Moon-Bots Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Object of the Game
• Set Up
• How to Play
  • A) Buy an Ability (Optional)
  • B) Activate the Robot (Optional)
  • C) Restock the Market (Obligatory)
• End of the Game
• Special Rule for 2 Player Game
  • Set up
  • Playing a round
  • End of the game
• Robot Parts Cards
• Upgrades
• Secret Weapons

Game Contents

• 65 Abilities cards: 24 Robot Parts (light blue background), 24 Upgrades (grey background), 17 Secret Weapons (burgundy background)
• 3 Development Costs cards (blue background)
• 16 Dice (4 per player)
• 4 Robot Boards
• 4 Blue Energy Counters

Object of the Game

Build and then improve your Robot by fitting it with the most useful weapons so that when it enters the arena, it's the last Robot left standing and you are the winner!

Set Up

(See Special Rule for 2 Player Game below.)

• Each player places a Robot Board, 1 Energy Counter and 1 die matching the colour of their character and board, in front of them.
• Place the Development Cost Cards in a column in the centre of the table (with 0 on the bottom row, 1 a row above this and 2 on the top row).
• If you are playing with 3 players, remove the 12 cards with the small symbol (found at the top right of the cards) and place these back in the box. They will not be needed for this game.
• Remove the 5 Secret Weapons cards at random and place these back in the box without looking at them.
• Shuffle all the Abilities cards together and then place 6 of these in 3 rows of 2 next to each Development Cost card. These cards are placed face-up, except for the Secret Weapons cards which stay face-down. This zone is called the Market. All the remaining cards form a pile, face-down, which is placed next to the Market.
• Place all the unused dice together on one side of the table.
• The last player to have done DIY plays first and then players play in turns, moving clockwise.
• Players place their Energy Counters on their board, according to the order of play:
  • The 1st player starts off with 15 energy counters,
  • The 2nd player starts off with 16 energy counters,
  • The 3rd player starts off with 17 energy counters,
  • The 4th player starts off with 18 energy counters.

How to Play

On their turn, the active player must carry out the following actions only once, in the following order:

A) Buy an Ability (Optional) B) Activate the Robot (Optional) C) Restock the Market (Obligatory)

A) Buy an Ability (Optional)

On their turn, players can take one of the available cards from the Market by paying the Energy Counter cost indicated on the Development Cost card from the same line. The two bottom row cards cost nothing, those in the middle cost 1 Energy Counter and those from the top row cost 2 Energy Counters.

Certain cards cost 1 Energy Counter more if this is indicated on the bottom left of the card.

Example: Getting a card which gives you one additional die. This card is found on the second row of the Market so costs 2 Energy counters (1 for the level of the Market and 1 as indicated on the side of the card).

Three categories of Abilities cards exist:

• Robot Parts (cards with light blue background) are attached to the corresponding section of the Robot.
  • Note: Players cannot add a Robot Part card that is the same as one they already have. In other words, a Robot can only have one arm and one leg on each side of their body, and only one head and one torso.
• Upgrades (cards with grey background) improve your Robot's Abilities. These cards are placed on the board facing the sections of the Robot they affect.
  • +1 Die cards are all placed on the right of the board and the other cards are placed at the top.
  • Players can have a maximum of 6 Upgrades.
  • Players cannot have several identical Upgrades, EXCEPT for additional dice. In this case, they can have a maximum of 3 identical cards.
  • Once the Upgrade has been acquired, it can't be replaced.
• Secret Weapons (cards with burgundy backgrounds) are bought from the Market, face-down. The buyer can only see the effect of this card after purchase and this is hidden from the other players until the card is used. Secret Weapons are single-use cards which players can use whenever they want during the game, including during another player's turn.

B) Activate the Robot (Optional)

The active player rolls all their dice and places them on their Robot's cards in order to activate the attacks and the card's Energy generators, while respecting the following rules:

• For a Robot to be activated, one or several dice must be used to fulfil the conditions of the part they want to activate.
• A Robot Part can only be activated once during the player's turn.
• Each die can only be used to activate one Robot Part per turn.

Example: The Moon player places one die showing '2' on their Robot's right arm to activate it. They attack and damage another Robot and win 1 Energy Counter.

IMPORTANT:

• A player cannot win more than 2 Energy Counters during their turn.
• A Robot can never have more than 18 Energy Counters. Any excess is lost.

C) Restock the Market (Obligatory)

Before restocking the Market, Secret Weapons cards found at the bottom of a column are discarded and put back in the box, staying face-down.

If the Market has less than 6 cards then any cards left are moved down a row of the Market to fill any gaps. Then, the upper levels of the Market are restocked with new cards. If there are no cards left in the pile, the game continues but the Market is out of stock.

