Board Game Designers Forum

Thanks for stopping Mark. The stock market idea is exactly what links our two games together and you talking about it is what really encouraged me to restart Destination: Venus. So thanks for that. I'll be looking at your game too as it progresses.

Destination: Venus
2 to 5 Players; 60 min

Players play as companies taking shares on unowned expeditions trekking through the jungles of the planet Venus.

Expeditions are awarded victory points by making discoveries and logging them, while the companies earn victory points both during the game for leading expeditions into interesting areas and after the game by having shares in the most successful expeditions. The player with the highest amount of victory points wins.

Components:

• 7 Differently Shaped Hex Boards along with one Campsite
• 5 Company Tokens
• Xx Share Cards
• 4 Expedition Tokens
• XX Exploration Cards
Xx Blank
Xx Encounter
Xx Discovery
• Xx Forage Cards
• Xx Rest Counters
• 5 Score Sheets
• Xx Victory Point Counters
• Xx Supply Counters

Setup:
1) The Campsite is placed into the middle of the playing area. The Hex Boards are placed face-down near the play area.
2) Take Amount of Players - 1 Expedition Tokens and place them onto one of the grassland spaces on the board.
3) Shuffle and place the Exploration Cards to the side.
4)Shuffle and place the Forage Cards to the side.
5) Place four (4) Rest Counters and one (1) Supply Counter next to each Expedition to start. The rest go to the side of the play area.
6) Shuffle the shares face-down. Deal each player 5 cards, draft 1, and pass the remaining cards; repeat until each player has 3 shares. Shuffle the remaining cards back into the share deck.

Gameplay:
The player who can name the planets backwards begins the game. Play then continues in a counterclockwise fashion.

At the beginning of each round, players simultaneously place a Company Marker on what Expedition they wish to use. There may be more than 1 Marker on each Expedition.

On your turn you are allowed to choose an amount of actions equal to the amount of Rest Tokens the Expedition has. Actions may be repeated but, actions are to be completed with whatever Expedition you chose. The choices are:

• Move (1 Free Space, Supplies for Extras) — One Free Move can be made into any adjacant hex, for each subsequent hex, however, moves cost Supply Tokens. Some tiles, like the jungles, count as one Supply, while others, like mountains, count as two. Remove any Supplies for the Expedition. Once you've stopped moving check to see if the hex is unexplored, if so, draw the top card from the Exploration Deck (see Cards). If moving off the current board, choose 1 Hex Board from the remaining pile and place it. Rivers MUST connect to other rivers. Each matching edge from then on (jungle to jungle for instance) scores 1 Victory Point for the commanding company.
• Forage (1 Rest Token) — For each Rest Token spent, place a Supply Token next to the Expedition.
• Journal Log (2 Supply Tokens plus Return to Campsite) — Flip all of the Expeditions face-down (Unconfirmed Finding) cards face-up (Confirmed Findings).
• Dig (1 Rest token) — If the Expedition is currently standing upon a special site (outlined in red), companies can choose to dig. For each level dug the Expedition receives Victory Points. Points depend on the value written on the site.

Cards
Cards are labeled with either Discovery, Encounter, or the card could be lank. Discovery cards are placed into a face-down pile near the board. Each Expedition will have a different pile, so remember which pile is who's. Encounter cards will be creatures of burden that the Expedition must face (see Combat). Blank cards are returned to the deck which is then reshuffled.

Combat
If the Expedition has more Supply Tokens than the Beasts strength, the beast is killed and placed into the Expeditions Deck along with the Discoveries. If the Beast's strength is greater, the Expedition is wiped out and returned to the Campsite. The Expeditions supplies and rest tokens are discarded and the beast is returned to the deck which is then reshuffled.

Actions may continue until each player has taken a turn. The round is then over and end-of-round actions take place:

• Place a Rest Counter on any Expedition that wasn't used this round.
• If this is round 4 or 8 take the Share Deck and repeat the process used in Setup.

Scoring
The game ends after 1 year, or 12 Rounds have been completed.

• At game end, the face-up (Confirmed) Discovery, Encounter Cards, and Victory Points awarded for Digs for each Expedition are distributed to players based on shares.

Example: Final scoring for Blue Team Findings VP. Alice has 4 shares, Bob has 3 shares, Chuck as 1 share, and Donna has none. Blue Team has 14 Confirmed Findings VP on it. Scoring would be awarded as so:

Alice gets half of 14 = 7 VP, with 7 left
Bob gets half of 7 = 4 VP, with 3 left
Chuck gets half of 3 = 2 VP, with the last 1 VP discarded
Donne gets none because she had no shares.

Scores from the Shares are then added to any Victory Points that your Company may have earned from Digs. The winner is the Company with the most Victory Points.

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That seems to about do it for the rules. If I missed anything I'll hopefully catch it and fix it at some point. I'll try to test the rules out soon to see if any of the simplifications have the made the game too dull.