Marvel Spider-Web Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Objective
• Setup
• Game Play
  • Card Layout
• Battle in New York
• Battle Resolution
  • Ties in Initiative
  • Victory Conditions
  • Battle Resolution Summary
• End of the Game
• Rules for 2 Players
• Characters
  • Notes on Abilities
  • Character Details
• Summary

Components

104 cards:

• 96 Character cards, divided into 6 identical decks of 16 cards each.
• 6 Character reference cards.
• 1 Docks card.
• 1 First Player card.

Objective

End the game as the team that has captured the most Character cards in clashes involving Heroes and Villains on the streets of New York.

Setup

Games of Spider-Web are played by two teams of 1, 2 or 3 players each. The members of each team sit alternately around the table.

Each player:

• Forms their personal deck (draw pile) by separating and shuffling their 16 Character cards. Place it in front of you, face down.
• Then draws 3 cards from the personal deck without revealing them. This is your starting hand (for 2-player games, see the special rules later on).

Place the Docks card in the centre of the table. It will receive the Characters that are discarded during the game. Cards sent to the Docks must always remain face up, visible and accessible to all players. The rest of the table, apart from the personal decks, represents "New York" (as shown in the image below).

The participant who most recently watched a Spider-Man film or read a Spider-Man comic receives the First Player card.

Diagram: players A1 and A2 (Team A) and players B1 and B2 (Team B) sit around the table. The Docks are in the centre, surrounded by New York. Each player's personal deck sits in front of them, and each team's captured cards are placed in a pile on the table.

Game Play

These are the rules for games with 4 or 6 players. For teams formed by only one person, read the alternative rules in "Rules for 2 Players", presented on page 10 of the manual.

A game of Spider-Web is played over 16 rounds. Each round is divided into two phases:

1. Battle in New York: players play one of their cards.
2. Battle Resolution: it is determined which team won the round's battle and will capture the Characters played.

Card Layout

Diagram labels on the sample card:

• Initiative: values from 1 to 16. This is the number in the red diamond at the top left of the card.
• Name: shown in the banner at the top of the card.
• Type: shown by the icon below the initiative. Hero (red spider icon), Villain (green villain icon), or Sinister Sextet (green icon with a 6).
• Blue area (Abilities): an ability can be of 2 types:
  • Instant (marked with a black down arrow): used immediately when the card is played.
  • Passive (marked with a shield): always in effect.
• Yellow area (resolution effects): a resolution effect can be of 2 types:
  • Victory Condition (marked with a black trophy): the card only wins the confrontation if this condition is met.
  • Victory Bonus (marked with a trophy with a star).

Battle in New York

The First Player starts and the round proceeds clockwise. On your turn, which from now on we will call "your turn":

1. Play one of your Character cards in New York, in front of you.
2. If the Character has an instant ability (black down arrow), you may use its effect immediately. More information on abilities is in the "Characters" section, starting on page 11 of the manual.
3. Draw a card from your personal deck so that you again have 3 cards in your hand.

When there are no more cards in the personal decks, keep playing with the cards still in your hands until all of them are gone. Do not reshuffle the cards in the Docks to form new personal decks!

4. Pass the turn to the player seated to your left.

Note: cards that have been sent to the Docks have their ability deactivated.

After all players have taken their turns, the second phase of the round occurs: Battle Resolution.

Example: in the example on the side, player A2 plays Venom, a Villain with Initiative 7 that has the instant ability "Choose a card in New York and send it to the Docks". A2 chooses Dr. Octopus (Initiative 5) from player B1 and places that card in the Docks. Note that player A2 could not choose the card of player B2, because Rhino has the ability to be immune to Villains' abilities.

Battle Resolution

In this phase it is determined which Character won the confrontation.

The winner of the round is the fastest Character, that is, the card with the lowest Initiative value, provided that it also fulfils its Victory Condition (see page 8 of the manual). The team that played the winning card captures all the Characters in New York. The cards captured by a team form a single pile that stays face up in an area of the table chosen by the team, until the end of the game.

Example: with Initiative 6, Kraven is the fastest and wins the confrontation. Team A captures all the cards in New York, including Kraven.

Ties in Initiative

If there are two or more Characters with the same Initiative value in New York, consider only the card that was played first, that is, the one played by the First Player or by the player closest to them in clockwise order.

