Sol: Last Days of a Star Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Component List
• Game Setup
• Quick Overview
  • Object of the Game
• Turn Order & Orbiting Your Mothership
  • Orbit
  • On Your Turn
• Actions
  • Move
    • Launch
    • Fly
    • Hurl
  • Convert
    • Solar Gate
    • Energy Node
    • Sundiver Foundry
    • Transmit Tower
  • Activate
    • How Much Do I Get For Activating a Station?
    • Multiple Activations In a Single Turn
• Instability Cards
  • Drawing Instability Cards
  • Solar Flares
  • Choosing a Card to Keep
  • Using Your Instability Card
• Ending Your Turn
• End of Game
• Credits
• Longer Game
• Trigger Events
• Solo Variant
  • Solo Scenarios
• Cooperative Variant
• Levels of Survival
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Acknowledgments
• Instability Effects (Alphabetical)

Component List

• 1 mothership
• 13 sundivers
• 5 solar gates
• 3 energy nodes
• 3 sundiver foundries
• 3 transmit towers
• 1 ark
• 1 movement marker
• 1 game board
• 30 effect cards
• 96 instability cards in 7 suits
• 5 player holds
• 1 momentum track + instability spiral
• 5 player aids
• 8 trigger events
• 1 instability marker
• 7 suit tokens
• 89 energy cubes

(Component counts above are per player color for the pieces listed under Player Pieces — mothership, sundivers, solar gates, energy nodes, sundiver foundries, transmit towers, ark, and movement marker. The remaining components — game board, effect cards, instability cards, player holds, momentum track, player aids, trigger events, instability marker, suit tokens and energy cubes — are shared components for the game as a whole.)

Game Setup

1. Lay out the game board (either 1–4 player or 5 player side).
2. Stack players' arks on space 0 of the momentum track (order does not matter).
3. Place the instability marker on space 13 of the instability spiral.
4. Divide the red energy cubes and place 2 piles in opposite corners of the game board.
5. Players select a homeworld and take that world's player aid and player hold. Into your hold place:
   • 8 sundivers
   • 3 energy cubes
   • Movement marker on space 3 of the movement track
6. Place the rest of the pieces of your color in your reserve:
   • 5 sundivers
   • 5 solar gates
   • 3 energy nodes
   • 3 sundiver foundries
   • 3 transmit towers

HOLD VS. RESERVE: You have both a hold and a reserve. The reserve is where your unbuilt structures live when they are out of play. This includes sundivers but also nodes, foundries, towers and gates that have not yet been converted on the board. Your hold is where you keep your sundivers that are in play, but not yet launched onto the board, as well as any energy you may possess. After converting, sundivers are sacrificed to the reserve; after activating, sundivers are recalled to your hold.

7. Whoever has been closest to the Sun most recently is the first player!
8. Place each player's mothership on the board, on one of the eyes between outer and inner orbit. Space them equidistantly, but leave a larger gap between the first and last player. The number of spaces between motherships will vary based on the number of players.
9. Construct the instability deck by combining the solar flares with one other suit per player and shuffle the deck. Place the instability deck near the momentum track.
10. Select instability effect cards (same number as suits above). Instability effect titles are color coded:
    • Blue and green cards have simple effects
    • Yellow cards have more complex effects
    • Red cards have attack/negative effects
11. Assign each instability effect a suit token to correspond to one of the instability suits (solar flares also get an associated instability effect).

NOTE: For your first game, we suggest using the blue cards. Once you know how to play, feel free to mix in other instability effect colors to create a custom mix for each game.

WARNING! Only use red cards if everyone agrees they are okay with being targeted and attacked!

12. VESTIGIAL STRUCTURES (if at least one of your players has never played before): Some vestiges of the ravaged solar harvesting infrastructure remain. Each player in turn order places either a single gate or a single station (node, foundry or tower) on the board. Vestigial gates can be placed anywhere on the barrier between inner orbit and the convective layer. Vestigial stations can be placed in outer orbit, inner orbit or the convective layer. There can be only one station per space and only one gate connecting any two spaces. Each player then places a station (if you previously placed a gate), or a gate (if you previously a station), following the same rules. After you have placed your station, advance your movement track to 4.
13. YOU ARE NOW READY TO PLAY!

Quick Overview

Object of the Game

Gain momentum by transmitting energy to your ark and/or hurling sundivers into the heart of the Sun. It is a race against time–and other worlds–as your actions accelerate the oncoming supernova. The ark with the most momentum at the end survives! The others perish in a fiery demise.

The purple player hold shown in the rulebook represents the inside of your mothership and houses your available sundivers, energy, movement marker and space for one instability card. Every turn you perform one action, then advance your mothership one space forward along the orbital track.

