Starligned
Starligned Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 90 star cards
- 15 moon cards
- 5 orientation cards, including 1 starting player card
Goal of the Game
Get the most points by capturing the most beautiful starry sky. You do this by playing a row of ten star cards, using their effects cleverly and passing cards tactically.
The Star Cards
There are five constellations that you can find. Each card is divided into two halves, the highest value half has a full version of the constellation and the lowest value half has an incomplete version of the constellation. The star cards also have effects that you can use to sabotage other players' telescopes, and possibly turn over star cards.
Short Game Overview
Labels on the example illustrations: Active card value & effect; 4 player icon; Moon; Card value & effect when the card is rotated; This orientation card indicates who the starting player is; A starting hand consists of 6 playing cards and 1 orientation card with the arrow pointing upwards.
Setup
- Place the moon cards within reach of all players.
- Give each player an orientation card (Put any remaining orientation cards back in the box and make sure the starting player card is always in play). The players take the orientation card in their hand.
- Take the star cards. With 4 or 5 players, take the entire deck. With 2 or 3 players, only take the cards where the star in the middle of the card is red. Then put the remaining star cards with white stars back in the box.
- Shuffle the star cards and form a draw pile. Give each player six cards from the draw pile. Players may look at their own cards, but not show them to others. These hand cards are also called a player's telescope. Put the remaining draw pile aside for now.
Note: as soon as you receive your hand cards, you may no longer turn or rotate them without using an effect.
Playing a Round
The game is played in two stages of five rounds. Each round consists of the following four phases:
- Play card face down
- Turn cards face up and apply stop effect
- Perform moon bonus and effects
- Rotate card and pass hand
The players go in search of the most beautiful constellations. In total, the players will look through their telescope ten times and place ten star cards in a row on the table. Each round, all players play a card at the same time to connect it to their row. The effects of these played cards are also activated. Then each player rotates one card in their telescope and then passes the entire telescope, including orientation card, to the player to their left. The next cards that are to be played are always placed to the right of the last card played. This is repeated until the game is over.
Whoever has spotted the most beautiful constellations wins the game.
Phase 1: Play Card Face Down
All players look at their telescope and simultaneously play one star card face down from their hand. Make sure that the orientation of your card does not change. If this is not your first card, then place your card to the right of your last played card.
Phase 2: Turn Cards Face Up and Apply Stop Effect
All players now turn their played card face up. If the stop effect has been played, we skip phase 3 (see Explanation of effects).
Phase 3: Moon Bonus and Carry Out Effects
Starting with the starting player (this is indicated on the orientation card) and then in clockwise order, the players receive a moon bonus if necessary and then the effect of the star card played is carried out.
Moon bonus: If it is your turn and your last two played cards form a full moon in the middle, you will receive a moon bonus. You may do one of the following two things:
- Place a moon card over the last two played cards. These are now blocked and cannot be adjusted as long as the moon card is there.
- Remove a moon card from an opponent's row. The moon card goes to the general supply.
Perform an effect: After you have applied a possible moon bonus, you perform your effect. You must always (if possible) perform the effect. The effect you perform is the effect at the top of your card, not the effect at the bottom of your card.
Please note: it is possible that your last card has been swapped due to the effect of another player. When it is your turn, you perform the effect of your 'new' last card.
Phase 4: Rotate Card and Pass Hand
Each player chooses one star card from their own telescope and rotates it. Then everyone passes the telescope, together with the orientation card, to the left. When receiving the cards, the orientation card indicates how the cards should be held (the orientation card always points upwards).
Rotating a card means turning it so that the other value is on top.
End of the Stage and the Game
If the players have only two star cards left in their telescope, the players may now play one more star card. Phase 4 is skipped and the last card is discarded. After this first stage, all players are again dealt six star cards from the draw pile. The played star cards remain on the table. Now continue with Phase 1. The second stage ends in the same way as the first stage. When the second stage is over, the players have ten star cards on the table. The game is now over and we count the points.
Scoring
Add up your points (at the top of your star cards) from right to left. Take into account the effects 'x2' and 'x0'. The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most moon cards wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most unique constellations found wins (no matter what value). If there is still a tie, the players share the win.
Scoring example: We calculate from right to left: 6 + 9 + (2×1) + (0×10) + 5 + 2 + 4 + 7 + (2×10) + 6 = 61 points
Effects Overview
Blocked cards: When we talk about blocked cards, we mean cards that have a moon card on them.
Phase 2 Effects
Stop effect: stop all effects that have been played. Skip phase 3. If multiple players play this effect, they will not affect each other.
Phase 3 Effects
Swap: choose two unblocked star cards from a player's row (you may also choose yourself) and swap their places. You may also choose the card that was just played.
Move: move this card to a place of your choice in your own row. You may not split up blocked star cards.
Rotate star card: rotate an unblocked played star card from a player's row (you may also choose yourself). You cannot rotate this card.
Rotate telescope: rotate all star cards in a player's hand (you can also choose yourself). This player must still rotate a star card in Phase 4.
Repeat: choose an active effect of a star card on the table. The owner of this effect must now perform this effect again. You can only choose Phase 3 effects.
Exchange: choose an unblocked star card from a player's row (you may also choose yourself). The owner of the row exchanges this star card with a star card from their hand. Phase 3 effects of the new star card are ignored.
End Score Effects
x2: The points of the star card to the left of this star card are doubled in the final score.
x0: Ignore the star card to the left of this star card in the final score.