Terra Shifter Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Goal of the Game
• Cards Introduction
• Rules: First Time (For 1–5 Players)
  • Set-up
  • Game Flow
  • Move
  • Scoring
  • Game End
• Rules: Competition (For 2–∞ Players)
  • Set-up
  • Game Flow
  • Game End
• Rules: Cooperation (For 1 to 4 Players)
  • Set-up
  • Game Flow
  • Game End
  • More Challenge

Components

• Terrain tiles ×16 (double sides)
• Hourglass ×1 (1 minute)
• Mission cards ×28
• Goal cards ×16
• Disaster cards (colors of the back: yellow ×4; red ×3)

The Goal of the Game

Through rotating, moving and flipping, the players try to transform the map into a terrain with a specific color area to fit the condition of Mission cards or Goal cards.

Cards Introduction

• There are color and area on Mission cards and Goal cards. See Pic 1.
• Each terrain tile has 3 colors. The 2 colors which occupy 1/4 of the tile is regarded as Area 1. The color occupies 1/2 of the tile is regarded as Area 2. For example (pic 2): The white and blue areas are regarded as Area 1; the yellow area is regarded as Area 2.
• The adjacent terrains with the same colors are regarded as connected area. When scoring, sum up the Area number of them. For example (pic 3): The total Area number of the green area in the red frame is 2+2+1=5. Note: Each color area can only be scored for one Mission card or Goal card. (i.e. when the color area is used for the Mission card, then the player can't use the area for Goal card.)
• Special mission card: Double 4 — 2 different Area 4 at the same time.
• Special mission card: Triple 4 — 3 different Area 4 at the same time.

Rules: First Time (For 1–5 Players)

In 2XXX, the earth is no longer suitable for living. Human found another planet for living by using the new technology of "Terraforming Project" to rebuild a new earth. As the Terra Shifter, you must not only provide a habitable environment for creatures but carry out the ultimate "Terraforming Project" under all kinds of disasters.

Set-up

1. Shuffle all Terrain tiles according to the following steps: a. Shuffle the deck 3 times. b. Divide the cards into 2 decks, flip over one of them. c. Shuffle the 2 decks together 3 times. d. Divide the cards into 2 decks again, rotate one of them for 180 degrees.
2. Place all Terrain tile in order (from left to right, and from top to bottom) to form a 4x4 matrix as Terrain Area.
3. In the 3-players game, remove all mission cards with 4+; in the 2-players game, remove all Mission cards with 3+ and 4+; In the solo game, remove all Mission cards with 2+, 3+ and 4+. Shuffle the rest of the Mission cards to form a Mission deck.
4. Place Goal cards and hourglass back to the game box. In the first game, they won't be used.
5. The player with the most colors on the cloth is the start player. The game runs in clockwise order.

Game Flow

1. The start player reveals a card from the top of the Mission deck.
2. There are 2 phases on a player's turn: Move and Scoring.

Move

In this phase, the player may carry out the following actions 5 times in any combination.

a. Rotate: rotate a Terrain tile for 180 degrees.

b. Shift: There are 2 ways of shift. Select a row, move all cards in the row to the left or right of the matrix for one grid. Move the leftmost or the rightmost card to the end of this row. Select a column, move all cards in the column to the up or down of the matrix for one grid. Move the topmost or the bottommost card to the end of this column.

c. Flip over: flip over a Terrain tile. Note: when the Terrain tile is flipped over, the color with the larger area will be changed into a different color. Therefore, when a color is rare in the current Terrain Area, pay more attention to the reversed side of the Terrain tiles with the color you need.

When a player has done 5 actions or the player doesn't want to carry our any action, the phase ends. Note: You don't have to carry our all actions. You may also end this phase before carrying out any action.

Scoring

The player may check if the condition on the Mission card is fulfilled. If it is fulfilled, the player takes the Mission card and place it face up in front of himself. If it is not fulfilled, the player must take the Mission card and place it face down in front of himself. This Mission card is regarded as fail.

