Шестерёнки (Gears) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Round
  • Step 1: Placing the Gears
  • Step 2: Turning the Gears
  • Step 3: Determining the Winner
  • Step 4: Preparing for the New Round
  • Preparing for the Night Shift
• End of the Game
• Gear Cards
• Round Cards
• Character Cards

Components

• 24 gear cards
• 4 character cards
• 10 round cards
• 16 code cards
• 1 gear token

Setup

1. Shuffle all the code cards and deal each player four random cards. Players place them face up in front of themselves (number side up). This is the machine's code, which the player must enter to win.
2. Deal each player a hand of 6 gear cards. The set consists of a red, blue, yellow, purple, multicolour and grey card.
3. Each player shuffles their gear cards and discards one random card. The discarded card is placed face up in front of the player and forms their discard pile.
4. Deal each player one character card at random. Place the card in front of you day side up, with the sun symbol in the upper right corner.
5. Shuffle all ten round cards and place them in a stack in the centre of the table: at the bottom of the stack, five random cards night side up (with the moon symbol in the upper right corner), and on top of them the remaining five cards day side up (with the sun symbol in the upper right corner).
6. If you are playing with two or three players, return the remaining unused cards to the box.
7. The player who most recently repaired a mechanism or started the computer becomes the first player and takes the gear token.

The setup diagram (player positions 1–7 and the hand layout) is printed in the original as an illustration and is not reproduced here.

Gameplay

The game lasts no more than ten rounds (five rounds of the day shift and five rounds of the night shift). Each round, players choose one gear from their hand and try to win the round with it, depending on the new conditions. Once a player wins a round, they can close their code cards. The first player to close all of their code cards becomes the winner. Otherwise, the winner is decided at the end of the tenth round by the number of closed code cards.

Round

Each round consists of four consecutive steps, which the players carry out together: placing the gears, turning the gears, determining the winner, and preparing for the next round.

Step 1: Placing the Gears

Each player chooses a gear card from their hand and one of its four sides, whose value they want to show this round. The player then places the chosen card face down next to the round card, so that the nearest corner of the round card points at the side of the gear card the player chose. Players may do this simultaneously.

Once every player has placed a gear, move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Turning the Gears

Starting with the owner of the gear token and continuing clockwise, each player in turn interacts with the gear of the player seated to their left, choosing one of three actions:

• "Increase" — turn the gear clockwise once by 90° (in most cases this increases the gear's value);
• "Decrease" — turn the gear counter-clockwise once by 90° (in most cases this decreases the gear's value);
• "Leave" — do not turn the gear.

After performing the action with the gear, the player immediately turns the card face up, so that the side adjacent to the corner of the round card stays in place. (To do this, flip the card by holding it by its side edge.)

This step ends as soon as the last gear has been turned face up.

Step 3: Determining the Winner

Depending on the current round card, determine the winner of the round by the values showing on the placed gears. Only the values that are adjacent to the corners of the round card are taken into account.

Example: In the current round the highest card wins. The gears show the values "4", "3", "2" and "1". The owner of the gear with the value "4" wins.

Jammed gears! If several gear cards with the same value claim victory, none of them can win. This may result in another gear card winning, or in there being no winner in the round at all.

Example: In the current round the lowest card wins. The gears show the values "4", "3", "2" and "2". The two gears with the value "2" claim victory, have the same value, and jam, so they lose. The owner of the next lowest gear, with the value "3", wins.

The round winner enters the code into the machine. The player turns over to the green-indicator side one of their code cards whose colour or number matches the colour or number of the gear card that won the round for them.

Example: The player won with a red gear showing "4". They may enter into the machine any of their red code cards, or a code card showing "4". Since they have no such code card, they choose to turn over a code card that was previously sent for verification.

If the winner has no such code card, they send the code for verification: they choose one of their open code cards and rotate it 180° (upside down), showing that this code is being prepared for entry the next time.

The next time the same player wins a round and cannot or does not want to enter a code by the usual rules, they may instead choose their card that was previously sent for verification and turn it over to the green-indicator side.

