Selfish: Space Edition
Selfish: Space Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Game
How to Play
Each astronaut gets a hand of cards containing Oxygen Cards and Action Cards.
On your turn, you use your cards to move forward through the dangerous void of space. The game continues like this until one astronaut reaches the ship.
If you reach the ship first you get to live and you are the winner. Everyone else dies and loses.
Oxygen Is Life or Death
During the game, you must do everything you can to preserve your Oxygen Cards.
If you run out of Oxygen Cards at any point, you suffocate and die, and you are out of the game.
If this happens, you must declare yourself dead and turn over your Astronaut Card to reveal your floating corpse.
Oxygen Cards come as Singles (1 oxygen) and Doubles (2 oxygen).
How to Win
To win the game, you must reach the ship and end your turn with at least 1 Oxygen Card remaining. You must do this to win even if you're the last player alive.
If everyone runs out of oxygen before one astronaut reaches the spaceship, all astronauts are doomed to die in the empty void of space. If this happens, no one wins.
Setting Up
- Select an Astronaut Card each and line them up horizontally.
- Use the Mission Guide to place the Spaceship Card centered at the top of the playing area at the correct distance. Once this is done, you can put the Mission Guide back into the box for your next game. Remember, reaching the ship is how you win! You have to travel forward 6 spaces to do this.
- Separate the Oxygen Cards from the Action Cards in the Game Card deck.
- Deal 1 Double and 4 Single Oxygen Cards to each player.
- Return the remaining Oxygen Cards to the deck of Game Cards and shuffle well.
- Deal a further 4 Game Cards from the deck to each player. This should make a total of 9 cards in each player's hand (a mixture of Oxygen and Action cards).
- Place the remaining Game Cards in a draw pile next to the playing area, leaving space for a discard pile.
- Shuffle the deck of Space Cards and place them next to the playing area. Keep another area clear to form the Space Card discard pile.
- Decide which astronaut will go first. The oldest player would be a good choice, because they have less time to live anyway!
Layout: the Astronaut Cards line up along the bottom; the Ship Card sits at the top, 6 cards' distance away; the Game Card draw and discard piles and the Space Card draw and discard piles sit beside the playing area.
Taking Your Turn
Phase 1 - Card Pickup
Pick up a Game Card from the top of the deck and add it to your hand. (If the Game Cards run out, reshuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile.)
Phase 2 - Actions
You can choose not to play any actions on your turn; if this is the case proceed to Phase 3.
If you want to play an Action Card from your hand, place it faceup on the Game Card discard pile. You must then follow the instructions on the card to complete the action.
After you have completed the instructions, you can play as many more Action Cards as you want.
Phase 3 - Breathe or Travel
From this point on, no more actions can be played!
You must now choose whether you want to remain where you are or travel forward in space.
If you want to stay where you are you must place 1 Oxygen Card faceup onto the Game Card discard pile. If this is your last Oxygen Card then you die.
To move 1 space you must place 2 Oxygens (either 2 Singles or 1 Double Oxygen Card) faceup on the Game Card discard pile. Follow the instructions on moving forward in space as shown below. Your turn is now over.
Play then continues clockwise around the table.
Moving Forward in Space
When moving forward in space in either Phase 2 or Phase 3 of your turn, you must push your Astronaut Card forward 1 card's distance as shown, then take a Space Card from the deck and place it faceup in the space you have vacated.
You must then follow the instructions on that Space Card. These can be good or bad, and they cannot be avoided or blocked with a Shield Card.
Remember, you can move multiple times on your turn with the help of Action Cards, but can only travel by discarding oxygen once at the end of your turn.
Your Cards
On your turn you can swap a Double Oxygen Card for 2 Singles from the Game Card draw/discard pile.
Running low on Oxygen? You can choose to discard 2 Action Cards instead of discarding 1 Oxygen Card to stay where you are in Phase 3 of your turn.
Gambling With Your Life
In Phase 3 of your turn, you are allowed to discard your final 2 Oxygens to travel forward in space, in the hope that your Space Card grants you additional oxygen. However, if it doesn't, you die and are out of the game.
Just the 2 of You?
When playing with 2 players, all rules remain the same, except that you are only allowed to play a Single Action Card in Phase 2 of your turn.
An Example Turn
Phase 1: You pick up a card. It's a Double Oxygen, yay!
Phase 2: You choose to go on the offensive and use your Hack Suit card on your mortal enemy... but they block you with a Shield card. You could play more Action Cards, but you don't.
Phase 3: You decide to move forward by discarding 2 Oxygens (onto the Game Card discard pile). You push your Astronaut forward and reveal a Cosmic Radiation Space Card. Oh no! You follow the instructions and discard another Oxygen. Luckily, this doesn't kill you. Your turn is now over!
Space Cards
Blank Space (9 cards)
No advantage or penalty - just place this card in the space that you have vacated.
Useful Junk (5 cards)
Pick up an additional Game Card and add it to your hand.
Mysterious Nebula (2 cards)
Lucky you! Pick up 2 additional Game Cards and add them to your hand.
Hyperspace (1 card)
The stars have aligned in your favor! Immediately move forward 1 space!
Meteoroid (4 cards)
Armageddon is approaching! If you are holding 6 or more cards in your hand, you must now discard 2 of them.
Cosmic Radiation (6 cards)
Discard 1 Oxygen and hope that you are not left gasping for air!
Asteroid Field (2 cards)
This Space Card has a disturbingly deep impact because you must now discard 2 Oxygens, and will probably die.
Gravitational Anomaly (4 cards)
You must immediately discard this Space Card and move back 1 space.
Wormhole (4 cards)
You must immediately swap places with another astronaut, alive or dead!
If you encounter a wormhole as your sixth Space Card, you must still select an opponent to swap with. They will win the game, unless you can swap with a corpse, in which case the game continues.
Solar Flare (5 cards)
Bad luck, whoever lands in front of this card cannot perform any actions while they are directly in front of it.
Note: Swapping places with another player, getting knocked back, or traveling forward cancels the effect.
Game Cards
Oxygen Cards
Singles (38 cards) and Doubles (10 cards): Hang on to these, because your life depends on them. Sabotage and steal from other astronauts as much as you can to make sure that you do not run out of air!
Action Cards
Oxygen Siphon (3 cards): Take a deep breath and relax, literally, because you can steal 2 Oxygens from your chosen victim!
Shield (4 cards): Block an attack from another astronaut, discarding both the Shield and Action Cards. (Note that you cannot play a Shield if you are under the influence of a Solar Flare.)
Hack Suit (3 cards): Select a player, look at their entire hand, and steal a card of your choosing! This is a magic bullet.
Tractor Beam (4 cards): Steal a card from another player's hand at random.
Rocket Booster (4 cards): Move forward 1 space, without discarding any oxygen.
Laser Blast (4 cards): Pick another player and knock them back 1 space. (Discard the Space Card behind them and push them back.) Cannot be played on a rival that is on the starting space.
Hole in Suit (4 cards): Punch a hole in a rival's suit, forcing them to discard a Single Oxygen Card from their hand. (This could kill them!)
Tether (4 cards): Move forward 1 space, and knock another player back 1 space. This card does not obey the laws of physics. Cannot be played on a rival that is on the starting space.