ZOOBOTZ | Rules

GAME_OVERVIEW

Players take turns playing and using Botz to gain RESEARCH and deal RISK!

2-6 Players
Learn in 10 minutes
Play in 15-30 minutes

Objectives

A Player wins the game when they have 10 or more RESEARCH

Deck Building

Decks must have at least 40 cards
Decks may contain up to 4 copies of any combination of any official cards

GAME_SETUP

Requirements

A way to track the RESEARCH gained by each Player (0-10 counter)
A way to track the RISK dealt to each Bot (6-sided dice or RISK tokens)

Setup

Players shuffles their 40+ card decks and offer deck cuts
Players draw a 6 card starting hand
Players may send chosen cards from their starting hand to the bottom of their deck in any order and draw cards until they have a 6 card hand
First Player is determined at random
The Player that goes first doesn’t draw at the start of their first turn

TURN_OVERVIEW

01: Before Turn

UNUSE all your Botz and invested cards
Draw a card from your deck

02: Start Turn (Things that happen at start of turn happen now)

03: Optional (once per turn, at any time during your turn)

Invest chosen card from your hand

03: Optional (any number of times, in any order)

Play chosen card from your hand
USE chosen Bot of yours to RESEARCH, HACK or SHIELD

04: End Turn (Things that happen at end of turn happen now)

COST

INVESTING CARDS (once per turn)

Anytime during your turn, you may reveal and send chosen card from your hand to your invested cards UNUSED facedown

Invested cards may be USED the turn played and are each worth 1 COST value

PLAYING CARDS (no limit to the number of cards played per turn)

Anytime during your turn, you may play chosen card from your hand by changing a number of UNUSED invested cards of yours to USED equal to its COST value

USING CARDS (no limit to the number of cards USED per turn)

Anytime during your turn, you may USE chosen UNUSED Bot of yours to RESEARCH, HACK or SHIELD

RESEARCH

USE TO RESEARCH (Botz can’t be USED the turn played)

Anytime during your turn, you may USE chosen Bot of yours to RESEARCH:

USE invested cards of yours to gain 1 RESEARCH per card up to the value of this Bot

A Player wins the game when they have 10 or more RESEARCH

SHIELD

Whenever a Bot has RISK equal to its value, immediately send it to its discard from play

USED TO SHIELD (Botz can’t be USED the turn played)

During your turn, you may USE this Bot to SHIELD:

While a Bot of yours is being USED to SHIELD, opposing Botz can't be USED to RESEARCH.
While a Bot of yours is being USED to SHIELD, opposing Botz can’t HACK USED Botz of yours while they could HACK your SHIELD instead

While you have multiple Botz being USED to SHIELD, opposing Players choose which of those Botz to HACK

HACK

USE TO HACK (Botz can’t be USED the turn played)

During your turn, you may USE chosen Bot of yours to HACK chosen opposing Bot being USED to SHIELD or to HACK chosen opposing USED Bot that does not have a SHIELD:

Your Bot deals RISK equal to its value to the opposing Bot and that Bot simultaneously deals RISK equal to its value to your Bot

FAQs

What happens if a deck runs out of cards? A Player loses when they should draw, but can’t.
Is there a limit to the number of cards you can have in your hand at once? NO
Is there a limit to the number of Botz you can have in play at once? NO
Is there a limit to the number of invested cards you can have at once? NO
Can you invest multiple cards per turn? NO
Can you play multiple cards per turn? YES
Can you USE multiple cards per turn? YES
Can you USE a card more than once per turn? YES (if changed to UNUSED)

Can cards be played or USED during an opposing Player’s turn? NO

Is investing, playing or USING cards each turn required? NO

Is drawing a card at the start of each turn required? YES
Is changing USED cards to UNUSED at the start of each of your turns required? YES
Can any Player’s discard be searched at any time? YES
Can Players search face-down invested cards? NO
If a Bot is being USED to SHIELD and it stays USED, is it still being USED to SHIELD? YES
Can Botz be USED the turn they’re played? NO
Can Botz be USED to HACK UNUSED Botz or to HACK ally Botz? NO
Can Botz be USED to RESEARCH for 0? YES
Can invested cards be independently USED toward your next card played? NO
Does moving RISK count as deleting RISK? NO
Does dealing or removing 0 RISK count as dealing RISK? NO
How is order determined when multiple things happen simultaneously? Active Player chooses the order.