Lunar Skyline Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Glossary
• Game Overview
• Game Setup
  • Resource Cards
  • Ace Cards
  • Creating a Game Deck
• Round Setup
• Gameplay
  • Building Bid
  • Trick-Taking Turns
  • Playing Ace Cards
  • Smuggling
  • Gameplay Example
  • Meeting Your Bid
  • Contract Bonus Cards
• Round End Scoring
  • Scoring Steps
  • Scoring Examples
• Game End
• Two-Player Mode
• Skyline Bonus Cards (Optional Module)

Components

• Deck of 66 Playing Cards (60 Resource Cards + 6 Ace Pilots)
• 6 Building Cards
• 6 Reference Cards
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Dry Erase Pen and Scorecard
• 24 Contract Bonus Cards
• 1 Lead Card Indicator on Box Lid
• 18 Skyline Bonus Cards

Glossary

• Building Bid — The number of Tricks a player needs to win, during a Round, to get a Contract Bonus Card. Winning more Tricks than this number leads to negative points.
• Game — A series of Rounds.
• Hand — The set of Playing Cards each player holds during a Round.
• Lead Card — The first Playing Card played in every Turn.
• Lead Player — The player who plays the Lead Card of each Turn.
• Resource Icon(s) — The icon(s) on each Playing Card.
• Round — A Round consists of multiple Turns. A Round ends when all Playing Cards in Hand have been played.
• Suit — A combination of two Resource Icons form a Suit. They are associated with a color for easier identification. There are six Suits in the game. Note: Ace cards do not have a Suit.
• Trick — A set of Playing Cards won by a player during a Turn.
• Turn — The cycle in which every player plays one card from their Hand.

Game Overview

Lunar Skyline is a trick-taking game in which players choose a Resource Card from their Hand at the beginning of each Round to represent their Building Bid of how many Tricks they want to win. If a player wins enough Tricks to reach their Building Bid, they get a bonus to add extra points to their Round score. We recommend that you play 3 Rounds per Game, but you are free to play as many or as few as you like!

Game Setup

Resource Cards

The 60 Resource Cards are divided into six Suits of two Resource Icons each. Each Suit consists of numbered cards from 1 through 10. The Suit names and their colors, as well as the lunar building they represent, are as follows:

• Water-Energy (Red) — Fusion Reactor
• Energy-Robot (Orange) — Robotics Manufactory
• Robot-Cybernetics (Yellow) — Cybernetics Lab
• Cybernetics-Human (Green) — Hotel San Lazaro
• Human-Plant (Blue) — Hungry Eateries
• Plant-Water (Violet) — The Arboretum

HINT: Possible Suit pairings on cards are shown connected to each other, in the order Water, Energy, Robot, Cybernetics, Human, Plant (ex: Plant is only paired with Human or Water).

Ace Cards

Ace Cards only have one Resource Icon, and may be played as either high or low.

Creating a Game Deck

To create a deck of Playing Cards for the Game, take all the Playing Cards (Ace and Resource) and remove the following Resource Cards based on the player count:

• 2-3 players — Remove all Resource Cards with the "4+" and "5+" symbol on them (i.e. 1, 8, 9, 10).
• 4 players — Remove all Resource Cards with the "5+" symbol on them (i.e. 1, 10).
• 5-6 players — No Resource Cards are removed.

NOTE: No Ace Cards are ever removed from the Game.

Place the Lead Card Indicator in a central location, and give each player a Building Card and a Reference Card. You're now ready to start!

Round Setup

A Round consists of multiple Turns, where a Turn is when each player plays one card from their Hand.

1. Deal: Shuffle and deal Playing Cards to each player based on player count. This forms their Hand.

   • 2 players = 15 cards each, 12 cards undealt.
   • 3-5 players = 12 cards each, 6 cards undealt.
   • 6 players = 10 cards each, 6 cards undealt.

   Set the remaining cards aside.

2. Contract Bonus Cards: Shuffle all the Contract Bonus Cards and place a number of them faceup equal to the number of players plus 1. I.e., if there are 4 players, deal 5 Contract Bonus Cards.

NOTE: For the first Round of your first Game, only draw from the Contract Bonus Cards from this list: Plant, Water, Energy, Robot, Cybernetics, Human, and Basic Contract.

Gameplay

Building Bid

Each player simultaneously chooses a Resource Card (not an Ace card) from their Hand, which represents their Building Bid. When everyone has chosen, reveal them simultaneously, and each player places their Building Bid card face up and tucked under the top half of the Building Card in front of them.

Your Building Bid represents the number of Tricks you want to win, regardless of the Resource Icons in the Trick, to gain a bonus at the end of the Round. Winning more Tricks than this number leads to negative points.

