WWE Superstar Showdown
WWE Superstar Showdown Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How to Use this Book
The rulebook is divided into three sections: Core Rules, Sample Turn and Advanced Rules.
Core Rules The main rules for one-on-one matches are first, on pages 3-8. These rules have everything you need to send two Superstars into the ring! For your first game, just read the basic rules and play! Once you're comfortable with the basic rules, you can add in the Advanced Rules.
Sample First Game Round On pages 9 and 10, you'll find a blow-by-blow sample round; a detailed explanation of two people playing a single game round.
Advanced Rules Pages 11-14 of this rulebook include the rules for playing with teams of players, creating an Event and playing Tag Team Matches. Wait until you have a few games under your belt before using these!
What's in the Box?
- 6 Superstar Miniatures
- 6 Superstar Stat Cards
- 4 Match Cards
- 6 30-Card Superstar Card Decks
- 10 Stipulation Cards
- 30 Gold-Rimmed Bonus Superstar Cards
- 6 Team Color Rings: 3 Red, 3 Blue
- Also Included: 1 Game Board, 1 Rulebook
Basics of the Game
WWE Superstar Showdown is a team game: Red vs Blue, with between one and three players per team.
Each match consists of a number of very fast game rounds. Each round, you'll play cards from your hand to move your Superstar miniature, while trying to attack and outmaneuver your opponent.
Superstar Decks Each Superstar's deck of cards represent that Superstar's stamina. When you hit your rival with an attack, they will Give Up cards to you from their deck, reducing their Superstar's stamina.
Set aside the cards your rival Gives Up to you. These cards are your Performance Stack and are used at the end of the game to measure how well your Superstars have done in the ring. When your rival hits you with attacks, you'll Give Up cards to them for their Performance Stack. Once a card has been Given Up, it won't be used again during that match.
The fewer cards they have in their deck, the more worn down they are and the harder it becomes to Block attacks and Kick Out of a Pin.
Any time your deck runs out of cards, shuffle your discard pile and put it back on the space for your deck.
Victory and Defeat To defeat your rival, you need to reduce the number of cards in their deck, wearing down their stamina to the point you can Pin them to the mat or knock them out!
Game Setup
Before playing your first game, separate the gold-rimmed Bonus cards and set them aside. They're used when playing a full Event with the Advanced Rules.
For your first few games, play with two players and choose two Superstars for a basic match. For an epic Event, you can use the Advanced Rules to play a series of different matches with teams of players and Superstars.
Use the colored team rings to mark which Superstar is on which team. The two Superstars start on the squares marked with their color star on the board.
Shuffle your Superstar Deck and place it on the left hand side of your half of the board, in the spot labeled "Superstar." In the middle, each player has three places to play cards, labeled 1, 2, 3.
On the right hand side, there's a spot for your discard pile. When the rules say to "discard" a card, place it in your discard pile. When the rules say to "Give Up" a card, hand the card to your opponent to add to their Performance Stack.
Game Rounds
Game Round Summary
- Draw Cards
- Play Cards to the Board
- Compare Cards
- Pinning Your Opponent
1. Draw Cards At the start of each round, draw cards from your deck until you have six cards in your hand. For example, if you have two cards in your hand at the beginning of a round, draw four new cards. If you're out of cards, shuffle your discard pile and use it as your deck again. Do not show your cards to your opponent.
2. Play Cards to the Board Choose three cards from your hand to play. Place them face down on the "1, 2, 3" positions on the board. These cards will be revealed and compared to your opponent's card one at a time.
3. Compare Cards After both teams have placed their cards, reveal the cards in position 1 and compare their card types. There are five types of cards: Slam, Grapple, Strike, Maneuver and Block.
- Grapple beats Strike.
- Strike beats Maneuver.
- Maneuver beats Grapple.
- Slams always win.
- Blocks always lose.
Leave the winning card in its position. The losing card goes in its discard pile. If the Superstar whose card lost is outside the ropes, they must Give Up the losing card instead of discarding it.
Playing Blocks Blocks always lose, even to other Block cards. Playing a Block prevents all damage from your opponent's card. After you play a Block card, your opponent may still take all other Actions listed on their card.
Blocks never tie. If both players play a Block card to the same position, both Blocks are considered losing cards and are placed in their discard piles.
Tied Cards If both teams reveal the same type of card (Slam vs. Slam, Grapple vs. Grapple, etc.), take the top card of your deck and put it on top of your tied card, then compare the two new cards. If the new cards are a tie, continue revealing cards from your decks one at a time until one player wins the tie. The player who lost the tie places their stack of losing cards in their discard pile.
