Street Masters Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Modes of Play
  • Golden Rule
• Game Components
• Card Breakdowns
  • Fighter Character Cards
  • Fighter Card
  • Upgrade Cards
  • Boss Character Card
  • Enemy Minion Card
  • Stage Objective Card
• Game Setup
  • 1. Choose Fighters
  • 2. Choose Enemy Deck
  • 3. Choose Stage
  • 4. Setup Map
  • 5. Prepare Token Pools, Dice, and Loot Cards
  • 6. Deal Turn Cards
  • Your First Game
  • Playing & Resolving Cards
  • Map Tile Breakdown
  • Example Setup of a Two-Player Game
• Gameplay Overview
  • Winning and Losing
• Detailed Gameplay
  • 1. Fighter Turn
    • Exhausted Cards
    • A. Threat Phase
    • Threat Area
    • Enemy Cards
    • B. Act Phase
    • Blocked and Empty Spaces
    • Play Areas
    • Card Keywords
• Attacks and Damage
  • Suffering and Healing Damage
  • Defense Tokens & Blocking
  • Attacking & Dice
    • "Engaged With" and "Adjacent To"
  • Fighter Attack Procedure
• Dice
  • Fighter Dice
  • Enemy Dice
  • C. React Phase
• Activating Enemies
  • Moving, Advancing, & Retreating Enemies
    • Directions
    • "Retreat Toward"
    • "Nearest"
  • Enemy Attacks & Target Priority
  • Enemy Choices
  • D. Draw Phase
  • 2. Enemy Turn
  • 3. Stage Turn
    • Stage Conditions
• Objective Tokens and Objective Cards
  • Objective Items
  • Objective Characters
    • "Treated as a Fighter Figure"
• Additional Rules
  • Attaching Cards & Card Control
  • Attaching Cards to Enemies Without Cards
  • Character Cards & Figures
  • Crates & Loot Cards
  • Double-Sided Cards and Flipping Cards
  • Duplicate Characters
  • Immune
  • Reveal
  • Running Out of Cards in a Deck
  • Searching Decks
  • Ties
  • Unique Cards
  • Power and Charged Fighters
  • Custom Arcade Mode and Hyper Mode
• Story Mode
  • Story Card Breakdown
  • Beginning a Story
  • Setting Up a Story Stage
  • Winning and Losing a Story Stage
  • Completing a Story
  • Perks & Penalties
  • The Story Pool
• Hero Stories
  • Bonus Stages
• Allies & Rivals
  • Allies
  • Rivals
  • Using Allies & Rivals in Arcade Mode
  • Ally/Rival Arcade Mode Setup Rules
  • Mirror Rivals & Mirror Allies
• Credits

Overview

Street Masters is a cooperative board game for 1-4 players. Each player takes on the role of a unique fighter facing off against a villainous enemy faction led by a powerful boss. The object of the game is for the players to defeat the boss before the enemies' sinister plan comes to fruition. Players will also lose the game if any fighter is defeated.

Modes of Play

There are two main ways to play Street Masters. Arcade Mode is the core game, in which each player chooses a fighter to control, and the players collectively choose an enemy deck to face off against as well as a stage in which to battle.

Story Mode plays similarly to Arcade Mode, but is played across several game sessions, linking each game together to form a narrative campaign. All rules that govern Arcade Mode also apply to Story Mode, with a few exceptions that are detailed in the "Story Mode" section of this rulebook. All rules in this book up until the "Story Mode" section assume players are playing Arcade Mode.

Golden Rule

If any card effect contradicts a rule found in this rulebook, the card effect takes priority. If there is ever any conflict in card effect timing when several effects would resolve at the same time, priority goes to stage cards, then enemy cards, then fighter cards, in that order.

Game Components

• 65 Miniatures
• 8 Custom Dice (4 fighter dice and 4 enemy dice)
• 13 Snap-On Bases
• 4 Double-Sided Map Tiles
• 20 Loot Cards
• 108 Story Cards
• 6 Fighter Decks (25 cards per fighter, 150 cards total)
• 8 Stage Decks (21 cards per stage, 168 cards total)
• 12 Ally/Rival Cards
• 4 Enemy Decks (21 cards per enemy + 1 kingdom reference card, 85 cards total)
• 4 Turn Cards
• 243 Tokens
  • 81 damage tokens
  • 140 defense/power tokens
  • 5 crate tokens
  • 5 objective tokens
  • 12 ally/rival tokens

Card Breakdowns

Fighter Character Cards

1. Name of Fighter
2. Health Value: A fighter can suffer damage up to their health before being defeated.
3. Charge Value: This value indicates how much power a fighter needs before becoming "charged."
4. Damage Type Indicator: This is the type of damage dealt by the fighter when resolving their basic fighter action. If a fighter card does not have this damage type indicator, the damage type will be described by the action ability. The damage types are punch damage, kick damage, and grapple damage.
5. Basic Fighter Action: This is the action that is always available to the fighter.
6. Charged Icon: This icon indicates that the fighter is charged.
7. Charged Fighter Action: This is the signature action available to a fighter when they become charged.

Fighter character cards are double-sided, with a charging side and a charged side.

Fighter Card

1. Name of Card: This is the card's unique and thematic identifier.
2. Unique Icon: This icon indicates that the card is unique. When a unique card is in play, no other card of that name can be in play as well. If a unique card enters play while a copy of it is already in play, the card that was in play is discarded and the card that was just played stays in play.
3. Card Type: This trait indicates what type of card it is (Attack, Ability, or Tactic).
4. Traits: Any other traits listed here apply only to the deck to which the card belongs. These traits are referenced by other cards in the deck, making that trait unique to the deck.
5. Damage Type Indicator: This is the type of damage dealt by the card. Unless otherwise specified, all damage dealt by the card will be of this type (punch damage, kick damage, or grapple damage).
6. Textbox: This text defines what the card does. There will often be 1 or more keywords in the card effect.

Upgrade Cards

Upgrade cards are identified by gold borders and the upgrade icon in the top right corner of the card. These cards belong in the associated hero story deck and should not be shuffled into the fighter's standard deck.