Trick-Taking Turns

The player with the highest Building Bid will be the Lead Player for the first Turn. If players are tied for highest Building Bid, randomly break the tie.

Rotate the Lead Card Indicator so it points to the Lead Player. Then, the Lead Player plays a card from their Hand onto the Lead Card Indicator. This is called the Lead Card.

HINT: Do not cover the Lead Card with other cards that follow, because you'll need to know what Resource Icons to follow with.

Then, in clockwise order, players must follow by playing a card from their Hand that matches at least one Resource Icon on the Lead Card. Continue around the table until each player has played a card. The player who played the highest card in that Turn wins the Trick, and takes all the non-Smuggled cards (see "Smuggling" below). If cards are tied for highest number, the last high card played wins.

The winner of the Trick gathers the cards into a stack and chooses one of those cards to be on top. Only the top card will help score points and count for bonuses when scoring at the end of a Round. They place the Trick below their Resources area of their Building Card, so that the top card of the Trick remains visible until the end of the Round.

The winner of the Trick becomes the Lead Player of the next Turn, and will play a Lead Card from their Hand.

Repeat until all cards have been played from all players' Hands. Then the Round ends and players calculate their score.

Playing Ace Cards

Ace Cards may be played as either "high" or "low." When an Ace is played as "high," it is considered to be higher than any Resource Card. When an Ace is played "low," it is considered to be lower than any Resource Card. This must be declared when the player plays the card. If multiple Aces are played, the last Ace is higher.

NOTE: If a player plays a Lead Card that is an Ace, then that Ace card must be played as "low."

Smuggling

If a player cannot follow the Lead Card because they have no cards that match at least one of the Resource Icons on the Lead Card, then they must choose a card from their Hand, reveal it to the other players, and Smuggle it into their Resources area. This counts as winning a Trick for the Building Bid and for bonuses at the end of the Round.

Place the Smuggled card horizontally in the Resources area to differentiate it from the other won Tricks.

Gameplay Example

Player 1 is the Lead Player and plays a 5 (Plant/Water, "4+" card). Other players must match a Plant or Water to follow, if they can. Player 2 plays an Ace, and chooses it to be "low." Player 3 also plays a "5," and since it was played later, it beats the Lead Player's "5." Players 4 and 5 don't have cards with Plant or Water Resource Icons in their hands, so they show their cards and Smuggle the card into their Resources area as a Trick they won. Player 3 wins the Trick and collects both "5s" and the Ace card. Then, they choose one of the 3 cards to show at the top of their Trick stack, and put it in their Resources area.

Meeting Your Bid

Each Trick won counts as one towards that player's Building Bid. When a player has as many or more Tricks as their Building Bid, they have met their bid.

At the end of each Turn, starting with the player that won the Trick, and proceeding in clockwise order, each player that met their bid this Turn must claim one card from the Contract Bonus Cards available for this Round.

Example: This player bid to win 4 Tricks and has met their bid. Their Resources area consists of 3 normal Tricks and 1 Smuggled Trick.

Contract Bonus Cards

Contract Bonus Cards award players who have met their bid with bonus points at the end of the Round. The total points awarded varies based on the card. Some award a flat number of points, some award points based on a multiplier, and some award points conditionally based upon meeting certain criteria. Read each card to understand how it applies. After the bonus points are scored, discard all Contract Bonus Cards (even the ones that are not selected) and deal new ones for the next Round.

Rules on the Contract Bonus Cards supersede any core rules, if there is a conflict.

• WATER: 1 point per WATER Resource Icon in your Resources area.
• ENERGY: 1 point per ENERGY Resource Icon in your Resources area.
• ROBOT: 1 point per ROBOT Resource Icon in your Resources area.
• CYBERNETICS: 1 point per CYBERNETICS Resource Icon in your Resources area.
• HUMAN: 1 point per HUMAN Resource Icon in your Resources area.
• PLANT: 1 point per PLANT Resource Icon in your Resources area.
• AIRLOCK: 5 points. Discard if you win another Trick (Smuggled tricks don't count).
• BASIC CONTRACT: 2 points. It's called "basic" for a reason...
• ENFORCER: 1 point per Trick Smuggled by all other players.
• KIDNAPPING!: 4 points per Ace Smuggled in your Resources area.
• LAWLESSNESS!: 7 points. 2+ Tricks Smuggled in your Resources area AND 3+ Tricks Smuggled by all other players.
• LOBBYST: ? points - After Skyline Bonus Cards have been claimed each Round, claim one of your choice. This card is only played with the Skyline Bonus Module.
• 1 point per Trick won by 1 other player. That player also receives 1/2 points, rounded down. Choose the other player at the end of the Round.