You have 3 actions to choose from:

MOVE — Launch sundivers from your mothership onto the game board, fly them around the board and hurl them into the heart of the Sun. (See MOVE, page 8.)

CONVERT — Once your sundivers are in certain patterns, you can convert them into gates or stations (nodes, foundries or towers). (See CONVERT, page 10.)

ACTIVATE — Sundivers on stations can activate those stations to harvest energy, spend energy to build new sundivers or transmit energy back to your ark. (See ACTIVATE, page 12.)

NOTE: You can use anyone's gates and stations, not just your own. If you use someone else's, they get a small bonus. Stations built on deeper layers of the Sun yield greater rewards, but also trigger greater instability (represented by drawing cards from the instability deck) when you convert or activate on those layers.

You draw instability cards every time you hurl sundivers, and every time you convert or activate within the 3 layers of the Sun. You can keep one of these cards to play on a future turn–its effect is determined by which instability effect card contains its suit token.

Every time you draw a red solar flare, you advance the instability marker down the instability spiral. When you draw the 13th solar flare the Sun goes supernova and the game is over! Whoever moved their ark farthest along the momentum track escapes just in time (winning the game), and the rest…do not.

Turn Order & Orbiting Your Mothership

Orbit

The motherships are placed equidistantly on the eyes between outer and inner orbit, with one exception: the current player has a larger gap in front of their mothership. The number of spaces between motherships will vary based on the number of players.

Orbiting signals the end of a player's turn. Once you've completed your action, advance your mothership one space along the arrows (counterclockwise) on the orbital track, closing the gap in front of you and creating a larger gap behind you. This indicates it is the next player's turn.

Example: Black has the larger gap in front of its mothership (4 eyes vs. 3 eyes for the other motherships) — it is Black's turn. After Black orbits, it opens a gap behind its mothership; now Purple has the larger gap and it is Purple's turn. After Purple takes its turn, it orbits. Then Blue, then Black again, around and around until the Sun explodes!

On Your Turn

On your turn, you must pick one of 3 actions: move, convert, or activate. In addition to one of these actions, you may choose to use an instability card you earned on a prior turn (see USING YOUR INSTABILITY CARD, page 17). After your action is complete, orbit your mothership; the next player can take their turn.

Actions

Move

You start with 3 movement points (tracked by the movement marker on the movement track in your hold), and gain one for each layer in which you own a station. If you set up with vestigial structures, your movement points are immediately raised to 4 by placing your first station. You can spend your available movement points to do any combination of launching, flying or hurling.

Launch

For one movement point you may launch a sundiver from your hold onto the game board into any of the 4 orbital spaces adjacent to your mothership. You cannot exceed a maximum of 5 of your own sundivers in any single space on the game board at any time during play.

Fly

Once sundivers are on the board, you can fly them individually from space to space for one movement point per space. You cannot fly through the thick black lines (barriers) between the 3 layers of the Sun without using a solar gate. Sundivers can fly forward and backward, up and down, provided solar gates are present where necessary.

MOVEMENT AND GATES: If you move across someone else's gate, they gain one energy cube from the general supply. If you use multiple players' gates in one turn, they each get one energy. The maximum reward per player per turn is one energy total, regardless of how many of their gates you use. Consider it a day pass.

The owner of the gate cannot turn down this energy. You do not get the energy bonus for using your own gates.

Example: Blue sends 3 sundivers across 3 different gates: 1 blue (their own) and 2 black. Black player gets 1 energy.

Hurl

Sundivers in the core can hurl themselves into the heart of the Sun for one movement point each. They are vaporized (removed from the game permanently), but you are able to capture the shockwave as momentum, advancing your ark 2 spaces on the momentum track for each sundiver hurled. You also draw one instability card per sundiver hurled; if that card happens to be a solar flare, you gain 1 more momentum! (all other instability card rules still apply. (See INSTABILITY CARDS, page 16.)

Example: 3 sundivers hurl into the heart of Sun (spend 3 movement total). 3 sundivers are vaporized. Ark advances 6 spaces on momentum track, 3 instability cards are drawn.

Convert

Sundivers in various patterns can be converted into stations or gates. When you convert, place the station or gate on the game board and sacrifice the sundivers (put them back in your reserve, NOT your hold). You will have to rebuild them if you want to fly around with them again. Then, if you converted a station in a layer that did not previously contain one of your stations, advance the movement marker on your movement track one space. You are allowed a total of only one conversion per turn. Draw instability cards based on the layer you convert into (see DRAWING INSTABILITY CARDS, page 16).