Boss Character Card

1. Name of Boss
2. Health Value: A boss can suffer damage up to his/her health value before being defeated. The P next to a numerical value represents "per fighter." When the health value has a P next to it, multiply that value by the number of fighters in the game. Likewise, when a P appears in any game effect, it always represents the number of fighters in the game.
3. Affiliation: This indicates which faction the boss belongs to.
4. Attack Value: This indicates how many enemy dice are rolled when that card attacks.
5. Textbox: This outlines how that card functions in the game. Typically, a boss will have an Activate ability in the textbox, as well as any other rules that govern how the boss affects the game.

Enemy Minion Card

1. Name of Minion: Each enemy deck contains multiple copies of minions with the same name. Because these names are not unique, there can be multiple minions of the same name in play at the same time.
2. Color Indicator: This shows the correspondence between the card and the minion figure of the card's type with the matching color base.
3. Health Value: A minion can suffer damage up to its health value before being defeated.
4. Attack Value: A card's attack value indicates how many enemy dice are rolled when that card attacks.
5. Defense Value: When a minion enters play, that minion gains a certain number of 1 or more types of defense tokens.
6. Textbox: This outlines how that card functions in the game. Typically, a minion will have an Activate ability in the textbox, as well as any other rules that govern how the minion affects the game.

Stage Objective Card

1. Name of Objective
2. Type of Objective: There are 3 standard types of objectives: characters, items, and points. This trait indicates which type of objective this card represents.
3. Objective Icon: This icon indicates where the matching objective token is placed on the map, and identifies the corresponding objective token.
4. Color Indicator: When a miniature is optionally used to represent the objective, this indicator signifies that the chosen objective figure with the matching base corresponds to this card.
5. Textbox: This outlines how that card functions in the game. Typically, an objective will have an Activate ability in the textbox, as well as any other rules that govern how the objective affects the game.

Game Setup

To set up the game, players perform the following steps in order:

1. Choose Fighters

Each player chooses 1 fighter deck, locates the chosen fighter's double-sided character card in that deck, and places that card so the Charging symbol is faceup in their play area. Then, each player shuffles their fighter deck and places it facedown next to their fighter's character card, leaving room for a discard pile. Each player draws a starting hand of 4 cards and collects their fighter's figure. Each player may choose to perform one mulligan at this time by discarding any cards from their opening hand and drawing replacements, shuffling the discarded cards back in.

2. Choose Enemy Deck

The players collectively choose an enemy deck to play against. Locate the boss card and place it faceup in the enemy play area. Shuffle the enemy deck and place it facedown near the enemy play area, leaving room for a discard pile. Locate the figures for the chosen enemy deck and place them near the enemy play area. Place the colored bases on the enemy minions so that each minion figure of a specific type has a different colored base than any other figures of that type.

3. Choose Stage

The players collectively choose a stage deck and locate that stage's double-sided reference card. Place this card (Setup side up) in the stage play area and shuffle the stage deck, placing it facedown near the stage play area, leaving room for a discard pile.

4. Setup Map

Place the chosen stage's map tile (indicated by the stage's name in the corner of the map tile) in the middle of the table. Refer to the stage reference card for any special setup effects. After following the stage setup rules, flip the reference card over to its Stage Rules side. Then, place 1 crate token on each crate icon on the map. Place the boss' figure on the boss start space, and each fighter places their fighter figure on any fighter start space.

5. Prepare Token Pools, Dice, and Loot Cards

Create supply pools for the damage, defense, power, and objective tokens. Place all the dice within easy reach of all the players. Then, shuffle the loot cards into a deck and place it facedown near the board.

6. Deal Turn Cards

Each fighter takes 1 turn card, placing it near their play area so the "Fighter Turn" side is faceup.

Your First Game

New players should begin learning the game in Arcade Mode, choosing "The Brotherhood" enemy deck and the "Gone Ballistic" stage, and at least one fighter should choose the "Kyoryu" fighter deck. Learning the game single player is also recommended, but not required.

Playing & Resolving Cards

When cards are played (or drawn from the enemy or stage deck) and resolved, the player resolving the card resolves each ability on the card from top to bottom. Some card effects contradict the game rules presented in this rulebook; in these cases, card effects take precedent.

Map Tile Breakdown

• Stage Name: This indicates which stage deck corresponds with this map tile.
• Boss Start Space: This is where the boss figure is placed during stage setup.
• Fighter Start Space: Each fighter figure must be placed on 1 of these spaces during stage setup.
• Crate Spaces: During stage setup, 1 crate token is placed on each of these spaces.
• Objective Spaces: These spaces are typically where objective tokens will enter play. Objective tokens do not always start in play, and will enter play through various stage card effects.
• Entry Spaces: When a minion enters play, it always enters the map on the entry space nearest the fighter that drew that minion's card (or the empty space nearest that entry space).
• Stage Specific Icons: Many stages introduce unique icons that have specific rules. The effects of these icons are explained on the cards in the associated stage deck.

Example Setup of a Two-Player Game

Each fighter has a fighter play area (containing their character card, fighter deck, fighter discard, and turn card) and a fighter threat area, along with a starting hand. The enemy play area holds the boss card, enemy deck, and enemy discard, with the enemy figures nearby. The stage play area holds the stage reference card, stage deck, and stage discard. The map tile is placed in the middle of the table, with the token pools, loot cards, and dice within reach.

Gameplay Overview

Street Masters is played over a series of rounds, with each round consisting of the following turns completed in order:

1. Fighter Turns: Each fighter takes a turn.
2. Enemy Turn: After each fighter takes a turn, the players resolve the enemy turn.
3. Stage Turn: The players resolve the stage turn.

At the end of the round, players begin a new round with the first player's fighter turn. This continues until the players either win or lose.

Winning and Losing

The players win the game by defeating the boss. The players lose if a fighter is defeated or if a stage card effect causes them to lose.

