Gravity Superstar
Gravity Superstar Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 30 Action cards (6 copies of 5 different cards).
- 6 Character cards.
- 1 First Player card.
- 6 Superstar pawns, also called simply "pawns" in this rulebook.
- 1 Open Door pawn.
- 6 double-sided Planet tiles.
- 78 plastic stars (13 in each of 6 different colors).
- 1 bag.
- 18 Replay tokens.
Setup
Randomly select the appropriate number of Planet tiles for the number of players, and arrange them, whichever side up you like, as depicted below in the middle of the table. Their orientation does not matter.
| Number of players | Number of tiles | Arrangement |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 2 tiles side by side |
| 3–4 | 4 | 4 tiles in a 2x2 square |
| 5–6 | 6 | 6 tiles in a 2x3 rectangle |
Place the Open Door pawn on a Door space of your choice. This pawn does not belong to any player.
Place the Replay tokens beside the board; they constitute a limited general supply.
Put all of the stars in the bag. Then, draw as many stars from the bag as the total number of Replay token symbols and star symbols visible on the board, and place them randomly on these symbols. Store the bag with the rest of the stars in the box.
Each player takes 5 different Action cards to form their hand and places their Character card and their Superstar pawn before them, in their personal reserve. The contents of your personal reserve must always be visible.
Randomly select a start player. That player takes the First Player card.
Playing the Game
On your turn, take one action, then optionally spend a Replay token to take a second action. Then it is your left neighbor's turn, who does the same, and so on until the game is complete. Thus each player's turn goes as follows:
- Place your Superstar pawn into play (mandatory).
- Play an action (mandatory).
- Spend a Replay token (optional).
Up, Down, Left, Right
In this rulebook, the concepts of up, down, left, and right are relative to the orientation of the pawn in question before it starts its move.
1. Place your Superstar pawn into play (mandatory)
If your pawn is already in play, ignore this step.
If your pawn is not in play, place it lying down on the Door space that currently has the Open Door pawn, oriented the same way as the door.
The Superstar pawn must enter the game where the Open Door pawn is, which then moves.
Then move the Open Door pawn clockwise to the next unoccupied Door space.
Because a Door space clockwise may be occupied by another pawn, the Open Door pawn skips this space and moves to the next one.
Special Case: No unoccupied Door spaces! In the very rare case in which all of the Door spaces are occupied by Superstar pawns, do not move the Open Door pawn; leave it in the same space as the Superstar that just arrived.
2. Play an action (mandatory)
There are three actions available:
- Complete your hand.
- Play a simple move.
- Play a special move.
Place the cards you play face up in front of you in your personal reserve where everyone can see them.
Complete your hand
Take all of your cards back into your hand.
Play a simple move
Choose a card from your hand and place it face down in front of you to move your pawn one space to its left or right. You can play any card face down for a simple move, rather than the special move indicated on its front.
Note: The special move you have "sacrificed" remains hidden, which can sow doubt in your opponents' minds as to which cards you still have in your hand.
Play a special move
Choose a card from your hand and place it face up in front of you to move your pawn according to the rules of the special action depicted on it. There are four different special actions:
Long Jump
Move your pawn two spaces to its left or right. To be able to play this action, your pawn must be able to make the entire move.
A pawn cannot make a long jump toward a side where it is immediately blocked by a platform, and it also cannot make a long jump toward a side where it cannot move two spaces in that direction. If a pawn makes a long jump and there is no platform under its feet at the destination, it falls until a platform stops it.
High Jump
Move your pawn one space upward, then one space to its left or right. To be able to play this action, your pawn must be able to make the entire move.
A pawn cannot high jump toward a side where a vertical platform prevents that sideways movement. If it can complete the move but has no platform under its feet, it falls until it hits a platform.
Drop
Move your pawn one space downward, passing through the platform below its feet. The pawn drops through the platform on which it is standing, and stops when it reaches the next platform.
Rotate
Pivot your pawn in place, either a quarter turn (90°) or a half turn (180°).
The Wild card lets you use any of the four special actions above.
Important: After resolving an action, if your pawn's feet are not standing on a platform, it falls in a straight line until it stops on a platform. It doesn't matter how many spaces it falls.
Note:
- In these rules, the term "move" includes falling.
- In the rulebook's example illustrations, falling is represented by a dashed line.
The edges of the board "wrap around": A pawn that leaves one side immediately re-enters the board on the opposite side, in the same column/row. For example, after a simple move to the right, a pawn that falls, leaving the board at the bottom, immediately continues its fall from the top in the same column.
Example: A pawn that starts in the upper-right corner and makes a high jump to the right exits the board at the top, and immediately reappears at the bottom in the same column. Then it completes its action by going to the right, again leaving the board and reappearing on the left in the same row. Finally, because it has no platform under its feet, it leaves the board a third time to reappear at the top, falling until it lands on a platform.
Important: Whenever you have used all 5 of your cards, and all 5 are thus in front of you, immediately take them back into your hand for free.
Events
During your move, your pawn might enter spaces depicting or containing various things:
- Space containing a star.
- Space depicting the Replay token symbol.
- Empty space or space containing the star symbol.
- Space containing an opponent's Superstar pawn.
- Door space.
Space containing a star
Whenever your pawn enters a space containing a star, collect it and place it in your personal reserve, so that stars of the same color are aligned with the matching star depicted at the left or right of your Character card.
- You can collect several stars in the same move.
- Every star collected reveals a Replay token symbol or star symbol on its space.
