Cosmic Cow Collectors
Cosmic Cow Collectors Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Small Planet cards (Planets 8, 9 and 10)
- Regular Planet cards (Planets 11 to 16)
- Alien tokens
- Ship Boards (one per player)
- First Player marker
- Cow tokens
Setup
Give each player:
- 1 Ship board
- 2 Cow tokens
- 1 Alien token
Each player places their Ship board in front of themselves, in their play area.
Shuffle the Planet cards face down to form the Planet deck and deal 4 cards to each player; this will be their starting hand. Then, place the Planet deck face down, in the center of the table.
Each player secretly chooses 1 Planet card from their hand and places it in front of their Ship board face down. This will be their Secret Planet.
Everyone starts the game with 10 Cows. Each player places one of their Cow tokens on the number 10 space on their Ship board to show this.
Choose a starting player however you wish and give him the First Player marker. (Perhaps it's whoever has seen a real cow most recently.)
How to Play
On your turn, you must place your Alien token on one of the three actions on your Ship board (Abduct, Invade, Explore). If your token is already on one of them, move it to a different one.
Then, you resolve that action. The player to your left will then take their turn in the same manner, and so on until the game ends. The alien empire with the most Cows will be the winner!
Action: Abduct
Declare any number equal to or lower than the number on your Secret Planet (the card face down in front of your Ship board). Gain that amount in Cows and an extra Cow for each of your Invaded Planet cards.
Example: My Secret Planet has the number 12, and I have 3 Invaded Planets. For my Abduction action, I declare 10 Cows. I gain 13 Cows (10 for the number of Cows I declared and 3 extra Cows for my 3 Invaded Planets).
Action: Invade
Make 3 Invasion attempts to try to raid your opponents' Secret Planets. You may attempt to Invade the same opponent up to 2 times during the same action. (In a 2-player game, you only make 2 Invasion attempts.)
To make an Invasion attempt, choose an opponent and declare a number:
If the declared number DOES match their Secret Planet: Your opponent has successfully been Invaded! They must reveal and give you their Secret Planet. Keep it face up with your Invaded Planets. Your opponent must replace their Secret Planet with a card from their hand or, if they don't have any cards in their hand, with the top card of the Planet deck. Then, they lose 5 Cows.
If the declared number DOES NOT match their Secret Planet: Your opponent states that you didn't find their Secret Planet and this Invasion attempt ends.
Once you have attempted all of your Invasions, you lose 3 Cows if you didn't successfully invade at least 1 opponent's Secret Planet.
Action: Explore
Draw 1 card from the Planet deck into your hand. If you're not the player with the most Cows, draw 1 extra card. Then, gain 3 Cows.
Optionally, after you draw 1 or more cards from Exploring, you can leave your Secret Planet. Reveal your current Secret Planet to your opponents and give it to a player of your choice. That player keeps the card face up as part of their Invaded Planets. Choose a card from your hand and place it face down in front of your Ship board to replace your Secret Planet.
Finally, if you have 5 or more cards in your hand, discard cards face up to the center of the table, so that all are visible, until you only have 4 cards in your hand.
Extra Considerations
- You may inspect your own Secret Planet at any time, but you can't look at other players' Secret Planets.
- Whenever you gain or lose Cows, move the Cow token on your Ship board that many spaces. Use the second Cow token to mark when you exceed 50, 100, or 150 Cows.
- The limit for the cards in your hand is 4, and you can only have 1 Secret Planet in play. Your opponents can't look at any of these 5 cards.
- You may have any amount of Invaded Planets in your play area, and both those and the discarded Planets in the center of the table must be kept face up at all times. These cards are public information.
- When Invading, you must make all of your Invasion attempts (3 in games with 3 or more players and 2 in games with 2 players). You only lose Cows if none of your Invasions are successful. On the other hand, you may successfully Invade up to 3 times on the same turn. Since you can attempt to Invade the same opponent up to 2 times, it's also possible for them to lose their Secret Planet up to 2 times on the same turn.
Planet Card Layout
- Stars: Show how many copies of this card are in the deck.
- Number: Maximum number of Cows that a player can declare when Abducting if this card is their Secret Planet.
- Tip: When Invading, consider the numbers that player has been declaring when they were Abducting, the amount of copies of each Planet, the visible Invaded Planets in everyone's play areas, and the discarded Planets in the center of the table.
Aliens can deduce the coordinates of planets according to the cattle population! For this reason, they may leave their favorite planet in search of a new one to throw off the other alien empires and avoid losing precious cows to an invasion.
End of the Game
The game ends on any player's turn where one of the following conditions is met:
- The last card is drawn from the Planet deck.
- Any player has 120 or more Cows.
Each player gains extra Cows at the end of the game as follows:
- 5 Cows for each Invaded Planet you have.
- 15 Cows if you have at least 3 Small Planet cards between the cards in your hand and your Secret Planet.
- 20 Cows if you have at least 4 Planet cards with sequential numbers (a straight) between the cards in your hand and your Secret Planet.
Note: Your Secret Planet and those in your hand can count for both, the 15 Cows bonus for having at least 3 Small Planets and the 20 Cows bonus for having a straight. Secret Planets aren't needed to gain any of these bonuses as long as you have the appropriate cards in your hand.
The alien empire with the most Cows wins! In the case of a tie, the tied player who is the latest in turn order wins.
Scoring Example
- This player triggered the end of the game by reaching 122 Cows on their Ship board.
- They gain 30 Cows for their 6 Invaded Planets (6 × 4 = 30). (Transcribed as printed; at 5 Cows per Invaded Planet the product is 6 × 5 = 30, which matches the total below.)
- 15 Cows for having at least 3 Small Planets (the cards 9, 9, and 10 in their hand).
- And 20 Cows for having a 4-card straight formed by their Secret Planet and 3 cards in their hand (9, 10, 11, 12).
Their final score is 187 Cows.
Quick Reference
On your turn, take 1 action.
- Abduct: Gain Cows equal to the number you declare (up to your Secret Planet's number). +1 Bonus Cow per Invaded Planet you have.
- Invade: 3 Invasion attempts (max. 2 attempts to the same player). Each success: keep Invaded Planet, opponent loses 5 Cows and replaces their Secret Planet. All fails: you lose 3 Cows.
- Explore: Draw 1 card (+1 if you are not at the lead). Gain 3 Cows. You may replace your Secret Planet.
End of game: Deck runs out of cards or any player reaches 120 Cows.
- Each Invaded Planet: +5 Cows
- Cards in hand/Secret Planet bonus:
- 3 or more Small Planets: +15 Cows
- 4 or 5 consecutive Planets: +20 Cows