Detailed Gameplay

1. Fighter Turn

During a single round, each fighter individually takes a fighter turn. The fighter currently taking a fighter turn is referred to as the "active fighter." A fighter turn must be fully resolved by the active fighter before the next fighter begins their fighter turn. Fighters may take turns in any order. Turn cards track which players have already taken a turn that round. A fighter turn consists of the following phases, resolved in order:

• A. Threat Phase: The active fighter refreshes each exhausted card in their fighter play area and then draws and resolves 1 enemy card. The active fighter does not refresh exhausted cards in their threat area during this phase.
• B. Act Phase: In any order, the active fighter may play 1 card, move up to 3 spaces, and perform 1 action.
• C. React Phase: From left to right, the active fighter activates each card in their threat area.
• D. Draw Phase: The active fighter draws 1 card from their fighter deck and then flips the turn card so that the "Fighter Turn" side is facedown, indicating that the active fighter has completed their turn for the round.

Exhausted Cards

Some effects cause cards to become exhausted. When a card is exhausted, it is tilted sideways 90 degrees to note that it is exhausted and cannot be exhausted again until it is readied (returned to normal).

If an enemy is exhausted, that enemy cannot activate. When it would activate, it instead readies and does not resolve its "Activate" keyword.

A. Threat Phase

At the start of the threat phase, the active fighter readies each exhausted card in their fighter play area. Then, the active fighter draws and resolves an enemy card. When an enemy card is drawn, that card's type determines how that card is resolved:

• When a character card (Boss or Minion) is drawn, the active fighter places that card in their threat area (to the right of the rightmost card) and locates the figure with the colored base that matches the card's color indicator (in the case of a minion). The figure is then placed on the empty entry space nearest the active fighter. If no empty entry spaces remain, place the enemy in an empty space adjacent to the nearest entry space. If it is a Minion, the active fighter places defense tokens according to the type and quantity indicated by the minion card's defense value.
• If an enemy Tactic or Gear card is drawn, it is placed in the enemy play area.
• If an enemy Event is drawn, the active fighter refers to the card text to resolve the card's effect. Typically, Event cards are discarded after the effect is resolved, unless they are played to a play area or threat area.

Threat Area

Each fighter has their own personal threat area (located directly above their fighter play area), where enemy and stage cards are typically placed. When a card enters a fighter's threat area, that card is always placed so that it is the rightmost card in the threat area. This order is important to keep track of which cards came into play in which order.

Enemy Cards

There are 4 main types of enemy cards: character (Boss and Minion), Tactic, Gear, and Event cards.

Enemy character cards are a special type of enemy card that have specific rules governing them. The 2 standard types of enemy character cards are boss and minion. If a minion card enters play outside of a player's threat phase, unless otherwise specified, the players choose which player's threat area that minion is placed in. When an enemy suffers damage equal to its health value, that enemy is defeated: its figure is removed from the map and its card is discarded to the enemy discard pile. The fighter that dealt the final damage resulting in the enemy's defeat draws 1 loot card.

While boss cards typically remain in the enemy play area, some special effects (such as enemy decks with multiple boss cards) will cause a boss card to enter play. When a boss card enters play, it is treated similarly to a minion card.

Tactic and Gear cards are played in the enemy play area (to the right of the rightmost card).

Event cards are typically resolved and discarded, unless that card's textbox indicates an area in which it is put into play.

B. Act Phase

During the act phase, the active fighter may perform each of the following steps in any order:

Move Step → Play Card Step → Action Step

The active fighter must fully resolve each step before beginning a different step. (e.g., a fighter cannot move 1 space during its move step, perform its action step, and then continue its move step.) Each step is optional.

Move Step

A fighter may move up to 3 spaces when performing a move step. This movement must be resolved all at once (i.e., the active fighter may not move 1 space, perform a different step, and then continue moving, unless a card effect allows it). When moving, a fighter may not move through blocked spaces and must end their movement in an empty space (containing no other figure). If a game effect would cause a fighter to stop moving, the fighter ends their movement in their current space (or nearest empty space) and loses any additional movement they have remaining from the current game effect; that fighter may move again if different game effect would allow them to move.

Any time a fighter is given the choice to move (either during a move step or from a card effect), that fighter may choose to move up to the number of spaces allowed by the effect; that fighter may also choose to not move at all. Forced movement effects (such as retreat or other effects that forcibly move fighters) indicate how the fighter should move, in which case the fighter must satisfy the entire movement cost, if able.

Play Card Step

The active fighter may play 1 card during the play card step. Attack and Ability cards are played, resolved, and then discarded. Tactic cards are played into the fighter play area and remain in play. When a card is played into a play area, it is always placed to the right of the card most recently played into that play area (i.e., the cards go oldest to newest, left to right). Some effects allow the active fighter to play additional cards. These effects occur outside of the normal play card step, unless a card effect specifies otherwise.

Blocked and Empty Spaces

Blocked Spaces: Some effects will cause spaces to be blocked. By default, a fighter treats each space containing an enemy figure as a blocked space. Likewise, minions treat each space containing a fighter as a blocked space. Bosses are not affected by blocked spaces, but must still end their movement in an empty space. Spaces that contain a figure that is not treated as a fighter or enemy (such as an objective) do not block spaces for other figures; however, such figures treat all spaces containing enemies or fighters as blocked.

If an effect targets a blocked space and provides no alternative effect if the space is blocked, the players should choose the empty space nearest the blocked space to be the target of the effect.

Empty Space: An empty space is a space that contains no figure.

Play Areas

There are 3 distinct types of play areas in the game: fighter play areas, the enemy play area, and the stage play area. A figure is considered to control each card in its play area.

Cards are kept in a row in each play area so that the leftmost card is the "oldest" card in that play area, and the rightmost card is the "newest." Any card that enters a play area is placed to the right of the rightmost card in that play area.

Action Step

During the action step of the active fighter's turn, they may perform 1 of the following actions:

• Defend Action: The active fighter gains 2 random defense tokens.
• Card Action: The active fighter may perform the Action effect on 1 of the cards in their fighter play area. Each action on a single card can only be performed once per turn, even if an effect would allow the fighter to perform additional actions or if that card leaves and enters play again during that turn.
• Sprint Action: This action allows the active fighter to move up to 3 spaces in addition to their normal move step.
• Interact Action: The active fighter may resolve the Interact effect on any card in play. Each interact on a single card can only be performed once per turn, even if an effect would allow the fighter to perform additional interacts or if that card leaves and enters play again during that turn.

