Shadowrun: Zero Day

Each player receives a deck of cards, a set of tokens, and cubes. Players then shuffle their individual decks and place them face down to form their draw piles. The megacorporation cards are laid out in the center of the playing area, forming the targets for both players. The countermeasure cards are also set aside, ready to be drawn as the game progresses. Players should ensure they have enough space to manage their hand, draw pile, discard pile, and score pile throughout the game.

The primary objective in Shadowrun: Zero Day is to accumulate the highest amount of Paydata by the end of the game. Players achieve this by successfully hacking megacorporations and bypassing their countermeasures. This involves playing tool cards strategically to meet target numbers, which allows players to place marks on megacorporations and score valuable data tokens. The player who demonstrates superior hacking skills and resource management will ultimately emerge victorious.

A player's turn consists of three main phases: playing cards, drawing cards, and ending the turn. During the 'Play Cards' phase, a player can play one type of tool card from their hand, playing as many matching tool cards as they possess. These cards are then moved directly to the discard pile after their effects are applied. In the 'Draw Cards' phase, if a player has three or fewer cards in hand, they draw two cards from the top of their deck. If the draw deck is empty, the discard pile is reshuffled to replenish it. Finally, in the 'End Turn' phase, players score any completed countermeasures or megacorporations, and play passes to the opponent.

Scoring occurs at the end of a player's turn if any countermeasures or megacorporations are completed. Paydata is calculated from several sources: the Paydata value listed on completed countermeasure cards, the Paydata value of scored megacorporations, one Paydata for each mark in a player's score pile, and additional Paydata from data cards and matching data tokens. Some data cards may also provide bonus Paydata in other ways, adding a layer of strategic depth to how players accumulate their final score.

The game concludes immediately under two specific conditions: either three megacorporations have been successfully scored by either player, or a countermeasure card deck becomes empty and cannot be refilled. Once one of these conditions is met, players tally up all their accumulated Paydata from countermeasures, megacorporations, marks, and data cards/tokens. The player with the highest total Paydata is declared the winner, signifying their dominance in the Shadowrun hacking world.