Nebula Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Components
• Game Setup
• Getting to Know the Galaxy Board
• Playing the Game
  • I. Collect Stars
    • a. Investing Time
    • b. Turning to Chaos
  • II. Position Stars
    • Placing Colored Stars (Not Black)
  • III. Check Objectives
  • IV. Refill the Star Clusters
• Getting to Know the Values Board
• End of the Game
• Objective Card Appendix
  • I. Personal Objectives
  • II. Career Objectives
  • III. Advanced Objectives
• Credits

Object of the Game

In Nebula you will have to collect Stars from the Star Clusters to position them in your Galaxy in order to fulfil certain objectives. You can obtain Stars by Investing Time or by Turning to Chaos, which you must then position in some orbit and Constellation while respecting the laws of the universe. All of this in order to fulfil the personal and shared objectives that appear in each game. Whoever obtains the most Victory Points at the end of the game wins.

Components

• 1 Star Cluster board
• 1 Values board
• 4 Galaxy boards
• 20 Personal Objective cards
• 20 Career Objective cards
• 30 Advanced Objective cards
• 1 Scoring pad
• 14 Value tokens
• 1 cloth bag
• 1 Starting Player token
• 6 Time markers
• 16 personal Career markers (4 of each color)
• 120 colored Stars (20 of each color)
• 30 Black Stars
• 1 Black Star indicator
• 1 rulebook

The following rulebook incorporates 2 game modes. The first is for an introductory game that will mainly help with getting familiar with the basic mechanics of the game, and the second is the full version of the game, and corresponds to the version that we, as editors and authors of the game, invite you to play. For people experienced with board games, we invite you to try the full version of the game directly, which has medium complexity.

Throughout this rulebook, additional rules that apply only to the full game are shown in boxes outlined with a dashed line like this, and are labeled FULL GAME.

Game Setup

A. Place the Star Cluster board in the center of the table.

B. Each participant chooses a color and receives a Galaxy board and their 4 corresponding personal Career markers.

C. Place the 120 colored Stars in the bag. Then add as many Black Stars as indicated by the following table, according to the number of participants:

• 2 Participants: 30 Black Stars
• 3 Participants: 25 Black Stars
• 4 Participants: 20 Black Stars

Return the remaining Black Stars to the box, as they will not be used during the game. Mix all the Stars in the bag well, then leave it near the Star Cluster board.

D. Fill each outer space of the Star Clusters with Stars drawn randomly from the bag. Then place the 6 Time markers on their corresponding starting spaces, marked with a circle, on the inner ring of the Star Clusters.

E. Finally, place one Star from the bag in the Boosted Star area, as shown in the image.

F. Place the Black Star indicator on the starting space of the corresponding track on the Star Cluster board.

G. Shuffle the Career Objective cards and place 4 of them face up near the Star Cluster board. Return the remaining cards to the box, as they will not be used during the game.

FULL GAME

H. Place the Values board next to the Star Cluster board and place the 14 Value tokens on their corresponding starting spaces, as shown in the image.

I. Shuffle the Advanced Objective cards and place 4 of them face up in the corresponding section of the Values board. Return the remaining cards to the box, as they will not be used during the game.

J. Shuffle the Personal Objective cards and deal 2 to each participant, secretly. Each participant must choose one of the cards to keep and discard the other face down. Return the remaining and discarded cards to the box, as they will not be used during the game.

K. The last person who contemplated the Stars will be the one who starts the game and receives the Starting Player token.

L. Finally, each participant will draw a certain number of Stars from the bag, which will depend on their position in turn order, clockwise:

• First position: 0 Stars
• Second position: 1 Star
• Third position: 2 Stars
• Fourth position: 3 Stars

Each participant places their Stars in their Observation Zone, next to their Galaxy board, which will form their Star reserve.

Getting to Know the Galaxy Board

Your Galaxy board is made up of the following elements:

1. Black Star Zone: Filled only with Black Stars, always from left to right. The first number that remains visible at the end of the game indicates how many Victory Points you obtained for this.

