The employee handbookTwo players compete over ten rounds. Each round gives both companies one turn; first player alternates. Highest final company score wins. Ties share the victory.
Business, then danger
Start with $8, a Workshop, one charged shield, and an Inspection card. Each turn begins with $2 basic income plus $1 per operating Workshop level. Take up to two business actions, then draw the cards you owe. You may take up to two optional draws for more profit before banking your turn.
Business actions: buy a building, upgrade one, repair one for $3, recharge one shield for $4, activate a Factory or Lab, or play a tactic. Buildings work immediately. Each Factory or Lab can activate once per turn. Other buildings work automatically.
Drawing cards
Every turn requires one draw. Activated Factories and your rival’s Overtime Orders add required draws. Profit pays $2, a Windfall pays $5, and a tactic joins your private hand. At eight tactics, a new tactic pays $2 instead. Ordinary profits stay yours even if you explode later.
Shields and explosions
A charged shield automatically blocks a hazard and is consumed. Secretly choose a position within the next five cards to return the hazard. Position 1 is the very next draw; it may still be yours if you owe draws! Then continue drawing or bank if eligible.
Without a shield, lose up to $2, choose one operating building to disable, and end your turn immediately. Each company’s Salvage Yards pay on its first unshielded explosion of the round. Disabled buildings produce nothing and score half value. Repair restores them. Basic income always continues; nobody is eliminated.
The market and your hand
There are unlimited copies of each building, with per-company limits: 3 Workshops, 2 Factories, 1 Lab, 2 Containment Chambers, and 2 Salvage Yards. Your company has space for 7 buildings total. Upgrade each building once. Every company has one shield capacity; operating Containment levels add capacity. Buying or upgrading Containment includes one shield.
Inspection, Overtime Order, and Reorganization each use a business action. Overtime affects your rival’s next turn, with at most two orders queued. Emergency Shutdown is free during business or drawing and cancels one required draw; it cannot undo a revealed hazard.
Information and escalation
Deck size and hazard count are public. Your tactics and inspected cards are private. Inspections expire whenever any card is drawn or the deck changes. The opening deck contains 22 Profits, 4 Windfalls, 8 tactics, and 2 hazards. Rounds 4 and 7 bring a fresh deck with 3 and 4 hazards respectively. An empty deck reshuffles its discard pile.
Close the books
Score the printed value of all buildings, halved and rounded down if disabled, plus 1 point per $3 left over. Shields and tactics are worth no points. Spend wisely before the end of round 10.
Original prototype rules. The 30–45 minute estimate and balance will improve with real matches.
Revenue up. Safety optional.