Example: in the example above, Kraven with Initiative 6 from player B1 entered New York first and won. Team B captures all the cards in New York.

Victory Conditions

Some Characters have a Victory Condition. A Character with a trophy symbol only wins the confrontation if, besides being the fastest, its Victory Condition is also fulfilled. Otherwise, continue the resolution, moving on to the next Character in the Initiative count until a winner is found.

Example: in the example above, Spider-Man has the lowest Initiative (1), but he only wins when there are no Villains in New York. His condition is not fulfilled, because Kingpin and Rhino are in the city. With Initiative 3, Kingpin is the next candidate to win the round, but he fails, because his Victory Condition is also not fulfilled: he would only win if Spider-Man were not in New York. Therefore, Rhino of player B2 (for having been placed first in New York) is the winner, with Initiative 10!

In the rare cases where all the Characters in New York have unfulfilled Victory Conditions, the cards go to the Docks and nobody wins the confrontation. Once the round has been resolved, whoever holds the First Player card passes it to the participant on their left. That participant becomes the new First Player.

IMPORTANT: it is not permitted to look at the captured piles of any team to check which cards have already been captured, nor to add up their points.

Battle Resolution Summary

Flowchart:

1. Start with the Character with the lowest Initiative number.
2. Does this Character have a Victory Condition?
   • No: you have found the winner.
   • Yes: go to step 3.
3. Is the Victory Condition fulfilled?
   • Yes: you have found the winner.
   • No: pass to the next Character with the lowest Initiative number, and return to step 2.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately after the resolution of the sixteenth and final round, that is, the round in which each player plays the last card of their hand.

The winning team is the one that has captured more Characters (cards).

In case of a tie, the winning team is the one with more Sinister Sextet cards. If the number of Sinister Sextet cards is also equal, the game ends in a tie.

Rules for 2 Players

A two-player game is similar to a game between teams with more members (as explained above), except for the following changes:

• Each player starts with a hand of 5 cards, and keeps that hand size throughout the game.
• Each round, the players alternate playing one card at a time until each of them has placed 2 Characters in New York. The round ends after the last player places their second card. The game lasts 8 rounds instead of 16.
• Players only draw new cards to replenish their hands after Battle Resolution, not at the end of each of their turns.

Example: the Characters are numbered in the order they were played in New York. 1st: Lizard (player A). 2nd: Sandman (player B). 3rd: Mysterio (player A). 4th: Dr. Octopus (player B).

Characters

This section presents the Heroes and Villains of Spider-Web and explains how their abilities and resolution effects (Victory Condition or Victory Bonus) work.

Notes on Abilities

If the text of an ability contradicts a rule in this manual, or the effect of another ability, resolve the apparent conflict as follows:

1. the text of a passive ability prevails over...
2. the text of any other ability, which prevails over...
3. a general rule.

Example: Lizard and Mysterio are in New York; Jackal and Black Cat are in the Docks. Player B2 plays Spider-Man and captures Mysterio, Jackal and Black Cat, but Lizard stays where it is, because its passive ability protects it from Spider-Man's ability.

Character Details

Spider-Man (Initiative 1)

• Instant ability: when you play Spider-Man in New York, you capture all the cards in the Docks and all the Villains that are in New York at that moment. All these cards go immediately to your team's pile of captured Characters.
• Victory Condition: even with Initiative 1, Spider-Man only wins the confrontation if, at the moment of Battle Resolution, there is no Villain in New York.

Green Goblin (Initiative 2)

• Victory Condition: Green Goblin is fast, but it only wins the confrontation if, at the moment of Battle Resolution, there is no Hero in New York.

Kingpin (Initiative 3)

• Victory Condition: Kingpin only wins the confrontation if, at the moment of Battle Resolution, Spider-Man is not in New York.

Jackal (Initiative 4)

• Passive ability: Jackal is not affected by Spider-Man's ability. In other words, if it is in New York when Spider-Man enters the city, Jackal will not be captured.
  • If Chameleon copies Spider-Man's ability, Jackal remains immune to the copied ability.
  • If Jackal is in the Docks, its ability is no longer active, so it can be captured by Spider-Man.
• Victory Condition: Jackal only wins the confrontation if, at the moment of Battle Resolution, there is at least one Hero in New York.

