San Juan in Space ...
Tournament Info:
Explore, Settle, Develop, Trade, Consume, or Produce?
Which do you need the most? Which of Earth's former colonies
will be most successful at settling the galaxy, now that JumpDrive
Exists? Who will discover the secrets of the mysteriously
vanished Alien Overlords? Your goal: to build the most
prosperous and powerful space empire!
In Race for the Galaxy, players build galactic civilizations
by game cards that represent worlds or technical and social developments.
Each round consists of one or more of five possible phases.
In each round, each player secretly and simultaneously chooses
one of seven different action cards and then reveals it.
Only the selected phases occur. For these phases, every
player performs the phase's action, while the selecting players
also get a bonus privilege for the action chosen.
The development of this game came from efforts to turn Puerto
Rico into a card game. So, if you are familiar with San Juan, the card game that did develop from Puerto
Rico you'll already know how Race for the Galaxy works.
And if you are not familiar with San Juan attend the demo
to see how easy this game is to play, and then dive in to join
the likes of players who have logged literally hundreds of plays.
Race for the Galaxy is a quick game. For this
reason we have made a schedule to accommodate more efficient
use of your game. There will be four heats, but those will
be in two scheduled sessions each of which will have back-to-back
heats. There will be a Friday night session and a Saturday
afternoon session - each of which will consist of two games.
Where there is interest players may play the Gathering
Storm and/or Rebel vs. Imperium expansions in the
qualifying heats. The semi-final and Final will use the
basic game.
Also known as 'San Juan on steroids', Race for the
Galaxy boldly takes the mechanism to new frontiers not just
thematically. Familiar is the use of cards not only as the building
but also as the coins to build them. The planets you colonize
or develop now have so many options you will need a reference
card (included!) to understand them all. San Juan in space!
Starting hands will be dealt randomly rather than preset start
hands.
As per 'Timing' issues in rules most play can and should be
performed simultaneously to expedite the game. However,
actions will be performed clockwise in order of starting home
planets when the remaining card supply will require a reshuffle,
when VP chips could potentially run out in a 'Consume' phase
(trigger game end), or when a settle/develop could trigger game
end.
Four 1-hour games advance 16 winners using HMW tie-breakers.
ADVANCEMENT TIE-BREAKERS: In Multiple Entry, Single
Elimination events for multi-player games, players possibly qualify
for Single Elimination play in the second round by winning any
of up to four preliminary Heats. Occasionally, players may advance
wihout winning a heat. Players can enter one or more Heats without
limit. All events for most multi-player games consist of three
rounds; an opening Round consisting of two to four Preliminary
Heats, a semi-final and a Final. The semi-final round will advance
a predesignated optimum number of players to fill the second
round; i.e., 25 players for a five-player game, 16 players for
a four-player game, etc. but in all cases will advance no more
than half of all players which participated in the Preliminaries.
If insufficient players advance to warrant a semi-final round,
the scheduled semi-final will instead become the Final.
Heats: Most Wins (HMW) - Standard tiebreakers used
to trim the field or identify alternates to complete the field,
as listed below in the following order:
1. Most Wins (e.g., total in all heats entered);
2. Most 2nds/3rds;
3. Margin of victory by % of 2nd place score;
4. 2nd place margin of loss as % of 1st place;
5. High dice roll.