2. Galaxy Zone: Made up of the following special elements:

   • a. Highlighted Spaces: There are 5 in total, including the central one. Several objectives refer to the Stars placed on these spaces.
   • b. Constellations: There are 4 in total, and each is made up of 6 Stars. You can tell them apart by the symbol occupying the empty space. Each complete Constellation will grant you at least 6 Victory Points.
   • c. Orbits: There are 5 in total, and you can identify them by the number that appears in the lower half of the board.
   • d. Direct Links: Links found within the same Constellation that join 2 Star spaces with a straight line.
   • e. Indirect Links: Links found within the same Constellation that join 2 distant spaces with a segmented line.
   • f. Orbit Links: Links that join Stars from the same or different Constellations with a curved Orbit line.

3. Observation Zone: This is your personal reserve of acquired Stars that have not yet been placed in your Galaxy.

Playing the Game

A game of Nebula unfolds in rounds, in which each participant takes a turn. The game starts with the person who has the Starting Player token, and then play continues clockwise. The Starting Player token never changes hands.

The person whose turn it is must perform the following actions in order:

1. Collect Stars
2. Position Stars
3. Check Objectives
4. Refill the Star Clusters

I. Collect Stars

There are two ways the active person can collect Stars: Investing Time or Turning to Chaos.

a. Investing Time

When you invest in Time you must move the Time markers found inside the Star Clusters. When you do this you must spend 5 movement points in total (no more, no less) among the 3 Time markers. Each space you advance or move back on the inner ring costs one movement point. You can move each marker in whichever direction you want: one clockwise, another counterclockwise, and even leave the third one unmoved. However, you can never use movement points to send a marker back in the direction opposite to the one you have already moved it.

You can use the smaller markers (moon shapes) to keep track of the starting positions of each move, so you don't lose count of how many points you've used.

After using your 5 movement points, take the Stars that ended up in front of the Time markers and move them to your Observation Zone. By Investing Time you can take up to 3 Stars on your turn.

Finally, leave the smaller (moon-shaped) Time markers in the position in front of the Stars taken.

Example: Teresa wants to collect Stars by Investing Time. To do this she moves the Time marker of the top cluster 2 spaces clockwise, the Time marker of the right cluster 3 spaces in the opposite direction, and does not move the Time marker of the left cluster. In total she has spent the 5 movement points and collects the Stars that ended up in front of the 3 Time markers: a yellow Star, a white Star, and a red Star respectively, which she adds to her Observation Zone. Then she moves the small markers to leave them next to the Time markers.

b. Turning to Chaos

To Turn to Chaos, you must return to the box one Star that you have in your Observation Zone. Then take 5 Stars at random from the bag and choose 2 of them to keep in your Observation Zone. The remaining Stars are removed from the game by returning them to the box.

Example: Maritza wants to collect Stars by Turning to Chaos. To do this she removes a blue Star from her Star reserve. Then she takes the bag and draws 5 Stars from it. She decides to keep a black Star and a red Star, and removes the rest from the game. Finally she places the collected Stars in her Observation Zone.

II. Position Stars

After you have collected Stars, you can position some of them by moving them from your Observation Zone to your Galaxy board. All the Stars you position on your turn must be of different colors. If one of the Stars you are going to place matches the color of the boosted Star on the Star Cluster board, you can place up to 3 Stars on your turn. If none of them match that color, you can place up to 2 Stars.

Placing Colored Stars (Not Black)

To place the colored Stars (red, purple, yellow, white, blue, and orange) you must consider the following:

1. You can only position them in the Constellation zone of your Galaxy board.
2. You must position the first Star in the central Highlighted space of your Galaxy. The following ones can be positioned in any empty space linked (directly, indirectly, or by Orbit) to another previously placed Star.
3. You can never place a Star of one color linked (directly, indirectly, or by Orbit) to another Star of the same color.
4. You can place a Star on a previously occupied space by returning to the box the Star that was occupying that space. When placing the new Star you must still follow the two rules above.

Example: José has 5 Stars in his Observation Zone: 2 white Stars, 2 purple Stars, and 1 black Star. Since he has no Star matching the boosted Star, he can only place 2 Stars of different colors on his Galaxy board. José decides to place 1 white Star indirectly adjacent to the red Star of his Constellation, and 1 black Star in the third space of the Black Star marker. Therefore he must advance the Black Star marker of the Star Cluster board by 1 space. Since the Black Star marker of the Star Cluster board reached the sixth space, he returns to the box the yellow Star that was boosted and replaces it with a new one from the bag.

