Takyon
Takyon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 80 technology tokens: 14 religious, 14 politicals, 12 culturals, 14 military, 12 scientific, 8 enviromentals, 6 future
- 5 scoring markers (one of each color: yellow, green, red, blue and purple)
- 5 player boards (one of each color: yellow, green, red, blue and purple)
- 36 Mission cards
- 24 Anomalies cards
- 10 Paradoxes tokens: 1 marker token of paradoxes minor, 9 major paradoxes tokens
- 1 Main board
- 1 die of 6 faces
- 40 tachyons fuel
- 5 time machines (one of each color)
- 5 time agents (one of each color)
- 3 time markers: 1 Seasons marker, 1 Eras marker, 1 Mission marker
Setup
Prepare the continuum
- Each player takes a player board (A) and all the pieces of the chosen color. Everyone places the scoring marker (B) in the "0" square in the scoring track and their Time Machine (C) in Nova Terra. Time Agent's (D) are kept on the player board for the time being.
- Each player takes 5 Tachyon fuel (E) pieces. The remaining Tachyons (F) are placed next to the main board within reach.
- Place the Future Techs near Nova Terra. Draw three and place them in the slots in Nova Terra (G).
- Place all the Environmental Research Techs in a pile on the slot in Antarctica (H).
- Place all remaining Techs (I) face down and shuffled next to the main board. Now, draw one random Tech and place it face-up in the Tech Slots on each continent (J). You should start the game with 15 face-up Techs on the board, three for each continent.
- Shuffle and place the Mission Cards (K) face-down in VONI's Mission Console. Shuffle the Anomalies Card (L) and place them like this: 10 on a deck face down next to the board, then 4 face-up, then another deck of 10 face-down cards.
- Place the time markers in the "Environmental Crisis Era", in "Summer" and in the "12" square of the mission's track (M).
- Place the minor paradox marker in the initial position of the Minor Paradoxes track within the Paradox Agency. Place the die in the slot in the Paradox agency marked for it (N).
Choose the initial player (it could be the one to most recently view a time travel movie). Now, each player in turn order will do the following:
- Take two mission cards, choose one and discard the other on a discard pile.
- Place their Time Agent in the octogonal "Landing Zone" of an unoccupied continent. This agent will only move between continents.
Game objective
How the game ends and how to win
Players will try to complete missions that will change the history and will clean paradoxes to acquire the most prestige points. To accomplish this, they will alter Earth's history by taking religious, military, political, scientific, cultural, environmental and future technologies (Techs) and bringing them to other points in space and time to modify the course of history.
After completing 12 missions, the game will end and the player with the most points will be declared the winner.
But beware! If 3 continents are permanently locked because of too many paradoxes, or players can only travel to Antarctica, all players will immediately lose.
Missions
Core of the Game
In Takyon your goal is to take Technologies from one Era, to a different Era and Continent. Take helicopters to hunt for dinosaurs or teach Pastafarianism to Leonardo DaVinci. Look at your Mission Cards and compare them with the example (the season icon is only present in some cards).
Each player will try to gather the Techs shown in the right side of the Mission Card, and place them in the right Era of their player boards. These Techs will be obtained by your Time Agent from the Continents, but placed in the player board depending on the Era Marker.
The left side of the card tells you where to take those Techs, both Continent, Era and, sometimes, a Season. If during your turn your Time Agent is in the right Continent, and the time markers show the right Era and Season, you can complete your mission.
You need only the Tech 1 to complete a mission, but you can optionally deliver the Tech 2 and the Tech 3 (which requires the Tech 2). Once you complete a mission, you leave the Mission Card face-up in your play area and you cannot deliver more Techs for this Mission.
Mission card key:
- Technologies that you have to collect.
- Era that tells you where to put the technology you collect.
- Points that you can earn if you deliver that level of tech.
- Era where you have to deliver the mission.
- Season where you have to deliver the mission.
- Continent where you have to deliver the mission.
The Game Turn
Game actions
In the player's turn, she must:
- Move her time machine to an action space. The player cannot stay in the same action.
- Resolve the action.
- If it was a Warp Action, the player must take a Tech from her Time Agent's Continent.
