Terraforming Mars

Welcome to Terraforming Mars! In this game, you control a corporation working to make the Red Planet habitable by increasing global parameters (temperature, oxygen level, and ocean coverage) while expanding your business (p. 2, 21, 25).

Here is how to set up and play the game:

Setup

1. Place the central game board on the table, putting the 9 ocean tiles on their reserved spaces, setting the temperature and oxygen markers to their starting positions, and placing the generation marker on '1' on the Terraform Rating track (p. 14).
2. Keep resource cubes and remaining tiles where everyone can reach them, and place the shuffled project deck (excluding Corporate Era cards marked with a red and white icon) next to the board with space for a discard pile (p. 14).
3. The player who most recently won a game gets the first player marker, and players choose their colors, taking matching markers and a player board (p. 14).
4. Each player places a marker on number '1' of each resource production track on their player board, and places one marker at the starting position (20) of the Terraform Rating track (p. 14). (Note: The first generation's Player Order and Research phases are skipped during setup; see generations below).

How a Generation and Turns Work

Time in the game is measured in a series of generations, and each generation proceeds through four phases (p. 7, 24):

1. Player Order phase: The first player marker shifts one step clockwise and the generation marker moves up one step (p. 7). (Skipped in the first generation).
2. Research phase: Each player draws 4 cards and decides which ones to buy into their hand for 3 M€ each, discarding the rest (p. 7). (Skipped in the first generation).
3. Action phase: Players take turns going clockwise around the table (p. 7, 10). On your turn, you can take 1 or 2 actions (or pass if you want to sit out the rest of the generation's actions) (p. 10). The available actions are:
   • Play a card from your hand (p. 10).
   • Use a standard project (p. 10).
   • Claim a milestone by paying 8 M€ if you meet the criteria (p. 10, 17).
   • Fund an award (p. 10, 18).
   • Use the action on a blue card (p. 10, 18).
   • Convert 8 plants into a greenery tile (p. 10).
   • Convert 8 heat into a temperature increase (p. 10).
4. Production phase: All players produce resources according to their production parameters on their player boards, and gain income from their Terraform Rating (p. 4).

How the Game Ends

The game ends at the end of the generation in which all three global parameters—ocean coverage, temperature, and oxygen—have reached their goals (p. 3, 12). After the production phase of that final generation, players have one extra chance to convert plants into greenery tiles, and then final scoring takes place (p. 12).