FULL GAME — Placing Black Stars

Black Stars are special, since they are positioned and function differently from the colored Stars. Black Stars are placed from left to right, in the Black Star zone found at the top of your Galaxy board.

You must then carry out the following steps:

• Step 1: Advance the Black Star indicator one space on the Star Cluster board. If the Black Star indicator has reached one of the Highlighted spaces, you must remove the boosted Star and replace it with a new one from the bag. If the new boosted Star is the same color as the previous one, return it to the bag and draw a new one. This will be the new boosted Star on subsequent turns.
• Step 2: Advance any one of the 14 Value tokens one space on the Values board.

Continuing the example: After advancing the Black Star indicator of the Star Cluster board, José decides to advance the white Star token on the Values board.

III. Check Objectives

Check whether your actions have completed a Career Objective, in which case you must place one of your personal Career markers on the card. If you were the first person to complete it, place the marker on the top part of the card; otherwise, place it on the bottom part. This will indicate how many Victory Points that objective will grant you at the end of the game.

Example: Teresa was the first to complete this Career Objective, so she places her personal Career marker on the top part of the card. At the end of the game she will receive 16 Victory Points. Then José completed the same Career Objective, so he places his personal Career marker on the bottom part of the card. At the end of the game he will receive 10 Victory Points.

IV. Refill the Star Clusters

Check whether any of the Star Clusters on the Star Cluster board has only 1 Star left. If so, you must refill that cluster completely with Stars from the bag, drawn randomly. In a 2-participant game this will happen once 2 Stars remain.

Getting to Know the Values Board

FULL GAME

This shared board is only used in the full game. Every time you place a Black Star on your Galaxy board, you must also advance any one of the 14 tokens on this board. If the space you reach is already occupied by one or more tokens, you must place yours on top of them. At the end of the game, the top 3 places on each track will grant you additional Victory Points. If a token ends up in fourth place, or never advanced on its corresponding track, it will not grant any additional Victory Points.

If there is more than one token on a space, ties are always resolved in favor of the token that is on top.

The first track corresponds to the value that the colored Stars placed in your Galaxy can have. At the end of the game, the color whose token has advanced furthest on the track will grant 3 VP for each Star of that color placed on your Galaxy board. The color in second place will grant 2 VP for each, and the color in third place 1 VP for each. The remaining Stars will not grant any Victory Points.

The second track corresponds to the value that complete Constellations in your galaxy can have. At the end of the game, the Constellation whose token has advanced furthest on the track will grant 14 VP for that complete Constellation in your galaxy. Second place will grant 12 VP, and third place 10 VP for each. The remaining complete Constellations grant only 6 VP.

The third track corresponds to the value that each pattern indicated on the Advanced Objective cards can grant, if present in your Galaxy. At the end of the game, the objective whose token has advanced furthest on the track will grant 4 VP for each pattern completed for that objective, second place 3 VP, and third place 2 VP. Unfortunately, the remaining Advanced Objectives will not grant VP for the patterns those cards indicate.

End of the Game

The game ends at the end of the round in which any of the following situations occurs:

a. The Black Star indicator reaches the last space on the Star Cluster board. b. Some person has completed at least 3 of their Constellations on their personal Galaxy board. c. The bag has run out of Stars. d. The Career cards have a certain number of personal Career markers placed on them, depending on the number of participants:

• 2 Participants: 5 personal Career markers
• 3 Participants: 6 personal Career markers
• 4 Participants: 8 personal Career markers

If any of these situations occurs, that will be the last round, with only the turns of the participants seated to the left of the person holding the Starting Player token remaining. This way, each participant will have played the same number of turns during the game.

After that, Victory Points are counted with the help of the Scoring pad. For this, the following is considered:

1. Personal Objective: If completed, grants 14 VP.

2. Career Objectives: Obtain the value indicated next to your personal Career markers.

3. Black Stars: Obtain as many VP as the first number visible on your Black Star track.

4. Complete Constellations: Each complete Constellation grants 6 VP as a base.

   They can be worth more points (14, 12, or 10 VP) depending on which positions the Constellation tokens being evaluated ended up on the Values board.

5. Stars in the Galaxy: The Stars of the colors in the top 3 positions on the Values board grant 3, 2, or 1 VP for each matching Star on your Galaxy board.