Winning Cards Each card has one, two or three Action Icons. When your card wins the comparison, you may take the Actions on the card, in any order you'd like. You'll use the Actions on your winning cards to do things like move, attack your opponent or throw your opponent around the ring. The specifics of each Action are detailed under Card Actions below.
After the winning card's Actions are done, compare the cards in the next position.
Defeat in the Ring There are two ways to defeat your opponent: Knock Out or Pinning. When a Superstar is unable to play three cards to the board or isn't able to Give Up as many cards as required they have been Knocked Out. Each round, the Superstar who has more winning cards will have a chance to Pin his opponent.
4. Pinning Your Opponent Once all three cards have been compared, the Superstar with more winning cards may Pin their opponent, if they are adjacent to each other in the ring (in side-by-side squares, not diagonally). The Superstar who has been Pinned must now "Kick Out," or be defeated.
If the two players have the same number of winning cards, no one can be Pinned. A Superstar who is outside the ring can not be Pinned.
Kicking Out (of a Pin) There are two ways to Kick Out of a Pin. You can Give Up a Kick Out card from your hand to get out of a Pin. If you don't have a card with Kick Out in your hand, or don't want to use it, then you have a Three Count to Kick Out. Reveal and Give Up cards one at a time from the top of the deck. If you Give Up three cards from your deck without revealing a "Kick Out" card, you've been defeated.
After Pinning, both players put their winning cards in their discard piles and a new game round begins.
Knock Outs If, at any point, your opponent is not able to Give Up as many cards as needed, they've been knocked out and have been defeated!
Playing Outside the Ropes Your Superstars may end up outside the ring, either because you choose to move them out or because their rival has thrown them out! There are a few rules that apply when your Superstar miniature is outside the ropes:
Countout If your card loses when Comparing Cards and your Superstar is outside the ring, you must Give Up your losing card instead of discarding it. In the case of a tie, you must Give Up all the losing cards from the tie!
Get Back in the Ring! Your Superstar can not be Pinned when outside the ropes.
Catching Your Breath If your Active Superstar is outside the ropes at the start of a new Game Round, shuffle your discard pile back into your Superstar deck before drawing cards.
Card Actions
Each Superstar card has one, two or three Action Icons along the bottom of the card. You may use the Actions of your winning card in any order, or not at all. All card Actions are optional, you don't have to take them.
With the exception of the Reversal and Kick Out Actions, you may use these Actions when your card beats your opponent's.
Move Actions Move Actions let you move in and around the ring. You may move the number of squares in the Move Icon. When moving in the ring, you may move in any direction, including diagonally. You may move through squares occupied by another Superstar.
Turnbuckle & Ropes Squares You may move into the squares that contain ropes or turnbuckles. These squares have special rules. You can bounce off the ropes when you move into a Ropes Square. Attacks made against a Superstar in a Turnbuckle Square get +1 power. Turnbuckle Squares do not count as Ropes Squares.
You may use your movement to go in and out of the ring, as you'd like. Remember, there are advantages and disadvantages to being outside the ropes!
Once you start your movement, you must finish it before taking another Action. You can't start to move, do something else, and then finish your movement.
Pushing & Shoving If you end your move in the same square as another Superstar, you may shove them one square in any direction. You may not shove them in or out of the ring.
Bouncing off the Ropes When you move into a Ropes Square with a Move Action, you may bounce off the ropes. When you bounce off the ropes, you can move as many squares as you want, directly away from the Ropes Square you moved into. You may bounce off the ropes then bounce again when you reach the other side. Once you stop bouncing, your move is over. You may not use a bounce move to go outside the ring.
Momentum Attack Actions The power of a Momentum Attack is equal to the number of squares you move in a straight line before stopping in a square adjacent to your rival.
Off the Ropes Momentum Attacks When you bounce off the ropes, you'll hit your rival with power equal to the number of squares you move after bouncing. Remember, only straight line movement counts.
Attack Actions With an Attack Action, you may hit your rival for a number of cards equal to the power of the Attack. To Attack, you must be adjacent to your rival. You may NOT Attack diagonally.
Delivering a Hit When you hit your rival with an Attack, they must either Give Up a Block card from their hand or a number of cards equal to the power of your Attack. They may Give Up cards from their hand, from the top of their deck or a combination of the two. These cards are added to your Performance Stack.
