ImmunoWars: The Most Infectious Boardgame Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Disclaimer
• Game Overview
• Cheat Sheet
• Components
  • Playing & Player Cards
  • Table Layout
• How to Play
  • Preparation
  • Startup Turn
  • Start of Turn
  • A Few More Things
• Card Types
  • Bacteria / Virus
  • Usable
  • Consumable
  • Immunocard
  • Equipment
  • Vaccine
  • Action Card
  • Trapcard
  • Random Event
• Bibliography

Disclaimer

IMMUNOWARS IS A HIGHLY SATIRICAL GAME FOR THE MAD SCIENTISTS AMONG US - DRENCHED IN A HEALTHY DOSE OF DARK HUMOUR. WE HAVE PUT IN GREAT EFFORT & DONE A LOT OF RESEARCH TO MAKE THE GAME AS SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER, THIS DISCLAIMER SERVES IN LIGHT OF IMMUNOWARS' DARK THEME & THE MIND-BOGGLING COMPLEXITY OF SCIENCE (WE HAD TO SIMPLIFY STUFF TO MAKE IT PLAYABLE).

IMMUNOWARS DOES NOT PROVIDE YOU ANY MEDICAL ADVICE WHATSOEVER - OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF ADVICE, REALLY. WE'RE JUST A GAME... ALWAYS CONTACT YOUR PHYSICIAN OR MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL IN CASE OF ANY HEALTH ISSUES. NEITHER IMMUNOWARS NOR ITS CREATORS WILL BE HELD LIABLE AS THE RESULT OF ANY INJURIES SUSTAINED OR BAD STUFF HAPPENING DUE TO YOU IGNORING THIS WARNING.

P.S. ALSO FOR THE LOVE OF SCIENCE, DON'T EVER DRINK BLEACH. IT'S CRAZY THAT WE HAVE TO SAY THIS. IT'S NASTY STUFF, TRULY. JUST DON'T.

Gameplay video: the rulebook offers a QR code to a gameplay video. Not reproduced.

Game Overview

ImmunoWars is a player-vs-player (PvP) game where you kill your opponents by infecting them with diseases and being the last one standing. If your health = 0, you are DEAD. Activate abilities with ATP, your energy reserve, to protect yourself and attack others.

How the game works in a nutshell

1. Draw cards from the deck during your turn.
2. Activate card abilities by spending energy (however, some abilities cost no ATP).
3. Defeat your opponents by draining their health to 0.
4. Win the game by being the last player standing.

General info

• Number of players: 2-6
• Average duration: 60 min
• Minimum age: 16+

Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet shows a list of gameplay elements & definitions that you'll often encounter during your battles. For players new to the game: this chapter does NOT explain all rules you need to understand to play ImmunoWars. If this is your 1st time, read the other chapters first.

Term	Meaning
Attack	when you play an Infection on someone
Infection	Virus and Bacteria cards
Co-Infection	when multiple players are infected with the same Contagious Infection. For more info: p.X Biohazard
Contagious	Infection with biohazard (biohazard icon) = 1 or higher
Symptoms	for some cards you must roll the die to find out what happens
Roll the die	always only roll 1 die, never 2 dice. If the ability lasts for multiple turns, only roll in the 1st turn
-1 HP (once)	one-time effect that occurs at the end of the Infection's 1st turn
-1 HP/turn	recurring effect that occurs at the end of each turn of the Infection's duration
Infinity symbol	this is not an 8, but an infinity symbol; chronic Infection that needs treatment to go away
Destroy 1 (★★☆)

The printed cheat sheet continues with blank rows for the player to add their own cheats.

Components

You'll find the following pieces inside the box:

Components	Count	Tokens	Count
Playing cards	108	Timer tokens	60 (10 for each player)
Player cards	6	HP tokens	36
Player Boards	6	ATP tokens	12
Dice	2

Playing & Player Cards

10 Card Types. Card types are recognised by their symbols in the top left corner. Also keep an eye out for the colour of the bars: these indicate if a card is offensive, defensive, or sneaky. Also, offensive cards are generally dark themed, while defensive cards are light. For more information on each type, see Card Types below.

The ten types are: Bacteria, Virus, Consumable, Usable, Vaccine, Equipment, Immunocard, Action Card, Trapcard and Random Event.

Player Cards. Every player keeps this card in front of them, which makes your life a lot easier by showing an overview of how to play the game and how to use the card types.

