Robots & Rockets
Robots & Rockets Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
Have the highest number of robots in your rocket fleet at the end of the game.
Setup
- Separate the Robot, Rocket, and Contract cards into individual decks.
- Set the Contract cards aside.
- Shuffle both the Robot deck and Rocket decks thoroughly.
- The Rocket deck and Robot deck should be placed according to the layout example.
- Deal 4 Rocket cards, face up, into the middle of the play area. This forms the Spaceport.
- Deal 5 Robot cards, face down, to each player. Players may look at their cards at any time.
Components (80 Cards)
- Robots: 10 Robots to Mars, 10 Robots to Venus, 10 Robots to Jupiter, 10 Robots to Saturn
- Special Actions: 4 Tractor Beam!, 4 Force Field!, 4 Orbit!, 4 Robot Transfer!
- Rockets: 2 Twelve seater, 4 Nine seater, 6 Six seater, 8 Three seater
- Contracts: 1 Mars Contract, 1 Venus Contract, 1 Jupiter Contract, 1 Saturn Contract
Playing the Game
Players take turns, in clockwise order, starting with the youngest player. On their turn, a player must perform the following actions in order:
1) Special Action (optional)
You may either:
- A. Play a Special card from your hand, or
- B. Discard a Special card from your hand and draw 2 cards from the Robot deck.
2) Robot Allocation
You must do one of the following:
- A. Place a single Robot card from your hand onto a rocket that has enough seats available.
- B. Play multiple Robots cards from your hand on to a single rocket. All robots must be going to the same destination.
Take note that the total number of robots must not be more than the number of seats available, and each robot must match the rocket's destination.
!! Should you be unable to do either of the above, you may discard any number of cards from your hand.
3) Cleanup
Draw cards from the Robot deck until you have 5 cards in your hand.
Robots Explained
Each Robot card has a number and a destination. The number represents how many robots are travelling together. The destination represents where the robots want to go. Robot cards range from a single robot through a group of four.
Rockets Explained
The moon's spaceport has four rockets docked at all times, primed and ready for launch as soon as every seat is filled. Each Rocket card has a number and a list of destinations. The number represents the seats available on the rocket. The list of destinations represents the locations where the rocket will go.
Contracts Explained
Each contract has a single destination (Mars, Jupiter, Venus, or Saturn). Points are awarded at the end of the game for each robot going to the listed destination.
Launching a Rocket
A rocket launches the moment every seat has been filled. Immediately take the Rocket card and all Robot cards on that rocket, and place them together, face down, in a pile in front of you. Keep this pile separate from other rockets you have launched. Reveal a new Rocket card from the Rocket deck and place it into the spaceport.
Game End
When the last card is drawn from the Robot deck, play continues until no one can play any more cards from their hand.
Scoring
All players discard any unused cards in their hand; these are not used during scoring. Then, count the total number of Robot and Rocket cards in front of you. Starting with the player who has the fewest number of cards, and ending with the player who has the most, each player selects a single Contract card from the Contract deck.
Should more than one player have the same number of cards, the player with the fewest number of Robot cards goes first. In the case of a further tie, the youngest player goes first.
!! For a 2-player game, repeat the process until both players have 2 Contract cards.
After Contract cards have been selected, each player adds up the total number of robots they have going to that destination. The player with the highest total wins. In the case of a tie, all players with the highest total share the victory.
Special Actions
- Orbit! — Place Orbit! on an unfinished rocket. Until your next turn, other players cannot place Robot cards here. At the beginning of your next turn, discard this card.
- Tractor Beam! — Choose another player. Take a single launched rocket and all of its passengers from that player and place it in front of you. Discard this card, even if it was stopped by Force Field!
- Force Field! — Force Field! is not played like other special actions. Instead, should a player try to take one of your launched rockets with Tractor Beam!, you may immediately discard Force Field! from your hand to stop them.
- Robot Transfer! — Move any number of robots going to the same destination from one rocket to another. That rocket must be going to the same destination as the robots being transferred.