Performance Stack The cards Given Up by the other team measure your performance in the ring. These cards are set aside off the board and are used when the match is over.
Corner Attack Corner Attack Actions must be made from Turnbuckle Squares. With a Corner Attack, you may move 3 squares and then make a power 3 attack. All the normal rules for Attack Actions apply. You can not bounce off the ropes with a Corner Attack's movement.
Throw With a Throw Action, you may move an adjacent rival Superstar up to three squares from their current position. Remember, your card's Actions can be taken in any order: you can move to your opponent, then Throw them. Alternately, if you're starting next to your opponent, you can Throw them first, move, then take your third Action. You may use a Throw Action to move your rival in or out of the ring.
When Throwing a rival Superstar, all the normal rules for movement apply. You can Throw your rival on top of another Superstar, to shove them one square.
Setup Actions Setup Actions give you a bonus to your next winning card this round. Playing a Setup Action in your third card spot has no effect.
Movement Setup Your next winning card gains +1 movement. If your next winning card does not have a Move Action, treat it as having a 1 Move Action.
Power Setup Your next winning card gains +1 power. If your next card does not have an Attack Action, treat it as having a 1 power Attack Action.
Note: If your first card has a Setup Action and wins and your second card loses, your third card can still get the Setup bonus from your first card.
Stun Some attacks leave their targets reeling. When your opponent Gives Up cards and your winning card has a Stun Action, you may play an additional, extra card from your hand after taking all your Stunning card's other Actions.
Resolve the extra card as if it were a winning card, taking all the card's Actions normally. At the end of the round, the extra card counts as a winning card for purposes of Pinning. If the extra card also has Stun, you may continue to Stun your rival and play additional bonus cards, for as long as you have more Stuns in your hand. If you don't have any cards in your hand, you can't use the Stun Action.
Blocked Stuns In order to Stun your opponent, they must Give Up cards. If your opponent Blocks your card's attack, they have also avoided being Stunned. Once they are Stunned, a Stunned opponent may not play a Block card from their hand to Block the damage from your bonus card.
Reversals Unlike other Actions, the Reversal Action is only used when the card LOSES. When a Reversal card loses, you may play a card from your hand that beats your opponent's card. Place the new, winning card on top of the Reversal card. The card you play from your hand must win. If you can't play a winning card, you aren't able to pull off the Reversal.
If you both reveal Reversal cards, the player with the losing card may play a card from their hand first. If they do, the other player may then use their Reversal.
Reversals have no effect in ties: if two Reversal cards are tied, resolve the tie normally.
Kick Out Kick Out is only used when you are Pinned by your opponent. If you are Pinned and have a card with Kick Out in your hand, you may Give Up the card to escape from the Pin. If you do not Give Up a card from your hand, you have three chances to reveal and Give Up a card from the top of your deck with the "Kick Out" Action, or be defeated.
Example: John Cena is Pinned by Randy Orton. Cena's player doesn't have any cards with "Kick Out" in his hand, so he must Give Up cards from the top of his deck to try to get out of the Pin.
"One!" He Gives Up the first card: no Kick Out. "Two!" Cena Gives Up a second card: no Kick Out. "Three!" For his third final card: no Kick Out.
Cena has been Pinned and is defeated by Orton!
Sample First Round
Liz and Pete start a game of WWE Superstar Showdown. Liz is using Randy Orton and Pete is using John Cena. At the start of the first turn, they both place their Superstars in starting squares of the ring and draw six cards.
Looking at their cards, they each choose three cards to play, then place the cards face down in the 1, 2, 3 positions on the game board.
First Cards Liz reveals Orton's Grapple, "Inverted Backbreaker." Pete reveals Cena's Maneuver, "Leapfrog." Pete's Maneuver card wins, so his card stays face up on the table and Liz places her losing card on her discard pile.
Pete may now take the three Actions listed on his card. He can take these three Actions in any order. He wants to close with Liz, so he moves three squares toward her. Since "Leapfrog" has Setup Movement, Pete's next winning card will get +1 movement. His third Action, Reversal, is only used if the card loses.
Second Cards For their second cards, Liz reveals another Grapple, "Elevated DDT" and Pete reveals a Strike, "One-Handed Bulldog." Orton's Grapple beats Cena's Strike this time, so Pete places his losing card to his discard pile and Liz is able to take the Actions listed on her card.
Since Liz's winning attack has Stun, Pete decides to play a Block from his hand. Because the damage is Blocked, Liz isn't able to play an extra card.