The Player Card's "How to Play" side reads:

• Startup turn (highest roller starts): 1. DRAW 4 cards. 2. REPLACE Random Events & Trapcards with new cards.
• Turn order: 1. Gain 2 ATP. 2. Perform 3 ACTIONS. 3. Remove TIMERS from cards and undergo their EFFECTS.
• What's an action: ACTION: DRAW new card, INFECT an opponent, EQUIP card (place in front of you), ACTIVATE Immunocard ability, PLAY card from your hand. NO ACTION: PLAY Action Card, SELL card for ATP sale value, DISCARD a card (max 7 cards in hand).

The Player Card's "How to Use Card Types" side reads:

• Place in front of you: Equipment (put HP tokens (armour) on card); Vaccine (face-down); Immunocard (1) equip card, 2) activate ability when needed).
• Play from your hand: Consumable (on yourself); Usable (on yourself/others); Action Card (whenever you want); Virus (infect opponent); Bacteria (infect opponent).
• Activated instantly: Trapcard (on you); Random Event (on everyone).

A pair of dice. There are a few situations in which you roll the die (always roll only 1 die):

• To determine who starts the game.
• When an ability involving a die roll is activated on you (see example below).
• When you attack a player who is suffering from a contagious disease. For more info: Biohazard below.

Example: roll 3 to 6 = mild symptoms; roll 1 or 2 = heavy symptoms.

NOTE: for an ability that lasts multiple turns, no need to roll each turn - your first roll counts for the entire duration.

Player Boards & Tokens. Use this to keep track of your HEALTH and ENERGY, by placing one HP & one ATP token on the board. Whenever you gain or lose HP or ATP, slide that token to its new level. If your health or energy level exceeds the maximum value on the board, place an additional token to get the correct level.

The health track runs from a skull (dead, 0) up to 15 HP. The energy track runs from 0 to 15 ATP.

HP Tokens indicate how healthy you are and are used in 2 ways:

1. Primary health: the value on your Player Board. If your health = 0, you are DEAD.
2. Armour: extra protection gained by wearing Equipment. This does NOT show on your health bar, but on the cards. Example: Gas Mask has armour = 5; place 5 tokens on it. If you suffer HP damage, you are allowed to spread it between Equipment & Player Board. But you can NOT transfer HP from Equipment to your health or vice versa, or between Equipment cards. If Equipment runs out of HP tokens, it's broken and discarded. For more info: Equipment below.

ATP Tokens indicate your energy level & are used as currency. If your energy = 0, you can't use abilities that cost ATP. There are 3 ways to get ATP:

1. Starting your turn by waking up with new energy
2. Playing ATP-booster cards, such as Coffee
3. Selling cards that have a sale value

Timer tokens are player-specific tokens used to keep track of the duration of turn-based effects, such as Infections. Effects can last for 1 or more turns, or even be chronic. In the latter case, the effect won't wear off without intervention. Before you attack another player, scan the table for their colour Timers to see what effects are currently active on them; you don't want to accidentally stumble onto a nasty disease of theirs.

Timer tokens come in four values: 1, 2, 3 and infinity (chronic).

The Most Infectious Rulebook. Are you serious? Do we need to spell out everything for you? You're looking at it right now. Gotta be more focused if you're gonna survive this biowarfare bonanza.

Table Layout

The printed table diagram labels: DECKS (two face-down decks), DISCARD PILE, DICE, EQUIPPED CARDS (cards you have equipped in front of you), INFECTION (cards played on you), TIMERS (placed on Infection cards), ARMOUR (HP tokens on Equipment), PLAYER CARD, PLAYER BOARD (HEALTH and ENERGY tracks), and HAND (max. 7 cards in hand).

How to Play

ImmunoWars is a player-vs-player (pvp) game where you kill your opponents by infecting them with diseases and being the last one standing. If your health = 0, you are DEAD. Activate abilities with ATP, your energy reserve, to protect yourself and attack others.

Preparation

Choose a game mode

• A. Normal: Start with 10 HP & 0 ATP
• B. Blitzkrieg: Start with 6 HP & 2 ATP

Before you start

1. Shuffle playing cards & split them into 2 decks.
2. All players get a Player Board, Player Card & Timer Tokens.
3. Place 1 HP & 1 ATP token on your Player Board.

Startup Turn

1. All players roll the die. The highest roller starts.
2. Draw a total of 4 cards from either or one of the decks.
3. If you draw Trapcards or Random Events, put these back into the deck & draw new cards. You may NOT start the game with these cards in your hand.

Once all players have finished this turn, it's time to start the game. I wish you good fortune, my mad scientists. May you prevail in the wars to come...