6. Advanced Objectives: The Objective cards in the top 3 positions on the Values board grant 4, 3, or 2 VP each time the corresponding pattern is present in your Galaxy.

The person who obtained the most VP wins the game. In case of a tie, the person who placed the most Black Stars wins. If the tie persists, they share the victory.

Objective Card Appendix

I. Personal Objectives

• Have 4 Stars of color X on Indirect Links: Means that in the 4 Indirect Links of your Galaxy board, there must be a Star of the required color involved. It can be at either end of the distant link.
• Have at least 4 Highlighted spaces with Stars of color X: Means that 4 of the 5 Highlighted spaces on your Galaxy board must have a Star of the required color. The central space of your Galaxy is considered a Highlighted space.
• Have at least 6 Stars of color X in your Galaxy: Means that your Galaxy board must have at least 6 Stars of the required color.
• Have more Black Stars than your opponents in your Galaxy: Means you must have more Black Stars than your rivals on your Galaxy board. In case of a tie for first place, this objective is considered completed.
• Have 4 or fewer empty spaces in your Galaxy: Means you must not have more than 4 spaces of any kind unoccupied in the Constellations of your Galaxy.
• Have at least 2 Stars of each color in your Galaxy: Means you must have at least 2 of each of the 6 colors (Black Stars don't count) placed in any space of your Galaxy board.
• Have Orbit X with different Stars: Means you must complete the indicated Orbit on your Galaxy board with Stars of different colors. In other words, no color can repeat within the same Orbit.
• Have at least 2 Stars of color X in 3 Constellations: Means you must have 2 or more Stars of the indicated color in at least 3 of the 4 Constellations of your Galaxy board.
• Have 3 adjacent complete Orbits: Means that 3 of the 5 Orbits on your Galaxy board must be complete and must also be adjacent to each other. You can complete this objective by completing Orbits 2, 3, and 4, or 1, 2, and 3, or 3, 4, and 5.
• Complete 2 opposite Constellations: Means you must occupy the 6 spaces of 2 Constellations that are opposite each other on your Galaxy board.
• Complete 2 adjacent Constellations: Means you must occupy the 6 spaces of 2 Constellations that are adjacent to each other on your Galaxy board.

II. Career Objectives

• Have Constellation X with 3 different Stars: Means you must complete the 6 spaces of the indicated Constellation on your Galaxy board with exactly 3 different colors.
• Have Orbit 3 complete with 3 different Stars: Means you must complete the 6 spaces of Orbit 3 on your Galaxy board with exactly 3 different colors.
• Occupy the 8 distant spaces joined by Indirect Links: Means you must occupy the 8 spaces that are joined by Indirect Links on your Galaxy board.
• Occupy the 8 spaces adjacent by Orbit to the Highlighted spaces: Means you must occupy the 8 spaces that are linked by Orbit to the 4 Highlighted spaces of your Galaxy board. This does not involve the central Star.

III. Advanced Objectives

• Star of color X next to Star of color Y: You obtain N VP for each Direct, Indirect, or Orbit link you achieve with the 2 indicated Stars on your Galaxy board. You cannot use the same Star to score another link under this criterion.
• Each Star of the same color in Highlighted spaces: You obtain N VP for each Star of the color that appears most often among the 5 Highlighted spaces of the Galaxy board.
• For each completed Career Objective: You obtain N VP for each completed Career Objective. It doesn't matter whether you were the first person to complete it or not.
• For each Orbit that has at least one Star of the indicated color: You obtain N VP for each Orbit on your Galaxy board that has at least one Star of the indicated color.
• For each Highlighted space completely surrounded, with no empty linked spaces: You obtain N VP for each Highlighted space (excluding the central one) that has no empty space linked to it, whether directly, indirectly, or by Orbit.
• For each Star of color X adjacent by Orbit to a Highlighted space: You obtain N VP for each Star of the indicated color that is adjacent by Orbit to a Highlighted space (excluding the central one).

Credits

• Game design: Cristian Bustos and Bernardo Vásquez
• Illustrations: Luna Vargas
• Editing and development: José Manuel Álvarez and Jorge Larrain
• Graphic design: Paulina Vasconcelo
• Rulebook writing: José Manuel Álvarez
• Rulebook review: Ketty Galleguillos, Jorge Larrain, and Simón Weinstein