Card Keywords

Some cards have 1 or more keywords, each one followed by a text effect. While there are some special keywords that are unique to specific decks, below are the standard keywords that may appear on various cards:

Action: This effect appears on fighter Tactic cards and can be resolved by the active fighter using the card action during the act step. Fighters may only resolve the Action keyword on cards that they personally control.

Activate: This effect instructs how a game element activates. When a player activates a card, that player resolves the text effect that follows that card's Activate keyword. If a card has the Activate (X) keyword (where "X" would be a card's current play area), that effect will only be resolved if the card is currently in the specified play area; otherwise, it is ignored.

Exhaust: Exhausting a card means to tilt it sideways 90 degrees to remind the players that it has been exhausted. This effect can be used at any point by the controlling fighter exhausting the card. A card that is exhausted cannot be exhausted again until it is readied. While an Exhaust effect can be used outside of a fighter's normal turn, it cannot be used to interrupt another card effect that has not fully resolved (unless an effect specifically says so). For example, a fighter cannot use an Exhaust effect after (but before completing) an enemy card's Activation effect. Exhaust effects can be used before or after resolving another card's effect. When another effect exhausts a card with an Exhaust effect, do not trigger its Exhaust effect.

Feint: This effect can be resolved at any time during the controlling fighter's turn. This is an optional effect that the fighter can choose to trigger, but after fully resolving the Feint effect, the associated card must be discarded from the fighter's play area. This effect is not triggered if the card is forcibly discarded or otherwise removed from play. The fighter must voluntarily discard the card during their turn in order to resolve this effect.

Attacks and Damage

During the act step, fighters will typically attack and deal damage. Fighters can deal damage to cards by performing the attacks listed in the effect text of cards. Fighter attacks are resolved by rolling a number of fighter dice indicated by the attack (appearing as dice icons on cards). Each attack deals a certain type of damage determined by the card providing the attack. The type of damage an attack deals is important because of defense tokens (gained by both enemies and fighters). Defense tokens can block (cancel) matching types of damage. Here are the different types of damage that can be dealt:

Attack Type	Description
Punch Damage	Punch damage can be blocked by punch defense tokens.
Kick Damage	Kick damage can be blocked by kick defense tokens.
Grapple Damage	Grapple damage can be blocked by grapple defense tokens.
General Damage	General damage can be blocked by any defense tokens. When a fighter deals general damage to enemies, that fighter may choose which defense tokens the enemy uses to block. General damage cannot be suffered by an enemy that still has any type of defense token. General damage is always applied to an attack last, after all other types of damage have been dealt.
Random Damage	When an enemy attacks, it deals random damage. To resolve an enemy attack, the target of the attack will roll enemy dice equal to the attacking enemy's attack value. Random damage usually results in more than 1 type of damage being dealt during an attack.
Direct Damage	Direct damage completely bypasses defense tokens. Only specific card effects can reduce direct damage; defense tokens cannot be used to block it.

When a damage type icon appears on a fighter card, any attack that card provides will deal the type of damage indicated by the icon. If no icon is present on a card, the textbox will indicate what type of damage is dealt.

Damage is both dealt and then potentially inflicted or suffered. Dealt damage can be blocked and reduced, but any damage that is not blocked or reduced is either inflicted or suffered. This concept is important because effects that will be triggered by figures actually suffering damage or inflicting damage will only trigger if that damage is not entirely blocked and/or reduced.

During an attack or an effect that deals damage, the timing of damage types is resolved by player choice. However, general damage is always applied last, after each different type of damage has been applied. Any effects that reduce or increase the amount of damage dealt are applied before damage is blocked.

Suffering and Healing Damage

Each time a figure suffers any amount of damage, an equal number of damage tokens are placed on that figure's card. If that figure has suffered damage equal to or in excess of its health value, that figure is defeated; its figure is removed from the board and its card is discarded. If a fighter is defeated, the fighters lose. If the boss is defeated, the fighters win.

Each time a figure heals any amount of damage, an equal amount of damage is removed from that figure's card.

Defense Tokens & Blocking

Blocking damage is an important term, and is defined by discarding 1 or more defense tokens of the appropriate type to cancel incoming damage.

Figures (both enemies and fighters) gain defense tokens through various game effects. Defense tokens come in 3 types, corresponding to the 3 main types of damage: punch, kick, and grapple. Defense tokens are spent to block incoming damage of a matching type. Fighters have the option to spend defense tokens to block incoming damage; however, enemies must spend defense tokens to block incoming damage—i.e., enemies cannot suffer damage of a certain type unless they have no defense tokens of that type remaining.

Each time a fighter blocks a point of damage, that fighter gains 1 power by flipping the appropriate defense token to its power side. This only applies to player-controlled fighters; tokens/miniatures that are "treated as fighters" do not gain power this way unless allowed by a specific card effect. Some effects will cause a fighter to lose a defense token which they just used to block damage. In these cases, the player should gain 1 power token from the supply for each defense token they are unable to flip from such effects.

Attacking & Dice

Typically, when a figure attacks, it must choose a figure engaged with it to be the target of the attack. Unless a card effect specifies, a figure may only attack engaged targets, and if the figure is unengaged, it is not able to attack. If a card effect indicates a specific target of an attack, the attacking figure does not need to be engaged. For example, if an enemy card instructs the enemy to attack the nearest fighter or each fighter, the enemy will attack even when unengaged. After rolling dice for the attack, the resulting damage is dealt to the target, and that target has the opportunity to block (or reduce) some or all of that damage. Any remaining damage is inflicted on the target (who in turn suffers that damage), placing that amount of damage on the figure's corresponding character card.

Some attacks target multiple targets. Unless otherwise specified, each single attack uses a single die roll that affects all targets. Multiple attacks use multiple die rolls. When a single fighter attack targets more than one figure, the attacking fighter will only resolve each guard effect once total (not once for each target).

"Engaged With" and "Adjacent To"

A figure is engaged with each figure it is adjacent to. In some instances, the terms "engaged with" and "adjacent to" are interchangeable. However, some effects will target the current state of a figure. In this case, the term "engaged" is used to signify that the target figure is adjacent to 1 or more opponents. Enemies treat fighters as opponents and vice versa. The term "adjacent to" is more broad, referring to any game component or space being next to another game component or space.

