How to play Escapism

Ages 8+

2+ Players

Contents:

4 x game boards

4 x Individual Decks:

Each consists of 28 Cards:

• 2 x Ariane V Rocket Cards

• 2 x Falcon Heavy Rocket Cards

• 2 x Saturn V Rocket Cards

• 7 x Fuel Cards

• 9 x Crew Cards

• 2 x Moon Cards

• 2 x Mars Cards

• 2 x Venus Cards

1 x Set of Questions (100 question cards)

1 x Set of Wild Cards (15 Wild Cards)

Objective:

The objective of the game is to be the first player to complete the assembly of a Model Rocket. The Model Rocket consists of 5 individual parts, and each part is earned by obtaining 3 “points”. Therefore, the first player to obtain 15 points, wins the game. The method to obtaining points, is further explained below.

Gameplay:

The game consists of two main phases. The first phase consists of a turn-based card game in which each player must formulate a launch plan to travel to a distant Celestial Body. Each player uses his own individual deck to attempt to fill in their game board. Many different combinations of launch plans are possible, with different launch vehicles, crew members, as well as different destinations. The completed gameboard consists of 1 Launch Vehicle, the required fuel cards for that launch vehicle, 2 crew members, and the final destination of the launch. Upon a player completing their game board, they move onto the second phase of gameplay (Note: each player can move on to the second phase irrespective of the other players). The second phase of the gameplay includes answering questions from the Set of Questions deck. Each turn, an opposing player will ask a question, which the user will try to get correct.

Points:

Points are obtained in one of two ways. The first way is through the first phase of the game where each card has a certain amount of points indicated on it. At the end of the first phase, all the points on each of the cards played on the gameboard, will be tallied up and totalled. Certain cards that are rarer, will be worth more points. The breakdown for each of the card’s points are listed below:

• Crew Members

  • Elon Musk (1 Point)

  • Jeff Bezos (1 Point)

  • Richard Branson (1 Point)

  • Thomas Pesquet (2 Points)

  • Samantha Cristoforetti (2 Points)

  • Jessica Meir (2 Points)

  • Yuri Gagarin (3 Points)

  • Neil Armstrong (3 Points)

  • Valentina Tereshkova (3 Points)

• Destinations

  • Moon (3 Points)

  • Mars (4 Points)

  • Venus (5 Points)

It should be noted that the Launch Vehicles themselves do not have any points corresponding to them. Instead, the different Launch Vehicles are required to travel to different destinations. Furthermore, each Launch Vehicle has a different required fuel capacity needed to operate. The table below shows all this information.

MOON MARS VENUS

ARIANVE V X - -

(2 Fuel cards)

FALCON HEAVY X X -

(3 Fuel cards)

SATURN V X X X

(4 Fuel cards)

The other method of obtaining points, is in the second phase of the game. Once a player completes their game board and moves onto the questions, each question they answer correct will be worth 1 point. If they answer the question wrong, they will earn 0 points and will have to wait for their next turn to try again. Upon reaching 15 points collectively from both phases of the game, that player wins!

Phase 1:

1. The game is set up by placing each player’s individual game boards in front of them, placing the set of wild cards, as well as question cards in the middle, and handing each player their deck of cards.

2. Each player shuffles their deck of 28 cards and draws 4 cards.

3. The game starts with a game of rock-paper-scissors to determine which player will have the first turn.

4. The player who loses the game, has to draw a card from the Question Cards Deck, and has to ask the first player the question.

5. If the first player answers correctly, they draw 2 cards from their deck. If they answer wrong, they only draw 1 card from their deck.

6. It is now the first players turn; they have the ability to play any card from their hand onto their game board. They could play a Launch Vehicle Card, Crew Member Card, Destination Card, or even a Fuel Card. Please note: Only one card can be played per turn.

7. Upon playing a card, it is now the second players turn. The first player draws a card from the Question Cards deck, and asks the question to the second player. If they answer correctly, they get to draw 2 cards. If they answer wrong, they only draw 1 card.

8. Upon drawing cards, it is now the second players turn to play a card onto their game board. Similarly, they can play any card in their hand.

9. From here, the above process repeats turn by turn, until a player completes their game board and moves onto phase 2 (an example of a completed game board is displayed below)
   

Phase 2:

1. Upon a player moving onto phase 2, they will tally up their total points from phase 1, and receive the corresponding Rocket Model Pieces (3 Points = 1 Piece)

2. From here, the game is still played turn by turn, with the player in Phase 2 only answering questions from the Question Cards Deck, and obtaining 1 extra point for each question they answer correctly.

3. The game ends when a player is able to build their entire Model Rocket, which happens upon obtaining 15 points

Please note, it is entirely possible for a player to move onto Phase 2, while another player is still on Phase 1. The game is still played Turn by Turn, with the player in Phase 1 still playing cards onto their game board, and the player in Phase 2 only answering questions. Upon completing their game board, the player still in Phase 1 will also move onto Phase 2.

Wild Cards:

Wild cards are another aspect of the game in Phase 1. Wild cards are drawn by a player whenever they play a Crew Member Card. Each Wild Card includes a miscellaneous event that causes the game to shift.