- There is no limit to the number of stars you can have in your personal reserve.
- There is no correlation between the colors of the stars and the Superstar pawns.
Space depicting the Replay token symbol
Each time your pawn enters a space with neither a Superstar nor star in it, that depicts the Replay token symbol, take a Replay token from the general supply, and place it in your personal reserve where everyone can see it.
- You can collect several Replay tokens in the same move.
- There is no limit to the number of Replay tokens you can have in your personal reserve.
- If the general supply of Replay tokens is empty, you do not collect any.
Empty space or space containing the star symbol
Nothing happens. The star symbol is only for the initial placement of the stars.
Space containing an opponent's Superstar pawn
Whenever your pawn enters a space occupied by an opponent's pawn (no matter its orientation), you eject it.
- You can eject several opponents' pawns in the same move.
- Ejected pawns immediately return to the personal reserves of their owners.
- Their owners immediately take all their cards back into their hands.
- You must steal either one star of your choice or a Replay token from each player whose pawn you ejected. If they have neither, you steal nothing from them.
Door space
In the course of a move, your pawn may enter a Door space, just like any other space in the game. If the Open Door pawn is there, move it as if a Superstar pawn had just entered play through that door: Move it to the next unoccupied Door space clockwise.
3. Spend a Replay token (optional)
If you have one, you may choose to spend a Replay token, returning it to the general supply. Spending a Replay token allows you to play another action. Follow the rules for "2. Play an action" above.
- You can spend only one Replay token per turn.
- You can spend a Replay token on the same turn you collected it.
Example of a complete turn for Green
Having been previously ejected by an opponent, the green Superstar pawn comes back into play in the Door space with the Open Door pawn. The Open Door pawn moves to the next unoccupied Door space clockwise. Green then plays a High Jump Action card and moves her pawn one space upward…
…then one space to its left. With no platform under its feet, it falls.
While falling, it collects a Replay token from the general supply.
It continues to fall, ejecting the pink pawn by entering its space. Because Pink has neither any stars nor any Replay tokens, Green cannot steal anything from him.
Further down, the green pawn collects a blue star.
Finally, the green pawn ends its fall, stopping on a platform. Because the Open Door pawn is there, it moves to the next unoccupied Door space clockwise.
Green has a Replay token, and decides to spend it. Thus, she takes a second action. She chooses to play a Drop card. Her pawn slides through the platform under its feet and falls. It collects an orange star, then leaves the board.
It immediately re-enters the other side of the board, in the same row, and continues to fall until it lands on a platform where the orange pawn is standing. Thus, the orange pawn is ejected. Green decides to steal a Replay token from Orange, but because Green already spent a Replay token this turn, she must wait until her next turn to spend it.
End of the Game & Counting Points
At the end of a round, when the player to the right of the player with the First Player card finishes their turn, the game ends if there are few enough stars on the board:
- 2-player game: 4 stars or fewer.
- 3- or 4-player game: 8 stars or fewer.
- 5- or 6-player game: 12 stars or fewer.
Each player counts their points as follows:
- 1 Replay token = 1 point.
- 1 star = 1 point.
- Each pair of stars of the same color = +1 bonus point.
The player with the most points wins. In a tie, the tied player with the fewest Replay tokens in their personal reserve wins. If it is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.
Example of counting points with 4 players:
| Player | Blue stars | Yellow stars | Pink stars | Green stars | Orange stars | White stars | Bonus for pairs of stars | Replay tokens | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julian | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 22 |
| Gyom | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
| Henri | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Emma | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 22 |
At the end of the game, Julian and Emma both have 22 points, but Emma wins, because she has fewer Replay tokens than Julian!
Variant: End of the game in expert mode
When a player reaches or exceeds a certain number of points, this immediately triggers the end of the game to take place at the end of the current round, such that everyone gets the same number of turns. The number of points required depends on the number of players:
- 2-player game: 18 points.
- 3-player game: 24 points.
- 4-player game: 18 points.
- 5-player game: 24 points.
- 6-player game: 18 points.
Note: The player who triggers the end of the game might still lose a point or two if someone steals a star or Replay token by ejecting their pawn. Counting points, winning the game, and tiebreakers all remain the same.
The Game at a Glance
1. Place your Superstar pawn into play (mandatory)
2. Play an action (mandatory)
There are three actions available:
- Complete your hand: Take all of your cards back into your hand.
- Play a simple move: Play a card face down and move your pawn 1 space left or right.
- Play a special move: Play a card face up and move your pawn according to the action indicated on the card:
- Long Jump — Move your pawn 2 spaces left or right.
- High Jump — Move your pawn 1 space up, then 1 space left or right.
- Drop — Your pawn slides down through the platform under its feet.
- Rotate — Pivot your pawn a quarter turn (90°) or half turn (180°).
3. Spend a Replay token (optional)
Maximum one time per turn.
During a move, your pawn might do the following:
- Collect one or more stars.
- Collect one or more Replay tokens.
- Eject one or more opponents' Superstar pawns.
- Force the Open Door pawn to move to the next unoccupied Door space clockwise.
- Leave the board and reappear on the opposite side.
You take all your cards back into your hand if:
- You choose the Complete Your Hand action.
- Your Superstar pawn is ejected by an opponent.
- You play the fifth and final card from your hand.
The game ends at the end of the round when the board has:
- 4 stars or fewer in a 2-player game.
- 8 stars or fewer in a 3- or 4-player game.
- 12 stars or fewer in a 5- or 6-player game.