Fighter Attack Procedure

For each attack they perform, the attacking fighter resolves these steps in the following order:

1. Choose Target: The attacking fighter chooses an enemy engaged with them to be the target of the attack. If the attack targets multiple enemies, all target choices are made now.
2. Gather Dice: The attacking fighter gathers a number of dice indicated by the attack. If a game effect would add or subtract dice from the attack, resolve those effects now.
3. Roll & Resolve: The attacking fighter rolls the gathered fighter dice, resolving each critical result first, followed by all remaining success results (see "Fighter Dice").
4. Gain Defense Tokens: After all damage has been dealt, the active fighter gains defense tokens provided by any guard results.

Dice

Fighter Dice

When attacking, fighters roll a number of dice indicated by the number of dice icons on the card that provides the attack. The dice generate the following results:

• Success: A success result generates 1 damage. The type of damage is dictated by the card that provided the attack.
• Guard: For each guard result, the active fighter gains 1 defense token after fully resolving the attack. The type of defense token gained matches the type of damage dealt. If the attack deals only general or direct damage, the fighter may choose which type of defense token to gain.
• Success/Guard: A success/guard result provides 1 success and 1 guard.
• Critical: A critical result provides 1 success and allows the attacking fighter to roll an additional die, adding that result to the attack. There is no limit to the number of critical results that can be resolved during a single attack.

Enemy Dice

The enemy dice are used when enemies attack. For each result, the attacking enemy deals 1 damage of the corresponding type. Enemy dice are also used to generate random defense tokens. The enemy die faces are punch, kick, and grapple.

C. React Phase

During their react phase, the active fighter activates each card in their threat area, from left to right, by resolving its Activate effect. When an exhausted card in the active fighter's threat area would be activated, the active fighter readies that card instead of activating it; exhausted cards do not activate during a react phase in which they readied.

Activating Enemies

Moving, Advancing, & Retreating Enemies

When an enemy figure is moved by a card effect, it either moves, advances, or retreats. Moving is a general term used when an enemy moves regardless of its current position. Enemies may move through spaces containing other enemies, but not fighters. Bosses, however, can move through any space, no matter what figure is in that space. All enemies must end their movement in an empty space. Enemies will only end their movement in an entry space if that is the only valid space in which to end their movement.

When a game effect moves an enemy, the effect will indicate what that enemy is moving toward (typically an inactive objective or another figure). Enemies will always take the shortest path to their destination and will move up to their full movement until they reach their destination. In the case of multiple paths that are equidistant to the enemy's destination, players choose which path the enemy takes. However, enemies will avoid ending their movement engaged with a fighter unless there are no other valid spaces in which the enemy can end its movement.

• Advancing is the term used when an enemy moves toward a fighter to become engaged. When advancing, an enemy will follow the shortest path in the fewest directions possible so that each space it moves into is directly closer to the target it is advancing toward. An enemy that is already engaged with a fighter does not move when it is instructed to advance, even if it is instructed to advance toward a different figure. If an enemy becomes engaged while advancing toward a destination, it will not stop advancing unless it is engaged with the target it began its advancement toward.
• Retreating is the term used when an enemy moves away from a fighter to become unengaged. When retreating, an enemy will move in a single direction (the opposite direction from the engaged fighter) so that each space it moves into is directly farther away from an engaged fighter. In the case of multiple engaged fighters, the players collectively choose which fighter from which the enemy can retreat the most spaces. An enemy that is already unengaged does not move when it is instructed to retreat. Retreating enemies cannot move through spaces occupied by figures; this includes bosses.

Directions

There are 6 different directions in the game, determined by the lines between each hex on the map. If there is ever confusion about a direction that the enemy should go, players will mutually decide what direction most benefits the enemy, and use that direction.

Enemy Advancing: Advancing enemies will always try to use the fewest number of DIFFERENT directions when it moves.

Enemy Retreating: Retreating enemies will only ever use one direction.

"Retreat Toward"

When an enemy is instructed to retreat toward a destination, this type of retreat modifies the standard rules for retreat. Instead of retreating directly away from an engaged fighter, an enemy that is retreating toward a destination will attempt to retreat into a space that is both further away from an engaged fighter and closer to the destination that it is retreating toward. If it cannot fulfill both conditions, the retreat is not resolved.

If an effect causes an enemy to retreat toward a target (such as an inactive objective) and no valid target is in play, treat this effect as a normal retreat.

"Nearest"

When an enemy activation effect refers to the nearest target (fighter, objective, etc.) this implies the nearest eligible target following the most eligible path. If the target nearest the activating enemy is for any reason inaccessible (an objective in the same space as a fighter, an objective in a blocked space, etc.), the enemy will ignore that target for the activation and move toward the nearest eligible target that it could eventually reach using the quickest path and the least number of directions. If all objectives are inaccessible for any reason (such as fighters occupying their spaces, for example), then the enemy will target the nearest objective space occupied by a fighter.

Enemy Attacks & Target Priority

When an enemy attacks, that enemy will automatically target an engaged fighter. If more than 1 fighter is engaged to an attacking enemy and none are directly targeted by the attack, the players collectively choose which fighter becomes the target of the attack. Unless otherwise specified, all enemies deal random damage when they attack.

To resolve an enemy attack, the target of the enemy attack rolls dice equal to the attacking enemy's attack value. Each die will deal 1 damage of the type matching the result. The target of the attack has the opportunity to block this damage; otherwise, that target suffers each unblocked result as a point of damage.

Enemy Choices

When an enemy figure is forced to make a choice (such as discard a defense token) in order to avoid a penalty (such as dropping an objective), the enemy will always choose to suffer any penalty before dropping or otherwise losing an objective. If the enemy has multiple choices (such as discarding 1 of several defense tokens of various types), the players collectively make the choice for the enemy. For a more challenging experience, players are encouraged to make these types of decisions in a way that most benefits the enemies.

D. Draw Phase

The final phase of a fighter's turn consists of the active fighter drawing 1 card from their fighter deck and then flipping their turn card to signify that they have taken a turn this round.