NOTE: If you ever start your turn and discover that you have no sundivers in your hold or on the board, deconstruct one of your stations or gates and return it to your reserve, then add 2 sundivers from your reserve to your hold. If you remove a station from a layer of the board where you have no other stations, move your movement marker down one space on the movement track in your hold. You may then proceed with your turn.

Solar Gate

Gates are used to connect the layers of the Sun. The pattern is 2 sundivers, one above the other–the gate connects the space of the deeper sundiver to an adjacent space in the layer below. Cards are drawn based on the deepest layer the gate touches.

Energy Node

Nodes are used to harvest energy from the Sun. The pattern is 2 sundivers in the same layer with a gap between them–the node is placed in the gap between where the two sacrificed sundivers used to be.

Sundiver Foundry

Foundries are used to rebuild sundivers from energy. The pattern is 2 sundivers in the same layer in adjacent spaces. You can place the new foundry in either of the spaces where the sacrificed sundivers used to be.

Transmit Tower

Towers are used to transmit energy to your ark on the momentum track. The pattern is 3 sundivers on 3 different layers (adjacent spaces). The tower is placed in the space where the deepest sundiver was sacrificed.

IMPORTANT: There can only be one station in total per space and only one gate connecting any 2 spaces.

Always remember to draw instability cards after converting and activating!

Activate

To activate stations (nodes, foundries or towers), you must have sundivers of your color in the spaces containing those stations at the start of your turn. When you choose the activate action, you recall each activating sundiver back to your hold (not the reserve!) and reap the reward of the station.

• Energy nodes yield new energy cubes (see values below)
• Sundiver foundries spend energy to rebuild sundivers (one sundiver per energy)
• Transmit towers spend energy to boost your momentum (one momentum point per energy)

How Much Do I Get For Activating a Station?

The amount you get for each station you activate depends on who owns it:

• Anyone who activates a station gets the base amount
• The owner then has the option to take the bonus amount
• If the owner declines the bonus, then the activator has the option to take the bonus

If you are the activator and the owner, then you get the base amount and the option to take the bonus as well.

The base and bonus for each station are determined by how deep the station is. In general, the deeper the station is, the higher both the base and bonus.

Base / Bonus by layer:

Layer	Base	Bonus
Outer orbit	1	0
Inner orbit	1	1
Convective	2	1
Radiative	3	2
Core	5	3

IMPORTANT: Station rewards are ALL OR NOTHING–you can never do less than the full amount of either the base or bonus. For foundries and towers, if you do not have the full amount of energy required you cannot do the action or gain the reward (see examples below). Again: one energy is required per sundiver built at a foundry, and one energy is required for each point of momentum transmitted from a tower to your ark.

Similarly, if you do not have enough sundivers in your reserve to complete the full foundry activation reward you cannot take that action/bonus.

Examples:

• Black player activates an energy node in the convective layer. The sundiver is recalled to her hold and she adds 3 energy to her hold as well (base of 2 + bonus of 1).
• Black player activates her sundiver foundry in the radiative layer. The sundiver is recalled to her hold and she pays 5 energy, adding 5 new sundivers from her reserve to her hold (base of 3 + bonus of 2).
• A black sundiver is on a green foundry in the radiative layer. Black activates the foundry, recalls her sundiver and pays 3 energy to build 3 new sundivers (base of 3 in the radiative).
• Green has only 1 energy, but the bonus requires 2 – Green must decline the bonus. Black then claims the bonus, paying 2 more energy and building 2 more sundivers.

Multiple Activations In a Single Turn

If you have sundivers on multiple stations of the same type, you can activate as many of these stations as you wish, no matter who owns the stations. However, each individual station can only be activated once per turn; even if you have 5 sundivers on one station, you can only activate it once.

You cannot activate different types of stations (an energy node and a sundiver foundry, for example) on the same turn, unless something like the FESTIVAL effect is in play (see INSTABILITY EFFECTS, back cover).

IMPORTANT: Once the energy has been paid (if any) and the activation reward received, recall the activating sundiver back to your hold. This is an important difference between converting and activating: when converting, the sundivers are sacrificed and placed in your reserve–they need to be rebuilt in order to use them again. When activating stations, however, the sundivers are recalled to your hold where they can be launched again on a subsequent turn. Don't thoughtlessly cast away your loyal sundivers!

Example: Green player activates his own transmit tower in the radiative layer and also Black's tower in the core–on the same turn! Both green sundivers are recalled back to Green's hold. Green transmits 10 (5 for the base + bonus of his own tower + 5 for the base of Black's tower), paying 10 energy and moving his ark forward 10 spaces on the momentum track. Black has the option to take the bonus of 3 transmit for Green activating her tower. Black has enough energy, so she pays the 3 energy and moves her ark forward 3 spaces on the momentum track.

