Marvel United: X-Men

To set up, each player selects a hero, and a villain is chosen for the game. Six location cards are laid out in a circle, and the villain dashboard is placed. Threat cards are shuffled and placed on the villain dashboard, along with civilian tokens. Each hero receives a deck of 12 unique cards, and the starting player is determined.

The primary objective for the heroes is to collectively defeat the chosen villain. This is achieved by completing two out of three main objectives: clearing nine villain minions, resolving four threat cards, or successfully using Cerebro to control the villain. Each villain has unique abilities and challenges that influence the game's flow.

A player's turn begins by drawing a card from their personal deck. They then choose one of four basic actions: move (green arrow), attack (red fist), heroic action (yellow star), or a special ability listed on their hero card. Actions can be combined with the actions of the previous player, allowing for powerful combos. For example, if the previous player played a card with an attack action, the current player can add their attack action to it, increasing the total attack value.

Marvel United: X-Men is a cooperative game, meaning there is no individual scoring. All players work together as a team to achieve the common objective. The team either collectively wins or collectively loses based on the game's outcome.

The game concludes in one of three ways: the heroes win if they successfully defeat the villain by completing two of the three main objectives. The heroes lose if the villain's deck runs out, all civilians are removed from the board, or if a hero is KO'd in solo mode. The game also features different modes, including a one-versus-many mode where one player controls the villain.