A player can optionally:
- Buy or use an Anomaly.
- Complete a mission.
Moving the Time Machines
Landing Zones
Time machines can move between the 7 action spaces near the borders of the main board. A Time machine must always move and cannot stay in the same action during a player's turn. It can land on "common spaces" or in Landing Zones.
In a Landing Zone (octogonal space) there can only be one Time Machine. If a player lands in an action that has an "occupied" Landing Zone, she must pay the player in the Landing Zone 1 Tachyon and land in the "common zone". There can be any number of players in the common zone. If a Time Machine abandons a Landing Zone, another player can land there without paying anything to the time machines in the common zone.
Moving in Space
The Continents and Taking Techs
Players will move their Time Agents between the continents because of the following reasons: they took a Warp Action or were displaced by a Time-lock. Certain actions will allow them to move to adjacent continents and the Wormhole will allow them to move to any continent, as long as the continents are not Time-Locked.
Adjacent Continents
Most of the time, Time Agents can only move to adjacent continents. An Adjacent Continent is the next non-locked continent clockwise or counter-clockwise. For example, South America and Europe are adjacent to Africa; if South America becomes locked, North America becomes adjacent to Africa. Antarctica is adjacent to all the continents and will never become locked.
(The board's continents in order are North America, Asia, Antarctica, Europe, Africa, South America.)
Landing Zones
Continents have Landing Zones as well and the same rules apply. When a Time Agent lands outside of a Landing Zone because it's occupied, she must pay 1 Tachyon to the player in the octagonal space. Outside the Landing Zone there is no limit to the number of Time Agents in a continent.
Taking Techs
Players will take Techs from a Continent occupied by their Time Agents after performing a Warp Action (read Warp Actions). The player can choose which Tech to pick from those available in the Continent. These spaces are not refilled until all Techs in the Continent have been picked (see Paradoxes > Minor Paradoxes). These Techs are then placed in the player's board in the space currently marked by the Era Marker.
In the Antarctic you need to pay 1 Tachyon to pick an Environmental Tech from the pile, which is then placed in the space with the Environmental Tech Icon in the player's board. If the pile is emptied, there is no need to resolve minor paradoxes.
Moving in Time
Eras an Seasons
Two actions allow for Time Travel: the Black Hole and the Low Gravity. The first one allows you to reverse it to the past, the second, accelerates it to the future. Each time a player has to move time, she gets 2 time displacement points. Each point can be spent moving, either the Era or Season marker, one space in the right direction, according to the chosen action (see Warp Actions). So, with these 2 points, the player can move either the Era marker twice, the Season marker twice or each once.
Tachyon Engine
While moving the Eras, players can pay Tachyons to get additional time displacement points. Thus, 1 Tachyon allows to move either marker one additional space and a player can pay as many Tachyons as she can.
On the other hand, to cross between the Prehistoric and Environmental Crisis Eras, the player must pay 2 Tachyons to be able to curve time enough to make the jump.
(The board's time track shows multipliers x2, x2, x1 and x1 beside the Eras.)
Warp Actions
Black Hole, Worm Hole and Low Gravity
Warp Actions are those that allow players to move in time, move in space and pick Techs. These are the Black Hole, Low Gravity, Wormhole and Nova Terra actions (read Nova Terra). These actions, with the exception of Nova Terra, have Landing Zones (see Moving the Time Machines).
Black Hole
Near a Black Hole, the speed of the rotating space surrounding it allows the time machines to get superluminal speeds and travel back in time. When landing in this action the player:
- Must move Time backwards, this is, counter-clockwise (see Moving in Time).
- May move her Time Agent to an adjacent continent and pick a Tech (see Moving in Space).
Low Gravity
In Low Gravity, travelling near the speed of time slows your clocks in a relativistic way, allowing you to travel forward in time. When landing in this action the player:
- Must move Time forward, this is, clockwise (see Moving in Time).
- May move her Time Agent to an adjacent continent and pick a Tech (see Moving in Space).
Wormhole
The folding of space produced by the Wormhole allows the Time Agent to immediately move long distances. After landing in this action, the player will move the Time Agent to a non-locked Continent on the board. After this, the player can take a Tech from that continent.
