take the action described on the card. Use each potion ability only once per turn. You may activate the potion ability even if you are unable to complete its action.
Rest Turn
You may take a rest turn regardless of how many dice are in your pool or the current placement of your minions. You may not take a rest turn if your scientist figure is already in the center space of the board.
IMPORTANT: If you do not have a die to load into your minion in your pool you must take a rest turn. Abilities such as potions may be used at the start of your turn to gain the necessary dice.
Step 1: Move your Scientist
- Move your scientist to the center space on the board.
Step 2: Take Rest Actions
- Collect two of one supplies or one of two different supplies from the following list: potion token, any (non-wild) resource token, or any card.
- Return any dice you wish from your pool to your bowl and then roll all dice in the bowl and add them to your pool.
On a rest turn, minions do not move. You may use abilities like potion abilities or the flip dice action on your player board.
End of Turn
At the end of your turn, you must do all of the following:
- Discard down to 6 cards in your hand.
- Place any potion tokens gained this turn on cards with potion abilities (no more than 4 per card). You may also store up to one potion token on your player board. This potion token can be used on a later turn for any potion card, whereas the tokens stored on cards can only be used for the card they are stored on.
- Discard down to 4 resource/wild resource tokens (3 if you are using the potion storage on your board).
- Flip all of your trigger tokens on your cards faceup.
Using Research
Abilities such as trigger actions, collect actions, potion abilities, and ongoing bonus cards can gain research for players throughout the game. These are gained in the form of research tokens which are collected and placed near your player board. During your turn, you can trade research through your research board. Each of the 5 actions listed can be used only once per turn. When trading research for victory points, move the research point tracker token up 1 space for each point gained then add these points to the scoreboard as well.
If you meet or exceed 10 (research stars) from research, flip the research board to the opposite side, reset your research point tracker to the zero space, gain a 10 research points token, and move the scoreboard tracker accordingly. Flipping the research board gives new costs to each of the 5 trade abilities. If you used one of these abilities on the other side of this turn, you may not use it again on the same turn following the flip.
Scoreboard
As you build cards, add the points to your total on the scoreboard. In addition, add any points caused by scaling points such as +2 for each adjacent card (all adjacency is orthogonal). As you trade research for points and gain them on your research board, also add them to the scoreboard total. At any given point throughout the game, the calculated sum of points on the face of the cards in your grid, any scaling points from the text of cards, and your points on your research board should match your total points on the scoreboard.
As players climb the scoreboard, they will activate upgrade rounds causing all other players to place upgrades on the board and gain wild resource tokens. During a player's turn, if they pass or land on an upgrade token on the scoreboard, collect and set these tokens aside until the end of that player's turn. Once the player's turn has finished, discard each upgrade token one at a time and perform an upgrade round for each.
Upgrade Round
In turn order, each player, except for the player who caused the upgrade round, does the following:
- Take a random upgrade tile from the supply of the tier of their choice that they can legally place and place it above any lab space. Upgrade tiles must be placed legally in an empty space that is supported by the row below. In the case of tier 2 and 3 upgrades, they must also have 2 tiles of one tier lower placed beneath the empty space where the new tile will be placed. Each lab may have a maximum of 3 tier 1 tiles, 2 tier 2 tiles, and 1 tier 3 tile.
- Gain 1 wild resource token plus gain 1 additional wild resource token for each upgrade space on the scoreboard between their scoreboard marker and the upgrade token space that is being resolved.
Example: Elizabeth (clover icon) triggers an upgrade round by passing the both the 15 space and 20 space in one turn. Two upgrade rounds will be resolved, one for the 15 space and one for the 20 space. All three other players than Elizabeth take the following actions but we will focus on just one in this example. Samantha (heart icon) is at 9 points. While resolving the 15 space, Samantha gains a wild token, then counts one upgrade space inbetween her score tracker and the space we are resolving. Samantha gains an additional wild tokens for this space for a total of 2 wild tokens and then placing 1 upgrade tile on the on the board. Then we resolve the 20 space. Samantha gains a wild token and then counts 2 upgrade spaces inbetween her tracker and the space being resolved. Samantha gains 2 additional wild tokens for these spaces for a total of 3 wild tokens and then places an upgrade tile on the board. In total for this upgrade round Samantha gained 5 wild tokens and placed 2 upgrade tiles on the board.