2. Enemy Turn

The enemy turn consists of the players collectively activating each card in the enemy play area by resolving the Activate effect of each card (from left to right). Remember that the boss' character card begins play in the enemy play area, so there will be at least 1 card to activate during each enemy turn.

3. Stage Turn

The stage turn consists of the players collectively resolving each of the following phases in order:

1. Stage Activation Phase: The players activate each card in the stage area by resolving the Activate ability of each card (left to right) in the stage play area.
2. Stage Draw Phase: The players draw and resolve 1 card from the stage deck. Event cards are resolved and discarded, unless otherwise specified on the card. See below for resolving Objective cards.
3. Stage End Phase: Each player flips their turn card so that the "Fighter Turn" side is faceup, and then play continues to the next round.

Stage Conditions

Some stage cards have the Stage Condition trait. These are a unique type of card that cannot leave play except through stage card effects.

Objective Tokens and Objective Cards

Each stage deck contains 1 or more objective cards. Each objective card corresponds to an objective token. Objective tokens have 2 sides (active and inactive) and a unique symbol on them that match certain spaces on the map.

When an objective card is drawn from the stage deck (or otherwise put into play), the players place the objective card in the stage play area and place the matching objective token (inactive side up) on the matching objective space on the map. Unless otherwise specified, when objective cards are discarded they are returned to the stage play area. For example, when a figure loses control of an objective, its card is returned to the stage play area and the token is dropped (see Objective Items below).

Objectives can represent various things, such as items, characters, or points.

Objective Items

When an objective token corresponds to an Item card, its inactive side indicates that it is on the map and can be picked up. While an objective token is on a figure's card, its active side indicates that the figure corresponding to that card is carrying it (also represented by the matching objective card moving to the carrying figure's play area).

Inactive item objective tokens can be picked up through different stage effects. Unless otherwise stated, item objective tokens do not block spaces and may be treated as empty spaces. When a figure picks up an item objective token, that token is placed active side up on the figure's card and the matching objective card is put into that figure's play area. If a minion would pick up an objective, that objective's card is attached to the minion while that minion carries it.

When an item objective token is dropped, that token is placed inactive side up in the nearest empty space adjacent to the figure that dropped it (players break ties), and then its corresponding card is returned to the stage play area. Unless an objective token is treated as a figure, there is no limit to the number of objective tokens that can be in a single space.

Objective Characters

When an objective token corresponds to a Character card, that token is treated as a figure. Stage effects may indicate that this figure is treated as a fighter or an enemy figure; if not, the figure is treated as neither. The stage play area is the designated play area for each objective character figure.

If a character objective has a health value, it can be defeated like a fighter or enemy figure. A character objective being defeated has no inherent effect unless a stage effect refers to it. A character objective with an attack value will deal random damage, unless otherwise specified. A character objective can gain defense tokens, unless otherwise specified, and will use these defense tokens to block as much damage as it can during each attack targeting it (similar to enemies).

Some stage effects may allow character objectives to be picked up. In these cases, follow the same rules as picking up/dropping item objectives.

"Treated as a Fighter Figure"

Typically when a non-player controlled element is treated as a fighter figure (such as an objective or ally), that game element will be targeted by the same effects that target player-controlled fighter figures, such as enemy movement and attacks. However, there are more complex card effects that target "all fighters" or "each fighter" that would not target non-player controlled fighters. For example, any effect that would cause players to make a choice or suffer a penalty, those effects exclusively target player-controlled fighters. Due to the modular nature of the game, there may be some ambiguities in these situations, but players can use their best judgement when agreeing on how to resolve these effects. As a rule of thumb, if an effect requires a fighter to choose, discard cards/tokens, or suffer a penalty that only a player-controlled fighter could have prevented, that effect would not target game elements that are treated as fighter figures.

Additional Rules

Attaching Cards & Card Control

Some cards attach to other cards. When a card attaches to another card, place the card being attached underneath the card it is attached to, so the player can still either see the title of the card or the textbox (whichever is easier for the players to reference). When a card is removed from play, the attached card is also removed; both cards are discarded to their respective discard piles.

Some card effects target cards controlled by players or by enemies. A player controls each card in their fighter play area. An enemy controls each card attached to it or, in the case of a boss, in the enemy play area. Any time a figure discards an objective card it controls, that objective is instead dropped.

Attaching Cards to Enemies Without Cards

Some enemies do not have cards, or have a single reference card for each enemy within that group. When a card is attached to an enemy like this, players should set the card aside for reference and place a token to mark which enemy figure/token the card affects. When that figure is defeated or leaves play, the attached card is discarded as usual.

Character Cards & Figures

Each figure in the game has a corresponding card. Fighter figures correspond to the character card from that fighter's deck. Boss figures correspond to the Boss card from the matching enemy deck.

Each enemy figure's colored base corresponds to the Minion card with the matching figure color indicator on it. When a Minion is defeated, it's corresponding character card is discarded and the figure is removed from the map; the fighter that dealt the last point of damage to the defeated minion draws 1 loot card.

Character cards cannot be discarded from play unless they are defeated, either by a card effect or by suffering damage equal to or exceeding their health value.

Crates & Loot Cards

A crate token is placed in each crate space on the stage board during setup. The first time a fighter enters a space containing a crate token, that token is immediately discarded and that fighter draws one loot card. This may interrupt the fighter's movement, but does not prevent the fighter from continuing their movement.

Each time a fighter defeats a minion, that fighter immediately draws 1 loot card.

Loot cards represent minor items that fighters can discover during the game. When gained, loot cards are placed near your play area, but are not part of any specific play area. Each loot card has specific instructions on how that card can be used. A fighter may use the effects of a loot card at any time during their act phase, unless the card itself specifically instructs when it may be used. If the loot deck is ever out of cards, reshuffle the loot discard pile to create a new loot deck. Only player-controlled fighters may gain loot cards; tokens/miniatures that are "treated as fighters" do not gain loot cards and do not interact with crate tokens unless a specific card effect allows.

Double-Sided Cards and Flipping Cards

Unless otherwise stated, when a double-sided card is flipped, it retains all tokens currently on it. In addition, a single card may only be activated once per turn, even if flipping it reveals a new Activation effect.

