Star Realms

To set up Star Realms, each player begins with 50 authority points. They also receive a starting deck consisting of 8 Scout cards and 2 Viper cards, which are shuffled together to form their personal deck. The main trade deck is shuffled and five cards are drawn from it to form the trade row, which is a central market where players can acquire new cards. Additionally, a stack of 10 Explorer cards is placed next to the trade row, available for purchase by players. The first player draws only three cards for their initial hand, while the second player draws five.

The primary objective in Star Realms is to be the last player standing. This is achieved by strategically building your deck to generate enough combat power to reduce your opponent's authority points from their starting 50 down to zero. Players must balance acquiring new ships and bases with directly attacking their opponent to achieve victory.

During your turn, you draw five cards from your personal deck. You can play these cards to generate 'trade' (currency for buying new cards) and 'combat' (damage for attacking). Trade is used to purchase new ships and bases from the trade row, which are then added to your discard pile. Combat is used to attack your opponent's authority or to destroy their bases. Some cards have 'ally effects' that activate if you play another card of the same faction, and 'scrap effects' that provide a powerful one-time bonus if you permanently remove the card from the game. At the end of your turn, all cards in your hand and play area are discarded, and you draw a new hand of five cards for your next turn. Any unspent trade or combat is lost.

Combat points are used to attack your opponent. If your opponent has bases in play, you must destroy those bases before you can directly attack their authority. Each base has a combat value that must be matched or exceeded to destroy it. Once a base is destroyed, it is moved to the owner's discard pile. If a base has a black shield icon, it is an 'outpost' and must be destroyed before any other bases or the opponent's authority can be attacked. Reducing your opponent's authority to zero is the ultimate goal.

The game concludes immediately when one player's authority is reduced to zero or below. The player who successfully reduces their opponent's authority to zero is declared the winner. If both players' authority drops to zero simultaneously due to a single attack, the player whose turn it is wins.