Third Cards They're both trying to end the round with a Slam! To break the tie, they both reveal the top card of their deck and place the cards on top of their Slams.
Liz reveals a Strike and Pete reveals a Maneuver: Liz wins the tie!
Since Liz won the tie, she can now take the Actions on her tie-breaking "Running Clothesline" card. She moves two squares towards the ropes, bounces off the ropes, moves all the way across the ring, bounces again and stops next to Pete.
The "Running Clothesline" is a Momentum Attack and Liz moves four spaces in a straight line before stopping next to Pete's Superstar for her power 4 Strike.
Pete now has to Give Up four cards or play a Block card from his hand to stop the attack. Pete doesn't have another Block, so he has to take the hit. Pete gives up the last two cards from his hand, plus two more cards from the top of his deck. Liz sets these cards off to her side of the board, starting her Performance Stack.
End of the Round Of the three pairs of cards that have been revealed and compared, Liz won two cards vs. Pete's one winning card. Because they are ending the round with their Superstars next to each other in the ring, Orton has Pinned Cena.
Pete doesn't have any cards in his hand, so he has a Three Count from his deck to reveal a Kick Out card.
And he just barely Kicks Out with his third card!
All three cards Pete reveals when trying to Kick Out are Given Up to Liz's Performance Stack. Having Kicked Out of the Pin, Cena is ready to go another round! At the start of the next round, both Pete and Liz will draw new cards from their decks, until they have six cards in their hands.
The Match continues until either Cena or Orton is defeated!
Advanced Rules
Games with More than Two Players With the advanced rules, you can play with more than two players. You can play with one, two or three players per team. It's up to each team of players to decide who is going to play when. You may decide to take turns, or each player can play as a specific Superstar. When playing with teams of players, cards Given Up by the other team are all put into one combined team Performance Stack. Each team will have only one Performance Stack.
Drafting Superstars When playing with the advanced rules, the first thing you need to do is select two teams of Superstars.
Flip a coin to decide which team picks a Superstar first. The other team then gets to pick two Superstars. After that, take turns picking one Superstar at a time, until all the Superstars you want to use are chosen. Both teams must have the same number of Superstars.
As a team game, you can have any number of people playing on each team. It's up to each team to decide which team members are going to play each Superstar.
Match Cards Match cards describe different types of matches, each with their own rules. After you're finished playing a Match card, both teams earn Ranking Points based on how well they did in the ring.
Match Stipulations Stipulation cards introduce special rules for that Match, making it a "Hardcore Match" or "Last Man Standing Match," for example. The game also includes three "Standard Rules" Stipulation cards that you can shuffle together with the special Stipulation cards to make whether or not your match will have a special Stipulation unpredictable.
Playing an Event For shorter games, you can play a single Match card. For longer games, you can put together a series of Matches to create an epic Event! When you're playing an Event, the team with the most Ranking Points at the end of the Event has dominated the ring and won the game!
Creating an Event
- Decide how many Matches you're going to play. You can play as few as two Matches, or as many as you'd like.
- Choose your Match cards beforehand or shuffle the Match cards and choose randomly before each Match.
- Decide which Stipulation cards you want to use for each Match or shuffle the Stipulation cards and choose Stipulation cards randomly.
Send a Superstar into the Ring After selecting your first Match and Stipulation card, it's time to send one of your team's Superstars into the ring! Place your chosen Superstar's Stat card face down next to the Match card. Once both teams have placed their chosen Superstar card, reveal the cards to see who is facing off in the ring!
Scoring Points in a Match Every Match card will list a number of Ranking Points you get from winning the Match. The bigger the Match, the more Ranking Points you'll earn. You may also get bonus Ranking Points from the Performance Stack cards you've collected from your rivals.
Winning a Match Each Match card details what you need to do to win the Match. For example, in the basic "Head-to-Head" Match card, defeating the other team's Superstar is all you need to do to win the Match. In a Match card like "Gauntlet," defeating one opponent is the first step to winning the match!
Match Bonuses After a Match is over, both teams can spend the cards in their Performance Stack on Bonus Superstar cards or Bonus Ranking Points. If you're playing an entire Event, adding Bonus cards to your Superstars' decks increases their stamina, making them tougher to Knock Out and Pin. The most powerful Bonus cards introduce extra Slams, making your Superstars even more devastating in the ring!
If you look at a Bonus Superstar card, you'll see a price listed on the card; this is how many of your Performance Stack cards you must spend to add that card to any one of your Superstar's decks.