Other Abilities
Flip Dice: Once each turn you may discard one card to the supply discard pile, one die from your pool to your player board, one resource token to the supply, or one potion token to the supply so that you may flip one die in your pool to any of its sides.
End of Game
Players take turns in a clockwise fashion until a player has had a turn where they have built their 12th card. They may finish their turn, and then each other player left in the round takes one more turn so that each player has an equal number of turns. At this point, the game is over and scores are calculated.
Scoring
Add the points from the scoreboard and your chosen end-game bonus card. The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the fewest cards built wins. If still tied, the player furthest from the start player wins.
Example: Samantha selects the End Game section of her bonus card. 4 cards in her grid are surrounded by having cards on the top, bottom, left and right sides. This gains her and additional 12 points added to her total score from the scoreboard.
Variants
Optional Starting Draft
This variant is done in place of the "First Game Setup" or the "Normal Game Setup" rules.
Each player gets 2 end of game bonus cards. Players will choose either the top or the bottom of one of these cards to use. This decision can be made at any time during the game (some may have ongoing effects) or save it until the end of the game and use the end of game scoring section B. These cards do not count against your hand size limit.
Draft Board Supplies: Randomly place 1 of each resource token type on the towers with gray card symbols on the bottom and 1 of each resource dice type randomly on the other three towers.
Randomly decide the first player. The first player rolls 1 starter die and places it in one of their minions and places that minion on any of the open tower spaces to collect the bottom of the 2 resource actions on that tower as well as the die or token placed on that tower.
After each player in clockwise turn order has placed 1 minion and taken their action, each player places one more minion in reverse turn order and takes their action as before. Once each player has placed their two minions, discard any remaining dice or tokens from the towers. All players then roll their remaining dice and begin the game, starting with the first player.
Solo Rules
Designed by Jon Mietling & Tony Graham
A shadow has fallen over CoLab and your fellow scientists' purposes have become reckless and mad. Compete against one to three of the four player characters as their momentous ambitions leave destruction in the wake of their outlandish goals. Madness has driven your opponents to build wild machines designed to bring about doom and destruction to all.
Goal & Overview
Build your completed collection before your opponent destroys the lab. If they complete their doomsday device, the end of the game is initiated and you have one turn to overtake them by building the 12th member of your collection and getting enough points to win the game.
The game proceeds with player turns operating the same as the regular game, but a simple AI bag will drive your opponent's decisions. See the "Turn" section of the rules (page 6) to learn how to take your turn. Your enemy's turns will drive towards building a doomsday device in the form of a 9-card grid.
Solo Setup
Setup for solo starts with the "Set up the Supplies," "Set up the Board," and "Basic Player Setup" as well as section "A" of the 2-player game setup; however, you start with dice based on the difficulty level you choose. Skip the "First Game Setup" and "Normal Game Setup" rules, then select an opponent from the reverse side of one of the remaining player boards.
Also, select one of the 4 doomsday devices for your opponent to build. Shuffle that deck of 9 cards and place it next to the enemy player's board.
- Collect the scientist and minion minis in the selected enemy's color as well as enemy dice that match its color (use the two black enemy dice for the white enemy player).
- Place the score tracker matching the enemy on the power meter of their board.
- Place all of the criteria tokens in the bag.
- Place the power tokens, damage/freeze tokens, and a white starter die nearby.
- Place power tokens equal to the number shown on the top of the enemy player board into the enemy bag.
To play against multiple enemies, set up the other enemies as you did with the first, then select a random enemy to be the first active enemy and place the active enemy token next to that enemy's player board.
Solo Setup (continued)
Once all supplies are collected, you are ready to start the setup round.
- Roll 1 of the enemy dice and place it in 1 of their minions, then roll 1 of the unused white starter dice and place the minion on the tower that matches that starter die's symbol. Take the action shown on the enemy die that was just placed. These actions are shown on the enemy player board.
- Repeat the above step for the second enemy die.
- Roll 1 of the unused white starter dice and place the enemy scientist figure on the lab space with the matching symbol shown in its top 2 corners (Repeat steps 1-3 for any extra enemies you are playing with).
- Roll 2 white starter dice and place them in 2 of your minions. Place these 2 minions on the board in any open tower spaces of your choice and collect the resource from the bottom action of each tower (they can be on the same tower, and you may collect 2 of the same supplies).
