Gamehelplineae

Summary

The main gameboard depicts a cross-section of the moon Europa, which is covered by an ocean of liquid water under a frozen crust. Near the bottom of the board there are a series of mineral deposit tiles, which serve as a source of mineral cubes during the game. The ocean contains squares that will fill up with mineral cubes over the course of the game. Near the surface of the ocean there are movable water tiles which can also contain and transport mineral cubes.

In this game, water tiles always flow from left to right. There are 4 locks distributed horizontally which can be opened or closed to allow or restrict the flow of water. The top left of the ocean is a source where new water tiles flow in to fill in any empty spaces, and water tiles flow out through the lower right of the ocean.

Each of you has a small player board that represents the interior of your surface vessels. The location of your vessel on the main board is indicated by your vessel token. Surface vessels always move left or right across the surface of the water but can only move between adjacent spaces when the surface of the water is at the same level. For this reason, opening and closing locks to manipulate the water level is necessary to navigate your vessel from one side of the board to the other.

There are 6 shared submersible vehicles which can be moved around under the surface of the water and which can pick-up and carry around mineral cubes. Submersibles at the bottom of the ocean can excavate mineral deposits, which advance you on one of the excavation tracks. Submersibles at the surface of the ocean can dock with a surface vessel to unload their mineral cubes.

There are rockets along the surface of the ocean that must be filled up with specific resource cubes. Loading resource cubes into rockets earns victory points, and being the one to complete a rocket provides a technology upgrade for future turns.

The game lasts 7 rounds as Jupiter moves across the surface of the sky, or until all 8 rockets have launched.

Choose your starting location

At the beginning of the game, players simultaneously choose a starting location for their surface vessel. More than one player can choose the same starting location. However, players are not be allowed to start in the right-most two spaces as they are below the Jupiter marker and will not receive electricity during the first round.

You will receive the mineral marked "Setup" on the mineral deposit tile below your starting location.

Sunlight phase

At the start of each round, each sunlight icon will activate. This generates electricity for the surface vessels unless the sunlight is blocked by the Jupiter marker.

Place workers

On your turn, choose an action spot to place your workers. The cost and effects of the action space are generally displayed beneath the action space.