Players: 2       

Play Time: ~ 30 minutes

Game Info: This game is heavily inspired by the game Lost Cities by one of my favorite designers, Reiner Knizia.

Overview: Your goal is to research the many possible catastrophes that could befall humanity, while simultaneously offsetting the likelihood of those catastrophes occurring. You must balance your resources in order to protect the world from the many things that could destroy it.

Components: Cards: 5 suits: Each with Ranks 2-10, Omega; 3 copies of rank A (alpha). 15 cubes or markers.

Setup: Place the 5 Omega cards in a random row between the players. Put 3 cubes/markers on each Omega card. Place the draw deck next to the row of Omega cards. Deal 8 cards to each player.

Gameplay: Each turn the active player must first either play a card or discard a card; following either option they must then draw a card from either the draw pile or the top card of any discard pile. To play a number card place it on your side of any Omega card below the matching suit. Cards can only be played, if the value is higher than any of previously played cards of that suit on your side. They do not need to be sequential. After playing a number card pull a cube/marker from an adjacent omega card and place onto the omega card of the suit that was just played. The line of omega cards is "circular", in that each end is adjacent to the other end. As such shifting a marker from Omega card 1 could be placed on either omega card 2 or omega card 5. To play an Alpha Card show it to your opponent, then pull or push a cube/marker either towards or from the Omega card matching the suit of the Alpha card played to an adjacent Omega card. The alpha card is then removed from the game. To discard a card, place it face up on the Omega Card matching that cards suit. After playing or discarding a card the active player draws a new card. When drawing a card it may either come from the face down draw pile, or the top card of any omega discard pile.

End Game: The game ends when the draw pile runs out. For each player, independently score each set of of played number cards for only the suits in which the omega card has at least 3 markers on it. Score these suits as follows: Add up the total number value of all cards played for the suit, subtract 5 from that score for every marker on the card. If there are 5 or more cards played for any given suit ignore all markers on the omega cards and do not subtract points. For any suit whose omega card had less than three markers score nothing for those cards and do not subtract any points. Add each suit score together for the final score. The higher final score wins.