Duplicate Characters

In situations where you have multiple bosses or fighters that share the same name, note that card effects that target specific characters by name will only affect the figure whose deck the card belongs to. For example, if you have a hero version of "Shadow" fighting the boss version of "Shadow," each enemy card that affects Shadow would only affect the boss.

Immune

When an ability causes a figure to be immune to a type of damage (such as direct damage), that figure completely ignores that damage (treating it as if it were 0). For example, if a figure is immune to direct damage, that figure may still be chosen as the target of direct damage, but does not suffer any actual damage. Since it would be treated as 0, a figure that is immune to a type of damage does not have to block any incoming damage of that type.

Reveal

Some effects will instruct players to reveal cards. When a card is revealed from a deck, it is revealed for all players to see. Unless otherwise specified, this card is then returned to the top of the respective deck. When a card is revealed from a player's hand, that card is shown to all players, and then, unless otherwise specified, that card is returned to its owner's hand.

It is important to note that while a card is revealed from a player's hand, it is not part of that player's hand while it is revealed. This is an important distinction. Additionally, a card that is already in play cannot be revealed.

Running Out of Cards in a Deck

At any time, if a player must draw a card from any deck and no cards remain, shuffle that deck's discard pile to create a new deck and draw the required card.

Searching Decks

Any time a game effects allows or instructs a player to search a deck, that player must then shuffle the searched deck unless specifically instructed not to.

Ties

Whenever there is a conflict that results in a tie, players should always mutually resolve the tie as the group sees fit.

Unique Cards

A unique icon indicates that the card is unique. When a unique card is in play, no other card of that name can be in play as well. If a unique card enters play while a copy of it is already in play, the card that was in play is discarded and the card that was just played stays in play.

Power and Charged Fighters

Each time a fighter successfully blocks a damage, that fighter gains 1 power token and places it on their fighter's character card. When a fighter has a number of power tokens on their character card equal to or exceeding that fighter's charge value, immediately discard a number of power tokens equal to the charge value and flip that fighter's character card to its charged side. That fighter is now considered to be "Charged" and has additional abilities. Fighters can retain any extra power they have when they become charged. If, after flipping back to their charging side, a fighter has enough energy to become charged again, immediately resolve that effect.

Example: because Kyoryu has 6 power tokens, the player must spend 6 power to transform him into his "Charged version".

Custom Arcade Mode and Hyper Mode

When playing with the Custom Arcade Mode variant, players may choose to customize their chosen fighter's decks using that fighter's upgrade cards found in their hero story deck. Players may choose to replace 1 copy of each of their fighter's unique cards with a copy of its upgraded version, or the players can choose to play Hyper Mode and simply add all upgrade cards to their fighter deck.

Story Mode

A story in Street Masters is a series of several narratively linked stages that a fixed group of fighters play through. Each story is guided by a story deck that contains story stage cards, perk/penalty cards, and other supplemental cards that could come into play during the story. The following parameters apply to all stories:

• The group chooses a single story deck to play through. To avoid confusion and potential tracking issues, players should only have 1 story active at a time (this does not include "Hero Stories," of which there can be 1 active per fighter).
• Once players have chosen fighters for a story, players must use the same fighters for each stage of that story.
• Cards that are added to the story pool are put into play at the start of each stage of that story. See "The Story Pool" sidebar for more details on the story pool.

Story Card Breakdown

1. Name of Story: This is the unique name given to a story, and each card in that story will have this name at the top.
2. Type of Story: Story deck is the standard type of story, but additional types of story decks (such as Hero Stories) will be identified here.
3. Prologue: The front of each story card will have a prologue side which is to be read before starting that part of the story.
4. Setup: The bottom portion of the story card details how the stage should be setup and any special rules that apply.
5. Win Result: The top half of the epilogue side of a story card details what happens if the fighters succeeded the story's stage (not necessarily won).
6. Lose Result: The bottom half of the epilogue side of a story card details what happens if the fighters failed the story's stage (not necessarily lost).
7. Epilogue: The back of each story card will have an epilogue side that is resolved at the end of the stage.

Beginning a Story

To begin a story, the group, prior to standard game setup, chooses 1 story deck to be the active story. Refer to the "Prologue" side of that story deck's "Part 1" card and read the narrative out loud for all players. Then, begin setting up the first story stage.

Setting Up a Story Stage

Refer to the Stage Setup card to see if a specific enemy deck or stage deck is required for the first story stage, and choose that combination for game setup. Additionally, some setup effects will introduce new cards to the stage, such as perk, penalty, rival, or ally cards. These concepts are explained later.

After resolving the Stage Setup effect of the current story stage card, the players put all cards from the story pool into play. Each card in the story pool has a unique way it interacts with the game. See "The Story Pool" sidebar for more information.

Winning and Losing a Story Stage

Unless otherwise noted, all victory and defeat conditions apply to story stages. Some story stages will introduce new victory and/or defeat conditions, and these should be adhered to as presented. After determining the outcome of the stage, the current story stage card is flipped to its "Epilogue" side and the players read aloud the narrative and resolution effects that apply to the outcome of the scenario.

Completing a Story

Players continue advancing through a story after each stage until a specific story effect instructs the players to complete the story. This effect will also instruct the players whether they won or lost the story. Ultimate victory or defeat is usually based on a variety of elements, including whether or not the fighters won the final stage.

Perks & Penalties

During setup, each fighter removes each perk card they have gained from the story pool and puts it into play in their fighter play area. Similarly, each fighter removes each penalty card they have gained from the story pool and puts it in their threat area. As usual, follow any Setup effects on these cards.

If a perk or penalty card was added to the story pool without a particular fighter gaining it, that card was gained by the group. In the case of these cards, the fighters can choose which fighter play area or threat area to put the card into.

Perk and penalty cards cannot leave play except through an effect on the card itself. If a perk or penalty card is discarded by a card effect, remove that story card from the game unless otherwise specified; the card will still remain in the story pool unless otherwise specified.