You can also exchange your Performance Stack cards for bonus Ranking Points. You can do this whether you won or lost the Match. Be careful though - if you turn too many cards into Ranking Points, you may find yourself getting crushed in the ring by Superstars with extra cards in their decks!
For example, if you finish a Match with 30 cards in your Performance Stack, you could choose to add one powerful 25 point Slam to one of your decks and take 5 bonus Ranking Points, or add two 15 point cards to your Superstars' decks.
Note: You need to exchange all your Performance Stack cards for either Bonus Superstar cards or Ranking Points. You can't save cards in your Performance Stack from Match to Match.
Example: John won a Tag Team Match and scored 60 Ranking Points for his win. He ended the Match with 42 cards from the two rival Superstars in his Performance Stack. John decides to purchase a new Slam card for his team, which costs 25 points. With the 17 remaining cards in his Performance Stack, John could get another 15 point bonus Performance card. Instead, he decides to turn the remaining points into bonus Ranking Points. In the end, he's added another Slam to one of his Superstar's decks and scored a total of 77 Ranking Points!
Tag Team Rules
Some of the Match cards are Tag Team Matches. In these, each team will select two or three Superstars from their team to send into the ring. There are a number of rules that are only used in Tag Team Matches.
Active Superstars In a Tag Team Match, there is only ever one Active Superstar. The Active Superstar's deck is placed on the board; the Inactive Superstars' decks are set aside. You only draw cards from the Active Superstar's deck and only the Active Superstar Gives Up cards from their deck. The Inactive Superstars are still part of the Match: where they're standing and what they're doing is very important!
The Tag Zone Each team has a Tag Zone bordering their corner, marked in red or blue on the board. In order to Tag Out, your Inactive teammate must be in the legal Tag Zone. Canny players can exploit this by Throwing their weakened opponent away from their teammates!
Tagging Out At the very end of a round, if the Active Superstar is adjacent to one of his teammates in the Tag Zone, he can Tag Out: shuffle the Active Superstar's discard pile and all the cards in your hand into his deck; any cards that the Active Superstar has Given Up stay out of their deck. Set the shuffled deck aside and place the tagged-in teammate's deck in the Active area. Swap the positions of the two Superstars on the board and start a new Round.
Tag Team Kick Outs If you're Pinned and next to an Inactive teammate in your Tag Zone, you may Kick Out of the Pin by immediately Tagging Out. You do not need to play a Kick Out card.
6-Man Tag Team Match In 6-Man Tag Team Matches, you'll have two Inactive Superstars outside the ring. You can Tag Out with either Inactive Superstar, as long as they are in the legal Tag Zone.
Movement in Tag Team Matches Inactive Superstars may not enter the ring.
You may Shove your teammates.
Each time the Active Superstar has a winning card, one of their Inactive teammates may take a Move 3 Action. This teammate's Action can be taken before or after the Active Superstar takes the Actions on their winning card. The active player chooses which of their teammates may move, and whether or not they move before or after the Active Superstar.
Teammate Interference While Inactive Superstars can't directly fight, they can sometimes get in a quick hit from outside the ring. For each teammate that is next to your rival when you Attack, you get +2 Power to your Attack Action.
Sample Events
Smackdown One of Each Match combined with Random Stipulations makes for an Event you can play every week!
Tag Team Series Stand Together or Fall Alone! Every Match is a Tag Team Match! Teamwork and coordination will win the day!
Ultimate Endurance A Brutal Series of four Matches, with Endurance Match Stipulation in place for all four!
Credits
Game Design: Sean Sweigart, Aaron Dill
Senior Proofreader: Peter Przekop
Graphic Design: Katie Dillon
Design Director: John Kovaleski
Producers: Peter Simunovich, John-Paul Brisigotti
3D Design: Charles Woods
Playtesting: Lizzie Willick, Jason Buyaki, Jason Delaney, Mark Honeycutt, Sally Honeycutt, Christopher Kovaleski, Leonard Landrey, Stuart Lapwood, Ray O'Connor, Phil Petry, Kevin Sugiyama-Allen, Alyssa Sweigart
Acknowledgements: WWE: Scott Halpern, Diane Udin, Ashley Zuzik. Special Thanks to all the WWE Superstars for providing edge-of-our-seats entertainment all these years!
Game Design © Gale Force Nine 2015. All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2015. All Rights Reserved. Gale Force Nine is a Battlefront Group Company.