Space Invaders - The Board Game

Rules Version 2.6

1. In the box

• Game board
• 55 Invader cards, sorted into 5 ranks of 11 cards each
• 60 Researched Technology cards, 12 technologies of 5 cards each
• 40 Bunker slices
• 4 Cannons (1 in each player color)
• 1 UFO
• 1 Space Invaders Dice
• 115 Energy and Resource cards (50 Dilithium, 30 Thorium, 20 Antimatter and 12 Time
Warp cards)
• 12 Tractor Thrust cards for the players’ starting decks.
• 32 Extra Life tokens
• 32 Alien Intel tokens
• Card Sorting Tray with Card Type Inlay

2. Player Objectives

A. High Score
B. Destroy the UFO
C. Survival
3. Card Types

· Energy Cards:

! ! !

Action Cards:

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Special types of Action Cards:

Tractor Thrust

Tractor Thrust is the basic movement card

which is part of the player’s starting decks. It
has the +1 Move ability, an energy cost of 0
and a score of 0.

Time Warp

Time Warp is a basic resource that can be

acquired at any time during a players
transform phase. It has the +2 Actions as
a special ability, an energy cost of 2 and a
score of 1.

Researched Technologies

Researched Technologies cards show

special abilities, energy costs and scores.
Their score is generally lower than the
score that would be granted by the
remains of the Invader that the technology
is based on.

Event Cards

Event Cards are Action Cards collected

from Invaders that show a special effect in
red text. This effect is unconditionally
activated when the card is shot.
4. Setup

Card sorting strategy: Separate the cards

with a red research bar on their front from
the cards with a blue research bar. The
cards with the blue research bar need to
be sorted by Invader Type on back of
card.
Each of the 5 different ranks of Invader Cards are shuffled individually and put on the game
board according to the artwork on the back of the cards.

All researchable technology decks (Red bar, “Researched”) are sorted into decks of 5 and
set aside.

All energy cards and Time Warp cards are placed on their designated area.

!
The UFO is placed on the leftmost slot of the UFO row on the game board.

Depending upon player number, the necessary number of Bunker Slices are stacked on the
Bunker areas

and the players are handed the Laser Base of their choice as well as the necessary number
of Extra Lives.

!
The Alien Intel tokens are also set aside for later use.

!
The players determine the starting player by a method of their choice and starting with that
player, position their Laser Cannons onto the designated starting positions (these also
depend on player number) one after the other in player order.

Each player receives a starting deck of 10 cards consisting of a varying amount of Dilithium
and Tractor Thrust cards (also depending on number of players) that the players prepare by
shuffling (see chapter 8 – Additional Info). They take the top 5 cards as their hand and the
remaining cards stay on the table as the Draw Pile.

The starting player then starts the game and afterwards the initiative moves from player to
player clockwise around the board.

5. Round Overview

Each player turn follows this basic structure:

• Round One only: there is an optional initial scan of the space above the player’s
cannon.
• An optional Research Phase that allows the players to unlock researchable
technologies with gathered Alien Intelligence.
 • The player has the option to play any hand action cards he holds according to the
number of actions he is allowed to use. The played cards award modifiers and specific
card effects that the player can use to his advantage or e.g. to move.
• The player can transform the energy he has in hand into available technologies or
resources OR into a shot at the Invaders as many time as he can, based on his
Transform actions and total energy.
• The player adds the new resource or the remains of a destroyed Invader to his Discard
Pile
• The player’s unused cards are discarded
• The player draws 5 new cards from the draw pile. If the draw pile does not hold enough
cards, the discard pile is shuffled, becomes the new draw pile and the remaining cards
are drawn from there.
• The UFO is moved one slot to the right to indicate the end of the turn. The UFO can
*only* be moved right at end of turn.

If the UFO is on the rightmost spot of the game board, it is instead moved back to its starting
position.
I. Scan

Only during the first round of the game, each player has an optional initial scan before he
starts his/her turn!

Every scan has an energy cost of 1 (more about energy cost follows). Its effect is that the
player can flip the Invader card directly above his Laser Cannon to see which abilities
collecting that Space Invader will grant.

Also, it has the effect that the player that used the scan - and only that player - is protected
from counterattacks on destruction, which some Invaders hide. The scanning player also
gathers intelligence about the scanned Invader and gains one Alien Intel token, as long as
there are remaining tokens in reserve. Additional scans become available with every Move
Action a player plays during the Hand Actions phase. Each additional scan during the
same turn also has an energy cost of one.

The following steps are repeated during each additional turn.

II. Research

Using the Alien intelligence gathered so far (before the following Hand Actions phase), the
player can immediately unlock any of the researchable technologies, only limited by the
number of Alien Intel tokens collected so far and available slots in the research area of the
game board.
 !
The number of Alien Intel tokens required to unlock a technology is equal to the energy cost
of that technology. The unlocked technology decks are placed into the research area and
one of these technology cards is added to the players hand. This card can be used during
the current turn!