Example: Green sundivers are on 3 other players' energy nodes, one each in convective, radiative and core. All 3 are activated; Green player gets 10 energy and each other player gets 1, 2 and 3 energy respectively. Then, 6 cards are drawn by Green. 2 are solar flares, whose immediate impact is resolved first. Green chooses one card to keep (a solar flare in this case) and places it into his hold. He can play it on a subsequent turn to perform whichever instability effect the solar flare's suit token is on (see INSTABILITY CARDS, page 16).

Instability Cards

Instability cards serve two functions in the game: they are the means for tracking time, and they provide opportunities to use the instability effects selected at the beginning of the game.

Drawing Instability Cards

Our actions in the Sun have an impact on solar integrity. When you convert or activate in any of the 3 layers of the Sun, you must draw instability cards. For multiple activations, cards are drawn cumulatively for each station activated in that turn.

Number of cards per layer:

• Convective: Draw 1 card
• Radiative: Draw 2 cards
• Core: Draw 3 cards
• Hurling into the heart of the Sun: Draw 1 card per sundiver hurled

Solar Flares

For each solar flare drawn, immediately resolve its impact in this order:

1. DOWN SPIRAL — The instability marker descends on the instability spiral, counting down to solar finality.
2. UNSTABLE ENERGY — Energy is stored in a volatile plasma form: all players with 13 or more energy cubes in their hold lose half! (Round loss down.)
3. ORBITAL ACTIVATION — All stations in outer orbit (not inner!) are activated for their respective owners. (Owner does not need to have a sundiver present at the station. Foundries and towers still require one energy if you choose to accept the activation.)

Choosing a Card to Keep

You can only keep ONE card in your hold for use on a future turn. If you have a card in your hold and draw more, you may choose to keep the old card or one of the new cards. Place the chosen card face up in your hold. Discard the others. Once the impact of the solar flare is resolved, a player may choose to keep it just like any other instability card.

Using Your Instability Card

On your turn, you may elect to use an instability card earned on a previous turn. This is in addition to your regular action.

The ability associated with each instability suit is determined by the suit tokens assigned to each instability effect selected at the beginning of the game.

Each instability effect has a symbol indicating when it can be played: move, convert, activate, draw or any time.

Discard the instability card immediately after use and before drawing any new cards as a result of your action. You cannot play a card the same turn you receive it.

The 7 instability suits are: Refraction, Condensation, Subduction, Oscillation, Expansion, Reverberation, and Solar Flare.

For the full list of possible effects, see INSTABILITY EFFECTS, back cover.

Ending Your Turn

Once you have completed your action, drawn any instability cards and resolved the impact of any solar flares (see INSTABILITY CARDS, page 16), your turn is complete.

Orbit your mothership! Then the next player can take their turn while you decide what card to keep. If someone really cares what card you keep, they can wait for you to pick, but in general play can continue. If it gets around to be your turn again and you still haven't decided which card to keep, the player on your right selects one at random from your choices.

End of Game

When the 13th solar flare is drawn, the instability marker reaches the supernova on the space 0 of the instability spiral. Any towers in outer orbit activate and then the game is immediately over! The ark that is farthest along the momentum track escapes just ahead of the wave of the impending solar cataclysm, while the rest are engulfed in a fiery demise.

Good luck on your journey.

Credits

Game Design: Ryan Spangler and Sean Spangler

Conductor: Jodi Sweetman

Artists: Jon Meitling, Adam Murdoch, Ryan Linstrom, Mark Dusk, Ryan Spangler

Copyright 2016 Elephant Laboratories, LLC — www.elephantlaboratories.com

Longer Game

To play a longer game with a more possibilities in the opening, do not setup with VESTIGIAL STRUCTURES, and add an extra suit to the instability deck (still Ryan's preferred way to play).

Trigger Events

Trigger events represent structural shifts or solar phenomena brought about by the current environment of instability in the Sun. There are 5 additional cards that can be added to the instability deck called trigger flares. If used, at setup shuffle some or all of the trigger flares into the instability deck and choose one trigger event face-up near the board. During the game, whenever a trigger flare is drawn, immediately perform the effect on the trigger event card chosen at setup. Once resolved, remove the trigger flare from the game and immediately draw another card. We recommend adding 4 trigger flares to the instability deck, but feel free to use more or less to add a taste or an onslaught to the game. The trigger events provided are:

