Urknall: The Big Bang
Urknall: The Big Bang Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Material
- 4 astronauts in 4 colours
- 4 comets in 4 colours
- 32 element stones in 3 colours
- 40 ownership markers in 4 colours
- 1 die
Printed-source note: the Material list says 32 element stones, but the Setup section and the celestial-body layout below both use 36 elements (4 × 3 + 6 × 2 + 12 × 1 = 36). The text is reproduced as printed; the setup instructions and layout are the operative count.
Game Goal
Each player travels with their astronaut from one celestial body to another and secures ownership rights to free elements there. The players influence which elements come together on which celestial bodies, or are separated again. At the end, the distribution of the elements across the celestial bodies and the ownership relationships decide the victory points, and the player with the most points wins.
Setup
Each player receives the wooden pieces of one colour. (With 4 players, one small wooden block per player is returned to the box.) One player takes the 36 elements (glass stones), lets them fall from a low height into the middle of the table (the "Big Bang"), and then the players arrange the elements at random into predetermined groups, which together form 22 celestial bodies (HK):
- 4 HK with three elements each (at least two different elements); laid out in a row
- 6 HK with two elements each (any colour combination)
- 12 HK with one element each
The starting player is the one who knows the most constellations.
Starting with the starting player, each player places their astronaut together with one ownership marker onto a 1-element HK. All players must stand on different celestial bodies.
Game Flow
The players take turns until all ownership markers have been placed. A turn consists of three actions, carried out in this order: rolling (i), travelling (ii), and changing the celestial bodies (iii).
i) The player rolls the die. Depending on the result, the player later (in action iii) may combine two HK into one or split one HK in two. With this knowledge, however, the player first travels to another HK (ii).
ii) The player moves their astronaut to another HK. The HK being left and the destination HK must share at least one element of the same colour, and at least one element of the destination HK must still be free (without an ownership marker). On the destination HK, the player marks one of the free elements there with one of their ownership markers from the supply, by placing it directly in front of the element. If the player cannot travel because of the element colours, the player stays where they are and marks one of the free elements of the current HK. If no elements are free, an ownership marker is instead taken out of the game.
Example: Player Orange stands on a 2-element HK with two red elements. Therefore they cannot travel to the 2-element HK with a blue and a green element (top). The trip to the 3-element HK (bottom) with a red element is allowed. There they can place their astronaut and put an ownership marker on the red element or on the free green element.
Tip: The choice of destination HK matters, because there you occupy an element with an ownership marker, which ultimately earns victory points. You should also pay attention to the colours of the elements on the destination HK, because these determine the travel options for your next turn.
iii) Depending on the number rolled on the die, the player now combines or separates HK on which no astronauts stand. To do this, first look at the two smallest HK – that is, the two HK with the fewest elements (glass stones) without astronauts – and form the sum of their elements. At the start, these are always two 1-element HK (sum 1 + 1 = 2).
Example: If there is only one 1-element HK without an astronaut left, and the next larger HK without an astronaut is a 3-element HK, then the sum is 1 + 3 = 4.
Combining (Vereinen): If the number rolled is greater than or equal to the determined sum, the player must combine two HK. Only HK on which no astronauts stand may be combined. From these, the player chooses one of the smallest possible HK and combines it with any other HK. Only two HK are ever combined at a time. However, the sum of the elements of the two combined HK must not be higher than the number rolled on the die!
The two HK are joined together, and the player makes sure that any ownership markers present remain assigned to their elements.
Example: A 6 is rolled. The player combines a 3-element and a 2-element HK (currently the smallest HK without an astronaut) and forms a 5-element HK. For clarity, the elements are sorted by colour; the assignment of the ownership markers is retained.
Tip: Ultimately, points depend on the number and combination of elements and ownership markers on the HK. Because combining increases the number of elements on an HK, it is lucrative to end up with your ownership marker on an HK with as many elements as possible. You can also use combining to decide majorities in your favour, or to take potential points from your opponents by adding further elements of one colour through combining. The scoring method is explained on pages 7 and 8.
Separating (Trennen): If the number rolled is less than three AND less than or equal to the number of elements of the smallest HK, the player separates any HK on which no astronaut stands into two HK. One of the two HK must have as many elements as the number rolled. The player may choose freely which elements to separate, but the ownership markers remain assigned to their elements.
Example: If a 2 is rolled and the smallest possible HK has two elements, the player might split a 5-element HK into two parts – one with two elements and one with three elements. Rolling a 1 always results in separating off a single element.
Example: A 6-element HK is separated after rolling a one into a 5-element HK and a 1-element HK. The assignment of the ownership markers is retained.
Tip: When separating, too, keep the victory points in mind. In the example, Blue could be the player to move, because Blue benefits most from separating the element occupied by Orange. Before, Blue would have received 2 points for their ownership marker; afterwards, they would receive 4 points. (The scoring method is explained on pages 7 and 8.) You should always try to change the distribution of elements in your favour or to the disadvantage of your opponents.
Using the Comet
Once per game, a player may use their comet (wooden disc). After use, the comet is removed from the game. It may be used as follows:
- The player may combine any two HK, as long as the sum of the elements is not greater than the number rolled on the die. Astronauts may stand on the HK involved – so the smallest HK does not have to be used.
- The player does not travel to another HK; instead, the player stays where they are and places only one further ownership marker on the same HK. Tip: This can be useful, for example, for securing a majority.
- When travelling, the start HK and the destination HK do not need to have a matching element colour. That is, you may travel to any HK that still has elements without an ownership marker.