Start of Turn

The turn is made up of three phases, in order:

1. Awakening. Gain +2 ATP (+ATP from equipped Mitochondria).
2. Tactical Phase. Perform 3 ACTIONS of your choice. See below what does and doesn't count as an action.
3. Countdown. Remove a TIMER TOKEN from relevant cards and EXPERIENCE their effects. Cards that run out of timers are discarded.

Then the turn ends.

What's an action?

• Draw a card from the deck. Max 7 cards in your hand!
• Infect an opponent: Virus or Bacteria.
• Equip a card: Immunocard, Equipment, Vaccine.
• Activate an equipped ability: Immunocard or Equipment.
• Play a card from your hand: Consumable or Usable.

What's not an action?

• You can always play Action Cards, even during another's turn.
• Discard cards that aren't useful to you.
• Sell cards that have a sale value on the bottom right. Sell to the discard pile or try to get a better price from another player.
• Passive abilities (marked P) are automatically activated after you equip a card with such ability.

A Few More Things

• The cards are randomly divided into 2 decks, to give you extra freedom of choice - some abilities even offer you a sneak peek of the top of a deck.
• If both decks run out of cards, while more than 1 player still breathes, mass mutation mode is activated:
  1. Reshuffle all cards on the discard pile and divide them into 2 new decks.
  2. From now on, abilities of ALL new Infections anyone plays cause an additional -1 HP/turn. Infections that were active before this mode started, remain unaffected.

If you get into a heated argument with friends about the rules & cannot find it here, try our online FAQ (immunowars.io/faq). If you cannot find it there, you're at the mercy of your game master. Tough luck!

Card Types

This chapter guides you through the 10 card types and how to use them. Each type functions slightly differently and, if used right, may guide you to glorious victory. Your Player Card also shows a compact overview.

The symbols in the top-left corner of every card identify its type: Bacteria, Virus, Consumable, Usable, Vaccine, Equipment, Immunocard, Action Card, Trapcard, Random Event. In addition, to get a feeling of what type of card you're looking at, keep an eye out for the following visual cues:

• The colour of the bars shows if a card is offensive (red), defensive (green), or sneaky (yellow).
• In most cases, dark cards are offensive, while light cards are defensive.
• While the colour of a card's border is flavour, Infections can be quickly recognised by their funky border.

Bacteria / Virus

Play on your foes to infect them with an ability of your choice. If you're infected, try to cure yourself during 2. TACTICAL PHASE. If you don't, remove one timer at 3. COUNTDOWN and suffer its negative effects. Once it runs out of timers, the card is discarded.

Card anatomy (as labelled on the printed example card):

• CARD TITLE, with the colour of the card's bar important.
• CARD TYPE (top-left symbol).
• MODE OF TRANSMISSION (the 2nd hexagon).
• Localisation (the 3rd hexagon, flavour only).
• ATP PRICE: pay to ACTIVATE this ability.
• ABILITY DURATION: place TIMERS on the card (the number in the circle).
• Ability title, followed by flavour text in regular typeface and ABILITY EFFECTS in bold. Symbols such as "-2 HP/turn" and "-5 HP (once)" are the effects; "(once)" damage is applied only after the 1st turn.
• BIOHAZARD (!!) rating, DNA/RNA (flavour), and SEVERITY (stars).
• NON-GAMEPLAY: fun facts, with a link to the Bibliography (p. 28 printed page reference).

Important features

Mode of Transmission. The 2nd hexagon explains how the disease is transmitted: Airborne, STD, Mosquito, Foodborne, Bloodborne, Zoonosis.

Disease localisation. The 3rd hexagon shows which organ is primarily affected by an Infection: Brain, Lungs, Liver, Gastrointestinal. This is flavour and currently has no role in gameplay.

Biohazard (!!). Indicates an Infection's contagiousness. If you attack someone who's suffering from contagious Infection(s), roll the die (only 1, never 2) for each of those cards. Bad roll = co-Infection:

1. Place your Timers on the card next to your opponent's.
2. You now suffer the same ability of that Infection, but your countdown starts at the beginning.

You get co-infected if you roll:

• 0 biohazard: no risk of co-infection.
• 1 biohazard: roll 1.
• 2 biohazard: roll 1 or 2.
• 3 biohazard: roll between 1 & 3.

Example.

• Blue had already suffered 'Honeycomb Lungs' for 2 turns, when Green attacked him with another Infection.
• Green had to roll to prevent co-Infection, but rolled 2, which is too low for the level 3-biohazard rating of SARS CoV-2. Co-Infection occurs.
• Green places 3 Timers (the duration of this ability) next to the remaining Timer of Blue. Both players suffer this disease now.