• ATTRITION: Everyone sacrifices (to their reserve) one of their own sundivers.
• IMPLODE: All sundivers on the board move down one layer, whether a gate is present or not. Any sundivers in the core are hurled.
• EXPLODE: All sundivers are pushed out one layer, whether a gate is present or not. Any sundivers in outer orbit are "lost in space," and you must spend one move to fly them back into any space in outer orbit.
• SUNWORM: All sundivers not on a station are consumed by the Sunworm...and sent back to player reserves.
• WARP: Each player chooses one of their sundivers in play (in their hold or on the board) and places it anywhere on the board.
• SINGULARITY: Place all sundivers from player holds into spaces in the core (your choice, but respect the five sundiver per player limit).
• ENERGY GARDEN: In each space in the three layers of the Sun, place one energy cube if the space is empty (no sundivers, stations or energy cubes present) and it is not adjoining (adjacent in the same layer as) a space already containing an energy cube. These energy cubes are gained (taken into a player's hold) when one of their sundivers flies into the space containing that energy.
• FEEDERS: Each trigger flare, four feeders crawl out of the heart of the Sun into the core (use energy cubes to represent feeders). Place each one on a different space. Every solar flare, feeders move towards the nearest station on their layer. If there is no station on their layer, they move up one layer. For each feeder on a station, the activation reward is reduced by 1 (first base, then bonus). If there are enough feeders on a station to reduce the base plus bonus reward to 0, the station is destroyed (removed from the game), and the feeders are left on the board. You can remove feeders by taking a special SCOUR action. To scour, remove one feeder per sundiver in its space by recalling the sundivers and removing the feeders from the board. You can do this as many times in as many spaces as there are sundivers cohabitating with feeders during a single scour action. This takes your whole turn.

Solo Variant

To play Sol as a solo game, there are 2 changes to the standard rules of game play:

• Draw a card each time you orbit your mothership, in addition to any other cards you may trigger that turn. This card cannot be kept and does not count for effects that are based on card draws (Pillar and Pulsate), but solar flares are still resolved normally.
• There is a special setup for each solo scenario which governs how many suits you use, which instability effects are in play, what if any stations and gates are already on the board, how many sundivers and energy you start with, if there are any restrictions on what station types you may build, and which trigger event is used (trigger events were originally developed for solo and co-op scenarios and later given an independent existence). The scenario also provides the momentum threshold for winning.

Solo Scenarios

All solo scenarios start with 8 sundivers and 0 energy unless otherwise noted.

• Ancient Tower: Tower in the core. 2 energy nodes in the convective, evenly spaced from each other with the mothership starting between them on one side of the board. 4 suits. No instability effects. Win if you gain 17 or more momentum before the last solar flare.
• Cosmic Unity: 3 suits, instability effects are Chain, Ceremony and Transcend. One energy node in the core. You may not convert sundivers into a tower. To win, gain 23 or more momentum.
• Solar Inhabitants: 3 suits, instability effects are Juggernaut, Procreate and Festival. Use the FEEDERS trigger event. Place one energy node, one foundry and one tower in the convective layer (mostly) evenly spaced. To win, gain 19 or more momentum.
• Energy Garden: 3 suits, instability effects are Hyperdrive, Transcend and Accelerate. Use the ENERGY GARDEN trigger event. Place one tower in the core. Cannot convert sundivers into energy nodes. To win, gain 31 or more momentum.
• Sunworm: 3 suits, instability effects are Puncture, Cluster and Procreate. Use the SUNWORM trigger event. Start with one foundry in the radiative layer. To win, gain 17 or more momentum.
• Solar Whirlpool: 8 sundivers and one energy. 3 suits, instability effects are Procreate, Motivate and Squeeze. Use the IMPLODE trigger event. Start with one tower in outer orbit on the opposite side of the board from your mothership. To win, gain 29 or more momentum.

Cooperative Variant

Playing Sol as a cooperative game is much like playing solo, except the score for everyone is the score of whoever has the least momentum! When constructing the instability deck, use the solar flares + one suit per player + one extra.

For straight cooperative play, pick 3 instability effects to use in the game, and assign suit tokens to them as evenly as possible (so some effects may have more than one token assigned to it). You all collectively win if the lowest scoring player has at least 13 momentum.

You can also play any of the solo variants as cooperative! Just add one suit per additional player.

Levels of Survival

Instead of everyone perishing in a fiery cataclysm, if players decide they would like a more nuanced view of survival after supernova, you can play with these levels of survival. The following levels show the results of your efforts to save your people.

Special thanks to Jonathan C. Osborne for this variant!

0–2 momentum: YOU HAVE FAILED YOUR PEOPLE! Your feeble attempts to gather the needed energy was insufficient to power your Ark. All the inhabitants who had counted on you to save them are now doomed to annihilation as the Sun goes supernova. At least you'll get one last chance to look upon your homeworld from the bridge of the Ark before you are suddenly consumed.

