Jumpship
Jumpship Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
At the beginning of the game, each player is secretly assigned one of three roles: Human, Alien, or Alien Queen. The Humans have the majority, but they won't know for sure who anyone is. The Aliens will know who each other are and will use this advantage to accomplish their goals.
As the damaged ship is repaired, the players will be able to reveal more information about all the passengers. Meanwhile leaders need to be elected to make tough decisions about who to quarantine and who to eject.
Components
- 69 Action Tokens:
- 15 Countdown
- 15 Target
- 15 Scan
- 10 Command
- 10 Repair
- 4 Medical
- 10 Role Cards
- 11 Bio ID Cards
- 3 Quarantine Cards
- 2 Ship Boards
- 1 Token Bag
Object
- Humans win by ejecting or killing the Alien Queen.
- The Aliens win if the Queen is still aboard the ship when it reaches its final destination.
Set Up
Place both Ship Boards in the middle of the play area. Place all the Action Tokens into the Token Bag.
Select the Bio ID Cards according to the chart below:
| # Players | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humans | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Aliens | 1 + Queen | 1 + Queen | 1 + Queen | 1 + Queen | 2 + Queen | 2 + Queen |
Randomly choose one of the Quarantine cards to use this game.
Randomly deal one Role and one Bio ID Card to each player. (Note: Not all Role cards will be used). Be careful not to reveal the Bio ID cards!
Once each player has a Role and Bio ID card, all players should reveal their Role card, but keep their Bio ID a secret.
Your Role card indicates who you are on the ship and gives you a special ability. This role as well as the special ability is open information. [See the Special Abilities section for more details about special abilities].
Designate a player to give the following directions to all players:
- Everybody close your eyes.
- All Aliens including the Queen, open your eyes and acknowledge each other.
- Alien Queen - stick out your tongue.
- Alien players take note of who has their tongue sticking out - that player is the Queen.
[Briefly pause for a moment]
- Everyone close your eyes.
- Everyone open your eyes.
Note that for 5 - 8 player games, the Queen does not need to stick out her tongue, as there are only 2 aliens.
Gameplay
JUMPSHIP is played in a series of turns until specific events are triggered. When an event is triggered, the event must be resolved and then play continues from where it left off.
Each turn, players will draw 2 tokens out of the bag and potentially give them to other players. Different tokens have different effects.
The player with the Captain role always goes first. Otherwise, the player who is the highest rank according to the chart will take the first turn. Play then proceeds clockwise.
Role Rank
- Captain
- First Mate
- Pilot
- Engineer
- Scientist
- Doctor
- Diplomat
- Chef
- Security
- Stowaway
On Your Turn
- Draw two tokens from the bag. Reach into the token bag and draw two tokens showing them to all players.
If any of the tokens show the Countdown symbol, immediately place it on the Ship Console Board on the first countdown track (Quarantine). For any other symbols, you may return the token(s) to the bag and draw new ones. This can only be performed once per turn, and you must keep the results.
- Give tokens. Give any remaining tokens to other players. Giving is not optional. You cannot give tokens to yourself. If you have more than one token to give, you cannot give two to the same person.
- Repair - Repair tokens are not given to other players. Instead, place these tokens on the Ship Repair board.
- Target - A player receiving this token must place it in front of them. During certain events, the player with the most Targets will be ejected or killed.
- Medical - A medical token will cancel out one Target token. You can have Medical tokens before having any target tokens.
- Command - A player receiving this token must place it in front of them. During certain events, the player with the most Command tokens will have to make important decisions.
- Scan - On their turn, instead of drawing tokens, a player with 4 Scan tokens may look at the Bio ID card of any player. Return 3 Scan tokens back into the bag, keeping 1. (Scanning is only possible if the scanners are online. See Ship Repair on page 5).
- Resolve ship board actions. If you placed any Countdown or Repair tokens and they filled the last slot in a row on the boards, resolve the corresponding event.
Part 1: Countdown to Quarantine
The player with the most Command tokens chooses a player to place in Quarantine. If there is a tie for Command tokens, no one is placed in Quarantine.
Give the quarantined player the Quarantine Card. A player in Quarantine will be adversely affected by the card text, but they otherwise play the game normally.
After Part 1 is resolved, return all of the players' Command tokens and all Countdown used in Part 1, back to the bag. Any Countdown tokens placed on the board now go on the track for Part 2.
Part 2: Countdown to Eject
The player with the most Target tokens is ejected from the ship. If more than one player is tied for the most Target tokens, no players are ejected.
If the Queen was ejected, she must reveal her Bio ID card. The Crew wins! Otherwise, the Bio ID of the eliminated player is not revealed and play continues.
A player who has been ejected no longer draws tokens or takes a turn. They are still able to communicate with the other players, participate in the discussions of the game and be scanned, but can not receive new tokens.
After Part 2 is resolved, return all tokens from the ejected passenger, as well as all Countdown tokens used in Part 2 back to the bag. Any Countdown tokens placed on the board now go on the track for Part 3.
Part 3: Countdown to Kill
The player with the most Command tokens chooses a player to kill and eliminate from the game. They may also choose not to kill anyone. If there is a tie for Command tokens, the player with the most Target tokens is killed instead*.
*The Captain's ability does not override this.