The Story Pool

The group will accumulate cards during the course of the story, and these cards are kept in a collection called the "story pool." The group uses a shared story pool, but it should be noted or remembered which fighter earned which card in the story pool. Cards in the story pool that were not earned by an individual fighter are considered to have been earned by the group. When starting a new story stage, each card in the story pool is put into play. Most cards instruct players how to put that card into play, but the following guidelines explain how each card type is added to play from the story pool:

• Perk/Penalty card: If the Perk or Penalty card belongs to a specific fighter's "Hero Story" deck, that fighter will put the card in either their threat area (penalty card) or fighter play area (Perk card).
• Rival card: Rival cards in the story pool are placed in the threat area of the fighter who gained that card. If no specific fighter gained that rival, the players may choose which fighter puts it in their threat area. The corresponding rival token is placed in the empty space adjacent to the boss; if no empty space adjacent to the boss, use the empty space nearest the boss.
• Ally card: Ally cards in the story pool are placed in the fighter play area of the fighter who gained that card. If no specific fighter gained that ally, the players may choose which fighter puts it in their threat area. That player places the corresponding ally token in an empty space adjacent to their fighter. If no empty space is adjacent to their fighter, use the empty space nearest their fighter.
• Fighter Upgrade Card: Each fighter upgrade card can be added to its corresponding fighter's deck, replacing a card of the same name. Each card removed from a fighter's deck this way is placed aside during the stage and then returned to the deck at the end of the stage.
• Enemy Upgrade Card: Each enemy upgrade card is added to the corresponding enemy's deck, replacing a card of the same name. Each card removed from an enemy's deck this way is placed aside during the stage and then returned to the deck at the end of the stage. If the enemy deck associated with an enemy upgrade card is not in play, the enemy upgrade card remains in the story pool.

Hero Stories

Hero stories function very similarly to regular stories, with the exception that each fighter can undertake their own hero story within any regular story. Most hero story stage cards do not dictate specific stage/enemy combination requirements, meaning several hero story stage cards can be resolved during a single stage of the main story.

Bonus Stages

Each hero story stage card that has the Bonus Stage keyword introduces a supplementary stage to the main story. When preparing to set up the next stage in a story, the players may mutually agree to undertake a bonus stage from a single fighter's hero story card. When undertaking a bonus stage, refer to that story stage card's setup rules to determine which stage deck and which enemy deck to use for that story stage. This information is presented as the following effect on a story card:

Bonus Stage (NAME OF STAGE): NAME OF ENEMY DECK

If a bonus stage story card is not undertaken, it is set aside and the players do not resolve that card until its stage is undertaken. It is possible to advance the main story without undertaking any bonus stages, but doing so means the hero story that bonus stage belongs to cannot advance until the players undertake that bonus stage. If the main story is completed while there are unresolved bonus stages, those corresponding hero stories remain unresolved as well.

Allies & Rivals

While rivals and allies are treated differently, both types of characters share the following rules:

• Rivals and allies are figures that block spaces and use enemy dice to attack.
• Rivals and allies have health values, and when they suffer damage up to or exceeding their health value they are defeated.
• When a rival or ally is defeated, they are removed from the game (but remain in the story pool during a story, unless a specific effect removes them from the story pool).
• If a story effect would add a rival/ally to the story pool when that character's ally/rival version is in the story pool, that character's ally/rival version is removed and replaced with the rival/ally version.
• If a story effect would add a rival/ally to the story pool when that character's rival/ally version is already in the story pool, ignore that effect.
• When an ally or rival enters play, they gain defense tokens according to the type and quantity listed on their card.
• Each time an ally would gain a loot card, the controlling fighter gains that loot instead. Any time a card effect would grant an ally an additional die for an attack, instead increase that ally's attack value by 1 for each such effect.

Allies

Allies are characters that assist the fighters during the game. Allies are treated as non-player-controlled fighters, meaning enemies will target them as if they were fighters. Since they are not player-controlled fighters, allies do not gain power when blocking attacks, do not interact with crate tokens, cannot draw cards, and cannot gain loot cards.

Rivals

Rivals are enemy figures that hinder the fighters during the game. Rivals are treated as enemy figures that activate during the react phase of the fighter whose threat area its card occupies. When a rival is defeated, the fighter that defeated it draws a loot card.

Using Allies & Rivals in Arcade Mode

When players choose to use 1 or more allies and/or rivals in arcade mode, each fighter can choose up to 1 ally and 1 rival to include in the game. The same rules apply to allies and rivals whether they are in story mode or arcade mode.

Ally/Rival Arcade Mode Setup Rules

After standard setup, each fighter that chose an ally to include in the game places that ally's card in their fighter play area and places its corresponding token in an empty space adjacent to their fighter. Similarly, each fighter that chose a rival to include in the game places that rival's card in their threat area and places its corresponding token in an empty space adjacent to the boss start space.

Mirror Rivals & Mirror Allies

When using either a rival or ally that shares a name with another character in play, that rival or ally is referred to as a "Mirror Rival" or "Mirror Ally." Mirror Rivals and Mirror Allies are unaffected by specific card effects that refer to that character by name. For example, if an ally version of "Drago" is in play while the Brotherhood enemy deck is in play, any Brotherhood card that refers to "Drago" figures in play will not affect an ally or rival version of "Drago."

Likewise, when a Mirror Rival/Ally card effect targets itself by name, any other named characters in play are not affected by that effect.

Credits

Publisher: Blacklist Games, LLC

Game Design & Development: Adam and Brady Sadler

Producer: Max Lei

Graphic Design: Chris Doughman

Writing & Story Development: Nicholas Kory

Editing: Sarah Sadler

Art Director: Max Lei

Art: The Creation Studio

Sculptors: Jin Wei, Jin Villa, Icarus Miniatures

Game Development & Playtest Lead: Mitch Schroeder

Playtesters: David Schneider, Jeff Russell, Nikki Flores, Alex Faurote, Dan Ormond, Andrew Cleverley, Matthieu Oricelli, Brian Bergdall, Scottie Mick, Joey Brogan, Sam Migues, Mitchell Gibson, Michel-Alexandre Larré, Koa Gasper, Allyssa Perry, Etienne Bonnaud, Justin McNeil, Kendra McNeil, Dustin Savage

©2017 Blacklist Games, LLC. Blacklist Games, the Blacklist Games logo, Street Masters, and the Street Masters logo are registered trademarks of their respective owner. All rights reserved.