3–7 momentum: ADRIFT IN DARKNESS. The energy you gathered was only enough to get away from the destructive path of the supernova's infernal rage. Unfortunately, you and the few people you were actually able to save from one fate are now marooned in the vastness of empty space. Your home is gone, and other habitable worlds are too far away. It is most likely that you saved your people from being consumed in flames only for them to die from suffocation and starvation.

8–12 momentum: HOME IN THE VOID. You saved your people from the supernova, but you simply do not have enough energy to get to any nearby planets. With the ingenuity it took to get this far and with the resources you've managed to bring with you, it is likely that you'll be able to maintain a workable system that would allow your population to survive aboard the Ark. It'll be a hard life, but at least your people will live on.

13–20 momentum: THE CHALLENGE AHEAD. You have managed to get your people away from the dying throes of the Sun in time. Your Ark has enough energy to get you safely to a nearby planetary system...but not much further. The planets available to you are not as hospitable as you'd like, but you've already overcome one tremendous hardship. The challenge of finding and colonizing a new world seems welcome, a point of focus and purpose in the aftermath of such a devastating event.

21–33 momentum: HOMEWARD BOUND. You have gathered an abundance of energy from your dying star. All thoughts turn to the heroic efforts of the Mothership and her crew of sundivers, now vapor in the space of your former system. Your Ark flies swiftly from the wreckage of the worlds you once knew. Your people prepare themselves to settle a new alien world and rebuild your civilization out of the ashes of the previous. The voices onboard your Ark rise in a song of determination and hope, looking to the future.

34–54 momentum: THE GALAXY IS YOURS. Congratulations! You have saved your people from the threat of certain annihilation. Massive energy reserves have allowed you to make extensive improvements to your Ark, transforming life aboard into something resembling your former Utopia. Your sensors are now able to scan farther and more accurately, allowing you more time to consider your final destination. With the entire galaxy before you, you have your pick of the planets you will eventually call home. Not only have you saved your people, but with so many worlds before you, you can rest assured that humankind will be able to spread out among the stars.

55+ momentum: TRANSCENDENCE. Your people captured the totality of the bound energy of the star, channeling it into a godlike command of spacetime. You see all things that have ever happened and all things that will ever be. You see at the vastness of the complete cosmos, and the glittering of the tiniest flicker of existence. Not only that, but your merest whim is like a fountain of creation, turning the universe into a tapestry of metamorphosis and beauty. Every particle rises to meet you in an ecstatic union of all existence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wait. How many actions do I get on a turn? You can do ONE of 3 possible actions:

• Move: Any combination of the 3 movement options (launch, fly or hurl) within your available movement points
• Convert: Only one conversion per turn
• Activate: All stations of a single type you have sundivers on

When I convert a gate, how do I know if I draw cards and how many? Cards are drawn during a gate conversion based on the deepest layer the gate touches.

Do I need a gate from the core to the heart of the Sun in order to hurl? Nope. From the core, you need only spend one movement point per sundiver to hurl into the heart of the Sun.

Speaking of hurling, can I hurl stations for points? IF the JUGGERNAUT instability effect is in play, you many hurl a station as if it were a sundiver.

How do I increase my movement points? Movement points increase for each layer you have a station in. So, if you have 3 stations, but 2 are in the same layer, then your total is increased by 2. Gates are not stations and do not contribute to your total movement points.

Is there a limit to how many sundivers I can launch? Maximum 5 of a player's sundivers are allowed on any one space at any time during play. You many launch/fly/hurl as many as you are able with your movement points.

So only 5 sundivers per space? Up to 5 sundivers per player, so there could be up to 5 times the number of players' sundivers in any one space.

When a solar flare is drawn, who benefits from the activation of all stations in outer orbit? The owner of the station gains the reward, not the player who drew the solar flare.

I have enough energy to complete a sundiver foundry activation, but I don't have that many sundivers in my reserve to bring into the game. Can I pay the full energy amount and bring in the lesser number of sundivers? No. "All or nothing" applies to all supply requirements.

Where can I build stations? Anywhere you can fly! It doesn't have to be at the base of a gate, but it does have to be accessible by the basic "Fly" rules.

Well, what about a tie? Who wins? All players who tie win together and go on to search for life-sustaining energy together. If you don't like that prospect, see what you can do to ensure it doesn't happen!

Acknowledgments

In the beginning, there was my brother Sean and me. From my earliest memory, he was there and we were creating things. Everything else flows from this simple truth.

Years later, Jodi Sweetman and I were walking through the woods. "I've always wanted to make a board game with my brother," I said, shafts of light streaming through the leaves. "What would it be?" she asked, already plotting. "I don't really know, but the board would be the Sun."

I went to see my brother that weekend and we started right away. From there, we were off. It was inspiring to rediscover that joy of creating together and to realize how fundamental it is to our being. So my first thank you is to Sean Spangler, you made me who I am. Now at least one of our childhood dreams has come true.