Nova Terra
Back to the Future
Nova Terra is your new home and a special WARP action. With this action it is possible to go back to the future and take Future Techs. Going to Nova Terra works like this:
- After placing your Time Machine in Nova Terra, all other Time Machines move here as well (they are time-locked after all). There is no Landing Zone, so no one has to pay Tachyons.
- The active player can now buy a Future Tech with Tachyons, following the prices shown in the board. After buying a Tech do not refill the slot yet. If the active player cannot buy a Tech, she can't choose this action. The Tech is placed on the player board in the square with its icon.
- Each other player, following turn order, can now buy an available future Tech at the listed price or pass.
- After all have bought or passed, refill techs from right to left from those available in the supply, if there are any. The turn now resumes normally by returning to the active player.
No-Warp Actions
Museum, Console and Paradox Agency
No-Warp actions don't have a Landing Zone, which means that all players can choose this action without paying other players. These actions allow the player to get Tachyons, to buy Mission Cards and to unlock continents.
Time Museum
The Time Museum is searching for new additions to their collection, so a player can do one of the following 3 actions:
- Sell 1 and only 1 Tech for the price depicted on the main board.
- If a player is, at any point, in a hard position, he can bore everyone with her stories and get 1 Takyon in return, without discarding Techs.
- If a player is missing a Tech 2 or 3 from a Mission Card, she can buy it in the Museum. To buy it, she'll have to reveal the Mission Card in her play area (this will not be considered a completed mission) and then place over the Tech Icon the cost in Tachyons shown on the main board for that Tech from her Takyon reserve. A player can only buy either the Tech 2 or 3 for a card, never both. This does not apply to Future Techs. When completing this mission, you will discard the Tachyons instead of the Tech to get the points.
Mission Console (V.O.N.I)
The Mission Console is available for the brave agents to get their mission briefs. Moving your Time Machine to this action and paying 1 Takyon, the active player can take 2 Mission cards, choose one and discard one. It is nice to visit VONI if you don't have Mission Cards or your cards cannot be completed due to permanent locks. Beware! Non completed mission cards will take points from you at the end of the game!
If the deck is depleted, shuffle the discard pile and create a new deck. Before doing so, remove all the mission cards in the discard pile that require a Mayor Temporal Locked Continent and place them in the box.
Paradox Agency
The player that lands here can pay 2 Tachyons to eliminate a paradox from a Continent with a Minor Temporal Lock (only one paradox token). As a reward, the player will get 2 Prestige points, and all the Techs in that continent will be placed face-up again.
(The Paradox Agency also holds the Quantum Probability Die slot and the Minor Paradoxes track.)
Complete Missions
Requirements and deliveries
This action can be done at any time during the turn of player, regarding that all the requirements explained in the chapter Missions are met. In this case:
- Reveal the Mission Card and place it in your play area.
- Discard the Techs to deliver. For each Tech discarded, add the Prestige points shown beside the Tech to your score. Remember, Tech 1 is mandatory and you need to deliver the Tech 2 to be able to deliver the Tech 3. It is not always convenient to gather the 3 Techs asked for by a Mission Card, as completed missions award points for set collections at the end of the game.
If the player met the conditions to complete a mission, discarded the Techs and moved the Prestige marker to score points, then, the following happens:
- The Mission Card will be kept face-up in the player's playing area, as it will give additional points at the end of the game (1 for each non-permanent-locked Continent, and 2 for each unique Continent).
- Move the Mission Marker one space clockwise (if it reaches 12 the game ends).
- Resolve a Mayor Paradox Roll (read Paradoxes).
If the player made a mistake with the conditions to deliver the mission, she can return it to her hand and resume her turn.
Paradoxes
Minor and Major Paradoxes
There are two types of paradoxes: minor and major.
Minor Paradoxes
These paradoxes are activated when the last Tech of a continent is taken. When this happens, do the following:
- Refill the Continent with three new Techs from the reserve.
- Move the Minor Paradox marker one space counter-clockwise. If it already was in the last space, return it to the first and resolve a Mayor Paradox Roll (read Mayor Paradoxes).