Severity. Indicates how difficult it is to treat that Infection, ranging from 1 star (★☆☆) to 3 stars (★★★). Any cure that can treat 2-star Infections, ALSO works against 1-star!

How to use

1. When you draw this card, take it into your hand.
2. During your 2. TACTICAL PHASE, you may infect an enemy with an ability of choice.
3. Pay the correct ATP price and place the card in front of that player.
4. The victim instantly places their corresponding Timers on the card. However, that player only has to act during their turn.
5. During their 2. TACTICAL PHASE, they either treat the Infection, or suffer its effects upon 3. COUNTDOWN.

See p. 14 or Player Card for an overview of the TURN ORDER.

Usable

These cards have a wide variety of useful abilities.

How to use

1. Draw and take it into your hand.
2. Play by choosing an ability and paying its ATP price.
3. Discard after use.

Usables are ALWAYS single-use: after you've played these cards, they're discarded. You cannot use both abilities: choose one. Usables can also be another colour. Sale value: sell to discard pile, gain ATP. You may also sell to enemies (barter for higher price).

Consumable

Pills for lunch! These come in the form of medicine & nutrition.

How to use

1. Works just like Usable, but: bad stuff, such as food poisoning, may prevent you from being able to consume.

Consumables are generally green. They are ALWAYS single-use, since you literally consume the card. Example ability: Destroy 1 (bacteria/virus icon) "up to 2-stars" (the star rating printed on the ability).

Immunocard

Eat your spinach to become big and healthy.

How to use

1. Draw and take it into your hand.
2. Equip by placing in front of you - don't pay ATP yet!
3. Activate ability when needed and pay ATP for it.

Immunocards are GREEN. Subtype: active / passive / hybrid. The first ability on the example card reads "Destroy 1 (bacteria icon) ★★★ OR (virus icon) ★★★★ - up to 3-stars. Discard after use." Depends on ability whether it's usable once or repeatedly. A passive ability (marked P) is free and always functioning when this card is equipped.

Equipment

Looking to defend yourself? Always wear protection in the lab.

How to use

1. Draw and take into your hand.
2. Equip and place HP tokens (armour) on the card.
3. You may divide HP damage between armour and health.

Equipment is GREEN. ARMOUR: place number of HP TOKENS on the card. If it runs out of tokens, it's broken: discard it. You may not redistribute HP between health & Equipment, or between Equipment-Equipment. In addition to armour, these cards sometimes also provide an ability or other bonus. Subtype: max 1 piece per body part, unless stated otherwise. Example card text: "Whenever you have to roll for an infection transmitted through (airborne icon): +1 to die roll."

Vaccine

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

How to use

1. Draw and take into your hand.
2. Equip face-down on the table.
3. If you're attacked with Infections you're vaccinated against, show your vaccine and discard the Infection card. Keep the vaccine.

Vaccines are GREEN. PASSIVE: this ability is free & always functioning when this card is equipped. Gain immunity against the following Virus: Influenza, Parainfluenza, H1N1 Swine Flu. Place this card face-down on table.

Action Card

Got a trick up your sleeve? These cards are the wet dream of jokers all across the globe.

How to use

1. Draw and take into your hand.
2. Play whenever you like, even when it's not your turn. Especially when it's not your turn.

Action Cards can be any colour. Action cards are the type with highest variety of abilities and can give you the edge in many creative ways. These cards cost NO action to play.

Trapcard

When life gives you lemons, squeeze them in your eyes and scream.

How to use

1. When you draw these cards, they're instantly activated on you!
2. Suffer its effect(s) and discard the card afterwards.

Trapcards are mostly RED. You may NEVER hold these cards in your hand. When you draw these, suffer the consequences immediately! Subtype: Event.

Random Event

Did anyone say... pandemic party?

How to use

1. When you draw these cards, they're instantly activated on everyone, starting with you and moving in a clockwise order.
2. After everyone has experienced its effect(s), discard the card.

Random Events are mostly RED. You may NEVER hold these cards in your hand. When you draw these, everyone gets to feel the consequences immediately! Subtype: Event.

Bibliography

A healthy relationship between science and society - based on trust, transparency, accessibility, and understanding - is key to progress. Through various immersive experiences, ImmunoWars strives to cultivate & grow this relationship and build bridges.

For the development of this game, thousands of hours have gone into research on a wide variety of topics, such as Infections, novel medications & technologies, and the marvel that's known as your immune system.

In order to create a game that's actually playable and fun, we had to simplify stuff and make assumptions within science's infinite complexity. In light of scientific developments and discoveries, some information on the cards may become outdated in time. The publisher keeps a digital bibliography with the latest news (immunowars.io/bibliography); check that page periodically.