Kuiperium
Kuiperium Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- Rulebook
- Double-Sided Reference Cards (x2)
- Discovery Track
- Main Board
- Player Boards (x2)
- Double-Sided Affinity Bonus Tiles (x8)
- Strategy Cards (x8)
- Workers (x6)
- Kuiperium Cards (x60)
- Kuiperium Resources (x30)
- Discovery Shuttles (x2)
Game Setup
- Place the Main Board between the two players in the center of the table. Randomly choose a First Player.
- Place the Discovery Track beside the Main Board.
- Shuffle the Main Deck (60 Kuiperium Cards) and place it face down on the designated spot of the Discovery Track.
- A. Each player, beginning with the First Player, draws 4 Cards from the Main Deck, keeping them hidden.
- If the Deck ever runs out of Cards, immediately reshuffle the discard pile to make a new Deck.
- B. Each player, beginning with the First Player, may choose to place any number of those Cards on the bottom of the Main Deck, redrawing up to 4.
- A. Each player, beginning with the First Player, draws 4 Cards from the Main Deck, keeping them hidden.
- Shuffle the Strategy Card Deck, and place it face down.
- A. Each player, beginning with the First Player, draws 3 Strategy Cards from the Deck, keeping them hidden. Return the remaining Cards to the box.
- Each player takes 4 two-sided Affinity Bonus Tiles (one of each color) and places them in the designated area on their Player Board, with the "Active" side face down.
- Place the 30 Kuiperium Resources in the designated area of the Discovery Track Board.
- Each player chooses a color (purple or orange), takes the 3 Workers of that color and places them in the designated area on their Player Board.
- Each player also has a Discovery Shuttle of their color and places it on the "Start" location of the Discovery Track.
- Each player takes a double-sided Reference Card.
Gameplay Overview
In Kuiperium, players are racing towards the planet at the end of the Discovery Track. The first player to reach the end of the track wins the game! Players need to play Cards and play Workers to earn valuable Recall Rewards that will allow them to advance on the Discovery Track.
Discovery Track
Advancing on the Discovery Track is how you will win the game so understanding how the track works is important.
- Anytime you gain Discovery Points you'll immediately have a chance to advance on the track.
- In order to advance, you need to spend the number of Discovery Points listed on the next location of the track in one single instance.
- Continue advancing to the next location on the track until you've used all Discovery Points, or the cost to advance to the next location is higher than your remaining points. Any leftover points are lost.
- You may not combine Discovery Points earned from separate locations or actions to move onto a single location on the track.
- It's important to understand that when Recalling Workers, each Worker is recalled and fully resolved one at a time. Discovery Points earned from different workers can not be combined to advance to the next location on the Discovery Track.
Discovery Track Example: the printed example illustrates a cross-marked attempt and a check-marked attempt; see the rulebook diagram.
Anatomy of a Card
The printed card diagram labels the following parts of a Kuiperium Card:
- Recall Reward Icons (top of the card)
- Black Corner: a corner that does not match anything and never counts towards Synergy.
- Green Corner
- Worker Placement Location
- Card Color (for example, Silver)
- Card Art
- Card Title
- Ability (text at the bottom of the card)
- Wild Corner (choose a color)
A Secret Lab card will always have at least 1 Wild corner.
Taking Actions
Starting with the First Player, players will go back and forth taking 1 of these 5 possible actions:
- Add a Card to your Secret Lab
- Play a Card
- Play a Worker
- Refresh Your Hand
- Recall Workers
1. Add a Card to Your Secret Lab
a. Place a Card from your hand to your Secret Lab, face down. Your Secret Lab is the space on the right side of your Player Board.
b. A Card in the Secret Lab is not considered part of your hand.
c. There may only ever be one Card in your Secret Lab.
d. When adding a Card to your Secret Lab, if there is already a Card there, you may swap that card with one from your hand.
2. Play a Card
a. Choose a Card to play, either from your hand or from your Secret Lab. Cards are played to your side of the Play Area, which is defined by the line in the center of the Game Board and consists of the 3 rows closest to you.
b. Cards must be played to one of these spaces, face up, with the text facing you.
c. Cards must be played orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to a previously played Card, or to the starter locations on the Game Board.
d. After playing your Card, activate the Card's Ability in the text box at the bottom of the Card. If you have the matching Affinity Bonus Tile activated, you may use its effect. (Before or after resolving the Cards Ability.)
e. Any Card can be added to and played from your Secret Lab; however, certain Cards MUST be played from your Secret Lab and cannot be played from your hand. Other Cards will earn you better Abilities when played from the Secret Lab.
3. Play a Worker
a. Play one of your available Workers from your Player Board onto a Location on your opponent's Play Area. Either on one of their Cards or on one of the starter Locations.
b. Only one Worker is allowed per Location.
4. Refresh Your Hand
a. Discard your entire hand face up (even if you have no Cards) to draw 4 new Cards from the Main Deck.
b. Your hand limit is 8 Cards. If you have 8 Cards in hand, you may not draw any more Cards.
c. Remember that a Card in your Secret Lab is not considered to be in your hand, so it is not discarded when taking this action.