If the player does not have to do any action in his turn and the Mission card is already fulfilled, he can pass the Move phase and scores directly. However, if the player decides to carry out any action during the Move phase, and the formation of the Terrain area is changed, the Mission card won't be fulfilled.

Each of facing up Mission card worth 1 point; each of facing down Mission card worth -1 point.

Game End

When each player has 5 points, the game ends immediately. If any of the players has 5 points during the game, his game ends earlier.

Rules: Competition (For 2–∞ Players)

Finally, your plan is successful. However, none of you is willing to admit who is the best Terra Shifter. You decide to see who is the best in the new mission.

Set-up

1. Place the hourglass on the table.
2. Shuffle the Mission cards and Goal cards together to form a deck.
3. Set-up the Terrain Area as in the same way of First Game.
4. The rest of set up rules is the same as the First Game.

Game Flow

The start player flips over a card from the deck, then all player start figuring out how many actions does it take to fulfill the Mission card. The first player calls out the number must reverse the hourglass. Before the time runs out, other players may try to call out a smaller number and reverse the hourglass again. If the smallest number is 1, place the Mission card to the bottom of the deck and reveal a new card. When the time runs out, the player with the smallest number can carry out the actions. If the player fulfills the Mission card, he takes the card and places it face up in front of himself. If the player fails, he must take the Mission card and place it face down in front of himself. The player to the left of the start player flips over a new Mission card, the new round of the game begins.

Each of facing up Mission card worth 1 point; each of facing down Mission card worth -1 point.

Game End

According to the table, when a player collects enough points, the game ends immediately. The player with the most points is the mightiest Terra Shifter!

Player Count	Player Count
2	8
3	7
4	6
5	5

Note: the printed table headers read "Player Count" over both columns; the right-hand column is the number of points that ends the game for the player count on the left, as the table is laid out.

Rules: Cooperation (For 1 to 4 Players)

In a foreign planet, Terra Shifter has to face many unexpected disasters with very limited time…

Illustration labels: Terrain Area, Goal Area, Hand Area.

Set-up

1. Sort Goal cards by their color, draw one card from each of them. Place these cards close to the Terrain Area as Goal area (For the first game, we suggest you use No. 9 cards of each color). These cards are regarded as the common goal of the game. Place the rest of the Goal cards back to the game box, they won't be used in this game.
2. Shuffle all the Mission cards and deal each player 4 cards as their hand. In the following game, players are not allowed to show their hands to each other. Place the rest of the Mission cards close to the Terrain Area as a Mission deck.
3. In the Move phase, a player can carry out actions for 5 times. Just like the rules of First Time.

Game Flow

If a player fulfilled at least one Mission card from his hand, he places the card face up to the discard pile. After that, he can check if there is any fulfilled Goal card. If there isa fulfilled Goal card in the Goal area, he flip the card face down. The player keeps doing this way until no fulfilled Goal card in the Goal area. Then he draws cards from the deck until he has 4 cards. If a player doesn't have any fulfilled Mission card, he has to discard 2 cards from his hand. Then he draws 2 new Mission cards from the deck. The game runs in clockwise order.

Game End

When a player needs to draw cards, and there is not enough card left, it means the time is up, all players lose the game together. At the end of a player's turn, if 4 Goal cards are flipped over, all players win the game.

More Challenge

If you are familiar with this game, looking for more challenge, you may add disaster cards:

1. When setting up the game, shuffle Yellow Disaster cards. Flip over a card from the top of the deck as the starting disaster. When a player fulfills a Goal card, he must flip over a new Disaster card. The revealed Disaster cards are going to give players restriction. In case any restriction conflict with the basic rules or previous Disaster card, the new restriction rule shall be followed.
2. If you still look for more challenge, after shuffling the yellow Disaster cards, replace one or two cards from the bottom of the deck with the red Disaster card.