If the comet remains unused until the end of the game, it counts one victory point.
End of the Game and Final Scoring
When the players have placed all their ownership markers, the game ends. The astronauts are now removed from the playing area, and they are used to show the score on the scoring track (on the back of the rules sheet). All HK are scored individually. 1-element HK generally do not count, even if an ownership marker lies there. On all larger HK with ownership markers, the individual element colours are now scored as follows. If there is, of one element colour:
- Only one element: the ownership marker scores as many points as there are elements of other colours on the HK. For example, an ownership marker on a sole blue element on a 6-element HK scores five points (see the example below).
- Exactly two elements: each ownership marker on these elements scores two points. If a player has two ownership markers there, they collect two points for each of the two ownership markers.
- More than two elements: only the player with the majority of ownership markers on these elements scores points. That player writes down, once (not per ownership marker), as many points as there are elements of the corresponding colour on the HK (see the illustration below left, scoring of the red elements for White). If the majority is not clear, the corresponding players receive one point per participating ownership marker (see the illustration below right, scoring of the 3-element HK with only red elements).
Example: Blue receives five points, because Blue occupies the only blue element and there are five other elements. Orange receives two points, like Red, because Orange lies on a green element and there are exactly two of them. Red (like Blue) additionally receives one point for the small HK, because the majority of the red elements there is not clear. White receives three points, because there are three (= more than two) red elements and White has the majority there, so Orange goes empty-handed here.
Printed scoring illustration on page 8 (as shown): 5P for the blue element, 2P and 2P for the two green-element markers, 0P for the marker on the other red element, 3P for White on the three red elements, 1P and 1P for the small HK.
Players who have not used their comet receive one bonus point. The player with the highest total score wins the game. In case of a tie, the tied players share the victory.
Special Rules for a Two-Player Game
Setup: Each player chooses one of the two remaining player colours as their second colour and receives eight ownership markers of that colour. (The remaining material is not used.)
Game flow:
- Between the active player's rolling and travelling, the opponent places one ownership marker of their second colour onto a free element of any HK that has at most as many elements as the number rolled on the die. If there is no HK that meets this condition, this action is omitted.
- If the opponent has placed an ownership marker of their second colour during the current turn, the active player changes the HK twice. First, the active player performs combining/separating for the number rolled. Directly afterwards, the active player performs combining/separating for the number on the face of the die opposite the number rolled. For example, if the active player has rolled a 5, they first change the HK for the number 5, and then for the number 2.
End of the game and final scoring:
- The second colours are scored as in a four-player game. If there is a tie between the two players, the player whose second colour has scored more points wins. If a second colour wins overall, both players have lost.
Variant: Black Holes
Black holes arise during the game and can no longer be separated. Astronauts can no longer travel to them, and ownership markers placed on them bring in no points.
How does it work? A 6-element HK with two blue, two green and two red elements is defined as a black hole. When such a combination arises on the playing area, proceed as follows:
- All markers lying on the elements of the black hole are removed from the game and can no longer be placed (no points).
- The astronauts standing on the black hole return to their players and can be placed on any HK at the next turn (on which at least one element is still unoccupied).
- The black hole can no longer be travelled to; it is taboo as a travel destination. To show this visually, the elements of the black hole are arranged in a circle.
- All players return one ownership marker not yet used, if they still have one. If no or only one ownership marker lay on the black hole that arose, then in a two- or four-player game each player must return a second marker from the supply. If then no player has an ownership marker left in the supply, the game ends immediately and is scored. Otherwise, play continues normally in clockwise order.
Background: The Big Bang
(Printed background text, reproduced for completeness.)
According to the standard model of cosmology, the Big Bang is the beginning of the universe. The Big Bang does not designate an "explosion" in an existing space, but the joint origin of matter, space and time from an original singularity.
The theologian and physicist Georges Lemaître is considered the founder of the theory; in 1931 he used the term "primordial atom" or "primeval atom" for the hot initial state of the universe. The term Big Bang (Urknall) was coined by Sir Fred Hoyle, who, as a critic, wanted to make this theory appear implausible.
Since physical theories presuppose the existence of space, time and matter, the Big Bang cannot be described with them. Part of the theory is also a continuous expansion of the universe, which led to the theory of the Big Bang: the observed movement of the galaxies apart, calculated backwards, gives a point in time at which they were concentrated in an extremely narrow region of space.
Besides the expansion, the theory can also explain the spectrum of the background radiation of the universe, likewise the frequency distribution of the chemical elements in space (in particular hydrogen, deuterium and the isotopes of helium), and the absence of stars older than 13 billion years. With astronomical observations the age of the universe – and thus the time of the Big Bang – has been estimated at 13.7 billion years (±0.2 billion years).
Scoring Overview
The printed scoring overview is pictorial; its rules are restated here.
- Single element of a colour = as many points as there are other elements on the HK. (Printed example: 4 points for Orange.)
- Exactly two elements of a colour = 2 points per ownership marker. (Printed example: 2 points each for White and Orange.)
From three elements per colour:
- Clear majority = as many points as there are elements of this colour, for the player with the clear majority. (Printed example: 4 points for White.)
- No clear majority = for each participating player, as many points as that player has ownership markers on the colour. (Printed example: 2 points each for White and Orange.)
Tip (printed): The 1-element HK generally do not count and can therefore be cleared away before scoring.
Tip (printed): The free glass stones can be used to count the points: Blue = 1 point, Green = 2 points, Red = 5 points.