- Roll all of your remaining dice.
Once this is complete, you are ready to select your difficulty and begin the game with the enemy taking the first turn.
Difficulty Level
These define your overall game goal. If you can do this before the enemy destroys the lab, completes their doomsday device, or in the "last chance" turn you win the game.
- Easy: Start with 4 white starter dice and 3 resource dice of your choice. Build 12 cards and have a point total of 30 points.
- Medium: Start with 4 white starter dice and 1 resource die of your choice. Build 12 cards and have a point total of 45 points.
- Hard: Start with 3 white starter dice. Build 12 cards and have a point total of 60 points.
Enemy Turns
On an enemy turn you will draw one token from the enemy bag. If it is a power token move the enemy power meter up one space. Next, follow the token's action, and then place it with the checkmark side up near that enemy's doomsday device deck. Check to see if the number of criteria and power tokens next to the doomsday deck is equal to the number on the top card of this deck. If it is equal, place all of these tokens out of play and build this card by flipping it over and adding it to the enemy grid in the location indicated on the top right of the card. Unlike player grids, the enemy can build cards even if the card would be placed in a location that is not orthogonally adjacent to other cards. Take the action on the built card as well as the actions on each of the orthogonally adjacent cards, if any (you may choose the order). Once you have completed the criteria action and built a card, if applicable, the enemy's turn is over.
Multiple Enemy Turns
When playing against 2 or 3 enemies, use the active enemy token. Each enemy takes a turn as normal in a clockwise fashion. An enemy with the active enemy token takes their turn as normal. An enemy without the active enemy token takes their turn but does not take the action of that enemy's special ability. Power tokens after all enemies have taken their turns, the active enemy token moves to the next clockwise enemy.
Multiple Enemy Builds
When facing multiple enemies, only the first enemy card built each round activates its ability and those of adjacent cards. The active enemy token has "build action" and "no-build action" sides that you may use to help keep track of whether an enemy build has happened this round.
If you ever run out of tokens in the bag, add all the discarded criteria and power tokens from previously-built cards back into the bag.
Enemy Special Powers
The Enemy Special power meter will move up one space in three ways:
- Any time a power token is drawn, move the special power meter up one space and take this token's action like a typical criteria token.
- Any time the enemy cannot complete an action or ability, including those on their doomsday cards, in frustration, they will charge their special power. (If an action requires you to do 2 things and you cannot do one or both, this still counts as one uncompleted action. Move the special power meter up one space.)
- If you ever visit the enemy scientist's lab space or they visit a lab where your scientist is located, move the special power meter up one space.
If you ever move the special power tracker to its last space, immediately move it to 0 and take their special power's action.
The enemy special power will also activate when you pass or land on an upgrade token on the scoreboard. This power may also activate due to doomsday device card abilities.
Criteria & Power Token Actions
Each criteria token and power token have actions for that enemy's scientist or one of their minions. When moving a minion, use the minion closest to the enemy scientist (your choice if tied). Before moving a minion, check the location it is looking to move to, which may include its current space. If once it leaves the board it can move there, remove it from the board, roll its die, return the die to the minion, place it where directed, and take its die action. If you cannot move the minion to its indicated spot, leave it in its original spot and do not roll its die, then add a charge to the enemy's special power meter.
- Move the enemy scientist clockwise or counterclockwise (defined by the token's arrow) 1 lab space.
- Move the enemy scientist clockwise or counterclockwise (defined by the token) as many spaces as needed to land on the same space as the nearest player scientist. Landing in the same space as the player scientist causes special power to charge.
- Move the enemy minion that is closest to the enemy scientist clockwise or counterclockwise, as indicated on the token, to the first tower adjacent to a lab with a player scientist on it. Reroll that minion's die and take that die's action when placing it on the new location.
- Move the enemy minion that is closest to the enemy scientist to the tower where the enemy's other minion is. Reroll that minion's die and take its action when placing it on the new location.
- Move the enemy minion that is closest to the enemy scientist to the tower with the indicated symbol. Reroll that minion's die and take its action when placing it on the new location.
- Roll a white starter die and move the enemy minion that is closest to the enemy scientist to the tower with that symbol. Reroll that minion's die and take its action when placing it on the new location.