III. Hand Actions

Each player has one Hand Action by default. These actions could be moving the Laser
Cannon (or the UFO, move actions can generally also be used to move the UFO. If a move
action is applied to the UFO, the UFO can be moved in any direction, unlike at the end of the
turn, when the UFO can only be moved to the right), drawing more cards, adding energy and
more. These are the available modifiers of non-energy cards: +Action(s), +Card(s),
+Transform(s), +Energy, +Move as well as special effects that are spelled out on the cards.
Movement: Movement does wrap around! A cannon that is placed in the leftmost position will
be placed in the rightmost column if the player decides to move one to the left.
The Hand Actions phase concludes with the Transform phase. The energy the player has
can be transformed into a shot at an Invader or into the acquisition of an available card in
the lower board section (Resources, and Researched Technologies). Additional Transform
actions are possible with appropriate modifiers on the cards held in hand.
Shooting


Shooting at an Invader has an energy

cost of (distance+1). That means the
bottom row of Invaders can be shot for 2
energy, the second row for 3 and so on –
as indicated on the game board.

The UFO can be shot for 7 energy, if it is

positioned unobstructed above the
current players cannon.

An Invader that is shot at will always be

destroyed, no matter if it was scanned or
not.

Every attack will cause the Invaders in the

columns left and right of the Laser Base
position to fire in immediate retaliation.

If a bunker is hit, a slice of that bunker is

removed from the game board.

The player can fire through a bunker, this

also removes one slice from that bunker.

From row 2 (Rank 3) onwards, when the

first alien in a new row is shot and
destroyed (not if it is acquired by any
other means), all bunkers lose one slice.


An Invader with Counter Attack, has a hidden attack that is triggered when the
Invader is shot, unless it was scanned by the attacking player in the same turn.

The remains of a destroyed Invader will be added to the current players discard pile.

!
The technology of a destroyed Invader that has been scanned before being destroyed will
be made publicly available in the RESEARCH slot area at the bottom of the game board.
Should the RESEARCH area already be full, the technology is scrapped.

Card Acquisitions during Energy Transform Phase

Cards such as Alien Technologies and Resources can be acquired when they show an
energy cost. That cost can also be 0! Scanned Invaders can generally not be acquired
during the Transform phase – but there are card effects that give access to any open card
during the hand action phase.

IV. Turn Cleanup

All cards in play (Still on hand and played) are transferred to the players discard pile. 5 new
hand cards are drawn from the draw pile in preparation of the players next turn (as
described in Round Overview) the UFO is pushed one to the right - this end the turn and
initiative is moved to the next player.

6. Game Over Conditions

A. The bunkers are fully destroyed

B. A player destroys the UFO
C. Only one player survives
7. Scoring

The individual players score is calculated as follows:

The score values from the players deck + the number of Alien Intel tokens + 2 * the number
of the remaining Extra Lives + if the UFO was shot, the successful player receives 10 extra
points

The player with the highest score wins.

8. Additional Info

Starting Values

• 2 Players: 8 Bunker elements per Bunker, 4 Extra Life; Starting Deck: 3 Tractor Thrust,
7 Dilithium
• 3 Players: 9 Bunker elements per Bunker, 5 Extra Life; Starting Deck: 2 Tractor Thrust,
8 Dilithium
• 4 Players: 10 Bunker elements per Bunker, 6 Extra Life; Starting Deck: 2 Tractor Thrust,
8 Dilithium

Solo Mode Starting Values

10 Bunker Elements, 4 Extra Life; Starting Deck: 3 Tractor Thrust, 7 Dilithium

If you want to emphasize the survival element more, reduce the number of Extra Life tokens
awarded to the players at game start. If you want to take player death completely off the
table, you can instead increase the Extra Life tokens awarded at game start.

Recommended Starting Positions:

• 2 Players: • 3 Players:
 • 4 Players:

For Solo play, we recommend to start at the center of the moon base (=> Position 1 in the
three player setup).

While these starting positions provide the best balance, it is perfectly fine to choose your
own starting positions – you will see that each positions comes with its own challenges.

9. Solo Mode

The goal in Solo mode is to shoot the UFO. The secondary goal is to maximize your score.

The Solo Mode plays exactly like the multiplayer mode, with the following modification: After
a shot is fired by you, you have to roll the Space Invaders dice. A bunker value of 1, 2, 3 or 4
indicates the Space Invaders column above Bunker 1,2,3 or 4 firing.
That means one bunker element is removed from this bunker. A value of 5 means all
Invaders are firing. All bunkers lose one element, and if you are not protected by a bunker
you will be hit as well. A value of 6 means nothing happens.
10. Researchable Cards
Energy Cost 2:

Energy Cost 3:

Energy Cost 4:

Energy Cost 5:
11. Non-Researchable Cards

Used like an Energy Card

Used like an Energy Card

SPACE INVADERS - THE BOARDGAME © TAITO CORPORATION 1978, 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. GAME
BY 612 GAMES. © 2019 612 ENTERTAINMENT, LLC.