Our earliest playtesters were Kyle Dawkins, John Brown and Nathan Nifong. Each of them gave critical feedback at a formative time, and each left a signature on the final shape of things.

We took a 5-month-old Sol to our first (and local) convention: Gamestorm. There we met Tim Eisner of Weird City Games and Anthony Gallela of Kubla Con Game Design Contest. Tim and brother Ben have become good friends and great allies in the world of independent game publishing, and Anthony's wise and ruthless counsel on our rulebook will never be forgotten.

Print and Play Games, founded by the honorable Andrew Tullsen, has printed all of our remarkably high quality prototypes. Thanks to Toby Grubb and Martha Koenig for early guidance in vector graphics. Thank you, Jon Mietling of Portal Dragon, for creating our amazing pieces! And game board! And solar flare. And... eternal gratitude to Mark Dusk, who perfected the Elephant Laboratories logo and gave birth to our stunning Sol logo, which set the tone for the rest of the design. Thank you, Ryan Linstrom for your smart design insights and intestinal fortitude in our post-campaign design marathon. And there aren't words enough to thank our design finisher and hero, Adam Murdoch, for your detailed eye, tremendous generosity and breathtaking layout of the Mythos book.

Thank you to all the people who printed 3-D pieces for us. I don't know what drove me to make all these crazy pieces for the game, but it was great to have so many people willing to help out with the printing: Chris Crewdson, David Schaefer, Jon Mietling, Ryan Swisher and Jonathan Liu. Thanks to the early playtesters from PDX Epic Gamers: Mandy, David Abel, Brandon, Seeger and Joel Carson.

From Kublacon 2015, thanks to Paul, Andy and Chris for being our home base there. Thank you to Chad Nicholas and the crew at Geekline415 for your raucous support. Thanks to Kennith Grotjohn for the awesome diagrams you scribbled on the hotel stationery to explain the actions. Thanks to Peter Kral and Lisa and Darien, and everyone else there we shared games and laughs with.

Thank you to everyone in Stumptown Gamecrafters who suffered through our countless changes. Jason Clor, Mohammad Ali, Chase Van Epps, Scott Biersdorf, Peter Shaefer and everyone else who meets every other Monday. Your input and insights have been invaluable.

Thank you to the great people at our local game stores in Portland, OR. James and Kirsten Brady and Ben from Cloud Cap, and Ryan Mauk and Hans from the Portland Game Store: you guys have it figured out.

Thank you for letting Jodi and me be a part of the amazing community you continue to build. Also thank you to Guardian, Red Castle, Rainy Day and Off the Charts for hosting our early playtests, and all the FLGS of the world for your noble service to humanity.

Thank you to Cole Wehrle for incisive perspective and true thoughtfulness. Your review of Sol is a work of art. Also thanks to Josh Boykin, Steve Valladolid and Jonathan Liu for your heartfelt reviews. We are lucky to have you in our corner.

The guys who made our Kickstarter video are amazing! Thank you Jeff Harshman, Brandon Schoessler, Kyle Stebbins, Mark Dusk and Reed Harvey of Digital One for bringing our Mythos and story to life! Thank you to Mischa Krilov for your master guidance through the process of preparing and providing for our Kickstarter community and your love of random abstracts (Chase!).

Thank you to Moe, Lyndon and Brian of the Board Game Group for your savvy, insight and support. Thank you, Matt Sims of Panda, for working through our budding understanding of what it takes to make a game. And Carol Carmick, thank you for catching every typo and thinking critically about the words of Sol. Your invisible hand girds this very document.

C.J. Hallowell took a kernel of an idea for our Mythos and created something magical. We can never offer enough thanks for sharing the gift of your imagination with us all.

Thank you Linda Bache and Susan Ahrens for your generosity. Thank you to Beth Olsen Photography and Jason Washburn of Talon Strikes for your respective contributions to making our Kickstarter campaign sing. James Hudson of Druid City Games–you, sir, are a force of goodness. Thank you for your tireless support and enthusiasm. Special thanks to the Jersey Boys (Rob Austin and Lance Van Ness) and to Stacy & Brandan Flynn for spreading the good word (and so many Sol playtests) to the Midwest and East Coast. Tak Thomas DN, til at samle støtte og fortsatte oversættelse på BGG!