Mayor Paradoxes
Each time any of the two conditions are met (mission completed or 4 minor paradoxes), a quantic probabilistic event happens that impedes further travel to a continent. If this happens, the active player does the following:
Roll the Quantum Probability Die and place a paradox token in the continent marked with the rolled number, or move the Minor Paradox marker one space if you rolled a 6 (these can lead to another roll). If you are placing the first paradox token on a continent, a Minor Time-Lock happens. If it is the second token, a Mayor Time-Lock happens.
(Die key: 1. Face of the die that corresponds to the continent. 2. Spaces corresponding to each continent for the major paradoxes.)
Time Locks
Minor and Mayor Time-Locks
As with the paradoxes, there are also Minor and Major Time-Locks:
Minor Time-Lock
If you are placing the first paradox in a Continent:
- Turn all the Tech tokens face-down.
- Each player with an agent in this Continent moves it to an adjacent continent (Antarctica is adjacent to all). Don't place the agents on Landing Zones and don't pay players in Landing Zones.
This Continent will be locked and no one will be able to land here until the paradox is cleaned using the Paradox Agency. Remember, if all Continents have at least one paradox counter, this will trigger the End of Game.
Mayor Time-Lock
If you place the second Paradox Token on a continent, it will become Permanently Locked and no one will be able to land here for the remainder of the game. This might prevent players from completing some missions (except with the help of Anomalies). These paradoxes can't be cleaned. Remember, 3 Permanently Locked continents triggers the End of Game.
Anomalies
Move, buy and use
Anomalies allow a player to do special actions and break the normal rules of the game. In a turn a player can buy a face-up card or use cards from the hand, but not both.
Buy Anomalies
The player can choose between the 4 face-up cards and pay its cost to take it to the hand. She can only buy one card per turn. After buying, refill from the deck to the left if the card was in the position 1 or 2, or from the deck to the right if they were in the position 3 or 4.
(Card key: 1. Cost of the card. 2. Deck of the right. 3. Deck of the left. Positions 1 to 4 run left to right.)
Use Anomalies
The player can, in her turn (unless the card states otherwise), play as many cards in her hand as she can, provided she meets the conditions. In this case, read the instructions in the card. After using the card, it is returned to the game box and is never used again.
Move the Anomalies Belt
Cards are on a "temporal" conveyor belt that moves with the pass of the Seasons. Each time a player moves the Season Marker, for each movement, the belt slides with the direction of the flow of time (left for counter-clockwise or right for clockwise movements).
When this happens, discard the card in position 1 (left) or 4 (right) to the nearest deck, placing it on top of the deck, slide all the cards in the direction of flow, and, if possible, fill the empty space with a card from the nearest deck (see the image).
End Game
Triggers and Scores
The game ends if one of this conditions are met:
- There are three continents with Mayor Temporal Locks (all players lose).
- All the continents have at least one paradox token (all players lose).
- The twelfth mission was completed and the active player ended her turn.
If the players completed the 12 missions, proceed to the End Game scoring like this:
- Every Future Tech in the player board awards 5 Prestige.
- Every Environmental Tech in the player board awards 2 Prestige.
- Each completed mission with a Non-Permanently-Locked Continent awards one additional Prestige.
- Each mission with a unique continent awards 2 additional Prestige (maximum of 10 points).
- Lose 1 Prestige for each non-completed mission the player still has.
- Add 1 point for every two tachyons in the player board. In case of a tie, the player with the most Tachyons wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most Techs in her player board wins. If there is still a tie, the world implodes and you have to share the victory.
Variants
For other sessions
This variants can be used to alter the experience of the game:
Variant 1: Mandatory Era
Players must, when moving time, move the Era at least one space, you can no longer move the Season marker twice. Temporal movement actions no longer allow for the movement of the Time Agent.
Variant 2: Selling Mission Cards
The Time Museum also receives Mission Cards with permanently locked Continents and exchanges them for 2 Tachyons.
Variant 3: The first one loses
If all players lose, the last player wins the game, and the first player is a grand loser.
Variant 4: More missions
You can now take 3 mission cards and keep 2, but all non-completed missions take 2 Prestige points away at the end of the game. Cannot be combined with Variant 2.
Variation 5: Don't buy Techs
Players can't buy Tech in the Museum. This is how the designer play's the game!