Enemy Dice Abilities
Each enemy has a pair of unique dice in their color. These are activated when placing their minions.
- Remove dice from player minions placed on (or already on) this tower: When this die is placed on a tower, all player minions on that tower must discard their dice. Also, when you place a minion on a tower with this die, you must discard your minion's die.
- Place one damage token under this minion: Place a damage token under this minion when placed. This is the only time a minion can occupy the same space as a damage token.
- Each player discards a die, token, or card: You may choose which one of the three items you wish to discard. Tokens may be resource tokens, potion tokens, or wild resource tokens. If you do not discard any, this counts as incomplete, and you must increase the enemy special power meter.
- This die counts as an additional minion: When taking a collection action in a lab adjacent to this minion, it counts as an additional minion when paying for collection costs.
- This die counts as a wild resource: This die can be used while building in an adjacent lab as one of any of the 6 resource symbols.
- Minions cannot collect supplies from the tower this die is on: When you place a minion on a tower with this die, you do not use the abilities or collect supplies listed on the tower.
- Add power token to bag: Take a power token at random and add it to the criteria bag.
Repairing the Towers
Throughout the game, you may get damaged or frozen tower spaces.
- Damaged spaces cannot be visited by minions while a damage token occupies that space.
- Freeze tokens do not block minion placement. They can be broken/removed by placing one of your minions on that space. Enemy minions and damage tokens may be placed on these spaces which will break and remove the freeze token. However, damage and minion placements will always prioritize empty spaces when being placed, if available.
Damage and freeze tokens can be repaired, which will remove them from the board. This may be done on your turn by the following methods:
- Repair one space for free anywhere on the board when you perform a rest turn.
- Once per turn, you may repair one space anywhere on the board by returning 3 research to the supply.
- At any time on your turn, you may repair a space on a tower adjacent to the lab your scientist occupies by paying 2 resources (using tokens or dice) matching the resource symbol on that tower. You may do this multiple times each turn, paying the cost each time. This must be done from a lab space, and not the center rest space.
Upgrade Rounds (Solo)
During an upgrade round in the solo mode, do all of the following:
- Add one power token to the enemy bag.
- The enemy activates their special power and moves their tracker to 0. If facing multiple enemies, each enemy moves their special ability meter up one space.
- Gain 1 wild resource token.
- Place 2 upgrade tiles of your choice on the board following the upgrade tile rules.
End of Solo Game
The end of the game is initiated in one of 3 ways:
A. When you build your 12th card, finish out the turn and then the game ends. Do not perform any upgrade round following this turn; instead, proceed to scoring.
B. If all of the tower spaces are occupied by any combination of damage tokens, freeze tokens, and/or minions, you immediately lose the game.
C. If the enemy builds their 9th card, you will enter a Last Chance turn.
Last Chance
When the enemy builds the 9th card of their doomsday device you get a "Last Chance" turn. This turn proceeds the same as other turns and is one last chance for you to meet your difficulty requirments, and win the game.
Scoring (Solo)
If you are able to build your 12th card and meet the requirement of your difficulty level, you win the game; otherwise, you lose.
Your score is tracked for difficulty requirements but may also be used to compare one solo game results to another.
If you win, check to see if you reached one of the solo achievements. Mark off any achievements reached. Try to get them all!
Solo Achievements (Easy / Medium / Hard)
- Brainiac - Defeat an enemy.
- Diffuser - Defeat Luciana while she is building the Death Ray.
- Ice Breaker - Defeat Elias while he is building the Weather Machine.
- Resource Manager - Defeat Ivy while she is building the Burton.
- Killer Reflexes - Defeat Victor while he is building the Mind Slayer.
- Double Trouble - Defeat 2 enemies at once.
- Triple Threat - Defeat 3 enemies at once.
- Monster Master - Defeat an enemy with only building monster cards.
- Potion Prodigy - Defeat an enemy with only building potion cards.
- Device Distinction - Defeat an enemy while only building device cards.
- Proper Pauper - Defeat an enemy or enemies while owning no more than 6 dice.
- Full Stack - Build 14 cards.
Enemy Variant for Multiplayer
The solo enemies can be used in a multiplayer game. Simply play the game like you would a multiplayer game, taking the enemy's turn when a player in that space would take their turn. While setting up the game, follow the solo rules, not the multiplayer rules for your starting supplies.