ATTENTION: Secret Weapons cards must always stay face-down in the Market.

New Round: the player to the left of the person who has just played becomes the active player.

End of the Game

Every attack on a player causes damage, and the attacked player loses an Energy Counter. When their Energy level reaches zero, that player is out of the game. The game ends when all but one player is eliminated. They are the Moon Bots Competition winner.

Special Rule for 2 Player Game

Set up

Each player takes 2 Robot boards. The 4 boards are set up as shown in the rulebook diagram (the two boards of each player side by side, each facing an opposing board). The first player's Robots start with 15 Energy Counters whilst their opponent's start with 16. The rest of the set up follows the same structure as for a 4 player game.

Playing a round

Turns are identical to those in a normal game, except for the following points:

• On their turn, a player plays with their 2 Robots - first that on the left, then that on the right.
• Cards which are bought are to be used for the Robot whose turn it is only.
• Robots can ONLY attack the Robot opposite them.
• When a Robot has no more Energy, it is defeated. The defeated Robot won't play for the rest of this game. The winning Robot is temporarily deactivated until one of the two Robots from the other duel is defeated. The deactivated and defeated Robots cannot buy cards nor continue to fight.

End of the game

When 2 Robots have no more Energy Counters left, players look to see:

• If a player has 2 victorious Robots, they win the game!
• If not, each player's winning Robot competes until one of the remaining Robots runs out of Energy. The player with the last Robot to still have Energy counters wins the game.

Robot Parts Cards

• Energy symbol (lightning bolt): The player wins 1 Energy Counter per symbol. Players can't surpass the maximum number of Energy Counters (18), any excess is lost. REMINDER: On their turn, a player can't add more than 2 Energy Counters to their Robot's total!
• Crossed-out energy symbol: The player loses 1 Energy counter per symbol.
• Attack symbol (fist/missile): The player carries out one attack per symbol to damage the player sitting to their right or left - but NOT to the player sitting opposite them (for 4 players). If they decide to attack more than once, they can split these attacks however they wish.

Activation conditions (shown by the dice symbols on the card):

• Several specific numbers (for example 2, 4 or 6): Powers are activated when a die shows one of the following numbers (in this case, 2, 4 or 6).
• One specific number (for example 3): Powers are activated only when the face of the die shows this number (in this case, 3).
• Two dice showing the same number (doubles): Powers are activated when 2 dice faces show the same number.
• Total of 7: Powers are activated if the numbers on 2 dice faces add together to give a total of 7.
• Total of less than 4: Powers are activated if the values of 2 dice add together to give a total of less than 4.
• Total greater than 10: Powers are activated if the numbers on 2 dice faces add together to give a total greater than 10.

Upgrades

• Extra die: Take an additional die. Players can only have 3 copies of this card.
• Re-roll: You can roll 2 dice, of your choice, again. This can be done once per turn and players can only have one copy of this card.
• Fists attack bonus: When you attack an opponent with your fists, you can inflict an extra hit on them to cause extra damage. Players can only have one copy of this card.
• Protection (fists): When you are attacked using fists, this card can stop one hit from being effective and causing damage. Players can only have one copy of this card.
• Missiles attack bonus: When you attack an opponent with missiles, you can add an extra hit to this, causing twice the damage. Players can only have one example of this card.
• Protection (missiles): When you are hit by a missile attack, this can stop one hit from being effective and causing damage. Players can only have one copy of this card.

IMPORTANT: Players can only have one copy of any 'missile' or 'fist' cards.

Secret Weapons

• Energy Stock: Add 4 Energy Counters. This is the only time where it's possible to add more than 2 Energy Counters.
• Protection - Dodge: You aren't affected by any attack that has just been carried out against you.
• Protection - Deflection: Protect yourself from up to 2 attacks and deflect them onto another Robot.
• Energy Pump: When an opponent wins Energy Counters, regardless of how many they win, you also win 2 Energy Counters for your own Robot.
• Stronger: Add 2 more attacks to whatever attack you've just carried out. (Protection cards won't work here)
• Protection - Shock absorber: This will make at least 2 attacks just carried out against you ineffective.
• Adjustment: Increase or decrease the value of one of your dice by 1 point.
• Rest: The active player skips their turn.
• Black Market: Buy a card from the Market for free.
• Supermarket: Buy an extra card on this turn (and pay for it).
• Computer Virus: All players lose as many Energy Counters as they have Secret Weapons cards in their possession (including you!). NOTE: When this card is played, it no longer counts as a card in the player's possession.
• Go through the Robot Parts card pile (cards with light blue background), find a part you want and add it to your Robot for free. Afterwards, shuffle the pile again.