If the Queen was eliminated, she must reveal her Bio card. The Humans win! If the Queen was not eliminated, the Crew no longer have a chance at winning, the aliens win!
After Part 3 is resolved, the game concludes.
It is also possible for the game to end if the ship is fully repaired. See "Ship Repair" below:
Ship Repair
Ship Repair: Scanners. When a Repair token is placed on the 5th space of the ship repair track, all players gain access to the Scan action.
On their turn, instead of drawing tokens, a player with 4 Scan tokens may look at the Bio ID card of any player. Return 3 Scan tokens back into the bag, keeping 1.
Ship Repair: Engines. As soon as the last Repair token is placed on the 9th and final space of the ship repair track, the game ends. All players reveal their Bio ID cards.
If the Queen is aboard the ship, the Aliens win! If the Queen is not aboard the ship, the Humans win!
Strategy Notes
- The Aliens should try to get Home as soon as possible. Since the Queen is already aboard the ship, the Aliens should try to repair the ship before the crew is able to eliminate any possible targets. Creating ties with the Command tokens is a good way to prevent elimination.
- The Humans wants to repair the ship, but not too much. Once the crew have the scanners online, they can use it to find information about the Aliens, but repairing it puts them dangerously closer to home. You'll want to stall the Engine Repair to give you more chances to Scan.
- Token Denial. The amount of tokens in the game are fixed. A player can horde Scan tokens and refuse to scan... though that might say something about their motives.
- Patient Confidentiality. Scanning is done in private and only the scanning party may look at the Bio ID card. It is up to them to decide whether to disclose the information gleaned.
- Redrawing is optional! Redrawing tokens is a powerful move, but be careful that it doesn't waste time and cause events to occur before theres solid information about who is who. Unless that's what you want...
FAQ & Reminders
- What happens if no one has any corresponding tokens during an event resolution? Treat everyone's token value for that token as zero, thus resulting in ties.
- I drew two Countdown tokens and only needed one to trigger the event. Resolve the event like normal. Place the second token on the next track.
- Do you really get to keep Scan tokens after performing a scan? Yes, this makes it more likely to use the same person to scan, for better or worse.
- Yes, If you drew two Countdown tokens, you place them immediately and don't get to do anything else :(
- Scanning takes your turn, so you may not draw tokens on the same turn you performed a scan.
- Don't forget to have fun!
Special Abilities
Each role has a special ability they can use to help them achieve their goals. Many of these abilities bend the rules of the game, so if there is a conflict between roles and rules, the roles take precedent. There is no limit to the amount of times a special ability may be used per game.
- Captain - If there is a tie during the resolution of Part 1 or Part 2, the Captain chooses who among the tied players is the "winner". For example, if 3 players are tied with the most command tokens during part 1, the capain chooses which of those 3 will get to choose who gets to give out the quarantine card (not who gets put in quarantine). If the Captain is one of the tied players, she can choose herself. Remember that during the Kill event (Part 3), the Captain's ability will not come into effect.
- Chef - Instead of taking a normal turn, the Chef may remove a countdown token from any unfinished countdown track and place it back into the bag. His delicious stew always calms everyone down.
- Diplomat - The Diplomat may give himself one, and only one of his own tokens, per turn. This does not apply to Countdown and Repair tokens.
- Doctor - Instead of taking a normal turn, the Doctor may move a medical token from one player to another, including himself. This ability has no effect if there are no medical tokens in play.
- Engineer - Instead of taking a normal turn, the Engineer may remove a repair token from the Ship Repair track and place it back into the bag. Doing so may cause the scanners to break and become unavailable.
- First Mate - It cannot be scanned! Maybe the aliens programmed it?
- Pilot - The Pilot may choose to redraw her tokens one additional time. The rules for Countdown tokens still apply. She must keep the results.
- Scientist - The Scientist may perform a scan with only 3 Scan tokens instead of the usual 4. He returns 2 to the bag, keeping only 1 token.
- Security - Instead of taking a normal turn, the Security Officer may look into the bag and pull out a Target. This ability has no effect if all 15 Target tokens have already been drawn.
Basic Token Rules
- You cannot give multiple tokens to the same player in the same turn.
- You cannot give tokens to yourself.
Token Reference
- Countdown (15) - When these tokens are drawn, immediately place them on the board. When a countdown track is complete, resolve the event before the next turn is taken.
- Command (10) - Give these to people you trust! When Part 1 and Part 3 of the game is complete, the player with the most Command tokens will have to make important decisions.
- Target (15) - Give these to people you do not trust! When Part 2 of the game is complete, the player with the most Target tokens will be ejected from the ship.
- Medical (4) - A medical token counter-acts one Target token. You may pre-emptively receive medical tokens before acquiring any Target tokens.
- Repair (10) - You do not give Repair tokens to other players. Place these on the Ship Repair board. When a Repair token is placed on the 9th space of the board, the game ends.
- Scan (15) - Give these to people you trust to perform a scan. See below.
Perform a Scan
*A Scan may only be performed when the ship has been repaired with at least 5 repair tokens.
To perform a scan: Instead of taking a normal turn, a player must have at least 4 Scan tokens; She first returns 3 of them to the bag, keeping 1. She then chooses a player. That player gives her his Bio ID card facedown, and she looks at it in secret before returning it.