Round End Scoring

Scoring Steps

1. Discard Tricks — If a player has more Tricks in their Resources area than their Building Bid, they must discard Tricks down to their Building Bid. They may choose which Tricks are discarded. These Tricks do not count towards any Contract Bonus Card bonus points scored by any player. Each Trick discarded is -2 points for that player.
2. Score Points for Matching Resource Icons — Players then score 1 point for each Resource Icon showing on the top card of a Trick in their Resources area that matches any one of the Resource Icons on their Building Bid card. These points are scored regardless of whether the player has met their bid or not.
3. Add Contract Bonus Points — Players with a Contract Bonus Card add points according to the rules of that card.

The total points from these three steps is the score for that player for this Round. If you haven't reached the number of Rounds that you decided to play at the start of the Game, then you are now ready to play another Round!

Scoring Examples

Example 1. The player's Building Bid is "5," and they won 2 Tricks plus 1 Smuggled Trick for a total of 3 Tricks. Since they did not meet their bid, they did not claim a Contract Bonus Card. They only receive points for matching Resource Icons from the 3 Tricks in their Resources area to the Resource Icons on their Building Bid card.

1. Discard Tricks — 0
2. Resource Icon Score
   • 2 points for Energy icons.
   • 1 point for Water icons
3. Contract Bonus Cards — N/A

The total score for the Round is 3 points.

Example 2. This player met their Building Bid of "3" exactly. They claimed the Contract Bonus Card Plant, which awards 1 point per Plant icon in their Resources area.

1. Discard Tricks — 0
2. Resource Icon Score
   • 3 points for Plant icons.
   • 1 point for Water icons.
3. Contract Bonus Cards
   • 3 points from the Plant Contract Bonus Card.

The total score for the Round is 7 points.

Example 3. This player met their Building Bid of "3" and claimed the Contract Bonus Card Airlock. During the last turn, they were forced to Smuggle another Trick, pushing them 1 over their Building Bid. Because this last Trick was Smuggled, they do not have to discard Airlock, but they will lose 2 points for going over their bid. They chose to discard the purple "3" card because neither the Plant nor the Water Resource Icons will contribute to their score.

1. Discard Tricks
   • -2 points for discarding 1 Trick.
2. Resource Icon Score
   • 3 points for Energy icons.
   • 2 points for Robot icons.
3. Contract Bonus Cards
   • 5 points from the Airlock Contract Bonus Card.

The total score for the Round is 8 points.

Game End

After playing the number of Rounds determined at the start of the Game, add up each player's score from every Round, and the winner is the player with the most points. If there's a tie, then the players share the victory!

Two-Player Mode

In a two-player game, each player is dealt 15 cards and plays 7 Turns per Round. The rules are the same as a 3-6 player game with the following modifications.

The players alternately play cards until each player has played two cards, following the regular rules of the game. The player who played the highest card at the end of each Turn wins the Trick.

The sequence of a Turn, where Player 1 is the Lead Player, is:

1. Player 1 plays the Lead Card.
2. Player 2 follows with a card.
3. Player 1 follows with another card.
4. Player 2 follows with another card.
5. Turn ends, and whichever player played the highest card wins the Trick.

If a player does not have any cards that match any of the Resource Icons on the Lead Card, then they may Smuggle one or both cards they play each Turn.

HINT: The player who played the Lead Card can potentially Smuggle their second played card if they do not have any other cards in their Hand that match the Lead Card's Resource Icons.

Skyline Bonus Cards (Optional Module)

This is an optional add-on module for the game to add more depth and strategy for a multi-Round game. It adds an endgame set-collection element to the game. We recommend that you try this module only after playing the game at least once or twice.

Depending on the number of players and the number of Rounds played, gather a number of each of the Skyline Bonus Cards based on this table, forming 6 stacks of identical cards (Fusion Reactor, Robotics Manufactory, Cybernetics Lab, Hotel San Lazaro, Hungry Eateries, The Arboretum):

Players	1-3 Rounds	4+ Rounds
2 Players	1 of each	2 of each
3-5 Players	2 of each	3 of each
6 Players	3 of each	3 of each

At the end of each Round, if a player has met their bid, they can claim one of the Skyline Bonus Cards matching the Suit of their Building Bid card, if that card is still available and if they don't already have that card. If more than one player could claim the Skyline Bonus Card of the same Suit, then the player who completed the higher Building Bid claims the Skyline Bonus Card first, followed by the next highest, until the cards run out.

At the end of the Game, after the scores from each Round have been added together, players score points for the number of unique Skyline Bonus Cards they have claimed, based on the table below.

Different Buildings	1	2	3	4	5	6
Points	2	5	9	14	20	27