Folding Space: Preview
Becoming a Space Pirate is no easy task and in this game you’ll need to take command of your own pirate ship and blast off to the rings and moons of Saturn! The high seas are no match for the adventures that await you and your crew as you race against rivals and battle for resources and treasures!
First, set up the game according to the set-up rules for your player count. Different number of players will have a slightly different set-up.*show game setup*
The game takes place over a total of 7 rounds and there will be 5 Phases within each round. The phases are:
The Fold Phase
The Equip Phase
The Sail Phase
The Fight Phase
The Ship Shape Phase
In the folding phase at the start of the round each player passes their folding board to the player on the left. Then they have 10 seconds to choose which FOLD side they want to assign on their infinity folding board. The first player is responsible for the countdown from Ten but remember, you’re pirates and you don’t play fair so you can count as fast or slow as you want as long as is loud and clear to the other players that you are counting down.
Once the players have chosen a side, then place the folding board flat on the table with the board face-up to the side they wish to activate and they keep it covered with both of their hands. When all pirates have decided or when time runs out and the player is forced to leave up a random side, the players reveal their assigned folding board.
Then the Equip phase takes hold. After all players have revealed their folding board it's time to equip in preparation for battle! Starting with the Sword Icons, each player counts how many swords are showing on the board and the player or players with the most will gain a sword card because in this game, ties are friendly. If only ONE player has the highest total then they are given a bonus sword card. This process then repeats for both guns and cannons so lets arm up, hearties!
After this is done it’s time for all players to compare jolly Rogers! The highest player gets 1 Jolly Roger token. On the bottom is a special one time ability that is a secret to the player. In this case, if there is a tie no one receives it!
After all of that sorting things out the players must set sail for their next destination. All players compare their sale icons on their folding boards. Each player announces their total and can simply hold up their hands if they’d like to indicate this. Then the player or players with the most sails is then given 1 movement point. The captains wheel card can be used to gain additional movements! Then move on to comparing blue engines, however, only compare these between players who have not moved yet. The player or players with the most blue engines get two movement points! Finally, compare pink boosters and as you might have guessed, once again we only compare engines between all players who have not moved and the player with the most pink boosters is granted 3 movement points.
If a player has been given 0 movement points after movement has been determined then they’re given a captains wheel card from the top of the deck and they may spend it that turn to move but they do not have to.
Now, lets go over how to use these points. Moving from one moon to another costs 1 movement point. If you are traveling from an inner move to an outer moon, that is 1 space path away. However, if it’s from an inner moon to a distant outer moon, its 2 movement points away. If the player is moving from an inner moon to another inner moon they must always go in the direction of the ring. Moons only have room for up to two ships at a time and ships may never end on a space path.If two ships are on the same moon then the fight phase begins!
During the fight phase if a ship is alone, they plunder the moon for 1 reward of their choice, either a resource token, a planet map or one skill upgrade token. The player must pay any 1 weapon card to plunder.
Skill cards are limited and don’t refresh throughout the game, so they’re valuable. Similarly, map tokens also do not refill. If two ships are at a moon location then they must fight! Every Fight has two laws as listed on the planet limiting what items they can play and the number of cards they play. For example if the battle is on pandora then only cannon cards may be played and players may only play one card at a time. However, if it’s on Prometheus then the players may only use a total of up to one sword, one gun and one cannon and they may only play one card at a time. Captains wheel cards can be used as wildcards for all battles.
During battle cards are played back and forth, however a player can choose to stop fighting at any time. If they don’t fire at all, they receive no rewards, however, the victor of the battle is given 3 rewards of their choice from resource tokens, maps, wheel cards or skill upgrades and the loser, provided they contributed at least one shot, is given 2 rewards of their choice from the remaining booty on the planet. When taking a reward, a player may take a captains wheel card instead of the other rewards, bearing in mind that some captains wheel cards have 0 value.
And Pirates BEWARE of the evil space albatross. If a player wins by more than 1 they attract a space albatross relative to their win margin. They give the players negative points at the end of the game and are only ever attracted to player who win by their exact margin. It’s your duty as a pirate to shame the players with these characters in front of them. Remember, it’s always better to have fought and lost than it is to avoid a fight all together so gear up for battle!
After all battles have been executed and the rewards taken, it’s time for the ship shape (clean up) phase. Add 1 random resource token to each moon pulled out one at a time from the resource bag. If there are more Jolly Roger tokens available then start a new round. If there are not, the game ends and the scoring begins.
Everyone counts their points on their plundered resource tokens, their planet map tokens and they score the 3 scoring cards on the display. Subtract points for each evil space albatross still flying with you and the winner of the game is the player with the most points. This game plays extremely fast and it’s a title that will leave you wanting to play it again and again so if you love real time games with light hearted conflict, this might be the game for you!
Thanks so much for watching and tell us below what your pirate name would be! *Make Pirate name chart*
Be Bold, Play Games, Be You! Happy gaming!