Step 4: Preparing for the New Round

Carry out the following actions in strict order:

• Pass the gear token to the next player clockwise.
• Each player moves the gear they played this round to their own discard pile.
• Discard the current round card. The next round card is the card that was lying under the discarded one. If the last (fifth) round card with the sun symbol is discarded, the day shift is over — prepare for the night shift. If the last round card is discarded, the game is over.

Preparing for the Night Shift

When the players begin the night shift, each player returns all the gear cards from their discard pile to their hand, shuffles them, and discards one random card (as in game setup). Each player turns their character card from its day side to its night side, if they have not done so earlier in the game. From now on until the end of the game, the rules of the night-shift round cards apply. They change the rules of the game by adding special effects to the conditions of each round.

End of the Game

The game ends when one of the following conditions is met:

• at least one player enters the last card of their code into the machine;
• the round card deck runs out (at the end of the 10th round).

The player whose code has the most entered code cards (turned to the green-indicator side up) is solemnly declared the brilliant inventor and wins the game! (Codes sent for verification count as 0.5 points.)

If several players claim victory, all of them are excluded from the count, as with jammed gears. This may result in another player winning. If none of the players managed to win, that is a great reason to play a new game!

Gear Cards

Each gear card has a unique property that changes the rules of the game.

• Red gear. Has the values 1-4-1-4.
• Purple gear. Has the values 2-2-3-3.
• Yellow gear. Has the values in reverse order (4-3-2-1).
• Blue gear. If the player did not win the round with this gear, at the end of Step 3 ("Determining the Winner") return one other gear from your discard pile to your hand.
• Grey gear. Has no colour, and it can enter code cards only by number. If your grey gear jams together with non-grey gears showing the same value, you ignore the jam rule and win. (Two or more grey gears with the same value jam under the usual rules.)
• Multicolour gear. Counts as a gear of any colour and can enter any code card. Before Step 3 ("Determining the Winner") this gear exchanges its value with a non-multicolour gear of the player seated to its right (in other words, a multicolour gear does not use its ability if the gear to its right is also multicolour).

Important! A multicolour gear passes its value to the other gear even if that gear does not have such a value. For example, if before the exchange the multicolour gear has the value "1" and must swap values with the purple gear "2", then consider the purple gear to have the value "1" (although the purple gear has no such value on its face).

Round Cards

Each round card has a special rule for determining the winner:

• Highest Even. The highest card among the non-repeating even values wins. Odd cards cannot win. For example, with the values "4", "4", "3", "2" the "2" wins, while with the values "3", "2", "2", "1" nobody wins. The round card Highest Odd works the same way.
• Lowest Odd. The lowest card among the non-repeating odd values wins. Even cards cannot win. For example, with the values "3", "2", "1", "1" the "3" wins, while with the values "4", "3", "3", "2" nobody wins. The round card Lowest Even works the same way.
• Even Cards. All even cards with a non-repeating value win. Odd cards cannot win. In this round there can be two winners. For example, with the values "4", "4", "2", "1" the "2" wins, while with the values "4", "3", "3", "2" the two cards "4" and "2" win. The round card Odd Cards works the same way.
• All Except the Lowest. Cards with the lowest value are guaranteed to lose (regardless of whether they jam or not), and all other cards with a non-repeating value win. In this round there can be several winners. For example, with the values "3", "2", "2", "1" the "3" wins, while with the values "4", "3", "2", "2" the "3" and "4" win. The round card All Except the Highest works the same way.

The two round cards used in the examples under Step 3 are Highest Card (Старшая карта), where the highest value wins, and Lowest Card (Младшая карта), where the lowest value wins, subject to the usual jam rule.

The printed night-shift round cards carry their special effects on the card faces themselves. The rulebook text describes only the general behaviour of night-shift rounds; see the note at the end of this file.

Character Cards

Throughout the game, players may use the unique abilities of their characters. At the start of the game, each player may use only the ability on the day side of their character card. Once a player has used that ability, they turn the character card over to its night side. The ability on the night side can then be used only when the night shift begins. If a player has not used the ability on the day side of their character card before the night shift begins, they lose the chance to use it, because when the night shift begins all characters lying day side up are automatically turned over to the night side. Once a player uses the ability on the night side of their character during the night shift, they remove their character card from the game.

If the players want to play their first game using simpler rules, they may play without character cards.