5. Recall Workers
a. One at a time, in the order of your choosing, take back all of your Workers, triggering their Recall Rewards.
b. Each Worker must be fully resolved before resolving the next one.
This will matter for certain Recall Rewards such as Discovery Point Icons and recalling from the Control Center.
Cards
Strategy Cards
- Players are dealt 3 Strategy Cards at the beginning of the game.
- Players may look at their Strategy Cards but must keep them secret.
- When a player reaches the Strategy Card icon on the Discovery Track they will choose one of their face down Strategy Cards and set it aside.
- Players may play their Strategy Card for free at the beginning of their turn prior to taking their normal action, then discard it from the game.
Reward Icons
Utilizing your Workers effectively is key to winning Kuiperium. The different Recall Rewards are listed below:
- Kuiperium: Take 1 Kuiperium from the supply.
- Discovery Point: Earn 1 Discovery Point to advance on the Discovery Track.
- Research: Draw 1 Card from the Main Deck OR Add 1 Card from your hand into your Secret Lab.
- Destroy Kuiperium: Destroy 1 of your opponent's Kuiperium.
- Move a Worker: Move 1 Worker, either yours or your opponent's, to another valid Location for that Worker. Workers can only ever go on the opposite side of the Main Board.
- Spy Network: Pay 1 Kuiperium and then discard a Card from your Play Area.
- Control Center: Jettison a Card from your Play Area. (See Control Center Section for information on Jettisoning a Card.)
- 3rd Worker Bonus: Only gain the Recall Reward with this colored background if you are Recalling exactly 3 Workers.
All icons are optional regardless of how you're earning them.
Control Center
Recalling Workers from the Control Center is where you'll get most of your Discovery Points and ultimately how you'll win the game.
When you recall a Worker from the Control Center, take the following steps to Jettison a Card and gain the corresponding Discovery Points.
To Jettison a Card
- Pay 4 Kuiperium.
- Choose a Card in your Play Area.
- Count it's Synergy value and gain that many Discovery Points.
- Discard the chosen Card.
- Look at the color of the chosen card and flip the matching Affinity Bonus Tile to it's active side.
Counting Synergy
- Choose a Card and for each corner count the number of matching (diagonally and orthogonally) adjacent colors.
- Black corners do not count towards Synergy.
- When counting Synergy, "wild" corners can count as any single color at any one time, but they do NOT count as all colors at all times.
The printed example shows a silver card with a total of 4 Synergy: a Yellow corner matches the Wild corner (if yellow is chosen as the color) for 1 Synergy; a Red corner has two other matching Red corners, so it provides 2 Synergy; a Blue corner has 1 diagonal match, so it provides 1 Synergy; and a Black corner is a "Dead" light that doesn't match anything, so it provides no Synergy.
Frequently Asked Questions
When I'm earning reward icons, do I have to activate them all?
- All icons are optional regardless of how you're earning them.
What happens to a worker when the card it's on gets moved or discarded from the play area?
- If the card gets moved: the worker moves with it.
- If the card gets discarded: the worker returns to its player board with no reward.
What happens when a card gets discarded from the board and leaves another card in the play area without touching anything else?
- The card simply stays there.
Can I activate my Affinity Bonus before the ability on my card?
- Yes, place the card in its chosen location, then activate your affinity bonus and card abilities in the order of your choice.
Do I have to use the play ability on the card when I play it?
- Yes, you must do as much of the cards' ability as possible in the order it is written. If a card uses the word "may" then it is optional. Reward Icons are also always optional.
What is the difference between playing a worker and moving a worker?
- Moving a worker is to move a worker that is already at a location in the play area to another location in the play area.
- Playing a worker is taking a worker from your player board and adding it to a location in the play area.
Which of these two locations is further up the track?
- These two locations are considered to be equal and neither is further up the track.
Card Clarifications
- Cloning Lab: Choose the location of one of your opponent's workers. Gain that location's recall reward. Your opponent's worker stays at this location. You may do this even if the worker is on a starter location such as Spy Network or Control Center.
- Collateral Damage: If you remove one of each of your and your opponent's workers you get both the 4 Kuiperium and the additional action this turn. Removing two of the same player's workers only earns you the reward once.
- Curvature Propulsion Engine: You must recall a different worker than the one you place using this card's text. In other words you must recall a worker that was already on a location prior to activating this card's ability.
- KP 74NR-5UX: If a card that must be played from the secret lab is chosen by this card it can not be played, therefore the opponent can take any action.
- KP FR05-T13, KP TR3V-XN, KP-0N3: Cards abilities can always target themselves unless otherwise stated. For example KP-0N3 can discard itself.
- Kuipometer Drones: Gain the reward icons at the top of the card, not the card's ability.
- Medical Bay: When adding the revealed card to your play area do not activate its ability and do not activate your affinity bonus. Adding this card isn't considered playing it.
- Wastewater Recycler: Play this card in your opponent's play area oriented towards your opponent. If you have your Teal Affinity Bonus, you may still activate it.