Thank you to all our Kickstarter backers. Especially our Galaxy Backers: Mohammad Ali, John Brown, Andrew Long and Matthew Hawkins; our Sun Backers: Chad Nicholas, Zelbinian (Dustin Hodge), Nathan Meyer, Mike Shiley, Craig Barrie, Portland Gamecraft (Evan Halbert); and our Planet Backers: Will Thomsen, Christopher McHenry, Lucas Kenall, Kyle Dawkins, Brandan "Xandar13" Flynn, Tim Eisner, Joseph Reisinger, Dave & Jen King, Bobbie Sweetman, Dan Pancakes Roberts, Jonathan Yost, Lance Van Ness and Mark Waldron; and finally our sole Deity level backer Mike Spangler, which is not diminished just because he is our father. He is everything a deity should be.

Thank you, Bobbie Sweetman, for your joy and inspiration. You show us what life can be.

Thank you to our mother, Carolyn Spangler and father, Michael Spangler, who gave us so much more than just life.

But thank you most of all to Jodi Sweetman, without whom Sol would still just be some light beams shining through the branches. You took an idea and gave it a chance to be real. And now it is.

- Ryan

Instability Effects (Alphabetical)

ACCELERATE — Choose a number: advance all motherships forward that many spaces along the orbital track.

AUGMENT — When activating one station, each extra sundiver present (anyone's, beyond the activating sundiver) increases the base reward (by depth: 1/1/1/2/3).

BLIGHT — Activate one other player's mothership to add 3 sundivers from your reserve into the owner's hold. (Your sundiver must be on a space adjacent to another player's mothership.) Clarification: Activation follows regular activation rules, so this takes your whole turn, and the sundiver used is recalled to your hold. Only one mothership can be activated this way. On any subsequent move action, you may launch any of the 3 "blighted" sundivers out of the other player's mothership onto the game board in addition to those you launch from your own mothership.

CASCADE — Perform an additional convert action where the sundivers involved are recalled instead of sacrificed.

CATAPULT — Each of your sundivers may move across any one gate for zero movement. Clarification: Each sundiver gets the free move once and it does NOT have to be all through the same gate.

CEREMONY — Gain one energy for each sundiver you launch into outer orbit from your mothership.

CHAIN — For each sundiver in one connected chain with no loops or branches, the owner of that sundiver gains one free momentum. Recall every odd sundiver. Clarification: Momentum points are free, no energy required. "Every odd sundiver" means you start from one end of the chain (either is fine) and recall the first, then the third, etc. "No loops" means: if there is anywhere in the contiguous chain of sundivers where the path could loop back on itself forever, CHAIN cannot be used on any of those sundivers.

CHANNEL — For each card you draw, spend one energy to gain one momentum.

CLUSTER — Twice this turn you may move all sundivers in a space as if they were a single sundiver. Clarification: These moves are entirely separate. In each, move all sundivers in that space to one other space, then continue movement as normal.

DUPLICATE — Double the number of sundivers you build this turn. Extra sundivers cost no energy.

FESTIVAL — Activate all types of stations in any order.

FUEL — Up to 3 times this turn, spend one energy to add 3 movement points.

HATCH — In one space a sundiver of yours shares with another sundiver, replace their sundiver with two from your reserve. Their sundiver returns to their hold.

HYPERDRIVE — If you move only one sundiver, double your movement points and gain one energy for every third space moved.

INVADE — Convert any station into your own by sacrificing 2 sundivers in its space (or 3 for towers). The previous owner receives that many sundivers from their reserve into their hold. If you don't have a station of that type available, you cannot invade another player's.

JUGGERNAUT — You may fly one of your stations as if it were a sundiver.

METAMORPHOSIS — After activating a station you own, change it to any other station type.

MOTIVATE — Immediately activate a station after converting it (do not draw extra cards).

PASSAGE — Choose one sundiver. For each unique gate it crosses this turn, gain one free momentum.

PILLAR — Before drawing this turn, choose a suit. For each instability card of that suit you draw, gain 3 free momentum.

PORTAL — Your sundivers may launch out of any mothership, and all spaces adjacent to motherships are adjacent to each other.

PROCREATE — Place one sundiver from your reserve into each space containing 2 or more of your sundivers.

PULSE — Activate all stations in inner and outer orbit, no sundivers required.

PUNCTURE — Move one sundiver through a barrier. Sacrifice the sundiver, and place a gate on the barrier where it moved through.

SACRIFICE — As your turn, vaporize all sundivers on one foundry. The owner of each sundiver receives 2 momentum for each of their own sundivers sacrificed.

SQUEEZE — Activate a station you own. If you draw a solar flare, you receive only the base reward and the station is destroyed. Otherwise, double the base and bonus.

SYNCHRONIZE — For each station you activate, gain one free momentum.

TELEPORT — Spend 3 movement points to move a sundiver to any space on the board.

TRANSCEND — Ignore barriers during movement.

TRIBUTE — For each sundiver on one of your stations, the owner of that sundiver gives you one energy.