Dr. Octopus (Initiative 5)

• Victory Condition: Dr. Octopus only wins the confrontation if, at the moment of Battle Resolution, there are at least three members of the Sinister Sextet in New York. That is, if three or more Character cards in that area show the Sextet icon (6). All cards in New York that bear the 6 icon count toward Dr. Octopus's ability, including repeated Characters.

Kraven (Initiative 6)

• Instant ability: when you play Kraven in New York, say the name of any Character card, including "Kraven". If the next player tries to play a card with the chosen name, that card does not enter New York; it goes immediately to the Docks. The effect of Kraven's ability lasts only until the end of the next player's turn, or for the whole round in 2-player games.
  • Only Rhino is not affected, because of its immunity to Villains' abilities.

Venom (Initiative 7)

• Instant ability: as soon as you play Venom, choose a card that is in New York at that moment and place it in the Docks. You may choose Venom itself.

Mysterio (Initiative 8)

• Instant ability: as soon as you play Mysterio, choose how many holograms you want in New York and send them to the Docks.
  • "Holograms" are two or more Character cards in New York with identical names. For example, Mysterio enters the city and sends to the Docks one of the two Black Cats already in New York. If the player wishes, Mysterio can also get rid of the two heroines.
  • At the player's discretion, one Mysterio card may discard another Mysterio, itself, or both.

Hobgoblin (Initiative 9)

• Instant ability: when you play Hobgoblin, you may, if you wish, send one card from your team to the Docks.

Rhino (Initiative 10)

• Passive ability: Rhino is never affected by Villains' abilities. This means Venom and Kraven cannot send Rhino to the Docks, and Vulture cannot protect it.

Sandman (Initiative 11)

• Instant ability: on the turn you play Sandman, you may, if you wish, look at the cards in your personal deck and choose which of them will replenish your hand. In a 2-player game, you may choose up to two cards this way at the end of the round. Then reshuffle your personal deck.

Electro (Initiative 12)

• Victory Bonus: if you win a confrontation with Electro, then in addition to capturing the cards in New York, you also take the cards from the Docks into your team's pile of captured Characters.

Black Cat (Initiative 13)

• Instant ability: as soon as you play Black Cat, choose a Character card in New York, except "Black Cat", and place it on top of this card. Consider the chosen card's Initiative value as 17 and deactivate its abilities. The effect of Black Cat's ability lasts until the end of the round, or until the Black Cat card goes to the Docks.

Vulture (Initiative 14)

• Instant ability: when Vulture enters New York, you may choose another Villain for it to protect. Place the Vulture card on top of the chosen Villain card. Until the end of the round (or until Vulture is discarded by some effect), every ability that would affect the protected Villain affects only Vulture.
  • If Spider-Man is played, Vulture prevents the protected card from being captured.

Lizard (Initiative 15)

• Passive ability: Lizard is never affected by Heroes' abilities. That is, Spider-Man and Black Cat cannot affect it with their abilities.

Chameleon (Initiative 16)

• Instant ability: when you play Chameleon, choose a card that is in New York or in the Docks. Chameleon copies the ability of the chosen card and uses it as if it were its own. Chameleon copies only the ability of the chosen card, never its Initiative or Victory Condition.
  • If Chameleon copies Black Cat's ability, the player who played it may choose any "Chameleon" in New York, but not "Black Cat". The effect of the ability lasts until the end of the round, or until Chameleon goes to the Docks. (Wording as printed in the manual.)
  • If Chameleon copies Vulture's ability and protects another Villain, Chameleon becomes the target of abilities, and the effect lasts until the end of the round, or until Chameleon goes to the Docks.
  • If Chameleon copies Spider-Man's ability, it must send itself to its team's pile of captured Characters.

Summary

• First Player: the player who most recently watched a Spider-Man film or read a Spider-Man comic.
• Starting hand: each player draws 3 cards from their personal deck in 4- and 6-player games, or 5 cards in 2-player games.
• Round:
  1. Battle in New York: each player plays one card in 4- and 6-player games, or 2 cards in 2-player games.
  2. Battle Resolution: determine the winner and capture the cards.
• After 16 rounds (8 rounds for 2 players), the team that captured the most cards wins. In case of a tie, the team with more Sinister Sextet cards wins.